As Claude Rains said in the movie "Casablanca" (1943), "I'm shocked, shocked that gambling is going on here." (Not really.)
At last night's City Commission meeting, MAYOR JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. stated that City staffers had bet on whether the meeting would last past 8 PM.
How revealing. Like the rich guys in the movie "Trading Places" betting on another person's misery -- only they were betting about how quickly the City would settle the Fish Island case and betray the public interest.
Gambling is illegal. As I left the meeting, I said to CARLOS MENDOZA, Assistant City Attorney and former Assistant State's Attorney, "Chance, prize and consideration" -- elements of gambling. He did not deny that gambling was going on.
In fact, as they waited to see who would win the bet, Comptroller MARK LITZINGER and MARK KNIGHT nervously paced back and forth like expectant fathers.
The public was not allowed to speak on the Fish Island settlement last night. At one point, PIERRE THOMPSON's former lawyer (corpulent City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN)went outside to meet with representatives of the Fish Island developer
City of St. Augustine City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN when he was Hastings' Town Attorney, showing his behind (as he does so often in St. Augustine, where no one questions his negotiation a settlement in a case from which he previously recused himself, involving his former client, PIERRE THOMPSON, as one of the signatories.
So conflicted is General BURNETT's son and namesake that his firm got hired by the City of St. Augustine Beach. His principle accomplishment in his first trimester as the SAB City Attorney is to help a developer destroy the view that greets tourists on the way to St. Augustine Beach, helping to destroy historic Fish Island, home of slave graves and the grave of Jesee Fish, first crooked realtor in Florida. What a waste of talent. What a monument to human greed.
Commissioners ERROL JONES, DONALD CRICHLOW, NANCY SIKES-KLINE and Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. joked around with small talk and and acted like goobers, while BOLES refused to allow public comment because "we're in the middle of a motion." Not even Commissioner Leeana Freeman had the guts to speak out for the public's right to be heard.
When the crooked Fish Island settlement was approved, corpulent City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN (PIERRE THOMPSON's conflicted former lawyer) turned around and smirked at members of the public, waving like a member of the Smirking Turkey Society.
Speaking of which, after the meeting, Commissioner NANCY SIKES-KLINE and Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, Jr. were seen drinking and paryting at Zhanra's Restaurant with City Comptroller MARK LITZINGER, City Attorney RONALD WAYNE BROWN and City Planning and Zoning Director MARK KNIGHT. Even LEEANA FREEMAN was there. That's three out of five Commissioners, drinking and partying with staff after refusing to allow the public to speak on destruction of our City-owned marshes and bottomlands (and a piece of county land that they forgot about).
St. Augustine City Commissioners voted 4-1 to settle case they'd won in Court, allowing developer to destroy City-owned bottomlands for Fish Island development
Sunshine violations evidently continue unabated in St. Augustine in this twelfth year of the Reign of Ruin of City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS.
City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS, Republican lord of all he surveys, has never seen a developer he didn't favor
But will State's Attorney R.J. LARIZZA prosecute Sunshine violations, or is he part of the problem?
State's Attorney R.J. LARIZZA inherited a lazy, coverup-prone staff -- is he a man or a mouse when it comes to government and corporate "crime in the suites?"
1 comment:
I have known Mr Brown for several years and have worked with him when he was the Attorney for the Town of Hastings. I don't know where you got your information about him "showing his behind." Is this what you say everytime someone disagrees with you? What about the First Amendment for those people? Are you such a bigot that others cannot have a different opinion and so therefore you are always right and others are always wrong? So you found them all having drinks, so what. That does not break the Sunshine Law. If it did, then a bunch of previous County Commissioners would be in jail right now. When I worked in that office several years ago, they used to go to lunch together. They can socialize together all they want as long as they do not discuss city business. It is when they meet in private that you should worry! When I was on the City Council in Hastings, Mr Brown preached the Sunshine Law. I was afraid to say Hi to someone at the Post Office. Why don't you worry about something more, like this country's lead to socialism. If you like that, then you wouldn't be able to post this blog because you can't talk against the government. It's Ok to have differences, but it is ridiculous to circulate your biased opinion.
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