Pam Bondi

Early life and education

Bondi's hometown is Temple Terrace, Florida. Her father, Joseph Bondi, was a city councilmember and then Mayor of Temple Terrace. She is a graduate of C. Leon King High School in Tampa, Florida. Bondi graduated from the University of Florida in 1987 with a degree in Criminal Justice. She then graduated from Stetson Law School with a JD in 1990 and was admitted to the Florida Bar on June 24, 1991.

Career

She is a former prosecutor and spokeswoman in Hillsborough County, Florida where she worked as an Assistant State Attorney. Bondi resigned this position to seek the office of Attorney General of Florida. She has made guest appearances on Scarborough Country with Joe Scarborough and various other cable news programming on MSNBC and worked for Fox News as a legal analyst.

Bondi prosecuted former Major League Baseball player Dwight Gooden in 2006 for violating the terms of his probation and for substance abuse. Bondi also prosecuted the Martin Anderson death defendants in 2007.

Attorney General

In 2010, Bondi defeated Democratic State Senator Dan Gelber by a 55% to 41% margin to become the Attorney General of the State of Florida.

Bondi was the lead attorney general in an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services. In the lawsuit the State of Florida and 26 other states argued that the individual mandate provision of the PPACA violates the United States Constitution.

Bondi was re-elected in November 2014, receiving 55% of the vote. Her challenger, George Sheldon, received 42%.

Controversies

Bondi has been criticized for election fundraising activities, including questions raised about contributions from Donald Trump and his associates. The Florida Attorney General's office received at least 22 fraud complaints about Trump University. In 2013 a spokesperson for Bondi announced her office was considering joining a lawsuit initiated by New York's Attorney General against Trump regarding tax fraud. Four days later 'And Justice for All', a PAC that supported Bondi's re-election campaign received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after which Bondi declined to join the lawsuit against Trump University. According to a Bondi spokesman, Bondi personally solicited the donation from Trump several weeks before her office announced it was considering joining the lawsuit against him. In March 2016 after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS about the potentially illegal donation, the Trump Foundation stated that the donation was made in error and that they had intended for it to go to an unrelated Kansas non-profit called Justice for All. When the controversy first arose in 2013, both the PAC and Donald Trump had defended the propriety of the donation. On March 14, 2016 Bondi endorsed Trump in the Florida presidential primary, saying she has been friends with Trump "for many years”. In June 2016 a spokesperson for Governor Rick Scott stated that the state's ethics commission is looking into the matter. In September 2016 it was reported that the donation violated laws against political contributions from nonprofit organizations, and that Donald Trump had reimbursed the foundation from his own money and paid the IRS an excise tax as a penalty.

Bondi has opposed same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues on behalf of the state. Following the Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Bondi was interviewed by CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who questioned her about her sudden change in attitude towards the LGBT community in Florida. Bondi claimed to not only support the gay community, but had posted as such on her website. This statement was later shown to be false. Bondi in a radio interview stated that the CNN interview had not been aired in its entirety and most of it was left on the cutting room floor, omitting the portion about potential scamming of survivors' families. While the entire interview had been aired live, only the portion involving Bondi's position on LGBT issues was originally uploaded to the CNN website. The website featured the interview in its entirety following this comment.

In 2013, Bondi persuaded Governor Rick Scott to postpone a scheduled execution because it conflicted with her reelection kickoff/fundraising event. After questions were raised in the media, Bondi apologized for moving the execution date.

Personal life

Bondi married Garret Barnes in 1990, and they divorced after 22 months. In 1996, Bondi married Scott Fitzgerald. Their marriage ended in divorce after 6 years.