Lobbyist tops law agency's pay list

A taxpayer-funded agency that defends death row inmates pays the former prosecutor more than its counsels earn.

By DAVID KARP

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 6, 2001

TAMPA -- Bill Jennings, the taxpayer-paid attorney who represents death row inmates in Central Florida, makes $112,500 a year. His two counterparts in Tallahassee and Miami make about the same.

But the three Capital Collateral Regional counsels aren't the best-paid people in their offices.

Death row lobbyist John Moser is.

Moser, a former prosecutor, makes $120,000 a year working part-time as a lobbyist for the state agency that handles death row cases.

The counsels hired Moser in May, shortly after he stepped down as head of the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel office in Tampa, one of three in the state.

Moser, 47, left the agency to open a private law practice.

"I had no idea he was getting that much money," said state Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, chairman of the Commission on Capital Cases and one of Moser's friends. "That is a pretty nice contract. I am kind of surprised they are paying him that much."

Some wonder whether a lobbyist is really needed for such a small agency, or if the job is just a sweetheart deal for a politically connected former prosecutor.

Advocates for death row inmates say the money could be better-spent.

"To pay someone to go to Tallahassee and schmooze with people who have no desire to do anything to help prisoners, that's a total waste of money," said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

The $120,000 salary could pay for two or three defense lawyers, he said.

The comptroller's office at first refused to approve Moser's contract, said Douglas Darling, division director of accounting and auditing. State agencies can't use tax funds to pay for lobbyists, although the CCRC's may be exempt from the ban.

After the comptroller's office objected, the capital collateral offices took lobbying out of Moser's job description. They described him as an "expert" and a "consultant."

Even so, Moser is registered with the state as a lobbyist, representing the three CCRC offices.

Moser said the public is getting its money's worth.

"They have gotten the bang for the buck," he said.

His $120,000 salary isn't so big, he said, because he doesn't get any benefits. Other lobbyists earn far more, Moser said.

"There is not a government agency of any size that does not have someone working for them," he said.

Michael Reiter, the capital collateral counsel in Tallahassee who used to work in Tampa as Moser's deputy, said he's pleased with Moser's work.

"Do you think you would be a good door-to-door vacuum salesman?" Reiter said. "Moser would be great. He can walk up to strangers and get that person to give him money."

In the recent special session, the Legislature didn't cut the CCRC's $8-million budget by 1 cent, although they removed $1-million in unspent money sitting in a trust fund.

Moser, however, didn't attend the session. A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was called up for military duty. His wife, a lawyer who used to work for state Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, filled in.

Reiter said Moser is knowledgeable about the Republican-controlled Capitol. Moser, who ran for Hillsborough state attorney in 1996, is close to Burt, a senator who sits on a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the CCRC offices. Moser is actively supporting Burt's campaign for attorney general.

"The CCRC guys don't need to hire someone to lobby me," Burt said. "I have been their biggest champion in the Legislature."

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