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Ex-adversaries to meet again in new arena
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD and STEVE HUETTEL © St. Petersburg Times, published November 23, 2000 TAMPA -- Nine years ago, Pat Frank and Steven Anderson faced each other across a federal courtroom. Frank's role: Prosecution witness in a mortgage fraud case against the well-connected lawyer and his partner. The lawyers' firm had bought a Plant Avenue property from Frank and her husband, Richard. After the lawyers borrowed $1-million from Life Savings and Loan Association in Clearwater, authorities accused them of concealing the mortgage they owed the Franks. Both Anderson and the former partner, W. Thompson Thorn III, were acquitted in 1991, and nobody lost money on the deals. When the Tampa Port Authority meets next month, Frank and Anderson will face each other again, this time in radically different roles. Anderson has been the port's main legal gun since 1993. Frank, now a county commissioner, became the port's newest board member Tuesday. Observers will be watching to see how much bad blood persists. "I think there's some concern on her part (related to) her relations with him in the past," said Mike Scionti, chairman of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee. Frank's appointment may undercut the port board's support for Anderson, a prominent Democrat who acted as Hillsborough County campaign coordinator for former Gov. Lawton Chiles. Two of the other four members of the board are Republicans appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush. Frank said she intends to scrutinize the whole port operation. "There's a bigger issue than Mr. Anderson," she said. Anderson declined to comment on his history with Frank, or to characterize the state of their current relations. "I'm going to trust Commissioner Frank to exercise good judgment, just as I would, and I can't worry about issues like that," Anderson said. "My job is to provide good legal service to the port, and I'm going to." Anderson, who acts as "special counsel" to the five-member board, said he charges $175 per hour, a deep discount on his normal rate. In fiscal year 1999-2000, the tax-supported Port Authority reported paying his law firm $227,566 for its services, and $281,168 in the year before that. That's a dramatic drop-off from the 1993-1994 fiscal year, when Anderson became the port's general counsel and his firm collected $743,440, with total legal fees reaching about $1-million, four times as much as previous years. After news stories about the skyrocketing bills, commissioners voted to hire a staff attorney, but kept Anderson on in the special counsel role. He continued to steer legal work to his firm and help pick which attorneys got other cases the in-house counsel couldn't handle. Joseph Diaz, a port commissioner appointed by Bush, said he thinks the port could save money by eliminating the job of special counsel.
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From the Times |
