Brent Batten: Disorder in the court: State Attorney's race sees charges, counter punches

For prosecutors in the courtroom, the standard is proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

On the campaign trail, maybe not so much.

The race to replace Steve Russell as the chief prosecutor for Southwest Florida has been marked by charges and counter charges that make the political fight seem like, well, a political fight, rather than a contest between experienced attorneys facing off in a courtroom.

The latest salvo involves a Bar Association complaint filed by a supporter of Chief Assistant State Attorney Amira Fox, one of the candidates running for Russell’s job as state attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit.

In the complaint, Rich Montecalvo, who works with Fox at the State Attorney’s Office, accuses Chris Crowley, the other candidate, of race baiting and disparaging Fox on the basis of religion.

Profiles: Candidates vie to replace Steve Russell as state attorney in 20th Judicial Circuit

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To support his claim, Montecalvo relies on a couple of pieces of evidence. One is a campaign mailer in which Crowley claims Fox has “close family ties to the PLO terrorist organization.”

Another is a Facebook post by Crowley supporter and controversial Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone.

In the post, Montecalvo notes Stone promoted an upcoming campaign appearance with Crowley. “Meet me in Naples Saturday when I expose the radical Muslim running for State’s Attorney Amy. D. Fox, who’s real name is Amira Dajana and who’s family founded the PLO,” he wrote on July 26.

Below the post, which misspells Fox’s maiden name, Dajani, and uses who’s instead of whose, is a picture of Stone and Crowley together, one Crowley has used in his campaign and which bears the “approved by Chris Crowley” disclaimer.

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But Stone’s initial comment on Facebook isn’t part of that approved flier, even though Montecalvo’s complaint to the Bar Association suggests that it is, saying Crowley “allowed” the statement.

Crowley said he has no control over what Stone writes on social media and that Stone was exercising his free speech in his post, which, as it stands now on Facebook, no longer includes the term “radical Muslim.”

“I don’t know what religion Ms. Fox is and I don’t care,” Crowley said.

He said he’s never made race or ethnicity an issue in the campaign.

“The issue is her ties to the PLO,” he said.

Crowley has been peddling that story line for months, making a point to call the PLO a terrorist organization. At its root is a book written by her father, Taher Dajani, 10 years ago, titled “From Palestine to America: A Memoir.”

It is his recollections and accounts of events in the Middle East dating back to the 1950s.

With a decidedly pro-Palestinian bent, some of his views and conclusions would no doubt cause supporters of Israel to take issue and even offense.

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He describes how his brother, Sidqi, was on the PLO executive committee at different points in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

That hardly adds up to the family “founding” the PLO, as Stone contends, but to Crowley, it constitutes the close family ties to the PLO he often mentions in the campaign.

The PLO, an umbrella group including other factions in the Middle East, has a history almost as complex as the Middle Eastern conflict itself. It was involved in several notorious terrorist attacks in the 1960s and 1970s. It has since tried to moderate its image and was removed from the U.S. government’s list of terrorist groups in 1994.

Taher Dajani dedicates the book to his two daughters, but Fox says she doesn’t share her father’s views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

“His book is written from his perspective. My perspective is completely different,” Fox said. She called the claim that her uncle’s participation in the PLO decades ago equates to her having close family ties to the group “absolute nonsense.” Crowley has offered no evidence that Fox has exhibited pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli conduct as a prosecutor.

More:Broken TV set part of what drew Amira Fox to the law; love of prosecution sealed the deal

Other accusations and counter accusations have been flying back and forth between the candidates and their camps.

Crowley accuses Montecalvo, who donated $1,000 to Fox's campaign, of filing the “frivolous” Bar complaint to “score cheap political points.” Montecalvo said he filed the complaint as a 24-year member of the Bar concerned with the profession, not as an employee of the prosecutor’s office.

Earlier in the campaign Russell, who endorses Fox, was quick to act on a tip showing a raffle taking place at a Crowley fundraiser. He referred the matter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Gov. Rick Scott, who appointed a prosecutor from another circuit to look into it.

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Within weeks, Crowley was arrested on charges of promoting a lottery and violating Florida's campaign contribution law, a swift comeuppance for what appears to be a first-time campaigner’s rookie mistake.

Crowley said he was unaware the raffle was going to take place and once he confirmed it was improper, returned the money to the event organizers. A few days after his arrest, he signed an agreement to enter a pretrial diversion program that will likely end in the charges being dropped.

He then framed the episode as a matter of him being arrested after “exposing his opponent’s terrorist ties.”

He then went on the counter offensive, meeting with FDLE investigators last week to allege gambling going on inside the State Attorney’s Office in the form of fantasy football leagues and sports betting pools.

He also requested an FDLE probe of photos appearing to show an SAO investigator, displaying a badge on her hip, standing with Fox and applauding at a campaign event.

State law prohibits employees from participating in political campaigns while on duty.

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Fox said she’s not aware of any betting going on inside the State Attorney’s Office.

As for the rest, she said, “His claims, one after the other, are false, disgraceful and shameful.”

For his part, Crowley says Montecalvo’s Bar complaint shows the Fox campaign is getting desperate.

“I don’t police Roger Stone. If Roger Stone says Amira Fox is a radical Muslim, how is that a Bar complaint on me?” he asked.