Regier 'crisis' falters when facts known [Anti-Jeb writer matures; defends Jeb's new DCF chief!]

SENTINEL COLUMNIST

Mike Thomas

Regier 'crisis' falters when facts known

Published August 20, 2002

The attacks against Jeb Bush's choice to head the state's child-welfare department, Jerry Regier, show what you get by mixing an incomplete news story and nasty politics.

Excerpt:
It began last week when The Miami Herald wrote this story:

The man named Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush to head Florida's notoriously inept child welfare agency is an evangelical Christian who views spanking that causes "bruises or welts" as acceptable punishment…..

All the ingredients were present for a juicy controversy.

There was a Christian conservative portrayed in a way that panders to our worst fears about extremist beliefs.

…

And lastly, there was a political campaign in which Democrats are getting desperate in their increasingly futile battle against Jeb Bush.

There is only one problem in all this: Regier says he did not write the offending words, did not agree with them and eventually left the group that produced the report because he disagreed with its views. This not only comes from Regier, who has a solid reputation as a straight-arrow, but also from the man whose name is on the report with Regier's -- George Rekers, a University of South Carolina professor....

There is no evidence his religious beliefs have affected his government work or any other evidence he ever believed, espoused or pushed those extremist views. All we have seen is vague sniping from liberal critics.

This feeds into complaints of media bias against Christian conservatives....

To read the complete column, click HERE.

Here's the Washington Times article, which I thought hit the main points from both sides, was fair:
August 20, 2002

Attacks on Regier seen as 'politics'

By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Media attacks on Jerry Regier, a former Oklahoma state official named last week to head Florida's beleaguered child-welfare agency, are politically motivated and intended to embarrass Gov. Jeb Bush, conservatives say.

"This is just the politics of personal destruction, moving from Washington to Tallahassee," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council, founded by Mr. Regier in 1981.

"It certainly fits the pattern" of Democratic attacks on Mr. Bush, said Towson Fraser, press secretary for the Republican Party of Florida.

Mr. Regier, who once made headlines in Oklahoma for his work to end corruption in that state's health department, was praised and welcomed Thursday when Mr. Bush chose him as the next secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The tone changed the next day when a Miami Herald article accused Mr. Regier of writing a fundamentalist Christian statement that said it was OK for parents to spank their children until they bruised, denounced women in the workplace and assigned husbands the "final say in any family dispute."

The story, which noted that Mr. Regier "was on his way back to Oklahoma City Thursday night and could not be reached for comment," quoted several Democrats critical of Mr. Regier, including one Oklahoma lawmaker who warned:

"He'll turn that agency into a theocracy."

After the story broke, Mr. Regier issued a statement through Mr. Bush's office denying that he had written the paper, "The Christian World View of The Family," which was first published in 1989 by the Coalition on Revival, an evangelical group in Sunnyvale, Calif.

"Contrary to the newspaper article, I was not a co-author of this paper and did not exercise editorial control over its content," Mr. Regier said. "Rather, as a family advocate, I was asked to serve as a co-chairman of the group that released the paper." He said he "severed" his relationship with the coalition "approximately one year after the release of this paper."

There is a lot in the paper "with which I do not agree," Mr. Regier added in his statement. "In my 20 years of service in the area of children and families, I have never been soft on child abuse or wavered in the protection of children, so it is not my position that corporal punishment should result in welts or bruises."

As for excluding women from the workplace, he said: "My own wife of 34 years is a registered nurse and I am extremely supportive of her career."

Mr. Regier, who must be confirmed by the Senate, is still on track to head the Florida agency, an aide in the governor's office said yesterday. "He's been appointed," he said.

However, Democratic gubernatorial candidates Bill McBride and Janet Reno have denounced the appointment; Bob Poe, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, has asked Mr. Regier to step aside; and the Rev. Jesse Jackson said at a rally on Saturday that the decision had created a "sense of national outrage."

The Miami Herald has continued to pound the story: A political writer for the paper described the Regier appointment as "a fiasco," and columnist Jim DeFede imagined that Mr. Regier would spend his first day on the job firing a mother for working, dismissing a man with a Jewish name and saying his renouncement of the fundamentalist paper was just a lie to the press because "It's OK to lie to the devil."

Others who know Mr. Regier say he is likely to do a "brilliant" job in cleaning up Florida's child welfare system, which has made headlines all year for "losing" children in its custody.

"I'm very excited about [Mr. Regier] coming here because of his interest in marriage He's done a brilliant job in Oklahoma, and I have every reason to believe he's going to do a brilliant job in Florida, regardless of what things some people want to stir up," said Richard Albertson, who was appointed by the governor to lead the Florida Commission on Responsible Fatherhood.

Mr. Albertson, who also leads a Christian ministry in Tallahassee, said he had never heard of the Coalition on Revival but viewed the outcry over its paper and Mr. Regier as "a way to get at Governor Bush" during the summer doldrums of an election year.

"I think Democrats are going to try [to derail him], but I don't honestly think it's got much traction, other than it's a slow news time. I think there's not much there," Mr. Albertson said.

------------------------------

I think is seems The Miami Herald is really worried about liberal Jewish voters who support Israel and may be thinking of voting for Gov Bush because of his strong support for Israel, while Dem candidates have been silent.

Folks, I could use some help here. I wrote to the letters editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (remember, that's SHT!) this morning, asking why my letter hasn't been printed, and included below is their response.

If I understand this correctly, according to the SHT editor, since Regier hasn't seen fit to file a lawsuit over it, the disinformation promulgated by the Miami Herald is fit to print. No burden of proof exists for them, apparently. And the original letter which prompted mine, which was an all-out-attack, plain and simple, was just A-OK, too. The double-standard is as glaring as the sun in the sky.

Summer, can you perhaps provide some background research on how the MH found this information on the Internet? I have not been able to find anything.

I also note that they had no comment about my observation regarding how they would be behaving if Jeb had appointed a Muslim…

Comments and assistance, please!

***

First, my email to them this morning:

Hello, Wendy,

A week ago I both emailed and sent by standard post the letter I have included below, setting some of the record straight about Jeb Bush's DCF appointee, Jerry Regier. To date, I have not seen my letter printed, although the negative articles regarding this fellow continue unabated. I would like to know why this is, and if/when I can expect to see my rebuttal see print.

I must point out that if this man was a devout Muslim, rather than a Christian, you would be either silent regarding his appointment or perhaps even hailing Governor Jeb Bush for his "forward and progressive thinking".

Thank you,

Joe Brower

***

Second, the editor's response:

Joe,

I'm sorry, but a few of us on the editorial board have examined your letter and various sources of information on the subject, and what we find is that Mr. Regier's name is on the article and he's filed no lawsuit challenging the way it was handled, so we can't say that a lie is being perpetuated there. Now, this weekend, we read that he has authored another article along the same lines.

There are ways people could right a letter in defense of the gentleman but your letter accused people of falsifications and the facts just don't bear that out.

I know we've regularly run letters from you, and I hope you'll continue to write.

Wendy Dial
Letters Editor
Herald-Tribune

I found the original paper for which Regier was attacked and where he was named Oklahoma Administrator of the Year by doing a Google search on Jerry Regier. The award site is:
http://www.health.state.ok.us/program/hpromo/news/news2-01/admin.htm

I did not encounter the most recent paper under discussion, but really didn't look much further than finding the paper he denies having authored or approved and the award. I'd pretty much blocked out all the negative press on this issue because the actual source is probably the dems and is the only horse (er...jacka..) they hope to ride to victory. Anyone appointed to this position by Governor Bush would be unacceptable. The confidence he displayed in swiftly appointing a successor to Kearney just gave them something else to deal with. Had he delayed and deliberated for a time he would still be the recipient of their venom. They have nothing else to work with, so we should expect to hear their harping for the next couple of months.

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