McCollum urged hiring of anti-gay activist at center of scandal

McCollum urged hiring of anti-gay activist at center of scandal

May 11, 2010

Attorney General Bill McCollum personally urged that the state hire George Rekers, the anti-gay psychologist whose recent European trip with a gay male escort has exploded into a furious media frenzy since it was first reported last week.

Rekers was paid more than $120,000 to help with the state’s defense of a more than 30-year old ban on gay adoption.

McCollum said on Monday that he “wouldn’t do it again” had he known more about Rekers,whose trip was first reported by the Miami New Times.

"We’ve been defending the constitutionality of the state law and we’ve been representing the Department of Children and Families, who hired him and paid him and needed expert witnesses and he was available and credentialed,’’ said McCollum."I wouldn’t do it again if I knew what I knew today but I didn't know that then and neither did anybody else.’’

Rekers has said he hired the man to carry his luggage for him on a trip to Europe, but Jo-vanni Roman, also known as Lucien, told CNN last week that he gave Rekers “sexual massages” on the trip. Rekers on his website says he did know about Roman’s ad on rentboy.com until after the trip was in progress and that he was not involved in any “illegal or sexual behavior’’ with him. He has also told The Miami Herald that he is "not gay" and never has been.

DCF was sued after it denied a South Florida gay man the right to adopt two young brothers who lived with him as foster children. The state agency turned to McCollum’s office to defend them in the lawsuit.

McCollum wrote a July 2007 letter to then DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth where he said his legal team “strongly” recommended the hiring of Rekers, a psychologist once on the faculty of the University of South Carolina and who helped found the Family Research Council back in the ‘80s.

“They believe that this expert and his testimony are necessary to ensure a successful result in this case,’’ wrote McCollum in the letter obtained by the Florida Tribune.

McCollum in his letter noted that initially DCF refused to hire Rekers, due primarily to the potential cost of his fees. Instead the child welfare agency wanted to only hire Walter Schumm, a professor of family studies at Kansas State University.

“Dr. Schumm is a good expert, but his areas of expertise are different from Dr. Rekers,’’ wrote McCollum. “Our attorneys handling this case have searched long and hard for other expert witnesses with comparable expertise to Dr. Rekers and have been unable to identify any who would be available for this case.”

Butterworth wrote a letter back to McCollum three days later saying that he gave “great weight to the analysis and recommendation of your staff” and authorized the hiring of Rekers as long as the state’s obligation did not exceed $60,900 for services through the trial. The state eventually paid twice that much over a two-year period.

Joe Follick, a spokesman for DCF, said that the department listened to its attorneys and decided to go along and hire Rekers.

“We retained the Attorney General to defend the Florida law,’’ said Follick. “In any of those relationships you rely on your counsel to provide the best defense. We have faith they represented us to the best of their ability.”

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled in November 2008 that the state ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional but the case has been appealed by the state. The Miami Herald reported that Lederman found that Rekers testimony was not credible.   

By: 

 Gary Fineout