How did the House subpoena Tiffany Carr? Let us count the ways

Tiffany Carr won’t be appearing at the meeting of the Florida House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee Thursday.

But that’s not because legislative attorneys didn’t try to get the former CEO of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence to show up. In fact, they attempted to serve her a subpoena a dozen ways at her four homes in two states.

House Rules “ordinarily requires personal service of House subpoenas, and we undertook efforts to serve Ms Carr personally,’’ the House reported in a statement released on the committee website Wednesday.

But the House waived its rules last week so that it could serve a subpoena on Carr by “any means sufficient to comply” fearing that because the legislative session ends Friday, there was a “risk that Ms. Carr would evade personal service.”

The committee wants to question Carr and ask about the decisions that led her to have her board of directors award more than $7.5 million in compensation over three years, instead of having the money go into victim services.

But Carr’s not going to show. She’s under investigation by the U.S. attorney, the governor’s chief inspector general, the Florida attorney general, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the House.

The House statement detailed how it attempted to notify Carr:

▪ March 4: At her homestead and voting address in Port St. Joe but “our process server found no one present at the home which is under construction.” They taped copy of the subpoena on a building post.

▪ March 4: At her home in Highlands, North Carolina, but “found no one present at the home and posted a copy of the subpoena at the front door.”

▪ March 4, 5 and 6: At her home in Cashiers, North Carolina, and used the entrance with a security guard. The guard “refused to accept the subpoena and would not allow the server to enter.” The server then attempted to attach a copy of the subpoena to the gate “and the guard threated to have the server charged with littering.”

▪ March 5: At her home in Tallahassee but they found “no one present at the home and left a copy of the subpoena at the front door.”

▪ March 5: Through House Speaker José Oliva’s Twitter account.

▪ March 6: Through an email to Tallahassee attorney, Chris Kise, who they believe represents Carr in the investigations related to FCADV, but he did not respond.

▪ March 6: Through an email to Carr, but she did not respond.

▪ March 9 and 10: Through Federal Express delivery to Carr’s home in Cashiers, North Carolina, but she did not respond.

▪ March 10: Through a voice message to Kise at his law office, but he did not respond.

“At this point, we are confident that Ms. Carr has actual notice of the subpoena,’’ the House wrote. “In any event, because we have undertaken every possible effort to provide Ms. Carr notice, we have, at a minimum, complied with the constitutional requirements of due process.”

The committee will decide Thursday whether to take further action, or ask a judge to hold Carr in contempt.

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 7:31 PM.