Few people knew Joe Redner better than his longtime attorney and close friend Luke Lirot. And few respected him more.
“He was willing to commit everything, sacrifice everything across the board to stand up for his rights, knowing that his accomplishments would apply across the board to everybody else that was trying to protect their First Amendment rights,” Lirot said during an interview with WUSF's "Florida Matters Live & Local."
Redner, who died Oct. 16 at age 86 after a renewed battle with cancer, was a Tampa businessman, politician and activist. But most will remember him as owner of adult entertainment clubs.
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Redner became one of Tampa’s most recognizable city figures as a libertarian advocate for free speech, an activist for medical and home-grown marijuana, a real estate investor and a successful businessman whose challenges to government regulations often landed him in court or jail.
He ran repeatedly for Tampa City Council, Hillsborough County Commission and other offices, fought for LGBTQ rights and free-speech protections. He also won a landmark court battle allowing him to grow his own medical marijuana after his first cancer fight, but it was overturned on appeal.
Lirot had worked with Redner since 1987 and fought alongside him for decades about Tampa ordinances enacted to regulate adult entertainment. Over that time, that's how he learned Redner was much more than Tampa's "strip club king and "father of the lap dance."
"I mean, he was just so bold, so patriotic," Lirot said. "He would sacrifice anything, including his own freedom, to stand up for the rights that he felt were important."
When Redner first started opening clubs in the 1970s, police raids were common, and his nude dancers and other workers were arrested.
"Well, interestingly enough, he bought a restaurant in Pinellas County, and I started to work for the attorney that did the real estate transaction a few weeks after that," Lirot told "Florida Matters Live & Local" host Matthew Peddie.
The restaurant soon became one of Redner's nude establishments, Club Rapture, on U.S. 19 north of Countryside Mall. Neighbors were not happy, citing a Pinellas County ordinance requiring a 500-foot buffer between adult businesses and residential areas.
"The sheriff's office was not a big fan of the exposure of anatomical areas in the concept of expressive dance performances," Lirot said.
The club was raided and the employees were arrested.
"Mr. Redner's other attorneys in Tampa were very busy, so he had the card from the real estate deal, called my boss and said, 'Do you know somebody that can cover some arraignments for my dancers?' " recalled Lirot, whose focus was constituational law.
"He was just a wonderful guy, and we just started to work together. And I think I had some great successes in some motions to dismiss based on constitutional grounds that he was a big fan of. So ultimately, I ended up as chief in-house counsel and worked with him steadily till about 2006."
Lirot estimated he represented over 2,000 club employees over criminal charges, zoning violations and other ordinance issues.
In 2000, Tampa City Council developed a 6-foot rule, an ordinance that required dancers to maintain a that distance from a patron to deter "lap dances." At the time, it was a new concept for strippers to solicit one-on-one nude dances while their bodies were in contact with customers.
“No one complied with that," Lirot said. "The police started to arrest everyone, including dancers, customers and everybody else. So it it got quite intense, and Mr. Redner handled the legal fees for representing anyone that was charged in any of his establishments across the board.”
Lirot shared that Redner was very generous and would take care of any performer that had an issue or anyone that he knew that needed help.
"I think one of my favorite stories was when they conducted a raid at the Mons Venus with the 6-foot rule," Lirot said. "The officers came in, paid the cover charge, paid the dancers, but also bought five bottles of water for $1. When they did their raid, they took back the cover charge. They took back the money they gave the dancers, but they also took back the $5. And Joe says to me, 'I want my $5. They drank my water.'
"So we litigated extensively over $5, and they're taking Joe's deposition and they say, 'Mr. Redner, you're a very wealthy man. How much of your money are you willing to spend chasing this $5?' And he looks at him very strongly and says, 'All of it.' The next week, I got a $5 check to my trust account, so I enlarged that and framed it and gave it to him."
Lirot acknowledged that the public first saw Redner as a "lunatic renegade" who turned into a constitutional expert. Redner enjoyed the transition.
“A lot of the cases that we did for the clubs that we would get good results on would be used in other important First Amendment cases that had nothing to do with gentlemen's clubs,” Lirot said.
Lirot said he and Redner were proud of their positive outcomes in the courts because others in First Amendment cases use Redner's cases precedents.
Many of his political foes were among those paying tribute after his death.
"They started to recognize that he was a very good businessman," Lirot said.
Lirot shared how Redner helped him become the attorey that he is today. Lirot came to represent several other adult clubs in more than 30 states, and he became the president of the First Amendment Lawyers Association - all because of his relationship with Redner.
"Hhe was one of a kind, and he provided such an incredible benefit to the city of Tampa, to the citizens of the United States to the Constitution that this country was founded on," Lirot said. "It was my privilege to know him and have him as a friend. I miss him. I know he's in a better place.
"I know his health was quite a challenge toward the end there, but you know we were all better off for having Joe Redner on this planet, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to know him and work with him as much as I did."
A celebration of life for Joe Redner is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Cigar City Brewery, 3924 W. Spruce St., Tampa.
This article was compiled from an interview conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local."
