State Senate President Don Gaetz has appointed Fort Walton Beach attorney Michelle Anchors to the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Anchors said the senator’s first words to her when he called to notify her of the appointment were, “Michelle your country is calling.”
“How can you say no?” Anchors asked.
Gaetz called Anchors “one of the smartest people I’ve ever met” and said her intelligence, integrity and accountability are traits needed on the commission, which will have a significantly expanded role during the next two years.
“We’re going to give the Ethics Commission a bigger stick, and we need people with the courage to swing that stick when they have to,” Gaetz said. “Fair minded, courageous people.”
The commission weighs complaints of ethical violations by public officials.
Anchors is a partner in the Fort Walton Beach law firm of Keefe, Anchors and Gordon. Gaetz’s son, state Rep. Matt Gaetz, also works there.
Gaetz said his decision to appoint Anchors had nothing to do with her work connection to Matt Gaetz. He pointed out that he, his son and Anchors have vastly different political perspectives.
“Michelle is a Democrat and I’m a Republican,” he said. “And I can’t think of two people further apart politically than Michelle and Matt.”
Anchors graduated from Vanderbilt in 1987 and got her law degree from Florida. She served as deputy general counsel to Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles and was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to chair the Committee for a Sustainable Emerald Coast, according to a news release from Gaetz’s office.
Gaetz said he saw Anchors work when he was Okaloosa County’s superintendent of schools and she successfully argued a school district case before the First District Court of Appeals.
“She’s an extraordinary attorney and has a very finely honed sense of justice,” he said. “She understands how state government works and she’s also a grass-roots member of our community in Northwest Florida.”
Anchors was on hand when Gaetz was sworn in as Senate president and attended a dinner he hosted for friends. She said he spoke at both events of his intention to emphasize ethics reform in government.
“For me this seemed a perfect way to try to improve the ethical environment in Florida,” she said.
Anchors said her first commission meeting will be March 8.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.