Update, April 1, 2025: STILL WAITING FOR RECORDS FROM Florida House Speaker-designate SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON, who stands to profit from a controversial St. Johns County Attorney contract, a contract violation of public policy rubber-stamped by Commissioners on 3-2 vote on March 25, 2025.
I have now sent a third e-mail to County, which has not informed me about the date and time of the negotiation meeting, despite repeated requests to Commission Vice Chair Clay Murphy: Commissioner Murphy said that the date for the negotiation meeting has not yet been set, but that he will advise me when it is scheduled, so that I can attend.
On Friday, March 28, 2025 at 03:27:56 PM EDT, Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:
Dear Speaker-designate Garrison and Ms. Dixon::
Would you please be so kind as to tell me today the proposed date, time, place and agenda of the St. Johns County Attorney contract negotiation meeting between Vice Chair Clay Murphy and the law firm of Florida House Speaker-designate SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON?
Please send all related documents by PDF today, including draft contract and draft and final public Sunshine notice of negotiation meeting.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998
Earlier, I sent a followup e-mail to Speaker-designate GARRISON and County:
On Friday, March 28, 2025 at 02:32:49 PM EDT, Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:
Dear Speaker-designate Garrison and Ms. Dixon:
1. Please send me PDFs of the requested records today,
2. When would our Florida House Speaker-designate, Rep. SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON be available for an interview, either this weekend or on Monday, March 31, 2025, about his BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A. law firm's proposed role as our St. St. Johns County Attorney based on "influence?"
3. I look forward to hearing from both of you later today.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998
Pray for putative "reform" St. Johns County Commissioner Clay Murphy to reconsider his rash decision, joining with two pro-developer hick hack sad sacks, tatterdemalion Commissioners CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST and SARAH ARNOLD, uninformed, uneducated and gullible as usual.
On Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 01:39:10 PM EDT, Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:
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To Honorable Samuel Paul Garrison, Florida House Speaker-elect & Florida House Ethics Committee Chair
and Ms. Betty Dixon, St. Johns County Attorney's office:
Dear Speaker-elect Garrison and Ms. Dixon:
1. Would you please be so kind as to send me by tomorrow all Florida Bar, Florida Ethics Commission, Florida Attorney General, Florida House of Representatives or other legal opinions or requests for them, and all correspondence, on Speaker-elect Garrison's corporate law firm (BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P.A.) and its proposed hiring as the County Attorney for St. Johns County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the State of Florida, on the basis of Speaker-elect SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON's "influence?"
(Statement of Commission Vice Chair, Clay Murphy, on video, here: Mar 25, 2025 Special Board of County Commissioners - St. Johns County, FL
2. Florida law, F.S. 112.311, states:
Legislative intent and declaration of policy:
(5) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state that no officer or employee of a state agency or of a county, city, or other political subdivision of the state, and no member of the Legislature or legislative employee, shall have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect; engage in any business transaction or professional activity; or incur any obligation of any nature which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties in the public interest. To implement this policy and strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of the state in their government, there is enacted a code of ethics setting forth standards of conduct required of state, county, and city officers and employees, and of officers and employees of other political subdivisions of the state, in the performance of their official duties. It is the intent of the Legislature that this code shall serve not only as a guide for the official conduct of public servants in this state, but also as a basis for discipline of those who violate the provisions of this part.
(6) It is declared to be the policy of the state that public officers and employees, state and local, are agents of the people and hold their positions for the benefit of the public. They are bound to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the State Constitution and to perform efficiently and faithfully their duties under the laws of the federal, state, and local governments. Such officers and employees are bound to observe, in their official acts, the highest standards of ethics consistent with this code and the advisory opinions rendered with respect hereto regardless of personal considerations, recognizing that promoting the public interest and maintaining the respect of the people in their government must be of foremost concern.
F.S. 112.311
C. As I wrote our St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners on March 17, 2025 (items renumbered):
1. Conflicts of interest must be scrupulously guarded against. See, e.g., United States v. Mississippi Valley Generating Co., 364 U.S. 520, 548 (1961)("the 'Dixon-Yates' case," involving TVA rivals' conflicts of interest in a proposed Memphis coal-fired powerplant), citing Matthew 6:24 -- "no [person] can serve two masters," holding that laws and rules preventing conflicts of interest are aimed "not only at dishonor but at conduct that tempts dishonor."
2. All conflict of interest laws are based upon Matthew 6:24 ("A man cannot serve two masters"), which the unanimous Supreme Court decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren deemed to be both a "moral principle" and a "maxim which is especially pertinent if one of the masters happens to be economic self-interest."
3. {Speaker-elect SAM GARRISON's law partner] Mr. [RICHARD CHRISTIAN] KOMANDO unilaterally refuses to disclose the identity of his law firm clients, not client confidences. His overbearing assertion of privilege is unadorned by any citation to any court or ethics opinions on lawyers who are government employees. This flunks the "laugh test." It also flunks the "smell test." Mr. KOMANDO said he would not apply for the permanent County attorney position. Now, aving applied for the permanent position, Mr. KOMANDO is in no position to withhold information that is materially relevant to his suitability to be our St. Johns County Attorney. Mr. KOMANDO is acting as if he were the judge in his own case. This is so wrong.
4. James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 10: "No [person] is allowed to be a judge in [his/her] own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time . . . ."
5. The United States Supreme Court held in In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136 (1955) (Black, J.), "[O]ur system of law has always endeavored to prevent even the probability of unfairness. To this end no man can be a judge in his own case and no man is permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome." See also TWA v. Civil Aeronautics Board, 102U.S. App. D.C. 391, 392, 254 F.2d 90, 91 (1958). Spencer v. Lapsley, 20 How. 264, 266 (1858); Publius Syrus, Moral Sayings 51 (D. Lyman transl. 1856) ("No one should be judge in his own cause."); Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Letters and Opuscules 182 (Wight transl. 1859) ("It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause."). As William Blackstone wrote, "[I]t is unreasonable that any man should determine his own quarrel," 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 91 citing Dr. Bonham's Case, 8 Rep. 114a (C.P. 1610); see also City of London v. Wood, 12 Mod. 669, 687 (1701)(Lord Holt)(invalidating fine for refusal to serve as sheriff recovered by the city in its own court of Mayor and Aldermen). See also Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813 (1986)(overruling case where Chief Justice of Alabama Supreme Court wrongfully sat in judgment of case that would set precedent for his own pending case); Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57 (1972); Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564 (1973); Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35 (1975); Cinderella Career and Finishing Schools, Inc. v. FTC, 425 F.2d 583 (D.C. Cir. 1970); American Cyanamid Co. v. FTC, 363 F.2d 757 (6th Cir. 1966); SCA Services, Inc. v. Morgan, 557 F.2d 110 (7th Cir.1977).
6. Being a secretive developer "team player" is not a bona fide occupational qualification in hiring a County Attorney.
7. No "team players" are desired or required here. "Team player" is freighted with the speech-chilling implication that one is willing to "go along to get along," say what management wants to hear, and do what one is told by managers, no matter what the ethics or legality of the situation. In the political corruption case of United States v. Salvatti, 451 F.Supp. 195, 197-98 (E.D. Pa. 1978), one witness testified that "when she complained to the Mayor about Mr. Carroll's pressure, and advised him that the proposed payment to the Sylks would be totally improper and probably illegal, the Mayor chided her for not being a team player." See also Fitzgerald v. Seamans, 384 F.Supp. 688,697n7 (D.D.C. 1974), affirmed, 553 F.2d 220, 224 (D.C. Cir. 1977), reversed, Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982); Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731 (1982) (remarks of President Nixon et al. on need to fire heroic Department of Defense whistleblower A. Ernest Fitzgerald after he testified truthfully before Congress on C-5A transport cost overruns, with Nixon saying Mr. Fitzgerald was "not a team player"); Broderick v. Ruder, 685 F.Supp. 1269 (D.D.C. 1988)(sexual harassment at Securities and Exchange Commission); Tomsic v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co, 85 F.3d 1472, 1474 (10th Cir. 1996); Geddes v. Benefits Review Board, 735 F.2d 1412, 1416, 1420 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Washington Metropolitan Transportation Authority considered workers' compensation claimant not a "team player"); Davis v. California, 1996 WL 271001 (E.D.Cal.1996); Schloesser v. Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment, 766 F.Supp. 984 (D. Kansas 1991); Stradford v. Rockwell International, 48 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 697, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,828,1988 WL 159939 (S.D.Ohio); Seymour M. Hersh, "Annals of National Security: The Intelligence Gap -- How the digital age left our spies out in the cold," The New Yorker, December 6, 1999 at 58, 62.
8. Commissioners, please feel free to call me to discuss.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am, 
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998
27 comments:
Krista Joseph said it was "illegal" for Komando to use his goodwill and positive relationships with people in Tallahassee to potentially bring tax money to St Johns County. "Illegal because I said so" replaces actual law. Actual proof and evidence for illegal activity is zero so far... but we do have claims and accusations nonetheless. Whoever voted for someone who thinks that more money for St Johns County is "illegal" should rethink their decision to elect such a person.
"Pete" is a sock puppet who defends the indefensible with sophistry,, flummery, dupery and nincompoopery. Threatening prosecution and libel, "Pete" is repetitive, obnoxious and angry. Apparently this same sock puppet challenged me to meet at a Mosquito Control meeting, only to chicken out when I pointed out that there are Sheriff's deputies at those meetings. This same sock puppet apparently once posted as "Pete Komando," which appears to have been a "Freudian slip" (or "Floridian slip"). "Pete: won't identify himself. He's posted on this blog hundreds of times, but began doing so when I questioned the wisdom of hiring the law firm of the Florida House Speaker designate, who begins his term as Speaker of the House in 2026.
Making bogus claims without actual proof and evidence attached later became "I questioned the wisdom." And me saying I'd come see to Ed if he'd bring proof and evidence for his claims became "Pete didn't show up somewhere." You know why? Because you don't have proof and evidence for anything you assert here. Just bogus accusations which you'll only continue to repeat here and in public. Why would someone drive just to an ear full of bogus claims?
Joseph made no reference to Komando's "goodwill and positive relationships with people in Tallahassee." Those are your words, not hers or Murphy's. The discussion was centered around what Murphy praised as Komando's "team" AT THE FIRM - and the team's ability to "bring home the bacon" for St. Johns County - which he said is not getting enough funding. He said that quite clearly. You rewrite history and then make these proclamations -- because you say so.
She implied that something illegal was going on but has no actual proof or evidence of that activity or any actual violation of law. I didn't quote her. You just put what I wrote in quotes and insisted that I quoted her. That's the gist of what she implied and not a direct quote. You're a dishonest person and nipping at people's heels all the time with irrelevant nonsense and attempting to assassinate people's character with absurdity.
Commissioners advertised for a County Attorney. Instead, they hired what they called "The Firm," with three (3) name partners, one of whom is the Florida House Speaker-elect, SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON. One Commissioner defended his indefensible vote for "The Fimr" on the basis it would bring "influence" and money to SJC. Sorry. We need an honest lawyer, not a Power Broker. We need a competent, honest SJC County Attorney, not a secretive law firm. Sock puppet "Pete" -- are you on the payroll of The Firm? FBI and FDLE: please check out the hundreds of perseverating posts by "Pete," who once posted as "Pete Komando."
To pejorative, pestilential perseverating "Pete," who are you? What about you makes you think we would value your opinion on these matters? Where did you study evidence law?" What is your interest, "Pete?" You doth protest too much, pal.
If "Pete" and his pals say we have to hire a Power Broker and "The Firm," ask why. We already have lobbyists. We don't need a part-time lawyer with political ambitions. That's not a County Attorney. This not-so-subtle corruption of our government by billionaires is indefensible, and must be ended at once.
Trying to get more tax money by asking someone if they'll get on board with that is crime? What law states that. Hopefully you come up with it or else that's another bogus claim.
Nobody has to be a lawyer to ask you questions on this blog. But apparently you would have to be a lawyer before you answered for yourself when asked for proof and evidence for your claims. Doesn't look like that's ever gonna happen.
I think it takes about a minute to ask someone for something. Let's say he takes an hour or a day. Who cares? That interferes with his duties and makes him less of an attorney? I think you're just complaining about something just to complain about it.
KOMANDO'S LAW FIRM REPRESENTS PROPERTY OWNERS. Won't list any of them. But we know about the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS, whom he defended in federal indictment for tax fraud and workers' compensation fraud. SJC needs a County Attorney -- a living breathing person, not a corporate law firm with undisclosed clients. Who is "Pete?"
We've covered this. His defense of people in a court of law is what attorneys do. You're gonna hold him being a lawyer against him?Furthermore, lobbying isn't illegal and it's not unethical either. Government decides who gets what. That's the political science definition... and government itself isn'tt some corrupt entity. People get together and decide who gets what... and if people don't ask or advocate for others.. they don't get anything. So tell me why people shouldn't advocate for St Johns County. People in Tallahassee are supposed to just know what St Johns County needs and send care packages for the hell of it? Because they came here once on their own and liked the food?
Who is "we?" Who is "Pete?" What is his interest? Why do "we" need to hire "The Firm" of the next Speaker of the House? Who are the clients of "The Firm?"
SJC and Florida Inspectors General, FDLE, DOJ, FBI: kindly investigate the incoming Florida Speaker of the House and his BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO, P..A. firm, their louche lapdog pal, sock puppet "Pete" and his persistent, pestiferous pettifogging perseverating in support of a St. Johns County subsidy to the law firm of the next Florida Speaker of the House. Please obtain a complete client list, which insipid Interim SJC Interim County Attorney RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO arrogantly refused to provide to our 5th District St. Johns County Commissioner Ann Taylor. Let justice be done. "Secrecy is for losers," as the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it best, "for people who dobn';t know the value of the information." It's our government. Enough.
Ed: Pink elephants can fly
Pete: You got proof?
Ed: You must be in the pork business🤡
FBI violate someone's Fourth Amendment rights based on something someone dreamed up? Wow that's really something. It's a good thing you didn't go into federal anything or the US government would have been sued.
What a liar Pete is. He claimed he didn't quote Joseph even though he very clearly paraphrased what he claims she said: "Krista Joseph said it was "illegal" for Komando to use his goodwill and positive relationships with people in Tallahassee to potentially bring tax money to St Johns County." Such BS. It's too late to push that lie. Murphy referred to Komando's "team." And influence peddling does sound illegal. Keep lying and spinning. You're so sick.
You have a hard time understanding what is being communicated to you but that's ok. Get back with everyone here when you have actual proof and evidence for your claims. "Because I think so" and "because I say so" doesn't mean anything. I think that water is dry... that doesn't make it so.
Who is "Pete" and why won't he identify himself? What is his interest? BRADLEY, GARRISON & KOMANDO is the law firm of the Florida House Speaker-designate. It represents corporations, including corporate criminals like the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS, convicted of income tax and workers compensation fraud. KOMANDO refused to disclose his clients. Then we learned about his criminal defense of the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS in federal court. It is chutzpa to refuse to identify your clients, Mr. KOMANDO. If you want to be St. Johns County Attorney, you must answer. Mr. KOMANDO's refusal to respond to Commissioner Ann. Taylor's simple question shows contempt for our Right to Know. Our Florida House Speaker-designate, SAMUEL PAUL GARRISON, is not only a partner in the law firm, but he is Chair of the House Rules and Ethics Committee. We have a Right to Know. And who is "Pete," who has posted so often here in defense of the indefensible?
I liked the second guy they interviewed for the attorney position better than Komando, but I stand up for people's privacy rights unless there's evidence of crime. People shouldn't have to give up their privacy rights to serve the public.
does anyone take this blog seriously? it looks like it, and it's author, are just satire. They can't possibly be real people with brains.
Oh? Who are you, and what is your expertise? We, the People have achieved dozens of public interest victories here since City of St. Augustine dumped a landfill in a lake. Et tu, Brute?
At least people here capitalize sentences. In other words, at least people here care about credibility and being taken seriously. You've not demonstrated that here today to say the least. Did you eat too much tonight or have you been abusing substances?
Not clear whom Anonymice "Pete" is addressing here. Who is "Pete?" Why won't he identify himself for the record. And "why do the wicked prosper?"
I identify as Pete Proof.. proof and evidence for many of your claims isn't forthcoming. Disable the comments or just ignore them if you wish to simply post whatever comes to your mind and not be asked questions. Wouldn't matter if I was artificial intelligence... hell even AI would give straight answers to straight questions! Get AI to help you here!
Cheeky. An Anonymice poster, advocating for continued corruption, presumes to give me orders. He admits he might be artificial intelligence. Ipse dixit, he can't fix it. Creepy.
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