Greer Got Donation From Mike Schiavo's Lawyer (Word is spreading)

Newsmax.com ^ | March 25, 2005

[ArmyBratproud]

The Center for Reclaiming America, an organization backed by the Rev. D. James Kennedy, reported that a serious conflict of interest may exist for the Florida state judge who is ruling on the Terri Schiavo case.

The report from the center follows:

As if the circumstances surrounding Terri Schiavo could not get any more suspicious, the Center for Reclaiming America has uncovered evidence that Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Judge George W. Greer accepted a campaign contribution from the law firm of Michael Schiavo’s attorney only one day after "Terri’s Law" was declared unconstitutional by a Pinellas county court. This appears to establish a clear conflict of interest between Judge Greer and the best interests of Terri Schiavo.

Judge Greer has been responsible for establishing "the facts" in the case of Terri Schiavo. Sadly, he has dismissed or ignored testimony from 33 physicians (15 neurologists) who are willing to testify that Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state and can improve, he has refused to allow the Florida Department of Children and Families to conduct a criminal investigation of Michael Schiavo, he has refused to honor a subpoena from the U.S. Congress, and he has blocked virtually all efforts from the Schindler family to save the life of their daughter.

According to public records available from the Florida Department of State: Division of Elections, Judge George W. Greer received a campaign contribution from the law firm of Felos & Felos during his re-election efforts in the spring of 2004.

Of course, no direct evidence suggests collusion between the two parties, but the timing of the campaign contribution is highly suspect.

On May 6, 2004, a Pinellas county court struck down legislation ("Terri's Law") passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Jeb Bush, which was designed to halt a previous attempt to starve Terri Schiavo to death.

On May 7, 2004 — only one day after the ruling — Judge Greer received a campaign gift from the law firm of Michael Schiavo’s attorney.

This was not due to a fundraising effort, as this was the only contribution made to the Greer campaign fund on that particular day.

[Diogenesis]

There were MANY MANY Lawyer->Judge donations.
Perhaps enough for a T-test or Z-test if someone will get all the dates - this list is the 'tip of the iceberg'?

	GREER DONOR	AMOUNT	POSITION	ACTION
Lawyers For Michael Schiavo	Hamden Baskin III    Felos & Felos            Deborah Bushnell     Gyneth S. Stanley    Steven Nilsson         Beth Wilson	$500  & $500 $250 $250 $150 and $250 $250 and $250 $250 and $100	Michael Schiavo’s Lawyer[s]	Greer denies many or all of Schindler’s in favor of Felos Greer Allows hearsay as evidence/disallows Schindler’s statements Felos former chairman of board of directors of Hospice of Florida Suncoast
	Daniel Grieco	$300	Employer of Michael Schiavo at time of Feb. 25, 1990 then attorneyOf record for Michael up until the malpractice award,	Incident when injuries occurred to Terri,Reappeared as attorney for selected pleadings
State/County Employees/Elected	Frank Nagatani	$50 and $50	DCF Attorney	Squashed testimony for DCF Investigator to appear on behalf of abuse allegations
	Bernie McCabe	In-Kind	State Attorney	Allowed underling to appear in campaign ad for Greer Will not call Grand Jury
	Everett Rice	$500 & In-Kind	Sheriff/State Rep	Didn’t conduct criminal investigation into what really happened to Terri or allegations of abuse after initial incident Allowed Deputy & use of county property to appear in campaign ad for Greer
	John Carassas	$100	Deputy Attorney General	Florida Deputy Attorney General, involvement with Rice in Sept. 2003 motion for Greer recusal dueTo improper discussion of case
	James Hellickson	$150 & In Kind	Assistant state attorney in office of Bernie McCabe, Pinellas/Pasco State Attorney	Appeared in Greer Campaign Ad
	Paula Shea	In Kind	Assistant Pinellas Public Defender	Appeared in Greer Campaign Ad
	Andrew Sasso	$100	Officer in Guardianship monitoring program and Guardian ad litem pool	Was supposed to: “evaluate information about the well-being and property of all persons adjudicated of having a legal incapacity so that the court can fulfill its legal obligation to protect and preserve the interests of the ward,” FL COURTS
Misc. People w connections	Richard La Belle	$100	Member of Board of Directors of Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities	Supposedly ACPD doing investigation into Schiavo case
	Battaglia, Ross, Disus and Wein	$250	Principal Kelli Crabb is past chairperson of Hospice Foundation of Florida Suncoast and member of Board of directors
	Gus Bilirakis	$40 cash	Former Hospice Board member and of American Hellonic Education Progressive Assoc. (AHEPA)	Felos past Governor
	Divito and Higham	$250 and $250	Law firm employed by St. Petersburg/Venice Dioceses	Terri’s Dioceses

[Brilliant]

I don't believe the judge ruled the way he did because of these donations. He's simply another activist judge, that's all. Unfortunately, as this article points out, the judges in Florida are elected, not appointed. So it's kind of hard to keep a grip on them, unless the voters vote them out.

[Inge C]

There is even more, Michael Schiavo was also hired by the Sheriff who supposedly investigated the abuse. It was hushed. Michael also refuses to allow Terri's parents to burry her, and rather insists on cremation, which also was denied by the the court. I honestly feel, that there is a big cover up, incl Michael Schiavo's lawyer Felos being on the board of this current hopisce where Terri is dying.

[Bernard]

Who cares? If the fact is that he accepted a donation from somebody he should not have, and there is a "controlling legal authority" that says he should be punished for it, then I'm all for enforcing the law against this judge.

One can only hope.

[rollo tomasi]

Exactly. Voters had a chance to vote this bum down but I believe he passed by a fairly large margin. Same with the kangaroos on the FLSC.

The voters tend to not be informed when it comes to continuing the Judgeship. I hope the next election will change and the electorate will seriously look at each Judge.

[neutrality]

And I thought only liberals wear tinfoil. I guess it's in fashion right now

[occutegirl]

Follow the money.

[Brilliant]

Unfortunately, nothing is going to change. Our state has a long history of re-electing incumbent judges by wide margins. A few years ago, there was a state-wide conservative campaign to unseat Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Leander Shaw, a black liberal justice from Miami who was perceived as too supportive of abortion, and too weak on crime. There was one particular case that triggered the conservatives ire (although I don't remember what it was about). Anyway, there was an intense campaign to unseat him, but he won re-election with more than 60% of the vote. Generally, it's in the 90% range for these guys, so that was a weakening of support, but nowhere near what was needed to unseat him. It did have a positive impact in one sense, though. He began to moderate his positions somewhat.

[Brilliant]

It's not illegal. Lawyers give political donations to Florida judges all the time. I can't speak for Grier, but if I were a judge, and some lawyer gave my political campaign $500, that would not motivate me to rule in his client's favor.

[nmh]

I despise Greer for his ruling but if you looked at ALL the judges I'd bet you would see donations at HIGHER amount. If you could list other judges and donations, you'd see what I mean.

BJ;s, Home Depot, and private business all donate to politicians. There is nothing earth shattering here. This is sensationalism over nothing.

[Anita1]

Other sources of information for who were involved with Judge Greer's re-election campaign are:

STARVATION: DAY 8
Michael Schiavo lawyer gave to judge's campaign
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43493

And

Political corruption alleged in Schiavo case
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43509

SCHIAVO JUDGE GREER SUPPORTED BY POLITICS, RELIGION IN DEATH ORDER
http://www.theempirejournal.com/030105091_schiavo_judge_greer_su.htm

Analysis
Schiavo Case Judge Greer Could Be Removed From Office By Executive Order Of Gov. Bush
Impeachment Proceedings, JQC Action Also Possible
http://www.theempirejournal.com/New_Folder/judge_greeer_dr_death.htm

Prior Schiavo Abuse Allegations Covered Up By AG Crist
© By The Empire Journal
http://www.theempirejournal.com/03010501_prior_schiavo_abuse_allegations_covered_up_by_ag_Crist.htm

[nmh]

Same here. This proves nothing and it goes on ALL the time.

[ArmyBratproud]

I am not real into the poor girl's case. I feel bad for her and her family.

I am looking at this from the judicial problem stand point.

Down in South East Texas...near the coastal region......there was a judge that all the ambulance chaser knew to go to. And that judge got plenty of donations from them.

That area was one of the three listed areas as problems for judge shopping. It was mentioned when congress passed the recent legislation that Bush pushed.....to move big class action suits to the fed level.

MONEY TO JUDGES PRODUCES A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

If you look at the chart in the first couple of replies.....you can see that Greer took plenty of it.

[ExTexasRedhead]

Anyone ready to move to Florida where judges decide if you should be starved to death?

[ModernDayCato]

Funny you should say that...my wife and I have actually planned to live in Florida. We don't ever want to set foot there again, let alone live there.

[Matchett-PI]

"I don't believe the judge ruled the way he did because of these donations."

You are one naive little puppy. In virtually every single jurisdiction in America DemocRATS have set up their bought and paid for corrupt judges - they're in their back pockets and rule the way they're expected to.

CORRUPT JUDGES are the life-blood of the Marxist-Left most of whom are in the DemocRAT Party.

[Anita1]

Re: "Voters had a chance to vote this bum down but I believe he passed by a fairly large margin."

Did the voters have the following information when he ran for re-election?

"One of the lowest points in Greer's career as a judge came in 1998, when he denied an injunction for a wife seeking protection from her husband. He note d that the woman had not liste d any acts of violence by the man.

Days later, the husband stabbed her to death.

Greer said he followed the law, and the woman's co-workers protested outside the courthouse.

"As a judge, there's always the fear that you're going to miss something and somebody is going to get hurt," Greer said.

"It happens in all cases. When you make those kind of decisions, there's very little you can do to be 100 percent certain because you never have 100 percent of the facts."

That is his standard statement - "Greer said he followed the law..."

But then in Nazi Germany many said the same thing - they were just following the law!

[bikerman]

WOW a whole $250 that would sure throw my support.