Floridians can rest easy, knowing that growth, resource protection, and the environment is in the hands of a Bush family lackey who is up on state ethics violation charges. I know I feel better.
Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty to a panel charged with creating a master plan for how the state should handle growth, even as she faces charges of violating state ethics laws…
McCarty is under investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics, which last week tanked a proposed settlement in which she was to admit to illegally accepting $3,750 in contributions to her legal defense fund.
The ethics panel is looking into thousands of dollars of contributions from employees of developer Kenco Communities, which may have violated the state cap of $100.
Even fellow Republicans are appalled by Jeb’s hubris and ability to pick the lowest hanging fruit.
McCarty joined a list of appointees with close ties to the Bush administration, including former chief of staff Kathleen Shanahan and lobbyist Steve Uhlfelder, who stepped down from the Board of Governors this year amid criticism from Senate President Tom Lee.
Lee, R-Brandon, had sought to remove lobbyists from state boards that make decisions on contracts, spending and rules…
Shanahan, who served briefly as chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, joined Tampa-based WRS Infrastructure and Environment Inc., as chief executive officer in July.
But McCarty has nothing to worry about. Looks like Jeb took care of her little “ethics problem” while he was at it.
Bush also chose four new ethics commissioners, including Norman Ostrau, a former lawmaker who said Monday he had resigned as a registered lobbyist earlier in the day at Bush’s request.
I think Florida has much more of this in store during the dying days of the Jeb administration. Not that he’s ever made much of a pretense of acting honorably or fairly, but all bets are off now.
The Ethics Commission complaint is a little more than a joke for some time. No doubt Ms. McCarty will be the benificiary of this group full of goodwill the Governor has packed since he became Governor. So many deeds have come and gone without most people’s review.
Not an accident Senator Lee removed the Chairman of the Ethics Commission Panel board Mr. Grant and other Lobbyists. Jeb had vetoed his bill to have normal folks be on boards. Of course, Charlie Crist’s run in with the Ethics Commission panel members was favorable with his complaint in 2002. As he was running for Attorney General , three of the lobbyists on the Ethics Commission panel board, according to the Palm Beach Post, voted he was innocent. And of course, before their vote, they had donated generously to his ELECTION FOR Atty General.
And the review by this consumer advocate found many of the earlier Ethics Commission panel members were attorneys from Jeb’s inner circle. But the Ethics COmmission investigators find probable cause, and the Attorney General’s office has an advocate to offer advise to the panel board. And stars were born with favors!
Take Lila jaber-Commissioner from the Florida PSC. She had an Ethics Commission complaint filed August 2002 and October 2002. Not to worry, the Ethics Commission is two years behind in complaints. So why did the Ethics COmmission director Bonnie Williams OMIT FOUR PAGES of charges in violation of 34-5.004(1)(c)(6)?? Well, Mr Clayppol in writing said Williams didn’t find anything to do with ex parte the charge.
Charlie Crist’s Advocate-Peterson, upon my records request, was hostile giving me HIS report for the Jan 2004 hearing. That’s because he also omitted the FOUR PAGES of complaints. They were identical to charges from Harold MCLean’s Florida Bar complaint filed three weeks before!
Not to worry, if I thought after a records request that was an accident, it wasn’t! The SEARUC complaint involving PSC Commissioner (Jaber and Baez) showed favoritism by Linzie Bogan. Not only did he POSTPONE a referral for trial (DOAH) for nine months after the Ethics Commission found probable cause from a panel hearing, he “changed the venue” from the trial (DOAH) in June 2005 after the Legislature slipped a roofie in a bill and made all conventions attended by Commissioners legal if paid for by the Utilities!
The change of venue was to the Ethics Commission for a motion to dismiss. His name just happens to be on a short list for a 2nd Circuit court judgeship. Don’t let me suggest anything here, he sent my sympathy card I sent him to law enforcement. They asked me why was I sending a healthy man a sympathy card? I said I pittied him, since obviously after one good year of filings to administer justice, his supervisors subverted his written motions of justice!