Sheriff: Allegation is a surprise

Sheriff Cal Henderson calls accounts of a judge collecting campaign funds for him "news to me.''

By GRAHAM BRINK and SUE CARLTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 5, 2000

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County Sheriff Cal Henderson heard a rumor on Thursday: A judge was collecting money for an unnamed public official. That's a no-no, as judicial ethics forbid judges from getting involved in political races.

The public official? Henderson himself, as it turns out.

Friday, Henderson said he had no knowledge that Circuit Judge Gasper Ficarrotta had collected any money for his current campaign, if indeed it happened at all.

"It was news to me," Henderson said. "I did not know about it at all."

The allegation that Ficarrotta collected campaign money sprung from an ongoing Judicial Qualifications Commission investigation into Ficarrotta and his alleged 11/2-year extramarital affair with Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Tara Pisano. Investigators are looking into allegations that Pisano, a bailiff, feared for her job and family after the relationship ended in April 1999.

Henderson said he has not spoken with Ficarrotta about whether he collected any money for his campaign. He said he thought it would be inappropriate to speak to Ficarrotta at this time since his detectives questioned the judge this week in another courthouse investigation.

Henderson said he counts Ficarrotta among his friends, as he does many of the Hillsborough judges.

"I won't talk to him until the other investigation is over," Henderson said. "I want to avoid any appearance that I'm trying to influence any of the inquiries."

The Code of Judicial Conduct forbids judges from soliciting funds for campaigns so they can maintain their impartiality. Lawyers or others who gave money might curry favor with a judge, or at least it might look that way. On the other hand, a judge might not be fair to those who didn't contribute. Either way, the judiciary is tainted.

Ficarrotta has not commented about the allegations and did not return phone messages Friday. Pisano declined to comment because the investigation is pending. But she did briefly address the allegations involving campaign money for Henderson, saying she believes the sheriff did not know about any such activities. Meanwhile, investigations of another civil court judge, Robert Bonanno, continued Friday. He came under the scrutiny of the JQC and the Sheriff's Office after a bailiff said she found himin another judge's office after hours.

Sheriff's investigators have completed the interviews and were wrapping up the final report Friday, said Sheriff's Maj. Jose Docobo. He expected to have the report to the State Attorney's Office by Monday or Tuesday. Prosecutors will make the final decision on whether to file charges.

The incident has a political subtext. The office belonged to Circuit Judge Greg Holder. Weeks earlier, after the suicide of State Attorney Harry Lee Coe, Holder sent an e-mail to the governor, warning that there was an ongoing JQC investigation into judges who were interested in being appointed as interim state attorney.

But only one judge had expressed an interest in the job: Chief Judge Dennis Alvarez, Bonanno's close friend and former law partner. When asked about the possibility that he was being looked at by the JQC, Alvarez acknowledged he was aware of allegations that he tried to cover up sexual harassment complaints against another judge, Ed Ward.

Last week, questions were raised when Bonanno was found in Holder's darkened office after hours when Holder was out of town. This week, Bonanno's attorney Ralph Fernandez told reporters there was a reasonable explanation. Bonanno had come in the office to see Holder for various reasons, not through the locked front door but through an unlocked side door, he said.

Holder's bailiff reported that Bonanno had appeared to be trying to conceal himself from her, but Fernandez said she misinterpreted Bonanno's behavior. "Given the tensions, no wonder this could escalate," Fernandez said.

What's more, Fernandez said, Bonanno was aware that Holder and Alvarez had begun to mend fences, so there was no motive for Bonanno to be up to anything untoward.

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