Hillsborough officials plan to banish vocal gadfly
Mark Klutho has long lambasted the commissioners, but his racially tinged comment about the county attorney may test the law.
By BILL VARIAN
Published April 22, 2004
TAMPA - Largo landscaper Mark Klutho typically wears a Three Stooges T-shirt for his frequent appearances at governmental meetings in the Tampa Bay area.
Then, in Stooges spirit, he gives elected officials a verbal poke in the eye by calling them and their policies stupid during the public comment period.
But Hillsborough commissioners say he went too far Wednesday when he called their acting county attorney, who is black, "boy," and told him he should be disbarred.
Now commissioners want to ban Klutho from their meetings - for life.
They voted 6-0 - Jim Norman was absent - to seek a legal opinion on whether they can do it without abridging constitutional rights and state Sunshine laws.
"If he had come up here and used the N-word, it would not have been more offensive," Commissioner Ronda Storms said.
A First Amendment specialist says commissioners may have a difficult time coming up with such a ban. They might be able to silence him after an offensive comment for a given day, or even have a disorderly person removed.
"I don't believe, even though he was offensive, that they can place a permanent ban on his ability to be present and be heard at public meetings," said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation based in Tallahassee.
"The Florida Supreme Court has said that our right to be present and be heard at a public meeting is inalienable," she said. "Because he was offensive today does not give them the right to shut him out permanently."
Klutho, no stranger to upbraiding elected officials, said he was not intending a racial slur with his comment. He said he was remarking on the professional ability and responsibility of acting County Attorney Don Odom.
"The reason I said "boy' is because he is not doing a man's job," Klutho said. "If he was doing a man's job, he would stand up for the taxpayers' money."
Klutho has been blasting elected officials for more than a decade, particularly in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. A self-described military veteran with architects in his family lineage, he regularly rips government for constructing buildings that are not energy-efficient.
When Klutho says it, though, he typically describes the buildings and the public officials who approved them as "stupid," and their actions criminal.
A large man with long hair, he often builds into a seeming rage when he speaks.
His comments during the morning session Wednesday were typical. This time, he was wearing an anti-President Bush shirt. He signed a speaker request slip by noting his topic for discussion was "STUPIDITY, WASTE."
He held up several magazines highlighting environmentally responsible buildings. Then he held up a couple of county publications touting the supposed energy efficiency of a county air-conditioning system, which he called a joke.
Then he turned to Odom, accusing him of "malfeasance," another favorite word, for failing to uphold his duty to apprise commissioners of their irresponsible actions.
Klutho closed by telling Odom, "you should be disbarred, boy," the "boy" little more than a mumble.
"What did you say?" Storms asked him as he walked away.
"You know, you heard me," Klutho replied.
Storms then said his remarks were so offensive as to warrant that Klutho never be allowed to speak at commission meetings again.
Commissioner Kathy Castor, seldom one to agree with Storms on First Amendment issues, agreed that it might be in order for someone who abuses the ground rules of addressing the commission.
Another commissioner noted that Klutho doesn't live in the county, which might give commissioners further ability to ban him.
Petersen doesn't think that is the case. However, the city of Cocoa won a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, in January, upholding its ability to ban speakers who are not residents.
Another 11th Circuit case from 1989 rejected the award of damages to a man who claimed that the city of Key West violated his First and 14th Amendment rights by having him removed from a meeting and handcuffed for disruptive behavior.
But that case focused on the man's removal from one meeting, as opposed to a lifetime ban, and had to do with disruptive behavior, not offensive remarks.
Odom made no comments during the discussion. The matter will be referred to the law firm Holland & Knight, so he and his staff won't have to research the issue themselves.
"It's definitely historically something that is used to disparage African-Americans," Odom said afterward. "I appreciate the impact of someone using that kind of language."
He said he was offended, but not "devastated" by the comment.
In Largo, where Klutho lives, officials regularly come under fire from him for such things as not installing sensors that shut off bathroom lights or for requiring a business dress code that necessitates colder air conditioning.
He has been known to follow employees and consultants out of the office to berate them, and that's one reason Largo has increased security at meetings.
"He calls me the city mismanager," said Largo City Manager Steven Stanton. "He's a man who's extremely angry, and many people are extremely uncomfortable with his verbal assaults."
But Stanton said Klutho's overall points are not unreasonable and have caused the city to reconsider some decisions.
"I think that's part of the challenge of government, to tolerate the Mark Kluthos of the world," Stanton said. "I cannot imagine banning Mr. Klutho."
