ILLEGAL LOBBYING COMPLAINT

Ex-Commissioner and Vice Mayor DONALD CRICHLOW on his last junket to Aviles, Spain (third from right front, between Vice Mayor ROXANNE HORVATH and ex-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES and current HARB Vice Chair PAUL M. WEAVER, III.  CRICHLOW and WEAVER both lobbied City officials on behalf of DOW PUD and OLD ISLAND HOTELS, INC. and DAVID BARTON CORNEAL.  So did HARB member JEREMY MARQUIS, who resigned when I called him on his conflict of interest in working for CORNEAL and other property owners.

ILLEGAL LOBBYING COMPLAINT SENT TO FLORIDA ETHICS COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 3 AGAINST Ex-COMMISSIONER DONALD CRICHLOW FOR LOBBYING IN SUPPORT OF DOW PUD (CORDOVA INN): We SHALL overcome corruption in St. Augustine!

Did ex-Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW violate F.S. 112.313(14) by lobbying former colleagues starting no later than January 1, 2015, only a month after he left office (December 1, 2014), when state law forbids such lobbying for two (2) years?  If so, it is both an ethics violation and a criminal misdemeanor.  Enough corruption in our Nation's Oldest City.  
Happy 450th, everyone! 

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Florida Statute 112.313(14) states:
(14) LOBBYING BY FORMER LOCAL OFFICERS; PROHIBITION.—A person who has been elected to any county, municipal, special district, or school district office may not personally represent another person or entity for compensation before the government body or agency of which the person was an officer for a period of 2 years after vacating that office.

1. A longtime employee of the U.S. Forest Service, local architect DONALD W. CRICHLOW was elected to City Commission by the voters in 2004 and 2008 and left office in 2012.
2. On February 11, 2013, DONALD CRICHLOW was re-elected to a position on City Commission by Commissioners to replace Commissioner William L. Leary, who resigned.
3. DONALD CRICHLOW left office for the last time on December 1, 2014. Within less than a month, CRICHLOW began lobbying St. Augustine's Mayor, City Commissioners, Planning and Zoning Board members and Members of the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB).
4. While still serving on the City Commission, and as Vice Mayor, from 2004-2012 and again from 2013-2014, DONALD CRICHLOW allegedly told architectural clients that there was "an intimidation factor" to his representing clients before City Boards, showing off his City Hall office to get architectural commissions. This was an overt act of corruption, in possible violation of 18 U.S.C. 666.
5. On videotape and in person, at meetings during 2015, less than the two year period prescribed by F.S. 112,313(14), DONALD CRICHLOW has threatened City officials that if a hotel is not approved in the HP-1 Old City South neighborhood, apartments will be rented in the former DOW MUSEUM of HISTORIC HOMES and DAVID BARTON CORNEAL will not make the investments that he previously promised whether or not the hotel was approved.
6. DONALD CRICHLOW's client, DAVID BARTON CORNEAL, destroyed a 111 year old building, CARPENTER's HOUSE, without waiting for appeal time to expire.   (See photo).
7. On April 26, 2015, CRICHLOW caused to be published in the St. Augustine Record a column supporting DAVID BARTON CORNEAL's conversion of the DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES into a hotel in HP-1, without disclosing his involvement as the lobbyist-architect.
8. CRICHLOW's letter threatened "Student rentals," an overt act of blockbusting in violation of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604c.



Letter: Cordova Inn a good fit for St. Augustine
Cordova Inn a good fit
St. Augustine Record, April 26, 2015
Posted: April 25, 2015 - 3:59pm
By DON CRICHLOW
Cordova Inn a good fit
Editor: There have been several letters published in this space criticizing the proposed use of the old Dow Property Museum as an inn with nightly rentals. The concern centers around the “cardinal rule” of no commercial uses in HP1. I am a resident of HP1 and have been since 1946. There is no one more committed to protecting the quality of life in this neighborhood and limiting commercial intrusion. I am on record as speaking out against previous proposed B&Bs. Some people believe the only use for this property should be single family residential, however the site does not lend itself to this use for many reasons. Re-platting this property into individual lots would be a tragic mistake, and would destroy the historic integrity of this beautiful site. 

An historic inn is the best and least intensive use for the property. The owner has agreed in the PUD to no weddings or receptions, no amplified music and no music after 10 p.m. Off-site parking will be provided, and all access to and from the property will be from Cordova Street — which means no cars in HP1. But, probably, the greatest benefit from the iproposed use is that it would keep the property open to public access by the guests that stay there — and on other occasions such as the First Friday Art Walks. 

Yes, this technically is commercial intrusion into HP1 . But it’s the kind of intrusion that will protect the quality of life in the neighborhood. Isn’t that what it’s all about? The alternative use for the property could be 22 rental apartments. Let’s not, as the old saying goes, “Cut off our nose to spite our face.”  Student rentals are the real threat to HP1, not an historic inn such as the owner has proposed.