Tampabay: Public defender will return money

Public defender will return money

Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger says he will return all contributions made by his office employees to his re-election campaign.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

LARGO -- Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger says he does not recall saying that he would never accept campaign contributions from office employees. But he isn't taking any chances.

Dillinger announced Wednesday that he will return all contributions made by his office employees to his current re-election campaign "just as soon as I can write the checks."

"I'm not going to have the community think that I violated a pledge," Dillinger said in an interview. "My perception was different. But this office is too important to have that perception out there that the office is politicized."

The decision came on the same day a St. Petersburg Times story reported that in 1996 Dillinger criticized then-incumbent Public Defender Robert Jagger for accepting campaign contributions from employees.

Dillinger was paraphrased in a February 1996 Times article pledging that, if elected, he would never accept campaign donations from his own staff in any future campaign.

But this year, Dillinger collected $11,305 from his own employees or their family members, nearly half of the $24,530 he had raised through June 30, contribution records show.

Dillinger said Wednesday that he only pledged that he wouldn't take money from employees in 1996, when Jagger was the incumbent. At the time, Dillinger said he was worried that Jagger was forcing employees to contribute to his campaign.

In campaign literature at that time, Dillinger said, "I feel it is inappropriate to politicize the office by having employees support one candidate or the other."

Dillingerthought it was appropriate to seek and accept employee campaign contributions four years later because, unlike Jagger, hewasn't pressuring employees to give, he said.

Dillinger faces an election challenge by one of his former assistants, Cimos Angelis, who on Wednesday said that Dillinger did the right thing bydeciding to give the money back.

"He knows that what he did was wrong," Angelis said. "As far as politicizing the office, that's already occurred. This is too little too late. But I'm glad for the employees. I really hope this is a step in the right direction to keep them out of the politics in the office."

In a statement Wednesday, sent to his employees via e-mail, Dillinger said: "It was never my intention to pledge never to take such contributions. But as I see from today's newspaper, some people do believe that is what I pledged.

"If I had known how my statements four years ago would be construed today, I certainly would never have accepted employee contributions. It is important that I reassure the people of Pinellas and Pasco counties that I will not politicize this office in any way, shape or form.

"I have done nothing except bring professional reforms to this office, and I don't want a 4-year-old misunderstanding to taint that."

Dillinger, who earns $125,351 a year, said his campaign has not spent the money that employeescontributed. But even if ithad, Dillinger said, hewould pay employees back with personal funds.

Dillinger also disputed the amount of campaign contributionsfrom employees or family members that the Times listed in its story on Tuesday. Dillinger said the total contributed was closer to about $8,900, not $11,305.

However, a comparison of campaign contributions with a list of office employeesappeared to confirm the higher figure.

But Dillinger said he will repay the amount, whatever it is.

"If that's the perception," he said, "then I need to cure the perception. So I'll give the money back, and then we can talk about the merits of the candidates as opposed to this."