News Detail
A Duel of Interests Over Crist's Running Mate
(09/21/2006, Pennington News Release )
Attorney General Charlie Crist's mega-fundraiser with President Bush today in Orlando reflects the tricky terrain that the Florida Republican Party has entered as its candidate for governor welcomes the oft-maligned legal profession into the GOP's big tent.
The fundraiser is being co-hosted by Democrat John Morgan, the media-savvy founder of one of the largest and most advertised trial-lawyer firms in the state and a law partner of Crist's running mate, Rep. Jeff Kottkamp. The campaign hopes to raise $4 million from the $25,000-a-person admission and a swanky cocktail party at the Ritz-Carlton.
Crist's choice of Kottkamp is putting a crimp in the typical gush of money from trial lawyers to the Democratic nominee, Jim Davis, but it also is raising concerns among generous Republican loyalists.
The all-lawyer ticket, and Kottkamp's link to Morgan & Morgan, has traditional GOP backers, such as the medical, insurance and business lobbies, quietly trying to soothe members' concerns that Kottkamp is not their nemesis.
The Florida Medical Association acknowledged in an e-mail to members this week that it had received many calls about Kottkamp, but it urged them to 'stay focused' and rally behind Crist.
'We have been assured that this selection has nothing to do with health care or tort reform issues,' the e-mail said. ``This race is about Charlie Crist versus Jim Davis. The selection of Rep. Kottkamp does not change Charlie Crist's support for the medical profession.'
The e-mail urged members to remember that the next governor will make appointments to the Board of Medicine, the Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration. 'These selections are much more important to medicine than the lieutenant governor selection, and we want to make sure that we have a voice in those important appointments,' the FMA's e-mail said.
Hospitals and insurance groups have received similar calls from concerned members, said Mark Delegal, a Tallahassee insurance lobbyist who has worked in recent years to win support in the Legislature for limits on lawsuits against businesses.
'I'm nervous about it,' Delegal said. ``Now, [Crist] has got Morgan & Morgan whispering in his ear right back there in the back office.'
But, Delegal said, many in business have drawn the same conclusion as the FMA: ``We're not going to give up sitting down and talking to Charlie Crist just because Jeff's latest employer was Morgan & Morgan. My wife and I just wrote $500 checks to Charlie Crist this morning. What else can you do?'
The selection of Kottkamp boosted the spirits of trial lawyers, who have seen the GOP-led Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush curtail personal-injury awards and instigate other litigation reforms over the last eight years.
The Republican Party has used trial lawyer-bashing 'as a fundraising tool for several years now,' said Alexander Clem, a Republican and former president of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, who recruited Kottkamp to join the Morgan law firm. He said that while he doesn't 'expect anything' from Crist and Kottkamp, he hopes the pendulum will swimg back to ``the principles of the party -- less government, less taxes and more personal freedom -- and away from this culture of not wanting to be accountable for your actions.'
Clem acknowledged, however, that having Kottkamp on the ticket 'will have a detrimental impact on Jim Davis' ability to raise money from trial lawyers.' Many Democrats agree.
'The naming of Jeff Kottkamp has made us all consider that ticket very carefully,' said Gary Farmer, a Democrat and Weston attorney who serves on the executive committee of the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Farmer supported Davis' rival Rod Smith in the primary, but like several other attorneys hasn't decided whether to take sides in the general election.
'It's a tough call,' he said. ``. . . I don't think it's much of a secret that a lot of trial lawyers are going to be sitting out the governor's race.'
Other Democratic trial lawyers can't help but gloat over GOP concerns about Kottkamp and tout Davis' running-mate pick. Although former state Sen. Daryl Jones does not boast a fundraising network as Kottkamp does, he sends a powerful message to voters as a candidate who could become Florida's first black lieutenant governor.
'Charlie Crist thought he picked an ATM and now has to reassure his base about choosing a partner from the biggest law firm in the state that specializes in suing doctors and corporations,' said Kirk Wagar, a Miami lawyer and fundraiser. ``All while Democrats and independents are excited about the historic choice of Daryl Jones.'
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com