Sunday, November 05, 2006

Not-So-Subtle Corruption of St. Augustine's City Government Must Halt Now

In April 2005, a parvenu speculator/flipper, won City of St. Augustine City Commission approval, 5-0, for a vest-pocket annexation on Anastasia Island. Mr. Craig Greiner was represented by lawyer George McClure (then with Rogers Towers), won the annexation vote after Mr. Greiner was reported to have offered a "bottle of liquor" to former Chamber of Commerce President James Pennington to testify in his support.

Mr. Pennington was the only sworn public hearing witness to testify in favor of Mr. Greiner's annexation --- all of the neighbors who testified were opposed, including Mr. J. Kenneth Bryan (who is now the Democratic nominee for County Commission and Chairman of the Pelican Reef Homeowners Association). See Susan Cooper Eastman, "Divide and Conquer -- A St. Augustine Property Owner Makes a Deal With the City Despite Neighborhood Opposition," FOLIO Weekly (Jacksonville, Florida, May 3, 2005) @ 6-7 May 3, 2005 Folio , in which Mr. Greiner said he only offered to buy "a drink" (rather than "a bottle of liquor").
Before the annexation vote, Ms. Sue Neely's sworn affidavit, recounting Greiner's offer of a "bottle of liquor" to Pennington, was reported to the City Commission and to our then City Attorney, who did nothing.
The offeror and offeree of a witness bribe were never called to testify. In fact, developers are generally not sworn any longer at City Commission hearings. No questions were asked or answered about the offer of a "bottle of liquor."
GARDNER snarled and the annexation was approved.
In contrast, in the 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower vetoed deregulation of natural gas when an industry lobbyist offered a bribe to South Dakota's Republican Senator Francis Case. Even though President Eisenhower supported natural gas deregulation, he vetoed it because of the taint of corruption.
In the case of the Greiner annexation, GARDNER was like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel in which they key clue was "the dog that did not bark."
In the case of the Greiner annexation,
GARDNER did not ask questions about the offer of a "bottle of liquor."
GARDNER was a developer's doormat and a rubberstamp in a situation where he should have asked questions and demanded answers.

GARDNER's vision was possibly clouded by a longtime income stream into his joint checking account from the man who was offered the "bottle of liquor," Mr. James Pennington.

The developer's offer of a "bottle of liquor" to a hearing witness was a possible violation of Florida state law forbidding payments to witnesses in administrative proceedings.
It turns out that MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER's wife was an employee of Mr. James Pennington, the man who was offered a "bottle of liquor" in exchange for his testimony.

Until earlier this year, Mayor GARDNER's spouse, Mrs. SALLY GARDNER, worked as a cashier for Pennington's Benet Store at 69 St. George Street.

In response to the sworn affidavit by Ms. Neely, establishing the offer of a "bottle of liquor" to testify, MAYOR GEORGE GARDNER did not disclose his wife's employment. GARDNER did not ask the City Attorney on the record for advice on recusal. GARDNER did not disclose to the people of St. Augustine at a public meeting that his wife worked for Mr. Pennington. GARDNER did not recuse himself.
Instead, Mayor GEORGE GARDNER voted in lockstep with his colleagues to annex a property into the city where the entire neighborhood was unified in its opposition to the annexation, concerned about putting five homes on a lot where only one home sat, concerned about the effect upon trees and wildlife of the flipper/speculator's plan.

JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. has received campaign contributions from Mr. Pennington in 2006.

Mr. Pennington said November 5, 2006 of Mrs. SALLY GARDNER,
"She doesn't work for me any more -- she was an excellent employee ... very nice," saying that there was "nothing but an honorable relationships between Sally and George and my wife and I" and that there have "never been any improprieties ... I couldn't say a bad word about George."
"They're nice people and never any improprieties on
"a long time and a really wonderful employee."
As to the offer to buy "a bottle of liquor," reported in Folio Weekly on May 3, 2005, Mr. Pennington said today "that was made in jest -- it was a total joke."

Efforts to reach GEORGE and SALLY GARDNER for comment were unavailing.

GARDNER's failure to disclose his relationship with the alleged recipient of a bribe offer at a public hearing shows GARDNER's true colors. Rather than the reformer that his grandfather and father were said to be GARDNER has become a part of the problem.
This is not the first time that Mayor GEORGE has shown ethical lapses.
Mayor has received campaign contributions from Robert Michael Graubard, a former New York lawyer, who seeks to turn a 3000-4000 year old indigenous village and burial site next to St. Augustine High School into condos and a strip mall. As the letter from Sherry Badger (below) shows, citizens were not permitted to show the public at the televised Commission hearing the videos and photos of Lewis Speedway under water, including times when parents are picking up students from three local schools. Graubard's and friends' clearcutting ugliness is uglifying our community and while voted against this particular project, he and his colleague JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. silenced public debate.
In this case, silence could cause deaths, because when hurricanes occur, homeowners could find themselves underwater as a result of wetland destruction tolerated by governmental agencies. See "The Matrix -- Wetlands of Mass Destruction" on indymedia, url below.
Mayor 's ethical lapses also embrace his tolerance of CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS' taking ten entire contents of the old illegal city dump on Riberia Street and putting it into the Old City Reservoir. As exposed in this months' St. Augustine Chronicle (complete with six State of Department of Environmental Protection photogaphs), the illegal dumping is the shame of our City. City officials must be subpoenaed before a federal or state grand jury to answer questions under oath.
As pointed out by numerous concerned citizens, the mishandling of city affairs by GEORGE , JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., etc. deserves scrutiny, including their voting to seek sanctions against Dr. Dwight Hines for First Amendment protected activity in seeking truck records associated with the City's illegal dumping. BOLES, , et al. voted to demand courts extort money from Dr. Hines for a frivolous lawsuit, when it turns out the City lied about not having responsive documents, producing some 45 pounds of documents it claimed did not exist (see below).
and BOLES have been involved in silencing public rights to ask questions, while never answering questions about illegal dumping and other matters.
The new City Commission must establish "question time" as in the British Parliament, allowing Commissioners and members of the public to ask questions of City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS, with answers under oath.

Finally, there is the matter of 's alleged sexual harassment of three ladies who work for our City. We need an effective policy to protect the rights of City employees to raise concerns without fear of retaliation, protecting them from retaliation for raising concerns about sexual harassment, pollution, waste, fraud, abuse and corruption.

Mayor admitted last month that there was "rampant corruption" in City Hall," deferring all answers to the man he calls "my opponent."

and BOLES have betrayed the public trust.
Asked whey he should be Mayor by the St. Augustine Record, the only reason given by JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. was his "sense of humor." As David Brian Wallace writes (see below), "we're not laughing."

The offer of a "bottle of liquor" in exchange for hearing testimony -- and GARDNER's and Commissioner's cavalier disregard of it -- reminds me of the Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd movie, "Trading Places," in which two rich guys make a $1 bet, intentionally ruining a man's life to prove a point about environment vs. genetics. It was a joke to them, too (and by movie's end, the joke was on them).

Our environment must not be for sale. A public office is a public trust. The money- changers and the mindless land pirates must no longer run City Hall. It's time for a change.

Our Commissioners, though well-educated professionals, are crude political hacks. They lack a moral compass. They are ruining the Nation's Oldest City.

If city officials would coverup the truth about the offer of something so insignificant as a "bottle of liquor," what would Commissioners do if witnesses (or Commissioners) were offered far more by developers?

What about Mayor GEORGE GARDNER's son and his painting business?
Do developers hire Mayor GARDNER's son to curry favor with the father? What about former MAYOR LEN WEEKS and his construction business?
What about Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW and his architectural firm? What about other Commissioners' business interests, joint vacations and employment of each others' relatives? What about repeated Sunshine violations?
The public has a right to expect answers instead of disrespect, insults and unresponsiveness (see below).

St. Augustinians have a right to a choice and a voice -- Peter Romano is the people's choice to be the next Mayor and Commissioner in the City of St. Augustine.

Vote twice -- once for Mayor and once for Commissioner -- for Peter Romano to help end the secrecy and waste of our Nation's Oldest City.

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