Sink's audit raps 'Taj Mahal' courthouse

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Some judges "bullied" a state agency into building an opulent courthouse that cost taxpayers about 11 million more than it should have, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said Tuesday.

Sink said an audit by her office of what critics are calling Tallahassee's "Taj Mahal" courthouse shows rules, guidelines and possibly judicial ethics were violated but the only thing illegal was some art work.

The building for the 15-judge 1st District Court of Appeal includes such amenities as 20 miles of decorative African mahogany borders, etched glass and granite counter and desk tops, Sink said.

"What stands out to me is the appalling lack of leadership by the responsible parties throughout the entire process, the fact that no one was standing up and saying 'What about the taxpayers?'" Sink said at a news conference.

Sink, also the Democratic candidate for governor, ordered the audit in response to a St. Petersburg Times article in August on the courthouse's expensive features, including a dome, rotunda and columns, and lobbying by judges to get the Republican-controlled Legislature to fund it.

The courthouse is costing the state $425 per square foot compared to $250 for a new Department of Revenue building in the same part of town, Sink said.

It could have been built for $39.7 million originally appropriated with money left over, but extra amenities and contracting mistakes by the Department of Management Services pushed the price to $48.8 million, she said.

Sink wrote Gov. Charlie Crist, who oversees the the department, and Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady urging them to order investigations by their inspectors general.

"DMS was essentially bullied by some of the judges until they literally just turned over their authority for the project," Sink said.

The appeal court issued a statement saying it "did not and could not legally assert control of the project, but was appropriately consulted by the department throughout the process" and that the judges trusted the department "followed all applical laws and regulations."

The audit says the department exercised its legal authority to waive a requirement to bid the building's contract but violated its own rules because the waiver was signed in 2007 by Shane Strum, then the agency's chief of staff, instead of DMS Secretary Linda South. Strum is now Crist's chief of staff.

State law limits spending on art for such buildings to $100,000, so Sink said she'll refuse to pay a bill for $190,000 in excess of that limit. The court tried to get around that cap by calling the additional art "wall covering," Sink said.

Department officials said in a statement that they "are carefully reviewing the report and will address any concerns with the CFO's office." Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey said his staff also would review the audit "before making any recommendations to the governor about initiating an investigation by the inspector general."

Canady said in a statement he takes the issues raised in the audit very seriously and the high court will take action "including making any necessary internal reforms to ensure the public's money is spent wisely."

He also said he's asked the Supreme Court's inspector general to assist in that effort and forwarded the audit to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which handles ethics cases.

The only potential ethical breach, Sink said, might have been a 2008 trip by three judges and the court's clerk to tour a building housing the Michigan Supreme Court, which was the model for the Florida structure.

The audit says the contractor, Peter R. Brown Construction Inc., paid $12,800 to charter a plane but there's no evidence the court reimbursed the company. The state paid for an earlier Michigan trip by four judges.

Chief Judge Paul Hawkes, a former Republican legislator who took charge of the project for the court, and Judges Bradford Thomas and Jim Wolf took the second trip. Hawkes and Thomas also were on the first trip with Judge Robert Benton and now-retired Judge Edwin Browning.

Voters in the 1st District, which covers most of north Florida including the Panhandle, have a chance to decide whether to keep seven of the district judges on the bench, including Hawkes and Wolf. They are up for 'yes' or 'no' votes Nov. 2. The new governor would replace any judge who is removed.


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