For the past several years Palm Beach County Florida has been referred to as Corruption County and for very good reason. With the help of high powered politically connected lawyers, civilians and relatives several of our elected officials have systematically undermined our local governments ability to function ethically, prudently and within the limits of the law. As a result of thorough Federal investigations our PBC city and county commissioners offices and its officials, some of which were found to be conducting the peoples business as though they lived and worked in a Banana Republic. Because of their blatant disregard concerning their sworn duty to work on behalf of and in good faith for the people of Palm Beach County, we’ve seen two of our City Commissioners and three County commissioners’ end up in jail for gaming the system to their advantage.
As a result our new state attorney Michael McAuliffe thought it would be prudent for his office to open a formal three month investigation into City and County corruption. To insure the best result the State Attorney asked all six PBC commissioners to participate because he correctly believed they would be “an important source of information”. Astonishingly only, Jess Santamaria, Karen Marcus and a reluctant J Koons (Commission Chairman) agreed to participate from the go get; Commissioners B Aaronson, S Vann and S Abrams declined the initial invitation to cooperate, interesting!
On May 21, 2009 the State attorney published its Grand Jury findings, of which I was able to get a copy while attending a forum meeting held by Commissioner Jess Santamaria. Asst. State Attorney Alan Johnson was there to speak on the results of its Grand Jury investigation, after listening to Mr. Johnson I decided to read the Grand Jury report for myself and pass along a summary of its finding to you, as follows;
Grand Jury Summary
“Palm Beach County is facing a crisis of trust in public governance”, “ The erosion of public trust in the institutions of governance, whether caused by actual or perceived corruption, has undermined the legal, political and economic pillars which support this community”, “the grand Jury finds that current state laws governing both ethics and criminal misconduct are inadequate to effectively deter the broad-based misconduct (including non-disclosure of personal interests and conflicts) that has become all to common, not only in Palm Beach County, but throughout the State of Florida.”
Grand Jury Recommendations
1- Strengthen state criminal statutes and county ordinances to address conflict of interest, gratuity and theft of honest services by public servants.
2- Fully fund an effective independent “watchdog” entity to monitor the activities of the county government.
3- Increase transparency, accountability and oversight of county matters involving land transactions.
4- Eliminate bond underwriting by rotation adopt the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommended practices
5- Eliminate the current system of commissioner-based discretionary funding of county recreation and infrastructure projects.
Grand Jury Findings
Bond Underwriting- Grand Jury found that while “The competitive bid process” is the most cost effective method to market general obligation bonds, the PBC commission in 1992 decided to underwrite these bonds through the more costly negotiated sale method. Since 1993 it’s estimated that using the negotiated sale method has cost the county $880,000 in excess underwriting fees and up to $1.3 million in unnecessary annual interest expense! The Grand Jury indicated “it was astonished that the current bond financing system was allowed to continue for sixteen years.”
Land Transactions- Grand Jury found that a glaring deficiency in how land deals are handled by Palm Beach County is the overvaluation of property for purchase and undervaluation of property for sale or trade, in other words Buy High and Sell Low. Case in point Mecca Farms, 2000 acres, appraised value 20-30 million, PBC commission paid more then 3 times its appraised value, when you include the initial ground improvements of approx 20 million the commission obligated PB County to a debt of approximately $100 million dollars on land that has no intrinsic value. The Grand Jury further found that developers have a significant advantage in trading properties with the county, getting more valuable land in exchange for their less valuable land. The grand Jury found “Little in terms of an over-arching set of practices which encourage transparency and accountability” and further “Currently, no effective (i.e. timely) public disclosure of appraisals in land deal exists” and “Land disposition conflicts of interest currently are not typically disclosed until closing.”
Commissioners Discretionary Funds- In 1994 PBC commissioners created the Recreation Assistance Program which allocated 200,000 in funds to each commissioner on an annual basis with the unused portion rolled over each year. The Grand Jury found “That by giving each commissioner millions of dollars to distribute essentially as he/she pleased, the process eliminated oversight and, at a minimum, politicized the manner of funding. The Grand Jury recommends the use of discretionary funds be formally terminated and freeze all remaining discretionary funds.
Ethics Laws- The Grand Jury found that there is a serious disconnect throughout the State of Florida regarding ethics and governance. The Grand Jury believes Palm Beach County should adopt an ethics ordinance similar to the Miami Dade Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Ordinance.
Anti Corruption Criminal Law- The Grand Jury learned that many of the statutes utilized to combat corruption in federal court as was done with PB City and County commissioners do not exist in Florida state law. The grand jury recommends that the Florida Legislature adopt the proposed anti- corruption statute “Theft or Deprivation of Honest Services” as introduced this spring in the Legislature.
The findings of the Grand Jury brought to light PBC Commissions serious ethical and corruption problems that have grown worse and more blatant over the years. It’s obvious when you read the Grand Jury report that our County commissioners have not been able to police themselves, to believe going forward they will is naïve. Only with independent oversight will fair play and virtue find its way back into the offices of our County Commissioners.
This is such an important matter that we cannot leave its outcome to chance. If you’re tired of Palm Beach County being known as Corruption County, tired of seeing your hard earned money wasted, tired of special interest being served over yours, then let each and every commissioner know that you
“Expect them to include the Grand Juries suggested reforms on the 2010 ballot”
Call, write and email your commissioners to let them know what you expect of them concerning this issue and make sure you attend the Commissioners July 21 meeting where they will discuss the Grand Juries final report. This public forum is where you can really hold their feet to the fire by asking them if they are for or against the Grand Jury recommendations. If any hesitate, blink, stammer or stumble in response, give them five reasons to say YES: Tony Masilotti, Warren Newel, Mary McCarty, Ray Liberti and Jim Exline. These one time elected officials are now doing hard time in jail because they forgot their fiduciary was to the people of Palm Beach County and not Special Interest Groups. Let every commissioner know that unless they are working for you they are working against you and it will show come next election time.
