by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When he stepped to the podium to address Monday’s Rotary Club luncheon at the Omni Hotel, Paul Perez was much more the former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida than the Chief Compliance Officer for Fidelity National Financial, Inc., the private-sector post he has held since April 2.
Perez asked those gathered to raise their hands if they were familiar with the current controversy surrounding the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys that brought U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Virtually every hand in the room was raised.
“I had a front-row seat until three weeks ago,” said Perez.
He added he thinks the whole situation boils down to business as usual in the nation’s capitol.
“This is typical of Washington. Something starts as inept or clumsy conduct and before you know it, it’s a Washington scandal,” said Perez, who added, “At the heart of any Washington scandal, politics are at play.”
Perez also said he thinks much of the controversy could have been avoided if Gonzalez had simply explained that “U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president” and that it no longer pleased the president for the eight fired prosecutors to continue to serve.
Instead, it was leaked to the press that some of the firings were “performance related” and Gonzalez claimed to have not been involved in the firings when he had in fact attended a meeting on the subject.
Perez said he hopes the whole incident will be “remembered as just a footnote in American history” and his fired colleagues are the biggest victims.
“When you become a U.S. Attorney, you don’t wear a Democratic party hat or a Republican party hat, you wear a Justice Department hat. Your job is to enforce laws that have been on the books for a long time.”
Also on the dais at Monday’s meeting was Victoria Peuker from Melle, Germany, the Rotary Club of Jacksonville’s first international exchange student.
Peuker said since she arrived and enrolled as a junior at Bartram Trail High School, “I have learned about American culture and made many friends. This year abroad has been the best year I’ve ever had.”
Her year in Jacksonville has also been filled with traveling all over the country. She said as an exchange student sponsored by the Rotary Club, she has been to Disney World, Key West, New York City, Chicago and spent 10 days in Hawaii meeting other sponsored students. Before she goes home in July, Peuker said she will travel to Panama City and take a tour of several states in the far west.
“When I die, I want to come back as a Rotary exchange student,” commented Florida Bar President Hank Coxe before he introduced Perez.