A race-baiting mailer backed by the state’s trial lawyers has resulted in a shake-up at the top of the group’s political organization.

Scott Carruthers, executive director of the Florida Justice Association, quit today after more than two decades years at the organization.

FJA political director Albert Balido and Deputy Executive Director Paul Jess have both been demoted.

Balido will continue on FJA as a lobbyist and Jess will keep his role as general counsel, according to FJA spokeswoman Jacqui Sisto.

“After 22 years of service to the FJA, Scott has decided to leave the organization and pursue other opportunities,” Sisto wrote in an e-mail.

Carruthers resigned after several heavy-weight lawyers dropped their Florida Justice Association membership in protest over the trial lawyers group’s failure to fire anyone in response to a race-baiting campaign mailer.

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The state’s trial lawyer association suspended Executive Director Scott Carruthers, Deputy Executive Director Paul Jess and political director Albert Balido for their involvement in a racially-tinged flyer targeting then-candidate John Thrasher.

“We repeat FJA’s apology for our financial role in the offensive and appalling absentee mail piece,” FJA President Michael Haggard said in a press release.

Haggard asked former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan to investigate the mailer and released Kogan’s report today after a board of directors’ meeting in Orlando.

The mailer sent to potential absentee voters was aimed at persuading Jacksonville residents to vote against Thrasher, a Republican, in the race to replace the late Sen. Jim King. Thrasher, a former House Speaker, later won the election.

The mailer depicted Black Panthers, President Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and a group of blacks holding an ACORN sign and was captioned “Is this the change you want to believe in?”

Kogan’s report, slightly longer than three pages, found that the three FJA executives were the only members of the organization who had knowledge of the flyer that drew outrage from Republicans and black lawmakers.

Everyone questioned about the mailer found it “outrageous, shocking, disgusting and contradicting everything FJA represents,” Kogan wrote in his report.

The trial lawyers initially distanced themselves from the mailer then admitted that Balido had hired political consultant Bill Helmich to come up with the last-minute attack.

“Bill, did it have to be so over the top?” Balido asked when initially shown the mail piece, according to Kogan’s report.

FJA promised that an oversight committee would review all campaign materials and expenditures in the future, according to the press release. (Read about FJA’s campaign spending at a bondage bar and a trendy South Beach night club here.)

The press release did not identify the three executives by name but said that “all three staff members specifically identified in the Kogan Report for their involvement in the matter have been temporarily suspended.”

Last year's Leather Masked Ball at Purgatory

The Florida trial lawyers political organization – Florida Justice PAC – spent more than $23,000 on food and beverages since the November election, including a $1,700 bash at a Miami Beach nightclub and two inexpensive tabs at a Ft. Lauderdale gay bar, according to state campaign records.

The expenses were filed under “other distributions” unlike most other campaign filings which include food and lodging spending under “expenditures.”

State records show that the association’s political arm spent a total of $125 at Purgatory bar in Ft. Lauderdale – $45 on July 8 and $80 on Sept. 15. The bar’s web site boasts of hosting the annual Leather Masked Ball, the “premier leather event in South Florida.”

The lawyers PAC also spent $1,706.93 on May 14 at Set Nightclub on trendy Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

Set is a high-end, VIP lounge popular with celebs. Last year, Kevin Federline dropped $1,500 at the hot spot (and left a $700 tip) according to the bar’s web site. Pamela Anderson and Justin Timberlake also made appearances there.

Check back later for a response from the trial lawyers, who are now huddling in Orlando for an executive meeting.

A racially-charged mail piece targeting former House Speaker John Thrasher will cost the state’s trial lawyer association more than embarassment.

The Florida Justice Association has hired former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan to conduct an investigation into the flier that elicited outrage from the legislature’s black caucus.

“It was the most blatant display of racism I’ve seen in 27 years,” Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, who is black, said at the legislature’s black caucus meeting last night.

The mailer was especially offensive to black lawmakers because they have historically sided with the trial lawyers in votes and considered them their friends, Lawson said.

“This experience really threw me for a loop,” Lawson, D-Tallahassee, said.

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