It’s right there in the proffer of facts by the United States Attorney’s office – with which former COUNTY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN THOMAS GEORGE MANUEL agreed -- it is stated that MANUEL demanded a developer (FALCONE GROUP LLC and controversial lawyer GEORGE McCLURE) make contributions to MANUEL’s own campaign fund and to the COUNCIL ON AGING, or else their future business in St. Johns County would be in jeopardy. We call that a “shakedown.”
After that happened, controversial developer lawyer GEORGE McCLURE and his client then reported MANUEL to the FBI and secretly recorded conversations in which MANUEL accepted $60,000 in return for approving requests by FALCONE GROUP LLC and its TWIN CREEKS development to sell land to the County for an interchange at SR 210 and Interstate 95.
The longtime President of the COUNCIL ON AGING is none other than lawyer JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., the Mayor of St. Augustine.
On page 5 of THOMAS GEORGE MANUEL’s plea agreement, the former County Commission Chairman agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in testifying against other persons, providing “substantial assistance” to the United States Department of Justice.
Those other persons must be sweating bullets right now.
Those other persons may include lawyers, developers, politicians and others who may have committed much bigger crimes – crimes against nature and crimes again our democracy.
Those other persons may include the satraps who pollute and who empower others who do.
Those other persons may include other bribe-takers and bribe-payers.
Those other persons may include the people who authorized 80,000 homes to be built, without making developers do enough to provide roads, bridges, sewers, water, schools, parks and other “infrastructure.”
Bribery (and its punishment by society) has ancient roots.
As Judge John Noonan of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals writes in his book, “Bribes – The Intellectual History of A Moral Idea,” some cultures execute bribe-payers and bribe-takers. Others tolerate bribery. Some pass laws against it but rarely enforce them. In our own Nation, Judge Noonan writes, the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery was short of the required votes in Congress to send it to the states – until money as passed around.
Former California Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh said, “money is the mother’s milk of politics.”
One U.S. Supreme Court practitioner told his family in the 1960s that it had gotten really hard to bribe the Supreme Court now that Robert Kennedy was Attorney General.
One former Florida lobbyist told me that the only difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the Democrats want their money in a paper bag while the Republicans prefer it in a briefcase.
Corruption.
That's why we have problems enacting national health care and other reforms. That's why our economy collapsed, under the weight of Congressional and Presidential corruption that let big-shot crooks prosper, destroying our pensions and stealing our savings and investments.
We regulate bribes in this country, reporting campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission and state and local offices where we can read them online.
Occasionally, one is shocked by the identity of alleged and convicted bribe-takers – the scholarly Harvard lawyer Congressman WILLIAM JEFFERSON, who rose from poverty to Congress, only to try to shake down African governments (leading to his being the first Congressman to be charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. and in another recent case (below) Judge BOBBY DELAUGHTER, who as Assistant DA successfully prosecuted BYRON DE LA BECKWITH for the murder of Mississippi civil rights leader MEDGAR EVERS. (DELAUGHTER was portrayed by Alec Baldwin in the movie, “GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI.”)
At today’s plea hearing, former County Commission chairman THOMAS G. MANUEL testified that he suffers from bipolar disorder, which he realized upon hearing the FBI tapes, in which he sounded rather “manicky,” verifying his impression he was bipolar with his ex-wife’s sister, a psychiatrist and seeking professional help.
MANUEL, a heart transplant recipient, is on some 21 different medications.
United States Magistrate Judge Howard T. Snyder carefully and compassionately examined MANUEL about his mental state and his knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of all of his constitutional rights to jury trial, confrontation, cross-examination, unanimous jury verdict and presumption of innocence. MANUEL testified that he was not pleading guilty due to any threat coercion or promise.
Judge Howard had a compassionate and earnest affect as he took the plea and asked the requisite questions – this is not a judge who looks down his nose at criminal defendants or civil litigants. He had a very kind, professional judicial temperament, asking MANUEL and his attorney, William Sheppard, to sit in front of the Courtroom Deputy’s bench while he asked the questions our Constitution requires. After the U.S. Attorney’s proffer, Judge Howard looked at MANUEL and said, “That’s what you did?” “Yes, sir,” MANUEL replied, humbly.
Some of the “yes, sir” answers that MANUEL gave were after some l-o-o-o-ng pauses – you got the impression he had something he wanted to say, and hopefully he will and hopefully it will involve the crooked one-party misrule of St. Johns County by the developers and their Republican toadies.
Before his arrest, I rather liked TOM MANUEL and was impressed with his brilliance. Of course, he was dumb as a coal bucket to take bribes, but he had some good ideas.
One of those good ideas was transparency – when he interviewed County Administrator candidates, he opened his interviews to the public – when Michael Wanchick, the successful candidate was interviewed, Indymedia writer Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D., reporter Peter Guinta of the St. Augustine Record, and I watched.
When MANUEL pushed for the County Charter (which lost twice last year), it was seemingly with good intentions. But the execution was flawed, the drafting was horrible and the Charter was poorly written. When I proposed a series of strengthening amendments to the County Commission, including provisions for an Ombuds and an Inspector General, MANUEL had read them and said as I approached the podium, “You have extra time,” letting me make the proposals and answer questions for some ten or twelve minutes.
That may have one of the few times (perhaps even the only time) in history that anyone spoke favorably to St. Johns County Commissioners about Gay and Lesbian rights (I asked Commissioners to add GLBT people into Section 10.06 of the County Charter, which would have banned discrimination by the government). A prior Commission had voted unanimously to allow rent-free use of the $16.9 million County Convention Center at World Golf Village for a March 15, 2005 anti-Gay hate rally, presided over by President Reagan’s former UNESCO Ambassador, Dr. Alan Keyes, Ph.D. [Less than three months later, a federal court ordered the City of St. Augustine to fly Rainbow flags on our Bridge of Lions, an action I encouraged be brought by the St. Augustine Gay Pride Committee because of the arrogance of the Gay-haters in our local government, like KAREN STERN, JIM BRYANT and BRUCE MAGUIRE, all of whom supported the taxpayer-subsidized Gay-bashing KKK-style meeting in the County Convention Center.]
In contrast to Commissioners STERN, MAGUIRE and BRYANT, TOM MANUEL didn’t have a bigoted bone in his body – he professed to be – and impressed me as -- a “Nelson Rockefeller Republican,” one who defended human rights.
That is apparently one big reason why the local KKK types get nasty with him. Former Commission Chairman Ben Rich recently told Folio Weekly that St. Johns County is “one of the last bastions of the Ku Klux Klan.” How true. Ever read Plazabum.com and Shamefulpeople.com? It’s the KKK metastasized and gone fully electronic.
TOM MANUEL gave one hope that the developers might no longer be in control, which is why it was so disappointing that he took bribes from one of them.
I always found County Commission Chairman THOMAS GEORGE MANUEL to be a fascinating, intelligent person, both in public and in a few private discussions in MANUEL’s office with Dr. Hines and me. (Wonder if any were taped by the FBI? Stay tuned.)
When MANUEL took on the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission of St. Johns County, he seemed to have bitten off more than he could chew. On one occasion, he seemed, rather arrogant, dismissive and rude and laughing and making joking remarks to me in the back of the Mosquito Control Commission meeting room, as I tried to take notes.
It now makes sense to me that MANUEL has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
I felt like MANUEL wanted to take over the Mosquito Control Commission for self-aggrandizing reasons – he wanted their $5 million surplus and he wanted a victory. He enjoyed the game of politics. Having survived a heart transplant, he wanted to make his impact, to make life better for others.
I explained to MANUEL publicly and privately why Mosquito Control should remain independent. At least he listened.
Having been a student of American politics since I was six years old), I easily figured out his game with the Airport and Mosquito Control and told him so – and he grinned from ear to ear. What I told him was that the academic literature on hostile corporate takeover offers shows that whether the takeover effort succeeds or not, it shakes up corpulent mangers, and increases shareholder value. He grinned when I told him I knew what he was doing and why. I think MANUEL said something like, “so you understand there’s a method to my madness.” We had a good laugh.
MANUEL thereafter used the phrase “increase shareholder value” as a mantra in threatening takeovers of Mosquito Control and the Airport.
Although they are independent taxing districts, he held them up to questions and accountability (and that’s a good thing).
When I spoke to the Commission meeting about the Airport Authority’s status, an Airport manager who did not identify himself came up to me at my seat during a recess, called me a liar and put his finger in my face, demanding I tell him my source for the assertion that Airport Authority Commissioners earlier opposed scheduled airlines because they’d make things difficult for rich guys to land their airplanes. (The source was his own website). I cussed the energumen out, dismissed him and told him where to go. An Airport Authority minion then called over a Sheriff’s deputy, who gave me one of this LEO come hither gestures and asked me to “wait here.” I told him, “I’m not waiting anywhere” and walked right up to County Commission Chairman TOM MANUEL, told him exactly what had taken place (including my space being invaded, my nose being intruded upon and the exact curse words that I told the Airport manager). MANUEL thereupon directed the Sheriff’s Department to leave me alone because I was within my rights. We had a good laugh and shook hands, knowing that his efforts to hold the Airport accountable would succeed, whether or not the County took over the Airport or not.
MANUEL dreamed of taking over the City of St. Augustine through consolidation. He said he’d let them “keep their little swords,” but that there was much waste. I told him that if we didn’t elect reformers in November 2008, I’d help him take over the City of St. Augustine in 2009. That never happened – MANUEL was indicted and arrested on October 15, 2008.
When he ran for Commissioner in 2006, MANUEL was dogged by accusations from Sheriff DAVID SHOAR f/k/a DAVID HOAR that MANUEL was a mafia associate. MANUEL won anyway, and the proof of the SHERIFF’s charges was never provided. Later the Sheriff was said to be plotting to “set up” TOM MANUEL. As head of the St. Johns County political machine, it appears our High Sheriff succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Like Jerry Brown as Governor of California, MANUEL believed in asking questions and
stirring things up – satyagraha, as Gandhi called it. That drove the KKK and the crooks nuts, because as United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant and electric light is the best policeman.”
A former banker, tourism business operator and consultant, MANUEL did indeed try to shake things up in this corrupt county.
But MANUEL also took bribes, “corruptly” taking money from a developer. That’s a tragedy and a sin.
My Catholic religious tradition teaches us to hate the sin and not the sinner.
Sitting in Federal Court this morning hearing former County Commission Chairman THOMAS G MANUEL plead guilty to bribery, I felt a wave of compassion toward former MANUEL, his wife and family.
Bribery is wrong. That is a moral absolute. But so is selective prosecution wrong.
Was this the first time in world history that devilish developer lawyer GEORGE McCLURE ever provided money or other things of value to a politician? What do you reckon?
If ex-SHERIFF NEIL PERRY committed crimes and he wasn’t prosecuted, why wasn’t he? Is it because he was a friend of JEB BUSH. And if SHERIFF DAVID SHOAR bragged about how he was going to “set up” MANUEL, will he now be prosecuted?
I sincerely hope that TOM MANUEL writes a book about this corrupt county. As President Richard Nixon once noted when he feared he might go to prison, many best-selling books were written in prison. In fact, Amazon.com reports that people who wrote major works in prison include these eighteen world-famous authors: Saint Paul, Saint Thomas More, Boethius, Machiavelli, Cervantes, Sir Walter Raleigh, John Bunyan, Henry David Thoreau, Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, O. Henry, Wittgenstein, Gandhi, Genet, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ezra Pound, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and (drum roll) Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I hope TOM MANUEL starts working on his own book, and wish him well – I hope it reveals everything and becomes a best-seller.
Dr. King also wrote a famous letter from the St. Augustine Jail to New Jersey rabbis on June 12, 1964, inviting what became the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history, the following week – in that letter he excoriated local segregationists and called the government of the City of St. Augusine the “most lawless” in America – that’s still true.
To combat that “most lawless city” and the surrounding county, I also hope that TOM MANUEL now helps the feds throw the book at every crooked, grasping, greedy, materialistic developer, politician, lawyer, and henchmen in St. Johns County, from the City of St. Augustine to Ponte Vedra to St. Augustine Beach to Fruit Cove to Hastings to Marineland.
With THOMAS MANUEL’s promise in paragraph 5 of his plea agreement for “cooperation” with the feds, there is nothing that the FBI, a Grand Jury and the U.S. Attorney won’t be able to do. There could be dozens of criminal prosecutions before they’re through.
I reckon we’re going to clean up this city and county – now with THOMAS MANUEL’s “substantial assistance,” as promised in the plea, in the case of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. THOMAS GEORGE MANUEL.
Our county is a paradise, and it deserves a St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway in time for the 450th anniversary of St. Augustine, the 500th anniversary of Spanish Florida and the 50th anniversary of civil rights demonstrations that helped bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Like the late Senator Jim King, County Commission Chairman TOM MANUEL said he liked the National Park idea and he wanted to increase environmental and historic tourism. He also sought to increase “shareholder value” for the Tourist Development Council.
The crooks who would turn our paradise here in St. Johns County into an unreasonable facsimile of Ft. Lauderdale must now realize that they are no longer in control. Ironically, if they set up TOM MANUEL, their actions have let loose a terrible swift sword – the FBI and the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The awesome powers of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are now focusing like so many Tomahawk cruise missiles on the corrupt and the corrupters here in St. Augustine and St. Johns County. I just wish my friend David Thundershield Queen had lived to see this day.
As JFK said, “here on Earth, God’s work must truly be our own.”
What do you reckon?
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