Wildlife board: friends or foes?

The appointees have ties to developers, but the governor defends his selections.

By CRAIG PITTMAN and MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writers
Published August 9, 2007

To run the board that oversees protection for the state's wildlife, Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed a South Florida developer who was investigated for wrestling an alligator and an Orlando land-use attorney who steered a public contract to a private business that then hired him.

Crist also reappointed to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission a Jacksonville construction executive who heads up a legal foundation that opposes environmental regulations.

Among the applicants Crist passed over: a biology professor from the University of Central Florida, a former state Department of Environmental Protection official and the conservation director of a privately owned wildlife preserve.

Crist's three appointments this week to the seven-member wildlife commission sparked consternation among environmental groups, who had urged the governor to pick someone not connected with the development business. The other members of the commission are an executive with the Panhandle's biggest developer, a Tampa mall builder, a Miami lobbyist and a Delray Beach construction company executive.

"He chose to go with people with the same development ... background as before," said Laurie MacDonald of Defenders of Wildlife. "The board does not represent the perspective of the majority of people in Florida."

And Jennifer Hobgood of the Humane Society complained that the commission "should not be held captive by a few special interests."

A spokesman for the governor said Crist and his staff had reviewed "all pertinent information" in making the three selections.

"The governor is confident his appointments to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will serve the people of Florida with integrity and honor," spokesman Anthony DeLuise said. He said Crist is sure all three "will be a tremendous asset to the commission."

The wildlife commission manages all of Florida's fish and wildlife. It oversees areas where hunters can track deer and other game, enforces speed zones to protect manatees from boats and reviews development permits that might affect panthers. The commission has repeatedly run into controversy, most recently over its practice of issuing thousands of permits for developers to pave over the burrows of gopher tortoises, leaving them to die.

The seven unpaid commissioners who run the agency serve five-year terms. They are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.

The last time an appointee ran into trouble was in 1997, when Gov. Lawton Chiles' nominee withdrew amid allegations of cocaine use, lying, assault and animal cruelty.

One of the three commissioners Crist appointed this week has recently been investigated by the wildlife commission for mishandling a wild animal.

Ron Bergeron, 63, a Weston development tycoon who also owns a mining operation, tried to spice up a tour of his Hendry County ranch last year by jumping on a 7-foot alligator. The gator bit him, breaking two of his fingers.

Because it is against state law to harass an alligator, wildlife officers investigated Bergeron. When they turned their findings over to the Hendry County State Attorney's Office, however, the state attorney declined to prosecute the developer.

Crist's other new appointee is Kenneth Wright, 59, an Orlando lawyer whose client list includes most of Central Florida's developers.

Eight years ago, when Wright was chairman of the Orlando-Sanford Airport Authority, he steered an airport contract away from the company the board had selected and handed it over to a company called Ecobank that had hired two of his friends as salesmen.

Wright's friends, Seminole County Commission Chairman Randy Morris and Seminole County GOP chairman Jim Stelling, split a $37,800 commission on the deal.

Although Ecobank officials alleged under oath that Wright himself was paid as well, Wright on Wednesday denied ever taking money for the airport deal.

"I'm a straight guy," Wright said.

He said that taking such a deal would have endangered his law practice and that "if you don't think I'm an honest guy, then I hope you deal with me enough to know that I'm not a stupid guy."

However, Wright acknowledged that after the airport deal went through, he became a salesman for Ecobank, too.

In one instance, Ecobank paid him a $6,000 commission for his help landing a contract with Seminole County.

Wright has also been embroiled in a long-running scandal at the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority over allegations that the chairman, an ally of Wright's, paid off a critic to buy his silence.

In addition to Bergeron and Wright, Crist reappointed Kathy Barco, 48, president of Barco-Duval Engineering and chairwoman of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which has opposed environmental regulations.

When Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her three years ago, she responded to questions about her affiliation by saying, "I don't run the organization. I just believe in what they do."

The new commissioners' first meeting will take place in St. Petersburg on Sept. 12.

Among other issues, they will be voting on taking manatees off the state's endangered list.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified August 8, 2007, 23:37:50]