Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson wants Sen. John Thrasher stripped of two important committee assignments if he is annointed chairman of the state GOP as expected.

Lawson asked Senate President Jeff Atwater today to remove Thrasher as chairman of the Ethics and Elections Committee and off the powerful reapportionment committee if he is also chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

“The conflict is evident: Senator Thrasher’s primary job as RPOF head is to see that Republicans win and maintain office through the elections process – a process in which his committees – one of which he controls – play a critical role,” Lawson, D-Tallahassee, wrote Atwater this morning.

Thrasher, a former House Speaker, returned to the legislature in a nasty special election to replace the late Sen. Jim King of Jacksonville. The trial lawyers’ association political arm targeted Thrasher in a racially-charged mailer that resulted in a shake-up at the Florida Justice Association leadership and forced former executive director Scott Carruthers to resign.

Thrasher’s special election drama was one of the reasons why Atwater appointed him to chair the committee, Atwater said at the time. Campaign reforms are at the top of Thrasher’s agenda this session, the Jacksonville lobbyist said late last year.

Along with members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, I was deeply troubled by the announcement earlier this week that Republican Senator John Thrasher may take over as head of the Republican Party of Florida, while maintaining his seat in the Florida Senate.

“As you know, the task of the committee he chairs is to set public policy on maintaining fair and unbiased elections. The task of the second of which he is a member is to oversee the drawing of legislative districts. To allow Senator Thrasher to remain in dual chairmanship roles and/or as a member of a committee holding sway over fair representation would threaten the integrity of the process as a whole,” Lawson wrote.

Stay tuned for a response from Atwater.

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.”

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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