Rush to Prosecute
Dealey, Sam
Rush to Prosecute First Barry Krischer said Rush Limbaugh wasn't a target. Then the Florida prosecutor turned him into his marlin. BY SAM DEALEY O N OCTOBER 10, ROY BLACK RECEIVED AN...
...But in this instance, sensibilities and case history suggest otherwise, and it may be that celebrities who generally step in it are held to even a stricter standard than Joe Blow...
...The prosecutor confirmed the state attorney wasn't willing to just drop the case after all...
...But when the story of Rush's addiction got out, all of that changed...
...The prosecutors did so, conferring with ethicist Barbara Moore...
...MAY 2004 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 15...
...And Rush's defenders are quick to say that the tabloid initially refused their story—complete with emails, answering machine recordings, and likely illegal audio tapes of exchanges with Rush—unless they ginned up an official investigation...
...Just two days after receiving Krischer's about-face on his assurance not to prosecute, Black was hit with another instance of prosecutorial dishonesty...
...IN MID-DECEMBER, Black wrote Krischer a confidential letter signaling his desire to come to an agreement...
...S PURRED BY A REPORT in a supermarket tabloid, the gossip mill had been churning for a week with salacious stories about Rush's problems...
...THE DETAILS OF THESE CONFIDENTIAL LETTERS came to light from yet another act of bad faith by Krischer in his dealings with the press...
...Aggressive (and questionable) prosecutions made her the top attorney in the nation...
...MAY 2004 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 13 RUSH TO PROSECUTE count of doctor shopping, a third-degree felony...
...She said that there is an ethical obligation to follow the requirements of the law and that it would in fact be unethical not to disclose the letter unless there is an applicable exception...
...Emails poured in urging the prosecutor to do something, and no doubt there was indirect pressure from Krischer's fellow elites in the overwhelmingly liberal enclave of Palm Beach...
...Is this your model of professionalism on behalf of the Florida Bar...
...And Rush's version of events didn't put them in a sympathetic light at all...
...He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better—better!—get me some more...
...And that's something to worry about, because it may just set the precedent that ensnares the Joe Blows who can't afford Roy Black...
...Krischer's unbeatable," county GOP head Sid Dinerstein told the Palm Beach Post...
...All these pills are enough to kill an elephant—never mind a man...
...Krischer that the Bar does not interpret statutes, and that if uncertainty existed as to the obligation to produce records, the State Attorney may want to seek a court determination on the issue...
...Black also met with Krischer's top lieutenant in an effort to end the case entirely...
...Hollywood's Variety and other newspapers are chock-full of stories about celebrities such as Rush hooked on Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin—actor Matthew Perry, bad boys Charlie Sheen and Robert Downey Jr., football star Brett Favre—have all had their troubles...
...Black never had any intention of making Rush the state's criminal precedent for doctor shopping, but he also never had the chance to respond...
...10 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MAY 2004 SAM DEALEY Just before he signed off at 3 p.m., the conservative radio talk show host would tell his 20 million listeners across more than 650 radio stations that he was addicted to pain medication...
...Finally, Cline claimed, after supplying Rush with tens of thousands of pills over four years—and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in return—she and her husband grew fearful of their role in the matter and came clean to the local authorities...
...There were times when I was worried," Cline told the Enquirer with faux tenderness...
...SAM DEALEY identity theft, fake documents, marijuana possession, and resisting arrest—convictions that earned him 18 months' probation, the terms of which he no doubt violated in supplying Rush's habit...
...OR ALL OF THESE REASONS, Krischer's office wasn't inclined to make a target of F Rush...
...A review of the records...indicates evidence that would support in excess of ten felony counts...
...Black called for Krischer to investigate his aide for ethics violations—he has not done so—and has since ended all but the most perfunctory communications with prosecutors...
...Upon learning that Cline's husband, David, was taking the potent painkiller hydrocodone, Rush asked if she "could spare a couple of them...
...Krischer previously tried to prosecute one defendant on the charge, but the defendant died...
...Krischer's team suspected the highly addictive painkillers were prescribed for the same medical complaints, and began to build the case for doctor shopping...
...But in obtaining the search warrants, Krischer was able to review them in private in a way that might help steer his case in public...
...And in both instances, red flags were raised...
...His tone was nasty and bullying," she told the tabloid in baited breaths that hardly seem plausible...
...For starters, despite Cline's expressions of sympathy for Rush to the Enquirer, the pair hadn't shown much remorse supplying him until they felt their own necks were on the line...
...Still, despite Gleason's seeming concurrence, she recommended that Krischer's office chat with the Florida Bar about whether such a document release might violate the state's rules of good conduct...
...I am concerned that your memorandum...
...And there were understandable explanations for why Rush was addicted to pain medication: The talk-show host has suffered from chronic medical problems, including spinal pain and the temporary loss of his hearing that resulted in a cochlear implant...
...If unsure, [caller] may need to ask court to determine it for them...
...I am addicted to prescription pain medication...
...Krischer's office may have known about Rush's drug problem ten months earlier, but Rush's listeners would find out in only a few minutes...
...BY SAM DEALEY O N OCTOBER 10, ROY BLACK RECEIVED AN ASSURANCE...
...And that's when the reporter let the cat out of the bag...
...S OME TEN MONTHS BEFORE the public knew about Rush, Krischer's office had all of this...
...His source told him Rush intended to plead guilty to a third-degree felony...
...The dealers whom the Clines got the drugs from were arrested and charged, but the prosecutors didn't appear to be making a case against Rush...
...Rush MAY 2004 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 11 RUSH TO PROSECUTE Limbaugh Caught in Drug Ring...
...After exchanging pleasantries, the two teams took their seats opposite the battered, rectangular conference table on the first floor of Krischer's office near the marina...
...Presumably it was to cover their tracks, to dispel any hint of controversy in what was already a controversy-laden case...
...Why not resolve the matter as it is usually done, he wrote, with Rush entering another treatment program, this time at a judge's choosing, with regular testing and monitoring...
...did Black care to comment...
...That call changed our whole way of dealing with the case," recalled Black...
...That smacked of a criminal fishing expedition, and a number of outside groups, including the local American Civil Liberties Union—hardly Rush disciples and often on the receiving end of his barbs—filed briefs supporting his case...
...The Florida Bar informed Mr...
...This Liberals from across the country who had borne the brunt of Rush's commentaries for 15 years smelled blood in the water...
...Soon after Rush returned from rehab to his golden EIB microphone, Black began to get troubling signs that Krischer's office was, in fact, planning to prosecute Rush...
...Two days later, Krischer shot back with a pissy letter to the AG...
...But Krischer's office wanted those letters released...
...The Florida Bar did not advise State Attorney Barry Krischer that he or his office had an obligation to disclose certain material contained in the State Attorney file," wrote president Miles McGrane in a letter...
...Then, too, there was Cline's husband, David...
...Rush is a Republican...
...For that, Rush would receive three years of probation, community service, and treatment monitoring...
...His dealings with the Clines stemmed from addictions to legitimate prescriptions from doctors...
...Then, too, Florida has been particularly hard hit by a rash of deaths from prescription drug overdoses, which more than doubled over the last three years...
...On January 22, call logs indicate that "Barry Cusher"— humiliating, that—inquired about making the plea negotiations public...
...Which makes one wonder why the prosecutors ever bothered to seek outside guidance in the first place...
...It was early in the afternoon, and the white-collar criminal defense attorney and an aide had driven the 70 miles north from Miami to meet with Barry Krischer, the state attorney for West Palm Beach, and his prosecutorial team...
...So far, the law has yet to be applied in Palm Beach...
...But if Black could come up with an acceptable settlement, they'd see what could be done...
...He skipped bond and hid for seven years before finally surrendering and serving five years in prison...
...Despite bluster from Krischer's office that it has enough to indict Rush on ten felony counts, no charges to date have been filed...
...It was an unusual—and perhaps illegal—move...
...A couple turned into a monthly fix of 30, and when the prescription for her husband ran out, Cline said Rush demanded still more...
...To bring down the biggest conservative icon would be a considerable feather in his cap...
...Krischer offered to settle the case if Rush pled guilty to a single in 2001...
...On January 16, a reporter with South Florida's Sun-Sentinel made a formal request for records relating to the case, including correspondence between Krischer's office and Roy Black...
...Black is determined not to let his clientbecome the new legal precedent for doctor shopping in Florida, as Krischer seems determined to make him...
...For his part, Selvig wrote to the AG's Most Knowledgeable Person reassuring her that "none of the contacts I have had with you over that past week was intended to justify our decision" to release the letters...
...Three years ago, no one but the saleslady at the cosmetics counter had heard of the Republican...
...There was, of course, the office's general policy of taking a more lenient eye towards pre12 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MAY 2004 scription drug addicts, viewing them less as criminals than as victims...
...The details of these confidential letters came to 11 t from yet another act of bad faith by Krischer in his dealings with the press...
...And then there's Noelle Bush in Florida...
...If it was their intention to prosecute, he said, they would have done so already...
...on December 17, a reporter from the Palm Beach Post called Black...
...He told me Rush was not a target," Black recalled...
...He noted that Rush had admitted he was an addict and had voluntarily sought treatment...
...As told by Black, the arrangement went awry when the Clines tried to blackmail Rush, sandbagging him at his office and demanding $4 million to keep their mouths shut...
...The two attorneys had known each other for almost 30 years, and Black took him at his word...
...In going after Rush, Krischer hopes to demonstrate that no one is above the law...
...At 4:28 p.m...
...Within the state, Palm Beach has been hit the hardest: The Palm Beach Post reported that the city led in Oxycontin overdoses prompted the state legislature in 2002 to pass a law that strengthened the penalties for doctors who willy-nilly pass out powerful painkiller prescriptions, and for patients who "Doctor Shop"—that is, who try to wrangle multiple prescriptions from doctors for bogus health problems...
...Black did...
...Normally you want to keep a good relationship with the prosecutor, but that was just one act too much...
...For her story, Cline and her husband were granted immunity...
...late last year, it took the White House itself to convince Harris she shouldn't run for the Senate...
...It seems to me that the purpose in contacting me about this issue may not have been to obtain impartial advice on an open government issue, but rather to use a part of our conversation to justify your office's decision that the documents should be released...
...The story, as Cline related, began in 1998, soon after she was hired to mind Rush's $24 million mansion in Palm Beach...
...In 1982, David Cline was arrested in Florida for cocaine trafficking...
...At first Cline would stash the medication under his mattress, she said, but after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001, the handoffs took to seedier places and manners, including desperate emails and phone messages from Rush for the "small blue babies" and others, and a furtive exchange in a Denny's parking lot...
...Krischer is a Democrat, and up for re-election this year...
...A more benign reasoning subscribes to populist theories...
...Moore's opinion is that the Florida Public Record's Law takes precedence over any possible issue raised by the Rules of Professional Conduct," Selvig wrote in his memo...
...Invariably, a few voluntary weeks at Happy Hills were enough to elicit strong praise for their courage...
...And without warning to Black or Limbaugh, Krischer's office released the memos to eager journalists, hot off the Xerox machines at a local copy shop...
...Limbaugh Sought Plea Deal" was the papers' headlines, and the story brought the case into the limelight again...
...Which begs the question: Is it really worth Krischer's time to do so...
...Four days later, on December 15, Black got his response...
...THERE LIKELY WILL BE no speedy end to Rush's legal problems...
...Katherine Harris...
...no matter how powerful or well known you are, if you do the crime, you do the time...
...That they sold their story to the tabloid for $250,000 tainted their credibility even more...
...Their office policy, Krischer continued, was not to prosecute the drug addict, but to go after the pusher who sold them, the doctor who prescribed them, the dealer who bought them...
...To bring down the biggest conservative icon would be a considerable feather in his cap...
...Krischer is a Democrat, after all, and up for reelection this year...
...He reminded Krischer of their first conversation, when the prosecutor said he wasn't interested in going after Rush...
...screamed the October 2 cover of the National Enquirer...
...The reporter's story never ran, but that was the last straw for Black...
...His office had been aware of Rush's drug use for many months, he told Black...
...Your offer of Pretrial Intervention is not an appropriate resolution of this matter," Krischer wrote...
...Gleason, Selvig noted, was "the AG's most knowledgeable person" on public disclosure law...
...Rush's defenders offer plenty of reasons—some contradictory—on why Rush is getting the third-degree...
...I've had people tell me they want to run against Krischer, and I say, 'Save your money.— Perhaps it's because Krischer's so unbeatable that he can pursue Rush without fear of reprisal...
...Krischer placed his arms on the table and folded his hands...
...You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life," Rush said, "so I need to tell you that part of what you have heard and read is correct...
...he riposted, referring to Krischer's spokesman, Michael Edmondson...
...And even if Krischer had wanted to land a big fish like Rush, there didn't seem to be much of a case...
...Not only had he been double-crossed by Krischer, but now the prosecutor's surrogates were planting false stories in the press that Rush intended to plead guilty...
...if one doctor couldn't fix his problems, why wouldn't he have sought second opinions from others...
...summarizes only a portion of our conversation and omits critical parts of our discussion," the AG's Most Knowledgeable Person wrote Selvig six days later...
...He told me not to call you," he told Black...
...Naturally, Black would have taken his objections to a judge, and a judge might have viewed it his way...
...I agree...
...Indeed, in defending his actions, Krischer told the court that without the records his office was hard-put to back up claims that Rush did anything illegal...
...What's more, Black had clearly marked his letter as confidential...
...Bagging the biggest political game in the nation can serve an ambitious political official well—just look at the meteoric rise of another Floridian, Rep...
...Black's behalf," he wrote...
...Trouble is, however, neither the AG's office nor the Florida Bar appear to have given Krischer's office the green light to release those letters...
...SAM DEALEY THAT SAME DAY, the Florida Bar also disputed Selvig's take on their guidance...
...Black went to court to keep Rush's records under seal, not only to protect his client's privacy, but also to stem what appeared to be an aggressive precedent for prosecutorial power...
...Rush was suffering from chronic pain...
...Correspondence regarding plea negotiations is not normally considered public informa14 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MAY 2004 tion—co-defendants could then peek at whether they were being rolled by prosecutors, for example...
...Liberals from across the country who had borne the brunt of Rush's commentaries for 15 years smelled blood in the water...
...To protect doctors and patients, Florida's medicalprivacy law specifically requires that suspects be notified before their records are obtained...
...It took a number of repeat offenses before the governor's daughter was dealt with punitively by the bench...
...After coming clean, Rush took a month-long hiatus from the program at an Arizona clinic...
...That goddamned Edmondson, calling you up and saying that...
...Imagine the nerve of making public what should have been private correspondence...
...The two sides will be in and out of the courts for some time...
...Some of these fixes were obtained through real and bogus prescriptions...
...Cline and her husband found a new source, and though Rush twice checked himself into rehab programs over the next few years, his pill-popping continued, expanding to include not only hydrocodone but Lorcet and OxyContin...
...We knew then they were not acting in good faith...
...A top prosecutor in Krischer's office, Ken Selvig, sought guidance on the issue from Patricia Gleason, the state attorney general's top lawyer...
...They went through some miscellany, and then Black cut to the chase: What was Krischer's intention with regard to his client, Rush Limbaugh...
...In 2000, he was arrested again, this time for As star witnesses, the Clines were less than stellar...
...The day before, Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest group in Washington, made a similar request to see if Rush was being unfairly targeted...
...Either way, despite the protestations from Krischer's office, the case against Rush seems far from ordinary...
...It is my opinion that there is no exception to the law that will allow us to withhold the letter," Selvig wrote in a January 22 internal memo summarizing that conversation...
...Gleason agreed with my position...
...The group is now pursuing an ethics complaint against Krischer's office for some of the information it released...
...4,, Sam Dealey writes for The Hill newspaper in Washington...
...He hadn't been caught with the drugs on him, and as star witnesses against Rush, the Clines were less than stellar...
...In late November, prosecutors uncovered records from a local pharmacy showing Limbaugh had obtained more than 2,000 pills over a five-month period that year from overlapping prescriptions written by four different doctors...
...He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined," Cline recalled...
...Caller must determine what is legally required and what is not," they read...
...Krischer's office declined to comment...
...The "world exclusive" promised the "shocking story" of "Rush's secret narcotics addiction," as told to the tabloid by his former housemaid, Wilma Cline...
...Elephant, Republican—get it...
...Nor was Krischer's office alone in showing leniency toward prescription drug addicts...
...On the other hand, Krischer's re-election is so sure that even the local Republican Party rolled over dead rather than challenge him...
...Or Janet Reno...
...In late November, they sought—and gained—search warrants for Rush's medical records with local doctors...
...others from drug dealers...
...I can only speculate as to what caused you to generate such a letter on Mr...
...What's more, the Bar's records indicate Krischer did play fast and loose with the ethical advice...
...More incredible is the fact that you questioned the integrity of an elected State Attorney without extending the simple courtesy of a telephone call to ascertain my view of the facts...
Vol. 37 • May 2004 • No. 4
