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State wants less Byrd in center

The ex-Florida House speaker has too much influence over the Alzheimer's research facility, lawmakers say. Others disagree.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published June 2, 2006

[Times photo: Melissa Lyttle]

The Byrd Center’s new $40-million building on the University of South Florida campus in Tampa will be a crucial recruiting tool, its CEO says.

TALLAHASSEE - Born of politics, the Alzheimer's research institute in Tampa that carries the name Johnnie Byrd is still fighting political battles in the Capitol.

That's how it works when the state pays the bills.

Four years after the Legislature created an institute to seek a cure for the tragic disease known as "the long goodbye," the Johnnie Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center is in line for $60-million over four years. But all that money comes with a catch.

Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to sign a bill that could overhaul the center's leadership by ending the practice of allowing volunteer directors to reappoint themselves. Future members will be chosen by the governor, Senate and House, a change meant to reduce the influence of former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd over the center.

The change was attached to the state money by Senate President Tom Lee, who remains skeptical about how much research the center is doing. Lee, who was a frequent critic of Byrd when he was speaker, said the state should pay closer attention to the center's operations.

"The public has a right to know what is really going on inside these facilities," Lee said. "We attempted to reconstitute the board so it wasn't a closed shop."

Lee said he supports the center's mission of finding a cure for a disease that affects nearly half a million Floridians. But he said he was troubled by the presence of so many of Byrd's allies on the board and has heard rumblings that the center spends too much money on "marketing and self-promotion."

Huntington Potter, the institute's chief executive officer who reports to the board, said a slate of new directors was fine with him.

"We welcome the scrutiny because we think we're doing a great job," Potter said.

Potter said what Lee calls self-promotion he calls education: teaching how to treat people with Alzheimer's, how the disease strains families and hurts the economy.

Figures provided by the institute show that of its nearly $20-million budget for this year, about $637,000 is devoted to educational outreach and external affairs, including newsletters, seminars, and local health events. The institutes also pays a Tallahassee public relations firm, Ron Sachs Communications, $8,000 a month.

The institute's audited financial statement for the 2005 fiscal year reflects a budget of about $20-million, including $4-million for Alzheimer's research and $2.6-million for general and administrative expenses.

The largest expense is for construction of the new headquarters.

If Bush signs the bill - and a spokeswoman said he probably will - the institute will be forced to more fully document its research and must spend at least 20 percent of state money on "peer-reviewed, investigator initiated" research. The bill HB 1027 was sponsored by Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, and passed both houses unanimously.

For the institute, the result could have been worse: The original bill required the institute to spend 80 percent of state money on research, a proposal that Potter resisted in a letter to Bush that warned that the institute would become "an ATM for Florida scientists to receive grants."

If that had happened, Potter said, the institute would have been destroyed, because it could not recruit research scientists. In an interview, he said that without the flexibility to spend state money for construction, the institute could not complete its seven-story, $40-million building on the USF campus by early next year - a building critical to the recruitment of scientists, he said.

"The building is an investment that will pay huge dividends in terms of attracting people to Florida," Potter said. "The opportunity is there to make Florida the critical place for clinical research."

The institute was created in 2002, the year Byrd became speaker, and is patterned after its older, more respected cousin named after the last House speaker from Hillsborough: the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa.

Byrd's father died of Alzheimer's in 1998, the day his son won re-election. Byrd, 55, has left politics and practices law in Plant City.

Others on the 13-member board include Byrd's law partner, D. Howard Stitzel III; Daniel Raulerson, a Plant City accountant who has served as Byrd's campaign treasurer; Richard Beard III, a Tampa real estate developer who was a supporter and fundraiser for Byrd's campaigns; and Pamela Vergara, a Tampa environmental consultant hired by Byrd when he was speaker.

The rest of the board includes scientific, academic and business professionals.

"Any idea that I have some majority on there is not factual," Byrd said.

Byrd said the idea of a self-perpetuating board of directors was copied from the Moffitt Center. He predicted disruption if the board undergoes wholesale changes, but said: "Whoever's on that board will quickly see the righteousness of the cause."

Potter said that he rarely speaks with Byrd and that the ex-speaker has no more influence on the institute's operations than any other director. He expressed surprise at how Byrd still evokes strong reactions, two years after leaving Tallahassee. "The animosity seems to be pretty strong," Potter said.

The institute employs about 60 people under the direction of Potter, who holds three degrees from Harvard and is paid about $176,000 a year.

The institute won a $7.5-million grant from the National Institute of Health and the institute's designation as Florida's only Alzheimer's disease research center.

Among the projects under way is an upgrade of computers to create a statewide database of the work of Florida's 14 memory disorder clinics.

One of the center's scientists, Dr. Paivi Liesi, formerly of the University of Helsinki, has discovered a peptide that can repair severed nerves, allowing paralyzed rats to regain use of their hind legs.

Sen. Lee's skepticism of the institute could become a bigger issue because he's running for chief financial officer, a job that would give him the power to question or block state payments to vendors. He vowed to appoint new members with his five three-year appointments. House Speaker Allan Bense also has five picks, and Bush has four.

Lee said he heard from people who wanted to be on the board but couldn't "because they were not close to the Byrd political machine."

"What do they have to hide?" Lee asked.

Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, who took Byrd's former seat, is a passionate supporter of the institute and worked to defeat the 80 percent grant provision last session. Glorioso said his father-in-law has Alzheimer's and is participating in one of the center's nine clinical trials. Because his father-in-law has Alzheimer's, Glorioso said, his wife likely carries the gene, too.

"I'm pretty selfish on this one," Glorioso said. He said the institute's credibility and future state funding, depends on solid research.

"If there are quality outcomes, then God bless them," Lee said. "But if this is more sizzle than substance, then that ought to be revealed as well."

Times staff writer David Ballingrud contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.

JOHNNIE BYRD SR. ALZHEIMER'S CENTER: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thomas Conklin Chairman, board of directors

Johnnie B. Byrd Jr. Partner, Byrd & Stitzel, P.A.

Richard A. Beard III RA Beard Co.

Phyllis Cobb Collier and Cobb Consulting

Judy L. Genshaft, Ph.D. President, University of South Florida

Wayne Goodman, MD Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida

John M. Hehn Jr. Executive director, Florida Presbyterian Homes Inc.

Dr. Jill B. Quadagno Pepper Institute on Aging & Public Policy

Daniel D. Raulerson Edwards, Platt, Raulerson & Co., P.A.

D. Howard Stitzel III Partner, Byrd & Stitzel, P.A.

Pamela Vergara, Ph.D., P.E. Skyshadow Ventures, Inc.

Marge Weppler Philanthropist and retired banking executive

Bill Edmonds Director of communications, Florida Board of Governors

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 05:23:36]