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Member of the Month
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Thursday, 01 April 2010 14:03 |
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The First Amendment Foundation has many members of all types and it isn’t easy to decide each month which one to highlight. Since Tallahassee is a hotbed of issues this time of year that impact open government and since the capital’s newspaper has helped to focus attention on the importance of open government, the Foundation would like to highlight the Tallahassee Democrat and its Executive Editor Bob Gabordi as our “Member of the Month.”
The Tallahassee Democrat was founded as a weekly newspaper in 1905 by John G. Collins, who promised the newspaper would be dedicated to the “true and tried principles of Old Time Democracy.” The Democrat became a daily newspaper in 1915 and began publishing online in 1996. The newspaper was privately owned until 1965, when it was bought by Knight Newspapers, which merged in 1974 with Ridder Publications to become Knight-Ridder Inc. The newspaper was purchased in 2005 by Gannett Corp., the nation’s largest newspaper chain. The Democrat has also been one of the Foundation’s earliest supporters.
Bob Gabordi, 53, has been executive editor of the Democrat and Tallahassee.com since Aug. 30, 2005, when Gannett Co. Inc. acquired the newspaper. He has spent most of his 31-plus year career as a journalist with Gannett in various reporting and editing roles, including top editor roles in Marietta, Ohio, Huntington, WV, Asheville, NC, and now Tallahassee. Under his leadership, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Gannett Florida Capital Bureau have tackled important public service projects, twice winning Gannett’s top awards for public service journalism. He is a three-time winner of Gannett’s President’s Ring given to the company’s finalists for editor of the year. His blog has won the top award from the Florida Society News Editors two years in a row. During the 2010 legislative session, Gabordi has used his blog to keep the heat on the Legislature to pass SB 1598 and HB 1211, companion bills that contain many of the recommendations of the Governor’s Commission on Open Government. Hopefully, Gabordi’s persistence will ensure final passage of this important open government legislation. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 01 April 2010 14:05 |
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Member of the Month
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 14:18 |
The First Amendment Foundation has a wide variety of members, including citizens, activists, newspapers, reporters, private investigators, associations, attorneys and law firms. The Foundation would like to highlight some of our members on our website in a new “Member of the Month” series.
The first member we’d like to highlight for our series is Thomas, LoCicero & Bralow, a law firm with offices in Tampa, South Florida and New York. This team of highly skilled and experienced lawyers routinely assists businesses and individuals in diverse litigation matters, including commercial litigation, business torts, trademark and copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, antitrust, unfair competition, and very importantly from the Foundation’s perspective, open government issues.
Thomas, LoCicero & Bralow has been an active supporter of the First Amendment Foundation for quite some time. Carol Jean LoCicero currently sits on the Foundation’s board of directors. Ms. LoCicero also was active in some important litigation during 2009. She was counsel at the circuit and district level when the Associated Press and other Florida news organizations sued the NCAA and Florida State University for not making correspondence public about an academic cheating scandal. The requested information ultimately was ordered to be released. Ms. LoCicero also recently participated in litigation in Walton County, Florida, for compliance with a request for copies of county e-mails and where the requestor’s attorney’s fees and costs of $148,000 were paid.
All lawyers at the firm are “AV” rated (the highest rating conferred by Martindale-Hubbell) and most have been honored as Legal Elite best lawyers in Florida (by Florida Trend magazine) and as Florida Super Lawyers. Thomas, LoCicero & Bralow lawyers also appear in The Best Lawyers in America. Many of the firm’s lawyers served as law clerks to federal district court or court of appeals judges. The firm's lawyers also have served as adjunct professors, guest lecturers, and speakers at the University of Florida, Washington and Lee University, Stetson University College of Law, the University of South Florida, and Nova Southeastern University.
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 March 2010 10:22 |
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