State: JNC tactics fall under new cloud

JNC tactics fall under new cloud

A member already under Florida Bar scrutiny draws more heat for hiring an investigator to look into a judge candidate.

By LUCY MORGAN

TALLAHASSEE -- The North Florida Nominating Commission that asked one judicial candidate about a sexually transmitted disease also hired a Jacksonville private investigator to look into a second candidate.

Both candidates -- Holland and Knight lawyer Scott D. Makar of Jacksonville and lawyer Brad Thomas -- have close ties to Gov. Jeb Bush. Makar, a Republican, was appointed to serve on the governor's death penalty task force and Thomas is a key adviser on Bush's personal staff who has supported efforts to speed up enforcement of the death penalty.

Both men were among 21 applicants the commission interviewed last month for two vacancies on the appellate court that hears North Florida cases. Neither man made the final list of recommendations sent to the governor.

"This is deeply disturbing behavior and conduct unbecoming a member of the JNC," Bush said Tuesday after hearing about the private investigator's report.

"They were even getting into information about his next door neighbors," noted Katie Baur, communications director for the governor.

Both situations involve Jacksonville lawyer Elizabeth White, a member of the judicial nominating commission that nominates judges for the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.

White is an opponent of the death penalty and considered a philosophical opponent of the governor, but she vehemently rejects any suggestion that she pursued the two candidates for political reasons.

"That's absolutely ridiculous," she said Tuesday. "I deal in facts."

The questions White posed to Makar last month have already become the subject of a formal investigation by the Florida Bar. Makar was asked if he lied about having a sexually transmitted disease and other issues raised during a 1998 divorce. The questions were posed by White after she distributed selected copies of documents from his divorce file to fellow commission members last month.

Makar says the commission did not review copies of other documents in the same court file that contradicted those White distributed.

Now the governor's office has learned that White had her brother, J. Cooper White, look into Thomas' background. Her brother is a licensed private investigator and former law enforcement officer who frequently handles her law firm's investigations, says Gray Thomas, a firm spokesman who called a St. Petersburg Times reporter after White initially refused to answer questions about her relationship with the investigator.

"I'm not going to answer that question," she said when asked whether the investigator was a relative and again when asked who paid his fees.

Bush said the Florida Bar's investigation of the Makar situation should now be expanded to include a look at White's hiring of an investigator.

"And if these allegations are true, she should resign from the commission," Bush added.

The investigator's report, which includes detailed personal and financial information on Thomas, surfaced after Tallahassee lawyer Peter Antonacci requested copies of public records from White and other members of the commission.

Antonacci said he requested the records in an effort to determine what happened. He is also questioning allegations that the commission destroyed some of its records.

The Sept. 19 private investigator's report, written by J. Cooper White, referred to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report indicating Thomas had a criminal arrest record that had been sealed and expunged.

Chris Martinez, chairman of the nominating commission, said Tuesday that White offered to check on the sealed record since she lives in Jacksonville and handles criminal cases.

Thomas said he was unaware of the report or that any record had been sealed until he was interviewed by commission members on Sept. 18.

He said he has since learned that the report referred to a 1976 incident when he and five college friends were taken into custody by police after they climbed up on the roof of a bowling alley in the Jacksonville area.

"I was stunned," Thomas said as he recalled being asked about the incident. "I was honestly not aware that any record had been sealed."

Thomas said he and his friends were released within a few hours, and no formal charge was ever filed against them.

"It was a youthful hijink," Thomas said. "I was 22 and in college at Florida State. We went up there to hang out and maybe drink a beer. Somebody in our little group liked to climb things."

Thomas, now 46, said he believes the record was sealed at his father's request, but he doesn't know the details because his father died in 1978.

Before going to work for Bush in 1999, Thomas handled criminal justice issues for legislative committees and worked for five years as a felony prosecutor for Tallahassee State Attorney Willie Meggs.

Antonacci said he is now considering a public records lawsuit against the commission.

"I have been told I am not entitled to get copies of ballots or notes because they were run through a shredder," Antonacci said.

Martinez said she does not believe the ballots are public record. She said duplicate records and notes kept by commission members were put in a large waste basket and left at the Florida Bar building after the meeting.

"I did not destroy the ballots," Martinez said. "I can't tell you what happened to the ballots."