Dan Gelber was at Mise en Place in Tampa last night, for a fundraiser for his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.
The Miami Beach Democrat was in the news this week, after reports surfaced that he was one of several state officials to help vet judicial applicants for Governor Charlie Crist.
But Gelber said he did nothing wrong, and doesn't understand all the fuss.
"We didn't grade any judges " he told CL. ' We just sat in a room and talked about some issues. The (Governor's) General Counsel asked us about some of the candidates. What do you think? What do you know? I've been a lawyer in Miami for 25 years….I gave the Governor more information so he could have the data to make a more informed decision."
The only person to make any noise about Crist's legal advisors (which in addition to attorneys, included former state Supreme Court justice Major Harding and former American Bar Association President Martha Barnett), is the Governor's GOP Senate foe, former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
But Gelber disagreed, saying, " I didn't think there was anything wrong about this. The Governor is the governor of 19 million people, and if he wants to talk to people like lawyers to get more advice, he should."
Some of those seen at the fundraiser included former Tampa based Congressman Jim Davis, state House Democrats Mike Scionti and Ron Saunders, former Tampa City Councilman Bob Buckhorn, and Florida Organizing for America director Ashley Walker.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2009.