Florida lawyers group behind racist flier

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The head of a powerful Florida trial lawyer lobbying group apologized for a flier linked to his group that used race-baiting in a recent state Senate election.

"Morally and politically, it was indefensible," Florida Justice Association Executive Director Scott Carruthers said of the flier aimed at senior citizens that juxtaposed images of Black Panther "black power" advocates from the mid-1960s and 1970s with U.S. President Barack Obama, the Rev. Louis Farrakhan of Nation of Islam and black marchers holding a large ACORN banner.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is under fire on several fronts, including a videotape showing the anti-poverty group's staff giving tax counseling to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute.

The flier's caption read, "Is this the change YOU want to believe in?" and suggested "armed thugs" might try to intimidate seniors at the polls.

"I accept full responsibility for not having done everything to stop that piece from going out," Carruthers said in a statement.

He said the group's leaders had no advance knowledge of the flier.

Former Florida Legislative Black Caucus President Joseph Gibbons, a Democrat in the state House, said Carruthers' apology "won't do."

"That's just bad faith," Gibbons told the St. Petersburg Times.

The $69,000 cost of the flier, distributed in Jacksonville, was paid for by a group calling itself Conservative Citizens for Justice, the Times said.

It was designed by Republican campaign consultant Bill Helmich in the name of the Conservative Voters' Coalition, created to serve as a front for the trial lawyers association, the Times said.

Former state House Speaker John Thrasher won the Republican primary Sept. 15 and, because no Democrat filed, faces only write-in opposition in the Oct. 6 general election.

Thrasher's campaign charged the trial lawyers group was supporting rival Dan Quiggle, an anti-tax activist.