Controversial Fifth Circuit State's Attorney BRADLEY KING covered up the Michelle O'Connell case as special prosecutor.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/death-in-st-augustine/
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/
Now BRAD KING wants a seat on the Florida Supreme Court. He's being interviewed on November 28th by Florida's Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission.

The Chair of Florida's Judicial Nominating Commission is GrayRobinson Managing Shareholder JASON L. UNGER, liquor lobbyist (and lobbyist for other regulated industries), a longtime Tallahassee Republican apparatchik.

JASON L. UNGER plans to hold the meeting of the Commission in his 300 lawyer law firm's office in Orlando.

For reasons of appearance of impropriety, I've asked him to move it to a Courthouse or government building. He asserts that "logistical" reasons mean the location can't be changed.

What hubris.

He won't explain why he's holding the meeting in his law firm office building, instead of a proper location in a Courthouse or other government building. I'm sure that the Orlando Public Library or a local University could make available an auditorium, free of the appearance of lobbyist influence.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: easlavin
Cc: Cynthia Angelos ; Daniel Nordby ; Fred Karlinsky ; Hala Sandridge ; Israel U. Reyes ; Jason Unger ; Jeanne T. Tate ; Jesse Panuccio ; Nilda Pedrosa
Sent: Wed, Nov 16, 2016 9:53 pm
Subject: RE: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request

Mr. Slavin,

A thumb drive with redacted applications will be sent tomorrow and a second thumb drive with letters of recommendation will be sent next week.

I have no ability to place the documents on the websites you’ve referenced but have relayed your request to the Governor’s legal office.

Pursuant to JNC policy, the published Notice of Applicants Sought for Florida Supreme Court Vacancy required the applicants to submit, in addition to the original application, an electronic redacted copy of the original application which excludes all material that is exempt or confidential under applicable public records laws. Upon your review of the redacted applications, please let me know if you believe an applicant improperly redacted information.

I appreciate your suggestion on the meeting location but, for logistical reasons, we cannot accommodate that request.

From: Ed Slavin [mailto:easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 1:35 PM
To: Jason Unger
Subject: Re: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request

Dear Mr. Unger:

1. Please send thumb drives.

2. Please place all documents on judicial, Florida Bar or Governor's website.

3. Please identify specific F.S. 119 statutory exemptions for each redactions with a Vaughn index.
4. Please answer my question and kindly change meeting location from GrayRobinson offices.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger <Jason.Unger@gray-robinson.com>
To: easlavin <easlavin@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 16, 2016 1:18 pm
Subject: RE: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request

Mr. Slavin,

There is no Florida Judicial Nominating Commission website. The Florida Bar does have certain JNC information posted on its website, but the Supreme Court JNC has no control over The Florida Bar. The Governor’s Office is in receipt of the applications and may be placing them on the Governor’s website for easier access. That link is:

http://www.flgov.com/judicial-and-judicial-nominating-commission-information/

I have redacted applications and letters of recommendation available for inspection and/or copying, or I can mail you thumb drives. Thank you again.

From: Ed Slavin [mailto:easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 8:46 AM
To: Jason Unger; nildapedrosa@gmail.com; cynthiagangelos@gmail.com; karlinskyf@gtlaw.com; dnordby@shutts.com;

Dear Mr. Unger:

Thank you.

Please place on the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission website so all can read it.
With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>; nildapedrosa <nildapedrosa@gmail.com>; cynthiagangelos <cynthiagangelos@gmail.com>; karlinskyf <karlinskyf@gtlaw.com>; dnordby <dnordby@shutts.com>; jpanuccio <jpanuccio@foley.com>; ireyes <ireyes@reyeslawfirmpa.com>; jeanne <jeanne@jtatelaw.com.>
Cc: scottopengov <scottopengov@eog.myflorida.com>; pat.gleason <pat.gleason@myfloridalegal.com>; susancoopereastman <susancoopereastman@gmail.com>; jim.sutton <jim.sutton@staugustine.com>; ankersen <ankersen@law.ufl.edu>; hamann <hamann@law.ufl.edu>; little <little@law.ufl.edu>; mills <mills@law.ufl.edu>; rosenbury <rosenbury@law.ufl.ed>; Teresa Barreiro
Sent: Wed, Nov 16, 2016 8:25 am
Subject: RE: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request

Mr. Slavin,

I can have all Supreme Court applications for this vacancy (with legally exempt information redacted by the applicants) copied to a thumb drive and mailed to you today. Please advise as to the mailing address. I will ask my assistant to create a second thumb drive of recommendation letters and send that to you as well early next week. Thank you for your patience.

This e-mail is intended only for the individual(s) or entity(s) named within the message. This e-mail might contain legally privileged and confidential information. If you properly received this e-mail as a client or retained expert, please hold it in confidence to protect the attorney-client or work product privileges. Should the intended recipient forward or disclose this message to another person or party, that action could constitute a waiver of the attorney-client privilege. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is prohibited by the sender and to do so might constitute a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. section 2510-2521. If this communication was received in error we apologize for the intrusion. Please notify us by reply e-mail and delete the original message without reading same. Nothing in this e-mail message shall, in and of itself, create an attorney-client relationship with the sender.

From: Ed Slavin [easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 5:35 PM
To: Jason Unger; nildapedrosa@gmail.com; cynthiagangelos@gmail.com; karlinskyf@gtlaw.com; dnordby@shutts.com; jpanuccio@foley.com; ireyes@reyeslawfirmpa.com; jeanne@jtatelaw.com.
Cc: scottopengov@eog.myflorida.com; pat.gleason@myfloridalegal.com; susancoopereastman@gmail.com; jim.sutton@staugustine.com; ankersen@law.ufl.edu; hamann@law.ufl.edu; little@law.ufl.edu; mills@law.ufl.edu; rosenbury@law.ufl.ed
Subject: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request

Dear Chairman Unger and Florida Judicial Nominating Commission members:

1. Why are your November 28, 2016 interviews of Florida Supreme Court applicants being held in the offices of a corporate law firm, GrayRobinson, a 300 lawyer corporate law firm with 13 locations in Florida, representing ?

2. I object to this corporate law firm meeting location as, at best, an appearance of impropriety.

3. As Juan Ortega y Gasset said, "yo soy mi y mis circumstancias." ("I am me and my surroundings.")

4. Meeting location is important and symbolic, just like polling place location.

5. As Adrien Davich wrote in The New York Times Magazine:

Ever since the 2000 election, Democrats and Republicans alike have complained that our voting system is vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. They have scrutinized “hanging chads,” “hiccupping” and “choking” voting machines, miscounted absentee ballots and e-votes that leave no paper trail. Now, though, they may have something more subtle to worry about: the location of polling stations. This year, Jonah Berger, Marc Meredith and S. Christian Wheeler, researchers at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, released a study suggesting that where you vote may significantly influence how you vote.

After analyzing data from Arizona’s 2000 general election, the Stanford researchers found that voters were more likely to support raising the state sales tax to support education if they voted in schools. This bias remained even when results were controlled for voters’ political views and demographics. In a follow-up laboratory study, subjects were asked to vote on a number of initiatives, including California’s 2004 stem-cell-research financing proposition. Before casting a vote, each subject was primed with a picture of a school, church or generic building. Voters were less likely to support stem-cell initiatives when presented with images of a church.

It’s a discomfiting insight: a person’s vote, a hallmark of democracy, may be biased by polling environment. Yet this has nothing to do with dirty politics or foul play. Rather, it’s a fairly basic principle of psychology — the idea that environmental cues can trigger ideas and affect our behavior without our being conscious of it. If you’re voting in a school, then the part of your brain that values kids and education might be activated, whereas if you vote inside a church, your ideas about spirituality might be invigorated. For some people, it seems, a change in location is enough to change a vote.

"Voting-Booth Feng Shui," by Adrienne Davich, New York Times Magazine (December 10, 2006).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section4.t-4.html

6. From this day forward, please hold all Florida Judicial Nominating Commission interviews and meetings in courthouses or other ADA accessible, neutral, government building.

7. Please send me copies of all the Supreme Court vacancy applications and recommendations.

Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

www.edslavin.com

Jason L. Unger ATTORNEY AT LAW

Tallahassee Managing Shareholder

301 South Bronough Street
Suite 600
Post Office Box 11189 (32302-3189)
Tallahassee, Florida 32301

P 850-577-9090
F 850-577-3311
D 850-577-5489

BIOGRAPHY

Practice Areas

Jason concentrates his practice in the areas of governmental affairs and administrative law matters, and regularly works with the executive branch agencies and the Legislature on behalf of his clients.

Prior to joining GrayRobinson, Jason served as Special Counsel to the Florida House of Representatives. While at GrayRobinson, he represented George W. Bush and Richard Cheney in the 2000 presidential election contest; the Florida House of Representatives in redistricting; the Republican Party of Florida; and members of the Legislature in election law matters. In 2001, Jason was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr. to the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission. In 2005, Gov. Bush appointed Jason to the Florida Sports Foundation. Since 2008, Jason has served on the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC). He was originally appointed to the Supreme Court JNC by Gov. Charlie Crist, then Gov. Rick Scott reappointed him to the commission in 2011 and again in 2016 for a term through 2019. Jason was also nominated to serve as chairman of the JNC in 2016 for a one-year term.

Additional Information About Jason L. Unger

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Background

Jason was born in New Jersey and has lived in Florida since 1982. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida in 1990 and then went on to receive his juris doctor from the University of Florida College of Law in 1993. He moved to Tallahassee from Fort Lauderdale in 1998.

Education

University of Florida, B.S.B.A. (1990)
University of Florida, J.D. (1993)

Admissions

Florida
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

Professional Associations & Memberships

Judicial Nominating Commission
- Florida Supreme Court, 2011-2015, 2016-2019, reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott
  - Vice Chair, 2013
  - Chairman, 2016-2017
- Florida Supreme Court, 2008-2011, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist
  - Chairman, 2009-2010
- Florida Federal, 2001-2005, appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Congressman E. Clay Shaw
National Republican Congressional Committee, Florida Counsel, 2010 and 2016 elections
Florida House of Representatives, Redistricting Counsel, 2002 and 2012 cycles
Rudy Giuliani Presidential Campaign, Florida Counsel, 2007-2008
Republican Party of Florida, Election Law Counsel, 2002
Litigation Counsel to George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, 2000 Presidential Election Contest
Florida House of Representatives, Special Counsel, 2000
Appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Boards and Commissions Review Panel, 1999-2000
The Florida Bar
- Governmental and Public Policy Advocacy Committee

Media Mentions

"Legislating Libations: What Comes Next for the Craft Distillery Movement," Jacksonville Business Journal, September 2016
"Publix, ABC Fighting Supermarket Liquor Sales Bill," Daily Business Review, October 2015
"Publix, Liquor Stores Unite to Keep Walls Between Groceries, Booze," Orlando Sentinel, October 2015
"Backroom Briefing: Liquor Dispute Could be a Wallbanger," Sunshine State News, October 2015
"Federal Medical Marijuana Bill Backed by Senate Trio," Examiner, March 2015
"Publix, Wal-Mart at Odds Over Separating Liquor, Groceries," News Service of Florida, February 2015
"Florida Legislation and Regulation to Watch in 2015," Law360, January 2015
"Craft Beer Brewers Go Head to Head With Beer Distributors," Florida Trend, January 2014
"Casino Resort Fight Creates Windfall for Lobbyists," Daily Business Review, December 2011
"Smooth Operators," AmericanLawyer.com, November 2011
Interview on Fox News Channel, October 2010
Interview on Fox News Channel, Election Day, November 2010

Civic

Florida Sports Foundation, Board of Directors, 2005-2007, appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush
Florida Tax Watch, Board of Trustees, 2004-2006
National Jewish Coalition, South Florida Chairman, 1996-1998
Florida Blue Key

Reported Cases

Significant reported cases include:

In re Senate Joint Resolution of Legislative Apportionment 1176, 83 So.3d 597 (Fla. 2012)
Martinez v. Bush, 2002 WL 31740366 (S.D. Fla. 2002)
Florida Senate v. Forman, 826 So.2d 279 (Fla. 2002)
In re: Constitutionality of House Joint Resolution 1987, 817 So.2d 819 (Fla. 2002)
Palm Beach County Canvassing Board v. Harris, 772 So.2d 1273 (Fla. 2000)
Gore v. Harris, 2000 WL 1770257 (Fla. Cir. Ct. 2000)
In re: Constitutionality of House Joint Resolution 25E, 863 So.2d 1176 (Fla. 2003) (NO.SC03-1912)

Jason L. Unger

Mailing Address:

GrayRobinson PA
301 S Bronough St Ste 600
Tallahassee, FL 32301

Phone Number:

(850) 577-9090

Friday, November 18, 2016

FLORIDA JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION RECOMMENDING OUR NEXT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE IN GRAYROBINSON LAW FIRM OFFICE

"Voting-Booth Feng Shui," by Adrienne Davich, New York Times Magazine (December 10, 2006).

Jason L. Unger ATTORNEY AT LAW

2016 Legislative Lobbyist Detail

Jason L. Unger

Mailing Address:

Phone Number:

Principals:

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