Alan Mendelsohn, an influential South Florida eye doctor and prominent GOP fundraiser, admitted in court this morning that he steered $82,000 to former state Sen. Mandy Dawson while she was in office.

Mendelsohn, who pleaded guilty in a federal corruption case, also admitted he skimmed more than $300,000 from political committees he oversaw and failed to report more than $600,000 in taxable income from his lobbying and medical work.

Mendelsohn, a member of Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2006 transition team, said in court today he paid $82,000 to a close friend of Dawson’s and that the money was funneled to the Ft. Lauderdale Democrat whose district included part of Palm Beach County.

Read the full story here.

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.

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.
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Gov. Charlie Crist called for a statewide grand jury to investigate political corruption in South Florida and around the state. Crist said he has removed 30 public officials from office around the state since he’s been governor.

“A recent rash of crimes committed by public officials in South Florida has led to a crisis of confidence among those who have elected them to office,” Crist said. “Today, I have petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a Grand Jury to investigate these crimes, bring indictments and provide specific recommendations to address fundamental problems within the system that may be cultivating a culture of corruption.”

Read the petition here.

Crist’s request for a grand jury comes after in the wake of the indictments of several Broward County elected officials on federal charges including bribery, money laundering and wire fraud. And prominent GOP fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn, a lobbyist who served on Crist’s transition team, was indicted last week on charges that he diverted at least $350,000 from campaign contribution and clients’ fees to pay for his mistress’ love nest, a luxury car and his kids’ private school tuition.

Palm Beach County led the public corruption scandal sheet in 2006 that resulted in three county commissioners and two West Palm Beach officials going to prison.

The corruption isn’t limited to South Florida, Crist said. He’s asked the grand jury to begin work by focusing on Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Lee and Hendry counties.

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In a county where residents have grown accustomed to seeing their elected officials striding in and out of the federal courthouse to answer to corruption charges (see above gallery), Palm Beach County administrators have rolled out an ethics plan that calls for creating an Office of Inspector General and an independent ethics commission.

Click here to read a breakdown of the new proposal by our Jennifer Sorentrue.

Federal investigations have led three Palm Beach County commissioners to resign and two West Palm Beach city commissioners to resign and go to jail since 2006. The feds have recently turned their attention to Broward County, where three politicians were arrested Wednesday on corruption charges.

Don’t expect any YouTubed confrontations when U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, hosts a town hall meeting later this month to discuss the 1,018-page House Democratic health care bill.

Klein is planning a “telephone town hall” that he says will reach far more constituents than an in-the-flesh event.

Republican challenger Allen West says Klein’s a chicken.

“The unwillingness to stand in front of your constituents can only be called cowardice,” said West.

Klein dismissed West’s claim. He said the teleconference has been planned for weeks and was not a reaction to the recent transformation of town hall events from soporific C-SPAN affairs to shout-fests that go viral on the Internet.

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In the 1976 film Network, Howard Beale memorably ranted “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Some Palm Beach County residents feel the same way about the “culture of corruption” that has sent five local elected officials to jail in the last three years. In fact, the citizens are too angry for the breezy informality of contractions. As county commissioners begin a discussion this afternoon on a grand jury’s recommendations to curb public corruption, about 30 people are in the commission chambers wearing red T-shirts that say “We Are Mad As Hell And We Are Not Going To Take It Any Longer.”

Loxahatchee Groves Councilman Dennis Lipp said he paid $180 for the shirts to drive home the message that the grand jury’s recommendations — including creation of an independent inspector general and an ethics commission — should be followed by commissioners.

Commissioners are expected to give direction but not take final votes this afternoon.

A coalition that drafted an ethics pledge for corruption-tarred Palm Beach County last year will push for ballot initiatives in 2010 to create an independent government watchdog agency and establish other reforms.

If county commissioners don’t agree to let voters decide on the proposed reforms in 2010, leaders of the coalition said this morning they will begin collecting signatures to force the measure onto the ballot.

“This is an issue of political will. If this is going to be changed, it’s going to be changed by us,” said Marty Rogol, a past president of Leadership Palm Beach County who has headed the ethics reform efforts.

Rogol spoke to an ethics forum attended by about 75 people, including several elected officials.

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Paige: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”

WELLINGTON — Three corrupt Palm Beach County commissioners have gone to prison in the last three years, but the head of the public integrity unit in the Palm Beach County state attorney’s office said Wednesday night the public shouldn’t dwell too much on the past and should trust current commissioners to approve needed ethics reforms.

Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson didn’t have an entirely sunny outlook. When asked by an audience member if he expected any future prosecutions of public officials, he gave a “general answer” of “I hope not, but I know yes.”

Johnson this morning said the answer referred to all public employees and his office is not currently investigating any commissioners.

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