DAN GELBER CALLSED....

DAN GELBER CALLED ….
This morning, DAN GELBER called and said he is not a partner/shareholder of AKERMAN SENTERFITT and that he has never bought any shares. Furthermore, he said that under the Diamond decisions, it is illegal for a state legislator who is a lawyer to be a partner/shareholder in a law firm.
GELBER said the entries on the FLoirda legislature website and AKERMAN SENTERFITT website were “all wrong” when they said he was a partner/shareholder.
GELBER said he would show me his employment agreement with AKERMAN SENTERFITT when he visits St. Augustine.
GELBER said he was unaware of the AKERMAN SENTERFITT representation of the City of St. Augustine or any of the details about the illegal dumping.
GELBER said that as an “of counsel” (employee, not owner) in AKERMAN SENTERFITT, he did not attend shareholder/partner meetings and was caught unawares by AKERMAN SENTERFITT being hired by BP.
GELBER said he would not be disqualified from working on BP cases, or other cases involving clients of his former law firm, because under Florida Bar ethics rules, he would not be disqualified unless he had “substantial involvement” in representing a corporate client, which would not preclude him from representing the people of FLordia in lawsuits against BP.
GELBER attacked the record of Dave Aronberg on environmental issues, comparing their records on recorded votes. He said Aronberg cast votes favorable to Big Sugar, that would have delayed the cleanup of the Everglades. He said Aronberg has accepted some $50-60,000 dollars in Big Sugar contributions through a 527 organization.
GELBER also said Aronberg had voted to allow tobacco companies to appeal from jury verdicts and judgments without posting an adequate bond. He also said that Aronberg had voted in support of Rep. Proctor’s bill to deregulate residential property insurance (a bill that Gov. Crist twice vetoed. He said Aronberg had voted to “allow development without paying for it.”
I asked GELBER about why he went to work for AKERMAN SENTERFITT. GELBER said he went to work for AKERMAN SENTERFITT because the late Dan Chaiken, another former prosecutor, with whom he worked on corporate investigations, was changing firms and he went with him.
GELBER said he did not know much about who AKERMAN SENTERFITT lawyers were beyond his own clients (which he declined to disclosed), saying “they have 500 lawyers” and represent “the good , the bad and the ugly.”
GELBER said that he had “no idea” of AKERMAN SENTERFITT firing lawyer Mark Herron because of his representing Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. in the 2000 election recount case.
GELBER declined to name the clients he worked for at AKERMAN SENTERFITT, saying he investigated possible crimes by or at publicly traded companies pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (securities regulation reform passed in the wake of the ENRON debacle in 2001). His reports are given to federal or state prosecutors.
GELBER said he was unaware of AKERMAN SENTERFITT having defended Big Tobacco in more than 40 cases.
Asked what sort of pro bono work he and AKERMAN SENTERFITT did, he said he was proud to be a Big Brother and had mentored a young man in that program.
GELBER said he had a “really good environmental record,” and invited me to examine the respective records of him and Dave Aronberg on environmental and consumer issues. “You have a platform and people read you,” he said, adding that “nobody ever said [he] had a lousy environmental record.”
To be continued – I’ve asked both candidates the same 22 written questions and we look forward to receiving responses.
The Democratic Primary for Attorney General of Florida is August 26th.
More later.
This race is an important one, albeit one that the St. Augustine Record and other newspapers have barely covered yet. If you have any questions for the AG candidates, please share them with me, at EASlavin@aol.com.
Let’s demand answers and keep asking questions.