Jacksonville Rep. Charles McBurney will not be appointed as judge of Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit, and the National Rifle Association could have had a big hand in why McBurney wasn’t selected.
Gov. Scott announced he would choose Robert M. Dees to be the 4th Circuit’s newest judge. According to the governor’s office, Dees has been a partner with Milam, Howard, Nicandri, Dees & Gillam, P.A. since 2002. He was previously a partner with Holland & Knight from 1998-2002.
McBurney was one of 33 people to apply for two circuit judgeships in the Jacksonville-based 4th Judicial Circuit last year.
In the midst of his application, however, McBurney found himself in hot water with the National Rifle Association, over a bill he shelved from his committee this year.
The bill, if passed, would have shifted the burden of proof in Stand Your Ground cases to the prosecutor, who would have had to prove, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” whether a defendant could be granted immunity at a pretrial hearing in order to disprove a claim of self-defense immunity. The legislation made it through the Senate, but didn't fare as well in the House, where McBurney refused to hear the bill in his committee.
The NRA, which had given McBurney “A+” ratings for commitment to gun issues in the past, pounced on the decision.
“As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Charles McBurney arrogantly put his blind ambition to become judge ahead of your constitutional right of self-defense and your basic fundamental right to the presumption of innocence,” wrote past president and current NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer in an email to supporters, urging them to write the governor and protest his appointment.
“McBurney’s refusal to hear the bill, which had already passed in the Senate, was essentially a death sentence to the bill, since it needs to be heard in several committees before it can come to the House floor for a vote,” Hammer wrote.
Thousands of people (over nearly 8,000 the last time Sunshine State News checked) emailed the governor to oppose Rep. McBurney’s judgeship appointment after the National Rifle Association’s called on its members to tell the governor McBurney was “unfit” to be a circuit court judge.
McBurney tried to rally his own supporters to come to his aid by sending emails in support of his candidacy, but he couldn’t muster up nearly the same volume of emails to support him.
"I've supported the NRA position for 9 years in the legislature," he told SSN after the email blast, calling the email “disappointing” and recalling his support of other bills like open carry and campus carry during recent legislative sessions. "I've supported each bill the NRA has had, to my recollection."
Hammer told Sunshine State News she believed the NRA had a significant impact on the governor’s decision.
“I certainly hope that the actions of the NRA exposed the conduct of a man who proved himself to be unfit for a judgeship,” she said. “When you put your own personal gain ahead of the rights of the people, you don’t deserve to be on the bench.”
McBurney’s move to kill the bill, she said, calling the bench a “sacred position” reserved for those who are selfless in their service.
“When you are elected to represent the people, you are elected to represent the people’s work. It doesn’t matter whether it’s gun rights or anything else,” Hammer told SSN. “The people come before personal gain for any legislator, that’s why they were elected.”
McBurney disagreed and said he didn't think the blast had too big of an impact on his chances.
"I’m not sure it played a big role," he told SSN Friday afternoon. "Many of these emails...are just cut and paste by people that don’t know me. And I'm sure that the governor knows that."
McBurney said unforuntately it wouldn't look like that from the public eye.
"Sadly, the perception is going to be otherwise. We know in politics that perception is reality," he explained.
Moving forward, he said he intended to finish out the rest of his term as a state representative and return to practicing law. As for his relationship with the NRA moving forward, McBurney seemed less certain.
"As far as people in the organization that I know, I still have a great relationship with a lot of them," he told SSN. "[It's] hard to speculate. Ms. Hammer came at me pretty hard on that [issue], which I think was unfortunate and included stuff that was just flat-out not true...I’m going to continue to support issues involving the second amendment....I don’t take disagreement with issues personally."
Reach Allison Nielsen at allison@sunshinestatenews.com and follow her on Twitter @AllisonNielsen.
