By PETER GUINTA
Posted Jun 15, 2013 at 12:19 AM
Father of Beach commissioner arrested in voting probe
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputies late Thursday arrested the 68-year-old father of St. Augustine Beach City Commissioner Undine Pawlowski on a warrant asserting false swearing and submission of false voter registration.
Michel S. Pawlowski of Edgewater, Md., completed and signed voter registration forms three different times when he came to Florida, according to the state attorney’s affidavit.
Undine, an attorney, won her second race by 600 votes. Her commission term expires in 2014.
“My father voluntarily surrendered himself on a claim that he wasn’t properly registered to vote in St. Johns County, though it was the only district where he has been registered,” she said Friday in a prepared statement. “I am perfectly comfortable that everything will resolve in my father’s favor. I have the utmost trust and confidence in my father’s integrity and I certainly did not win the election by his one vote.”
Jacksonville attorney Hank Coxe, representing the elder Pawlowski, took the case Friday and said no court date has yet been scheduled.
“There’s no claim that he voted in Maryland or voted in two places,” Coxe said. “We’ll deal with it in court.”
Beach politics have been chilly - some would say fractured - for quite a while.
Former Beach Mayor Frank Charles said he made the initial complaint because, “I don’t like voter fraud. To see it at such as low level in a city race made it worse in my mind.”
After his complaint led to a warrant and arrest, Charles wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Scott asking that the younger Pawlowski be suspended from her commission post.
“My belief that current St. Augustine Beach Commissioner Undine Pawlowski was well aware of her father’s actions compels me to request that you consider investigating her and determining whether she should receive an immediate suspension from the commission,” Charles wrote. “As an elected official she needs to set an example of obeying the laws of our state.”
Charles said it began when he was examining the 2010 absentee ballots and saw the elder Pawlowski’s name on one.
“It showed that he lived at 405 F St., but I knew he never lived there,” Charles said.
That is the address of Undine’s former girlfriend, Donna Giancola.
However, after the two separated, Undine moved to a house on C Street.
According to the affidavit, her father has been homesteading property in Maryland since 2010.
Charles said he first brought his suspicions to the Supervisor of Elections Office but learned that a prospective voter didn’t have to show a driver’s license to obtain an absentee ballot.
He or she could swear an oath and be given one.
“I felt the local elections office had no authority to investigate my claims. Voter fraud is very serious and should not be ignored,” he said.
On June 5, Charles met with Assistant State Attorney Greg Holycross and swore out a complaint. A warrant was issued the same day, court records show.
The elder Pawlowski in September 2010 signed a voter registration form using the F Street address. In July 2011, he signed a form changing it to C Street. But two days later signed a third form changing it back to F Street, according to the state attorney’s affidavit.
“Pawlowski has never been a legal permanent resident of St. Johns County Florida and therefore was not qualified to register to vote or vote during any election,” the charging report said.
In January, Pawlowski was interviewed by the director of security for FEMA and said that the F Street address was his address and that his daughter lived there.
Affidavits from Giancola and another resident of F Street showed that claim to be untrue.
Charles said Undine “had to know” what was happening.
“If she was aware of her father’s actions and allowed him to use her addresses, I believe she will be guilty of violating (Florida law).” he said.