Attorney General Bill McCollum pushed for the hiring of a critic of gay adoption over the objections of one of his subordinates.
Nevertheless, Attorney General Bill McCollum pushed for the hiring of the psychologist George Rekers, who was at the time a leading advocate for conservative social issues.
The controversy has emerged as an issue in the governor's race, in which McCollum is the leading Republican candidate. Gay rights advocates say it showed poor judgment on the part of McCollum and reflects the flawed efforts Republicans have made to keep gays from adopting.
Florida wound up paying more than $120,000 to hire Rekers, whose credibility was tarnished after he recently went on a European vacation with a gay male escort. The state's ban on gay adoption was declared unconstitutional by a Miami judge in late 2008 who criticized Rekers as "not credible."
The e-mails released Thursday show that an attorney in McCollum's own office warned against hiring Rekers, whose testimony had been deemed suspect in an earlier Arkansas lawsuit that challenged a ban on placing foster children in homes with gay parents.
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This man should not be in office, and instead of asking HIM questions, the questions need to be asked of the governor. McCollum certainly had his own agenda in the hiring of Reker, and Florida taxpayers got to foot the bill for this garbage. That McCollum's actions were at the expense of children needing supportive, loving homes is a disgrace. I do believe this $120,000 did buy one thing; the exposure of self-serving frauds.
Posted by: Carol | June 05, 2010 at 06:26 PM