Campus officials are the targets of intimidation tactics by Florida gun lobbyists seeking to allow the carrying of concealed weapons on college campuses.
Eric Friday, general counsel for Florida Carry Inc., filed ethics complaints against 10 university police chiefs who appeared March 16 before the Senate Higher Education Committee in opposition to Senate Bill 176 which would allow valid concealed-carry license holders to carry firearms on campus.
The complaints allege the chiefs violated Florida Statute 11.061 which reads in part:
11.061 State, state university, and community college employee lobbyists; registration; recording attendance; penalty; exemptions.—
(1) Any person employed by any executive, judicial, or quasi-judicial department of the state or community college or state university who seeks to encourage the passage, defeat, or modification of any legislation by personal appearance or attendance before the House of Representatives or the Senate, or any committee thereof, shall, prior thereto, register as a lobbyist with the joint legislative office on a form to be provided by the joint legislative office in the same manner as any other lobbyist is required to register, whether by rule of either house or otherwise.
Florida Carry Inc., a self-described lobbying organization promoting gun rights, and other groups such as the NRA’s own “lobbying arm,” the Institute for Legislative Action, are reporting that “the law is clear,” the ten police chiefs are in clear violation of the aforementioned statute.
Eric Friday, who filed the complaint stated that:
These chiefs used state resources and were on state taxpayers’ time to lobby the Legislature against the rights of citizens. The statutes require that if a state employee is going to lobby during business hours, they’re expected to register as a lobbyist. None of the people we filed complaints against are registered as lobbyists in Florida.
However, Friday and the other gun-rights activists are leaving out one vital piece of information: Florida State University Police Chief David Perry invited the other campus police chiefs to attend the hearing “at the request of state Senator Arthenia Joyner,” and pursuant to Florida Statute 11.061 section (2)(a) subsection (2)(b):
Any person who appears before a committee or subcommittee of the House of Representatives or the Senate at the request of the committee or subcommittee chair as a witness or for informational purposes shall be exempt from the provisions of this subsection.
Although Joyner is not the committee chair, there does appear to be some grey area as to whether the ten chiefs were in knowing violation of the law, particularly when one considers the statutory definition of lobbying and a lobbyist pursuant to Florida Statute 11.045:
(e) “Lobbying” means influencing or attempting to influence legislative action or nonaction through oral or written communication or an attempt to obtain the goodwill of a member or employee of the Legislature.
(g) “Lobbyist” means a person who is employed and receives payment, or who contracts for economic consideration, for the purpose of lobbying, or a person who is principally employed for governmental affairs by another person or governmental entity to lobby on behalf of that other person or governmental entity.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that “FSU President John Thrasher, who was instrumental in killing similar legislation when he was in the Senate, said through a spokesman that he fully supports the chief’s appearance before the legislative panel.”
The Tallahassee Democrat also reports that “Scott Barrish, a Tampa-area security officer, said he’s preparing similar ethics complaints against 21 university employees for what he considers improper lobbying on the issue,” including “the 10 police officials, along with four professors and seven high-level administrators.”
Florida State University professor Michael Buchler, who was not named on Barrish’s initial list, said the complaints appear to be intimidation by the gun lobby:
The idea of bullying police – and it seems like bullying to me – is just appalling. It seems to me that the police’s duty is to protect the campus. If they believe that putting guns on campus will make the campus less safe, I believe they’re doing their duty by speaking against it.
The Tallahassee Democrat added that according to Buchler, “he and his faculty colleagues spoke for themselves, not FSU or other campuses, when they testified against the bills. Like the police chiefs and top deputies, the professors and administrators are not on-the-clock employees – they get paid to get the job done, not by the hour, and any employee can arrange time off to go see the Legislature.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login