Bar panel examines JNC interview process.

A judicial nominating commission panel of inquiry has held a hearing on whether a JNC member had a conflict of interest and brought discredit on the JNC process when she asked a judicial candidate questions about his health and finances.

The panel, headed by former 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Joseph Hatchett and including former Florida Bar President John Frost and former Florida Association for Women Lawyers President Ava Doppelt, took about three and a half hours of testimony in Tallahassee on November 29.

The case arose after Jacksonville attorney Scott Makar, a candidate for two First DCA vacancies, objected to questions he was asked by JNC member Elizabeth White when the panel conducted interviews on September 18 and 19.

He claimed she used one-sided information from his divorce case file, which was refuted by other information in the file that wasn't presented to the commission. Subsequently, the Jacksonville Justice Coalition filed a complaint, asking for an investigation, and a member of the JNC said the complaint was legally sufficient to proceed.

Since White was appointed to the JNC by the Bar, Bar President Herman Russomanno was empowered to appoint the three-member panel of inquiry. Its report will go to Russomanno and the Bar Board of Governors.

Hatchett noted the panel is trying to determine two issues. The first is whether White had a conflict of interest because her husband, Jacksonville attorney William Sheppard, had written a letter of support for another candidate, Charles Pillans, in 1998 when he was recommended for a previous DCA vacancy. The second was whether White's actions brought discredit to the JNC and the nominating process.

Panel members asked witnesses what recommendations they would make to help JNCs around the state determine what are proper and improper questions to ask of candidates.

Hatchett said he expected the final report to make such recommendations.

"If we don't, I don't see what good we will have done," he said. "Someone needs to do it."

"Are there questions or a line of questioning that could be inappropriate?" Doppelt asked Ana Christina Martinez, chair of the First DCA JNC.

She replied that commissioners should avoid asking applicants about their stands on political issues.

In response to another question, Martinez said she encouraged JNC members to ask tough questions and, unlike some other nominating commissions, has a policy of not considering in its confidential...