Campaign flier rouses outrage

The Florida Fraternal Order of Police takes offense to a flier claiming the FOP backs a sheriff's candidate.

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 26, 2000

A recent campaign brochure for Pinellas County sheriff's candidate Jack Soule has the law enforcement community abuzz.

Under a bold heading, "The Unanimous Choice of Area Law Enforcement," the flier claims Soule has won the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Well, only in Hialeah, a city near Miami and 269.8 miles away. And only from one member.

The Pinellas lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police is endorsing Soule's opponent, incumbent Sheriff Everett Rice.

"It's an effort to deceive the public, and I'm absolutely livid," said Tim Ingold, Pinellas FOP president and a Pinellas sheriff's sergeant.

The mailing has created such a furor that a committee for fair campaign practices is investigating, and the Florida Fraternal of Police has called for the expulsion of the "rogue" member of the Hialeah lodge who broke rules by supporting someone outside its city.

"We would never cross borders to endorse other areas that don't have any affect on our people," Philip Cameron, Florida FOP president, said Friday.

The Pinellas County Fair Campaign Practices Committee will hold a hearing in the coming days to determine whether the brochure is misleading. Other than casting a cloud over the wrongdoer, the committee has no power.

"I'm not going to prejudge, but there's sufficient merit that we will have a hearing panel to discuss the issue," said Paulson, a government professor at the University of South Florida.

Candidates are prohibited from making false or malicious statements about an opponent, according to Florida election law. But it is unclear whether the law extends to groups or people beyond the candidate, as in this case, said Deborah Clark, Pinellas County's Supervisor of Elections.

"I've never had this come up before," she said.

There also is a question about whether the Florida Police Benevolent Association notified the appropriate people about its ad. A group or person spending more than $1,000 for a candidate is supposed to provide a duplicate of the ad for review.

Soule's brochure was designed and financed by the Florida PBA, of which Soule is a vice president. It was mailed Wednesday to 15,000 "super voters" -- habitual Pinellas County voters.

The Florida PBA, based in Tallahassee, does not understand the hoopla over the brochure. It has endorsed Soule.

"I think most people would probably look at it and yawn," said David Murrell, its executive director.

Soule, a St. Petersburg police officer and president of the Pinellas County PBA, said Friday that he did not know about the mailing until it hit mailboxes. Until Thursday, Soule added, he did not know about Hialeah's support.

"It was an endorsement I didn't know about," Soule said.

This latest episode only adds to the bad blood between the Pinellas FOP and the Pinellas PBA.

Both groups are vying to be the bargaining agent for salaries and benefits in the sheriff's office. The sheriff now sets the pay and has a better relationship with the FOP.

"This just reaffirms what I've been saying," Sheriff Rice said Friday. "It's the union versus the sheriff."

The flap over the brochure began Wednesday when a Pinellas sheriff's deputy threw it down on Ingold's desk, wanting answers. Shocked, Ingold said he immediately began calling area FOPs, all of which reported that they do not back Soule. He later learned an FOP member in Hialeah who also is a PBA member supported Soule.

"Apparently, one member of the FOP sent out a letter," said Joe Puleo, a staff representative for the Florida FOP.

Puleo said the Hialeah lodge does not endorse Soule, and would not be allowed to endorse Rice even if it wanted to.

The Florida PBA did not ask Soule to review the brochure's text, though Soule's campaign manager Dean Rivett sent information about Soule to Tallahassee for the mailing, said Murrell, the Florida PBA's executive director.

Said Murrell: "It probably would have been clearer to say FOP lodges elsewhere or something like that."

- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

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