Today, the daily newspaper reports “Insider contract likely focus of TEAM Santa Rosa FBI probe”
How did the daily newspaper come to that assumption? They have no comment from the FBI to support that headline.
Last year, the FBI served a series of federal subpoenas on TEAM Santa Rosa regarding a number of transactions. Since then, federal officials have not commented on the investigation.
What we do know is that the FBI raided the business of County Commissioner Bob Cole (Exclusive: Bob Cole’s financial troubles popped up two years ago). Cole had nothing to do with what the daily newspaper claims is the “likely focus” of the investigation.
A reasonable person would have to conclude the FBI probe was much broader than a marketing contract and that is what the daily newspaper reported in September 2011.
What do know is the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office subpoenas concerned the following (this is from the PNJ’s own article dated Sept. 25, 2011):
>> Santa Rosa County’s purchase of an industrial park from Navarre developer Bill Pullum in 2009.
>> Any County Commission or TEAM staff member’s travel to Pullum’s private island in Honduras.
>> Any County Commission or TEAM staff member’s travel to Washington, D.C.
>> Any county business with Pullum, developer Garrett Walton, architect and former state Sen. Charlie Clary, and Okaloosa County businessman William McElvy.
>> The sale of any property between the county and James “Jim” Young and/or KWY Investments, the company that sold the property where the private Blackwater River Correctional Institute came to be built in East Milton.
>> The county’s ambulance service contract.
There is no mention of the marketing contract.
It would have been more accurate to say that Alan Isaacson alleges the contract was the focus of the investigation. Isaacson has emails that may or may not prove his claim that anything illegal happened, but he has nothing that states the emails were the focus of the FBI investigation.
Clearly –based on the subpoenas and raid of Bob Cole’s business– the FBI investigation was much, much broader.
I suspect Isaacson’s release on Sunday of the emails to the daily newspaper has more to do with Ed Gray calling him and Jerry Couey “Bevis & Butthead” than the actual FBI investigation (Exclusive: Former TEAM board members speak out).
And the daily newspaper took the bait.