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Renke's Practice Suspended

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By DAVID SOMMER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Already chastened and now contrite, disgraced former circuit judge John Kenneth Renke III will have to stop practicing law for 30 days as further punishment for misleading voters and accepting illegal campaign money.

Renke, who was removed from the bench in June 2006 after serving a little less than four years, agreed to this latest punishment from the Florida Supreme Court.

"This thing started years ago, and he was just looking to get it over with," his attorney, Scott K. Tozian of Tampa, said Thursday.

"It has been a long and very unpleasant chapter for John," Tozian said.

Renke, son of lawyer and former state legislator John K. Renke II, was elected in 2002 in a race against a seasoned criminal defense lawyer.

The state Judicial Qualifications Commission filed formal charges against Renke in October 2003 and eventually recommended a $40,000 fine and public reprimand after concluding he deliberately misrepresented his experience in campaign literature and accepted $95,800 in campaign contributions from his father that were disguised as payment for his work at his father's law firm.

The Supreme Court rejected that punishment and eventually ordered Renke off the bench as punishment for the misrepresentations and illegal campaign contributions.
Renke committed "nothing short of fraud on the electorate to secure a seat on the bench" and "created a fictitious candidate, funded his candidacy in violation of Florida's elections laws, and successfully perpetrated a fraud on the electorate," the Supreme Court ruled in removing him from office.

In July 2006, after Renke returned to his practice as a private lawyer, The Florida Bar began its own investigation, filing formal charges in October 2007.

The Bar's allegations were identical to those leveled by the JQC, Tozian said.

Spokeswoman Zannah Lyle said the Bar was obligated to take action once Renke resumed the status of a lawyer. "If he violated the rules, it opens the door for his discipline," she said.

Since his removal from the bench, Renke has deliberately limited the scope of his law practice because he anticipated the Bar's disciplinary action, Tozian said.

In an uncontested Bar referee's report leading to Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, Circuit Judge Marva L. Crenshaw cited the delay in the Bar's discipline process in addition to Renke's remorse as mitigating factors in his favor.

"Respondent deeply regrets his decisions and will strive to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in the future," Crenshaw wrote. "Respondent had a unique family dynamic underlying his judicial campaign and acknowledges that, in part, the problems were caused by his failure to assert more control over his professional decisions."

Also, Renke has declined his father's offer of work and has "recognized the need to independently establish his reputation," the judge wrote.

"He really hopes to get this suspension behind him, and on day 31, he can practice law," Tozian said of his client's future.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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