Why is the sealed bid process so sacred? Because Escambia County has a history of backroom deals and preferential treatment for certain contractors. It wasn’t that long ago when four county commissioners were removed from office – for bribery and Sunshine law violations.
The late Willie Junior was one of those commissioners. He later cut a deal with the State Attorney to testify against W.D. Childers. He went missing in 2004 before he was to be sentenced as part of his plea bargain and was found one month later death under a house. His death was ruled a suicide from drinking antifreeze.
Junior was the first African-American commissioner for the specially drawn District 3. That district has had only two commissioners since 1984 – Junior and Marie Young.
On Aug. 16, 2002, Willie Junior was deposed by the attorneys for the Pensacola News Journal, William Clark and Larry Dennis, for the case of Anderson Columbia and Joe Anderson, Jr. vs. Gannett Company, Inc. and Multimedia Holding Corp. d/b/a Pensacola News Journal and Amie & Scott Streater (represented by Bob Kerrigan).
When Junior had been removed by Gov. Jeb Bush –after Junior’s grand jury indictment, he had served 18 and a half years as a county commissioner, during which he had chaired the commission three times.
Junior told the attorneys about loans that he received (which he never repaid), loaned vehicles (at no charge), bundled campaign contributions and cash payments that never quite made his campaign account.
Junior was asked about his relationship with Anderson Columbia (AC), who was a major road contractor for the county during the 1990s. Junior said that he had no direct relationship with AC, but instead had one with its lobbyist Mike Murphy, a car salesman for Key Ford and later World Ford.
Junior said while visiting Mike Murphy that he spoke to Joey Anderson over the phone and asked for a campaign contribution. Anderson said that Murphy handled the campaign contributions. During his next visit to Mike Murphy’s office, Murphy counted out $8000 in cash and gave it to him. It was the largest single campaign contribution that Junior had received to date…it never made his campaign account.
Mike Murphy testified earlier that Junior would do most anything for Murphy if he called him. In July 1998, the county had suspended AC from doing any more business with the county. Junior later voted to lift the suspension (Wilson Robertson voted against lifting it). The suspension was reduced to 90 days in October 1998.
Junior talked about regularly going by Key Ford and picking up campaign contributions that Ted Ciano had collected for him. He said that Ciano, later Murphy, would lend him an Expedition for weekend trips and not charge him.
Junior said that the regularly asked people for loans. Contractor and one time fellow commissioner Steve Del Gallo (who had his mother and father loan about $40K to Junior), attorney Fred Levin (who refused) and fellow Commissioner W.D. Childers (yes, $10K, later $40K). Junior was to pay back the $40K to Childers from his cut of the soccer complex purchase. He said that he was to make $100K off of the soccer complex purchase.
Junior said that he defaulted on the Del Gallo loan and that he thought Commissioner Del Gallo paid back his parents.
The sealed bid process and purchasing procedures helped clean a lot of this up. As much as the commissioners want to squeal “foul,†the rules are in place for a reason. We can’t go back to the Good Old Boy system.