The Scripps Florida Funding Corp., its chairman hand-picked by Jeb Bush, hears updates and adjourns.
By ALISA ULFERTS
Published December 17, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - The first public meeting of the oversight board for the governor's $369-million biomedical research deal Tuesday was supposed to last six hours.
But with much of the work already done in private, the board finished in half that time.
Gov. Jeb Bush hand-picked the board's chairman, former University of Florida president Marshall Criser. And he chose the board's attorney, C. David Brown II of Orlando, who first introduced Bush to the Scripps Research Institute.
The board approved Bush's people, listened to presentations and scheduled the next meeting. After that, there was little left for the Scripps Florida Funding Corp. to do.
Criser made no secret of the scripted nature of his selection.
"Of course it was scripted. The governor asked me if I was available to be chairman and I was and that's how it came about," Criser said.
Bush acknowledged his intense interest and involvement in the deal.
"I've been encouraging it, and pushing (Scripps) to focus on recruiting scientists, which is really the whole basis of this," Bush said.
"It's important for the public to be protected, to have safeguards with public money like this. I'm confident that that process will begin . . . and that they'll have that agreement done fairly soon."
The board was formed by the Legislature to negotiate and monitor the multimillion-dollar contract with the La Jolla, Calif., company to come to Florida. The pace of work is similar to the lightning speed Bush set this fall when he persuaded the institute to open a campus in Palm Beach County lawmakers to use tax money to pay for it.
Even before board members sat down Tuesday in the Capitol's airy, 22nd-story observation room, a draft contract with Scripps had been negotiated by Bush's staff and by Brown, whom Bush hired at $275 an hour to negotiate the Scripps deal before lawmakers ever signed off on it. The well-connected lawyer traveled with Bush in July to tour the Scripps facilities.
"I recommend that we select David Brown to be the counsel and he continue to work on that agreement without interruption," Criser said. Board members agreed.
Criser said he didn't know how much the board would pay Brown. The funding corporation, whose nine members were appointed by Bush, Senate President Jim King and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, received a $300,000 check from the state Tuesday to pay for the first year of operations.
The rest of the contract negotiations will be handled out of public view by Brown and Criser, who will report back to the board.
Florida's open government law forbids elected officials and members of public boards to discuss public business anywhere but in an open meeting. Lawmakers carved out an exemption from the law for the Scripps board in case it needs to discuss the research institute's trade secrets or medical information of people participating in research, but board members didn't use that loophole Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Klein, the Boca Raton Democrat who has been one of Scripps' biggest supporters, said the board members were simply being pragmatic in making Criser the lead negotiator, given the time constraints. The deadline for a contract with Scripps is Jan. 30, with a one-time extension until March 15.
"You really need someone to take the lead," Klein said. Besides, Bush and lawmakers will have two weeks to review the contract before it's finalized, Klein said.
"Ultimately, all of them will be held accountable for the contract," Klein said.
Scripps general counsel Doug Bingham also updated board members on the institute's planned expansion. Scripps is leasing 10,000 square feet of lab space at the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University, and work there could begin in June or July.
Recruiting efforts are going well. "We've already made about a half-dozen offers," Bingham said. The center hopes to have 27 researchers, ranging from full professors to research associates, in place during the first year.
Board members agreed to meet next month in West Palm Beach, and they selected Chris Sullivan, chairman and CEO of Outback Steakhouse in Tampa, as vice chairman. The West Palm Beach accounting firm Caler, Donten, Levine, Druker, Porter & Veil also was hired.
- Times staff writer Steve Bousquet and researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report, which also contains material from the Associated Press.
