Politics

Savvy chief at child justice

St. Petersburg's Frank Peterman has long advocated children's causes.

By ALEX LEARY and STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writers
Published February 8, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Rep. Frank Peterman, a minister, is to be officially named today.

TALLAHASSEE - State Rep. Frank Peterman, a St. Petersburg Democrat long involved in child welfare issues, will be named this morning as the head of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Gov. Charlie Crist is to make the announcement at the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum in St. Petersburg.

Peterman, 45, replaces Walt McNeil, who has been appointed corrections secretary, and will join McNeil as one of two high-ranking African-American appointees in the Crist administration.

"If it wasn't going to be me, I can't think of a better person than Frank," said Rep. Mitch Needelman, a Melbourne Republican who was a finalist for the job and was informed of the decision Thursday afternoon.

Peterman told the Times he wanted to respect the governor's wishes to make an announcement today.

But he said he jumped at the chance to apply two weeks ago when the governor's office called to ask him to, and espoused an emphasis on prevention, not merely locking children up. "The long-term goal is to make sure we're keeping kids out of the judicial system and rehabilitating them" he said.

A special election will have to be held to replace Peterman in the House. Several candidates are already in line as term limits would have forced Peterman out in November.

Peterman's current job outside the Legislature is development director for Juvenile Services Program Inc. in Clearwater, a nonprofit agency that is under contract from the Department of Juvenile Justice. He would have to step down from that position. He is also a pastor and founding member of the Rock of Jesus Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg.

He was recently appointed chairman of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators. He has served on the House Juvenile Justice Committee for most of his seven years in office.

His legislative career has been fairly low-key. He was most recently in the news voicing disappointment with the acquittal of guards and a nurse on trial in the manslaughter death of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old who collapsed at a boot camp for juvenile offenders in Panama City. However, Peterman was not a prominent player last year when lawmakers moved to grant $5-million to Anderson's family.

Anderson's death was perhaps the biggest, but certainly not the only scandal to rock the agency since its creation in 1994.

In 2005, Peterman proposed a bill to create the "Council on the Social Status of African-American Men and Boys.'" It passed and the advisory panel is currently investigating systemic issues facing the community.

Peterman and his wife have four children, ages 5 to 16.

"He's a guy of the highest quality, an exceptional person," said Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, the ranking Democrat in the House. "He gets along with Republicans and Democrats because they respect his passion for the juvenile justice system."

Peterman who has an English degree from Morehouse College, is expected to earn about $126,000 a year as Juvenile Justice secretary. He takes command of an agency with a budget of $704-million and 5,000 employees.

For the past several months, a 25-member panel of experts called the Blueprint Commission has studied ways to address juvenile justice trends in Florida such as high rates of recidivism, a disproportionately high number of African-American children in the system and a skyrocketing crime rate by girls.

Many of the commission's 52 recommendations would cost more money - at a time when legislators are faced with having to cut $2-billion out of the state budget.

In his $70-billion proposed budget, Crist recommended a $20-million cut for the Department of Juvenile Justice while increasing the prisons' budget by $404-million.

An advocacy group, the Children's Campaign Inc., criticized that as a wrongheaded priority. "It does not serve public safety to stand on the sidelines and wait for troubled children to become older so the corrections system can deal with them," said the group, which urged that the next Juvenile Justice secretary must be fully committed to "visionary reform."

"Frank has some challenges ahead," said Cathy Craig-Myers, executive director of the Florida Juvenile Justice Association. "But we're excited we've got someone who really knows the issues."

With the state facing its biggest budget squeeze in decades, there could be renewed pressure to merge the Department of Juvenile Justice with another agency, but Crist called himself a "big advocate" of DJJ Thursday.

Three Democrats have already filed to replace Peterman. They include activist Charles McKenzie of Sarasota, former St. Petersburg City Council member Earnest Williams and former NAACP local president Darryl Rouson.

Rouson, who made headlines several times in recent years as he was courted to the Republican Party by Jeb Bush and Crist, but recently switched back to being a Democrat saying he was doing so to appease potential voters.

Crist has made a point of creating a bipartisan administration. Peterman would be the third Democrat to hold a major agency appointment under the Republican governor, along with McNeil and child welfare secretary Bob Butterworth.

FAST FACTS:

Peterman's resume

Peterman was entering his eighth and final legislative session in the House due to term limits. But since he is leaving now, Gov. Charlie Crist will have to call a special election to find his successor. Three Democratic candidates have already filed for the seat: former St. Petersburg City Council member Earnest Williams, former local NAACP president Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg, and activist Charles McKenzie of Sarasota.

[Last modified February 8, 2008, 00:14:59]