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When does a television commercial become a political advertisement---when it's filmed or when it's aired in an attempt to influence voters to cast their ballot for a candidate?
 That question as it applies to the 2004 political campaign of Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer of Pinellas County will be answered at the next meeting of the Florida Elections Committee to be held Nov. 14-15.
The issue is the result of a challenge a FEC determination brought by The North Country Gazette.
Both parties, Greer and NCG publisher June Maxam, can be present with their attorneys when the NCG will present evidence of its findings.
 Not only does it appear that the Florida Elections Commission is attempting to whitewash alleged election violations by Greer but it appears that former Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice may have engaged in prosecutable offenses in allowing tax dollars to be used to further his good friend's candidacy.
It is a first degree misdemeanor for a county employee to participate in a political campaign for elective office while on duty and a misuse of public funds for Rice to have approved the use of tax dollars to further the judicial campaign of his friend, especially while Rice was steadfastly refusing to investigate allegations of abuse, neglect and other criminal acts in the Schiavo case involving Greer and others.
It also appears, based on documentation obtained by NCG, that the FEC has knowingly and intentionally dismissed a timely filed complaint against the judge in March by entering alleged false statements into the record.
 This time its incumbent upon Florida's Gov. Jeb Bush to initiate a state investigation into the activities of the FEC, former sheriff Rice and Greer. In that Bernie McCabe, the state attorney for Pinellas and Pasco Counties, is also involved in the alleged violations of election laws and misuse of public office to attempt to influence a judicial race, a special prosecutor is warranted.
In fact, based on information obtained Tuesday by The North Country Gazette as the result of a public records request to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, there may be enough evidence to warrant a federal investigation into the involvement of Rice in the Greer campaign and his authorization of the use of tax dollars to pay an officer and allow the use of a county vehicle to attempt to influence the election of Greer during the 2004 election at the height of the Schiavo case.
Had Govan defeated Greer, it's conceivable that Terri Schiavo would be alive today.
Robert Gualtieri, attorney for the sheriff's office, and Marianne Pasha, PCSO public information officer, have released information which indicates Pinellas County taxpayers paid Deputy William Cunningham to appear in a political ad for Judge Greer and that former Sheriff Rice, a long-time friend of Greer's, authorized the improper use of county funds for political use as well as the use of a county owned vehicle to attempt to influence the election of Greer.
Both are violations of state statutes, laws that Rice presumably took an oath to uphold and it appears that Rice should have been criminally charged for misappropriation of tax dollars, official misconduct and other charges.
Rice is completing a term  in the Florida House as representative for District 54. He had been a candidate for attorney general but withdrew several weeks ago and had also expressed interest in becoming commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after Guy Tunnell was forced to resign by Gov. Jeb Bush following his conduct in incidents in the Martin Lee Anderson case, the black teenager who died earlier this year as the result of suffocation by guards at a Bay County boot camp.
Greer sought reelection in 2004 for a third six-year term as circuit court judge in Group 18, Pinellas and Pasco Counties, in a hotly contested race, challenged by attorney Jan Govan. One of the key issues of the race was the Terri Schiavo case.
Greer had issued a death warrant for Terri Schiavo based on self-serving hearsay by Michael Schiavo that Greer said  constituted "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri didn't want to be fed by a feeding tube and wanted to die. In 2000, on the petition of Terri Schindler-Schiavo's estranged husband and guardian Michael Schiavo, Greer issued an order removing assisted feeding from the brain damaged woman which, after three attempts, caused her death by dehydration in March, 2005 when Greer even went a step further and ordered, contrary to state statutes, that she not be feed orally and that all nutrition and hydration, natural and artificial, be withheld from her.
The supposed non-partisan campaign was one of the most heavily financed judicial campaigns in the history of Florida with Greer hauling in $162,000, primarily from attorneys, particularly attorneys who practice before him such as the Schiavo attorneys of George Felos, Hamden Baskin III and Deborah Bushnell (above).
 What was even more egregious is that Larry Crow, a state legislator representing Palm Harbor and one of the attorneys representing the Schindler family in their efforts to keep their daughter alive, including motions to remove Greer from the case, was soliciting contributions to finance Greer's campaign. Greer still refused to recuse himself.
CROW LETTER
 In addition to Crow, who was representing the Schindlers in front of Greer at the time as co-counsel with Patricia Fields Anderson, other attorneys who signed the letter soliciting funds for Greer was the Louis Kwall, former assistant state attorney and husband of Jean Kwall, who served as the general counsel for Rice and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. In fact, Kwall represented Rice in an action brought by the Church of Scientology against the St. Petersburg Times and Rice.
Surprisingly, the Schindlers attorney, Patricia Fields Anderson, represented the SP Times in the matter.
SCIENTOLOGY COURT FILES
As a result of his solicitation for Greer, a blatant conflict of interest, Crow was forced to cease his representation of the Schindler family in their opposition to Michael Schiavo's guardianship case before Greer and his quest to kill their daughter.
Jean Kwall had served as the general counsel for the Pinellas County sheriff's office for 20 years, during the entire tenure of Rice as sheriff, leaving the office in July 2006 to join her husband's law firm.
Other attorneys signing the letter with Crow were Michaela Mahoney, well known GOP magnate Anthony Battaglia, Cynthia Rice, Larry Hart, Bruce Bokor and Stephen Cole.
 Louis Kwall has a long history with the good ole boy network in Pinellas County, having served as an assistant state attorney with current Pinellas County state attorney Bernie McCabe. Kwall was the head of the Office of Consumer Affairs for the state attorney's office who frequently handled complaints concerning the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/022006GoodOleBoys.html
Kwall left the state attorney's office and went into private law practice with attorney Raymond O. Gross. In 1988, Kwall ran the successful  campaign for Republican Everett Rice for sheriff of Pinellas County. From 1992 to 1994, Kwall was chairman of the Pinellas County Republican Party while Melvin Sembler, now ambassador to Italy, was treasurer for the state Republican Party. Battaglia served as a member of the Republican National Committee for Florida from 1956-1964. He served on the Board of Governors for the Florida Bar from 1993 to 1998 and is past member and chairman of the Grievance Committee, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida.
Gross became a judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit with Greer.
In 1988 when the St. Petersburg Times was advocating an investigation of the Coopers Point land deal involving George Greer, then serving as a Clearwater commissioner, Michael Kenten, the environmental management director for the city of Clearwater hired Kwall as his attorney. Ultimately no charges were brought against Kenton because Kwall's former associate at the state attorney's office decided that since Kenton had been a city employee at the time of the Cooper's Point deal, that he should be judged by the state Ethics Commission rather than criminally charged.
http://thestraights.com/articles/coopers-point.htm (12-04-05)
Of the $162,000 in Greer's campaign war chest, he spent $28,744 with BrightHouse Networks to air a political commercial in August 2004 between Aug. 9 and Aug. 30, according to Ken Salazar, BrightHouse's advertising sales traffic manager. The political commercial, known as "The Gavel" aired 1,782 times between Aug. 9 and Aug. 30, 2004.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/082306TeflonJudge.html
The 30-second commercial showed Greer in judicial robes, in a courtroom, on the bench with his nameplate, leading the public to believe it was the Pinellas County Courthouse. Appearing in the ad with Greer were individuals that were presumably circuit court employees.
Judge George Greer's Television Ad (need Real Player to view)
Included in the commercial endorsing Greer are Jim Hellickson of McCabe's state attorney's office, Paula Shea, assistant public defender for Pinellas and Pasco Counties, and Deputy William Cunningham, a uniformed officer of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department with a sheriff's patrol car in the background. Those appearances are illegal by statute.
The interpretation of the state statutes would be that the use of governmental buildings and property for political purposes is prohibited. The statutes would also be interpreted that no candidate, not even George Greer, can use the service of any state, county, municipal or district officer or employee during working hours. Payroll records indicate that Deputy Cunningham was paid and that Rice was aware and approved the use of tax money and county property in Greer's campaign.
The legislative intent of Florida Statutes is to prohibit the political activity of municipal officers and employees for the purpose of influencing an election. By Hellickson and Shea appearing in the commercial  along with the uniformed deputy, it appears that Bernie McCabe, public defender Bob Dillinger and Rice illegally used their positions and governmental resources to attempt to influence the election of Greer in violation of Section 106.15(2). Section 104.31(1(a) clearly states that no officer or employee of the state or of any county or municipality shall use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or nomination of an officer or coercing or influencing another person's vote or affecting the result of that election. And Section 104.31(2) specifically says no municipal employee can engage in political activity while on duty as Cunningham.
In a response to the North Country Gazette by Pasha, she confirms that Rice had knowledge of Cunningham's appearance in the ad on July 2, 2004, when Cunningham was on duty, and Rice's authorization of it. Payroll records for Cunningham confirm that he was on duty July 2, 2004, the day that both the sheriff's office and the FEC claim that the Greer commercial was filmed.
Paul Timmerman of Greenacres, Florida, filed his complaint with the FEC in March about the Greer commercial and  on Aug. 17, attended a probable cause hearing in Tallahassee when FEC dismissed his complaint, claiming that that Chief Judge David Demers had authorized the use of the courtroom. FEC also claimed that all the county officers and employees appearing in the ad had done so on their own time,even though Cunningham was in uniform, a statement which has now been proven to be untrue by the sheriff's department response and pay records of Cunningham.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/090106SchiavoJudge.html
NCG also contacted the office of Judge Demers and the public information office for the Florida Courts in regard to Demers alleged authorization for Greer to use a courtroom in the Pinellas County Courthouse for political purposes, a practice that would be ethically forbidden under the Code of Judicial Conduct. NCG requested a copy of the administrative order or other authorization issued by Demers.
Demers' photo had appeared with Greer, Timothy A. Johnson Jr.; John Blakely, Bruce Bokor and Wallace Pope in a banner (above) touting the 30th anniversary of the law firm Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel and Burns. At the time the photo was taken, Johnson, Blakely, Bokor and Pope were partners in the law firm. Demers made several key decisions and judicial assignments in the Schaivo case and Bokor openly solicited funds for Greer with Crow and Kwall.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/022006GoodOleBoys.htm
The unsigned response from the court public information office danced around the question, saying that the "chief judge controls the use of the courtrooms pursuant to Rule of Judicial Administration 2.050 and section 43.26 Florida Statutes. But while FS gives Demers the power to regulate courtrooms, it seemingly would not give him the right to allow a courtroom to be used for political purposes, an act which is specifically prohibited under judicial canons. The anonymous responder said that "an administrative order is not issued when a courtroom is used" . The respondent failed to provide the date when the courtroom was used for the filming of Greer's political commercial.
According to Florida Statutes, it makes no difference when the courtroom was used to film the political ad. Filming a TV commercial for political purposes inside the Pinellas County building is prohibited, especially the use of the courtroom, according to law and judicial ethics opinions issued by the Florida Supreme Court.
In regard to the NCG's request of several weeks ago to be apprised of the names of the court officers appearing in Greer's political commercial, the court said that the request was being treated as a request for public records but in a roundabout manner, refused to identify the employees, claiming that they had acted on their own time and that the court would not have records "based on their outside activities".
Although the commercial was aired 1,782 times by BrightHouse alone, the Florida court system claimed "we are not aware of any employees participating in the political commercial you have described".
Political candidates, even supposed non-partisan candidates such as Greer, are prohibited by Florida Statute 106.15 from using the service of any officer or employee of the state during working hours in the furtherance of his or her candidacy for nomination or election to public officer in any election yet Greer clearly did so as evidenced by the appearance of both Shea and Hellickson in his commercials, both specifically identified by their state positions, and by Cunningham appearing in his sheriff's uniform with a Pinellas County patrol car.
The law states that no person, including Greer, shall solicit or knowingly accept any campaign contribution in a building owned by a governmental entity. By accepting the "in-kind" services of municipal employees funded by tax dollars during working hours in a governmental building, it would appear McCabe, Rice, Dillinger and Greer allegedly violated Florida's campaign finance laws and used the courtroom to solicit campaign contributions and votes.
The Florida Elections Commission has attempted to stonewall both Timmerman's and the NCG complaint against Greer and the other public officers with FEC now claiming that the statute of limitations has passed and that Greer is home free. NCG disputes that, saying that the two year statute of limitations does not expire until two years from the date the last political ad aired, not two years from the date the commercial was filmed.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/082306TeflonJudge.html
The NCG's position in the argument is that the commercial doesn't become a political ad until it's aired in the public which, according to the invoices to Greer's campaign, produced by BrightHouse Networks, the last commercial aired on Aug. 30, 2004, thus the newspaper's complaint against Greer was timely filed.
The commission has scheduled a hearing in the matter in November at a time and place to be announced.
After becoming elected to the Florida House, District 54, and prior to leaving the office of Pinellas County Sheriff, Rice had hired Michael Schiavo as a nurse for the Pinellas County Jail.
 For over 20 years, Eleanor Centonze, the mother of Michael Schiavo's concubine worked in the civil division of the Pinellas County Sheriff's office and for Rice 11 years after he became sheriff which no doubt played a favor in him closing his eyes to the evidence and allegations of abuse of Terri Schiavo, the exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Rice had a very high profile role in the Schiavo case, heavily conflicted and exacerbated by his 20-year friendship with Greer.
Rice broke party ranks to vote against a bill in the House last spring that would have prohibited the removal of food and water of patients who had been termed in a persistent vegetative state and would have saved Terri Schiavo's life.
Crow and Anderson had filed a motion for Greer's removal from the Schiavo case based on evidence that Greer and Rice discussed the case at a baseball game and with assistant state attorney John Carassas when the case was still before Greer. When confronted, Rice tried to deny it had occurred despite overwhelming evidence it had. Greer refused to disqualify himself as he should have done and is required by judicial canons for discussing a pending case publicly.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/102205CristsJudge.html 9-5-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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