AGO 83-74 –

In Attorney General Opinion (AGO) 83-74 Florida Attorney General Jim Smith, a Democrat in 1983, told Chairman of the Florida Democratic Party Charles Whitehead that the party loyalty oath which his party was proposing was unauthorized by the legislature and therefore could not be used to bar Democratic candidates from being placed on the ballot. But the Democrats with Whitehead at the helm did it anyway and no one in our state government, Republican or Democrat, has yet tried to stop them. Actually quite to the contrary when our party chairman went to court in Kelly v. Harris with AGO 83-74 at his side, the Attorneys General office with Bob Butterworth and Charlie Crist at the helm argued against Kelly at every turn. When the political chips are on the table the Attorney General is not the people's attorney but stays the lap dog for politicos who annointed him.

You may also remember that Attorney General Jim Smith became erratic and politically bizarre during the 1986 race for governor in which he a Democrat was for the first time subject to signing his party's loyalty oath which he, as Attorney General, had determined was unauthorized and perhaps unconstitutional in AGO 83-74. It was widely believed that he would run for governor, but then Smith decided to be a running mate instead, then dropped out of the race altogether and then at the last minute became a candidate for governor again but lost that very close primary race to Steve Pajcic. Smith then coolly endorsed Pajcic then in less than a year he became a Republican and was soon thereafter appointed Secretary of State by newly elected Governor Bob Martinez, himself a former Democrat.

Perhaps during this 1986 governor's race the politically ambitious Democratic Attorney General Jim Smith was conflicted between publicly challenging his party's party loyalty oath which he had concluded was unenforceable back in 1983 and the other choice of quietly signing the oath and keeping his political career on track for the governorship. He kept quiet and throughout his tenure as Secretary of State (1987-1995)(2002-2003), Florida's chief election officer let the people of Florida down in the process.