(Recap and analysis of the week in state government)
By DARA KAM
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Other than a steady stream of emails from politicians letting loose about mushrooming concerns regarding toxic waters south of Lake Okeechobee, it was a quiet week in Tallahassee.
Florida Supreme Court justices left court watchers high and dry, taking an annual summer break without opining on closely monitored cases involving gambling and the death penalty. And Gov. Rick Scott was nowhere to be seen in Tallahassee, though he and his staff tried to make crystal clear that they are concerned about nasty algae coating waterways south of the big lake.
But by Friday, a veteran congresswoman prevented capital denizens from succumbing to the lethargy induced by Florida’s dog days.
After months of rumors, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and her chief aide pleaded not guilty to a series of charges related to what federal prosecutors described as a “scheme involving a fraudulent education charity” and a “personal slush fund.”
LONGTIME CONGRESSWOMAN’S LONG-AWAITED INDICTMENT
Brown and Chief of Staff Elias “Ronnie” Simmons were indicted Friday on charges that they used a sham education charity to pay for personal expenses and luxurious events, accusations that pose the most serious challenge yet to her 23-year congressional career.
Brown and Simmons pleaded not guilty to all of the 24 counts in the indictment, which includes allegations of mail and wire fraud, concealing facts on financial-disclosure forms, filing false tax returns and theft of government property.
Federal prosecutors say the two worked with Carla Wiley, a Virginia woman who reached a plea deal with the government in March, to set up “One Door for Education” and use it “as a personal slush fund,” in the words of Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
“Congresswoman Brown and her chief of staff are alleged to have used the congresswoman’s official position to solicit over $800,000 in donations to a supposed charitable organization, only to use that organization as a personal slush fund,” Caldwell said in a press release announcing the indictment. “Corruption erodes the public’s trust in our entire system of representative government.”
But Brown, a pugnacious congresswoman known for fiercely defending her district and her legacy, insisted to reporters Friday that she is innocent. The congresswoman, who has built her identity around constituent service, said she would “let the work I’ve done speak for me.”
“My heart is just really heavy,” the 69-year-old Jacksonville Democrat said. “This has been a very difficult time for me, my family, my constituents. But I’m looking forward to a speedy day in court to vindicate myself. … We’ve got the rest of the story. So I’m looking forward to presenting the rest of the story.”
Brown — who has fought off challenges to her district and other threats over two decades in Congress — has long insisted on her innocence in the matter. “I’m clean,” she told reporters in March as she faced questions about federal probes amid a separate legal fight over the shape of her district.
Brown has represented a district that stretches from Jacksonville south to Orlando since 1993. She is seeking re-election in a dramatically redrawn district that goes from Jacksonville west to Gadsden County, passing through Tallahassee.
RIVERA STILL COULD BE ON THE HOOK
In other ethics-related news involving a onetime member of Florida’s congressional delegation, a state appeals court on Wednesday rejected Miami Republican David Rivera’s challenge to an ethics finding against him but didn’t close the door to the possibility of hearing the case again in the future.
Rivera left the Legislature in 2010 and served one term in Congress. The ethics case deals with his time in the state House before heading to Washington.
Wednesday’s ruling means the lengthy battle over a proposed ethics fine of nearly $58,000 will likely continue, even as Rivera attempts a political comeback in this year’s elections. The former lawmaker is one of five Republicans and one Democrat running for an open seat in state House District 118 in Miami-Dade County.
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal said it was too early for Rivera to challenge the constitutionality of a law allowing him to be fined by state House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island. While the Florida Commission on Ethics recommended a punishment, Crisafulli is charged by the law with the final decision.
Rivera’s attorney had argued that it’s unconstitutional for the speaker to have that kind of authority over a former member. But the judges said challenging the law now was jumping the gun, because the ethics process “will not be complete until the speaker acts on the commission’s recommendation.”
COURT LEAVES ‘EM GUESSING
The Florida Supreme Court issued a ho-hum batch of opinions on Thursday before shutting down shop for a nearly two-month summer hiatus.
The break leaves unresolved questions about issues such as the constitutionality of the state’s death-penalty sentencing laws, something the court has grappled with since a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling that essentially said the state’s system was unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges, instead of juries, in sentencing inmates to death.
The Legislature and Scott scrambled to approve changes to address the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which came in a case known as Hurst v. Florida. Since the ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has been inundated with arguments on the issue and is faced with trying to sort out questions such as whether the changes approved by the Legislature and Scott meet constitutional tests.
The court also left hanging a case that has major implications for the gambling industry and for communities in various parts of the state. The case centers on whether Gretna Racing, a pari-mutuel facility in rural Gadsden County, should be able to offer slot machines without the express approval of the Legislature.
The ultimate ruling likely will come down to how justices interpret a 2009 gambling law. Gretna Racing contends the law permits counties to hold referendums to allow slot machines — an argument Scott’s administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi dispute. The outcome will affect at least six counties where voters have approved slot machines in referendums. Those counties are Gadsden, Brevard, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington.
The justices also left in limbo a case challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law requiring women to wait 24 hours before having abortions.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Longtime Congresswoman Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat, pleaded not guilty to charges that she and a top aide used a sham education charity to pay for personal expenses and luxurious events.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We protect everyone just as a matter of course because it’s just, you know, it’s a nice thing to do.” Administrative Law Judge R. Bruce McKibben, after deciding to keep secret the names of investors affiliated with a Jacksonville nursery trying to get a license to grow, process and dispense marijuana products.
