State: DCF leader denies extremism

A day after Jerry Regier was chosen to lead Florida's embattled child welfare agency, his appointment was swept up in a controversy over whether he holds extreme views about spanking children and keeping women out of the workplace.

Regier vehemently denied in both a written statement and an interview with the St. Petersburg Times that he holds such views. But Democratic opponents of Gov. Jeb Bush were already calling for Regier's withdrawal.

The furor stems from a paper published in 1989 by an obscure organization called the Coalition on Revival. The 18-page document, titled, "The Christian World View of the Family," condemns married women who work outside the home and says the only justification for divorce is desertion or infidelity, not abuse.

It also advocated "biblical spanking" that causes only "temporary and superficial bruises or welts."

Under the title on the cover page, the paper lists "Mr. Jerry Regier, M.A.B.S., Co-chairman."

On Friday, Regier said he didn't write the paper, didn't know his name would be on it and didn't agree with its conclusions. He was the group's co-chairman but said he quit the group the next year.

Dr. George Rekers, a child psychologist in Columbia, S.C., and co-chairman with Regier, confirmed that Regier had nothing to do with the paper. Although Regier was on the committee that wrote it, he attended only one meeting, Rekers said.

Regier said he later quit the coalition.

"Having recognized some of the more extreme interpretations of the Bible that were held by the organization, I severed my relationship ... approximately one year after the release of this paper," Regier said in a statement issued by the governor's office.

He does not hold extreme religious views, Regier said in an interview later Friday. He said he respects religious diversity and will not try to turn his Christian beliefs into government policy.

"I don't go to work every day and say, "Look, what are my theological points?"' he said. "I work with everybody. I will work with people of all religious persuasions. ... When you're fighting a forest fire, anybody who walks up with a bucket of water, you say, "Jump in here!' You don't ask, "What are your religious beliefs?"'

Bush chose Regier, 57, the former chief of Health and Human Services in Oklahoma and a veteran of the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, to replace Kathleen Kearney as secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Kearney resigned Tuesday after months of controversy, including the disappearance of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson of Miami. The girl was missing for more than a year before DCF noticed.

Bush, campaigning in northern Florida, stood by Regier. "He doesn't share those extreme views and his record speaks for itself," he said.

But Democrats teed off. Janet Reno and Bill McBride, the leading Democratic candidates for governor, and Bob Poe, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, called for Bush to withdraw the nomination, as did several lawmakers.

They also said Bush moved too quickly, appointing Kearney's replacement just two days after she resigned. He should have conducted a nationwide search, they said.

State Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa, said it doesn't matter that Regier says he didn't write the essay, titled "The Christian World View of The Family," or that he's no longer a member of the Coalition on Revival.

"He was involved with the group. We don't know, and I don't know, that he did or didn't write. The fact of the matter is that his name is on there," said Miller, leader of the Legislative Black Caucus.

"If your name was on there, my friend, you had knowledge about what was in there, and your beliefs are the same as theirs."

The group's Web site, www.revival.net, lists Regier as a member of its national steering committee as recently as April 2001. But Regier insists he sent the group a letter in 1989 asking that his name be removed from all coalition materials. He sent another letter Friday.

Regier has been a leader in the Christian pro-family movement for more than two decades. He founded the Family Research Council, a conservative public policy organization, in 1984 and served as its president for four years.

Testifying last year before a congressional subcommittee, Regier said Oklahoma spends millions on foster care, child abuse investigations, adoption, out-of-wedlock births, juvenile delinquency and many other problems that are largely "the result of either families not forming through marriage in the first place or because of absent parents due to divorce."

Steven Novick, a lawyer whose federal lawsuit in 1978 forced federal court supervision of Oklahoma's juvenile offender system, said Regier did a good job rooting out scandal at the state Health Department. "He clearly comes from a conservative, fundamentalist background and whatever flows out of that, that's what you can expect in Florida," Novick said.

"What happens when a kid in the child welfare system becomes pregnant? He's going to be a staunch opponent of any kind of abortion and a staunch proponent of parental notification."

In 1999, Regier supported an Oklahoma bill calling for mandatory drug testing for all students in grades 7 through 12. Regier and Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating also made a cassette tape that discusses "the encouraging progress of pro-family initiatives in their home state," available for purchase through the Web site of Focus on the Family, a national Christian ministry led by radio host James Dobson.

In 1986, Regier was one of more than two dozen evangelicals of various denominations who signed the "Manifesto for the Christian Church," also published by the Coalition on Revival, that pledged to oppose social evils, including "state usurpation of parental rights and God-given liberties," the coalition's Web site says.

On Friday, Regier said he has no qualms about taking children from abusive homes.

"I would ensure that front-line social workers are adequately trained, and secondly, that they have clear guidance and clear parameters, so they know what the basic boundaries are," he said.

In Florida, recent cases of child abuse and deaths "have been because the kids have been left, not because they've been removed too quickly. Clearly, there's some decisionmaking that's not being done by workers. I don't know if that's a training issue, if it's a mixed-message issue."

Regier is no stranger to controversy.

In Oklahoma, where he worked his way from deputy director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs to secretary of health and human services, he was dogged by accusations of partisan hiring and firing and of giving contracts to a friend.

A state audit accused the Office of Juvenile Affairs of over-billing the state and federal government by $1.2-million for services it provided to troubled youths. At the time, Regier said the agency was probably overly aggressive in getting as much matching money as it could. He denied any mismanagement.

Regier denied firing Democratic employees in order to hire Republicans in their places, saying the allegations were part of a partisan attack by Democrats. Regier fired 30 health department employees after he was hired, most of them Democrats.

Gov. Bush said Regier was thoroughly vetted, although the 1989 coalition essay did not turn up. State agents also visited Oklahoma, where they interviewed former co-workers, Democratic leaders and child advocates.

"He has served two presidents, a governor and soon to be another governor, and he's an extraordinarily fine person to deal with the problems of the department," Bush said.

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos and staff writers Steve Bousquet and Lucy Morgan contributed to this report.

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