Power players

By DIANE RADO

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- Nearly every Sunday morning, Gov. Jeb Bush heads to the hilly, tree-filled grounds of the old Capital City Country Club to get respite from the 16-hour days he puts in at the office.

Only a chosen few get to come along.

Bush's past golf partners include powerful lawmakers such as House Speaker John Thrasher and incoming state Senate president John McKay. They include lobbyists whose clients do business before the state government.

The governor volunteered only a few names of those lobbyists: Michael Harrell, the ex-husband of Bush's chief of staff whose clients include the Coca-Cola Co., the Walt Disney World Co. and Sprint; Richard McFarlain, who has served as general counsel to the state Republican Party and until recently was the lobbyist for the Florida Bar; and Brian Ballard, a former chief of staff to Gov. Bob Martinez, whose clients include Florida Power & Light Co., AT&T, and the New York Yankees.

Bush pays his own way -- he's a member of the country club -- and doesn't talk business with lobbyists on the golf course.

"I work 16 hours a day; I'm intense about my job," the governor said this week. "I have one time I can relax -- Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. I'm going to play golf with whoever ever I want to."

There's not a lot of time for talk when you're playing with Bush -- a competitive player who likes to win. He shoots in the 80s at the par 72 course, said Dale Brown, the club pro.

Like his father, former president George Bush, Gov. Bush shows a penchant for speed golf. "He plays fast," McFarlain said. "If you don't want to play fast, don't play with him."

Said lobbyist Harrell: "Jeb Bush is one of the hardest-working guys I know. I'm not going to ruin his day of rest and worship by bringing up stupid work."

Still, the picture of Bush on a golf course with lobbyists is troubling to Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida, a public interest group.

"I don't think it looks good to the general public. I think they see it as an example of this kind of cozy relationships between lobbyists and elected officials," Wilcox said. "They may not be talking business, but if somewhere down the road this lobbyist needs to talk business and he calls and makes an appointment, I think the public's perception is that person will have an easier time getting into the governor's office."

Bush isn't the first governor to mix with lobbyists on the playing field.

Former Gov. Bob Graham's tennis partners included lobbyists, said Jill Chamberlin, who was Graham's press secretary. Gov. Bob Martinez also played golf at Capital City Country Club, and some of his partners were lobbyists, said Peter Dunbar, who was Martinez's general counsel and is now a lobbyist himself.

The late Gov. Lawton Chiles preferred hunting over golfing and tennis. Toward the end of his second term, Chiles ran into trouble for taking private planes to go turkey hunting, attend football games and visit friends -- courtesy of influential lawyers and business people.

A spokeswoman for Bush said the governor's office does not keep a list of Bush's golf partners, since the outings are a matter of his personal time on weekends.

Bush came into office last year with high standards -- a new code of ethics that goes beyond state laws and instructs state employees to avoid even the appearance of ethical impropriety.

In recent weeks, however, the subject of socializing with lobbyists has become a sensitive one at Bush's agencies in the state capital.

The Times has reported that employees at the state Agency for Health Care Administration have gone to lunch, football games, and even on vacation with a lobbyist who was later awarded state business. The state Democratic Party called on the GOP governor to launch an investigation. Bush declined, saying there was no need to investigate and the Democratic Party was playing politics.

The Capital City Country Club's golf course is one of the oldest in the state, with flowering trees and hills that set it apart from the flat courses surrounded by homes throughout the rest of Florida. It is only a mile or so from the state Capitol building and Governor's Mansion. It grants honorary memberships to the governor, and two university presidents in town.

While Bush is known for rushing through the course, he still has time for pleasantries. Last Sunday, golf pro Brown was on the phone wishing his mother a happy birthday when Bush walked by.

Would you mind wishing my mom a happy birthday? Brown asked. Bush grabbed the phone and complied.

"My mom was just flabbergasted," Brown said.

- Diane Rado can be reached at rado@sptimes.com.

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