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Judge earns respect, enemies
By DAVID KARP, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- It was July 2000 and Circuit Judge Gregory Holder stood in the chief judge's office with an explosive letter in his hand. Before Holder handed it over, former Chief Judge F. Dennis Alvarez urged him to reconsider what he was about to do. Both men knew the letter would force volatile allegations about another judge into the open and ripple through the courthouse for months. For more than a decade, Alvarez had ruled over the courthouse by defusing controversies like this one. He preferred to handle matters in-house, discreetly. Alvarez said he didn't want Holder to regret his actions, to come back in six months saying, "Chief, why didn't you talk me out of it?" But Holder, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, was not the sort of judge to need hand-holding. He knew what he should do, and he didn't need Alvarez's approval. He promptly turned in the letter and informed the press that a bailiff had found Judge Robert Bonanno in Holder's empty office after hours. In that moment, as the rush of allegations about Bonanno and other judges began to pour out, there occurred a clash of philosophies about how to run the Hillsborough County Courthouse. By challenging the courthouse's code, Holder has made himself a well-known name, admired by many members of the public. But he has also made enemies, mainly within the closed world of the courthouse. Now, in a twist befitting a TV miniseries, Holder faces an ethics investigation that some see as payback for violating the judiciary's longstanding code of secrecy. The state's Judicial Qualifications Commission is investigating whether Holder gave a false answer to a question on an application for a federal judgeship. The question asked if anyone had ever filed a complaint against Holder. Holder answered no, but the JQC claims that was false because the chairman of the JQC had twice spoken to Holder in secret to admonish him about speaking to the press. The JQC's investigation into Holder would have remained secret, but Holder confirmed it after reporters questioned him. "I thought it was typical that when the rumor (about the investigation) came out, he is the one that acknowledged it to the press," said U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., a friend. "That is Greg's attitude. The public has the right to know. He hurts himself as much as it helps him." Holder greets visitors with a broad smile and a firm handshake. He stands 6 feet 3, weighs 205 pounds, keeps his hair short and his clothes neat. In Holder's office, visitors can see the signs of his idealism, though some might see them as signs of braggadocio. Underneath the glass on his conference table is a poster of an American eagle with the warning, "Do not mistake my act of kindness for a sign of weakness." A poster from the Western movie Tombstone hangs on the wall. "Justice is coming," it says. When voters elected Holder to the county bench in 1994, he stepped into a political scene he knew little about. For years, judges in Hillsborough got appointed by befriending lawyers who grew up together and made connections in the close-knit coffee shops of Tampa. At the top of the network was E.J. Salcines, who served as Hillsborough's top prosecutor from 1968 to 1985. One sign of Salcines' influence: About a quarter of Hillsborough's current judges, as well as the state attorney and public defender, are alumni of the South Texas College of Law, a little-known school whose only connection to Tampa is Salcines, a member of the school's board. Holder was never a part of the old Tampa network. He grew up in Melbourne, the oldest son of a working-class military family. At Eau Gallie High School, he excelled in academics and sports. His senior year he was named Boy of the Year. "He was Mr. Everything," said Arden Dickey, a high school friend who is now a vice president at Knight Ridder. "He was the most popular kid in school." Holder watched the TV news as teenagers returned from Vietnam in body bags. It didn't change his resolve to join the service. He enrolled at West Point in 1971. "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life," Holder said. "You learned your true limits, both mental and physical, of your body and mind." His senior year, Holder met his future wife, D.A. Kobliska, at a military hospital. About two years later, they wed. Holder, a Methodist, converted to Roman Catholicism, his wife's faith. "She is my biggest supporter and my biggest critic," Holder said. "She keeps me humble, and she keeps me spiritual." The couple moved from base to base. In 1985, they were stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. In 1988, he entered private law practice and joined the reserves, working at U.S. Special Operations Command. Ken Lawson, a former federal prosecutor in Tampa, served with him. "When he answers yes, it's yes," Lawson said. "When he answers no, it's no. There is no gray area. He will do the right thing every day and every time. He is someone I will stand up for any day, any time." Friends say Holder isn't afraid of a fight and doesn't worry about getting ostracized for his ideals. "He demands the best out of himself and expects the best out of everyone else," said Assistant State Attorney Sharon Vollrath, a law school friend. "If he thinks you aren't doing your best, I think that is an issue for him." As a judge, Holder has shown the same traits. Assigned to the Plant City Courthouse, Holder made headlines by chasing down a defendant through the streets. As a judge in the juvenile division, Holder spoke out about the shortcomings of the juvenile justice system, an institution cloaked in secrecy to protect children. Once, he held an open court hearing about mistakes made in the case of a 2 1/2-year-old boy killed by his parents. "We wear robes, not hoods," he announced. Quotes such as that one make headlines, but they also offend many of Holder's colleagues, who try not to draw attention to themselves. Privately, many other judges call Holder a showboat and a hypocrite for holding people to standards he cannot uphold. Few judges and lawyers would comment on the record about Holder. But in testimony last year, Alvarez said: "He is considered the leak of the courthouse." It's true that Holder will go out of his way to help reporters. At times, he has called before dawn on weekdays or on weekends. Holder said he welcomes the attention of the press. "It's only through open disclosure and discourse that our system will improve," he said. Holder's willingness to speak out exposed wrongdoing by Judge Edward Ward, who resigned under pressure in 2000 in an embarrassing incident. Holder repeatedly urged the chief judge to take action after he learned that Ward was sexually harassing women. The JQC eventually charged Ward with misconduct, and he quit. Then, Holder demanded a public investigation of Bonanno, who was caught in Holder's empty office after hours. The two were from separate political camps, and Bonanno and Alvarez are longtime friends. Other judges would have let Alvarez handle the matter. But Holder wanted a public inquiry partly because he didn't trust Alvarez to police his colleagues. Alvarez, after all, counted on the support of others to win election as chief judge for 13 years, the longest tenure of any in Hillsborough's history. "Twice I had gone through the chain of command, reporting serious acts of misconduct against innocent victims, and twice no action was taken to stop that absolutely unlawful and terrible behavior," Holder said. Alvarez eventually resigned after the JQC investigated how he handled the affairs. Alvarez lost his usual cool with reporters one time in July 2000 when he learned that Holder had spoken to reporters about the investigation. Holder had also sent Gov. Jeb Bush an e-mail informing the governor of the JQC investigation. When Alvarez learned of Holder's actions, he lost it. "I'm pretty sure when your article hits the paper tomorrow, I think Judge Holder will be getting a nice inquiry," Alvarez told the St. Petersburg Times at the time. Shortly afterward, the chairman of the JQC met with Holder to tell him not to speak to the press so openly. Holder's failure to disclose that secret conversation on his federal judge application has led, in part, to the current investigation of him. If the JQC charges Holder with misconduct, expect the rivalry between Holder and Alvarez -- and the clash of their two philosophies -- to rage publicly for many more months. "I think this system of justice expects two things: honesty and accountability," Holder said. "The citizens should demand no more and expect no less."
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