Byrd names an ally to high speed rail panel

Tampa attorney Steve Burton replaces an Orlando lawyer named by former House Speaker Tom Feeney.

TALLAHASSEE - House Speaker Johnnie Byrd has appointed Tampa lawyer Steve Burton, one of his closest political allies, to a seat on the Florida High Speed Rail Authority.

Byrd appointed Burton to replace Skip Fowler, an Orlando lawyer named to the board three years ago by then-House Speaker Tom Feeney, a former law partner. Feeney is now in Congress, and Byrd succeeded him as speaker.

The speaker makes three selections to the seven-member board, and Byrd retained the other two House appointees, John Browning of East Palatka and Lee Chira of Orlando.

Burton, 42, managing partner of Broad & Cassel's Tampa office, joins the board as it approaches crucial decisions regarding the high-speed rail project voters added to the state Constitution in 2000. It will meet Oct. 27 in Orlando and may choose a vendor to build the train and select a route between Orlando and Tampa.

The board must decide whether the route will connect Orlando International Airport directly with Disney World, or include an intermediate stop at the Orange County Convention Center and the International Drive tourist district. Disney has said it would not take part in the project if the latter route is chosen. Fowler favored the route Disney sought.

As speaker, Byrd has steered hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal work to Burton's law firm. Byrd also appointed Burton to the board overseeing one of Byrd's biggest priorities, an Alzheimer's research institute at the University of South Florida.

Broad & Cassel gave $10,000 to the Committee for Responsible Government, which Byrd formed with friends in 1999 to advance his campaign for speaker.

"I trust Steve Burton," Byrd said. "He's a friend. He works very hard and he takes every job seriously." Byrd also said the board needed more representation from the Tampa area.

Burton did not respond to a request for comment.

One member of the High Speed Rail Authority, William Dunn, said it will be nearly impossible for Burton to get up to speed before the next meeting.

The board's chairman, Fred Dudley, a Tallahassee lawyer and former state senator, said he asked Byrd to reappoint all three of the previous speaker's appointments because they were doing a good job. Dudley acknowledged the speaker has the authority "to pick his own people."

Fowler said he had no inkling Byrd was about to remove him. But he did not criticize the move.

"I would have liked to have stayed on, sure," Fowler said. "But the speaker gets to put his own lawyer on there."

Shortly before Byrd became speaker last November, he hired Burton as a $250-an-hour legal adviser to the House. Burton then hired Jagged Peak, a Clearwater computer firm and Broad & Cassel client, to redesign the House computer system.

The hiring of Jagged Peak, and the payment of more than $2.5-million to the firm without competitive bids, triggered a lawsuit by the company that was originally hired to build the network, Hayes Computer Systems of Tallahassee.

Documents filed in the lawsuit by Hayes' lawyers last week claimed Byrd demanded a secure area within the computer system so he could track "political IOUs." Byrd and House lawyers call that charge "unfounded and scandalous."

Burton and several associates at Broad & Cassel represent the House in the lawsuit.

- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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