Posted on 03/25/2005 11:32:07 AM PST by WBurgVACon
The judge who tried the Terri Schiavo case and most recently rejected Gov. Jeb Bush's request to intervene, received a campaign contribution from the lawyer pressing for the brain-injured woman's death, raising questions of a conflict of interest.
According to Florida's Department of State, Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer received a contribution of $250 for his 2004 re-election campaign from Felos & Felos, the law firm of George Felos.
Felos, known as a "right-to-die" advocate, represents Terri Schiavo's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, who won a court order from Greer to have the woman's life-sustaining feeding tube removed one week ago.
The contribution's apparent conflict of interest was raised by an Internet site investigating the Schiavo case, the Empire Journal, and by Rev. D. James Kennedy's group Renew America.
The contribution from Felos came May 7, 2004, one day after Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird ruled "Terri's Law" unconstitutional. The Florida Legislature's measure was designed to enable Gov. Bush to intervene in the previous instance in which Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed.
The contribution from Felos was the only one made that day, indicating it was not part of a fund-raising effort.
The Empire Journal also reported contributions to Greer were made by three other lawyers who represented Michael Schiavo at various stages in the case.
Deborah Bushnell, Gwyneth Stanley and Stephen G. Nilsson each contributed at least $250 to Greer's re-election campaign, as did court-appointed attorneys representing the husband's interest, Pacarek & Herman and Richard Pearse.
WND attempted to reach the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, the independent body that investigates complaints against state judges, but there was no response.
Felos' office in Dunedin, Fla., also could not be reached.
The Empire Journal notes that in Florida, a judge is not required to recuse himself if he receives a contribution from an attorney in a case over which he presides.
Nevertheless, a contribution can establish the appearance of impropriety, and the state's code of judicial conduct requires a judge to remove himself in such a case.
Ronald D. Rotunda, professor of law at George Mason University, told the Empire Journal he sees such contributions as problematic.
He cites a 2002 poll of the American Bar Association concluding 84 percent of all Americans are concerned that the impartiality of judges is compromised by their need to raise campaign contributions.
Rotunda said judicial campaign contributions constitute or appear to constitute a tacit quid pro quo in which the judge favors or tilts towards the contributor-litigant.
Yeah...big surprise...as they say "follow the money."
It's just a big death orgy with these people.
doesn't that mean he can be taken off of the case now?
And we found it.
Judgenfuhrer Greer: "The money must flow. On your knees or die."
There has got to be more to it than just that little campaign contribution...maybe the promise of more, maybe blackmail somewhere. Why sell your soul for such a small amount of money?
This whole charade reeks of corruption.. I hope it will be possible for law enforement agencies to investiagte this. But considering the political connections involved, it will be like getting to the Rose Law firm billing records.
Shocked that there is gambling going on in this casino.
The good news that this guy is going to be up for reelection. What a nice message his defeat would be to other like minded jack-@#% judges. Apparently, there are plenty.
$250 sure buys a lot in Florida (seems like a non-story to me)
|
GREER DONOR |
AMOUNT |
POSITION |
ACTION |
Lawyers For |
Hamden Baskin III Felos & Felos Deborah Bushnell Gyneth S. Stanley Steven Nilsson Beth Wilson
|
$500 & $500 |
Michael Schiavos Lawyer[s] |
Greer |
|
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 |
Frank Nagatani |
$50 and $50
|
DCF Attorney |
Squashed |
|
Bernie McCabe |
In-Kind |
State Attorney |
Allowed underling to appear in campaign ad for Greer |
|
Everett Rice |
$500 & In-Kind |
Sheriff/State Rep |
Didnt conduct criminal investigation into what really happened to Terri or allegations of abuse after initial incident |
|
John Carassas |
$100
|
Deputy Attorney General |
Florida Deputy Attorney General, involvement with |
|
James Hellickson
|
$150 & In Kind |
Assistant state attorney in office of Bernie McCabe, Pinellas/Pasco State Attorney |
|
|
Paula Shea |
In Kind |
Assistant Pinellas Public Defender |
Appeared in Greer Campaign Ad |
|
Andrew
|
$100 |
Officer in Guardianship monitoring program and Guardian ad litem pool |
Was supposed to: |
Misc. People w connections |
Richard La Belle
|
$100 |
Member of Board of Directors of |
Supposedly ACPD |
|
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 |
Terris Dioceses |
This could be major. New evidence?
[Emphasized at the top of my 'homepage' [profile], while biting tongue....]
Reminds me of the story about the airline standards probe, circa 1996...
IIRC, Gore was appointed to head some commission to look into airline security, he was lobbied by the wife of some obstructionist Senate Minority Leader (rhymes with a**hole), to recommmend little or no upgrades to be made. The airline industry ended up making a major contribution to the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign of that year.
Allegedly, one of the discussed improvements was reinforcing/securing airplane cockpit doors...nothing ever became of that, though... /unfortunate heavy dose of sarcasm
I wish we would spend more time on the issues instead of innuendo and demonizing.
Florida State Senate - 9 Rino's to REMEMBER
failed to act, and that is the issue. I believe the courts are correct in the LEGAL sense, and the FLORIDA LEGISLATURE is to blame for FAILING to give the courts a leg to stand on.
The big black robe is perfect. He reminds me of the way Death is pictured, or a black vulture.
I've seen that multiple times. So what? Lawyers donate to judges. What do you think of that? What are the odds those same lawyers also donated to Greer's opposition in the last election? They do it where I live. I repeat: Big deal.
ALSO::
Judge GREER's wife is on the Board of the Hospice.
Felos was on the board.
There is a 14 Million law suit against the Hospice.
The CEO female of the Hospice is a DEATH ADVOCATE.
I call this the DEATH FACTORY.
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