Bribed by UBER and FBI undercover agents posing as developers, Tallahassee City Commissioner and former Florida Democratic Party Chair SCOTT MADDOX has been removed from office by Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis.
Governor DeSantis rightly did so pursuant to Article IV, Section 7 of our Florida Constitution:
Suspensions; Filling Office During Suspensions
(a) By executive order stating the grounds and filed with the custodian of state records, the governor may suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment, any officer of the militia not in the active service of the United States, or any county officer, for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony, and may fill the office by appointment for the period of suspension. The suspended officer may at any time before removal be reinstated by the governor.
(b) The senate may, in proceedings prescribed by law, remove from office or reinstate the suspended official and for such purpose the senate may be convened in special session by its president or by a majority of its membership.
(c) By order of the governor any elected municipal officer indicted for crime may be suspended from office until acquitted and the office filled by appointment for the period of suspension, not to extend beyond the term, unless these powers are vested elsewhere by law or the municipal charter.[1]
It's time Governor DeSantis use that same power to remove St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR, who legally changed his name from "HOAR" in 1994.
It's time that Florida elected officials stop meeting secretly, ex parte, with developers and lobbyists. I've urged our local officials not to do so. I've told them, in public, at City and County Commission meetings, that they need to videotape all such meetings. I've told them "if you don't tape them, the FBI will. Just ask SCOTT MADDOX."
St. Johns County, St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach don't currently require lobbyists to register.
Wonder why?
Ask the FBI.
FBI's undercover investigations of corruption in North Florida are continuing.
Target in Florida FBI corruption probe removed from office
Associated Press Associated Press•August 9, 2019
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A suspended city commissioner who once ran the Florida Democratic Party has been removed from office.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Friday removing Scott Maddox from his Tallahassee commission seat. Maddox pleaded guilty earlier this week to wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud.
Maddox and his longtime associate, Paige Carter-Smith, admitted in federal court that they accepted $30,000 from Uber in exchange for his influence on the commission. They also admitted they accepted $30,000 from undercover FBI agents posing as developers. The payments were made to Carter-Smith's lobbying firm, and Carter-Smith gave a share to Maddox.
Maddox previously served as Tallahassee mayor and has been a Democratic candidate for attorney general, governor and agriculture commissioner. He ran the state Democratic Party from 2002 to 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment