Don’t worry, we won’t label the Times “Fake News.” Everyone makes mistakes, and “The Gray Lady” quickly corrected the post to reflect that it was indeed the Eagles that won the Super Bowl.
It’s just a good thing Eagles running back Jay Ajayi reads the Philadelphia Inquirer to keep up with the Birds.
Oak Ridge Natonal Laboratory and the Department of Energy operations in Oak Ridge, Tennessee would never be the same again. Workers learned about their rights.
Mr. Varnadore's protected activity, and that of other ethical employees, helped make conditions more humane.
Pollution and bullying of ethical "whistleblower" employees was rampant.
Environmental concern were treated disdainfully by a culture of corruption fostered by the Department of Energy and rapacious government contractors like Lockheed Martin, Martin Marietta and Union Carbide.
Bullies hide behind the skirts of tepid local newspapers in places like Oak Ridge, Tennessee, knowing that they cower to power and lack resources and skills for investigative reporting. They often hire newspaper reporters as PR misters. Sometimes bullies threaten bribe or blackmail reporters and editors.
Thankfully, The New York Times' hundreds of courageous reporters are sill on the job, as demonstrated by its reporting on President DONALD JOHN TRUMP, still "afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted."
Just as the nuclear weapons complex was transformed, so too are we transforming St. Augustine and St. Johns County today.
Justice for Michelle O'Connell.
Never give up!
Yes we can!
My courageous client, Charles D. "Bud Varnadore), right with his beloved, brave wife Fran, and to far left, me (Ed Slavin), my co-counsel David A. Stuart and Jacqueline O. Kittrell, with our mass of documents and a U-Haul hand truck we used to tote our exhibits to court (sure beats a wheelbarrow, which one of my law professors once used).
The time and the place:
Old Tennessee Supreme Court Chamber in the
Old Knox County Courthouse,
July 1992
(Knoxville News-Sentinel photographer Jack Kirkland).
FLORIDA HAS BEEN RANKED THE WORST STATE IN THE U.S.: HERE'S WHY BY LEAH THOMAS ON 1/29/18 AT 2:46 PM Newsweek
Florida is officially the crème de la crappy of all 50 states, ranking dead last on a list of best to worst locations in America.
Thrillist released a definitive ranking of the states in July with a “go big or go home” ranking system based on, literally, "everything."
"Everything" being their contributions to America: important, well-known people, inventions, food and drink, and unique physical beauty and landmarks.
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And Florida, apparently, has none of those things.
"When putting together a list such as this, there can be some temptation to defy popular expectations and go against the grain," the site said. “However, Florida’s awfulness résumé is so staggeringly impressive that it couldn’t go any other way.”
The state that likely broke most every prediction by topping the list was Michigan.
Despite Detroit’s bad rep, the site argues that Michigan has more coastline than any other state, except for Alaska. The site also mentions the undeniable beauty of the Upper Peninsula and its residents’ willingness to apologize for their creation of Kid Rock.
California and New York rank lower than expected, at Nos. 9 and 13, respectively.
Barely beating out Florida at the low end of the list are Delaware and Ohio. Thrillist has, somewhat rightfully, dubbed Ohio the “Florida of the North.” Ouch.
So what makes Florida so god-awful?
Could be the humidity, the atrocious traffic and the fact that just a few years ago Floridians were smoking bath salts and eating people’s faces off.
"I lived there for four years as a reporter in central and south Florida, and love it in the way that only a person who has gotten the hell out possibly can," Thrillist travel editor Sam Eifling told Newsweek. "Florida is where bath salts and Creed and the Great Recession all got their starts. It's where Donald Trump has chosen to hang out for seven solid weeks during the past year. I mean, c'mon."
Florida's rep has also been permanently damaged since that fateful day in 1981 when Miami became the birthplace of rapper Pitbull (aka Mr. Worldwide).
But according to this reporter's experience, what the Southern state lacks in overall quality of life it makes up for in amusement parks. Florida owes all that it has to Disney World and Universal Studios.
Despite the state's unfavorable ranking, Thrillist remains optimistic for the Sunshine State. It leaves Florida a message of encouragement and positivity: “You were born for this. Embrace it.”
Thrillist.com, a men’s lifestyle click-churner of the digital age, has ranked Florida the worst state in the nation. Nice try, fellas. Picking on a popular state to amuse the bored cubicle crowd sure gets the job done these days. Say it enough and the rap sticks like a T-shirt in summer.
But let me tell you how dreadful Florida is:
The other day I woke up at the crack of dawn in Paradise.
It was chilly enough, high 40s. I wore a wool sweater, cashmere scarf, and knee-high boots to walk along the sand and photograph the sun rising over the Florida Keys. The wind rustled through the palm trees playing a soothing, raspy tune. On the horizon, pelicans gracefully spread their wings and glided over the shimmering sea before coming to rest at the end of a fishing pier.
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This little beach behind the chic boutique Amara Cay Resort was deserted. It was just me and the guy from Indiana dipping his feet in the water out here. He wore shorts, no shirt. He laughed at my get-up and I at his frozen nipples.
Good times. We love our snowbirds — and the feeling is mutual.
So, unless you’re heavily penalizing Florida for helping elect Donald Trump — and for his self-indulgent weekends at his Mar-A-Lago estate, his idea of a Camp David — you’re way off base with that claim.
But even if our dreadful politics turned you off — and I get that! — this alone doesn’t help make case for the worst-of-the-lot claim. You ranked Michigan No. 1 and they, too, helped Trump win.
I’m not going to knock Michigan, which I’ve visited and found quaint, smart, and friendly, but let me just say this: When I visited Ann Arbor to speak at the University of Michigan, I couldn’t get past my hotel exit. I would take a couple of steps and fall flat on my butt on the ice. One of my hosts actually had to come help carry me to my engagement. Embarrassing! Another time I flew to Detroit, the plane was landing — then it was not. It aborted as the wheels were supposed to touch ground. Scary.
“Don’t worry, dear, this happens here all the time,” the Michigander sitting next to me said to my further horror. And there was more to come. It was so cold and snowy that February that I spent the whole week eating hotel food, unable to venture outdoors. Torture.
Most recently, I saw a lovely picture of Lake Michigan on a Chicago friend’s Facebook page: It was frozen solid.
I spend the year driving up and down Florida, almost monthly, not only to visit family and friends spread throughout, but also to measure the pulse of elections, to survey how demographic changes manifest themselves in growing cities, and to spend quality me-time in laid-back beach communities. My job is to be a critic, but I’m also in awe of the stunning nature, the complexity of the history that predates the Mayflower, and the people you meet here on a daily basis from all over the United States and abroad.
Don’t judge us of by the occasional headline-making F-l-o-r-i-d-u-h.
Every state has its shares of eccentrics. What others lack might be enough good writers to unearth and showcase them like we do in the Sunshine State with flair and discipline. I would name names but the list is long — and multilingual. Some of us turn our vices into the stuff of bestsellers.
It’s not only Florida that you misjudge.
Another state I came to know fairly well, Connecticut — home to Yale, charming historical towns, orchards and farms that leave a lasting impression — doesn’t deserve to come in at 44. But it also doesn’t merit ranking higher than Florida. It has flaws that directly affect the quality of everyday life. While Florida’s roads are among the best-kept in the country (even if we’re perennially under construction (jobs!) to accommodate growth) for example, some roads in Connecticut are full of potholes — and get-out-of-my-way “Massholes” driving on them like lunatics. Florida’s rude drivers aren’t alone.
Part of my family lived in CT, and after two winters they said Adiós! and headed back to Florida. Did I mention that flowering springs sure look pretty, but your car windows have a permanent yellow film that doesn’t let you see well? Yeah, that’s how bad the pollen is. If you’ve got allergies or asthma, it’s not just winter, but spring can kill you, too.
Isabel Castano, one of the oldest living women in the U.S. and the oldest living citizen from Miami Beach, celebrates her 112th birthday with her son, Danilo Lugo, friends and caregivers at Ponce Plaza Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Al DiazMiami Herald Staff
Why would you come to the conclusion that Florida is the worst, Thrillist?
Because you’ve never tasted the dock-to-dish hogfish at Chef Michael’s.
Because you’ve never lived in a county, Miami-Dade, where you’re served a daily dose of book readings and cultural events in two languages, sometimes more. Several Florida cities, large and small, hang on to their independent bookstores, too.
Because you’ve never relished life in subtropical weather all year long. Hurricanes announce themselves with time to prepare. But states you rank higher suffer through deadly tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, fracking, seemingly all year long. I’ll keep the occasional summer hurricane, thank you.
Because, let’s face it, you’re jealous.
How many states can boast major league sports teams in SIX cities: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, Orlando, Sunrise, Miami? In hot South Florida, we even have hockey. Go Panthers! Coming up soon: Major League Soccer.
Enough said.
Florida isn’t the worst state in the nation. Not. Even. Close.
An investigation has uncovered dozens of old, seemingly delinquent political campaigns spending money long after the actual campaigning is over. Christopher O'Donnell of the Tampa Bay Times talks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about how lax regulations make it easy for former politicians to tap into campaign funds.
By CHRISTOPHER O’DONNELL, ELI MURRAY, CONNIE HUMBURG AND NOAH PRANSKY Times/WTSP Staff Writers
WASHINGTON, D.C.
IT’S BEEN MORE THAN A DECADE since South Florida Rep. Mark Foley was forced out of Congress for sending sexual text messages to teenage boys.
But Foley tapped his congressional campaign fund to dine on the Palm Beach social circuit four times in early 2017, ending with a $450 luncheon at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.
Then there’s baseball-star-turned-senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky. He paid his daughter $94,800 from campaign money in the four years after he left office, only stopping when he’d bled his fund dry.
And over the past 17 months, political advisor Dylan Beesley paid his firm more than $100,000 from the campaign account of Hawaii Congressman Mark Takai for “consulting services.”
It’s hard to imagine what Beesley advised. Takai was dead that whole time.
In their political afterlife, former politicians and their staffers are hoarding unspent campaign donations for years and using them to finance their lifestyles, advance new careers and pay family members, an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times, 10News WTSP and TEGNA-owned TV stations found.
Their spending makes a mockery of one of the fundamental principles of America’s campaign finance laws: Donations must be spent only on politics, not politicians’ personal lives.
The TV investigation
Times/WTSP reporters analyzed more than 1 million records detailing the spending of former U.S. lawmakers and federal candidates. They found roughly 100 of these zombie campaigns, still spending even though their candidate’s political career had been laid to rest.
Of course, history is full of politicians stretching the definition of legitimate campaign expenses. But most of those cases at least involved a campaign of some sort.
By contrast, former Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, had been out of office for more than three years when he spent $4,555 on Ohio State football tickets. Former Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas, rented office space from his father’s hardware company for $9,600 and paid his wife almost $22,000 to handle paperwork in the six years after he left office.
Other ex-candidates spent leftover donations on airline tickets, club memberships, a limo trip, cell phones, parking and new computers, the investigation found. Some former lawmakers paid themselves thousands of dollars without providing any explanation for where the money went. One spent $940 at Total Wine.
They weren’t all low-profile political figures. Former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, still has an active presidential campaign account that he used to pay almost $16,170 to his daughter through 2017, five years after he last sought office.
Ron Paul
Former U.S. representative, R-Texas
Getty Images
Republican candidate for president in 2012
Left office in 2013
Paid his daughter $16,170(January 2015-September 2017)
KHOU Houston found Paul in Clute, Texas.
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Paul drove away without answering a single question. He and his daughter didn’t respond to other requests for comment.
None of the spending was formally investigated by the Federal Election Commission, which is responsible for stopping federal candidates from treating their campaigns like personal slush funds.
By law, donations should be spent on campaigning and the cost of being in office. They can also be refunded to donors or given away to other candidates, political committees or charities.
But the law doesn’t stop ex-lawmakers and losing candidates from keeping their campaigns running forever, even if they never re-enter politics.
Twenty of the campaigns identified by the Times/WTSP stayed active for more than a decade. Eight kept on spending even after the candidate they were supposedly working to elect had died — buying lavish dinners, paying cell phone bills and writing rent checks.
Six campaign finance experts told Times/WTSPreporters that some of the zombie campaign spending was a potential election-law violation that should have been investigated by the FEC.
“There’s just no legitimate explanation for that, and it’s just outrageous,” said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It’s the kind of abuse that people only perpetrate when they’re sure nobody is watching and they can get away with anything.”
Times/WTSP reporters requested interviews with all five FEC commissioners. Only two responded. They both declined.
FEC spokesman Christian Hilland said the agency cannot comment on individual cases that may end up under investigation in the future.
“There are personal use prohibitions,” Hilland said. “Outside of that, if there are still costs associated with a campaign, utilities or a lease on a building – that can still be paid.”
Confronted about their spending, most candidates said they kept their accounts open in case they ran again one day, and they disputed that the money benefitted them personally.
Getty Images
Former Rep. Mark Foley tapped his campaign fund to dine on the Palm Beach social circuit.
Several said they would consider shutting their campaigns down. Many didn’t return requests for comment. Two fled when questioned about their spending by reporters from the Times/WTSP and TEGNA-owned partner TV stations around the country.
Foley, the former Palm Beach congressman, said ethical lines are “in the eye of the beholder,” but added that the FEC doesn’t draw lines or provide guidance.
Campaign experts said that while FEC rules are vague, it’s clear that someone out of politics should not have expenses that come with campaigning.
“It’s hard to imagine how some of this is not illegal,” said Larry Noble, a former FEC attorney and senior director of ethics for the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center. “If you’re not in office and you aren’t running, there aren’t a lot of expenditures you should be having.”
★★★
The iPad and the country club
IF ANYONE DEMONSTRATES HOW MUCH former lawmakers can get away with, it’s Robin Tallon Jr.
The South Carolina Democrat left the House of Representatives in January 1993, just as Bill Clinton was entering the White House, to set himself up as a D.C. lobbyist.
University of South Carolina
Robin Tallon Jr. left the House of Representatives in 1993.
Tallon was hardly an influential lawmaker. He was primary sponsor of only two bills that became law, according to govtrack.us. One was to designate National Tourism Week.
But his decade in Congress left him with more than $400,000 in his campaign account. He kept it open, then invested the money, turning it into $1 million.
In 2005, Tallon embarked on a spending spree that is still ongoing.
It included more than $31,000 in “reimbursements” paid to himself without any explanation, federal records show. Another $20,000 was paid to his son, Robert Tallon III, who was listed as campaign treasurer.
Tallon’s campaign bought a $4,000 computer in 2007, a $2,300 computer in 2014 and a $900 iPad in 2017.
Since Tallon was no longer campaigning, some of his spending looks like personal use of campaign funds, said Adav Noti, a former attorney for the FEC who is now a senior director at the Campaign Legal Center.
“It’s almost inconceivable that spending is legal,” Noti said. “That’s 25 years after he left office.”
Some of Tallon’s other expenditures are even harder to tie to politics. Between 2007 and 2011, he paid roughly $8,200 in “dues” to an organization he identified only as “CCSC.”
There are no major political groups or charitable organizations in South Carolina with those initials. Despite FEC rules, Tallon’s reports don’t list an address for the recipient. Tallon does, however, live in a 4,400-square-foot home in a development with the same initials: the Country Club of South Carolina.
Noah Pransky | WTSP
Tallon’s home in Florence, S.C.
Those payments from Tallon are in line with the Florence, S.C. club’s $300 monthly membership dues and food minimum total.
In a phone interview, Tallon defended keeping his campaign account open, saying he always considered another potential run. The iPad was to do his campaign’s paperwork and to keep up with its investments — which would be the only legal use of the device, since it was bought with campaign money, experts said.
Tallon did not return subsequent calls or respond to a letter asking about his “CCSC” spending. He kicked a camera crew from WTSP partner station WCNC off his property last week.
WCNC Charlotte
A reporter from Charlotte TV station WCNC tries to interview Tallon and is turned away.
Still, in the earlier interview, the 71-year-old conceded that after being out of office for a quarter of a century, it’s probably time to shut the campaign down.
“I don't think the likelihood of (running for office) is very high right now, and I’m retiring from my consulting work in Washington,” he said in November. “I need to give that money away at this point.”
He filed his latest campaign report on Jan. 16. It shows his campaign is still open.
★★★
Bending the rules
THE LAWS ON CAMPAIGN SPENDING are simple if vague.
The money cannot be used for costs unrelated to campaigning or serving in office.
Items like clothing, country club fees and groceries, for example, are prohibited. Campaign workers’ salaries, office space, cell phones and internet service are allowed, when used for campaign purposes.
But the rules barely address what is permitted once a politician leaves office.
George LeMieux
Former U.S. Senator, R-Florida
Times file
Left office in 2011
Paid $40,000 to campaign consultant A. Milano Strategies. (November 2014 to July 2017)
WTSP tracked him down in West Palm Beach to ask him why.
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He actually paid the firm 29 times over 33 months.
One of LeMieux’s campaign’s payments to A. Milano Strategies.
It would be easy for the FEC to find campaigns exploiting that loophole.
Times/WTSP reporters used the FEC’s own data to identify roughly 100 zombie campaigns that have spent more than $20 million since 1995.
The Times included campaigns that kept spending more than six months after the candidate died. For the other campaigns, the analysis didn’t consider spending in the first two years to give candidates time to get out of leases, cell phone contracts and other commitments.
That’s far longer than candidates should need. A 2013 FEC advisory opinion said outgoing politicians should wind down campaign expenses within six months. Former independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., both donated more than 90 percent of their money to charity and closed their campaigns within a year of leaving office.
Four campaigns each spent more than $1,500 buying new computers, including Foley’s, which bought a $1,600 computer in 2015. Experts said that would be legal only if the computers were used solely for campaign paperwork.
FEC rules allow payments to family members who do genuine work for a campaign as long as they are paid at “market rate.”
But the payments vary wildly. Bunning’s campaign paid his daughter more than $2,100 per month. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., paid his spouse just $300 per month for bookkeeping and filing FEC forms.
Getty Images
Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning kept his daughter on the payroll, paying her more than $2,100 per month.
Other spending makes even less sense when out of office.
Campaigns are allowed to give to other candidates and PACs, even if those donations could buy influence that benefits their clients.
Their campaigns donated almost $4.5 million to political candidates and causes, the Times/WTSP analysis found.
Tallon was one of them. His campaign donated $69,000 to political causes — including tens of thousands of the dollars he raised as a Democrat to Republican politicians — and paid roughly $750 in dues to the Capitol Hill Club, a private social club for D.C. Republicans. In 2009 he also gave $5,000 to a political action committee formed by Imperial Tobacco Group, a client of his lobbying firm.
Former Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., donated almost $340,000 after becoming chairman of a lobbying firm. Former Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, admitted that some of the $60,000 he donated was “absolutely” helpful in his lobbying career.
“It’s the way it is, whether you have a political fund or whether you were a private citizen writing checks out of your own account,” he said.
★★★
A dead giveaway
IF FEC RULES ARE VAGUE about candidates who retire, they say even less about what should happen to campaign funds when the candidate dies.
Asked about dead candidates’ spending, FEC officials admitted their analysts could review a campaign’s report without ever realizing that the candidate is dead.
That might explain why they never questioned the spending of former New York congressman Thomas J. Manton’s campaign, which paid his treasurer a salary for two years after Manton died.
Getty Images
Hawaii Rep. Mark Takai died of pancreatic cancer in July 2016.
Takai’s campaign stopped doing almost everything after the Hawaii congressman died in July 2016 — except paying one man.
That was Beesley, 29, who had been the Democrat’s chief strategist since March 2015. A former legislative assistant to Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Beesley also worked as Hawaii State Director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Two months after Takai’s death, paperwork filed with the FEC identified Beesley as the campaign’s treasurer, which meant he had control over its checkbook.
In the 17 months since Takai’s death, Beesley paid roughly $5,700 a month to Lanakila Strategies, his own consulting firm.
Beesley’s most recent payments, reported in January, brought the total paid to Lanakila to more than $100,000, or 70 percent of Takai’s posthumous campaign spending.
“Wow,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., one of Takai’s friends in Congress, when told of Beesley’s spending. “I don't know if Mark would really want to see that happening with the money he raised to run for re-election.”
The Times/WTSP, in partnership with Honolulu affiliate KGMB/KHNL, began pressing Beesley for answers in early January.
Three days later, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported on Beesley’s payments. The Campaign Legal Center then filed a complaint with the FEC, which is pending.
Facebook
Dylan Beesley’s most recent payments, reported in January, brought the total paid to his consulting firm to more than $100,000.
In a written statement, Beesley said he was paid to be the campaign’s treasurer.
He also released a statement that he said was attributable to a spokesman for Takai’s family. “Dylan Beesley supported Mark’s campaign before Mark’s passing and, at our request, has stayed on as campaign treasurer to help manage the campaigns affairs,” the statement said. “He has worked to help us to focus on the next steps so that we could close the campaign down and create a foundation in Mark’s name and use it for good causes here in Hawaii. Payments to him during this period were authorized.”
Takai’s family did not respond to a letter sent by the Times/WTSPseeking comment.
The Mark Takai Foundation wasn’t incorporated until Jan. 11, Hawaii state business records show — two days after KGMB/KHNL contacted Beesley about his spending and 16 months after he became treasurer of the campaign.
Many campaign treasurers are paid to file campaign reports with the FEC. But Takai’s campaign was paying $500 per month to CFO Compliance, a national group that specializes in campaign paperwork.
Beesley declined multiple requests for an interview.
Noble, the former FEC attorney and CLC ethics director, said the FEC should investigate Beesley’s spending.
“I’ve not heard of a situation where, after the death of the office holder or candidate, that the committee keeps on paying people,” Noble said. “He can’t keep it going indefinitely while he spends money on himself.”
★★★
‘Designed to gridlock’
ONE EASY WAY TO STOP former lawmakers from misspending campaign money would be for Congress to set a time limit for how long zombie campaigns can remain open.
But the FEC’s Democratic and Republican commissioners, who can recommend new rules to Congress, almost never agree. In 2016, the commission deadlocked on one-third of enforcement votes.
“The FEC was designed to gridlock,” said Meredith McGeehee, executive director of Issue One, a nonpartisan political reform group.
Saxby Chambliss
Former U.S. Senator, R-Georgia
U.S. Senate
Left office in January 2015
Paid $1,979 for five nights at the five-star Williamsburg Inn, July 2015
WTSP drove to Athens, Ga. to confront Chambliss.
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He didn’t answer questions, telling WTSP to call the FEC six more times.
In Congress, the few attempts to address these campaigns have stalled. Lawmakers are reluctant to put additional restrictions on themselves, said Noti, the former FEC attorney.
Rep. Takano, the California Democrat, filed the “Let It Go” act in both 2015 and 2017 requiring outgoing members to close their campaign accounts within six years or before they go into lobbying.
And Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., filed a bill four times between 2007 and 2015 that would have let lawmakers designate a family member to take over their campaign accounts once they die.
Takano’s bill didn't get a hearing. Jones’ passed the House three times, then died in the Senate.
Jones said current House Speaker Paul Ryan and other lawmakers have no interest in campaign finance reform.
“Too many people like the system the way it is,” Jones said in an interview.
Ryan’s spokeswoman did not provide a comment.
The FEC was created to oversee campaign spending in 1975, after Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign paid for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex.
But Congress doesn’t fund the agency very well, experts say. After adjusting for inflation, its $76 million annual budget is smaller than it was in 2010. Last year, it had just 34 analysts to review more than 26 million financial transactions.
Jim Turner
Former U.S. Representative, D-Texas
U.S. Senate
Left office in 2005
Paid $9,600 to rent office space from his father’s hardware company
Paid $22,000 to his wife to handle paperwork
KHOU in Houston interviewed Turner about his spending.
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After spending for years, Turner stopped paying rent and his wife began doing the paperwork for free in 2011.
Former candidates are especially likely to escape scrutiny since they do not have political opponents to challenge their spending. The FEC almost never catches questionable spending itself. All but eight of the FEC’s 128 closed investigations last year started with an outside complaint.
FEC analysts are also told to ignore suspicious spending unless the amount of money or number of transactions raises above a secret threshold, which the agency refuses to disclose, documents show.
“There is really not a lot of incentive for this agency to go off and start snooping and investigating current members, much less former members,” McGehee said. “It does not have a robust investigatory arm. That’s not how the agency was designed.”
Nonetheless, zombie campaigns have occasionally come to the agency’s attention.
Every time, the agency did nothing, and the campaign carried on.
Eight campaigns identified by the Times/WTSP sent the FEC paperwork stating that they were not running for office, then continued spending for years, FEC documents show. Six are still open.
In July 2011, former Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher’s treasurer informed the FEC in writing that “the candidate has no intention of seeking office in future election cycles.” By then, the Democrat was already working for law firm Sidley Austin.
But Boucher, who did not return calls or emails for comment, kept on spending. Since 2013, he has paid $33,000 to staffers for “reimbursements” and “contract labor,” and spent nearly $4,900 on cell phone bills, office supplies, internet services and postage. His campaign account is still open.
In 2010, the FEC wrote to former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell warning that the $2,000 per month he was paying his daughter-in-law, Karen Allard Campbell, could “possibly constitute personal use of the committee's campaign funds.”
Getty Images
Former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell was paying his daughter-in-law $2,000 per month.
At that point, Campbell had been out of office for five years, and paying her for the past four.
His campaign treasurer responded on a letterhead that still touted Campbell as “U.S. Senator for Colorado.” It said Karen Campbell was providing the campaign “bona fide” services, including preparing its tax forms.
At the time, the Republican was also paying outside firms to do “tax preparation,” campaign finance records show.
The FEC let the matter drop, and the checks to his daughter-in-law kept coming for another five years. Campbell declined requests for an interview.
If the law doesn’t change, there will likely be more cases like his.
Since 2016, more than 40 House and Senate incumbents have resigned or announced they will not run in the 2018 midterm election.
The soon-to-be ex-politicians are sitting on more than $55 million in campaign donations.
This story was updated Feb. 1, 2018 to update the amount of money donated by candidates who had moved on to a new career in the lobbying industry.
★★★
About the story
To identify zombie campaigns, Times/WTSP reporters used the Federal Election Commission’s API to download more than 1 million disbursement records, ranging from the earliest records in the FEC’s database up to the third quarter of 2017.
Then reporters ranked each campaign by the number of expenditures it made after the campaign’s final election cycle. Then reporters hand-reviewed more than 350 campaigns’ spending.
Reporters excluded campaigns that had too few expenditures and campaigns paying back old debt. They then categorized more than 10,000 rows of data by type of spending. The entire database is available online at tampabay.com/zombiedatabase.
The reporters did not include data within two years of a campaign's last election or the last time a politician held office. This was to give campaigns ample time to pay off debts, get out of leases and end other contracts. They also removed records that did not have a date, and did not tag tax payments, refunds, negative amounts or disgorgements. They categorized payments according to the campaign’s listed disbursement description.
The database also includes former politicians who moved onto new careers as lobbyists, employees of lobbying firms or employees of private companies working in lobbying roles. The reporters searched the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Open Secrets’ Revolving Door database and news articles to look for signs that a former candidate had taken work representing special interests, whether or not they formally registered as a lobbyist. Donations from their campaigns are included in the database. About 20 of the 102 zombie campaigns were primarily identified based on this criteria.
Some data from the FEC API was incomplete, missing fields like dates, amounts, recipient names or descriptions for the disbursements. Whenever possible, reporters corrected inaccurate data based on the original paper filings.
About the reporters
Christopher O’Donnell
is a general assignment and local government reporter with the Tampa Bay Times. He was born and grew up in London, where he worked for IBM and Citi as a computer programmer and IT analyst. After moving to Florida in 2001, he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of South Florida before landing a job with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.During a seven-year stint there, he earned a Florida Society of News Editors award for his coverage of K-12 education. Before joining the Times, he spent three years with the Tampa Tribune and covered city government in both St. Petersburg and Tampa, and led coverage of the Tampa Bay Rays’ quest for a new ballpark. Contact him at codonnell@tampabay.com.
Eli Murray
is a data reporter and news applications developer for the Tampa Bay Times. He joined the Times in 2015 and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign with a degree in journalism. He grew up in Illinois. Contact him at emurray@tampabay.com.
Connie Humburg
is a data reporter at the Tampa Bay Times. She contributed in-depth data analysis to two Pulitzer-prize winning projects, one examining the effects of resegregation in the Pinellas County schools, the other probing abuses in Florida’s state-funded mental hospitals. In her three decades at the newspaper, Humburg has worked on investigative projects about felonious prison guards, missing military weapons, the impact of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, America’s 50 Worst Charities, violent offenders in work release and outrageous fees charged to patients at trauma centers. After the 2000 election, she was part of the data analysis group for a national media consortium that did an independent recount of votes in Florida. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida.
Noah Pransky
is an investigative reporter with 10News WTSP, covering politics, consumer issues, and sports business. His investigations into red light camera abuses in Florida were honored with the national George Polk and duPont-Columbia awards, on top of four Edward R. Murrow Awards and 13 Emmy Awards for news and sports reporting. He’s a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication. Contact him at npransky@wtsp.com.
Is other-directed St. Johns County PZA member BRAD NELSON running for office? Check out this puff piece by St. Augustine Record reporter/ developer-fanboy STUART KORFHAGE:
County resident relishes temporary role in providing aid to Puerto Rico
By Stuart Korfhage Posted Jan 31, 2018 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 3, 2018 at 6:39 AM St. Augustine Record
The 2017 holiday season saw Brad Nelson away from his family, catching the flu and working two jobs simultaneously. And he’d do it again if asked.
Nelson, a county resident and business owner, recently returned home from a two-month stint in Northern Virginia where he served in a temporary position with the U.S. Small Business Administration. His main task was helping hurricane survivors in Puerto Rico obtain government-backed disaster loans to help them rebuild their lives.
While Nelson was holed up in a Crowne Plaza in Herndon, Virginia, he talked with many Puerto Ricans who suffered catastrophic losses in Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
Many county residents suffered damage in Hurricane Irma in September, and Nelson even had major roof damage at his home. But he said most of the issues here were not on the scale of the losses in Puerto Rico.
“These people didn’t have their roofs damaged; they had their roof completely removed from their house and it rained for 10 days with no roof,” Nelson said. “We were talking to them and (said), ‘Well, what did you lose?’ ‘Every single thing I have ever owned I have lost.’
“It was just terrible.”
For those who haven’t been through the disaster relief process, the idea of seeking help through the SBA might sound strange. Most people associate relief efforts with FEMA, but that agency mostly addresses the most acute needs and doesn’t usually offer large payouts.
SBA can offer low-interest loans to individuals — as well as businesses — who need money to rebuild.
There is little doubt the need exists. SBA public affairs specialist Agustine Fernandez, who did not work directly with Nelson, is in Puerto Rico to assist residents there much like FEMA and SBA officials who opened offices in this county after Irma and Hurricane Matthew.
He said the damage is devastating for the people there.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I have never seen the amount of damage incurred here on the island,” Fernandez said. “It’s going to be a long recovery process because of the extent of the damage.”
An Associated Press story earlier this week reported that Leticia Jover, a spokeswoman for Puerto Rico’s Housing Department, said Maria destroyed between 70,000 and 75,000 homes and damaged an additional 300,000.
A release Monday from SBA said 20,191 disaster loans have been approved for residents of Puerto Rico in the amount of $750,633,200 for affected survivors from Irma and Maria.
According to the FEMA website, there have been 418,043 individual assistance applications approved due to the hurricanes.
Nelson said he started his stint with SBA shortly before Thanksgiving when there were still widespread power outages — many of which remain even today. A property appraiser by trade, Nelson said he saw an advertisement for the temporary positions and thought he’d be qualified.
Because workers were needed quickly, Nelson said he was hired without much discussion and joined about 350 others sharing a conference room in the hotel.
The close proximity of the workers led to the spread of germs, and Nelson soon found himself with the flu. But he recovered and got back to taking calls from desperate Puerto Ricans who were fortunate enough to have mobile phone service.
Nelson lived at the hotel and joked that his commute was four flights of stairs. But it was still draining. When he wasn’t taking calls for SBA, Nelson was making them (or sending emails) for his own business back home.
“Making sure my employees were still showing up for work,” Nelson said. “There were other people like me still running a business.”
Although the conditions were not ideal and Nelson missed celebrating Christmas with his family, he said it was a great experience to offer assistance to those who needed it.
“Everybody I worked with, we were trying very hard to help these people,” Nelson said. “The people from Puerto Rico were just the most amazing part of it. They were telling us stories (about what they went through) that were just horrible.”
With the experience behind him, Nelson said he would gladly help SBA again if asked. He’s hoping he’ll be asked to join the team of SBA workers who will go to Puerto Rico and do on-site assessments.
“I’m hoping I get a chance to go out and do that,” he said. “That’s kind of the next step. I had a very interesting experience.”
1. Why a one-sided page one story about a local businessman working for SBA in a hotel in Virginia for two months? This is PR. Is BRAD NELSON running for office? Does that explain Development beat reporter Sturt Korfhage's incurious puff piece?
2. No mention of BRAD NELSON's prior failed run for Property Appraiser, the funds he raised, his withdrawal from the race. 3. No mention of the sexist and lawbreaking manner in which five Republican St. Johns County Commissioners in 2016 duked BRAD NELSON BACK into a PZA position from which he had RESIGNED. http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2016/02/sex-discrimination-in-st-johns-county.html 4. Commissioner JAY MORRIS stating "I'd do anything" to get Brad Nelson BACK on the PZA. 5. There were apparent Sunshine violations by PZA members in changing their unanimous recommendation of Karen Zander, as reflected in documents and videotape meeting documents. 6. What were BRAD NELSON's SBA title, duties and compensation -- contractor or Special Government Employee (SGE)? 7. Who approved BRAD NELSON missing two months of SJC PZA meetings? What does Jay Morris think about losing his service? 8. How did BRAD NELSON ever get the SBA job ? BRAD NELSON admits there was little scrutiny of his application. 9. Was BRAD NELSON's hotel room work on his private business ever disclosed to SBA -- does it meet ethics laws? 10. Did BRAD NELSON also work in his federally-paid hotel room on his next Republican election campaign?
With the experience behind him, Nelson said he would gladly help SBA again if asked. He’s hoping he’ll be asked to join the team of SBA workers who will go to Puerto Rico and do on-site assessments.
“I’m hoping I get a chance to go out and do that,” he said. “That’s kind of the next step. I had a very interesting experience.”
OF COURSE ... WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO BE GETTING PAID THE BIG BUCKS, ALL EXPENSES PAID, MEALS & DRINKS PAID and BE ABLE TO RUN THEIR PRIVATE... » more
"The 2017 holiday season saw Brad Nelson away from his family, catching the flu and working two jobs simultaneously. And he’d do it again if asked."
ISN'T THAT CALLED DOUBLE DIPPING ON the Government TIME and DIME (HUGE TEMP MONEY JOB).
Well ...
Brad Nelson, DROPPED OUT of the 2016 SJC Property Appraisers Election Race because of local REPUBLICAN PARTY BOSS Sheriff DAVID SHOAR! County Commissioner Jay Morriss, SHOAR MAIN PUPPET, DEMANDED HE drops OUT. Then this Brad... » more
Illinois Congressional candidate ARTHUR JONES (Republican-Nazi, Ill. 3rd C.D.): founder of the "America First Committee" and former head of the Nazi Party, is unopposed in the March 20, 2018 Illinois Republican Party Primary for the Third Congressional District. Is ARTHUR JONES all that different from some of the members of our St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee and its Reich-wing TRUMP CLUB?
Russia's efforts to divide our country with social media attacks have empowered extremists, like Herr Trump and his local supporters, who now have a litmus test -- elect only "PRO TTRUMP candidates to local and state offices. Not pro-truth, but "PRO TRUMP."
There's no critical thinking going on in the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee. Just preening TRUMP apparatchiks.
History teaches that the German-American Bund and other American Fifth Columnists aided Hitler. The late KKK-busting investigative reporter Stetson Kennedy told me that every since Klansman in St. Johns County is now a Republican. Wonder if SJCREC leaders fancy ARTHUR JONES?
Holocaust denier poised to claim GOP nomination in Illinois race for Congress
Arthur Jones — an outspoken Holocaust denier, activist anti-Semite and white supremacist — is poised to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat representing parts of Chicago and nearby suburbs.
“Well first of all, I’m running for Congress not the chancellor of Germany. All right. To me the Holocaust is what I said it is: It’s an international extortion racket,” Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Indeed, Jones’ website for his latest congressional run includes a section titled “The ‘Holocaust Racket’” where he calls the genocide carried out by the German Nazi regime and collaborators in other nations “the biggest blackest lie in history.”
Jones, 70, a retired insurance agent who lives in suburban Lyons, has unsuccessfully run for elected offices in the Chicago area and Milwaukee since the 1970s.
He ran for Milwaukee mayor in 1976 and 13th Ward alderman on Chicago’s Southwest Side in 1987.
Since the 1990s to 2016, Jones has jumped in the GOP 3rd Congressional District primary seven times, never even close to becoming a viable contender.
The outcome will be different for Jones in the Illinois primary on March 20, 2018.
To Jones’ own amazement, he is the only one on the Republican ballot.
“And given the fact that I’ve got no opposition in the primary, OK, I win that one (the primary) by default all right,” Jones said during an interview in a coffee shop in Lyons.
That leaves Illinois Republicans saddled with a nominee who is well known for his racist and white supremacist activities.
Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, said in a statement to the Sun-Times, “The Illinois Republican Party and our country have no place for Nazis like Arthur Jones. We strongly oppose his racist views and his candidacy for any public office, including the 3rd Congressional District.”
Jones told the Sun-Times he is a former leader of the American Nazi Party and now heads a group called the America First Committee. “Membership in this organization is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent,” he said.
The Anti-Defamation League has been keeping tabs on him for years.
“Arthur Jones, who proudly displays Holocaust denial, xenophobia and racism on his blog and website, has a long history of hateful, extremist and anti-Semitic views,” said Lonnie Nasatir, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Chicago-Upper Midwest Region.
“For example, in 2009, he protested the opening of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, and continues to espouse absurd conspiracy theories questioning the deaths of millions of Jews.
“He has spoken publicly at numerous neo-Nazi rallies and events, expressing xenophobic policies based in racial and religious hatred. He is, by every definition, an anti-Semite and unrepentant bigot.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (left) and Marie Newman, who is running against him in the 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary. | James Foster/For the Sun-Times
In November, Jones will face either Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., a Western Springs resident, or Lipinski’s Democratic primary challenger, Marie Newman from La Grange.
Jones will almost certainly be defeated in November. That’s because the 3rd Congressional District is one of the most heavily Democratic in the state.
The district sweeps in the old Chicago Democratic machine wards of 11, 13, 14, 19 and 23 and meanders through a corridor to wide swathes of southwest suburban turf. The district was drawn to protect Lipinski, whose father, William — a former congressman — is close to House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
How did this happen?
• Republicans didn’t bother to muster a credible candidate because the district is so Democratic. There is always a debate if parties should recruit candidates to run races they are highly likely to lose.
• Jones could not be knocked off the ballot.
In 2016, Jones was removed from the 3rd District GOP ballot in legal actions engineered by the Illinois Republican Party.
Records show that John Fogarty Jr., the general counsel for the Illinois GOP, handled the objections to Jones 2016 nominating petitions filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Once Jones was removed from the ballot because his petitions were faulty, Lipinski ran unopposed in the 2016 contest.
By 2018, Jones took his petitions door to door himself and took greater care to have valid signatures.
An official with the Illinois Republican Party said Fogarty was directed to determine if Jones could be thrown off the 2018 ballot.
Fogarty examined Jones’ petitions Dec. 5 and Dec. 8. This time around, Jones’ signatures appeared valid, so the Illinois GOP did not pursue legal action. Neither did anyone else.
Jerry Hurckes, the treasurer for the Lipinski campaign, looked at the petitions on Dec. 4, the records show.
Tim Mapes, Madigan’s government chief of staff and executive director of the state Democratic party, viewed Jones petitions on Dec. 6.
In 1998, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, when Jones was running in the 3rd Congressional District primary, “the Cook County Central Committee passed a resolution . . . formally denouncing his candidacy” concerned that if he was nominated, it would be a “national embarrassment” for Cook County Republicans.
Last spring in Pikeville, Kentucky, Jones spoke to a National Socialist Movement gathering. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said it is one of the “most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States.”
In a few weeks, Jones almost certainly will be a GOP nominee. But he doesn’t plan on seeking support from Illinois’ Republican governor — or the Republican president of the United States.
Jones said in his Pikeville address, according to a video on YouTube, he was sorry he voted for President Donald Trump, who has “surrounded himself with hordes of Jews” including his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.
As for Gov. Bruce Rauner, also on the March ballot, Jones told the Sun-Times, “I would not lower myself to ask Bruce Rauner to campaign for me or vote for me.”
Investigating and exposing Trump's scoundrels in government is becoming more fun with every day. This former Texas environmental (sic) regulator (sic) is done gone with the wind. Of course, the words "environmental" and "regulator" and "Texas" look funnily oxymoronic and moronic at the same time.
Trump to Withdraw Nomination of Climate Skeptic as Top Environmental Adviser
Photo
Kathleen Hartnett White at Trump Tower in Manhattan in 2016.CreditSam Hodgson for The New York Times
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to withdraw its nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White, a climate change skeptic, to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, a White House official said.
President Trump in October appointed Ms. White, a former Texas environmental regulator who has said that carbon dioxide should be considered the “gas of life” rather than a pollutant, to be the White House senior environmental adviser. Carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Ms. White on a party-line vote, but her nomination languished at the end of 2017. That was in part, lawmakers acknowledged, because of Ms. White’s performance at her hearing in which she not only espoused controversial views on climate change but also stumbled over science questions.
When Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, asked Ms. White if she believes climate change is real, she said “I am uncertain.” She then corrected herself saying, “No, I’m not. I jumped ahead. Climate change is of course real.” She then added she was uncertain about the extent to which humans cause climate change.
When Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat of Rhode Island, asked Ms. White to estimate how much heat in Earth’s atmosphere is stored in the oceans, she replied, “I don’t have numbers like that,” adding, “I believe that there are differences of opinions on that, that there’s not one right answer.”
The most up-to-date scientific assessment on climate change, released by the Trump administration in November, found that the world’s oceans have absorbed “about 93 percent of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas warming since the mid-20th century, making them warmer and altering global and regional climate feedbacks.”
Democrats also assailed Ms. White’s writings in which she called renewable energy “unreliable and parasitic,” described global warming as “a creed, a faith, a dogma that has little to do with science,” and asserted that science does not dictate policy in democracies.
President Trump resubmitted Ms. White’s nomination to the Senate last month but now plans to withdraw it because of worries that the votes aren’t there, the White House official said. The official was not authorized to discuss personnel decisions and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Washington Post on Saturday reported the White House decision to withdraw the nomination.
Democrats and environmental activists hailed the decision. “Withdrawing Kathleen Hartnett White’s nomination is the right thing to do,” Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement. He said the Council on Environmental Quality should have a “thoughtful environmental and public health champion” to lead it.
Sara Chieffo, vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, blasted Ms. White as an “anti-science extremist” and called the decision a “victory for science.”
Ms. White could not be reached for comment. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think tank where Ms. White currently serves as a senior fellow, also could not immediately be reached.
Withdrawing Ms. White’s name may clear the way for Senate consideration of other environmental nominees. That includes Andrew R. Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Another day in paradise. Another FBI investigation of corruption in Florida. Note to St. Johns County burghers: Yes, Palm Beach County has an independent Inspector General. That's how you extirpate corruption. Where's ours?
Riviera Beach officials under scrutiny of FBI, state, inspector general
Tony Doris Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 10:38 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018
Highlights
FBI, State Attorney, Inspector General investigate Riviera Beach officials
The investigations follow the city council’s firing last September of new city manager Jonathan Evans, who shortly after coming in ordered internal investigations of staff members accused of sexual harassment or financial misdeeds and cracked down on council spending.
Articles by The Palm Beach Post documented a culture of loose spending by the five council members and the mayor, and a city government in disarray. Top jobs had gone vacant for months after firings or resignations, expensive lawsuits arose in part because of the leadership void, and public records and officials’ comments linked the manager’s firing to his push-back on council members’ directing city money for projects on private property.
Evans, hired this week to manage the City of Madeira Beach in suburban St. Petersburg, confirmed the State Attorney’s Office is investigating the city. He also said he heard from “multiple pretty good sources” that an FBI corruption unit is investigating, though he said he had not been contacted by the Bureau.
The agencies are tight-lipped about active investigations.
“We are watching actively in Riviera Beach, regarding the city council’s actions,” state attorney spokesman Mike Edmondson said Thursday, declining to confirm or detail the nature of any inquiry. “I’m sure we will be talking more.”
An FBI spokesman could not be reached for comment.
“We’re doing an audit right now within the town,” Inspector General John Carey said. “The particular focus is on their purchasing cards,” government credit card spending by council members and other city officials, he said.
The Post on Oct. 27 detailed that while the Riviera Beach struggled with poverty, mold-infested city buildings, deteriorated water systems and administrative chaos, council members and the mayor indulged in luxury hotels, $9,000-a-year car allowances and trips to such locations as China, Spain, Haiti, The Bahamas, Little Rock, Ark., Nashville, Dallas and Pittsburgh. They used city credit cards for such things as a personal membership in a college alumni association, Darth Vader knee boots and a political contribution.
Carey urged citizens of Riviera Beach and elsewhere in the county to help uncover corruption.
“If somebody has first-hand information about any fraud, waste or abuse in the county, they need to contact our office,” he said. “That’s the basis of a good allegation — first-hand, or somebody who can provide a piece of evidence. We don’t investigate rumors. We investigate allegations that have some substance behind them.”
As with law enforcement agencies, the Office of Inspector General has subpoena power to obtain information. And just because a city conducts an internal investigation doesn’t mean the OIG can’t conduct its own independent one, he said. It also cooperates with the State Attorney’s Office and FBI “on all types of projects,” Carey said.
The investigation rubbed some city council members the wrong way because they liked Jones and had wanted him to become city manager last March instead of Evans, the outside candidate, according to City Council Chairwoman KaShamba Miller-Anderson. An early briefing from the outside labor attorney investigating the two indicated “there was definitely some inappropriate behavior going on and it was something that needed to be addressed,” she said.
The three council members who voted to fire Evans — Lynne Hubbard, Terence Davis and Dawn Pardo — have been targeted by a citizen petition drive to oust them from the board. That recall effort is tied up in circuit court, after the city attorney moved to kill it on technical grounds.
Evans, meanwhile starts his new job in Madeira Beach, a tourism-driven city of 4,500 residents, on Feb. 26.
Just named to the post Jan. 30, his 100-day plan for the city already is posted on its website. “Objective 1: Communication with elected officials — an emphasis on clear and concise communication should always be a principal focus of staff and city administration,” it says.
As for Riviera Beach, his lawyer is still trying to negotiate a settlement with the city, and above all to clear Evans’ name, he said.
“My time here in Riviera Beach has been amazing and I don’t hold any grudges or animosity,” he said. “I’m blessed to have served as city manager and now is the time for everyone to move forward and begin the healing process, because nobody benefits from these kind of situations.”
Evans should feel right at home in Madeira Beach. A Tampa Bay Times article on his hiring said the city has “a sharply divided city commission” and that he “will face continuing political turmoil and a possible recall election against two of the commissioners who picked him.”
When news of the investigation became public over the summer, Gillum’s campaign, which was off to a fast start, hit a wall. | AP Photo
Gillum not listed as 'subject' in FBI affidavit, but political damage may already be done By MATT DIXON 02/06/2018 06:00 AM EST
TALLAHASSEE — FBI documents inadvertently made public Monday outline a corruption case against a prominent Tallahassee City commissioner, but may give some relief to Andrew Gillum, the city’s mayor and Democratic candidate for governor.
An affidavit given by an FBI agent seeking a search warrant for phone records from Apple described a pay-for-play scheme allegedly orchestrated by Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox, who is the star of the 25-page affidavit that accuses him of taking votes that benefited a lobbying firm he was profiting from.
Maddox and his longtime associate Paige Carter-Smith are listed as "subjects" of the investigation. The affidavit was apparently inadvertently posted with online court records. It was quickly taken down once federal officials realized it had been released, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The FBI has been staking out the city since 2015, investigating “alleged corruption by local officials in Tallahassee.”
When news of the investigation became public over the summer, Gillum’s campaign, which was off to a fast start, hit a wall. His fundraising largely dried up, and any public messaging got hijacked by questions about his role in the scandal or if the FBI was targeting him.
In a June statement, Gillum said he had spoken with FBI officials who assured him that he was “not the focus of an investigation,” but he has struggled to regain momentum for his campaign, which was boosted early by quick cash infusions from the likes of Democratic super donor George Soros, and famed producer Norman Lear.
In an official statement released by his mayoral office in Tallahassee, Gillum said Monday that he wants anyone who broke the law to be held “accountable."
“As I have said from Day One, any wrongdoing found in City Hall should be uncovered and any individuals involved held accountable," he said. "As Tallahasseeans, we are all troubled by what we’ve read, and are hopeful for a just and speedy conclusion to this unfortunate matter.”
His campaign said it would return a $10,000 check to Gillum’s political committee from Governance Services LLC, the Maddox-tied lobbying firm at the center of the FBI probe.
“After reading today's report, we decided to return their check,” said Geoff Burgan, a Gillum campaign spokesman. “Tallahassee needs to move forward, as do we, from this unfortunate situation.”
The affidavit, penned by FBI agent Evan Hurley, says Maddox, a former Tallahassee mayor and chair of the Florida Democratic primary, took votes as a city commissioner that benefited clients of Governance, the lobbying firm he founded. Maddox publicly said he was no longer associated with the firm, but court records reviewed by federal investigators reveal he or his direct family members have received nearly $600,000 from the firm since late 2012.
On paper, the firm is run by Carter-Smith, who served as Maddox's chief of staff when he was mayor. The FBI interviewed an unnamed former Governance employee who said that Carter-Smith “did whatever Maddox wanted.”
Gillum’s campaign fundraising did rebound slightly in December — his campaign and committee raised more than $260,000 — but it’s unclear if he will be able to recapture political momentum.
A Mason-Dixon poll released Tuesday of Democratic primary voters shows Gillum trailing front-runner Gwen Graham, a former congresswoman and daughter of former Gov. Bob Graham, and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. Graham clings to a 17-20 percent lead over Levine, with Gillum at 10 percent and Winter Park businessman Chris King at 4 percent. The primary is Aug. 28.
One Democratic consultant not affiliated with any Democratic gubernatorial candidate said Gillum may have run out of time to recover. “I hope it’s not too late, but all signs point to yes," the consultant said.
A Democratic operative said the fact no other candidate in the Democratic primary has “connected” means Gillum could remain in the game. “He’s still the best situated to connect viscerally,” he said. “His issue isn’t really with voters, though, he has to get a dozen or so big time state and federal donors to believe again.”
“It’s 2018, if you can get three billionaires bought in, you can win,” the same Democratic operative added.
UPDATE: FBI search warrant lays out bribery case against Scott Maddox, Paige Carter-Smith
Jeff Burlew, Democrat senior writerPublished 1:57 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2018 | Updated 6:55 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2018
VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: Updated FBI Investigation Timeline | 1:47
Watch it: FBI Investigation Timeline (updated January 2018) Tallahassee Democrat
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: Nashville strip mall an FBI fake out? | 0:18
Intelligent Utility Conservation lists its address as this strip mall on the outskirts of Nashville. However, the address is actually home to a UPS store. IUC's purported owner may be an undercover FBI agent and his business an FBI front. David Boucher/The Tennessean
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: What's 90,000 pages? | 0:44
The city of Tallahassee turned over 90,000 pages to the FBI. We help you picture it. Wochit
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: City attorney talks FBI probe | 4:04
City attorney Lew Shelley advises the mayor and commissioners about an FBI investigation involving the Community Redevelopment Agency. Tallahassee Democrat Jeffrey Schweers/Democrat
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: Who is Mike Miller? | 1:38
Is Mike Miller a developer from Atlanta? Or someone else? Wochit
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAErwin Jackson Blasts Commissioner Maddox and City Hall | 2:32
Frequent City Hall critic Erwin Jackson blasts Commissioner Maddox
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: Federal grand jury subpoenas city for CRA documents | 0:48
A federal grand jury has asked the city of Tallahassee for records involving the Community Redevelopment Agency involving top local developers and business people. Wochit
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VIDEOS: FBI INVESTIGATION INTO THE TALLAHASSEE CRAWatch it: What is the Tallahassee CRA? | 0:52
An explanation of the Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency. Democrat staff
Paige Carter-Smith's attorney Stephen Webster issued this statement on what they call the "improper" and "flagrant" release of the search warrant.
"The release of the application for the search warrant is scandalous and has unjustly scarred the reputations of those involved without any semblance of due process. As the agent who drafted the warrant acknowledged, the documents being subpoenaed are necessary to determine whether the Government can 'establish and prove [that a crime was committed] or, alternatively, to exclude the innocent from further suspicion.' The improper release of the application not only undermined that goal, it served to heap more unproven scrutiny on the presumptively innocent. Nonetheless, Ms. Carter-Smith has cooperated fully and will continue to do conduct herself with respect for the process and all of those involved until she is fully exonerated of any wrongdoing."
Maddox attorney weighs in: 'Slanted and biased' (5:40 p.m.)
Stephen S. Dobson, III, attorney for Scott Maddox, sent the Democrat this statement.
"We believe when the entire story is told, Scott Maddox will be vindicated. Scott has been a good and decent City Commissioner and has always put the interests of Tallahassee first and foremost. I urge everybody not to rush to judgment when only one side of the story is being told--and that is a very slanted and biased version by the FBI."
Commissioner Curtis Richardson says he would step down if he were Maddox (4:10 P.M.)
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson said he was not surprised by the revelations, reiterating his comments at last week’s City Commission meeting that “whoever did something illegal or inappropriate would be dealt with.”
“I’m happy that this is the beginning of the end,” he told the Democrat. “Whoever else is involved will come to light and the city can move forward. So many good things are happening in the city and I hate that it’s being clouded by what’s happening here.”
He stopped short of calling for Maddox to resign and saying Maddox should decide for himself if he should step down.
“But if it’s me that’s what I would do,” Richardson said.
Richardson was surprised about all the back room machinations over the Uber ordinance.
“I didn’t realize there was that much influence behind the scenes,” he said.
He remembered having discussions with Justin Day of Uber and the head of the taxicab company but never talked to Carter-Smith, he said..
COMMISSIONER NANCY MILLER: "Nobody has me locked in" (3:30 P.M. UPDATE)
The search warrant does not mention any other public official, but a June 11, 2015, email from an Uber employee to Carter-Smith references City Commissioner Nancy Miller: “@paige, you have [Commissioner Nancy Miller] and Maddox on lock, correct?”
Miller told the Democrat she had had no prior discussion with Carter-Smith about Uber and didn’t even know she was representing the ride-sharing company.
“Nobody has me locked in,” Miller said.
When it came to the rideshare ordinance, Miller said she didn’t know how she was going to vote until she had heard from both the ride-sharing and taxicab companies at the public hearing two years ago.
“I didn’t make up my mind until I really listened and worked it out at the commission meeting,” she said.
Of the investigation into Maddox and Carter-Smith, Miller said, “None of it’s good, obviously. It’s not good for Scott, it’s not good for Paige and it’s not good for the city as a whole.”
She said it’s premature to ask for Maddox to step down.
“All of this is just a tragedy for the city, which is running pretty well under the circumstances,” Miller said.
UNSEALED AND RE-SEALED? (3 P.M. UPDATE) The search warrant demanding communications from Apple pertaining to Commissioner Scott Maddox has been removed from the records site of the North District of Florida.
The search warrant, apparently prematurely released in error, ends with a “request for sealing” in which the agent asks Judge Gary Jones to seal the documents pertaining to the "ongoing criminal investigation."
“Accordingly there is good cause to seal these documents because their premature disclosure may seriously jeopardize that investigation.”
The Democrat called the FBI asking why the documents were online and available to the public. Shortly after they were removed.
Bureau spokesperson Amanda Videll emailed the Democrat: “We decline to comment.” She referred further questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office, which was not immediately available for comment.
PAYMENTS ALLEGEDLY MADE TO MADDOX AND FAMILY(2:40 P.M. UPDATE)
“Financial analysis conducted to date reveals that since November, 2012, Governance has made approximately $392,000 in payments directly to Maddox or Maddox and his wife, and approximately $191,000 in payments to Maddox’s immediate family members, to include payments to credit cards owned by Governance but used by Maddox and his family members,” according to the affidavit.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY TRAIL (2:30 P.M. UPDATE):
Company One (likely Uber) paid Governance $30,000 between May and October of 2015. During that same period, Governance paid Maddox approximately $50,000, the affidavit states. This amount does not include approximately $49,000 in credit card charges to credit cards belonging to Governance for which Maddox’s son and father were the authorized users.
The debts of those cards were paid by Governance. Additionally, the affidavit states, Governance paid $20,000 in rent for a Jacksonville law firm owned by Maddox.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported on the Governance and Uber dealings in a September exclusive.
FBI ASKING APPLE TO OPEN UP ON MADDOX (2:22 P.M. UPDATE):
The search warrant seeks to require computer giant Apple to disclose communications, government records, and other information from the Apple IDs and iCloud account of Scott Maddox. The request could prove problematic as the Cupertino-based company has previously resisted requests from the government.
“In my training and experience, evidence of who was using an Apple ID and from where, and evidence related to criminal activities of the kind described above, may be found in the files and records described above, specifically text message record, to include iMessage and email communications,” wrote Special Agent Evan Hurley. “This evidence may establish the “who, what, why, when, where and how” of the criminal conduct under investigation, thus enabling the United States to establish and prove each element or, alternatively, to exclude the innocent from further suspicion.”
Commissioner Scott Maddox wanted “J.B.” to be his only point of contact with undercover FBI agents because Maddox “doesn’t want to have conversations, inappropriate conversations with anybody but (J.B.)”
“When asked whether Maddox wanted to be paid, J.B. said that he does, but that the money would need to ‘run … through Governance,’” the affidavit stated.
Beginning in November 2016, undercover FBI agents made four payments of $10,000 each to Governance. Each of the checks was deposited into a Governance account. After agents began paying Governance, J.B. told the agents that once they start paying Governance, they shouldn’t stop because “Scott Maddox can kill this,” according to the affidavit.
“J.B. also stated he would no longer stay involved in the deal if the (undercover agents) stopped paying Governance,” the affidavit says.
Check back with Tallahassee.com for updates.
A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER NAMED J.B. (2:10 P.M. UPDATE)
The FBI began its investigation into “alleged corruption of local officials” in 2015, posing as real estate developers and medical marijuana entrepreneurs to “gain access to various city officials, including Maddox,” the affidavit states.
A local real estate developer referred to in the affidavit only as “J.B.” told investigators that Maddox helped gain the city’s approval for J.B.’s real estate development.
Those initials would match J.T. Burnette, whose businesses were subpoenaed from the city of Tallahassee by the FBI in June of 2017.
Check back with Tallahassee.com for updates.
SEARCH WARRANT MAKES THE CASE (1:57 P.M.)
Tallahassee Commissioner Scott Maddox and his longtime friend and business associate Page Carter-Smith are under investigation by the FBI for Mail Fraud and Bribery, according to a search warrant affidavit, apparently mistakenly left unsealed by the federal court.
The sweeping, 21-page affidavit details Maddox and Carter-Smith’s interaction with undercover FBI agents and others regarding the controversial Tallahassee City Commission vote on a ride-sharing company, apparently Uber.
The FBI investigation centers around “Governance, Inc.,” a company Maddox owned but later claimed to sell to Carter-Smith sometime between 2010 and 2012. However, according to the federal affidavit, “Maddox continued to control Governance and profit from its activities, to include lobbying activities in the City of Tallahassee, for years after the 2012 election.”
Governance has received approximately $400,000 from at least 4 businesses doing business in Tallahassee, since 2012, according to the affidavit.
Swinish pay-to-play allegations will go to a federal grand jury, which may hand up indictments against Tallahassee officials.
Our opinion: Search warrant validates facts of FBI investigation, suggests it could be awhile
Tallahassee Democrat Editorial BoardPublished 12:04 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2018 | Updated 12:30 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2018
Jeff Burlew and Jennifer Portman breakdown FBI warrant. The search warrant seeks to require computer giant Apple to disclose communications, government records, and other information from the Apple IDs and iCloud account of Scott Maddox.
The FBI application for a search warrant for evidence of City Commissioner Scott Maddox’s involvement with his former lobbying firm provides an ugly look into how wheels get greased in Tallahassee government.
It may or may not lead to criminal charges for Maddox or his long-time close associate, Paige Carter-Smith. But it’s not a good look and, at the least, shines a light on dubious practices within city government.
The search warrant documentation was sealed and removed from the public record, but not before Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew got wind of it on Monday. He and reporter Jeff Schweers, who have been dogging the unfolding City Hall scandals since last summer, pounced on this biggest break so far in the case.
Hearing that “pay for play” goes on in Tallahassee is like that police prefect in Casablanca learning there was gambling in Rick’s cabaret. We’re not exactly shocked — shocked! — that any company would find out which lobbying shop has the best political torque, in City Hall, the Leon County Courthouse or the state Capitol.
Political clout is the stock in trade downtown. But it’s supposed to be handled openly and honestly — and the decision-makers are not supposed to be players.
What outside agencies are investigating this fatal shooting? A survey of St. Augustine Record readers established that we want more investigative reporting. We need reporting, not stenography, e.g,, parroting press releases from St. Johns County Sheriff's Office "COMMANDER" CHUCK MULLIGAN (the brother-in-law of Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR, who legally changed his name from "HOAR" in 1994). No more coverups. Michelle O'Connell and Andrea Sheldon both died in suspicious shootings that were ineptly "investigated" by SHOAR and his henchmen. Justice for Michelle O'Connell. Check out the Record's article, which is not even a "first rough draft of history." This is not "reporting." It is "stenography." Pitiful.
Actual t-shirt distributed by Sheriff DAVID SHOAR as "prize" (He later apologized to me and others for it.)
@Edward Adelbert Slavin wharever your option is of David Shoar's or who the hell his brother-in-law is. The POS messed with a CHILD and was in a known crack motel (probably smoken crack or meth). So whatever there reason was for killing him, they did society a favor. What if it had been your child that he messed with? I'm sure if it had been David Shoar's OR his his brother would be an issue.. Try letting that sink in...
@Crystal Bouknight Pate 1. Will St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR investigate himself again? 2. Or will FBI and FDLE be called in? That is the standard of care. 3. Sheriff Perry would call in FDLE for ANYTHING involving deputies, including car wrecks. 4. But ethically-challenged Sheriff SHOAR arrogantly REFUSED to call in FDLE for months after Michelle O'Connell was killed in the home of Deputy JEREMY BANKS, with BANKS' service weapon on September 2, 2010. Evidence was NOT collected and preserved. 5. The New York Times and PBS Frontline have reported on this coverup. 6. The facts that you assert about the motel are NOT stated in the article. NONE of us are in any position to express opinions about what happened at the motel until there is an outside, independent investigation. 7. FBI and FDLE must investigate a shooting involving both federal and county officers. 8. From this day forward, the Record must do more than merely print vague PR handouts from Sheriff SHOAR's brother-in-law, or any other flak (including those for developers). 9. The Record's own survey data confirm that we readers want more investigative reporting. Thank you.
@andy blaze 1. I was interviewed by Channel 4 reporter yesterday re: Commission discussion of raising bed tax, beach renourishment and St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. 2. BUT no coverage of bed tax and renourishment today in the Record, which sometimes waits DAYS to print some stories on local govt. meetings. Why? 3. The "news hole" in the Record is way too small for the amount of news here. 4. AND our St. Augustine Record seldom interviews activists, preferring to interview developers and government officials -- a typical local newspaper status quo bias, as Tom Wicker wrote about in his book, "On Press."
Our Commissioners must do a better job: 1. Another 3-2 vote. Close to denial. Project might still be denied when it comes back from Tallahassee review. 2. In this legislative zoning hearing, there was NO disclosure of any of Commissioners' ex parte contacts with developer, property owners and ROGERS TOWERS law firm. Wonder why? 3. NO disclosures identifying all of the actual investors in this project. Wonder why? 4. NONE of the witnesses were sworn in -- wonder why? 5. NO process exists for public cross-examination of putative "expert" witnesses. Wigmore wrote that cross examination is "the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth." Our Supreme Court has held that "in the Anglo American legal system cross examination is the principal means of undermining the credibility of a witness whose testimony is false or inaccurate." 6. In developer-dominated St. Johns County, cross-examination by citizens of developers does NOT exist in any local governments. Our procedures are laughable whenever ROGERS TOWERS and Commissioners' campaign contributors seek to amend Comprehensive Plans. Wonder why? 7. Lax followup, false sense of urgency, and a rush to judgment, February 6 despite Commissioner and public questions. Wonder why? 8. Item should have been tabled. Commissioners must not act like they were short order cooks in the Cafe ROBERS TOWERS. 9. Developers long hand-picked Commissioners. Lesson: we need some more courageous County Commissioners, data-based decisions, and concern for our environment and our quality of life. 10. That's why I support Catherine Hawkinson Gueverra, Democrat, for Commission seat 4, being vacated by irascible JAY MORRIS (R-RPM International). It's time for a change in the St. Johns County Taj Mahal (County Administration Building, 500 Sebastian View).
County Commission OKs next steps for 999-home project off S.R. 16 By Jake Martin Posted at 2:01 AM St. Augustine Record St. Johns County commissioners by a 3-2 vote on Tuesday approved sending yet another large-scale residential development with commercial components in the northwest sector of the county to the state for review.
Grand Oaks calls for up to 999 residential units as well as 100,000 feet of commercial space and 50,000 feet of office space on a 524-acre parcel of land on the west side of S.R. 16 immediately north of Windward Ranch and situated southeast of Murabella.
Property owner Day Late Enterprises and developer Southern Development Partners are seeking a Comprehensive Plan amendment to change the Future Land Use Map designation from Rural/Silviculture to Residential-C. They are also proposing a rezoning from Open Rural to Planned Unit Development, the application for which would be heard concurrently with the proposed amendment at the final hearing for adoption.
Attorney Ellen Avery Smith said the developers are well aware of the struggles the community is having with growth and sympathetic to the needs of their neighbors.
“They’ve pulled their wallets out to come up with a project that pays for itself,” she told commissioners.
To sweeten the pot, developers are offering certain “public benefits,” including a 30-acre site they say is worth $3.3 million to the St. Johns County School District for a new middle school. Smith said this land would be donated without seeking credits for impact fees or proportionate fair share mitigation payments as has been common practice in the past.
She said developers are also willing to kick in $15 million, which is $5 million above their expected transportation concurrency obligation, toward improvements of affected segments of S.R. 16 and I-95. She said they would also donate right-of-way for the C.R. 2209 project.
Nearly 30 percent of the property has been set aside for open spaces, nature preserves and recreational areas. Additionally, specimen and large oak trees on the property will be preserved.
However, Commissioners Jeb Smith and Paul Waldron, who voted against transmitting the proposed project, called it too much too soon.
“I don’t believe this is a day late, but years early,” Smith said, adding he thought the project could be of “tremendous” value, eventually.
Waldron said the board owes current residents some assurance their quality of life will be maintained, adding the county needs some time to catch up with the existing demands of growth. He said the rate of development just as it stands can make you think you’re driving through a work zone every day of your life.
Ultimately, adoption seems to be contingent on the developers’ willingness to pay impact and proportionate share fees up front, or on a payment plan, rather than on the back end of build-out.
Commissioner Jimmy Johns, who eventually made the motion to approve transmitting the project to the state, said the county needs to change the way it collects payment for road and infrastructure improvement. He said development after development was approved in the past with the expectation certain improvements, or payments for improvements, would be made upon reaching certain thresholds of build-out, but that those triggers never quite seem to get pulled.
He said he wants “the whole enchilada” when it comes to development agreements, including plans and financial commitments to provide necessary upgrades to roads, utilities, emergency services, schools and public parks.
Fellow commissioners agreed.
Smith said she heard the commission “loud and clear” and that the developers are willing to work with staff on figuring out a payment plan and time line for improvement. She said the goal is to have a development agreement that includes the payment and public benefit components ready for review by the adoption hearing.
Commission Chair Henry Dean said he shared the thoughts and concerns of commissioners who ended up on both sides of the vote.
He said the “conundrum” the board seems to be dealing with is that road and infrastructure improvement has not kept pace with development that has occurred over the last 10 to 15 years, even though such improvements were required as part of those approvals. Still, he said, Grand Oaks is a “high-quality” project that is providing all the fees and mitigation payments required of it, and then some.
“I can’t think of any other thing this applicant can do to solve all the problems we face,” he said, adding there aren’t many developable parcels along that stretch of S.R. 16 to even consider.
However, he said there is a need for “physical concurrency” to occur, not just on paper.
Before the vote, Johns thanked the developers for recognizing the deficiencies and taking a crack at responding proactively. He suggested they also contact other private developers in the area to identify ways to circumvent some of the delays in providing already-promised improvements.
Edward Adelbert Slavin
Rank 0
1. Another 3-2 vote. Close to denial. Project might still be denied when it comes back from Tallahassee review. 2. In this legislative zoning hearing, there was NO disclosure of any of Commissioners' ex parte contacts with developer, property owners and ROGERS TOWERS law firm. Wonder why? 3. NO disclosures identifying all of the actual investors in this project. Wonder why? 4. NONE of the witnesses were sworn in -- wonder why? 5. NO process exists for public cross-examination of putative "expert" witnesses. Wigmore wrote that cross examination is "the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth." Our Supreme Court has held that "in the Anglo American legal system cross examination is the principal means of undermining the credibility of a witness whose testimony is false or inaccurate." 6. In developer-dominated St. Johns County, cross-examination by citizens of developers does NOT exist in any local governments. Our procedures are laughable whenever ROGERS TOWERS and Commissioners' campaign contributors seek to amend Comprehensive Plans. Wonder why? 7. Lax followup, false sense of urgency, and a rush to judgment, February 6 despite Commissioner and public questions. Wonder why? 8. Item should have been tabled. Commissioners must not act like they were short order cooks in the Cafe ROBERS TOWERS. 9. Developers long hand-picked Commissioners. Lesson: we need some more courageous County Commissioners, data-based decisions, and concern for our environment and our quality of life. 10. That's why I support Catherine Hawkinson Gueverra, Democrat, for Commission seat 4, being vacated by irascible JAY MORRIS (R-RPM International). It's time for a change in the St. Johns County Taj Mahal (County Administration Building, 500 Sebastian View).« less
Increased traffic congestion, which is already out of control, check, major environmental impact issues, check, more schools will be needed, check. St. Augustine: Jacksonville's backyard.......
Here in St Johns County, there will be VERY BIG PROBLEMS because the HIGH PAYING and MEDIUM PAYING JOB GROWTH is not even coming CLOSE to what is needed HERE.
Now that being said AND everybody knows that ...!
This PROPERTY OWNER, Mr. Smith, came to the TABLE IN A BIG GENEROUS WAY!
I applaud his CLASS when he spoke at the meeting, his COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING of St Johns County Growth, his VERY TRUTHFUL FACTS of his wanting to BUILD BEAUTIFUL HOMES STARTING @ VERY REASONABLE PRICES, and wanting to be a REALLY GOOD NEIGHBOR and FELLOW RESIDENT.
Mr. Smith, the PROPERTY OWNER/CEO, went WAY ABOVE and BEYOND what is REQUIRED of a PERSON/COMPANY/HOME BUILDER to BUILD ON HIS or HER PROPERTY!
So to all the HATERS of development here in St Johns County, remember two things POR FAVOR AMIGOS ...
1) it is a PERSON s RIGHT to DEVELOPMENT or DO WHAT they WANT TO THEIR PROPERTY as long as SAFETY is not an issue
2) and as LONG as that PERSON or COMPANY obeys all LAWS!
and this DEVELOPMENT HAS MET BOTH of those THINGS!
PLUS WE HAVE A FELLOW RESIDENT/CITIZEN, Mr. Smith, WHO HAS DISPLAYED UNDERSTANDING of the St Johns County situation and gave/showed HUGE GENEROSITY in DOING WHAT IS AN AMERICAN RIGHT TO DO!
1. St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR's former registered lobbyist, ERIKA ALBA, is running for County Commission. I met her yesterday and she said, "I"M NOT A LOBBYIST." ERIKA ALBA lied to me in the presence of witnesses, including campaign manager Kerry McCarthy.
2. ALBA was featured in a Winter 2016 cover story of Influence Magazine, entitled "LOBBYING AVENGERS," where she was described as a "trusted counselor" to Big Business and candidates.
3. ALBA is General Counsel for Congressman RONALD DeSANTIS's Governor's campaign and General Counsel to Associated Industries of Florida; she told me that she works on election law and compliance. But there's more.
4. Controversial Republican corporate lobbyist Martin Fiorentino wrote in 2010, upon RICK SCOTT's election: FLORIDA’S NEW GOVERNOR “There’s a New Sheriff in Town” Much like the rest of the country, Florida chose to elect a candidate from the business community. Rick Scott is an extremely smart, shrewd and successful businessman who, prior to November 2nd, had never held elected office. In a political sense, Scott will arrive at the Governor’s office with a clean slate and with little owed to any political constituency. Erika Alba in our office knew Rick Scott before he ran for governor. They served on the Associated Industries of Florida board of directors together. Erika believed in Rick and his vision for Florida from day one.... 5. ERIKA ALBA was a registered lobbyist from 2010-2016, including work for our corrupt ST. JOHNS COUNTY SHERIFF DAVID SHOAR. From Florida Lobbyist Directory: 2016: Alba, Erika ....................................................... (850) 222-6100 106 E College Ave, Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: (850) 222-6100 Principal(s): Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP 2727 Prytania St., Ste 14, New Orleans, LA 70130 Industry Code: 541511 Effective: 01/04/2016 Capgemini Government Solutions 2250 Corporate Dr, Ste 410, Herndon, VA 20171 Industry Code: 541512 Effective: 01/04/2016 Columbia Care, LLC 24 West 25th Street, 6th Floor, , New York, NY 10010 Industry Code: 424930 Effective: 01/04/2016 Electronic Arts, Inc 1950 Summit Park, Orlando, FL 32810 Industry Code: 511210 Effective: 01/04/2016 Family Law Reform, Inc 215 E Burleigh Blvd, Tavares, FL 32778 Industry Code: 541720 Effective: 01/04/2016 Florida Emergency Medicine Practice Alliance 265 Brookview Centre Way, Suite 400, Knoxville, TN 37919 Industry Code: 621111 Effective: 01/04/2016 Grant Thornton, LLP 2001 Market Street, Ste 700, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Industry Code: 541611 Effective: 01/04/2016 Infinite Energy, Inc. 7001 SW 24th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32607 Industry Code: 221210 Effective: 10/26/2016 -Canceled- 11/02/2016 Institute of Hazardous Material Management 11900 Parklawn Drive, Suite 450, Rockville, Maryland 20852- 2624 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 09/14/2016 National Strategies, LLC 1990 K St NW, 320, Washington, DC 20006 Industry Code: 541611 Effective: 11/09/2016 Palm Beach County 301 N Olive Ave, Ste 1101, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 Industry Code: 921120 Effective: 01/04/2016 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 01/04/2016 Streamlink Software 812 Huron Road East, Suite 350, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 Industry Code: 541519 Effective: 11/09/2016 Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc 84 Waterford Dr., Marlborough, MA 01752-7010 Industry Code: 325412 Effective: 01/04/2016 Union Security Insurance Company 2323 Grand Boulevard, , Kansas City, Missouri 64108 Industry Code: 524114 Effective: 01/04/2016
2015: Alba, Erika ....................................................... (850) 222-6100 106 E College Ave, Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: (850) 222-6100 Principal(s): Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP 2727 Prytania St., Ste 14, New Orleans, LA 70130 Industry Code: 541511 Effective: 01/27/2015 Capgemini Government Solutions 2250 Corporate Dr, Ste 410, Herndon, VA 20171 Industry Code: 541512 Effective: 01/20/2015 Columbia Care, LLC 24 West 25th Street, 6th Floor, , New York, NY 10010 Industry Code: 424930 Effective: 04/02/2015 Electronic Arts, Inc 1950 Summit Park, Orlando, FL 32810 Industry Code: 511210 Effective: 01/20/2015 Family Law Reform, Inc 215 E Burleigh Blvd, Tavares, FL 32778 Industry Code: 541720 Effective: 01/20/2015 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave Bldg 5, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 01/20/2015 -Canceled- 11/02/2015 Florida Emergency Medicine Practice Alliance 5 265 Brookview Centre Way, Suite 400, Knoxville, TN 37919 Industry Code: 621111 Effective: 07/22/2015 Grant Thornton, LLP 2001 Market Street, Ste 700, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Industry Code: 541611 Effective: 05/28/2015 Guardian Sciences, Inc 370 Waterfall Ln, Winter Park, FL 32789 Industry Code: 424930 Effective: 01/20/2015 JEA 21 W Church St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 221100 Effective: 01/20/2015 -Canceled- 11/02/2015 Nurse Alert 617 E Palisade Ave, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Industry Code: 446110 Effective: 01/20/2015 -Canceled- 03/24/2015 Palm Beach County 301 N Olive Ave, Ste 1101, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 Industry Code: 921120 Effective: 02/10/2015 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 01/20/2015 Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc 84 Waterford Dr., Marlborough, MA 01752-7010 Industry Code: 325412 Effective: 01/29/2015 Union Security Insurance Company 2323 Grand Boulevard, , Kansas City, Missouri 64108 Industry Code: 524114 Effective: 03/11/2015
2014: Alba, Erika ....................................................... 850/222-6100 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: 850/222-6100 Principal(s): Capgemini Government Solutions 2250 Corporate Dr Ste 410, Herndon, VA 20171 Industry Code: 541512 Effective: 11/04/2014 Dimont & Associates 5501 LBJ Fwy Ste 400, Dallas, TX 75240 Industry Code: 524291 Effective: 01/31/2014 Electronic Arts, Inc 1950 Summit Park, Orlando, FL 32810 Industry Code: 511210 Effective: 01/31/2014 Family Law Reform, Inc 215 E Burleigh Blvd, Tavares, FL 32778 Industry Code: 541720 Effective: 01/31/2014 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave Bldg 5, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 01/31/2014 Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association, Inc 6003 Honore Ave Ste 204, Sarasota, FL 34238 Industry Code: 524126 Effective: 01/31/2014 370 Waterfall Ln, Winter Park, FL 32789 Industry Code: 424930 Effective: 07/30/2014 JEA 21 W Church St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 221100 Effective: 01/31/2014 Nurse Alert 617 E Palisade Ave, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Industry Code: 446110 Effective: 01/31/2014 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 01/31/2014
2013: Alba, Erika ....................................................... 850/222-6100 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: 850/222-6100 Principal(s): 4 Dimont & Associates 5501 LBJ Fwy Ste 400, Dallas, TX 75240 Industry Code: 524291 Effective: 02/13/2013 Electronic Arts, Inc 1950 Summit Park, Orlando, FL 32810 Industry Code: 511210 Effective: 04/17/2013 Family Law Reform, Inc 215 E Burleigh Blvd, Tavares, FL 32778 Industry Code: 541720 Effective: 02/12/2013 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave Bldg 5, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 02/13/2013 Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association, Inc 6003 Honore Ave Ste 204, Sarasota, FL 34238 Industry Code: 524126 Effective: 10/10/2013 JEA 21 W Church St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 221100 Effective: 02/13/2013 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 02/13/2013 Rent A Toll, Ltd. 2081 Hutton Dr Ste 201, Carrollton, TX 75006 Industry Code: 519190 Effective: 02/13/2013
2012: Alba, Erika ....................................................... 850/222-6100 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: 850/222-6100 Principal(s): Dimont & Associates 5501 LBJ Fwy Ste 400, Dallas, TX 75240 Industry Code: 524291 Effective: 01/24/2012 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave Bldg 5, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 02/01/2012 JEA 21 W Church St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 221100 Effective: 02/01/2012 Novo Nordisk, Inc 500 New Jersey Ave NW Ste 350, Washington, DC 20001 Industry Code: 424210 Effective: 02/01/2012 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 02/01/2012 Rent A Toll, Ltd. 2081 Hutton Dr Ste 201, Carrollton, TX 75006 Industry Code: 519190 Effective: 01/30/2012
2011: Alba, Erika .............................................. 850/222-6100 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Lobbying Firm(s): Foley & Lardner LLP 106 E College Ave Ste 900, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Phone: 850/222-6100 The Fiorentino Group 31 W Adams St Ste 204, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Phone: 904/358-2757 Withdrawn: 06/20/2011 Principal(s): Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, Inc 4266 Sunbeam Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32257 Industry Code: 621620 Effective: 03/11/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 CSX Transportation 500 Water St J420, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 482111 Effective: 10/18/2011 Environmental Defense Fund, Inc 44 East Ave Ste 304, Austin, TX 78701 Industry Code: 924110 Effective: 02/21/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 02/07/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave Bldg 5, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 11/15/2011 Florida Court Reporters Association 201 E Adams St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 561492 Effective: 03/11/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Florida Public Defender Association, Inc 103 N Gadsden St, Tallahassee, FL 32301 Industry Code: 541110 Effective: 04/11/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Haskell Company, The 111 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 236220 Effective: 03/11/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Jacksonville Port Authority PO Box 3005, Jacksonville, FL 32206 Industry Code: 488310 Effective: 02/28/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 JEA 21 W Church St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 221100 Effective: 11/15/2011 Lender Processing Services 601 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32204 Industry Code: 524114 Effective: 02/07/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Novo Nordisk, Inc 500 New Jersey Ave NW Ste 350, Washington, DC 20001 Industry Code: 424210 Effective: 11/15/2011 Patients for Fair Compensation, Inc 2655 Northwinds Pky, Alpharetta, GA 30009 Industry Code: 813920 Effective: 11/15/2011 PSS World Medical, Inc 4345 Southpoint Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32216 Industry Code: 423450 Effective: 02/07/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Rx Strategies, Inc 1900 Glades Rd Ste 450, Boca Raton, FL 33434 Industry Code: 923130 Effective: 02/07/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 St. Johns County Sheriff's Office 4015 Lewis Speedway, St Augustine, FL 32084 Industry Code: 922120 Effective: 03/11/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011 Vulcan Materials Company 155 E 21st St 5th Floor, Jacksonville, FL 32206 Industry Code: 212321 Effective: 02/28/2011 -Withdrawn- 06/20/2011
2010: Alba, Erika Lorenz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 W Adams St Ste 204, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Lobbying Firm(s): The Fiorentino Group 31 W Adams St Ste 204, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Phone: 904/358-2757 Principal(s): Fidelity National Financial, Inc 601 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 524127 Effective: 02/25/2010 Lender Processing Services 601 Riverside Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32204 Industry Code: 524114 Effective: 02/03/2010 Official Reporters, Inc 201 E Adams St, Jacksonville, FL 32202 Industry Code: 561492 Effective: 05/24/2010 PSS World Medical, Inc 4345 Southpoint Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32216 Industry Code: 423450 Effective: 02/18/2010 Rx Strategies, Inc 1900 Glades Rd Ste 450, Boca Raton, FL 33434 Industry Code: 923130 Effective: 02/03/2010
6. Here is ERIKA ALBA's Foley & Lardner law firm profile:
Erika Alba is a political law attorney and public affairs director with Foley & Lardner LLP and is a member of the firm’s Political Law and Government & Public Policy Practices. In her political law practice, Ms. Alba advises nonprofit organizations, private equity groups, corporations, candidates, campaigns, and individuals on state and federal campaign finance law, election law, and compliance issues related to lobbying, ethics and financial disclosure.
Ms. Alba has extensive legislative and regulatory experience, and in her government affairs practice has represented many different clients before the California and Florida Legislature and Governors’, Office as well as the California Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer, and executive branch agencies of Florida. These diverse clients include Fortune 500 corporations, small start-up companies, state and local agencies, industry associations, non-profit organizations, and political campaigns.
Prior to joining Foley, Ms. Alba was senior vice president and assistant general counsel with Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company. In this role, she served as chief legislative counsel and was responsible for the management of all governmental affairs issues for Fidelity National Financial for the 50 states and U.S. Congress. Ms. Alba moved to Florida with Fidelity National Financial in 2003 when the company relocated its headquarters from Santa Barbara, California.
Before joining Fidelity National Financial, Ms. Alba served as assistant chief counsel for the California Department of Insurance, Office of the Insurance Commissioner. In this capacity, she was the bureau chief of the Insurer Compliance Bureau, a litigation unit representing the California Insurance Commissioner in insurer enforcement actions. As bureau chief, Ms. Alba personally prosecuted numerous insurance companies for unfair business and claims practices and managed the prosecution of all cases handled by her division. Earlier in her legal career, she worked as a prosecutor for the Amador County District Attorney’s Office (California). Ms. Alba also served in a volunteer capacity one day per month as a judge pro tempore for the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento where she was deputized as a trial judge and adjudicated traffic and civil smalls claims cases.
Prior to her career in the legal profession, Ms. Alba worked for several years in the California State Legislature. She served in various capacities, beginning as a legislative aide for Assemblywoman Bev Hansen, who represented Napa County, California. Ms. Alba also served as a senior policy consultant for the Assembly Public Safety and Assembly Rules Committees. In her final position in the California Legislature, she served as the chief of staff for the assembly minority leader.
Recognition
Ms. Alba was named to The Business Journal’s 2012 Women of Influence list, an honor bestowed upon Jacksonville’s most influential women.
Education
Ms. Alba received her legal education from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, in California where she earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1993, and in 1998, a Masters of Law in international business transactions, with concentrations in international taxation and international business transactions. As part of her LL.M. program, Ms. Alba worked in Sydney, Australia, as a visiting attorney for the corporate law and commercial litigation firm of Norton Smith & Co. Ms. Alba received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from California State University, Northridge.
Community Engagement
Active in the community, Ms. Alba is a past chair of the Associated Industries of Florida (AIF), one of the premiere business organizations in the state of Florida and served as the first female chair of AIF in its 91 year history. Ms. Alba is also a former chair of the Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida. She also served as a member of the board of trustees for Florida Tax Watch.
In 2006, Ms. Alba served on Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s transition team where she was assigned to the Citizens Review Group for the Office of Financial Regulation. In 2010, she served as Northeast Florida finance chair for Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Admissions
Ms. Alba is admitted to practice in California and Florida.
Publications
Ms. Alba was featured in Influence Magazine's cover article “Lobbying Avengers” (Winter 2016). She is co-author of the article “Private Equity Portfolio Company Political Activity,” The Journal of Private Equity, Summer 2016.
Thanks to Historic City News, Michael Gold and Jeffrey Marcus Gray for their THROUGH reporting (below the Record article). So the man shot by federal and local officers was UNARMED? That fact did not make it into the Record's PR-generated headline. Wonder why?
Sheriff’s Office releases more details in Tuesday’s officer involved shooting
By Jared Keever Posted at 2:01 AM St. Augustine Record
One of the three law enforcement officers who shot and a killed a New Hampshire fugitive at a local hotel Tuesday evening was a St. Johns County sheriff’s deputy.
Deputy Mohammad Toubaili was with two members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force when they approached James Benny Hobbs’ hotel room door at the Howard Johnson hotel near the Interstate 95 and State Road 16 interchange around 6 p.m., according to a Wednesday news release from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office with new details about the shooting.
Citing Marshals Service policy, the Sheriff’s Office did not release the names of the others involved in the shooting.
Hobbs, 59, was wanted out of New Hampshire for “aggravated felonious sexual assault” on a child under 15, the release said.
Authorities tracked him to the local hotel after learning of his possible whereabouts and finding a vehicle that matched the description of Hobbs’ vehicle in the hotel parking lot.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said Wednesday that his agency’s Major Crimes Unit is investigating the shooting. When that investigation is complete, he said, all findings will be forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office who will review the circumstances of the incident.
“They make the determination if any Florida laws were violated” and whether or not the shooting was “justified,” Mulligan said.
All of the details of the shooting will not be released until that determination has been made.
Mulligan said that what is known from the preliminary investigation, though, is that Hobbs was not armed. But, he said, the investigation so far has indicated that the three officers who approached the room did give him commands to surrender after he opened his door.
“He would not comply or react for a period of time,” Mulligan said. “When he did react his movements were sudden.”
Mulligan didn’t describe the movements any further but said they were such that all three officers felt “threatened” and fired.
Hobbs died at the scene.
Toubaili has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 2014.
“It’s his first involvement in something like this,” Mulligan said.
He has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, something that Mulligan said is standard.
The Sheriff’s Office has not had an officer involved shooting since 2015 Mulligan said, though one deputy in 2017 did fire at a vehicle driven by a burglary suspect that he felt was trying to hit him as he fled.
Comments
Edward Adelbert Slavin
Rank 0
1. The St. Augustine Record must ask Sheriff DAVID SHOAR about why FDLE is not investigating, instead of SJSO investigating itself, AGAIN. 2. Sheriff's office investigating itself in officer-involved shootings violates the most basic principles of conflict of interest law. See United States v. Mississippi Valley Generating Co., 364 U.S. 520 (1960), quoting Matthew: "A man cannot serve two masters." 3. Record must interview U.S. Marshal's Service, rather than accepting second-hand unreliable hearsay from Sheriff SHOAR's brother in law, "COMMANDER" CHARLES MULLIGAN. Lincoln compared hearsay to the soup made from the shadow of a dead pigeon who had starved to death. 4. Secret agents, whose names are not identified? Really? 5. Do you have a copy of the Marshal's Service "policy?" If not, why not? 6. What is the source of the alleged Marshal's Service "policy?" Federal law? Published C.F.R. regulation? Fiat? Ukase? Has the St. Augustine Record called the Marshal's Service? Has the Record filed a FOIA request for "policy?" If not, why not? 7. Don't take Sheriff SHOAR's word -- or his brother in law-s word -- for ANYTHING. 8. The dangerous precedent established in the September 2, 2010 Michelle O'Connell case -- SJSO investigating itself -- is contrary to the genus of a free people. This decision stinks on ice. 9. Sheriff Perry did the right thing -- he called in FDLE, even on minor fender-benders. 10. Time to take the proverbial handcuffs off the Record's good reporters and let them report the news, without fear or favor, instead of printing press releases from Sheriff SHOAR and his brother in law. St. Augustine Record readers were polled and voted for investigative reporting, not puff pieces about Sheriff SHOAR and developers. Is that too much to ask? Facts!« less
So much for Sheriff SHOAR and his brother in law's PR flak approach to controlling the news. now here's what Historic City News wrote -- the suspect was UNARMED:
Cops kill unarmed, 190-lb, former lawyer, who was alone in motel room
Historic City News has learned that at about 6:00 p.m. Tuesday evening, two federal and one county law enforcement officer exercised lethal force while attempting to capture a single, middle-aged, 190-lb former lawyer, who was unarmed, but had an arrest warrant issued against him in the District of New Hampshire.
Local reporters contacted the Amherst Police Department today to learn more about the 59-year-old James Benny Hobbs and the crime that he is accused of committing that led to his death at the hands of three-armed police officers who fired on him, simultaneously.
The universal age of sexual consent in New Hampshire is 16-years-old. Under New Hampshire law, an individual is guilty of “aggravated felonious sexual assault” if he penetrates someone after she indicates that she doesn’t “freely consent” or before she has “an adequate chance to flee or resist.” According the U.S. Marshal Service in Concord, Hobbs was wanted for “aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 16”.
Here is what we know or believe to be true based on what we learned:
Prior to 2005, Hobbs was a licensed and practicing attorney.
Hobbs was on parole for defrauding several clients in 2005.
Hobbs also goes by the nick-name “The Whip”.
Amherst Police Department arrest warrant was issued on January 17.
Hobbs was last known to be driving a 2006, White, 4-Door Mercedes C280.
Hobbs was described as a white man, 6 feet tall and weighing 190 pounds with hazel eyes and brown hair.
Hobbs was the sole occupant of the motel room.
Hobbs fled his last known home in Stratham upon learning about the pending charges.
Hobbs had ties throughout the Seacoast area of New Hampshire.
At least six plain clothes and uniformed agents approached the room on the second floor of the Howard Johnson motel near the Outlet Mall.
It was still daylight when officers called for the fugitive to exit the room.
Hobbs exited and upon verbal commands to surrender himself to law enforcement, instead, refused to comply over a period of time.
Hobbs made several “sudden moves” causing 3 law enforcement officers to fire their weapons on him.
Hobbs received emergency medical care at the scene but died anyway.
Due to U.S. Marshal Policy, taskforce members working in an undercover capacity and their involvement in arresting some of the nation’s most dangerous and wanted individuals, our agency will not be releasing their identities.
The third individual involved has been identified as Deputy M. Toubaili, who has been employed with the Sheriff’s Office since May of 2014. This is his first officer-involved shooting.
Good article, great photo -- let the healing begin. Our City has resisted demands to remove an 1879 Confederate monument. Instead, we're going to contextualize it. I agree.
‘A rock and a hard place’
Historian Susan Parker speaks during the City of St. Augustine Confederate Memorial Contextualization Advisory Committee’s first meeting on Wednesday at City Hall. [CHRISTINA KELSO/THE RECORD]
By Sheldon Gardner Posted at 12:01 AM Updated at 5:52 AM St. Augustine Record
After months of meetings, hours of public debate and at least two protests about the city of St. Augustine’s Confederate memorial, the effort to flesh out Civil War history at the site moved ahead quietly on Wednesday.
About 10 people were in the audience at City Hall as the Confederate Memorial Contextualization Advisory Committee met for the first time. No protesters were seen at City Hall.
After deciding in October to keep the Confederate memorial in the Plaza de la Constitucion, city commissioners appointed the committee in January to bring a more complete history of the Civil War in St. Augustine to the memorial. The memorial lists 44 men who died serving the Confederacy.
All seven people on the committee attended Wednesday’s meeting: Flagler College history Professor J. Michael Butler, retired St. Johns County educator Sharyn Wilson Smith Coley, Flagler College adjunct history professor and former naval museum director Elizabeth Dove, Flagler College emeritus history Professor Thomas Graham, St. Johns County Recreation Supervisor Thomas Jackson, historian Susan Parker and Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center Director Regina Gayle Phillips.
The point of the first meeting was to lay out a framework for the committee’s effort, set meeting times and elect a chair and vice chair. Committee members chose Jackson as chair and Phillips as vice chair.
Jackson, giving a nod to the tension in the community over the monument, said his concern is that committee members do their jobs well.
“There’s no any one individual looking at getting any type of accolades from this committee because this committee is kind of one of those [that’s] between a rock and a hard place — because the rock is one crowd and the hard place is the other crowd,” he said.
The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the City Commission by May about how to add context to the memorial. The committee will meet at 3 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of each month at The Alcazar Room at St. Augustine City Hall. All their meeting materials and videos will be posted at citystaug.com/memorial.
Wednesday’s meeting also provided committee members with a briefing on their ethical responsibilities and laws regarding public records and meetings.
Since the group is appointed by the commission, committee members can only meet at publicly noticed meetings and all the records related to their business are public record, Assistant City Attorney John Cary said.
Cary also said the city does not believe there is a problem with Parker serving on the committee, even though the city has hired her to write part of its Historic Preservation Master Plan.
The group started discussing how history could be added to the site.
Graham said the Plaza already looks like it has too many monuments, and he suggested the city could add a marker or markers to the base of the monument to blend in with the architecture.
He suggested adding several historical markers that cover topics such as St. Augustine men who fought for the Confederacy and the Union, slaves in St. Augustine, and information about the memorial such as the controversy that surrounded it even in the 1800s.
Questions also arose about how much history to cover with historical markers.
“Should we tie the monument, what it represented in the mid-20th century, to the civil rights movement that happened in the downtown Plaza?” Butler asked. “Symbolically it held very, very deep meaning for both African-Americans and for whites who gathered.”
″ ... In my opinion it is more important to address the monument when it was put up ... I wouldn’t focus so much on the mid-20th Century,” Parker said. “I think I’d be more concerned about interpreting it for people in the 21st Century.”
Coley added later, “This should be all inclusive for everyone who had to fight and for everyone who had to die, whether it’s green or polka-dot, we have to be all inclusive with this language, or we’re still not going to make anyone happy. So it has to be all inclusive.”
Getting public feedback is also part of the process, and City Clerk Darlene Galambos suggested the committee reach out to veterans groups and others, which was discussed by the commission.
The next meeting is expected to delve deeper into what words could be used for markers and how other communities have added context to their own monuments.
1. Very impressive, diverse, thoughtful, "fully woke" committee! 2. I agree with Flagler College History Professors Thomas Graham and Michael Butler. Words chosen to contextualize the 1879 Confederate monument must thoroughly explain the meaning of the monument, including its meaning during the Civil Rights era. 3. If people don't want to read it, they won't. I disagree with Dr. Susan Parker's notion that the explanation must be short. 4. Enough shallowness -- authenticity and historic accuracy is our goal. 5. We need a National Civil Rights Museum and a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Let's tell the whole story, as Committee Chairman Thomas Jackson rightly said -- that must be our goal. 6. We need proper historic interpretation for Emancipation Park (now a parking lot). 7. Somewhere in St. Augustine, we need monuments for Dr. Robert Hayling, D.D.S., for Stetson Kennedy, and for the three Sisters of St. Joseph who were arrested on Governor's orders in 1916 for teaching at an African American school. 8. There's still a lot of healing needed here in St. Augustine.This committee is a good start. 9. Kudos to City Manager John Patrick Regan, P.E., City Clerk Darlene Galambos, et al. for their fine work. 10. NEWS FLASH: NO sign at the first meeting of peripatetic Rev. Ronald Rawls.Wonder why? 11. In 1964, Dr. King told civil rights "foot soldiers" here that if you "don't have love in your heart," not to join picket downtown 12. No sign of Rev. Rawls having EVER said that -- quite the opposite. Rawls brought in an SLPC-designated hate group, the "New Black Panther Party." (Look it up.) 13. The Monument committee will meet the first and third Wednesdays in February, March and April from 3-5 pm. 14. Attend, watch and share your ideas!« less
Nice riposte from Pensacola News Journal to clickbait hatchet job. We're proud of Florida's Sunshine and Open Records laws. The New York Times and PBS Frontline were able to document the Michelle O'Connell case because of our Open Records law. Thanks to University of Florida Levin College of Law Professors Jon Mills and Joe Little for writing Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution, adopted by referendum in 1992 by the people of State of Florida (3.8 million voters -- 83% of those voting). Our Sunshine and Open Records are the strongest in the Nation, better than FOIA, and better than New York, California and Pennsylvania). To local officials, including Sheriff DAVID SHOAR: Let the Sunshine in!
No, Florida isn't the worst state in the nation. And here's why
Janine Zeitlin, jzeitlin@news-press.comPublished 7:00 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2018 | Updated 9:50 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2018
Yet another website has come to wholly unoriginal conclusion that Florida is the worst state based upon cheeky rankings by writers who presumably have never lived here. This time, Thrillistjumped on the Florida-sucks bandwagon.
You know what else is not so grand?
Everywhere else but Florida most days in winter. We've heard the jokes. We know the memes. The Sunshine State is not for everybody but if you, northern friends, do visit Florida this winter, please consider reining in your "Flori-duhs" and abiding by some Flori-do's. And don'ts. In exchange, we promise to try to keep Miami Beach above water, inspire Pitbull's most danceable riffs, and keep our border open through February.
• Refrain from tagging us on every "Florida Man" story. When someone, somewhere in the world makes news about doing something terrible or a brawl breaks out at a Chuck E. Cheese or a parent throws a sucker punch while pushing a baby stroller, the individuals involved will either reside in Florida or have lived there at one time. This is less something we need to be reminded of—Every. Bleeping. Time. —than an inevitability. Alas, there is a price to be paid for the widespread offerings of all-day happy hours. To be fair, Florida is a populous state. Statistically, there's less of a chance for "Rhode Island Man" to gain traction.
• Floribama is not so much a real place but a state of mind so we can't tell you how to get there. That's on you.
• No need to point out that the Sunshine State is cartographically hung. We know! We see it too! To some Florida residents, it is a source of pride but a fair share of us are weary of hackneyed comparisons to the shape of the Sunshine State and male reproductive anatomy.
• Staying in Florida can lead to a tendency toward facial tattoos, amusement-park addiction, using machetes as garden tools, and swindling the elderly. But don't expect to pack all this into one long weekend. Save your airline miles for next year! You know what you can also pack into one long weekend?
• Respect the ambulatory diversity of our retirees. Despite what Hollywood depicts, all white-haired people in Florida do not ride Rascal scooters. While some mature residents use scooters, more of them walk. And because they can run outside all year, they'll trounce you in a 5K. Some are smoking hot. STDs among the elderly are a thing.
• Suggestions Florida be excised from the U.S. map may come true, at least partially, thanks to sea level rise. Don't rub it in. We remain traumatized by TV broadcasters' giddy use of alliteration promising our "absolute annihilation" during Hurricane Irmabefore grinning about a heartfelt story from somewhere drier. But Washington, Oregon, and California don't look so hot for natural disasters either.
• Tourists have been at least partly responsible for our natural demise. So don't let your pythons loose. Or tegu lizards. They've taken over the Everglades and when that's gone where will you go for gator nuggets and airboat rides? Louisiana, mind you, is 700 miles from Disney World, and your children will one day resent you for pushing Bourbon Street as the superior alternative to breakfast with Belle.
See you on the sand!
Warmly, increasingly, but pleasurably so, at least for the next few months,
UPDATE 5:30 PM: No response from Associated Industries of Florida, whose Political Action Committee FAILED to renew its corporate charter -- three (3) years, four (4) months and thirteen (13) days ago. No response from ERIKA LORENZ ALBA, AIF General Counsel, General Counsel for Rep. RONALD DEON DeSANTIS' Governor candidate, and flailing Republican candidate for St. Johns County Commission, seat 4. In the words of Wm. F. Buckley, Jr., "Why does baloney reject the grinder?"
Third from right on left on cover of Winter 2016 "INFLUENCE MAGAZINE," Foley & Lardner lobbyist ERIKA LORENZ ALBA, who told me February 6, 2018, "I'm not a lobbyist!"
AIF is the biggest anti-union, anti-progress and pro-gambling lobby in Florida
Associated Industries of Florida fete marking beginning of 2016 legislative session
Florida Governor RICHARD LYNN SCOTT at Associated Industries of Florida fete,
marking beginning of 2017 legislative session
Cartel HQ: Associated Industries of Florida offices in Tallahassee
Another Associated Industries of Florida fete marking beginning of 2018 legislative session
Foley & Lardner lawyer HERSCHEL VINYARD,
Disgraced Former Florida Department of Environmental Protection Director;
Under Governor RICHARD LYNN SCOTT,
DEP stands for "Don't Expect Protection"
Republican St. Johns County Commission candidate ERIKA LORENZ ALBA, lobbyist, who formerly lobbied for Sheriff DAVID SHOAR and Martin Fiorentino, is currently a Foley & Lardner partner, General Counsel to RONALD DEON DeSANTIS' Governor campaign, and the former Chair and current General Counsel to Associated Industries of Florida, Inc. (AIF). ERIKA ALBA faces a crisis today.
An arm of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), AIF is the largest pro-gambling and anti-union lobby group in the State of Florida.
AIF presents itself as a well-oiled machine, on whose board Governor RICHARD LYNN SCOTT sat until his inauguration in 2011.
But AIF's Political Action Committee lost its corporate charter three (3) years, four (4) months and thirteen (13) days ago. AIF failed to write a check for a modest amount to the Florida Secretary of State. Hence, AIF's actions in donating hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to right-wing politicians may have been illegal and ultra vires.
As to her expired AIF PAC corporate charter, I've asked for information from AIF, its President (disgraced ex-Congressman TOM FEENEY), and the Florida Attorney General, Secretary of State, Ethics Commission, Elections Commission, et al.:
-----Original Message----- From: Ed Slavin To: Candie.Fuller ; David.Fugett ; Brenda.Vorisek ; Maria.Matthews ; stillman.kerrie ; fec ; pat.gleason Sent: Thu, Feb 8, 2018 3:16 pm Subject: Re: Request No. 2018-13: Associated Industries of Florida & AIFPAC, Inc. Corporate Charter Expired in 2014
Good afternoon: 1. Please send me any Florida Secretary of State, Attorney General, Ethics Commission or Elections Commission documents concerning Associated Industries of Florida PAC, Inc. and the legal consequences of its corporate charter expiring in 2014.
2. Please see below for text of SoS sunbiz.org website establishing that the charter expired.
3. Please include any cease and desist or demand letters or subpoenas issued to AIFPAC.
4. What are the legal consequences for a Florida PAC having NO corporate charter for more than three (3) years and four (4) months?
5. Please provide all documents, including any Florida AG opinions, by close of business tomorrow, February 9, 2018.
Dear Ms. Alba and Messrs. Feeney, Bevis, Bailey, et al: 1. Please send me a list of each of the members of the Associated Industries of Florida (AIF).
2. What is AIF PAC's current legal status?
3. I looked for AIF PAC's corporate charter on the Florida Secretary of State's sunbiz.org website and found that its corporate charter reportedly expired 1231 days ago, for nonpayment of its modest annual renewal fees on 09/26/2014 -- that's three (3) years, four (4) months and thirteen (13) days ago:
Detail by Entity Name
Florida Not For Profit Corporation
ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF FLORIDA POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, INC.
Filing Information
73033159-154166907/31/1974FLINACTIVEADMIN DISSOLUTION FOR ANNUAL REPORT09/26/2014NONE
Principal Address
516 N. ADAMS STREET TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
Changed: 05/14/1993
Mailing Address
PO BOX 10085 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32302
Changed: 05/14/1993
Registered Agent Name & AddressPERDUE, TAMELA I
516 NORTH ADAMS STREET TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
Name Changed: 04/26/2011 Address Changed: 04/26/2011
Officer/Director DetailName & Address Title C HINSON, CHARLES OIII
106 EAST COLLEGE AVE. STE 630 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
Title T MCRAE, ROBERT D
516 N ADAMS TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
Title P FEENEY, THOMAS CIII
516 N. ADAMS ST TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
Title D BAILEY, DOUG S
ONE BUSCH PLACE - MC 202-8 ST. LOUIS, MO 63118
Title VC HUNTER, WILLIAM
307 WEST PARK AVENUE, SUITE 214 TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301
4. This 2014 expiration of AIFPAC's charter appears to be a serious breach of state and federal law -- don't y'all agree?
5. Could it be that all of AIFPAC's campaign contributions since 09/26/2014 were illegal and ultra vires?
6. Please advise me today: Does AIFPAC plan on advising the Federal Elections Commission and the Florida Elections Commission, and all of the candidates to which AIFPAC has contributed, 2014-2018? If not, why not?
7. If so, please send me ALL copies of any such advisories.
8. I look forward to hearing from you today.
9. Please cease and desist from ALL AIF PAC activities until AIF PAC has a valid, legal corporate charter
Lovely column by Nancy Smith of Sunshine State News. We need more healing in the spirit of Dr. King, who told people in St. Augustine not to join his demonstrations unless they had "love in their hearts."
I had the privilege of being part of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s magic when I heard him speak in 1962, while I was in college in North Carolina. There -- in a segregated city where whites used one toilet and "coloreds" another, where the largest hospital admitted blacks only to windowless basement rooms -- the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a single afternoon, welded into one thousands of people, black and white.
I looked at the sea of faces around me, eyes shining and voices lifted. I saw whites who were thinking about civil rights for the first time in their lives and I saw blacks on the brink of discovering how much they could accomplish for the future, together.
I realized at that moment that the world I had been born into was about to change forever.
In 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, I wasn't living in America, but I remember the moment I heard -- where I was, what I was doing -- even today, with the same clarity I remember the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the day terrorists steered planes into the World Trade Center. On all three of those dark days, a part of me died, too.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
In my whole life I have never seen another human being inspire so much good in so many people as Dr. King.
You had only to see him and hear him. He was not Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal -- those were labels for others, not him.
Now, as we commemorate what would have been his 89th birthday, we need him more than ever. His magic, after all, was his ability to heal open wounds, to turn hatred to hope. It is not possible to know how much better the world might have been had he lived.
And it saddens me that a whole generation of African-Americans don't really know who he is, that the doors didn't swing open for them by accident.
President Kennedy once said, "The most important thing we do in life, the only one that really lives after us, is not our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but our contributions to the human spirit."
Martin Luther King Jr.'s contribution to the human spirit -- it's beyond immense. It is immeasurable. Please take at least a part of this holiday to appreciate all he gave us.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. This is reprinted in part from a Sunshine State News column published Jan. 16, 2011. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
, and Jay Ajayi holds the @PhillyInquirer instant front page!
2. In this legislative zoning hearing, there was NO disclosure of any of Commissioners' ex parte contacts with developer, property owners and ROGERS TOWERS law firm. Wonder why?
3. NO disclosures identifying all of the actual investors in this project. Wonder why?
4. NONE of the witnesses were sworn in -- wonder why?
5. NO process exists for public cross-examination of putative "expert" witnesses. Wigmore wrote that cross examination is "the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth." Our Supreme Court has held that "in the Anglo American legal system cross examination is the principal means of undermining the credibility of a witness whose testimony is false or inaccurate."
6. In developer-dominated St. Johns County, cross-examination by citizens of developers does NOT exist in any local governments. Our procedures are laughable whenever ROGERS TOWERS and Commissioners' campaign contributors seek to amend Comprehensive Plans. Wonder why?
7. Lax followup, false sense of urgency, and a rush to judgment, February 6 despite Commissioner and public questions. Wonder why?
8. Item should have been tabled. Commissioners must not act like they were short order cooks in the Cafe ROBERS TOWERS.
9. Developers long hand-picked Commissioners. Lesson: we need some more courageous County Commissioners, data-based decisions, and concern for our environment and our quality of life.
10. That's why I support Catherine Hawkinson Gueverra, Democrat, for Commission seat 4, being vacated by irascible JAY MORRIS (R-RPM International). It's time for a change in the St. Johns County Taj Mahal (County Administration Building, 500 Sebastian View).« less
Now that being said AND everybody knows that ...!
This PROPERTY OWNER, Mr. Smith, came to the TABLE IN A BIG GENEROUS WAY!
I applaud his CLASS when he spoke at the meeting, his COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING of St Johns County Growth, his VERY TRUTHFUL FACTS of his wanting to BUILD BEAUTIFUL HOMES STARTING @ VERY REASONABLE PRICES, and wanting to be a REALLY GOOD NEIGHBOR and FELLOW RESIDENT.
Mr. Smith, the PROPERTY OWNER/CEO, went WAY ABOVE and BEYOND what is REQUIRED of a PERSON/COMPANY/HOME BUILDER
to BUILD ON HIS or HER PROPERTY!
So to all the HATERS of development here in St Johns County, remember two things POR FAVOR AMIGOS ...
1) it is a PERSON s RIGHT to DEVELOPMENT or DO WHAT they WANT TO THEIR PROPERTY as long as SAFETY is not an issue
2) and as LONG as that PERSON or COMPANY obeys all LAWS!
and this DEVELOPMENT HAS MET BOTH of those THINGS!
PLUS WE HAVE A FELLOW RESIDENT/CITIZEN, Mr. Smith, WHO HAS DISPLAYED UNDERSTANDING of the St Johns County situation and gave/showed HUGE GENEROSITY in DOING WHAT IS AN AMERICAN RIGHT TO DO!
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