City of St. Augustine Held Possibly Illegal "Shade Meeting" on June 22, 2009 Without Proper Notice to the Public in St. Augustine, Florida

That history is of legendary political corruption -- that history lives on.







They called it a "Shade Meeting" but it was not properly noticed and they broke the law. Our City of St. Augustine City Commissioners met with lawyers on June 22, 2009 at 3:30 PM, three weeks prior to the vote on the Fish Island settlement.

The City Commissioners held their "Shade Meeting" that was not properly announced in advance. The City says it posted notices in City Hall on July 19th and notified "the media." That is insufficient notice under the Sunshine law.

St. Augustine City Commissioners admitted to this secret meeting during their deliberations on July 13, 2009. The City Clerk verified the date and time today. She claimed notification only had to be sent to "the news media" and that she was not required to notify a "personal blog." Once again, our City Hall broke the law.

"Shade Meetings" would have been allowed because the City was sued in a Bert. J. Harris, Jr. Private Property Protection Act lawsuit in Circuit Court. (A prior post erred on this point -- there was more than just notice, but an actual suit).

However, there was not proper notice to the public that such a meeting was being held, only "the media" (narrowly defined to exclude blogs).

Readers of the City's E-mailed Public relations handouts, including ex-Mayor George Gardner's twice-weekly newsletter (for which he receives more than $13,000/year on a no-bid contract) and the events notice from Cathy DuPont in the Office of Public Affairs, did not learn of the meeting.

I never received notice of any "Shade Meeting." Neither did you.

That makes the June 22, 2009 Fish Island Shade Meeting illegal, in my opinion, vitiating the City's July 13, 2009 4-1 vote on Fish Island.

This was not "a mistake" (as Commissioner NANCY SIKES-KLINE called the City's illegally dumping 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste in the Old City Reservoir

The City of St. Augustine has been on notice of its Sunshine violations for years.

This was not the first time that the City of St. Augustine violated the Sunshine law, the last, apparently.

Other Sunshine violations have involved hiring of WILLIAM B. HARRISS as City Manager (April 13, 1998) and hiring of his pal RONALD WAYNE BROWN as temporary City Attorney (October 13, 2006) and hiring him permanently (December 2006).

Mrs. Maurine Boles (mother of our mayor, JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR.) once told me (in Mayor BOLES gallery during a San Marcos Art Walk Saturday) that the St. Augustine City Commissioners several decades ago met in her living room, then held the real meeting later that day, taking only a few minutes because decisions had already been made.

"It's crooked around here," David Brian Wallace said to me shortly after we'd moved to St. Augustine, almost a decade ago. He is wise beyond his years.

Thus far, there have been no criminal prosecutions of City of St. Augustine officials for Sunshine or Open Records violations, although two St. Augustine Beach City Commissioners were proecuted removed from office for Sunshine violations two decades ago.


In 2006, prosecutor FORD LITTLE, then-head of the St. Johns County State's Attorney's office under then-State's Attorney JOHN TANNER, made ad hominem remarks, emitted non sequiturs, screamed, yelled and hung up the telephone when I tried to discuss the Sunshine violations regarding RONALD WAYNE BROWN's hiring. LITTLE was later demoted by then-SA JOHN TANNER. The estimable FORD LITTLE has now been promoted named to run the Flagler County SAO office earlier this year by State's Attorney R.J. Larizza, who was elected on a reform platform last year.

Then-candidate R.J. Larizza, running for State's Attorney last year, appeared committed to bringing government corruption and white collar crime prosecutions.

Last week, a call to MOSE FLOYD, Larizza's new head of the SAO office here in St. Johns County, relating to possible Sunshine violations, drew in this response: "Call the Sheriff." FLOYD did not suggest that I call the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which has brought successful criminal prosecutions for Sunshine violations (see below).

Of course, Republican St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR f/k/a DAVID HOAR, is part of the same right-wing Republican political machine as the City of St. Augustine, of which DAVID SHOAR was formerly Police Chief, hand-picked by City Manager WILIAM B. HARRISS. HARRISS is planning to join the Sheriff's Office as Business Manager upon his retirement from the City of St. Augustine (COSA).

So is the Sheriff going to prosecute the City of St. Augustine City Hall regime for which he once worked as St. Augustine Police Chief?

What do you reckon?

So is the Sheriff going to prosecute the City of St. Augustine City Manager who hired him as St. Augustine Police Chief?

What do you reckon?

So is the Sheriff going to investigate Sunshine violations by the City Manager he plans to hire as his Business Manager?

What do you reckon?

That is as likely as Flagler College recognizing a union, granting tenure to its faculty, and allowing academic freedom for its journalism students tomorrow morning at noon. It is not likely at all.

Telling a St. Johns citizen reporting possible Sunshine violations in 2009 to "call the Sheriff" is not unlike telling a person reporting civil rights violations in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964 to "call the Sheriff." It is wrong. It is just plain wrong.

It's also wrong for the State's Attorney to refuse to take cases of Sunshine, Open Records and pollution by officials in the City of St. Augustine to the Grand Jury and to refuse to prosecute other cases of white collar crimes and corruption.

It's easy for an idealistic person in the SAO to turn into a sleaze without even realizing it. There's an entire bad check department in the SAO, but nothing in the organizational chart that covers governmental, corporate and environmental crimes.

A prosecutor must work for the people, not the powerful.

A prosecutor must be intelligent, well-read and ethical.

My friend James Nelson Ramsey was the Democratic elected District Attorney General in the corrupt East Tennessee county where Oak Ridge, Tennessee is located (1978-2006). General Ramsey prosecuted crooks in the Anderson County Courthouse (including County Court Clerk John Marshall Purdy, who committed suicide before his embezzlement indictment). General Ramsey (like Janet Reno, formerly Miami State's Attorney, later U.S. Attorney General), went after corrupt officials and cops, embezzlers, insurance fraudsters, scammers and others, instead of merely the usual procession of "meatball crimes" and "routine rottenness."

The people loved General Ramsey. The corrupt (then-Democratic) political machine hated him. He and his family paid the price, with abuse from his targets and their minions, including dozens of bogus disciplinary complaints filed with the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court. (One, from Sheriff DENNIS O. TROTTER's bagman, complained that Ramsey said TROTTER was a "crooked SOB" who needed to go to prison -- thanks to the FBI, both TROTTER and the bagman went to federal prison.)

District Attorney General James Nelson Ramsey was even willing to consider bringing a public nuisance suit against Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant contractor Union Carbide for dumping 4.2 million pounds of mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek (largest mercury pollution event in world history), working in tandem with the DA from the adjoining county (and County Attorneys from both counties). General Ramsey had an open mind and (like Lt. Colombo in the TV drama) believed that "Equal Justice Under Law" includes enforcing criminal laws against rich guys and politicians.

While I did not always agree with General Ramsey and sometimes thought he did not work enough hours in the day, I respected his intellect, integrity and vision. He was always accessible to the public. He did not hide (as some other officials do). If crime victims wanted to talk to him, he'd be there for them.

Sadly, too many Northeast Florida prosecutors are limited individuals who lack vision. They're cynical. They're thin-skinned. They lack coping skills. They lack legal knowledge. They're not comfortable with legal research or complex cases (or any case involving a powerful person as a potential defendant). They badly need sensitivity training and classes on prosecuting government corruption and white collar crimes, to say the very least. Or else they need to find a new line of work. Now. We need fewer mindless, mendacious mediocrities in government service -- timid, servile, time-servers merely counting the hours until quitting time, counting their pay and perquisites, and counting the years until retirement, accomplishing what for whom?

"Call the Sheriff," indeed!

Calling Jim Ramsey and Janet Reno -- we need more state prosecutors like you here in Northeast Florida. I agree with President Jimmy Carter, who said, "I see no reason why big shot crooks should go free, and the poor ones go to jail."