Originally Posted - December 1, 2006

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To envelop or surround protectively, to insulate.

That's the definition of cocoon according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Pinellas County Court Judge George W. Greer's in a cocoon.

So who's protecting him, insulating him from accountability?

The Florida Bar? The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission? The Florida Legislature? The Florida Elections Commission? Gov. Jeb Bush?

All of the above is most likely andpart of the good ole boy network.

So far, Schiavo death judge George Greer, a lowly county court judge, has been protected and insulated from accountability at all levels. He's defied the President, Congress, the Vatican, the Department of Children and Families and the Governor.

He's violated the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, state statutes, the Code of Judicial Conduct and Code of Professional Responsibility.

He says he follows the rule of law but yet his political ads show he flagrantly and very visibly violates campaign laws.

So far, the Florida Elections Commission has protected him as he's wrapped in his cocoon.

On Nov. 14, the FEC held another hearing involving George Greer's political advertising from 2004 and although they say that they conduct the hearings pursuant to the Florida Administrative Code, so far the FEC seems to have violated the Code, much like Greer violated campaign finance law.

"In a week to 10 days after the Commission meeting, the Commission will send complainant and respondent a written order reflecting the Commission's decision. If the Commission finds the complaint legally sufficient, the Commission's staff will further investigate the complaint. If the Commission finds the complaint legally insufficient, the complaint will be dismissed and the case will be closed.

It's been more than two weeks since the meeting and so far, no decision, at least the complainant hasn't received a copy of it as dictated by law.

The commission is comprised of nine members who have four year terms and are limited to serving no more than two full terms. The Governor appoints all the members except the chair from a list of names provided to him by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the minority leaders of both houses. The Governor appoints the chair who serves concurrently with the term of the appointing Governor for a maximum of four years. The law still provides that no person is eligible for appointment to the Commission if he was a member of any county, state, or national committee of a political party or held an elected office in the year immediately preceding appointment.

It's safe to say that all the members of the FEC have been appointed by Bush and it's highly likely that Sen. James E. King of Jacksonville has had a say in the appointment of several of them, especially when he was Senate President.

Bush failed to perform his statutory and constitutional duty in protecting Terri Schiavo, a vulnerable adult. While he made a great show, calling a news conference to announced that he was going to take her into protective custody, had he really been sincere in doing so, he wouldn't have announced it publicly, giving time for Greer, Michael Schiavo and George Felos to block the attempt, station snipers on the roof of adjacent buildings to Woodside Hospice where Terri had been held captive for five years.

Jeb Bush let a lowly county court judge usurp his constitutional power. Jeb Bush protected George Greer in March 2005. He got his marching orders to bow to Greer and he complied and it appears that he's still running interference, refusing to empanel a grand jury and special prosecutor to investigate the insurance fraud in the case and the other alleged criminal acts which may include premeditated murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

King ran for reelection this year, engaged in a contentious primary with Randall Terry who was at one time an outspoken advocate to save the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo who Greer had ordered to die by starvation and dehydration, the withdrawal of all food and water, natural as well as artificial, even though the state law prohibited it.

The fate of Terri was ironically decided over a meal of fried chicken and salad in a Tallahassee restaurant when former Senate President King and eight other Republicans of the Florida Senate stuffed their face and resolved not to support legislation introduced to save the life of the 41-year-old disabled woman from her death by court-ordered starvation and dehydration, the death penalty verdict rendered by Pinellas County probate court judge George Greer.

Strangely enough, one of King's contributors in his reelection bid was none other than Greer's wife and while at first glance, it may have looked like Greer rewarding King for helping ensure that his death edict in the Schiavo case was upheld by King blocking legislation that would have caused her feeding tube to be reinserted last March.

But at second glance, it may more likely have been connected with a complaint concerning Greer being before the Florida Elections Commission and members whom King may have had a role in having appointed. Could it have been that Greer was attempting an indirect bribe for King to insure that the FEC would make the complaint against him go away?

What interest would Gail Patricia Greer who lives in Clearwater have in supporting a candidate who doesn't represent her and who in fact represents Jacksonville and environs, a district far removed from Clearwater and Pinellas County?

Perhaps the timing of the Greer contribution tells the story.

On Aug. 8, Gail Patricia Greer contributed the maximum amount possible to King's campaign. On Aug. 17, Greer was the subject of a probable cause hearing conducted by the Florida Elections Commission in Tallahassee on a complaint brought against Greer by Florida resident Paul Timmerman for alleged violations of campaign finance and election law for a televised political commercial aired on Pinellas County television stations during August 2004.

Timmerman was treated shabbily by the FEC, to put it mildly, and his complaint against Greer dismissed as could have been predicted.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/090106SchiavoJudge.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/080206ProbableCause.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/072306SchiavoReward.html

But at about the same time that Timmerman's complaint was being deep-sixed by the FEC, The North Country Gazette had submitted a much more detailed complaint concerning Greer's political advertising which the FEC tried to promptly dispose of by claiming it hadn't been timely filed.

The FEC's executive director, Barbara Linthieum, dismissed the complaint based on a determination by David Flagg, FEC investigator supervisor who said the complaint was legally insufficient because the two year statute of limitations had expired.

Flagg claimed that because the advertisement had been filmed on July 2, 2004, in the Pinellas County Courthouse in Clearwater, that more than two years had elapsed.

NCG took issue with Flagg's determination. It is the newspaper's position that until the filmed commercial is aired and the public becomes aware of it, there is no violation as there is no political activity. A member of the public couldn't file a complaint about the alleged July 2, 2004, filming until they learned about it. If one was to subscribe to Flagg's reasoning, a candidate could film a political commercial two years and a day prior to it airing and if a member of the public filed a complaint the same day it was first aired, the two year statute of limitations would have expired.

NCG's position is that the statute of limitations does not expire until two years after the date Greer's political commercial was aired for the last time which, according to Bright House, the advertising agency placing the ads on various TV stations and networks, was Aug. 30, 2004. Ken Salazar, advertising sales traffic manager for Bright House Networks, told NCG that "Greer ran on our system from 8/9/04 until 8/30/04".


In 2004, when Greer ran for reelection, he was challenged by attorney Jan Govan.

Raising an unprecedented amount of money for a Florida judicial campaign, Greer expended thousands of dollars on political advertising, including the filming of a political commercial which was aired during August, 2004, prior to the Aug. 31, 2004 primary.

So 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?

According to FEC rules, the complainant, respondent---in this case George Greer---and their respective counsels, were permitted to attend the Nov. 14 hearing. The complainant was allowed to make a 10-minute oral statement to the commission, explaining that there are specific facts in the sworn complaint that are supported by competent evidence, showing a violation of a provision of the Florida Election Code over which the Commission has jurisdiction.

Due to the distance factor, the NCG publisher had requested to make her oral statement telephonically or by teleconference which the FEC denied. However, a written argument was submitted to be included in the agenda packets for the commission members and includes Rule 3.040, Computation of Time, arguing that a prosecution for the commission of a crime must occur within two years after the commission of the crime. In the case of Greer, the last time the "crime", or violation of Florida Statutes occurred, was on or about Aug. 31, 2004, therefore the complaint filed by NCG in August, 2006 was timely filed in that the two years had not yet expired.

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 public officers including Greer's bailiff Alek Melnick, William Cunningham, a uniformed officer of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office; James Hellickson, an assistant state attorney from the office of Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe (left) and Paula Shea, an assistant public defender from the office of Sixth Judicial Circuit Public Defender Bob Dillinger (right). Judge George Greer's Television Ad (need Real Player to view)

Greer and the officers, in affidavits prepared for them by Greer and/or his legal representatives, claimed that they appeared on their own time and not during working hours. However, the time sheets and payroll records do not support that contention. There is evidence that the commercial was filmed during working hours on Friday, July 2, 2004, at the Pinellas County Courthouse and that the four public employees in question were paid by Pinellas County taxpayers for their time which is a violation of election law.

Complaints regarding the participation of the four public employees and involvement of former Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice have been presented to the Florida Ethics Commission and are under review.
12-01-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette