Archive for the ‘Palm Beach County commission’ Category
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 by Dara Kam
With Palm Beach “Corruption” County in mind, lawmakers are moving toward stiffening local ordinances combating ethics violations.
Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, is backing a bill that allow counties to increase the current penalties for violations of county ordinances imposing ethical standards and financial disclosure requirements from 60 days in jail to one year in jail and double the fine from $500 to $1,000 per occurance.
The Senate Community Affairs Committee signed off on Aronberg’s proposal (SB 1980) this afternoon with a 9-1 vote.
Aronberg sponsored the bill at the behest of the scandal-plagued Palm Beach County Commission, which recently established an ethics panel in the wake of a federal corruption probe that landed three former county commissioners in prison. Palm Beach County Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boynton Beach, is the House bill (HB 1301) sponsor.
Aronberg said the measure, which would apply to all counties if it becomes law, puts teeth into local ordinances.
“Living in Palm Beach County, I’m well aware this has become a priority for the voters in my district,” Aronberg, who is running in a statewide Democratic primary for attorney general against Senate colleague Dan Gelber. “Hopefully, this will help remove our reputation as ‘Corruption County.’”
Tags: Dan Gelber, Dave Aronberg, ethics reform, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission, State House, State Senate
Posted in Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 8th, 2010 by George Bennett

Santamaria
If Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria decides to run for reelection
despite his complaints that half his job is a “waste of time,” he could face a Democratic primary challenge from Indian Trail Improvement District President Michelle Damone.

Damone
Damone was among the elected officials who attended
last week’s Tallahassee meeting on cancer concerns in The Acreage — a meeting
Santamaria skipped because it didn’t include face time with Gov. Charlie Crist.
“He should have been here. It was disappointing,” Damone said of Santamaria.
Read more in this week’s Politics column.
Tags: Acreage cancer cluster, Jess Santamaria, Michelle Damone
Posted in 2010 campaigns, Charlie Crist, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 4 Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010 by George Bennett

Santamaria
Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, wrestling with a decision on whether to seek reelection this year, says half his job is interesting and rewarding, but the other half is “a total waste of time.”
Santamaria, who represents western-county District 6, came into office saying he was focused only on a single term. But he never unequivocally ruled out seeking reelection, and Santamaria now says he and his wife are “seriously discussing my serving a second term.”
(more…)
Tags: Elissa Pearl, Jess Santamaria, Tony Masilotti
Posted in 2010 campaigns, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 by Dara Kam
The Senate quietly approved a measure designed to clean up the Public Service Commission with a 39-1 vote this afternoon.
The bill (SB 1034) would make public all communications between the utilities the panel regulates and the commissioners or their advisory staff.
It would also bar commissioners or high-level staff from going to work or lobbying for the utilities for four years after they leave the PSC, double the current two-year limitation, aimed at stopping the “revolving door” between the commission and the utilities they make billion-dollar decisions about.
The bill will make certain that former commissioners and staff “will not be able to continue what they’ve done in the past and for a change our consumers will be represented,” the bill’s sponsor Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, argued.
The changes come from a 1992 grand jury report that lawmakers largely ignored designed to keep regulators and utility representatives at arm’s length.
This year’s proposal came about in the wake of reports that PSC staff and a Florida Power & Light Co. lawyer were swapping secret BlackBerry messages. Other details about questionable relationships between FPL and the commission were revealed during Juno Beach-based FPL’s proposed $1.2 billion rate hike hearing.
On the opening day of FPL’s rate increase hearing last year, Commissioner Nathan Skop revealed that the PSC’s lobbyist, Ryder Rudd, had attended a Kentucky Derby party at the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL Vice President Ed Tancer. Rudd later quit.
Since then, the agency has struggled through investigations into BlackBerry messages exchanged between the PSC and an FPL attorney, a myriad of ethics complaints and allegations of interference from political leaders, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who threatened to not reappoint any commissioners who voted in favor of the rate hike.
The bill would also require that the commissioners behave more like judges by applying the canons of judicial conduct, including refraining from inappropriate political activity and avoiding the appearance of impropriety.
Public Service Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano is backing the proposed changes.
Tags: Florida Power & Light, FPL, Mike Fasano, Nancy Argenziano, PSC, Public Service Commission
Posted in Palm Beach County commission, State Senate, legislature | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 by Dara Kam
Recognizing Palm Beach County day today, PBC home-boy Sen. Dave Aronberg recited some facts about the state’s largest county before giving a shout-out to some county officials watching the Senate session from the East Gallery.
Aronberg, D-Greenacres, introduced PBC Commissioner Burt Aaronson as “The Godfather of Palm Beach County.”
Aaronson was first elected to the commission in 1992.
Aronberg’s intro may be considered a dubious distinction, considering that three of Aaronson’s former county commission colleagues are in prison for corruption charges.
Tags: Burt Aaronson, corruption, Dave Aronberg, Florida Senate, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission
Posted in Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission, State Senate, legislature | 2 Comments »
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 by George Bennett
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Farach
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Fiore
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Harbison
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Reinhart
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Rodgers
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Inspector General
A new
Palm Beach County Ethics Commission, created by county commissioners last year in response to the corruption convictions of five local elected officials between 2006 and 2009, holds its first meeting Tuesday in West Palm Beach.
Among the first orders of business for the five-member commission will be choosing a chairman and vice-chairman.
The ethics panel, plus representatives from the State Attorney and Public Defender offices, will sit as the selection committee for a new inspector general position. The inspector general post, modeled after one in Miami-Dade County, is the centerpiece of reforms approved Dec. 1. Applications for the inspector general’s job and for a new executive director for the ethics commission are due Friday.
The ethics panelists were chosen by a variety of groups outside county government. Read about them after the jump…..
(more…)
Tags: Bruce Reinhart, Corruption County, Edward Rodgers, ethics, Manuel Farach, Robin Fiore, Ronald Harbison
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010 by George Bennett

Abrams
Boca Raton attorney Robert Weinroth is considering a challenge of Republican Palm Beach County Commissioner Steven Abrams and spent $5,000 on a poll with questions linking Abrams to Fort Lauderdale Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, whose imploded law firm employed Abrams in its Boca office.
Read about it this week’s Politics column.
Tags: Robert Weinroth, Scott Rothstein, Steven Abrams
Posted in 2010 campaigns, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010 by Dara Kam
Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons asked utility regulators to approve Florida Power & Light Co.’s $1.2 billion rate hike, saying the utility is the county’s largest employer and needed the extra money to help the state go green.
The Public Service Commission yesterday instead slashed FPL’s rate hike to just $75 million and limited the amount of profit the Juno Beach-based utility can earn to 10 percent, far less than the 12.5 percent return on equity it sought.
“While no one - especially in the current economy - looks forward to higher electric bills, FPL’s proposed rate increase is necessary in order to make a greater investment in green technology, energy sources that will ultimately protect the consumer from uncertainties and bill fluctuations in the future,” Koons wrote in a letter to commissioners on Jan. 5 expressing his personal opinion on the rate case.
FPL President Armando Olivera said the company will immediately halt modernization projects at its Riviera Beach and Cape Canaveral power plants and cease moving forward with most of its efforts to build two new nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point facility.
He said the projects could have brought 20,000 new jobs to Florida over the next five years.
Tags: Armando Olivera, energy, Florida Power & Light, FPL, Jeff Koons, jobs, Palm Beach County, PSC, Public Service Commission, utilities
Posted in Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission, Public Service Commission | 18 Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by George Bennett
Our Jennifer Sorentrue reports that Palm Beach County commissioners this morning approved a one-year moratorium on approving new pain-management clinics amid concerns that drugs are being dispensed with insufficient controls.
A recent Palm Beach Post investigation found that more than 30 such clinics have opened in the county since 2007. Among the people running pain businesses are convicted drug dealers, serial criminals and former addicts, according to a review of county, state and federal records.
Libertarian commission candidate Karl Dickey blasted this morning’s 6-0 vote, saying commissioners are “punishing the many for the actions of a few. Whereas we understand some pain-management clinics have abused the system, it is outrageous for the county government to ban the ability of legitimate clinics from opening.”
Dickey is the only announced challenger to Republican Commissioner Steven Abrams.
Read Dickey’s entire statement after the jump…..
(more…)
Tags: Karl Dickey, Libertarian Party, pain clinics, Steven Abrams
Posted in 2010 campaigns, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 5 Comments »
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 by Dara Kam
Lawmakers are preparing to start a 10-day session on rail issues that in part could keep Tri-Rail on track.
The 49-page bill legislators will consider includes an extra $13 million to $15 million a year for Tri-Rail that’s been operating at a deficit since its inception two decades ago.
That’s “probably as good as we could get right now,” said Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons, who is also chairman of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority that oversees Tri-Rail.
That’s a big deal for leaders in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties where Tri-Rail runs. Federal officials have threatened to ask the counties to give back more than $200 million if Tri-Rail service is cut back as officials there have threatened.
Tri-Rail is paid for by the state, rider fares and the three counties in which it runs - Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.
But the commuter line used by 15,000 riders daily has operated in the red by about $15 million every year.
Leaders in the three counties say they don’t have the money to make up the deficit and state lawmakers have refused to grant them the $2 rental car surcharge (also known as a tax) they’ve sought to cover their losses.
Now, state lawmakers are willing to fork over $13 million to $15 million a year to keep Tri-Rail on track to prove to federal lawmakers that Florida is serious about commuter rail. That way, the state will have a better chance at getting some of the $8 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail projects.
The money will come from gas taxes and other fuel fees and should qualify as a “dedicated funding source” federal officials are seeking, Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons said.
“I think we ended up in the middle in the sense that we didn’t get our funding source but then a reallocation of those dollars is probably as good as we could get right now,” Koons said.
Tags: commuter rail, Florida House, Florida Senate, Palm Beach County, South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, special session, transportation, Tri-Rail
Posted in Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission, State House, State Senate, legislature | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by Jennifer Sorentrue
Fresh off vacation, Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson said a casino might be just the boost the embattled Glades region needs.
“It is something to think about,” he said.
Aaronson, a cruise maven and tourism booster, also said the county should do more to help bring slots to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The club, he said, has been at a “disadvantage” since state lawmakers allowed Broward’s parimutuel facilities to have slots. (more…)
Tags: Burt Aaronson, gambling, Glades, Palm Beach Kennel Club
Posted in Everglades, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission, stimulus | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by George Bennett

Eliot
“T.S.” was the buzz phrase during this morning’s Palm Beach County commission meeting. And commissioners weren’t dissecting
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock or other poems by T.S. Eliot.
During a discussion on ethics reform, Commissioner Jeff Koons said: “If people are going to make public comment on it, I wish, if they don’t like us intellectually or don’t like us emotionally, T.S., but we’ve done a good job of generating this….”

Koons
“You want to repeat that?” Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson asked.
“That’s a legal term,” Koons said.
Later, when members of the public commented on the proposed inspector general ordinance, Jason Shields said: “And to Commissioner Koons, remember, if you don’t like this, well, T.S.”
Tags: 20th century American poetry, ethics reform, T.S. Eliot
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by George Bennett

Former Commissioner Mary McCarty's booking photo
Palm Beach County Commissioners, who have seen three of their colleagues go to federal prison on corruption charges since 2006, will give preliminary consideration to a package of ethics reforms this morning at 10 a.m. at the county Governmental Center in West Palm Beach.
The reforms include a new ethics code, a five-member ethics commission and creation of a new inspector general’s office to investigate public officials and contracts. Much of the debate over the last few months has focused on how much of a role the corruption-besmirched commission should play in choosing and approving the inspector general.
After today’s preliminary vote, a final vote on the ethics reforms is scheduled for Dec. 15.
Tags: Corruption County, ethics reform
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 5 Comments »
Monday, November 30th, 2009 by Dara Kam
The Florida Supreme Court rejected Gov. Charlie Crist’s request for a statewide grand jury to look into corruption.
Crist’s request did not meet the “minimal requirements” necessary to determine that a grand jury is needed, the high court ruled today, by failing to specify what crimes or wrongs occurred and where they took place.
Crist last month petitioned the court to empanel a statewide grand jury to focus on public corruption in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the judicial circuit that includes Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.
The assignment - that the panel investigate public corruption from bribery to other seemingly unrelated crimes such as child pornography and drug offenses - sets forth a “monumental task” so broad as to possibly be untenable, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan, a veteran of anti-corruption efforts in Miami-Dade County, said when Crist filed the petition.
(more…)
Tags: Charlie Crist, corruption, Florida Supreme Court, Gerald Kogan, Palm Beach County, public corruption, statewide grand jury
Posted in 2010 campaigns, Charlie Crist, Florida Supreme Court, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 30th, 2009 by George Bennett

Taylor
So far the Palm Beach County elected officials going to the federal hoosegow have been white Baby Boomers. But as the county prepares to enact sweeping ethics reforms, County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor says she expects to see a more diverse group coming under scrutiny.
Read in this week’s Politics column about Taylor’s proposal for the county’s planned ethics commission.
Tags: Corruption County, ethics reform, Priscilla Taylor
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 by George Bennett

Aaronson
Palm Beach County Commissioner Aaronson will ask his colleagues today to approve new language on the standard form that people fill out when applying for appointment to any of the approximately 80 county government advisory boards and commissions:
“Have you ever been convicted of a felony for violation of any state or federal law or regulation: If so, give details.”
Read about it here.
Tags: Burt Aaronson, Corruption County
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 by George Bennett
State Attorney Michael McAuliffe and Palm Beach County commissioners today urged the school board and local governments to put themselves under the scrutiny of a proposed corruption-fighting inspector general.
School board Chairman Bill Graham said the school board is “conceptually on board” but wants to examine details.
The discussion came as county commissioners, school board members, state lawmakers and municipal officials held a joint meeting.
With five elected officials jailed on federal charges since 2006, County Commissioner Burt Aaronson said local politicians will feel the wrath of voters if they don’t approve reforms.
“If anybody says ‘No, we don’t want to do it,’ your constituents are going to tell you you’d better do it because there’s another election coming up. And anybody that doesn’t want to join in possibly won’t be an elected official the next time around.”
(more…)
Tags: Bill Graham, Burt Aaronson, Corruption County, ethics, inspector general, Michael McAuliffe
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach County commission | 4 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 by George Bennett

Ostrov
Attorney Rob Ostrov, a Democrat who lost a 2008 state House challenge to Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, has opened a campaign for the Wellington village council seat of Lizbeth Benacquisto, who’s term-limited in March 2010 and running for state Senate.
Ostrov’s also interested in Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria’s seat if Santamaria decides not to seek reelection next year. Santamaria has said he’ll announce his 2010 plans shortly after the new year. Democrat Elissa Pearl has opened a campaign for Santamaria’s seat.
Tags: Elissa Pearl, Jess Santamaria, Rob Ostrov
Posted in 2010 campaigns, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 12 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 by George Bennett
Palm Beach County officials and leaders of a consortium of groups pushing for ethics reform say they’re near agreement on a package of reforms that include creating an independent inspector general’s office and an ethics commission.
One key element is a sort of ethical pay-to-play system for hiring the inspector general.
The original county proposal called for an independent panel to select the watchdog and the county commission to cast a final up-or-down vote on the nominee. Critics said the commission’s role would discourage the school board and other public entities from agreeing to come under the inspector’s scrutiny. The latest plan would allow any other entity to have a vote on the inspector if it contributes at least 25 percent of the inspector’s budget.
Read the complete story here.
Tags: Corruption County, ethics
Posted in George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 by George Bennett
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Brandenburg: raised $2,350
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Burdick: raised $44,222
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Koons: gave $250 to Burdick
School board member Paulette Burdick has opened up a massive money-raising lead over state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, in their 2010 Democratic primary race for the Palm Beach County commission seat of Jeff Koons, who’s leaving because of term limits.
Burdick raised another $15,004 between July 1 and Sept. 30, bringing her total to $44,222 so far. Brandenburg raised $600 in the quarter and has collected $2,350 overall.
Burdick’s haul included a $250 check from Koons.
Koons, who’s maintained a neutral posture in the race, was asked if his contribution constituted an endorsement of Burdick.
“Not per se,” Koons answered. But, he added, “Paulette does have the skill sets to be a good county commissioner.”
Tags: Jeff Koons, Latin phrases, Mary Brandenburg, Paulette Burdick
Posted in 2010 campaigns, George Bennett, Palm Beach County commission, campaign finance | No Comments »