Candidate's mailings get heated as primary nears

A Democratic candidate for Hillsborough state attorney fires off critical mailings, which his opponent says are "outright lies.''

By KATHRYN WEXLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 30, 2000

TAMPA -- With the primary just around the corner, the Democratic race for Hillsborough County state attorney heated up this week with one candidate firing off accusatory mailings, some with murky background photos of $100 bills changing hands.

Jonathan Alpert mailed two fliers that take sharp aim at his opponent, Robert Shimberg, with some of race's shrillest accusations yet.

"He's got something to hide," states one Alpert mailing. It says Shimberg, a former prosecutor "failed to stand up for victims," when he did not bring charges against a sheriff's deputy who took nude photos of a woman he was questioning.

Shimberg reacted strongly on Tuesday.

"What he is saying about me is an outright lie," Shimberg said angrily. What Alpert's pamphlet doesn't mention, Shimberg said, is that he took the 1995 case to a grand jury, which declined to indict the deputy. The deputy resigned over the incident.

Another Alpert mailing this week paints Shimberg as a shill for big business. It says he "represents the Glazers," health plans and large banks, and is an "advocate for big corporations and utilities."

Shimberg called those characterizations, "lies and distortion" and said Alpert's suggestions have "absolutely nothing to do with the race for state attorney."

A faded background photo on Alpert's pamphlet shows a close-up of a handshake, with a spray of $100 bills sticking out from between the two men's hands. The same photo appears on the front of the flier, with the caption, "The People or The Powerful."

Alpert, 55, bills himself as an underdog litigator defending the interests of the dispossessed. He has sued the same type of corporations he says Shimberg represents as a partner in the law firm Hill, Ward & Henderson.

Alpert said his suggestion that Shimberg has represented the Glazers stems from his firm's representation of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team owned by the Glazers.

"Robert Shimberg has never represented the Glazers," said Shimberg, 38, who joined Hill, Ward & Henderson in 1998 after nearly five years as a Hillsborough assistant state attorney.

Shimberg said he has, however, given legal advice to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Glazer family owns the football team.

Alpert said it doesn't matter that it is Shimberg's firm, and not necessarily Shimberg himself, that represents corporate clients. "It's a conflict of interest," Alpert said.

"I say that is the most misleading, dishonest campaign," Shimberg said. The worst Shimberg's mailings have said about Alpert is that he "makes a living by suing people."

In his latest mailing, Alpert says Shimberg is getting rich defending special interests.

But Shimberg points to the financial disclosures both candidates filed. Shimberg reported $120,000 in earnings last year. Alpert listed an income of $452,216.

While things are quieter these days on the Republican side of the state attorney race, the campaign has also had some recent flare-ups over mailings.

Mark Ober's first round of mailings featured a laudatory quote by Margie Kincaid, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Hillsborough County.

"He has earned a reputation as one of the city's top trial lawyers," reads the quote, citing a February story in the St. Petersburg Times. "We've been after him to run for years."

As a rule, Kincaid said, the Republican Party does not endorse candidates before the primary. Ober's brochure made her comment sound like an endorsement, she said. Lots of angry calls came in from supporters of Ober's opponent, Bill Jennings.

"Everybody was all over me like a mess of ants," she said.

Kincaid said she got assurances from an Ober campaign volunteer that it wouldn't happen again. It did. A subsequent mailing used the same quote.

"She never spoke to me directly," Ober said.

Kincaid phoned Jennings' campaign staff and offered a positive statement, which went out on Jennings' mailings. The move was to "level the playing field," Kincaid said.

Jennings didn't stop there. He also added a photograph of Gov. Jeb Bush with his arm around Jennings.

Ober called the photo "deceptive," saying it appeared to suggest an endorsement. Jennings said that wasn't his intention.

"Why did he put it on there then?" Ober said.

Jennings said he contacted the governor's office before the mailings went out.

Bush spokeswoman Elizabeth Hirst said the governor did not endorse Jennings but that the governor's office could not stop Jennings from using the photograph.

- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3383 or wexler@sptimes.com.

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