Brian Blair: the political action figure, fighting for the rights of parents everywhere

You knew this was coming: Brian Blair has started his comeback bid after being cleared of child-abuse charges in a fight with his sons, even as he also fights elections law charges in connection with checks he accepted during his failed 2008 campaign.

Blair, in an exclusive sit-down with News Channel 8 set to air tonight at 11, said:

As he reflected on the incident, Blair found two problems. First, parents must be able to physically discipline their children without fear of arrest. Second, elected leaders should adopt a curfew.

“Parents are afraid to discipline their children, afraid someone will pick up the phone,” and call police, Blair said.

So let’s get this straight: Blair’s new political profile will include pushing for a law allowing parents to hit their kids and pushing for something that has already been ruled unconstitutional, the government curfew.

News Channel 8 is touting this interview with Gayle Sierens. Let’s hope Gayle explored this whacky scenario a bit more:

Here’s how the night started, according to Blair:

He had been at a charity event and ended the evening with some friends at a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s having chicken wings and beer. “Nothing excessive,” he said.

Blair woke hungry about 3:30 a.m. and decided to cook salmon. He heard a commotion near the front door and found his two sons, Brett, 17, and Bradley, 14, along with two of their teenage friends.
“Needless to say, I was upset,” Blair said.

OK, non-excessive beer drinking, salmon at 3:30 am. Anyone out there believe that version??

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

In April 2009, former Hillsborough Commissioner Brian Blair opted to go for a full hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to settle the charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions from Hillsborough Planning Commissioner Hung Mai and another political supporter. In February 2009, the Florida Elections Commission found “Probable Cause” that Blair intentionally violated campaign laws.

The final hearing was set for Wednesday in Tallahassee before ALJ Jeffrey B Clark. But a source there tells me that a one-time 30-day delay may be granted in the case. [UPDATE: On Wednesday we learned that is exactly what happened. The judge in Blair’s case just issued a ruling on the motion filed to send the case back to the elections commission.  He denied the motion and set the new court date for Sept. 9. And get this, the trial is being moved to Tampa!!!]

The prosecution has been gathering evidence to show “willfullness” to violate the law. The evidence includes testimony of many witnesses in the case, in addition to the financial evidence of the money changing hands. As the state prepares to go to trial “loaded for bear,” Blair’s attorneys have now begun filing numerous motions to stop the trial from happening. It’s apparent that the tactic they’re following is, let’s hit ‘em with every motion we can possibly think of and if that doesn’t work, we’ll dazzle ‘em with bull****! Oh, and for those that are wondering, the law firm that Blair picked Is not Dewey, Cheatum, & Howe. As it happens, all of their attorney’s were tied up with traffic court and slip and fall cases, so he has decided to go with attorneys from a legislative/lobbyist group called Tidewater Consulting.

Some of the B.S. that’s been filed:
Copy Submitted of Commissioner Half-Truth Hagan’s campaign violation case -
Blair’s attorneys have even sent the judge a copy of the results of Half-Truth Hagan’s campaign finance violation case, in which the Elections Commission had to dismiss the case because they couldn’t sufficiently establish “willfulness”. What’s up with that tact? He’s, in effect, saying to the judge, “Hey, they dismissed my buddy’s case, so why can’t you dismiss my case?” Huh?

Motion to Relinquish Jurisdiction -
Basically he’s asking the judge to send the case back to Elections Commission to let them decide his fate. As a defendant, he was given a choice to allow his fate to be decided by either the Elections Commission or an administrative law judge. He chose the administrative law judge (possibly thinking that the prosecution would not be able to build a solid case against him). Through the legal process of discovery (the disclosure of information held by the opposing party in an action) Blair has, in all likelihood, learned that his goose is cooked based on the evidence. So now he wants to revert back to being judged by the Elections Commission, or shall we say, his peers (commissioners that hold appointed positions by way of politics). As Church Lady would say, “Isn’t that con-v-e-n-i-e-n-t”. It ain’t gonna happen, though.

Prosecutors Response to the Relinquish Jurisdiction Motion –
The prosecutor calls Blair’s motion to send the case back to the elections commission “forum shopping.” He refers to the idea of asking to go back to the previous step just as you’re about to go to trial a “second bite at the apple.” Which the law does not allow.

If you’re Brian Blair (mug shot at right), nothin’ much but some bad publicity, apparently. Check out these reports from Fox NewsRadio, and after the break, TBO.com, in which an assistant state attorney characterizes the incident as “discipline.” UPDATE: The St. Petersburg Times goes into further detail on the case and the reasons for the charges being dropped, referring to a memo from Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters that indicates Blair “took more punches than he gave.” (That would explain his condition in the mug shot).

TAMPA, Fla., (970 WFLA) – The Hillsborough State Attorneys office said it will not file child abuse charges against former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair.

The State Attorneys Office won’t comment, but said prosecutors will not pursue the case against Blair.

Blair was arrested on Father’s Day.  He was charged with hitting his two teenaged sons.  There were no serious injuries.

After the break, the story from TBO.com:

TAMPA — The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office won’t prosecute Brian Blair on child abuse charges.

Blair was arrested on Father’s Day after a confrontation involving his two sons.

In a memorandum, Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters characterized the scuffle between Blair and his 17-year-old son Brett as “discipline,” given the history between the two.

When Bradley Blair, the younger son, called 911, he told dispatchers that his brother had “gone crazy,” the memo said.

Peters wrote that Brett Blair was more aggressive and hit his father more than his father hit him. Brian Blair’s injuries appeared to be defensive, she wrote.

There were inconsistencies in witness statements about who punched whom, she wrote.

Deputies initially arrested Blair on felony child abuse charges, after Brett Blair told deputies his father grabbed him, punched him in the face and put him in a choke hold, the Sheriff’s Office report said. He then grabbed younger son Bradley by the throat and punched him, the report said.

As he left jail last month, Blair called the arrest “a real, I guess, unfortunate situation. It’s a misunderstanding that could have been prevented.”

“I have over 7,000 hours mentoring children, and the last thing I’d ever do is hurt a kid,” Blair said at the time. “Sometimes, the hardest kids to mentor are your own.”

Three Republicans continue The Suck.

Ralph Hughes died owing more than $60 million in back taxes.

Brian Blair beat the shit out of his teenage sons on Father’s Day.

Mark Sanford cheated on his wife.

None of this surprises me.

A rich man gets greedy and leaves his heirs to deal with the consequences? Yawn. Wake me when Wall Street 2 comes out.

A former wrestler produces two problem children and beats them when they turn out like their old man? Yawn. Wake me when Brian Blair and Hulk Hogan star in their own reality show.

And I don’t even care about what Mark Sanford does… I mean, have you seen his wife or heard her go on and on about The Lord? Christ. Don’t cry for him, Argentina.

I try very hard not to get angry about what is typical. What really pisses me off is the goddamn hypocrisy.

Ralph Hughes, Mr. Moral Courage Award, supported politicians who railed against welfare moms and illegal immigrants. He hailed himself as fiscally conservative and hated people or policies that drained our society of precious resources.

Yet he was fleecing more money than a Mexican Mama with a dozen brown babies.

Brian Blair benefited from Ralph Hughes’s donations and influence. In return, Blair voted against protecting gay victims of bullies in school and bemoaned the lack of traditional family values in our morally bankrupt society.

Yet he’s a piss-poor parent, the head of a traditionally dysfunctional family.

But perhaps worst of all, Mark Sanford is a man who would take rights away from others in order to protect the “sanctity of marriage.” He dared to get on national television and hold himself up as a man of God and used the power of Jesus to get elected.

Then he goes to South America for some strange.

Again, it’s the hypocrisy that frustrates and angers most free-thinking adults. Through the magic of Facebook and Twitter, here is what some of you had to say:

About Ralph Hughes…

“Just one more example of the Hills Co cesspool of political corruption bubbling over to expose its very messy underbelly.The honest workers of Hills Co who have tried in vain for years to report corruption are having a good laugh now.”

About Brian Blair…

“I noticed he’s listed as unemployed, Maybe he was thinking about making a wrestling career comeback, and figured he’d get some practice in on his kids?

He was best known for his sleeper hold.
silly bee”

About Mark Sanford…

“I’m sure Sanford never would have had an affair if the gays didn’t ruin marriage.”

By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor

He was supposedly hiking — getting away from it all, clearing his head.

When 2012 Presidential wannabe South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went AWOL late last week, most observers pointed to another case of Sanford being Sanford. As time went by and no one including his own wife could account for his whereabouts, the rumors began to fly. Yet, no one imagined the truth would be as bizarre as what the governor himself revealed on Wednesday afternoon: he’d been unfaithful to his wife; leaving all to wonder about the little side trip to Argentina (first reported as a hiking trip in the Appalachians).

What a week for white, male, conservative, Christian politicians. First, Sen. John Ensign caught with the wife of a staffer, then former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair charged with putting a real life smackdown on his two children, then the coup de grace-Sanford and his hike up a skirt.

Some will cry foul. I’m picking on the conservative, Christian Republicans again. Nope, not this time. The facts speak for themselves. I’m not moralizing here. I think I have a pretty decent understanding of human nature and its foibles. I’m not critical of their weakness and their failures.

Rather, I find fault with their prior history of moralizing and judging others, holding themselves above the rest of us plebes because they’re men of values, family values no less. My issue with these men lies not in their professions of faith.

There’s a rule in journalism that holds true in life as well: Show me, don’t tell me. If you’re a man (or woman) of faith show me that faith by your actions toward your wife, toward your fellow human being, and toward those whom you serve. I’d prefer to discover your faith in your actions, not in your pronouncements. Let me discover your work with the poor, disenfrancished, and those who can’t offer you a political donation or a position of power. Let me discover your service to the community. Don’t talk about it, just do it. I don’t want to hear you talk about it.

Will Justice Prevail?

Ed.’s note: George Niemann filed this report before Brian Blair’s arrest on Father’s Day on two child abuse charges.

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

Here’s the latest update on the Brian Blair campaign finance scandal.

In case you didn’t know, former Commissioner Blair is headed to a “trial” on charges he violated Section 106.19 of Florida Statute relating to campaign finance regulations (Case# FEC 08-224).

On Feb. 28, the Florida Elections Commission ruled that there was “probable cause” that he violated the statute more than once. His violations involve the acceptance of illegal campaign contributions from two contributors. Anyone can make a clerical error, however, the Elections Commission looks beyond just the accounting. They look for actions that indicate the intent of not following the law.

Well, they found it in Brian Blair’s case.

To make matters worse, one of the illegal campaign contributions came from none other than Hung Mai, who is currently serving as a Hillsborough County Planning commissioner. Mai did fund raising during Blair’s campaign and in turn, Blair helped get him appointed. As you can see, Hillsborough County politics resembles an ant farm. Citizens are at ground level so you just have to dig down to see where all the tunnels lead and who the worker ants are. In this scenario, Mai is one of the “workers.”

Following that probable cause finding in February, Blair was forced to make a choice. He could opt for an informal administrative hearing (which is the equivalent of pleading guilty with an explanation in traffic court) or go for a full-blown trial-like hearing before an administrative judge. Blair is going for broke; he opted for the full-blown trial with a judge, a prosecutor, a defense team, witnesses, and character witnesses, to boot. It is scheduled for July 29 in Tallahassee (exact time and location below).

I’m not sure Mr. Blair realizes that his political career may have ended in Nov. 2008. Perhaps he’s interested in making a George Foreman- or Hulk Hogan-type comeback, who knows?

This case is very revealing. The evidence shows that he received multiple contributions from the same people and/or business firms. His treasurer, Joe Chillura, even penned a handwritten addition on a note to one contributor that Blair signed, thanking him for making the additional contribution acknowledging that it was illegal. Here it is; see for yourself:

Blair and Chillura knew they had accepted more than the legal amount. The commission maintains that they intended to keep the money and ignore the law. They only returned the funds after the Elections Commission filed charges against Blair.

The commission has a very strong case. It resembles the OJ Simpson case in some respects – the world knew what happened that night, but the dream team managed to get OJ acquitted. The evidence in this case is indeed compelling, but maybe Blair’s dream team will somehow convince the judge that the glove/pen doesn’t fit.

What is his defense? If you can believe it, he’s blaming Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson for the failure to return the money. At the Feb. 28 probable cause hearing Blair said that Johnson’s office didn’t provide enough support to help them keep their books in order. You have to ask yourself, how did every other candidate in Hillsborough manage their books without breaking the law???  During that same hearing, Blair also said that he’s never done anything wrong in his life. The Elections Commission and staff broke out into laughter when he said it.

Wondering about the character witnesses? The Elections Commission prosecutor, Eric P. Lipman, was in Tampa last week (June 17-18) with a court reporter taking depositions. On the witness list you would see a familiar name if you follow land-use hearings, comp-plan amendments, growth management and/or special interest lobbying. It’s none other than Steve Allison, mild-mannered (while on camera, anyway) development promoter. Isn’t it ironic? The former commissioner searches to find someone who can attest to his character and the only person he can come up with is a development lobbyist??? If Rose Ferlita or Kevin Beckner needed character witnesses to speak on their behalf, there would be a plethora of real citizens, including myself, who would attest to their morals and strong character. Poor Brian Blair can only muster support from a single lobbyist. And in all likelihood, that support is a political favor paid back to Blair for his diligent help in attempting to pave over Hillsborough during his tenure as commissioner.

There was an unconfirmed rumor that Brian’s defense team was trying to locate the Iron Sheik so he could testify:

Witness List (as we'd like to see it)

The trial will be held July 29 at 9:00am in the courtroom located at 1230 Apalachee Drive in Tallahassee.

Many citizens have expressed a desire to attend the trial to see whether Blair can successfully distance himself from all the ethics and campaign charges that seem to follow him and threaten his goal of becoming a career politician like his idol and mentor, Jim Norman. Who knows, if enough angry citizens show up at this trial, it may end up looking like a remake of the movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame…..S-a-n-c-t-u-a-r-y!!!!!

OK, so this was shot long before former wrestler and Hillsborough politician Brian Blair’s arrest on child abuse charges this weekend, but we’re pretty sure here at PoHo Central that the always erudite Iron Sheik feels the same way about that “jabroni” Blair today as he did back in March.

Full video after the jump:

In video now just hitting TV news websites, Brian Blair calls the family fight and his arrest “an unfortunate situation” and “a misunderstanding that could have been prevented.”

Fox 13’s Warren Elly has a report on that station’s website, here is the link (sorry, but the video didn’t embed into our software.)

According to Elly’s story, Blair told reporters on the way out of jail:

“It’s a misunderstanding that could have been prevented. I have over 7,000 hours mentoring children and the last thing I’d ever do is hurt a kid. Sometimes the hardest kids to mentor are you own. I guess that’s all I’ll say for now,” Blair told FOX 13.

Elly came by Creative Loafing before Blair’s release and I taped a short interview about what this does to Blair’s political career. Blair told reporters upon his release that his supporters would understand his actions once they hear the full story, but I’m kind of doubting that. Blair is not dead politically in the sense that he won’t ever quit the game, but he can’t possibly win public office after this.

According to one reporter at the scene, Blair’s wife, Toni, spoke briefly to media to say only that her sons were fine, but she made no other comment.

Blair was arrested this weekend and charged with two counts of child abuse after getting into a fight with his teenage sons, shown in this photograph from his campaign website Blair continues to maintain.

Brian Blair, defeated Hillsborough County Commissioner, sore loser and, now, criminal defendant.

From ABC Action News:

Brian Blair, the former pro wrestler and Hillsborough County commissioner, is facing child abuse charges after he allegedly got into a scuffle with his teenage boys.

Blair, 52, was arrested his home on 12702 Boulevard N shortly after 5 am and booked into the Orient Road Jail at 12:45 p.m, jail records show.

According to Hillsborough Sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon, Blair got into an argument with his two two teen-aged sons that turned physical, sheriff’s Deputy Larry McKinnon said.

“It was a family argument between him and his sons and during the altercation at least one was battered,” McKinnon said.

The Times adds these details from the arrest report:

An arrest report said Blair, a former professional wrestler who is 6 feet tall and weighs 235 pounds, pushed his older son Brett, 17, in the chest around 4 a.m.

The teen tried to walk away, but Blair grabbed him and punched him in the face with a closed fist, leaving a red mark and causing swelling, the arrest report said.

Blair then put the 17-year-old in a choke hold, causing him to have trouble breathing, according to the report.

Deputies said Blair then let go of his older son and grabbed his younger son by the throat. He punched the boy on the top of his head, leaving a bump, the arrest report said. In their report, deputies gave the younger son’s age as 12, though Blair’s campaign Web site said he is 13.

He is, of course, innocent until proven guilty.