State: Bush letter to property rights group raises outcry

In Florida's courtrooms, the Pacific Legal Foundation has argued against dimming beach lights to help baby sea turtles. It has fought for the rights of boaters upset about manatee protection regulations. It has opposed the state Department of Environmental Protection over a land use case.

And it has won a notable fan: Gov. Jeb Bush.

The cover of the most recent newsletter from the foundation's Atlantic Center in Miami reproduces a letter from Bush in which he encourages potential donors to give to the foundation.

"I hope that your supporters, and those who have not yet made the decision to contribute to your effort, realize the extent to which PLF has become a voice ... on behalf of limited government, private property rights, education reform and free enterprise," Bush wrote. "Keep up the good work."

Critics questioned why Bush would allow the foundation to use the prestige of the governor's office in a bid for financial support.

"I think it's inappropriate to send a letter saying, 'I hope people send money to your organization and join it,"' said David Guest of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, which frequently sues state agencies to push for more environmental regulation. "It reveals something about Jeb that we've always known: He's a closet right-wing crazy."

One of the Atlantic Center's advisory board members said the foundation is not that far to the right.

"They represent, by and large, business interests and private landowners," said advisory board member Scottie Butler, who serves as general counsel of the Florida Farm Bureau. "They're not knuckle-dragging, off-the-wall, Genghis Khan-type conservatives."

Bush wrote the letter last year at the request of the sole attorney who runs the foundation's Miami office, known as the Atlantic Center. Bush press secretary Elizabeth Hirst said the governor and his legal staff were very familiar with the foundation, and that sending such a letter on the governor's letterhead is not unusual.

"On occasion the governor does write letters to support different organizations or causes when he sees fit," she said.

She offered three examples: a letter supporting a blood drive, one praising a Red Cross charity ball and a third congratulating a youth volunteer who had earned national recognition. None of those letters encouraged donations.

Bush's predecessor, Lawton Chiles, might have occasionally sent a letter of encouragement to various parties, "but I don't think we would've gone so far as to say, 'Hope your supporters will send you money,' " said Chuck Wolfe, who served as Chiles' director of external affairs.

Representatives of some organizations whose politics lean to the left joked that they will now approach Bush to help raise money for their groups.

"Looks like we may have found our honorary membership chairman -- we'll get him to write a letter for us," joked Laurie Macdonald, a national board member of the Endangered Species Coalition.

Frequently labeled the nation's oldest conservative public-interest law firm, the Pacific Legal Foundation was formed in California in 1973. It has made a name for itself primarily by filing friend-of-the-court briefs, particularly in cases opposing affirmative action policies or endangered species listings. Its stated goal is "less government and the preservation of free enterprise, private property rights and individual liberties."

The foundation's Miami office is run by Frank A. Shepherd, 55, a Palm Beach County native who earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1972. He worked briefly as an attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Reagan Administration before returning to South Florida to practice.

Shepherd is "a very scholarly, soft-spoken, learned person," said Charlotte Greenbarg of Independent Voices for Better Education. She has worked with Shepherd on briefs supporting the state's voucher program. "He does his homework."

Shepherd said he has known Bush since before he was elected governor. He said he asked a Bush staff member to get the governor to write the letter in the hopes it would raise the Atlantic Center's profile.

He said the newsletter circulates to fewer than 1,000 people. So far, he said, the Bush endorsement on the cover has had little impact on the foundation's budget, which is expected to hit $500,000 next year. However, the foundation's Miami office is busy enough that it will soon move to a bigger office and add a second attorney and staff members.

In Florida, the foundation has gained little notice outside legal circles, a status Shepherd had hoped to reverse by taking the DEP case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The foundation represented Foster Burgess, who bought land along the Choctawhatchee River in 1956 but did nothing with it for decades. In the 1990s he applied for a DEP permit to build a camping shelter -- something that would have been permitted in the 1950s, but is not now.

Shepherd contended the DEP had essentially taken Burgess' land without paying for it. The court rejected Burgess' case without a hearing.

Although Shepherd has tackled tort reform and voucher issues, the foundation's decision to open a Florida branch was driven by "the Endangered Species Act and its perverse implementation by certain federal agencies," according to the group's Web site.

For instance, the foundation argued in a Daytona Beach case concerning baby sea turtles that county officials should not be required to enforce the federal law by ordering beachfront homeowners to dim their lights.

The Atlantic Center newsletter with the governor's signature on the cover contains a column by Shepherd's boss attacking the Endangered Species Act. The column contends that "what has become endangered are the rights of people to reasonable uses of their private property."

The column, by California attorney Robin Rivett, cites as examples the Florida cases involving sea turtles and manatees -- which Bush once called "my favorite mammal."

-- Staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk