Letter: Favors Armitage for Congressional seat

Letter: Favors Armitage for Congressional seat



Gina Burrell
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 08/22/08

Editor: For the first time in many years, Democrats in St. Johns County have a choice of two candidates who are running for U.S. Congress, District 7. The two Democratic candidates are Faye Armitage and Clyde Malloy and are on the ballot on Primary Election Day on Tuesday. This seat is now held by U.S. Rep. John Mica. The candidate I am supporting is Faye Armitage.

Faye is a former professor of economics. She is the mother of five children and has lived in three major metropolitan areas in Florida: the greater Tampa Bay area, greater Orlando area, and greater Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. She knows many of Florida's needs.

Armitage believes in ending the Iraq occupation; she will fight for universal healthcare; she will ensure veterans' benefits. She is concerned about environmental issues related to global warming. She supports women's and family issues. She is concerned about the growing U.S. debt and trade deficits. She wants to help more Americans find jobs by working on our country's infrastructures.

Armitage is knows what are Florida's issues and concerns. She would be an asset in Washington, D.C., representing the residents in District 7. I am urging Democrats to vote for Faye Armitage Tuesday (or early voting Aug. 11-23).

Gina Burrell

St. Augustine

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Report lists 90 Mosquito District violations -- longstanding pattern of insouciance to environmental law by AMCD

Report lists 90 Mosquito District violations



By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/24/08

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- For 30 years, Anastasia Mosquito Control District field sprayers washed accumulated dirt and pesticides off their service trucks while they parked above an open drain at the Anastasia Island base station.

Last week, Kelly Murray, a risk management inspector for MACTEC Engineering & Consulting Inc., of Jacksonville, warned the district's Board of Directors that no one knows where that drain pipe has been flowing and she advised them to find out.

She doubted serious contamination was probable, saying, "At this point, we don't know that the conditions exist to report anything."

Even so, board members voted unanimously to authorize $12,000 to hire a consultant to find out where that drain empties.

Board member John Sundeman said the drain was probably installed in the 1970s.

"An employee told me that they have been dumping all kinds of things down that drain for years and years," he said. "If that is true, we could be liable for enormous penalties."

At an emergency board meeting last week, St. Augustine resident Ed Slavin told the board that the district has had a "lackadaisical attitude" about chemical and pesticide contamination for 60 years and he suggested that someone now call the National Response Center.

"I think we have a groundwater contamination problem," Slavin said.

Sundeman agreed, saying, "If there is (groundwater) contamination, we have a responsibility to clean it up."

The MACTEC audit listed 90 deficiencies in its audit.

Of those, 24 were Level 1, meaning they needed immediate attention, 42 were Level 2, or "priority action required," and 24 were Level 3, which are "action required."

The Level 1 offenses are "situations that could result in substantial risk for the environment, the public, employees, customers or in civil or criminal liability for knowing violations."

The ones listed by the audit concern multiple counts of hazardous waste management, emergency planning, fire protection and bulk liquid storage tanks plus best management practices concerning safety and industrial cleanliness.

The Level 2 and Level 3 violations are minor and a large part of them have been addressed already, district staff said.

Murray also noted that the district should supply a list of its chemicals on site to local emergency service units. "This is so they know what you have on hand in case they need to respond," she said.

On the positive side, the report also noted that the district "generally meets regulatory requirements" and uses "especially commendable practices" in employee training, cleanliness of its stations, monthly inspections, solid and liquid waste management, chemical management, record keeping, safety, bulk liquid storage tank management and pesticide management.

"The team was impressed in your efforts in those areas," Murray said.

Board Chairwoman Jeanne Moeller said the district is always trying to reach compliance with regulations.

"We just didn't hit the bulls-eye this time," she said.

Sundeman said there were enough listed deficiencies for him to wonder about accountability.

"Where does the buck stop?" he said, asking if Director Rie-de Xue should have known of the violations.

Board member Linda Wampler chastised Sundeman for accusing Xue for being responsible.

"I'm tired of having our director accused for previous board mistakes," Wampler said.

Sundeman made a motion to require two unannounced annual inspections of district facilities every year "to ensure the district is in compliance with all local, federal and state regulations."

The motion passed 2-1, with Sundeman and Moeller for and Wampler against.

Board member Emily Hummel was absent.

Sundeman thanked Porpoise Point resident Cathy Brandhorst, a former expert witness for the Department of Agriculture, for letting the district know of mistakes in pesticide use and storage.

"This shouldn't be brought to our attention by a private citizen," Sundeman said.

Two years ago, Ms. Brandhorst was at her home and smelled malathion. When it happened again, she called Xue. When nothing was done, she called the Department of Agriculture, which cited the district for allowing sprayers to work in short sleeves and shorts.

Sundeman then asked for an outside audit, which cost $10,000.

"If Ms. Brandhorst had never come along, none of this would have come out and the district might have been liable for huge fines or a lawsuit," Sundeman said. "If we broke the law, we'll pay the price. We'll admit it and pay the consequences."


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Mark Miner raising more funds from tree-killing, wetland-destroying "developers"

Miner raising more funds



By staff
Publication Date: 08/24/08

Mark Miner, who is challenging St. Johns County Commissioner Ben Rich, leaped to the front of the fundraising race by pulling in more than $41,000 in August, almost twice what the other candidates for county commission combined raised in the same period.

Miner, 24, received contributions from developers, attorneys, land planners and engineers as well as former St. Johns County Sheriff Neil Perry. The money he raised this month gives him a total of $63,250, making him the county commission candidate who has raised the most this election cycle.

Rich, 59, who is seeking a second term, has raised $5,635, including $1,225 between August 2 and August 21, the last filing period before Tuesday's election.

The second biggest fund-raiser this month is Randy Brunson, 71, who is in a three-way race to replace Commissioner Jim Bryant, who is not seeking re-election. Brunson raised $15,138 in August, giving him a total raised of $32,371.

He is running against Ken Bryan, 59, who raised $995 in August, and Gary McMahon, who did not raise any money in August. To date, Bryan has raised $8.047. McMahon has brought in $2,680 in cash and in-kind contributions and has loaned his campaign $9,500.

Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson, 47, raised $6,315 in August, not as much as Brunson did, but enough to put her in second place in overall fund-raising for the county commission.

Her challenger is Al Abbatiello, 75, raised $950 for a total of $3,247.

Contributors

Mark Miner, District 3

Henry Dean & Associates, St. Augustine, water consultant, $500 Charles Kelly Smith, St. Augustine, builder, $500 John David Coxwell, Jacksonville, executive, $500 Michael Held, St. Augustine, contractor, $500 Eddie Keith Greene, Jacksonville, executive, $500 Roy Hinman, St. Augustine, physician, $500 Sam Mousa, Jacksonville, engineer, $500 Christopher Blank, Jacksonville, executive, $500 Charles W. Arnold, III, Jacksonville, businessman, $500 William Schilling, Jr., Jacksonville, engineer, $250 Joseph Mecca, St. Johns, engineer, $250 Craig Hoog, St. Augustine, teacher, $100 Stephen Toomey, Jacksonville, U.S. Navy, $100 Joan Markel, St. Augustine, $100 Elvira Hasty, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100 Judith Burnett, Jacksonville, retired teacher, $300 Septimus Connor Jr., St. Augustine, American Legion commander, $200 Neil Perry, St. Augustine, retired sheriff, $250 John Gipe, Fort Myer, Va., command sergeant major, $250 Oaco-Johns Creek II, LLC, Jacksonville, land owner, $250 J.B. Coxwell, Jacksonville, construction, $500 JBC Planning & Engineering, LLC, Jacksonville, engineering, $500 Community Development Group, St. Augustine, development group, $500 Sylvan West Partnership, LLC, Jacksonville, landowner, St. Johns, $250 KKP-Chippewa, LTD, Jacksonville, landowner, St. Johns, $250 Charles Johnson, Ponte Vedra, hotel executive, $500 Donald Wallace, Jacksonill,e real estate, $500 Susan Green, Atlantic Beach, land planner, $250 Green & Kupperman, Inc., Neptune Beach, land planners, $500 Steven Berman, Ponte Vedra, business executive, $500 Philip Mays, Ponte Vedra, tennis club owner, $500 S.R. 207 CIG, LLC, St. Augustine, road improvement group, $500 Mays Equities, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., real estate investment group, $500 John Alexon, Ponte Vedra, flea market business, $100 Bayard Timberland, Inc., Jacksonville, timberland owner, $500 Bayard Raceway, Inc., Jacksonville, race track owner, $500 William E. Buckley, Orange Park, Realtor, $300 Joshua Costa, Jacksonville, business executive, $500 Gregory White, St. Augustine, West Augustine Community group, $200 John Allen, St. Augustine, VP, contracting, $500 Michael Herzbery, Jacksonville, executive, $500, The Fiorentino Group, Jackonville, consultant, $500 Fielstone-PLP, LLC, Jacksonville, investment company, $500 Millstone OLP, Jacksonville, investment company, $500 Kathryn Whittington, St. Augustine, attorney, $250 John Metcalf, Jacksonville, attorney, $500 Ryan Held, St. Augustine Beach, property manager, $500 Maureen Martin, St. Augustine, housewife, $500 Stephen Held, St. Augustine, builder, $500 Brandy Creek LLC, Jakcsonville, land development project, $500 Lois Crissinger, Middleburg, CPA, $250 Buckley Williams, Jacksonville, engineer, $250 Robert Mizell, Jacksonville, enginner, $250 K.T. Peter Lee, Jacksonville, engineer, $250 Norman Hugh Mathews, Jacksonlle, engineer, $500 Regina Mathews, Jacksonville, homemaker, $500 Douglas Miller, Ponte Vedra Beach, attorney, $500 Jane Mille, Ponte Vedra Beach, engineer, $500 Bayard Court LLC, Jacksonville, engineering firm, $500 A.J. Johns, Inc., Jcksonville, contractor, $500 Florida Roads Contracting, Inc., Jacksonville, road contractor, $500 Florida Roads Materials, LLC, Jacksonville, road building suplier, $500 EMM Properties, Jacksonville, engineering firm, $500 David Dill, Jacksonville, exectuvie, $200 Katherine Jill Arnold, Jacksonville, housewife, $500 Charles Hal Swan, Ponte Vedra Beach, developer, $500 Gina Bell, Jacksonville, housewife, $500 Levi Ritter, Jacksonville, attorney, $250 Kasey Ritter, Jacksonville, engineer, $250 Kevin Troup, Jacksonville, accountant, $500 William Pyburn, II, Jacksonville, business executive, $500 BPR Performance, LLC, Jacksonville, land business, $500 Natural Resources Investment Group, Jacksonville, investment group, $500 Land Resource Group, Jacksonville, land resource group, $500 Treadstone Consulting, LLC, Orange Park, consulting, $500 The Alterra Group, Jacksonville, land development, $500 Mill Creek Rank, Jacksonville, subdivision, $500 Pioneer Land Development Corp., Jacksonville, farm land development, $500 Las Calinas Developers, LLC, Jacksonville, business developers, $500 Davidson Realty, Inc., St. Augustine, Realtor, $500 Ronald Galy, St. Augustine, real estate, $300 Ralph Wolfe Jr., St. Augustine, retired, $100 Silverfiled Cranford Commercial, Jacksonville, commercial read estate, $250 Travis James Hutson, Jacksonville, salesman, $500 Thomas E. Horne, Jr., Jacksonville, carpenter, $500 Marcia Horne, Jacksonville, carpenter, $500 The Hutson Companies, LLC, Jacksonville, land develop0er, $500 Antonia Crawford, Ponte Vedra, homemaker, $500 NE Florida Builders Association, Jacksonville, Builders PAC, $500 Ntional Safety Commission, Inc., Ponte Vedra Beach, Safety PAC, $500 Joan Thornton, St. Augustine, housewife, $350 Michael Braren II, Ponte Vedra, engineer, $200 ennifer Lynn Hardin, Neptune Beach, housewife, $100 Vickie Hart, Jacksonville, surveyors, $500 The Realty Group, Inc., Jacksonville, real estate, $250 Clary & Associates, Inc., Jacksonville, mappers and surveyors, $500 Charles Wills, Jacksonvile, engineer, $100 William Schilling Jr., Jacksonville, engineer, $100 Joseph Mecca, St. Johns, engineer, $100

His largest expense was $14,255 to Comcast for advertising, $4,000 to David Faires, New Smyrna Beach for video production and $2,515 to K.M. McCarthy Consulting & PR for Comcast ad placement.

Ben Rich, district 3

Contributors

Judith Ritter, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Louis Ritter, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Walter Rohrer, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Elaine Rohrer, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Tracy Considine, St. Augustine, $100

Katherine Considne, St. Augustine, $100

Karol Horne, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Michael Borns, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Elliott Horne, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Donis Horne, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Expenses

Rich's largest expense was $596 to reimburse himself for transportation and miscellaneous expenses.

Al Abbatiello, District 1

Contributors

Sharon Shreve, St. Johns, secretary, $100 Walter Rohrer, Ponte Vedra Beach, retired, $200 Katherine Donsidine, St. Augustine, homemaker, $200 Thomas Kolls, St. Johns, retired, $200 Joshua Costa, Jacksonville, project supervisor, $200

Abbatiello's largest expense with $1,000 for advertising on WQXT-TV.

Cyndi Stevenson, District 1

Linda Folladori, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100 Elliott Horne, Ponte Ve3dra Beach, executive, $250 Donis Horne, Ponte Vedra Beach, executive, $250 Centre Corporate Services, Inc., Ponte Vedra Beach, management services, $250 Meridean Management Corp., Ponte Vedra Beach, management consulting, $250 Susan Ponder-Stansel, St. Augustine, COmmunity Hospice, $150 Dennis Chipman, St. Augustine, $100 Nancy J. Kelly, St. Augustine, homemaker, $250 Vernon A. Kelly Co., St. Augustine, consulting, $250 Pamela Lamb, Orlando, homemaker, $250 Edwards Cohen, Jacksonville, law firm. $250 Kathlene Sanders, Ponte Vedra Beach, homemaker, $250 Marie Turnbull, St. Augustine, owner, Tara-Byte, Inc., $250 John Leduke, Fruit Cover, $100 Joseph Davis, Fruit Cove, engineer, $200 Lawrence Patterson, Ponte Vedra Beach, attorney, $160 Terry Wood, St. Augustine, contractor, $150 Bucky Odom, Jacksonville Beach, tree surgeon, $250 Karen Massaniso, Ponte Vedra Beach, office manager, $250 Jason Milton, Jacksonville, environmental consultant, $150 Teresa Milam, Ponte Vedra Beach, homemaker, $250 Arthur Milam, Ponte Vedra Beach, retired attorney, $250 Daniel Lauracker, St. Augustine, chef, $250 Nancy Zyski, Ponte Vedra Beach, environmental consultant, $150 Georgia Glenn Enterprises, Inc., Ponte Vedra Beach, fitness trainer, $250 Clary & Associates, Jacksonville, surveyor, $250 Peter Massaniuso, Ponte Vedra Beach, investment advisor, $250 James Browning, Ponte Vedra, $100

Stevenson's largest expnses in this reporting period was $5,505 to BZ Mailing Service, Daytona Beach, for mailing flyers.

Randy Brunson, District 5

Contributions

Shaun Bliss, Jacksonville, planning consultant, $210 Peter Hallock, Jacksonville, engineer, $200 Lawrence Patterson, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100 Donald Fullerton, Jacksonville, landscape architect, $220 Michael Sullivan, Jacksonville, architect, $150 Allen Geiger, Jacksonville, attorney, $250 Bucky Odum, Jacksonville Beach, tree surgeon, $300 Karen Massaniso, Ponte Vedra Beach, office manager, $300 Edwards Cohen, Jacksonville, law firm, $200 William Buckley, Orange Park, general manager, $300 First Coast Manufacturers Assoc., Jacksonville, manufacturing association, $500 Duane Ottenstroer, Jacksonville, investor, $500 Jerod Meeks, St. Augustine, Heating and air conditioning, $250 Eventime Investments of Delaware, Wilmington, Del., investments, $500 Yolanda Ditmore, St. Augustine, $100 John Allen, St. Augustine, investor, $500 Mark Bailey, St. Augustine, insurance, $200 PRG Development, LLC, Jacksonville, development, $500 Jason Milton, Jacksonville, invironmental consultant, $150 Daniel Laubacker, St. Augustine, student, $250 Teresa de Balmaseda Milam, Ponte Vedra Beach, retired, $250 Arthur Milam, Ponte Vedra Beach, retired, $250 John While, Ponte Vedra Beach, medical supply, $200 Nancy Koleilat, St. Augustine, artist, $250 R.B. Lamm Jr., Jacksonville, project manager, $300 Paul Fletcher, Jacksonville Beach, $100 Constance Fletcher, Jacksonville, $100 Nancy Zyski, Ponte Vedra Beach, environmentl consultant, $150 Acre & Associates, St. Augustine, manufacturing, $500 Georgia Gleen Enterprises, Inc., Ponte Vedra Beach, real estate investor, $250 Crown Point Investments, Jacksonville, investments, $250 V.J. Usina Contracting, St. Augustine, general contractor, $500 John Russell Shaw III, Jacksonville, wholesale foods, $100 Howard Shaw, Jacksonville, wholesale foods, $250 Joanne Zimmerman, Jaksonville, whoelsale foods, $100 Robert Wynne, Jacksonville, wholesale foods, $100 Randall Ringhaver, Jacksonville, owner, Ring Power, $500 James Browning, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100 NE FLordia Builders Association, Jacksonville, Association of Builders, $500 Peter Massaniso, Ponte Vedra Beach, investment advisor, $300

Brunson's largest expenses were $4,225 tp Dispatch Depot, St. Augustine, for postage and handling of mailout and $2,889 to Baker's Sporting Goods, Jacksonville, for T-shirts.

Ken Bryan, District 5

Contributions

The Miani Group, St. Augusttine, $100

Danny Berenberg, St. Augustine, attorney, $500 AJS Distributors, St. Augustine, distributor, $150 Martin Olson, Ponte Vedra Beach, $100

Bryan's largest expense was $445 to Signs Now, St. Augustine, for signs.

Gary McMahon

Contributions

None this reporting period

McMahon's largest expense this reporting period was $300 to WFOY-AM for an ad.

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Vote no on county charter; vote for Ben Rich, Ken Bryan, Faye Armitage, Roger Jolley and Peter Romano in August 26, 2008

No on charter

Ed Slavin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 08/16/08

Editor: St. Johns County resembles what NBC's Tom Brokaw said of China: a "place where the few rule the many and protest is not welcomed."

That's why I'm voting for Ben Rich and Ken Bryan for county commissioner.

I'm proudly voting for Faye Armitage in the Democratic Primary -- let's deny oil-directed Rep. John Mica a ninth term.

Mayor Joe Boles doesn't give a fig about average people. Accountant/former street musician Roger Jolley deserves a chance to hold our city manager accountable. Likewise, forensic cpa and Lincolnville leader Peter Romano will make a fine commissioner.

I'm voting against the proposed St. Johns County Charter, even though some of my friends liked it initially.

My East Tennessee publisher once wrote, "We need more elections."

Unfortunately, the poorly-written St. Johns County Charter on the August 26, ballot actually threatens to reduce the number of elections by paving the way to potential county takeovers of two independent taxing districts (Airport and Mosquito Control) and three municipalities (St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach and Hastings), reducing the number of elected offices by 25.

St. Johns County deserves a charter of freedom, not a blank check for future freeloaders and power-grabbers. Unfortunately, the cognitive-miser lawyers (and bosses) who drafted the charter didn't heed serious, constructive reforms suggestions. They emitted a meaningless compromise, squeezing any reform out of their starter charter, refusing to include an inspector general, ombuds or worker rights protections, deleting requirements that public officials post performance bonds.

In Sir Winston Spencer Churchill's words, "this pudding has no theme." Send it back to the kitchen.

St. Johns County Commissioner Ron Sanchez got downright testy with me after the August 4, 2008 Record/LWV forum. I told him the charter draft "stank on ice."

Sanchez bragged "14 lawyers" said it didn't stink. Read for yourself.

Then vote "no."

Ed Slavin

St. Augustine

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City explores utility options

City explores utility options



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustinerecord.com
Publication Date: 08/18/08

St. Augustine city staff is weighing its options about whether the city should renew its 30-year franchise with Florida Power and Light.

The city has three main options: renew its franchise with FPL, use FPL's services without the franchise, or buy out FPL's equipment in St. Augustine and start its own electric company.

City staff is gathering information on all the options, although they have warned City Commissioners that it could cost $50 million to buy out FPL.

An FPL spokesman has said renewing the 30-year franchise would benefit both FPL and the city by guaranteeing stability from the lengthy franchise. It also allows FPL to show it is financially steady because it has customers locked in for the next three decades, the spokesman said, while the city gains roughly $1.3 million annually in franchise fees.

If the city did not have a franchise, it would likely have to replace the lost franchise fees through another form of taxation, said John Regan, city chief operations officer. However, customers would see their electric bills decrease without the franchise fee.

Barry Moline, Florida Municipal Electric Association executive director, works to unify 34 city-owned electric companies. He said a city shouldn't get into the business unless it's "extremely unhappy with its current service."

"It has to be a legitimate problem and you can't get a response from FPL," he said.

Regan said the city doesn't have any major service issues with FPL.

Moline said there are very small cities, such as St. Augustine with roughly 8,000 FPL customers, that run their own electric company. But, he said, it's a commitment.

"It's not rocket science. Cities can do it," he said. "But it's a commitment of millions of dollars. You have to swallow hard and commit to doing it."

Regan is putting together a team of experts on the subject to research the FPL franchise further. He will bring the report back to the commission in mid- to late September, he said.

Q and A on the city buying out FPL.

The following answers are from John Regan, city chief operations officer; Barry Moline, executive director of Florida Municipal Electric Association; Dave Cobb, FPL Northeast Florida external affairs manager; and Karen Pan, St. Johns County spokeswoman.

Q: Does the city need a franchise with FPL to use their services?

A: No.

Q; If the city did not have the franchise, would customers' rates go down?

A: Yes, city staff says. However, the city would have to find a way to make up the lost franchise fee revenue, about $1.3 million a year.

Q: How much would it cost the city to buy out FPL's power poles, lines, etc. in St. Augustine?

A: Perhaps more than $50 million.

Q: Would the city lose money if it does not renew the FPL franchise?

A: Yes. The city gains roughly $1.3 million annually in franchise fees. Next year, that would go up to roughly $1.4 million. If that money went away, the city would find another form of taxation to get the funds.

Q: Why does the franchise have to be 30 years?

A: Historically, FPL has always had 30-year franchises. It provides long-term planning for both the city and FPL. It also aids FPL in long-term designs for facilities and allows the company to show a steady stream in financial markets.

Q: Would residents see a change in their service if the city still used FPL without a franchise?

A: No.

Q: What would the city gain if it had its own electric company?

A: The city could financially gain from owning the business and could offer more intensive customer service, especially because the customers vote for the City Commissioners.

Q: Would residents' electric bills go down if the city had its own electric company?

A: Municipal electric companies rates are usually about the same as FPL. City of St. Augustine staff say they worry rates will go up to counter the cost of buying out FPL.

Q: Who would govern the rates if the city owned its electric company?

A: The City Commission could determine the customer rates, and it would report to the state Public Service Commission for other rate structures for poles, wires and generation. For example, if the city wanted to increase customer rates 3 percent to offset high fuel costs that would have to be approved by the Service Commission.

Q: Does St. Johns County have a franchise with FPL?

A: No. But FPL and Jacksonville Electric Authority serve most county residents.

Q: Could the city and county partner to start its own electric company?

A: Yes. But the customer base would still be small compared to most municipal electric companies.

Q: Are there small cities in Florida that own their electric company?

A: Yes. Some with as little as 1,000 customers.

Q: How many FPL customers are in St. Augustine?

A: About 8,000.

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Pipe line repair took too long

WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

It was in the Record's editorial on July 20th -- see below
EDITORIAL: Pipeline Repair Took Too Long

Pipe line repair took too long

Publication Date: 07/20/08

The St. Augustine City Commission has approved spending up to $1 million to replace a broken pipeline the city's known about for four years.

In good times, the 1,600-foot pipeline transported treated water from the city's wastewater treatment plant on Riberia Street into the Intracoastal Waterway. Since at least 2004, it has squandered treated water on a salt water marsh ecosystem. The marsh is not dead, it's just not the way it should be, brown in color rather than vibrant green.

The original cost to remedy the broken pipewas estimated by a private consultant at $2.5 million to $3.9 million. "We could have done it faster; it would have meant a lot more resources and we would have had to just open up the bank account," said John Regan, the city's chief operations officer, last week.

City Manager Bill Harriss concurred. He said he polled the City Commissioners individually at the time and each agreed that it was too costly and that a cheaper process should be found.
snip

2)

Thanks to Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D. for calling this research to my attention:

From 2008 Government in Sunshine Manual "The Sunshine Law is applicable to meetings between a board member and an individual who is not a member of the board when that individual is being used as a liaison between, or to conduct a de facto meeting of, board members. See, AGO 74-47 (city manager is not a member of the city council and thus, may meet with individual council members; however, the manager may not act as a liaison for board members by circulating information and thoughts of individual council members). Compare, AGO 89-39 (aides to county commissioners would not be subject to the Sunshine Law unless they have been delegated decision-making functions outside of the ambit of normal staff functions, are acting as liaisons between board members, or are acting in place of the board or its members at their direction).

For example, in Blackford v. School Board of Orange County,
375 So. 2d 578 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979), the court held that a series of scheduled successive meetings between the school superintendent and individual members of the school board were subject to the Sunshine Law. While normally meetings between the school superintendent and an individual school board member would not be subject to s. 286.011, F.S., these meetings were held in "rapid-fire succession" in order to avoid a public airing of a controversial redistricting problem. They amounted to a de facto meeting of the school board in violation of s. 286.011, F.S.
Similarly, in Sentinel Communications Company v. School Board of Osceola County, No. CI92-0045 (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. April 3, 1992), the court found that a series of private meetings between a school superintendent and individual school board members which were scheduled by the superintendent to present and consider staff recommendations concerning the administrative structure of the school system and to privately address any objections or concerns that the board might have, should have been held in theUse of nonmembers as liaisons between board members

The Sunshine Law is applicable to meetings between a board member and an individual who is not a member of the board when that individual is being used as a liaison between, or to conduct a de facto meeting of, board members. See, AGO 74-47 (city manager is not a member of the city council and thus, may meet with individual council members; however, the manager may not act as a liaison for board members by circulating information and thoughts of individual council members). Compare, AGO 89-39 (aides to county commissioners would not be subject to the Sunshine Law unless they have been delegated decision-making functions outside of the ambit of normal staff functions, are acting as liaisons between board members, or are acting in place of the board or its members at their direction).

For example, in Blackford v. School Board of Orange County,
375 So. 2d 578 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979), the court held that a series of scheduled successive meetings between the school superintendent and individual members of the school board were subject to the Sunshine Law. While normally meetings between the school superintendent and an individual school board member would not be subject to s. 286.011, F.S., these meetings were held in "rapid-fire succession" in order to avoid a public airing of a controversial redistricting problem. They amounted to a de facto meeting of the school board in violation of s. 286.011, F.S.
Similarly, in Sentinel Communications Company v. School Board of Osceola County, No. CI92-0045 (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. April 3, 1992), the court found that a series of private meetings between a school superintendent and individual school board members which were scheduled by the superintendent to present and consider staff recommendations concerning the administrative structure of the school system and to privately address any objections or concerns that the board might have, should have been held in the sunshine. The court said that its decision should not be construed to prohibit individual board members from meeting privately with staff or the superintendent for informational purposes or on an ad hoc basis. However, "[i]t shall be construed to prohibit the scheduling of a series of such meetings which concern a specific agenda." Thus, the court enjoined the board and its superintendent "from holding any further closed door meetings to formulate Board policy, discuss matters where Board action is contemplated, or otherwise conduct the public's business."
In Citizens for a Better Royal Palm Beach, Inc. v. Village of Royal Palm Beach, No. CL 91-14417 AA (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct. May 14, 1992), the court invalidated a contract for the sale of municipal property when it determined that after the proposal to sell the property which had been discussed and approved at a public meeting collapsed, the city manager met individually with council members and from those discussions the property was sold to another group. The circuit court found that these meetings resulted in a substantial change in the terms of sale and that the execution of the contract, therefore, violated the Sunshine Law.

Thus, a city manager should refrain from asking each commissioner to state his or her position on a specific matter which will foreseeably be considered by the commission at a public meeting in order to provide the information to the members of the commission. AGO 89-23. See also, AGO 75-59 (the spirit, if not the letter, of the Sunshine Law requires official decisions to be made in public after a full discussion by the board members; thus, the board's director should refrain from calling each member of the board separately and asking each member to state his or her position on a matter which will foreseeably be presented for consideration to the entire board in open session). Cf., AGO 81-42 (the fact that a city council member has expressed his or her views or voting intent on an upcoming matter to a news reporter prior to the scheduled public meeting does not violate the Sunshine Law so long as the reporter is not being used by the member as an intermediary in order to circumvent the requirements of s. 286.011, F.S.).
Not all decisions taken by staff, however, need to be made or approved by a board. Thus, the district court concluded in Florida Parole and Probation Commission v. Thomas, 364 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), that the decision to appeal made by legal counsel to a public board after discussions between the legal staff and individual members of the board was not subject to the Sunshine Law. Accord, Inf. Op. to Biasco, July 2, 1997 (administrative officers or staff who serve public boards should not poll board members on issues which will foreseeably come before the board in order to avoid being used as a liaison between board members, although an administrative officer is not precluded from contacting individual board members for their views on a matter when the officer, and not the board, has been vested with the authority to take action).

So, once again, the question recurs: is there any crime that WILLIAM B. HARRISS will commit that the State of Florida, State's Attorney Tanner, FDEL or FDEP will ever prosecute?

You've Got to Hand it to the "Very Careless" Apparatchiks in the City of St. Augustine (1)

Ordinarily, when a wrongdoer suggests Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP), the requirement is that they prove the projects are something they hadn't planned.

Lookie here. (See below) How does the City of St. Augustine proposes to get credit for environmental crime fines -- involving illegal pollution with sewage effluent into a marsh, through a pipe with 1500 pages leaking (120 feet missing)?

With a project to keep grease out of the city's sewer system.

Does the city contend it did not plan to keep grease out of the city's sewer system?

How does this specifically benefit the area (Lincolnville) that has borne the brunt of the City's environmental racism?

What is the State of Florida doing to remedy the City's environmental racism>?

Don't other cities work to keep grease out of their sewer system without fanfare?

How many other American cities illegally deposit 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste in their Old City Reservoir, get caught and whine about it (as Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES and Commissioner ERROL JONES do, most recently at the St. Paul's A.M.E. Church August 7th election forum, defending controversial City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS)?

How many other American cities would propose taking solid waste illegally disposed of in their Old City Reservoir back to the minority community where it was illegally dumped and excavated in the first place?

That's chutzpah. The City of St. Augustine is run by negligent, malfeasant clods who have no respect for human life. They're not careful. They're not kind. They don't care a fig about people. As the Mississippi Supreme Court said 90 years ago, it could "imagine no reason why, with ordinary care human toes could not be left out of chewing tobacco, and if toes are found in chewing tobacco, it seems to us that somebody has been very careless." Pillars v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.., 78 So. 365 (Ms. 1918).



WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

City bargains for service instead of fines from DEP

City bargains for service instead of fines from DEP



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/13/08

The city of St. Augustine staff wants to form an in-kind project with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in lieu of paying fines for allowing a pipeline to leak treated waste water into marshland.

Although a final agreement has not been reached between the city and DEP, the department has looked at fining the city $31,000. John Regan, city chief operations officer, said the city hopes to forgo the fine by having an environmental project that would block restaurants' and businesses' grease from going into the sewer system.

"Just like our arteries, the grease clogs pipelines in the city," Regan said. "Most of our line breaks and sewer problems are because of grease."

"(The city) spends quite a bit of money on cleaning up grease."

The city would hire someone to ensure restaurants pump out their grease trap systems regularly.

Jodi Conway, DEP spokeswoman, said the Department is still in discussion with the city, and she could not give details. But, she said, DEP allows cities to do in-kind projects instead of fines if "there is a significant environmental benefit."

Regan said that, under the state's rules, the benefit must be 1.5 times the amount of the fine. And St. Augustine's proposed project would do just that, he said.

"The city would start to save money from the program over one to two years time," he said. "It's a way for us to do something positive for the community instead of paying a fine," he said.

In July, the city determined it will have to spend about $1 million to replace the 1,600-foot pipeline behind its Waste Water Treatment Plant off Riberia Street. The pipe has been leaking for a couple years. The city has done several repairs on it, but the city manager did not replace it in 2005 because the estimated cost -- roughly $3 million -- was too high.

The treated fresh water dumped into the salt water marsh has disrupted the ecosystem and caused the area to become a vibrant green compared to the surrounding brown marsh, according to DEP.

The DEP has said the quality of the water from the pipeline is in compliance.

Regan said he expects to reach an agreement with DEP in the next week.

"We're optimistic to have this resolved soon," Conway said.

Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/081308/news_081308_039.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

You've Got to Hand it to the "Very Careless" Apparatchiks in the City of St. Augustine (2)

You've got to hand it to the City Hall in the City of St. Augustine.

After Commissioners completely botched their handling of Indian archaeology (go see ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD's ruinous treatment of Red House Bluff (on Red House Branch) just north of St. Augustine, High School -- destroying what UF anthropologists reckoned to be a 3000-4000 year old Native American village without preservation or study -- the City's trying to get PR from studying and preserving a 175 year old pet.

See below. You've got to love the City's PR machine -- no shame! They should work for Big Oil!

Pet calf excavated downtown History dig dates bones at about 175 years old

Pet calf excavated downtown

History dig dates bones at about 175 years old

By CHAD SMITH
chad.smith@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/13/08

In the mid-1800s, Pablo Sabate's family kept a calf in the backyard of its home on Spanish Street, where it grazed near an orange grove that stretched to what is now Cordova Street.

It was somewhat of a pet until it died young. Then it was laid on its side in a pit in the backyard and buried, almost like a cat is today.

Or at least that's the best Carl Halbirt can figure.

Halbirt, the city's archeologist, was digging Monday in what was Sabate's backyard -- now 63 Cordova St. -- for signs of the Rosario Line, an earthen defensive wall that surrounded the city in the mid-18th century.

He didn't find evidence of the wall, but he did find the calf's skeleton.

"Our interest was the Rosario Line, but whenever you do archeology in St. Augustine you can't just focus on one time period," he said. "You have to pay attention to all occupations."

He's come across two other livestock skeletons in past digs, both of them also belonging to young animals: In the 1990s, he found a colt's skeleton; in 2004, he found the skeleton of another calf.

All of them seemed to have been buried in the same period, between 1820 and 1850, and they were each neatly buried, suggesting to Halbirt that the animals meant more to their owners than if they were being raised for utilitarian purposes.

It's likely that they were kept as pets, but probably not to the extent of a family dog, he said.

Flagler College now owns the lot and wanted to get the mandatory archeological dig out of the way before it builds on the site. So Halbirt and his team have been digging on the lot off and on since April, with their main priority being to find the wall -- something he's been trying to do for decades.

"It doesn't want to be found," he said, noting that most of it, since it was made of dirt, has withered away over time. Parts of some garrisons that were located along the wall have been found but not the actual wall itself.

Local historian David Nolan said that chase has been part of the wall's intrigue.

"It's been of great interest to archeologists in recent decades because they could never quite find it," Nolan said.

But as for what Halbirt did find, Nolan said it was likely that a family did keep a calf in a domestic setting in that period.

Though he wasn't sure, he said the city might have had an ordinance forbidding people from letting livestock roam the streets at the time, making the theory of Sabate's domesticated calf a viable one.

Halbirt said the bones were too brittle to be excavated, so after he finishes at the site Thursday they will be reburied. But he is carefully documenting them, noting that they were a significant find, even if they weren't what he was looking for.

"When people come to St. Augustine, they think of the colonial period, they think of the Civil Rights era, they think of these periods of time that have always received a lot of exposure," Halbirt said. "Yet St. Augustine is not a static community. It's constantly evolving, so to get this information about a period that is not as well known, at least compared to these other time periods, I think it's a good thing."

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/081308/news_081308_037.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

St. Augustine Record: City of St. Augustine City Commission schedules public hearing

City Commission schedules public hearing

From ©The St. Augustine Record staff
08/11/08

The St. Augustine City Commission will hold a public hearing tonight to gain project ideas to apply for a $750,000 state grant.

The Community Development Block grant would come through the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which requires the city to first hold a public hearing to get residents' feedback on what projects should be pursued.

The commission also will form a citizen's advisory task force to review proposals and then recommend projects to the city.

The funding can be used for housing, neighborhood or commercial revitalization or economic development, according to the Community Affairs department.

The money also must do one of three things:
- benefit low or moderate income residents,
- aid in preventing or eliminating a slum or blight, or
- meet urgent needs that pose an immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community.

This will be the first of two public hearings on the topic, and the city also will sponsor two public workshops.

(c) 2008 St. Augustine Record
(Source:
http://staugustine.com/stories/081108/community_stories04_008.shtml )

4 Republican Politicians Under Investigation for Illegal Campaign Contributions from "Developers" -- St. Aug. Record Refuses to Report It Call Them!

Thank you for the kind words to all who responded so positively to the Ponte Vedra Recorder articles about our St. Johns County political scandal (below) – four candidates under investigation for taking illegal campaign contributions (RANDY BRUNSON, MARK MINER, KAREN STERN and BRUCE MAGUIRE), three of whom are past or current public officials (RANDY BRUNSON, KAREN STERN and BRUCE MAGUIRE) and one of whom seeks Ben Rich’s job as County Commissioner (25 year old MARK MINER, a part-time college student and supposedly full-time CSX manager).
It was revealing to read several hot-as-a-two-dollar pistol reactions from those who avoid accountability (RANDY BRUNSON, MARK MINER, KAREN STERN and BRUCE MAGUIRE) on the Ponte Vedra Recorder website.
Memo to RANDY BRUNSON, MARK MINER, KAREN STERN and BRUCE MAGUIRE: I wear your scorn as a badge of honor.
In particular, MARK MINER's hostile heated, personal non sequitur remarks belie his empty promise to restore "respect" to County Commission.
MARK MINER certainly does not respect people who report him to the Election Commission.
MARK MINER looks and sounds like a young Richard Nixon in drag without the five o’clock, without the charm.
In fact, the chilling effect on First Amendment rights by MARK MINER and his entourage show us a lot about character.
MINER, STERN and his coterie of cronies show the truth of what MINER said in his campaign announcement webcast, "we're going to take back St. Johns County." Take it back FROM whom, FOR whom, MARK MINER? Answer here and I will print it.
Obviously, MINER wants to take it back from the people and FOR the developers.
I understand that MARK MINER’s expressed goal is to become President of the United States of America. What a scary thought.
Meanwhile, the St. Augustine Record has not yet bothered reporting the story -- while endorsing two of the candidates who are under investigation for taking illegal campaign contributions.
Shame on Morris Communications and the St. Augustine Record for not trusting the people with the facts.
Call St. Augustine Record Editor Pete Ellis (819-3417) and ask if/when the Record will report the news that RANDY BRUNSON, MARK MINER, KAREN STERN AND BRUCE MAGUIRE are under investigation by the Florida Election Commission for illegal campaign contributions (see Ponte Vedra Recorder).
Newspapers are free to endorse who they choose. But they should not withhold facts.

VOTE FAYE ARMITAGE, THE ONLY CD7 DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE WHO OPPOSES OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING, WHICH COULD DESTROY FLORIDA'S TOURIST ECONOMY!

Originally appeared on News-Journal Online at
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST04POL081008.htm | Print This Page
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August 10, 2008

Dems vying for Mica's post split over offshore drilling
By JOHN BOZZO
Staff Writer

Drill for oil off the Florida coast?

Two Democratic Party candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 7 disagree on whether the answer should be "yes" or "no."

Their answers on drilling, in separate interviews, formed the sharpest difference on issues between candidates Faye Armitage and Clyde Malloy.

Both are making their first run for political office in the Aug. 26 primary.

The winner will square off in the Nov. 4 general election against one of the state's veteran politicians, Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park.

Mica is seeking his ninth term representing the district, which stretches from Duval County to Orange County and includes Palm Coast, Daytona Beach and DeLand.

TO DRILL OR NOT

"No," Armitage said quickly. "It will be a disaster to our $50 billion tourism industry. Not so much from an accidental oil spill, which will happen, but from the day-to-day trash."

Communities along the Gulf of Mexico experience problems with pollution from offshore oil-drilling operations, she said.

"It's a make-believe solution," Armitage said.

New drilling would take 10 years to have an impact on prices and supplies, she said. Oil companies already have acres of offshore sites where they're not drilling.

"We should stop filling our strategic oil reserves," Armitage said. "The real story is we are still increasing reserves."

The focus should be on public transportation, electric cars and biofuels made from algae, not crops grown for food, she said.

"I don't see why all public buildings don't have solar power," she said.

Malloy also supports developing alternative energy as a solution to the nation's energy problem.

But he's willing to consider drilling for oil and gas off Florida shores as a way to help finance those alternatives.

"My first inclination, really, was, 'Absolutely not,' " Malloy said, when asked about drilling off the Florida coast. "But I learned long ago never to say never to anything.

"We have to leave the option open. If we do drilling off the coast, it has to be in the direction to reduce our dependence on oil. Royalties must be spent on developing alternative energy sources."

Mica wrote an online blog in June supporting lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling.

THE IRAQ WAR

Both candidates want to pull troops out of Iraq swiftly.

"If we ever did have a goal (in Iraq), I feel we accomplished that goal in overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Armitage said. "Basically, we've given them ample time to get their act together."

Malloy talked about finding a responsible plan for withdrawal and criticized hiring private contractors to help with the occupation of Iraq.

"Any country relying on outside contractors is not going to get support of its people," he said. "Get the contractors out. They're people who care almost nothing about the country and want to pull money out."

Mica voted for invasion of Iraq and has supported efforts to help Iraq maintain security before pulling out troops.

A TAXING ECONOMY

"It's ludicrous that we had a tax cut at a time when we could least afford it," Armitage said. "We need to roll back the tax cut for the wealthy and proceed with a tax cut for the middle class."

Malloy agreed, saying the middle class must be allowed "to breathe" economically.

"What we need to do is to start rolling back the Bush tax cut for the top 4 percent to 6 percent of Americans," he said.

Armitage put forward the idea of national jobs programs in biomedical and green technologies, such as retrofitting buildings with solar energy panels.

"Really, our future is green-collar jobs," she said.

Malloy talked about creating high-paying jobs by taking the burden of health care from companies and offering government health insurance.

Both candidates want everyone to have health care.

Malloy supports efforts geared to expand health insurance.

Armitage wants a program nicknamed "Medicare for Everyone," which basically expands Medicare eligibility. Malloy would support expansion for Medicare, but said it has no chance to pass because of opposition from health insurance companies.

"Elect me, and I would definitely have it approved," Armitage said.

Mica has voted to reduce capital gains taxes, to increase the child tax credit, eliminate the marriage penalty, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, eliminate the estate tax and to support the economic stimulus payments to put money back in the pockets of people.

john.bozzo@news-jrnl.com

Job Description

DUTIES: Represent citizens in the U.S. House of Representatives

TERM OF OFFICE: Two years

ANNUAL SALARY: $169,300

Bios

NAME: Faye Armitage

AGE: 50

RESIDENCE: Fruit Cove

OCCUPATION: Caregiver to paralyzed son, former economics professor and health care industry employee

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: First run for public office

PRIORITIES: Health care for everyone; a plan to withdraw forces from Iraq; break up large media corporations; and impose a green technology initiative.

OTHER: Her activism led to her arrest twice, in 1998 after a tussle with a school resource officer about treatment of her son and in 2004 for removing Bush and other campaign signs from a public right of way. Both charges were dismissed.

FINANCES: Armitage has collected $18,834, none from political action committees. She's put $6,500 of her money into the campaign and has $4,298 cash on hand.

NAME: Clyde Malloy

AGE: 48

RESIDENCE: Ormond Beach

OCCUPATION: Retired public safety officer

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: First run for public office

PRIORITIES: Campaign finance reform, expanding health care, more high-paying jobs and improving education

FINANCES: Has $26,757 in donations, most of it -- $17,255 -- from himself. None of his campaign money comes from political action committees. Has $253 cash on hand, according to the latest Federal Elections Commission reporting period, which ended June 30.

Candidate Web sites

Faye Armitage at www.fayeforcongress.com/

Clyde Malloy at www.malloyforcongress.com/

John Mica at www.micaforcongress.com/

Ponte Vedra Recorder: Election Commission Investigates 3

Elections Commission Investigages 3
Mark Pettus | August 8, 2008 | 0 Comments

One county office seeker is now answering investigators’ questions about his current office – and several other current and former candidates may soon join him in the investigators’ hot seat.

Randy Brunson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the St. Johns County Commission District 5 seat is the subject of a Florida Elections Commission investigation into whether or not he violated campaign finance laws by failing to report the lease terms on his campaign headquarters.

Brunson moved into the office in the old Bozard Ford location at 1800 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in St. Augustine in January. His campaign finance reports, which can be viewed online at the St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Web site show he has been paying water, electric, sewer and phone bills on the property since that time.

Local resident and community activist Ed Slavin says he noticed in May that Brunson had not reported paying any rent, and so Slavin filed a complaint with the Elections Commission.

State Investigates

Brunson confirmed that he was under investigation, but said, "All I can tell you is that everything is legal."

St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Penny Halyburton refused to comment on the specifics of the Brunson investigation, citing a confidentiality clause in the statute governing such investigations, but said the rules governing campaign finance require that all goods and services received by the campaign — either as in-kind donations or as campaign expenditures – be reported at fair market value, and when received.

In July, after he had been notified about the complaint and investigation, Brunson filed a report showing he had recently paid $800 rent for the year, through Aug. 31. He also sent a notarized copy of a lease requiring him to pay $100 per month for the property, payable at the end of August.

Slavin said in his complaint the property in question is owned by a rich hotelier who often asks favors of local government.

The lease, which Brunson provided, lists the owner as Kantibhai M. Patel of Vista Hotel IV Inc. Patel is also CEO of Jalaram Hotels Inc., which owns hotels throughout Northeast Florida, including the Hilton Inn on the historic St. Augustine bay front.

Patel did not return a phone message left for him with a woman at the Jalaram corporate office.

Brunson and Slavin both say the property is valued at $2.7 million. Slavin believes the office is worth much more than $100 per month.

"Do you know where I can get a deal like that?" he asked.

Brunson agreed the rent appeared cheap for the property, but added, " … you would have to go in and see it," Brunson said. "I’ve had ladies come in who couldn’t stay because of the termites, and mites and etc."

In a sworn affidavit dated June 24, Patel told the Elections Commission the "building is in extremely poor cosmetic condition and because it is scheduled to be demolished in the near future, it has little or no current market value … "

Brunson’s case will likely be heard during the Elections Commission’s meeting in November.

Others under investigation

Slavin has also filed complaints against two former commissioners who last ran in 2006 – Bruce Maguire and Karen Stern – and against one other current candidate, District 3 Republican Mark Miner.

In the complaints against Maguire and Stern, Slavin asked the Elections Commission to investigate whether the candidates had accepted "aggregate contributions in excess of the $500 limit from related or co-owned organizations located at the same address"; the complaint against Miner is similar but worded differently.

The Elections Commission refused to confirm or deny that it was investigating any of the complaints, but Slavin provided two letters from the commission dated July 15 that both state, "The Commission staff has reviewed the complaint and found that it is legally sufficient. Therefore, staff will investigate … "

The letters go on to name the investigator assigned to the cases. The two letters cite complaint numbers 08-171 and 08-172. Slavin also provided copies of the complaints he filed against the four.

The complaint against Maguire was stamped received by the commission on June 27, and 08-172 was hand written across a margin on the form. The complaint against Stern was stamped the same date with 08-173 written across the margin.

Maguire said this week he could not understand what would inspire Slavin to file complaints against him and Stern.

"Ed Slavin is nothing more than a person who thrives on sensationalism. What he has done is gone and filed complaints against all kinds of people. I’ve heard he’s filed a complaint on the governor," Maguire said. "I don’t understand why he waited two years to file complaints against two candidates that lost."

Slavin said he filed the complaints against Stern and Maguire after discussing the two former commissioners’ campaign contributions with the investigator assigned to the Brunson complaint.

Maguire defended his acceptance of the contributions, saying he followed the instructions given him when he filed to run.

"Every candidate was given their book at the Supervisor of Elections which said, ‘You cannot accept more than $500 from any idividual. An individual could be a person or a corporation.’

"I may own five corporations, but each of them files separate tax returns and they are all considered separate individuals," he said, adding, "You could donate $500, and your wife could donate $500. Is that illegal just because you live at the same address?"

Investigations justified?

Maguire could be right.

Florida Elections Commission Executive Director Barbara Linthicum refused to comment on specifics related to any of the investigations, but referred to Florida statute 106 when asked about the legality of receiving donations from several companies owned by the same people, or housed in the address.

Statute 106.08 indicates no "person" can donate more than $500 from any person. 106.11 defines a person as, "an individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate, or other combination of individuals having collective capacity. The term includes a political party, political committee, or committee of continuous existence,"

But statute 106.08 later states, "A person may not make any contribution through or in the name of another, directly or indirectly, in any election."

Linthicum said understanding the statute was meant to be simple, but that because of various interpretations and rulings, knowing how to interpret the law was increasingly difficult.

She refused to say what made the complaints against Stern and Maguire legally sufficient to warrant investigation, again citing the confidentiality clause, referring only to Elections Commission rules, which state:

A complaint is legally sufficient if it meets the following criteria.

(a) The complaint alleges a violation of Chapter 104 or 106 or Section 98.122 or 105.071, Florida Statutes;

(b) The complaint was made under oath in the presence of a notary public or other person authorized by law to administer oaths;

(c) The complaint contains the original signature of the complainant;

(d) The complaint contains specific facts upon which the complainant bases the allegation of a violation of law; and

(e) The complaint alleges a violation that occurred within two years of the date the complaint is filed with the Commission.

Stern refused to comment about Slavin’s complaint against her, citing the confidentiality clause in the statute, which she could waive, and which is not binding on Slavin. She said she has no plans to waive confidentiality, which would open all records on the proceedings to the public.

"I’m not guilty of anything, so I don’t feel like I have to sit and defend myself," Stern said, adding she was disappointed the Recorder was planning to report on the investigation. "This is under investigation, which I think should mean it’s hands off."

Miner complaint

Miner said he was unaware of the complaint against him, which Slavin said he sent to the commission last week.

"I’ve received nothing notifying me of a complaint," Miner said, adding, "I have no idea what his complaint is but we’re doing everything we’re supposed to."

When told the complaint was based on donations from 17 businesses, 14 of which share three suites on Hartley Road in Jacksonville (the other three share an address on Lloyd Road), Miner said, "Those buildings are large building complexes, with lots of businesses … I work in Jacksonville and have a large professional network of people who support me for no other reason than they think I’ll do a good job."

Though he was not familiar with the complaint, Miner was familiar with Slavin, who he called a "disbarred attorney who has filed lots of frivolous complaints. Even if they have no merit, they get instant credibility when they are published in the paper."

mpettus@jcpgroup.com

PONTE VEDRA RECORDER LETTER: Commissioner job is full time (contrary to CSX goober MARK MINER'S inane assumptions)

Commissioner job is full time

I got a call from a person who had attended a candidate’s forum in the northwest sector of the county.

They said County Commission candidate Mark Miner was asked how he was going to manage to be a commissioner, since he had a full time job and was going to school part time.

Apparently he replied that it would not be a problem since the job of commissioner was only part-time.

They asked me, if that was true about the job being only part time?

I thought about the 40 to 60 hours a week I spent my first year. On July 27, a newspaper story listed his campaign money was mostly coming from developers.

So the answer came to me. It may well be part time, if all you do is show up and vote the way you’ve been told. It’s happened often enough before and will no doubt again.

Mary F. Kohnke

Former St. Johns County Commissioner

Ponte Vedra Beach

Ponte Vedra Recorder: Campaign Finance Investigation

Campaign Finance Investigation
Mark Pettus | August 7, 2008 | 0 Comments


One county office seeker is now answering investigators’ questions about his current office – and several other current and former candidates may soon join him in the investigators’ hot seat.

Randy Brunson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the St. Johns County Commission District 5 seat is the subject of a Florida Elections Commission investigation into whether or not he violated campaign finance laws by failing to report the lease terms on his campaign headquarters.

Brunson moved into the office in the old Bozart Ford location at 1800 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in St. Augustine in January. His campaign finance reports, which can be viewed online at the St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Web site show he has been paying water, electric, sewer and phone bills on the property since that time.

Local resident and community activist Ed Slavin says he noticed in May that Brunson had not reported paying any rent, and so Slavin filed a complaint with the Elections Commission.

In July, after he had been notified about the complaint and investigation, Brunson filed a report showing he had recently paid $800 rent for the year, through Aug. 31. He also sent a notarized copy of a lease requiring him to pay $100 per month for the property, payable at the end of August.

Brunson confirmed that he was under investigation, but said, “All I can tell you is that everything is legal.”

Slavin said in his complaint the property in question is owned by a rich hotelier who often asks favors of local government. Brunson and Slavin both say the property is valued at $2.7 million.

But you would have to go in and see it,” Brunson said. “I’ve had ladies come in who couldn’t stay because of the termites, and mites and etc.”

Slavin believes the office is worth much more than $100 per month. “Do you know where I can get a deal like that?” he asked.

The investigation is continuing, and Brunson’s case will likely be heard during the Elections Commission’s meeting in November. For more on this story read next week’s Ponte Vedra Recorder.

Slavin has also filed complaints against one other current candidate and two candidates who ran in 2006. All three cases are pending, and the Ponte Vedra Recorder will report details as soon as they are available.

IN HAEC VERBA Insight Into Maria Sanchez Lake Fish Kill

See excerpt below, from the Florida League of Cities website, insight into what may have gone wrong:
1. Continuous monitoring "from an office in City Hall?" No one is there on Saturdays. It should be located at the water plant, staffed 24/7.
2. Stormwater flowing directly into the lake? Could be heavy metals from there and/or lake sediments from long-ago pollution.
As the excerpt suggests, City goobers like Sam Lansdale practically break their armsd patting themselves on the back. They need to learn environmental law and stop polluting our Nation's Oldest City!

Maria Sanchez Lake Weir Project
City of St. Augustine
The replacement of the Maria Sanchez Lake flood gate valves with a new automated weir gate system was completed in spring 2006. The weir gates, lake temperature and dissolved oxygen content as well as the water levels of the lake and adjoining marsh, now can be continuously monitored from an office in City Hall. Since the weir gate completion in 2006, the summer fish kills have been averted. Also, the lake water level was automatically lowered during heavy rainfalls in September 2007 to allow additional runoff from the streets.
Contact: Sam Lansdale
Assistant Director of Public Works
City of St. Augustine
P.O. Box 210
75 King Street
St. Augustine, FL 32085
Phone: (904) 825-1040
E-mail: slansdale@ci.staugustine.fl.us

http://www.flcities.com/membership/innovations_water.asp

"Forums" That Require Voters to Write Their Questions on Cards Do a Disservice to Democracy

Cross-examination was the greatest engine ever invented for uncovering truth. When these aspiring fora make you fill out cards to ask questions, they insult your intelligence. There's no followup. Often questions are not asked. Flagler College does this at its public policy forum, and a growing number of candidate appearances are before fora where you can't speak, but can only hand in a card in hopes that someone might read it. Among others guilty of this practice are our St. Augustine Democratic Club (of which I am a member), the NAACP (of which I am a member), the League of Women Voters, the Vilano Beach Civic Association (and the list goes on).
Monday night, I felt sorry for Pat Gill (LWV) and Editor Peter Ellis (St. Augustine Record), stuck with a boring format and unable to ask followup questions. As I told Pat Gill afterwards, we don't need schoolmarms or censors -- let us ask our own questions, please (and followup when politicians duck their questions).
The liveliest moment was when Pete Ellis (referred to as "one questioner" in Peter Guinta's story) asked candidates to raise their hands about fees.
But the question about who was under investigation by the Florida Election Commission was not asked. The questions about a county Inspector General (as in Miami-Dade, Florida; Wayne County, Michigan and New Orleans, Louisiana) were not asked. The same old stale questions turn people off to politics and let politicians get away with platitudes.
We need sparks, the way Tim Russert conducted interviews -- we need watchdogs for inquistors, not lapdogs.
Let us speak at these fora, or they will be poorly attended (as was Monday's LWV event, mainly attended by politicians, lobbyists and entourages).
Let us ask our own questions and stop playing schoolmarm and censor.
Also, let fora go on longer.

Candidates square off at forum

Candidates square off at forum

By PETER GUINTA
http://staugustine.com/stories/080508/politics_080508_002.shtml

The St. Johns County Candidate Forum at the County Auditorium offered an amusing moment Monday in what otherwise was a rote listing of each one's personal qualifications and oft-repeated concerns about planning, public safety and fiscal responsibility.

At one point, a questioner asked all seven County Commission hopefuls to raise their hands if they'd support imposing user fees to pay for fire services instead of using property taxes.

No one moved a muscle.

No one wanted to be linked in any way with July's fire fee debacle.

The 90-minute forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of St. Johns County and the St. Augustine Record.

A couple of candidates launched lukewarm attacks on opponents. None resulted in sharp exchanges.

District 1 challenger Albert Abbatiello tried to get his opponent, Vice Chairwoman Cyndi Stevenson, to respond in kind by accusing her of being supported by "developers, attorneys and other special interests,"

Stevenson brushed it aside, saying none of what Abbatiello said was based in fact.

Introducing herself she said, "It will take experience and fiscal responsibility to get through these hard times."

Even District 3 incumbent Ben Rich and his opponent, challenger Mark Miner, didn't verbally spar, as they have at other forums.

Rich introduced himself saying he was "plain talking" and does what he says he'll do. But he didn't know what the county would do to raise operating revenues because, "I'm only 20 percent of the board."

He said it's always tempting to give simple answers to complex questions.

For his part, Miner jabbed Rich only gently, saying that he would treat people with civility and respect, implying that Rich did not. This accusation has caused anger between them at other forums.

Not this time.

Miner also mentioned the 800 megahertz radio system that county emergency management wants for response coordination between public safety agencies and other counties, saying it would be a high priority for him.

"My opponent was talking about it four years ago. We still don't have it," Miner said. "It's time for my generation to be part of the solution."

The forum covered issues not frequently touched upon in these events, such as improving the evacuation times of St. Johns County's coastal areas when a large hurricane approaches, the candidates' opinions on holding constitutional officers to budget standards, the effect that Amendment 5 would have on county finances, dealing with the homeless.

One or two candidates broke though the background noise and made specific comments on an issue.

District 5 candidate Randy Brunson repeated what he's said at several forums: "It's all arithmetic."

He seemed to be saying that every problem pretty much breaks down to how to pay for its solution.

"Right now, 84 percent of our taxes are paid by homeowners," Brunson said. "We need industry here for good-paying jobs. We need vision and incentives."

His opponent, Ken Bryan, said county revenue sources are limited.

"It's either property tax, sales tax or fines and fees," said Bryan. "We have to decide where the money's coming from."

He added later that voters should check out a candidate's campaign contributions and where the money came from.

"Find out who they work for," he said.

Gary McMahon, seeking the District 5 seat, addressed health care right away and said he wanted to protect funding for the St. Johns County Health Clinic.

"One third of the homeless have severe mental disorders, and there are no facilities for housing them," he said.

Rich said, "The problem (of homelessness) is more complex than looking at it as a local issue."

Stevenson hit at the evacuation issue, saying that "unprecedented growth in coastal areas" worsened the problem of traffic congestion during storms.

"The state made insurance available in coastal areas," she said. "We need shelters west of I-95, we need to harden our homes, and we need the outer beltway.

"We shouldn't go to Jacksonville because they are lower than we are."

NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER REPORT NO. 879683 FILED ON MARIA SANCHEZ LAKE FISH KILL, ALLEGEDLY DUE TO FERTILIZER RUNOFF

Unadorned by any scientific evidence, an engineer from the City of St. Augustine claims that heavy rains on August 2 fertilizer from nearby homes possibly killed some 250 fish in Maria Sanchez Lake. No laboratory test results were identified. This is a wild-ass guess. It could just as easily have been fertilizer the city placed on Maria Sanchez Lake's grassy border. Or it could be heavy metals in the sediments of Maria Sanchez Lake, stirred up by the heavy rains. The articles below indicate our city has disposed of the fish. Is this spoliation of evidence? Are the fish being analyzed?
The matter has been referred to the National Response Center (800-424-8802) for federal and state investigation. It might be caused by fertilizer, but independent testing the fish will provide the answers. We don't trust the City of St. Augustine to test the fish. Flummery and dupery over illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir and the Matanzas River persuaded me to call the National Response Center. The report number is 879683.
You too can report pollution -- call the National Response Center (800-424-8802).
Ask questions and don't take no for an answer.

FIRST COAST NEWS: ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- A St. Augustine lake has experienced a fish kill. Dozens of small fish died in Maria Sanchez Lake near downto

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- A St. Augustine lake has experienced a fish kill.

Dozens of small fish died in Maria Sanchez Lake near downtown St. Augustine Monday.

A city official said the heavy rains from this past weekend pushed run-off into the lake, bumping up the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the lake.

Clean up is under way.

Lake's fish go belly up Fertilizer runoff likely (sic) killed the 250 poggies downtown

Lake's fish go belly up

Fertilizer runoff likely killed the 250 poggies downtown

By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/06/08

Roughly 250 fish turned up dead in the Maria Sanchez Lake in downtown St. Augustine on Tuesday, and city engineers believe heavy rain over the weekend is to blame.

Marcus Pinson, city engineer, said a downpour on Saturday likely caused fertilizers from yards at the homes that surround the lake to run off into the water, causing the fish kill.

The city flushed the lake and brought in more water from the Intracoastal Waterway.

The lake is an off-shoot of the Intracoastal; a weir connects the two bodies of water. The city controls the amount of water from the Intracoastal that flows into the lake by opening and closing the weir, Pinson said.

The city's parks department cleaned up the dead fish. Pinson said city staff will continue to test the lake's water and monitor the fish.

Although the lake has numerous types of fish, such as mullet and red fish, only Menhadens, known as poggies, were found dead in the lake.

"Poggies are very tempermental fish," Pinson said.

Several Woodstorks and other birds feasted on the fish Tuesday afternoon, but Pinson said even if the fish did die from a chemical it won't affect the birds.

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/080608/news_080608_031.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

DIRTY POLITICS IN ST. JOHNS COUNTY -- HERE'S WHAT WILLIAM PROCTOR HAD MAILED TO DEFEAT KERRY McCARTHY IN 2002

KERRY McCARTHY

http://www.jrfinc.com/samples/pdf/JRFINCsheep.pdf


Representative WILLIAM L. PROCTOR is a political hack and Flagler College Chancellor who is guilty of attacking a Republican primary candidate as a wolf in sheep's clothing because she's related to JFK, RFK and Senator Ted Kennedy (my first boss).

How do we know PROCTOR did it? It's on the web page of REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM L. PROCTOR's Dallas, Texas political consultant.

Hardly "gentlemanly," to use one of PROCTOR's trite tropes. http://www.jrfinc.com/samples/pdf/JRFINCsheep.pdf


Actually, pretty mean-spirited, if you ask me.

PROCTOR -- the meanest man in St. Augustine -- can't handle the truth.


Florida State Reprobate WILLIAM L. PROCTOR (R-20th), Chancellor of Flagler College


A Weasel

(Notice the family resemblance?)



Florida State Reprobate WILLIAM L. PROCTOR (R-20th), Chancellor of Flagler College


A Weasel

(Notice the family resemblance?)




He's pretty much a weasel.

THE ECONOMIST Magazine on crooked Republicans -- "Stevens affair poses awkward questions about Senate"

Stevens affair poses awkward questions about Senate

Friday, August 1, 2008
Last updated 11:40 a.m. PT

THE ECONOMIST

Thomas Jefferson once asked George Washington why he had agreed to a two-house Congress. Washington, noting that Jefferson had poured his tea into his saucer in order to cool it, said that he had answered his own question. "We pour House legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it."

But the father of the nation never imagined that the inhabitants of his cooling chamber might try to pocket the silverware and run off with the teapot.

On July 29 Ted Stevens, the senior senator for Alaska and the longest-serving Republican in the upper house, was indicted on seven counts by the Justice Department.

The department accuses Stevens of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars of services he received from an oil company that had helped to renovate his home. He denies all the charges.

The "services" seem paltry given the billions of dollars at stake in oil deals. His house is hardly a mansion: One newspaper talks of "peeling paint and an overgrown backyard." Stevens' loot included some furniture and a stove.

The interesting thing about the Stevens case is not what it tells us about suspected corruption but about everyday political life in Stevens' intersecting worlds, Alaska, the Senate and the Republican Party.

Stevens has used his decades in the Senate – he first arrived there in 1968 – to pour billions of dollars into his home state: so much money that Alaskans refer to him as "Uncle Ted," talk of "Stevens money" and joke about changing the name of the currency to "the Ted."

The state is littered with tributes to his powers, such as the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. There is even a federal penitentiary named after him.

Alaska likes to think of itself as the "last frontier" – a place where rugged entrepreneurs carve a living out of an unforgiving landscape. But in fact it is a quasi-welfare state. Alaska has been number one in per capita federal spending for more than 16 years, with $13,800 being spent on each Alaskan in 2006.

Much of the state's economy – particularly oil and fishing – is based on making money out of government-controlled land and sea. Each of its 680,000 inhabitants gets an annual payout from the state's oil fund of $1,654.

Stevens puts up a vigorous defense of his activities. Alaska is a unique state with unique needs, he argues: a geographically isolated and sparsely populated giant of a place that was only admitted to the Union in 1959, it needs government money in order to pump-prime the private economy.

But Stevens' model of development had created an inbred class of politicians and businessmen who spend their lives doing favors for each other.

Stevens was first appointed to his Senate seat by the then-governor, Walter Hickel. The junior senator, Lisa Murkowski, was appointed by her father, Frank Murkowski, when he left the Senate to become governor. (She has since been re-elected.)

These hereditary politicians – and dozens of smaller players in the state capital, Juneau – are all hand in glove with the state's big industries, particularly oil. Some local politicians have even taken to wearing baseball caps embroidered with the letters CBC – for "Corrupt Bastards Club." The scandal that is consuming Stevens is also consuming lots of local politicians, including his son.

The Stevens affair poses some awkward questions about the Senate. Its seniority system gives extraordinary power to people who can get in early – perhaps because they have a family name like Kennedy or a powerful patron – and then stay around for as long as possible.

This gives a disproportionate amount of power to people from small states with non-competitive political systems (Stevens was chairman of the Senate's most powerful arm, the cash-dispensing Appropriations Committee, for seven years.)

It also encourages states to keep voting for incumbents and incumbents to hang on until they drop. The current Senate contains 26 people who are 70 or over.

It also poses yet more problems for the Republican Party in an election year. Stevens' indictment gives the Democrats a chance to resurrect the corruption charges they used so effectively in 2006. It also gives them a chance to raise the question of hypocrisy.

The Republicans have always claimed to be the party of limited government and fiscal restraint. But when it comes to their own constituents they are all for handing out free money.

Is Stevens' disgrace proof that people have had enough of all this? There are some encouraging signs. Alaskans once named Stevens "Alaskan of the century." Now they seem ashamed of what he stands for.

Even before this week, he was stuck in a close re-election race against his Democratic rival, Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, and also facing a primary challenge from a disgruntled Republican. Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, has made her name campaigning against the state's corruption and nepotism.

Stevens has also become a national symbol of out-of- control spending. His voluble support for a $400 million "bridge to nowhere" – in fact, to a sparsely populated island where his friends owned land – helped to create a huge backlash against "earmarks," particularly among fiscal conservatives.

Tom Coburn, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, tried to divert the largesse from Alaska to Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. John McCain is a long-standing campaigner against pork-barrel spending.

Stevens managed to roll over the objections to his bridge in the Senate. "I will put the Senate on notice – and I don't kid people – if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state, to take money from our state, I'll resign from this body. This is not the Senate I came to."

It would be nice to think that Stevens is right for once about his last point. But the Senate is pretty hard to shame. Stevens' successor as chairman of the Appropriations Committee is Robert Byrd, a 90-year-old Democrat from the pork-gobbling state of West Virginia.

From The Economist magazine. Copyright 2008 Economist Newspaper Ltd.

© 1998-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

In response to Florida Elections Commissions complaints on four Republican politicians (including its Mark Miner), what did CSX Transpo do?

Yes. CSX Googled(R) me.
Here's to CSX, whose response to a PR disaster of its own creation is to investigate the person who reported the lawbreaking to government authorities. In the corrupt spirit of General Motors Corporation (and its Washington law firm of Alvord & Alvord), which responded to Ralph Nader not by making cars safer, but by investigating Nader, his sex life, etc., including illegal surveillance.
Yes, yes, yes, CSX' response to an investigation of illegal campaign contributions involving its Director of Diversity and Veterans Hiring, Mark Miner (aged 25, with no college degree) is what?
Yes, CSX Googled(R) me. How indescribably uncreative. How boring and predictable.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Meanwhile, the silly go on Google.
The answers to the exam on corporate corruption are not on Google(R), Mark Miner.
Ask KAREN STERN what she has gotten you into, Mark Miner.
Did she tell you about her own pending investigation before the Florida Election Commission, involving fundraising tactics similar to your own?
Or did you just take her word for it (and those of others)?

CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE NAMES REP. MICA "PORKER OF THE MONTH"

CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE NAMES REP. MICA "PORKER OF THE MONTH"




Representative John L. Mica

Rep. John Mica
Washington Office:
Phone: (202) 225-4035
Fax: (202) 226-0821

CAGW Names Rep. Mica Porker of the Month

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) its July Porker of the Month for his opposition to an earmark ban and defense of earmarks.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, on July 8, Rep. Mica said, “There’s no way in hell I would support banning earmarks … That’s our job, getting elected and making decisions. Yes, there are bad earmarks, like there are bad members of Congress. And what you do is get rid of them.”

CAGW’s 2008 Congressional Pig Book uncovered 11,610 pork-barrel projects worth $17.2 billion in the 12 fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills. Contrary to what Rep. Mica thinks, all earmarks are bad because they are congressionally targeted expenditures which bypass the normal budget rules and are unaccountable. The 2008 Pig Book included $3,000,000 for The First Tee; $1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service; and $188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine.

Earmarking is not Congress’ “job,” as Rep. Mica claims. Before the 1980s, Congress would fund general grant programs and let federal and state agencies select individual recipients through a competitive process or formula. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees named specific projects only when they had been the subject of hearings and approved by authorizing committees. Members of Congress with local concerns would lobby the president and federal agencies for consideration. The normal budget process, which is aimed at preventing abuse and allocating resources on the basis of merit and need, has become a sideshow in the scramble by individual appropriations committee members to pick winners and losers based on seniority.

Earmarking invites corrupt behavior. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s indictment and conviction (R-Calif.) for earmarking in return for bribes is the most notorious example. In June, it was revealed that former Congressman John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) is being investigated by the Justice Department for his role in directing earmarks to a lobbyist. On July 2, The Washington Times ran an opinion piece that documented how a program to combat improvised explosive devices in Iraq was earmarked to an inexperienced contractor who had bribed and donated to members of Congress. That program was a failure that cost not just tax dollars, but American lives.

The concept of an earmark ban has gained traction in the wake of these abuses. In March, a Senate amendment to the 2009 budget resolution to impose a year-long moratorium on congressional earmarks was co-sponsored by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), among others, but lost 29-71. Forty Representatives and six Senators have made personal pledges not to request any earmarks this year. An earmark ban will allow members to reform the appropriations process, devote more attention to critical national issues, and help keep money in taxpayers’ wallets instead of diverting it to Washington where it can be converted into pork.

For opposing an earmark ban or moratorium and defending the out of control earmarking process, CAGW names Rep. John Mica its July 2008 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
####
For more information, contact: Alexa Moutevelis
202-467-5318
amoutevelis@cagw.org




Representative John L. Mica





Representative John L. Mica