Mary McCarty is back in Palm Beach County.

The former county commissioner, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to a federal felony count of honest services fraud, left a Texas prison Thursday and checked into a West Palm Beach-area halfway house to serve the remaining six months of her sentence, her husband confirmed Thursday night.

“She looks great and is in terrific spirits,” Kevin McCarty said.

Mary McCarty was the third county commissioner in a period of less than three years to resign, plead guilty to corruption charges and go to prison. Former colleagues Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell have already completed their sentences — and are both seeking to have their honest services fraud convictions thrown out and their forfeited assets returned.

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Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Tony Masilotti took a kickback when he collected $50,000 in gambling chips for using his political clout to persuade the Diocese of Palm Beach to sell 50 acres to a secret businesss partner, a judge ruled Wednesday.

As our Jane Musgrave reports, Masilotti wanted his honest services fraud conviction overturned — and an $8 million parcel of forfeited land given back to him — after the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that prosecutors must prove an official took bribes or kickbacks to be convicted of honest services fraud.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp rejected Masilotti’s arguments Wednesday.

Another former county commissioner and convicted honest services fraudster, Warren Newell, is also appealing his honest services fraud conviction. A third commissioner-turned-convict, Mary McCarty, has indicated she won’t challenge her honest services fraud conviction.

Former Palm Beach County commissioner Mary McCarty, serving time for a felony federal honest services fraud conviction, sat with a Palm Beach Post reporter last week for an exclusive interview at the minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

She talked about feeling “entitled” to play by her own set of rules when she was a commissioner, about her daily routine at the prison camp, about former colleagues/felons Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell, about the recent Supreme Court decision that narrowed the honest services fraud law and about the questions that arise among her fellow inmates when they see the avalanche of mail McCarty gets.

Read the article here.

Check out this picture of the Palm Beach County commission from 2003. Three commissioners (Tony Masilotti, front right; Warren Newell, front left; Mary McCarty, back left) have gone to federal prison on corruption charges.

A fourth, Jeff Koons (back row, second from left) was booked into the Palm Beach County jail early this morning and is expected to appear before a judge today on charges of extortion, perjury and violating Florida’s open-meetings law.

Click here to see the sheriff’s booking information on Koons, who checked into the Gun Club Road jail at 3:41 a.m.

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.”

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Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Tony Masilotti, who still has more than two years to go on his federal honest services fraud sentence, wants out early, citing Judge Kenneth Ryskamp’s belief that the honest services statute is unconstitutionally vague.

Masilotti used his position to make $10 million on secret land deals. He pleaded guilty to honest services fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Read about it here.

How independent should Palm Beach County’s independent ethics watchdog be?

That question is complicating efforts to win 2010 voter approval for an inspector general’s office to monitor local government after a three-year shame spiral in which County Commissioners Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty and West Palm Beach Commishes Ray Liberti and Jim Exline went to prison for corruption.

There’s broad support for an inspector general’s office with subpoena powers to keep an eye on local public officials, lobbyists and contractors.

But then the consensus breaks down.

A consortium of business and civic leaders says the inspector should be hired and fired and have its budget set by an independent ethics commission.

County officials propose the inspector be chosen by an outside panel but approved by a commission vote, financed through the county budget process and fired if five of seven commissioners agree.

Commissioners haven’t endorsed anything yet. They can wait until June to agree on a plan and put it on the November 2010 ballot.

The ethics consortium has less time. If it can’t persuade commissioners to endorse its view of the inspector general, the group has vowed to gather 58,200 signatures to put its version on the 2010 ballot. To succeed, such a petition drive should launch in November, said Marty Rogol of Leadership Palm Beach County and Mike Jones of the Economic Council.

Keeping the inspector general independent of the county commission is a key to ethics reform, Rogol and Jones argue.

Commission Chairman Jeff Koons disagrees. He says commissioners are more visible and accountable than an appointed ethics panel.

“We’re public elected officials…Everything we do is in the public,” Koons said. “We’re held responsible and we meet every couple weeks and people can come yell at us.”

If the sides can’t agree, it’s possible voters could see rival inspector-general ballot questions.

“Do we want dueling proposals before voters? Absolutely not,” said Jones. “It’s too early to say there’s no room for compromise.”

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Palm Beach Kennel Club Prez Pat Rooney Jr. says he needs more time to decide whether to launch a GOP campaign for the open state House District 83 seat. Rooney’s brother is U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

A third Rooney brother could also run in 2010: attorney and Iraq war vet Brian Rooney, who lives in Michigan and is eyeing a challenge of Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.

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Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Boca Raton resident Dion DiMucci performed three numbers to big applause Wednesday at a powwow of about 300 Republicans featuring congressional hopeful Allen West.

When Dion covered Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues, however, the lyric expressing multilateralist sentiment (“Gonna take my problem to the United Nations”) drew audible boos and groans.

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.

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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