Seven candidates are vying to replace Bob Butterworth, who is leaving the office because of term limits.
By ALISA ULFERTS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 5, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- Choosing an attorney is a serious task -- especially when that person is the state's top lawyer, second in power only to the governor and can't be fired for at least four years. Those are the stakes in the race for Florida Attorney General, which has drawn multiple candidates for the Republican and Democratic primaries.
The Republican primary is brought to you by Ormond Beach state Sen. Locke Burt, Education Commissioner Charlie Crist and Solicitor General Tom Warner.
The Democratic primary is even more crowded: consumer advocate Walter Dartland, Orlando state Sen. Buddy Dyer, Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox and former deputy attorney general George Sheldon each claims to be the man who can beat frontrunner Crist in the Nov. 5 general election.
They want voters to know that whoever wins in November will be the people's lawyer, the one who seeks a refund on your behalf or defends the state when it is sued.
The winner will fill big shoes: In his 16 years as Florida's top lawyer, Attorney General Bob Butterworth has gotten national attention for fighting for consumers. He is stepping down because of term limits.
One of these men will fill those shoes:
-- Locke Burt hopes his legislative experience will resonate with voters. "For the last 11 years I have been the Senate's expert on criminal justice," Burt said. He lists his endorsements off the top of his head: Highway Patrol officers, firefighters, the retired officers council of the Police Benevolent Association, countless sheriffs. He has served on the criminal justice and judiciary committees, and wants all death row cases settled within five years.
Burt, an Ormond Beach senator since 1991, courts voters who favor candidates who are tough on crime. An eight-minute campaign video calls him "Lock 'Em Up Locke," a nickname he earned in 1993 when the Legislature expanded prisons for 10,000 inmates.
-- Charlie Crist is still widely known as "Chain Gang Charlie" for advocating prison work crews as a state senator in 1995. Now education commissioner, Crist likes to remind voters that he sued Florida Power while a state senator to get refunds for overcharged customers. The company settled with state regulators, and the consumers got their refunds.
He served on the Senate ethics committee and grabbed headlines by introducing bills banning the use of state planes for political purposes and deceptive political phone calls after Gov. Lawton Chiles' campaign used the tactic to help defeat Jeb Bush in 1994.
-- Tom Warner already holds an important but little-known legal job in state government as Florida's first-ever solicitor general, a post within the Attorney General's Office in which he argues constitutional cases for the state.
"Being a lawyer is what I know best and what I do best, and that's what the attorney general does," Warner said. He also was a member of the Florida House from 1992 through 1999. He has earned the ire of Republican Party chiefs by erecting billboards that suggest Crist is unqualified for the attorney general's post because he failed the Bar exam twice and his public service has limited the time he has spent in his legal practice.
"I said, 'I'll drop the word unqualified. I'll just say he's flunked the Bar exam twice and has no legal experience,"' Warner said.
-- Walter Dartland, known around Tallahassee as a perennial candidate for his history of running for different elected offices, entered the race at the last minute. And that's partly why Dartland has taken the unusual step of swearing off any fundraising. Instead, the former special counsel and deputy attorney general has relied on e-mail to get the word out about his campaign.
"We're going to reach thousands of people and tell them to reach thousands of people," Dartland said. He said the attention that corporate regulation and consumer issues have been getting convinced him that his time is now.
Dartland has been called one of the state's leading consumer advocates, having worked for Miami-Dade County and then in the Attorney General's Office before leaving in 2000.
-- Buddy Dyer likes to tell voters he passed the Bar exam the first time and got the highest score. That contrasts with Sheldon and Maddox, who had to repeat at least one portion of the exam, and Crist, who failed twice before passing.
"I think I differ in terms of capability to perform the job," Dyer said. He practices law in Orlando.
Dyer is a state senator who was born in the Orlando district he has represented since 1992. He has wooed the state's elderly voters with promises to recruit people to a state program that lets them volunteer to help fight elder crime.
-- Scott Maddox is the Democrat who casts himself as the friend of law enforcement.
"Both my parents were police officers. My entire family is law enforcement," said Maddox, who briefly flirted with running for governor.
Maddox, considered an up-and-comer by party leaders, was elected to the Tallahassee City Commission as a 24-year-old law student at Florida State University and became mayor at 26. As president of the Florida League of Cities last year, he visited almost every community in the state.
"My No. 1 priority is to protect our citizens from criminals, con artists, corporate outlaws and anyone else who wants to prey on our people," Maddox said.
n George Sheldon is the other office insider and hopes his close ties to Butterworth will pay off for him. Not only is Sheldon a deputy under Butterworth, he is godfather to Butterworth's daughter, a point he likes to make to reporters.
Sheldon says his campaign slogan could be, "I'm the next best thing to re-electing Butterworth." He emphasizes the work he has done on the consumer battles Butterworth has waged, including a case against a hotel accused of discriminating against African-Americans.
The attorney general is Florida's chief legal officer and serves on the Florida Cabinet. The attorney general represents the state in most appeals arising from criminal convictions in state courts, opposes major challenges to Florida laws and issues formal legal opinions on state law. The office also enforces antitrust and consumer protection laws. The attorney general serves a four-year term and earns $119,414 per year.