Business ties stall Bush's nominees

Consideration of some candidates for an environmental board is postponed.

By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 9, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- What started as a routine hearing Tuesday to fill seats on an obscure environmental board turned contentious, and consideration of two of the governor's nominees was postponed altogether.

Some members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee raised conflict of interest questions because two of Gov. Jeb Bush's appointees have business ties to the giant project to restore the Everglades.

The two are Victoria Tschinkel, a Democrat and environmental secretary under former Gov. Bob Graham, and Anthony Clemente, an engineer who once ran Miami-Dade County's environmental department. Clemente is a registered independent.

Last summer, Bush appointed both to the Environmental Regulation Commission, a board that oversees the Department of Environmental Protection. The board will set new pollution limits for the Everglades this year, which could have an enormous impact on sugar farming in the Everglades.

Tschinkel works for a law firm that also represents sugar growers, and Clemente works for an engineering firm handling the Everglades project.

Clemente and Tschinkel said they don't work on Everglades projects. Tschinkel also does work for the phosphate and paper industries, which are regulated by DEP.

"We just want to have assurances that there's no conflict here," said Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Brooksville Republican.

Action on the two was postponed while the Legislature asks for more information from the state Commission on Ethics.

The Senate committee did approve several other ERC appointees, including Marjorie Guillory, deputy director of the Tampa Water Department. Guillory, a Republican, faces approval by the entire Senate.

Tschinkel has one of the highest profiles among Florida environmentalists. She serves on numerous boards, including Florida Audubon and Phillips Petroleum. She is an environmental consultant for the Landers & Parsons law firm, where lawyer Phil Parsons represents sugar growers.

Clemente works for PBS&J, an engineering firm that has a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers for the Everglades project.

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