BY JAY WEAVER

 Miami's top federal prosecutor urged Senior U.S. District Judge James
 Lawrence King to remove himself from the Elian Gonzalez case because
 King's son, a Miami-Dade County judge, hired the political consultant who
 is organizing the local effort to stop the boy's return to Cuba.

 In a statement unsealed on Tuesday by King, U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott
 objected to the federal judge's presiding over the high-profile case, which has
 placed a harsh media spotlight on South Florida's judicial system. Attorneys for
 Elian's relatives, who sued the Immigration and Naturalization Service to keep him
 here, did not object to King's staying on the case.

 After receiving Scott's objections on Friday, King immediately removed himself
 from the lawsuit pitting Elian's Miami relatives against the INS and the Justice
 Department. But King never gave a reason for stepping down from the case, which
 was reassigned to Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler.

 In his statement to King, Scott furnished a big clue.

 ''If your honor retains assignment, decisions in this case could substantially affect
 your son's election,'' Scott wrote on behalf of the INS and Justice Department.

 ''With absolute respect for the honor, independence and integrity of the Court, the
 Defendants respectfully request that this Court recuse from the case in order to
 preserve public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary and the American
 system of justice.''

 Also, Scott expressed worry that King's busy schedule -- including a criminal trial
 that was going to end in another month -- would limit the judge's ability to handle
 the Elian case immediately.

 In a court hearing last Thursday, King disclosed that he felt obligated to disclose
 that his son, Lawrence D. King, hired political advisor Armando Gutierrez for his
 judicial campaign this fall. He also mentioned that his daughter Mary is assistant
 U.S. attorney in Scott's Miami office. And, because of the urgency of the Elian
 case, he warned that he might not be able to get to the lawsuit quickly.

 Although he did not refer to it, what prompted King to make his disclosures was
 the decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rosa Rodriguez not to make public her
 professional relationship with Gutierrez. She had paid him and his wife's
 promotional business more than $60,000 in 1998 to manage her first judicial
 campaign.

 Her ties to the political consultant became common knowledge after she issued
 an emergency protective order placing Elian with his great-uncle in Miami pending
 a temporary custody hearing in March. Afterward, Rodriguez faced a shower of
 criticism because of the apparent conflict of interest with Gutierrez.

 Scott even referred to her links to the publicist in his statement to King. ''The
 impartiality of the state court judge has been questioned because of the court's
 relationship with publicist Armando Gutierrez,'' Scott wrote.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald