Florida government corruption
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U. of Florida ordered to make student senate meetings public
Gainesville, FL This past week a Florida's 8th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Victor Hulslander issued a ruling ordering that the University of Florida open up student senate meetings to the public. The case originated when a UF alumni, Frank Bracco, filed suit, alleging that the University was in violation of the Florida Sunshine Law for failing to make the records of meetings of the student senate available to the public. The University argued that the records and meetings were exempt under FERPA. The court rejected this argument, siding with Bracco. The University has not announced if it is going to appeal the decision.[1]
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FL Courts reject case, denies public opportunity to comment at open meetings
Tallahassee, FL The Florida Supreme Court this week rejected an appeal by two Pensacola citizens concerning the rights of citizens to comment during open meetings. In rejecting the decision, the court left an appellate court decision to stand which established that the Florida Open Meetings Law only guaranteed public access and not public participation.[2]
Miami FL records held hostage due to financial disputes
Miami, FL Tens of thousands of boxes of public records produced by the city of Miami, FL are being held by "Iron Mountain Information Management" at a warehouse in Broward County. Iron Mountain refuses to release the records, alleging that Miami owed them over $340,000 in fees associated with their contract to store records, which came to an end in 2009. The city alleges that they only owe $22,000 and the city attorney has requested permission to employ any legal means necessary to regain the files. [3]
Miami Beach city council votes to end $100 flat rate for records requests
- This story has been deemed Blog worthy!
North Miami Beach, FL This past week, the North Miami Beach city council voted to end a $100 flat rate fee for records request submitted to the Building Department. The flat rate fee runs counter to the Florida Sunshine Law, which only allows reasonable fees to be charged for duplication and copying. The fee had been in place since 2007.[4]
Florida circuit judge rules that calls made on public cellphones are public records
New Smyrna Beach, Florida Last week Florida circuit judge Robert Rouse ruled that personal calls made from publicly funded cell phones are in fact public records and cannot be redacted from phone logs which also contain public business. The ruling came in response to a suit filed by Bill of Rights Inc. for the phone records of the New Smyrna Beach police commander, Bill Drossman. [5] While the court ordered the release of the majority of the records, the court maintained that certain personal calls on police phones, like calls to family or informants, would fall under other exemptions protecting the police and their informants.[6]
Crist Orders Investigation of "Wafflegate" Records
Tallahassee, FL On Tuesday, Florida Governor Charlie Christ ordered an investigation into "Wafflegate" controversy that has overshadowed the passage of a recent Florida rail bill. The controversy centers on the Department of Transportation's alleged use of code words involving breakfast foods to conceal public records from officials. [7].
Florida judge rules against blogger
HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida: On November 4, 2009, Patti Englander Henning, a judge of the Florida Seventeenth Circuit Court, ruled in favor of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida in a case the city had brought against blogger Mike Butler.
The city sued Butler after he submitted a request for records to the city under the Florida Sunshine Law[8][9]
Butler wanted a list of recipients of an email sent by Mayor Joy Cooper on February 17, 2009 from her personal America Online account. The subject line of the e-mail was "Mayor Cooper's Update." The e-mail included attachments to three columns written by Cooper for a weekly community newspaper addressing city policies. The e-mail included Cooper's city hall address and phone number. These characteristics of the e-mail led Butler to conclude that the e-mail was a public document, even though it had been sent on Cooper's personal email account.[8]
The city responded with a lawsuit against Butler. On November 4, 2009, Judge Henning ruled in favor of the city.[10]
Butler characterized the ruling from Henning as "shocking" and said that it runs counter to an advisory opinion issued in 2007 from Bill McCollum, Florida's attorney general, which says that e-mails from public officials "that are intended to communicate, perpetuate or formalize knowledge" are public records, regardless of whether or not they are sent using a public or governmental e-mail address.
Mayor Cooper said, "You're under the assumption that he's a good guy and he's the victim. But the victim is the city commission. I feel like my privacy has been raped."[8]
Governor Crist requests a state-wide corruption investigation
Crist has called for an eighteen member grand jury, which would last for a year and would be filled by citizens. The grand jury would be created in order to respond to two felt needs in Florida; outing corrupted public officials and toughening the corruption laws. The jury would have the authority to indict any public officials who are suspected of corruption and to recommend changes to the current corruption laws [11].
Crist says that corruption is a problem state-wide, but it is worst, he says, in South Florida. In the last month alone, many South Florida politicians have been the subjects of corruption cases. The list includes a Broward County Commissioner and School Board member, and three Commissioners from Palm Beach County. It also includes a political fundraiser and former Crist backer, Alan Mendelsohn, who is from Hollywood, Florida [12].
In the midst of the corruption scandals, the Florida Attorney General has expressed dissatisfaction with the current corruption laws in the state, which are much less strict than the federal corruption laws. The lenient corruption laws in Florida make prosecution difficult [13].
Three Florida government officials arrested for extortion
The agents slipped more than $40,000 in cash to the politicians while posing as corrupt businessmen. The FBI released hidden tape recorders entangling Commissioner Eggelletion, School Board member Gallagher and former Commissioner Salesman, but more arrests are expected.
Agents went public and questioned many people involved in Broward County's lucrative school building program, including lobbyists, school district employees and construction contractors.
"We are not done," said acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman.
Broward County School Board member arrested
Beverly Gallagher is a school board member for Broward County Public Schools, Florida, representing District 2. Her term is supposed to expire in 2012, which may change pending these charges.
Gallager is also the administrator for the scholarship foundation funded by the Community Blood Centers of South Florida, which recently revealed that its scholarships had not been distributed to students.
She was arrested for extortion, wire fraud and bribery after undercover FBI agents passed $12,500 to her in return for making arrangements for them to get school construction contracts.
According to the Federal Complaint, in 2005, Gallagher met with the undercover officers and told them "they could make a lot of money together." The charges say that in one meeting, she put $2,000 in a day planner and in another she left with $1,500. According to the charges, Gallagher helped steer a $71 million building contract for Hollywood Hills High School to supposedly benefit the undercover agents.[14]
Florida scholarship fund failed to deliver $484,000 to students
South Florida Community Blood Centers, based in Lauderhill, funded the scholarship fund. It announced it will try to contact high school graduates dating to 2007 who were supposed to receive the college scholarships, but did not.
The Sun Sentinel used information provided by the blood bank to compile an online list of about 540 students from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties who are eligible for the aid.[15]
Florida judge rules that NCAA documents are public
TALLAHASSEE, Florida: On October 1, Judge Philip Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal wrote a 26-page ruling which says that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) must release the documents it used in the course of deciding the sanctions it ultimately levied against Florida State University’s athletic department over a cheating scandal. The documents had been requested by several Florida newspapers under the Florida Sunshine Law. The NCAA argued that the documents were private because the NCAA is a private organization. Padovano, however, said the documents must be made public because “The appeal by the university is a matter of public concern. It is not transformed into a private matter merely because the documents the university lawyers used to prepare the appeal reside on a computer owned by a private organization.”[16]
In August, circuit judge John Cooper ordered the NCAA to release the information. The NCAA appealed Cooper's decision. Padovano's ruling upheld Cooper's decision.[17]
Florida ophthamologist indicted for fraudulent PAC and lobbying scheme
Dr. Mendelsohn helped oversee three different PAC's in Florida. Most notably, he served as the chief fundraiser for the Florida Medical Association's PAC[18]..
Dr. Mendelsohn allegedly told contributors to the PAC's that their money would be spent on political and media campaigns. The over two million dollars of contributions that he received, however, were not all spent for this purpose. Some three hundred and fifty thousand dollars was diverted by Dr. Mendelsohn for personal use[19].
Sunshine Review asks parents to go back to school on their state
Back to School Florida is a Sunshine Review sponsored project to bring the issue of Transparency to the forefront in Florida. Sunshine Review has concentrated its efforts in this state over the past months, collecting data, sending out FOIA requests to local governments, and evaluate the level of Transparency withing the Sunshine State. We chose the month of September, when so many are heading back to school, to provide information to Floridians not only about how Transparency their government bodies are, but also to educate them on how they can become Transparency Activists.
Highlights include:
- Lafayette School District had the largest increase in “A” grades for academic performance on the FCAT from 2008 to 2009 while having the smallest budget in the state.
- Five school districts passed with an “A” for transparency, while seventeen others received failing grades.
- Palm Beach County School District was one of three schools to answer public records requests on lobbying. Find out how much Palm Beach spent here.
Monroe County schools' superintendent's misconduct trial begins
Acevedo has been charged with three felony counts of misconduct. He allegedly covered up theft by his wife, former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo. Mrs. Acevedo is charged with four felonies alleging nearly $200,000 in theft of district funds and has a scheduled October trial date.
The trial is before Judge Mark Jones at the Freeman Justice Center in Key West, Florida. The judge said the media coverage of this case would be significant, including a potential radio simulcast and television coverage.
One of the charges against Acevedo results from a meeting with district finance director Kathy Reitzel in October 2007. In this meeting, Reitzel reportedly presented Superintendent Acevedo with a packet of information that detailed his wife's improper spending of the district's funds. Mrs. Acevedo allegedly purchased sunglasses, plane tickets and shoes with a district credit card.
Allegedly, Mr. Acevedo reimbursed the district with his personal checking account for the plane tickets.
Reitzel said that last February she delivered to Acevedo more evidence of roughly $30,000 in illegal credit card purchases made by his wife.
Prosecutors say Acevedo signed a letter in 2008 stating that he knew of no fraud happening in the district. Reitzel signed the document only after stating an addendum that her finance staff was looking over some of Mrs. Acevedo's charges.
Suspended St. Johns commissioner may reach plea agreement soon
Manuel represented the Ponte Vedra Beach area and must choose between pleading not guilty and entering trial or pleading guilty and resigning. The trial would begin a few weeks from his decision in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville.
In December, the governor appointed Ponte Vedra Beach developer Phil Mays to temporarily fill Manuel's seat. If Manuel must resign, Mays could continue the rest of the term through 2010 should the governor decided.
"The actual appointment letter is for the duration of the suspension," said County Attorney Patrick McCormack.
The deadline for Manuel's decision is an the second extension that U.S. District Judge Marcia Howard granted. Howard allowed an extension on 20 July as she did in June because of a health concern with Manuel's heart, said his attorney, Gray Thomas. In 2002, Manuel had a heart transplant.
Council members: "Wasteful spending occurs daily at City Hall"
There are projects and paychecks leaving Jacksonville City Hall that have too much weight, according to City Councilman John Crescimbeni.
"Trust me, I see it everyday when I'm around City Hall. There's lots of opportunities to save money," says Crescimbeni, who claims to have found $20-million the city can afford to save without making sacrifices to services and programs - for example, consolidating the bills they send to your home. "I heard one mentioned today about executive spending increasing by $10-million. That's something we need to look at."
While millage rate decisions and budget talks are in the works, councilmen like Don Redman say they want to look for places to watch spending in City Hall.
"I see things on a daily basis that I think could be done more economically, better, maybe without some of the things that we have," says Redman. When asked if that meant specifically with personnel or equipment, Redman said, "Both. Well, basically personnel."
Attorney Fees in Venice Sunshine Case Nears $3 Million
The City of Venice, has paid nearly $600,000 in legal fees for violating the Sunshine Law and Public Records Act. It is now being billed for an additional claim for $2.2 million in legal fees from the Plaintiffs' attorneys in the landmark case.[20]
Lorenzo submitted the bill to Circuit Judge Robert Bennett. If Bennett decides after a September hearing that the fees are reasonable then it will bring the bill upto a landmark $3 million dollars.[20]
Key document reveals early airport evidence in Sansom case
Prosecutors have made public nearly 16,000 pages of evidence against the former state House speaker as Sansom is preparing for his trial on felony official misconduct and perjury charges. Sansom and Bob Richburg, the Northwest Florida State College president, had denied that Odom was going to store planes in the building and that it was going to be used for classrooms. However, another piece of evidence in the mountain of paperwork against the former Florida House Speaker is a testimony from the man who oversaw Destin Airport saying he contacted the Federal Aviation Administration to say that the building would have classrooms as well as serve as storage and maintenance space for Destin Jet, a company owned by Odom.[21]
Texting by public officials: Does it violate Sunshine laws in meetings?
"Text messaging is an everyday habit for many, but if public officials use it to talk about public business, they could be violating the law.
It's a complaint throughout Florida: How do you make text messages a matter of public record if they disappear into thin air with the delete key?
One area city commission has this solution: a ban on texting during public meetings."
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