Trial Lawyers Behind Race-Baiting Mailer in Senate Race

In an exclusive interview with the St. Pete Times, Scott Carruthers, executive director of the Florida Justice Association, the trial bar's statewide lobbying arm, admitted that the group was behind the notorious race-baiting flier in the State Senate District 8 race.  The flier, which was first made public on JaxPoliticsOnline.com, appealed to Republican voters to vote absentee in the special election by charging that Black Panthers might try to block their access to the polls on Sept. 15.

In the interview, Carruthers apologized for the mailing, calling it "indefensible."  Trial lawyers are frequently allied with the Democratic Party and the group is working feverishly to mend fences with African-Americans who are likely to be outraged when they learn a long-time ally engaged in race-baiting tactics.

As of yet, there has been no response from the Dan Quiggle campaign.  Quiggle, who finished a distant second in the race, was accused of coordinating with the Florida Justice Association throughout the race.  It is unknown at this time if the Quiggle campaign had advance knowledge of the mailing or were aware that it came from an apparent ally.

Tags: Black Panthers, Dan Quiggle, Florida Justice Association, Scott Carruthers, Senate District 8, Trial Lawyers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 5:17 PM and is filed under Local Politics, State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.