Panels help Crist make the court appointments
MIAMI (AP) – Gov. Charlie Crist has created shadow panels that include lawmakers, a retired Supreme Court justice and other outside advisers to help him make court appointments.
That’s drawn criticism from a political opponent who says Crist may be trying to circumvent nominating commissions set up by the Florida Constitution. The commissions, designed to take some of the politics out of the appointments, vet applicants and submit a list of finalists to the governor.
Shadow panelists have been asked to interview applicants for judgeships in Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Pinellas counties and the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee over the past year, according to records obtained by the Daily Business Review based in Miami.
They don’t indicate how extensive the practice is but show panelists usually got the same information given to nominating commissions.
Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is opposing Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination next year, said the panels operate “outside the public light” and have politicized the process.
“It appears the decision is being made to appease certain demographic groups,” Rubio said. “It’s so he can say: ‘I appointed judges like you.'”
Crist spokeswoman Erin Isaac defend the practice.
“To get to know and best assess the legal abilities of candidates, we sometimes engage respected and knowledgeable individuals from the community,” Isaac said.
Crist created the panels even though the governor already appoints the nominating commissions. Some current members, though, were appointed by his predecessor, Jeb Bush. At Bush’s urging, the Legislature in 2001 gave the governor sole authority to select the nine-member commissions, a move that made them more political.
Previously, the governor and Florida Bar each made three appointments and those members selected the final three.
One commission last year turned down Crist’s demand to revise an all-white list of nominees to add black finalists for an opening on the 5th District Court of Appeal. Crist then refused to make any appointment to the Daytona Beach court until the Florida Supreme Court told him he must and that he had to use the commission’s slate.
Crist’s advisers span the political spectrum.
Legislators include Rep. Marcelo Llorente, a Miami Republican, and two Democrats, Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach and Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg. All are lawyers, and Gelber is running for attorney general.
Former American Bar Association President Martha Barnett, former Chief Justice Major Harding and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People lawyer Chuck Hobbs, all of Tallahassee, also have taken part in the interviews.
Isaac said the governor did not rely on outside lawyers to interview Supreme Court nominees and denied the panels narrowed the lists of finalists.
“We share our thoughts generally, but who the governor decides to interview is his decision,” said Harding.
Gelber said a vote was never taken during what he called “post-panel interviews.”
Hobbs, though, ranked appellate court nominees in a Sept. 9 letter to Crist’s general counsel, Rob Wheeler.
There was some consensus, acknowledged former Florida Bar Association President Kelly Overstreet Johnson of Tallahassee.
“I wouldn’t say we took votes,” Johnson said. “There were certain people who we all thought were really good.”
Using private advisers is nothing unusual, but Crist’s put a different twist on it.
Raquel Rodriguez, a Miami lawyer who served as Bush’s general counsel, said Bush sometimes relied on outside attorneys but they usually shared his conservative views and none were elected officials. She said Bush personally interviewed all finalists for the Supreme Court and appellate courts.