Florida transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Florida.
Miami FL records held hostage due to financial disputes Jul 26, 2010
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. [1]
Miami Beach city council votes to end $100 flat rate for records requests Jul 23, 2010
- 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.[1]
Florida circuit judge rules that calls made on public cellphones are public records May 19, 2010
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. [1] 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.[2]
Crist Orders Investigation of "Wafflegate" Records Dec 16, 2009
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. [1].
Florida judge rules against blogger Nov 11, 2009
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[1][2]
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.[1]
The city responded with a lawsuit against Butler. On November 4, 2009, Judge Henning ruled in favor of the city.[3]
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."[1]
Governor Crist requests a state-wide corruption investigation Oct 16, 2009
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 [1].
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 [2].
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 [3].
Three Florida government officials arrested for extortion Oct 05, 2009
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 Oct 05, 2009
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.[1]
Florida scholarship fund failed to deliver $484,000 to students Oct 05, 2009
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.[1]
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Florida judge rules that NCAA documents are public Oct 05, 2009
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.”[1]
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.[2]
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