Friday, June 16, 2017

ETHICS WATCH: St. Augustine Beach City Attorney JAMES PATRICK WILSON Avoids and Evades Accountability, Records Requests

Is City Attorney JAMES PATRICK WILSON covering up for corruption in St. Augustine Beach?
I recommended WILSON for his job, impressed he quit as City of St. Augustine City Attorney in 2006 as a result of the City dumping a landfill in a lake and neither asking him or telling him first.
But in recent months, as St. Augustine Beach City Attorney, JIM WILSON disappointingly:
1. Blocked efforts to refer Mayor RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN's code violation to Code Enforcement.
2. Testified in support of hotelier KANTI PATEL's demand to violate the St. Augustine Comprehensive Plan with a too-big hotel that would wreck the historic area.
3. Blocks Open  Records requests for City of St. Augustine Beach government records.
4. Asserted "proprietary data" for his legal research for St. Augustine Beach (if any) on issues involving triple-dipping City Planning and Building Director GARY RAYMOND LARSON.
5. Refused to request a State Attorney General's opinion on dual officeholding by LARSON.
6. Refused to prepare a legal memorandum on Mayor O'BRIEN's Code Enforcement violations or address the requirement to tear down 16 F Street under the Martin County case, which holds that developers who build an illegal building may be ordered to tear it down.
7. Proposed a First Amendment violating amendment to City of St. Augustine Beach public comment rules, rejected 3-2 by Commissioners Undine George, Maggie Kostka and Margaret England).
8. Changed law firms and got Commissioners to bless it without asking for public comment or placing it on the agenda.
9.  Appears to cozy with tortfeasors and developers and their mendacious mouthpieces, his pals.
10. Seems to have backslid into the slimy ways of too many louche lackey local government attorneys in Florida, indulging the worst of developers and compromised government officials.
JIM WILSON, my friend -- as they say in East Tennessee, "he bears watchin'!"

JAMES PATRICK WILSON,
St. Augustine Beach City Attorney,
Partner, Coquina Law Group




-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: easlavin ; jpwilson ; sherri ; jeb
Cc: pat.gleason ; editor ; jared.keever ; comugeorge ; commkostka ; comsgsnodgrass ; comrobrien ; commengland ; news ; thomasfreynolds ; braddatz ; mroyle ; george.gabel ; judgelitt10 ; sunshine ; waltbog
Sent: Fri, Jun 16, 2017 10:06 am
Subject: Re: Request No. 2017-266: Communications re: Ed Slavin Open Records requests

Dear Mr. Wilson:
Please respond about mediation.
What legal authority supports your ukase about "proprietary data?"

Sounds like malarkey to me.
Please call to discuss as you promised a week ago.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: jpwilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>; sherri <sherri@slrennerlaw.com>; jeb <jeb@jebbranham.com>
Cc: pat.gleason <pat.gleason@myfloridalegal.com>; editor <editor@nassaucountyrecord.com>; jared.keever <jared.keever@staugustine.com>; comugeorge <comugeorge@cityofsab.org>; commkostka <commkostka@cityofsab.org>; comsgsnodgrass <comsgsnodgrass@cityofsab.org>; comrobrien <comrobrien@cityofsab.org>; commengland <commengland@cityofsab.org>; news <news@historiccity.com>; thomasfreynolds <thomasfreynolds@yahoo.com>; braddatz <braddatz@cityofsab.org>; mroyle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>; george.gabel <george.gabel@hklaw.com>; judgelitt10 <judgelitt10@gmail.com>; sunshine <sunshine@floridafaf.org>; waltbog <waltbog@nytimes.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 12, 2017 2:10 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2017-266: Communications re: Ed Slavin Open Records requests
Dear Mr. Wilson:
1. I respectfully disagree with your ukase.
2. I request that you kindly agree to Open Records mediation by the Assistant State Attorney General, Ms. Pat Gleason.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Wilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>
To: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>; sherri <sherri@slrennerlaw.com>; jeb <jeb@jebbranham.com>
Cc: editor <editor@nassaucountyrecord.com>; jared.keever <jared.keever@staugustine.com>; Comm George <comugeorge@cityofsab.org>; Comm Kostka <commkostka@cityofsab.org>; Comm Snodgrass <comsgsnodgrass@cityofsab.org>; Comm O'Brien <comrobrien@cityofsab.org>; Comm England <commengland@cityofsab.org>; news <news@historiccity.com>; thomasfreynolds <thomasfreynolds@yahoo.com>; Beverly Raddatz <braddatz@cityofsab.org>; Max Royle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>
Sent: Mon, Jun 12, 2017 2:02 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2017-266: Communications re: Ed Slavin Open Records requests
I have no documents responsive to your request.  The legal research done by Coquina Law Group is performed on proprietary software that requires a license to use and even if such were public documents (which they are not unless copies are sent to city officers and employees) they could not be shared as they were licensed only to Coquina Law Group and the firm license does not allow unauthorized users to have access. 

From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 1:52 PM
To: Jim Wilson; sherri@slrennerlaw.com; jeb@jebbranham.com
Cc: editor@nassaucountyrecord.com; jared.keever@staugustine.com; Comm George; Comm Kostka; Comm Snodgrass; Comm O'Brien; Comm England; news@historiccity.com; thomasfreynolds@yahoo.com
Subject: Request No. 2017-266: Communications re: Ed Slavin Open Records requests


Dear Ms. Renner and Messrs. Wilson and Branham:
Please send all documents concerning your strategy for responding or ignoring my Open Records requests to the City of St. Augustine Beach, Town of Hilliard and Town of Callahan.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998




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