12-30-2007, 10:46 AM
Former FDLE chief leaves investigative job; mulls sheriff's run
BY MELISSA NELSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Longtime Panhandle lawman Guy Tunnell took fire from critics statewide in 2006 when he compared the Rev. Jesse Jackson to outlaw Jesse James and Barak Obama to terrorist Osama bin Laden.
At the time he headed Florida's Department of Law Enforcement.
He resigned amid accusations of racism, but found refuge back home in Bay County. By hiring him within 31 days of his leaving another state job, State Attorney Steve Meadows salvaged for Tunnell more than $230,000 in a lump-sum retirement payment.
Now Tunnell is leaving that job six months early for unexplained reasons, forfeiting $18,330 in interest from Florida's Deferred Retirement Option Program -DROP. Some say he is considering a run for his old job - county sheriff - a possibility that angers Florida's black leaders.
"If Guy Tunnell goes back in as sheriff or any other public office, it's a slap in the face of all Floridians," said Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Meadow's decision to hire Tunnell, allowing him to complete his five-year eligibility in DROP, upset civil rights leaders who considered it further insult by Bay County elected officials. Bay County is where 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died after a videotaped altercation with seven guards at a sheriff's office boot camp. Tunnell, who established the boot camp as sheriff, made his comments about Jackson and Obama while preparing for protests at the state Capitol over the handling of the black teen's death by state and local officials.
Tunnell will receive a $520,000 lump-sum payment when he retires Monday after completing four and half years in DROP.
The Panama City News Herald speculated in a recent editorial that Tunnell, who served as Bay County Sheriff from 1988 to 2003, is leaving six months early to seek to unseat popular Sheriff Frank McKeithen.
Tunnell has an unlisted phone number and did not return numerous messages left by The Associated Press at the state attorney's office and with contacts in the Panama City area.
Joe Grammer, a spokesman for Meadows, said Tunnell's decision to leave the state attorney's office was a personal one and that Tunnell has not shared his future plans with anyone in the office.
"There are rumors out there and a lot of people are asking questions," Grammer said.
Grammer said his boss, Meadows, would not discuss Tunnell.
But Ted Haney, chairman of the Bay County Republican Party, said he would be surprised if Tunnell ran for sheriff.
"He has had his share of bashing in the press and so forth, which I think was undeserved. I wouldn't think he would want to get back into that," Haney said.
Bush appointed Tunnell to head the 2,000-employee FDLE in 2004. But Tunnell fell out of favor after sending e-mails to McKeithen while the FDLE was investigating Anderson's death. In the e-mails, Tunnell commiserated with McKeithen and knocked those who questioned the effectiveness of juvenile boot camps.
The seven former juvenile boot camp guards and the nurse charged in Anderson's death were exonerated by an all-white Bay County jury in October. Civil rights leaders are pressing for federal charges against the eight.
Questions about Tunnell's attitudes on race plagued him years before his resignation from FDLE. At his April 2004 Senate confirmation hearing, committee members questioned him about a dismissive note he once sent to U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, when Meek was a state legislator and asked Tunnell about racial profiling. Tunnell wrote that Meek, who is black, got his job "on his mother's skirt tails." Meek's mother, Carrie P. Meek, was a longtime congresswoman.
Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, asked whether Tunnell would have addressed a white legislator in such a way. Tunnell apologized to the committee.
In another incident a federal judge said Tunnell's deputies wrongly targeted a black night club in a series of raids after complaints from white neighbors. The action was later dismissed.
"I categorically deny that I am a racist," Tunnell said at his confirmation hearing.
In 2004, Tunnell again took heat from the NAACP and others after the FDLE sent state troopers to the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando as part of an investigation into election fraud in that city's mayoral election.
"Instead of having them come to the FDLE office, which may seem quite imposing, our agents felt it would be a more relaxed atmosphere if they visited the witnesses at their homes," Tunnell said in a statement released then.
Eugene Pool, president of the Florida Voters League, said Tunnell was unresponsive to his concerns.
"It was clear to me this was a case of intimidation and racism," Pool said.
Pool said he is not surprised that a race-related issue led to Tunnell's departure from his FDLE post.
"It didn't take long for him to be gone and to be back out in Bay County," he said.
Meadows brought Tunnell on as an investigator, starting him at $40,000, and raising his salary to $70,000 six weeks later.
Sister Blackmon Milligan, an attorney who ran against Meadows in 2004, said Meadows and Tunnell likely parted ways early because of potential backlash from voters who did not support Meadows' decision to salvage Tunnell's retirement.
"Guy got a bad rap but that was not a popular decision for Steve to have made to have brought him back," she said.
Many people who might have supported Tunnell politically had a problem with the taxpayer money he received through his job with the state attorney's office, said Rev. Rufus Woods, pastor of Panama City's Love Center Missionary Baptist Church, which has a largely black congregation.
"To bring Mr. Tunnell back with all that money and give him a $40,000 raise, I think when you start dealing with people's money and economics come into play, they start asking questions," Woods said.
"I just hope he's going to retire as of Dec. 31 and we don't have to go through more drama, but this is America and he's free to run (for sheriff)," Woods said.
BY MELISSA NELSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Longtime Panhandle lawman Guy Tunnell took fire from critics statewide in 2006 when he compared the Rev. Jesse Jackson to outlaw Jesse James and Barak Obama to terrorist Osama bin Laden.
At the time he headed Florida's Department of Law Enforcement.
He resigned amid accusations of racism, but found refuge back home in Bay County. By hiring him within 31 days of his leaving another state job, State Attorney Steve Meadows salvaged for Tunnell more than $230,000 in a lump-sum retirement payment.
Now Tunnell is leaving that job six months early for unexplained reasons, forfeiting $18,330 in interest from Florida's Deferred Retirement Option Program -DROP. Some say he is considering a run for his old job - county sheriff - a possibility that angers Florida's black leaders.
"If Guy Tunnell goes back in as sheriff or any other public office, it's a slap in the face of all Floridians," said Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Meadow's decision to hire Tunnell, allowing him to complete his five-year eligibility in DROP, upset civil rights leaders who considered it further insult by Bay County elected officials. Bay County is where 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died after a videotaped altercation with seven guards at a sheriff's office boot camp. Tunnell, who established the boot camp as sheriff, made his comments about Jackson and Obama while preparing for protests at the state Capitol over the handling of the black teen's death by state and local officials.
Tunnell will receive a $520,000 lump-sum payment when he retires Monday after completing four and half years in DROP.
The Panama City News Herald speculated in a recent editorial that Tunnell, who served as Bay County Sheriff from 1988 to 2003, is leaving six months early to seek to unseat popular Sheriff Frank McKeithen.
Tunnell has an unlisted phone number and did not return numerous messages left by The Associated Press at the state attorney's office and with contacts in the Panama City area.
Joe Grammer, a spokesman for Meadows, said Tunnell's decision to leave the state attorney's office was a personal one and that Tunnell has not shared his future plans with anyone in the office.
"There are rumors out there and a lot of people are asking questions," Grammer said.
Grammer said his boss, Meadows, would not discuss Tunnell.
But Ted Haney, chairman of the Bay County Republican Party, said he would be surprised if Tunnell ran for sheriff.
"He has had his share of bashing in the press and so forth, which I think was undeserved. I wouldn't think he would want to get back into that," Haney said.
Bush appointed Tunnell to head the 2,000-employee FDLE in 2004. But Tunnell fell out of favor after sending e-mails to McKeithen while the FDLE was investigating Anderson's death. In the e-mails, Tunnell commiserated with McKeithen and knocked those who questioned the effectiveness of juvenile boot camps.
The seven former juvenile boot camp guards and the nurse charged in Anderson's death were exonerated by an all-white Bay County jury in October. Civil rights leaders are pressing for federal charges against the eight.
Questions about Tunnell's attitudes on race plagued him years before his resignation from FDLE. At his April 2004 Senate confirmation hearing, committee members questioned him about a dismissive note he once sent to U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, when Meek was a state legislator and asked Tunnell about racial profiling. Tunnell wrote that Meek, who is black, got his job "on his mother's skirt tails." Meek's mother, Carrie P. Meek, was a longtime congresswoman.
Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, asked whether Tunnell would have addressed a white legislator in such a way. Tunnell apologized to the committee.
In another incident a federal judge said Tunnell's deputies wrongly targeted a black night club in a series of raids after complaints from white neighbors. The action was later dismissed.
"I categorically deny that I am a racist," Tunnell said at his confirmation hearing.
In 2004, Tunnell again took heat from the NAACP and others after the FDLE sent state troopers to the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando as part of an investigation into election fraud in that city's mayoral election.
"Instead of having them come to the FDLE office, which may seem quite imposing, our agents felt it would be a more relaxed atmosphere if they visited the witnesses at their homes," Tunnell said in a statement released then.
Eugene Pool, president of the Florida Voters League, said Tunnell was unresponsive to his concerns.
"It was clear to me this was a case of intimidation and racism," Pool said.
Pool said he is not surprised that a race-related issue led to Tunnell's departure from his FDLE post.
"It didn't take long for him to be gone and to be back out in Bay County," he said.
Meadows brought Tunnell on as an investigator, starting him at $40,000, and raising his salary to $70,000 six weeks later.
Sister Blackmon Milligan, an attorney who ran against Meadows in 2004, said Meadows and Tunnell likely parted ways early because of potential backlash from voters who did not support Meadows' decision to salvage Tunnell's retirement.
"Guy got a bad rap but that was not a popular decision for Steve to have made to have brought him back," she said.
Many people who might have supported Tunnell politically had a problem with the taxpayer money he received through his job with the state attorney's office, said Rev. Rufus Woods, pastor of Panama City's Love Center Missionary Baptist Church, which has a largely black congregation.
"To bring Mr. Tunnell back with all that money and give him a $40,000 raise, I think when you start dealing with people's money and economics come into play, they start asking questions," Woods said.
"I just hope he's going to retire as of Dec. 31 and we don't have to go through more drama, but this is America and he's free to run (for sheriff)," Woods said.