Crist utility reg pick owns hot Panhandle nightclub, doesn’t work for sheriff
by Dara Kam | October 1st, 2009
Dominatrix night at Ricks Cabana Lounge
Gov. Charlie Crist’s office says that Benjamin “Steve” Stevens, one of Crist’s new appointees to the Public Service Commission, “has served as chief financial officer for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office since 2001.l”
But workers at Sheriff David Morgan’s office said Stevens, a Panhandle accountant, hasn’t worked there since Morgan assumed the post in January.
Stevens, 44, is also an owner of Rick’s Cabana Lounge, a nightclub in Pensacola, according to Department of State records and his PSC application. He’s listed as an owner of Ben Bartows Bar LLC, which has the same address as the bar.
State Rep. Dave Murzin, a Pensacola Republican who chairs the nominating council that included Stevens in the list of six candidates given to Crist, had called Stevens an “accountant extraordinaire.”
Tags: Charlie Crist, Dave Murzin, PSC, Public Service Commission, Steve Stevens
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October 1st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Maybe Murzin thinks he is an accountant extraordinaire because he doesnt make him pay his bar tab. Murzin is a bafoon.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Steve Stevens. Fantastic! An applicant who either lied (or “overlooked” a substantial, important detail) on the job application and whose moral conscience is perhaps more nonexistent than Charlie Crist’s will be a top regulator for the state. Kudos to Crist and his o-so-competent staff for vetting this really impressive candidate. Maybe one of the first public hearings can take place at his the new appointee’s strip club!