Will Santa Bring Some Justice for Jacksonville?

I am not Santa Claus, it's true.

But, like Saint Nick, I have definitely been making a list and checking it twice. I know who's naughty, and I know who's nice. (My wife would say that I am also somewhat Santa-shaped and maybe I should hit the gym instead of the leftovers, but we'll deal with that another time.)

You guys all know who I think should get a lump of coal in their stocking - AngryJax's perennial villians and Trail Ridge nemeses, Jack Webb and Republic Services. They may not be getting coal this year, however - if the Elves in Santa's workshops are to be believed, Jack & Republic might be getting some JUSTICE.

And the deliverers of Justice - well, let's just say after a couple of conversations I've had with them, they might be getting something nice in their stocking.

Miss Carla Miller, the Ethics Officer for the City of Jacksonville is on my "nice" list. You may remember that I kind of skewered her a bit (nothing personal, of course) a few weeks ago. Well, she very nicely reached out to me after ol' Jack Webb blew her off at the Ethics Commission meeting last week. We've traded a few emails and are trying to arrange to meet up in January to discuss the Commission, Jack, Republic, and where this is all going.

She did decline to be interviewed or make a statement on the blog which made me pretty sad (she's definitely not getting a pony from Santa this year, if you know what I mean). But, she does get a lot of credit for reaching out nicely, when she could easily have done what many politicians would have done: ignored the angry taxpayer and kept on doing what they wanted to. Thanks for keeping it real, Ms. Miller : )

The Commission on Ethics, the State of Florida's answer to the kinds of fast-talking, backroom-dealing, self-interested profiteers we elect to public office. I've had a couple conversations with the nice folks at the Commission, and I have some interesting things to share. First of all, if you call The Commission, they will tell you straight-up that they can't tell you about any investigations that are under way, they are confidential. They can tell you if someone has filed a public complaint - that is to say, if a member of the public has filed a complaint. They can't tell you if there have been any other kind of complaints, as that would be confidential information. This can lead to some fun games on the telephone:

Me: "Is anyone there investigating Jack Webb or Republic Services?"
Comm: "Sorry, I can't confirm or deny that there's an investigation, that's confidential."
Me: "Oh. Okay, then, has anyone lodged a complaint?"
Comm: "Well, no one's lodged a PUBLIC complaint..."
Me: "I see. How about some other kind of complaint?"
Comm: "I couldn't comment on any other kind of complaint, that's confidential."
Me: "So then...there haven't been any complaints?"
Comm: "No, I said there haven't been any...PUBLIC...complaints."

See, this is why I think the Commission on Ethics gets a nice present in their stocking. Not only are they friendly, courteous, interested in your problems, and - get this - willing to call you back, but also they give me hope that justice is coming. I'm not much for gambling, but I'd bet you a dozen doughnuts the complaint form I'm sending in about Jack Webb & Republic will be (as the football players say) "just piling on."

The Attorney General's Special Grand Jury as requested by Gov. Crist. I had a lengthy conversation the other day with a nice fellow at the Florida AG's office, and he told me all about this special grand jury that had just been approved by the state supreme court. Because of a wave of public corruption cases (Corruption? In Florida? No way, really?!) the Gov has decided it's time to get tough.

According to the guy I spoke with - my mom would call him a "nice young man" - the AG and the Grand Jury already have a number of situations involving public officials AND big businesses that they're looking at. When asked if Jack Webb and Republic were on the list, after a bit of a pause - what a literary type might call a pregnant pause - the nice young man said he really couldn't confirm or deny what they were working on.

Is justice finally coming for Jacksonville? Man, I sure hope so. In fact, when I go to the mall and sit on Santa's lap, I sure know I'll be asking for that!

Had enough of the nonsense? Sign the petittion! If I get enough signatures, I'll bring it with me when I go meet Carla Miller!

Votes Bought & Sold, and other City Hall Shenanigans - Trail Ridge, Part 3

Here is the final installment in the ethics disaster (or, as we in Jacksonville like to call it, "politics as usual") that has grown out of the Trail Ridge Landfill issue.

In the first installment, I told you a bit about the history of the Trail Ridge Landfill, the contract beteween the City of Jacksonville and Waste Management, and how Republic Services has tried to bid for the contract to manage an expanded Trail Ridge.

In the second episode, we talked about the long, ugly fight between Waste Management and Republic Services (and their hired army of lobbyists, power brokers, insiders, and PR people) over whether or not the City of Jacksonville should put the operation of Trail Ridge out to bid. Waste Management, you may remember, believes their contract from 1991 gives them the right to continue to operate the landfill. Republic (and just about everyone else) believes otherwise. Waste Management threatened the City with a major lawsuit if they did not renew the contract; Mayor Peyton came up with a plan to prevent the lawsuit by giving in to WM's demands; Republic launched a PR blitz to convince everyone that putting the landfill contract out to public bid was the best solution; and Councilmember Jack Webb became the most vocal proponent of the public bid.

Now, here's where it gets really nasty. Council VP Jack Webb spoke loudly and often against Mayor Peyton's plan and extolled the virtues of a public bid process, which clearly was to the benefit of Republic Services. That would have been fine, because a bid process in all likelihood would be the best for the City, too. But what Jack Webb never told anyone was that he was trying to get Republic Services as a client for his law firm. In April of 2009, when the City Council voted down the Mayor's plan to give in to WM, Jack Webb claims he was no longer trying to get Republic's business. Of course, it was a complete surprise to EVERYONE when, after months of pro-bid campaigning, Webb's firm is suddenly rewarded with business from Republic.

What makes this so problematic was that Webb had been appointed as chair of a committee that would administer the landfill bid process. At the same time that Webb was working for Republic as an attorney, he was also going to sit on the City Council committee that would ultimately decide on the winner of a bid - a bid that Republic was going to compete for. And neither he, nor Republic, told anyone about their cozy business relationship. No one told the City Council, no one told the press, no one told anyone. In fact, the only reason anyone found out about it was because journalists at the Florida Times-Union found documentation that showed that Webb was working a case for Republic in a local court.

Yes, you read that right: Webb courted Republic as a potential client. Then he spent months shilling for them, pushing for a competitive bid process that Republic would benefit from. Shortly after the vote, Republic hired Webb and his law firm to represent them. If that's not a clear case of public influence & a vote bought and paid for, what is?

And then came the aftermath. Webb (only after being publicly lambasted) agreed to step down from the committee and (after being publicly called out for bad behavior in the Times-Union) decided to stop working for Republic. Republic laughed into their sleeves, because no one thinks they did anything wrong.

So, where does this leave us, the taxpayers?

Well, Webb has been "invited" to maybe come by and chat with the utterly toothless Ethics Commission who'll probably tell him to stop being so blatant and showing such poor common sense, allowing himself to get caught. That's right - invited. The Ethics Commission can't even launch an investigation of their own volition, so Webb probably gets off scott-free.

Republic Services laughs all the way to the bank. They got what they needed - a "competitive" bid process. Competitive, my foot. Who's really going to compete with them? Waste Management? Please! After the threats and the lawsuit, as if WM's bid will be taken seriously. And there aren't any other players around that are big enough to handle the job. Nope, Republic's pretty much got this one in the bag. And what a bag it is...After all, this contract is estimated to be worth $750 million over 30 years. And what did this cost them? How much did they pay Jack Webb for his services as a mouthpiece and a shill?

The taxpayers are hosed. The City has to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to defend themselves in court agains the monster lawsuit that Waste Management has filed against us. Planning & execution of the much-needed expansion of the Trail Ridge Landfill is set back by months, if not years, while everyone tries to figure out how the lawsuit will end. The entire bid process is in question, as we as citizens don't know which - if any - city councilors we can trust to lead the committee.

This is waste. This is unethical. This is probably - if we really drop the pretense - an classic example of City Hall Corruption. And the culprits are going to get away scott-free. Unless we can convince the City to do a real conflict of interest investigation into the Webb & Republic's little arrangement, both Webb and Republic get to ride off into the sunset, with a whole bunch of our tax dollars in their pocket. So please, please SIGN THE PETITION FOR AN ETHICS INVESTIGATION.

Oh, so NOW Councilmember Webb Wants to Prevent "Abuse" of Power?

Jack Webb is co-sponsoring a bill to prevent 'abuse' at City Hall. Seriously? Come on, Jack - pull the other one! We know how you really feel!

The set up:

Have you ever met a City of Jacksonville employee with the title "Assistant Management Improvement Officer"? No? That's surprising. There's 200 of them running around Jacksonville right now. What qualifies a person to be an 'AMIO', you ask? Well, most appear to be middle management types, such as risk management experts or budget analysts, although there's (apparently) at least one veterinarian among them, but I'll bet the number one qualifications is "pals with the Mayor or his campaign manager!"

These AMIOs salaries all get paid by the taxpayers, I'm sure you'll be happy to know. Due to some weird wording in the laws of the City of Jacksonville, when the Mayor appoints & hires a person to the city payroll, if they don't fit into a specific civil service category, they get labeled as an 'AMIO' where there's no real job description and some pretty loose rules about pay scales. Sounds kind of fishy, doesn't it? Well, yeah - because it IS!

The Florida Times-Union points out that this is a pretty obvious example of 'cronyism and waste'. This is exactly the sort thing I created the blog to speak out against - it's a prime example of the politicians finding ways to help out their pals and hook them up with cushy jobs while the rest of us wonder why we pay taxes but there's not a lot of progress to point to...

Now, for a small bit of good news, Councilmember Glorious Johnson - who has a heck of a smile AND the best name of any city politician, anywhere, ever - has started work on a bill to deal with this problem. Good for her! I'm 100% in support! Maybe we can finally see an example of an ethical politician who's working in the voters' best interest?

But now, here's the punchline...

That paragon of virtue and champion of ethical behavior, City Council VP Jack Webb has decided to chime in on the topic. He's co-sponsoring Ms. Johnson's bill...get this...because "without organization, there is potential for abuse." Well, he'd know all about that, wouldn't he? This is the guy who spent months shilling for Republic Services while pretending to be working for the best interest of the city's voters & taxpayers. This is the guy who took legal work from Republic Services while he was sitting on the committee that would determine who got to bid on a contract...that Republic wanted! Who is this guy kidding?

I'm all for Councilmember Johnson's push to make City politics a little cleaner. I wish her, and her bill, all the luck in the world. I really hope it passes, because this city could use a push in the right direction.

But Jack Webb is part of the problem. As long as he's running loose in the City Council chamber, he and his pals at Republic - and just about everyone else in town - know that our Councilmember's votes are for sale.

Please SIGN THE PETITION and let's send a message to City Hall that we won't tolerate unethical behavior!

Illegal Aliens are Everyone's Problem, even Jacksonville's

Earlier this week, investigators discovered that 100 workers at the new Duval County Courthouse work site had given fake IDs.

That's right. Your tax dollars at work people! Our City Government's largest boondoggle in recent memory is now a haven for illegal workers. Faaaaantastic, as the man once said.

Turner Construction is the firm that had hired the illegals which was "strictly prohibited" according to there contract with the City. Of course it was! And, in the story mentioned above, our very own Mayor Peyton has said that he's looking into finding out if that qualifies as a breach of contract. A breach of contract? I'm sure that's got Turner quaking in their boots! Where are the fines? Where is the outrage? Where is the ACTION?

Abel Harding of the Times-Union said it best in his blog the other day, when he opined that, "Political leaders have "dealt" with the issue with a wink and a nod." He was referring to the State Legislature, but I'll take a bold step and apply this to the City Government as well.

If voters & taxpayers let this issue die, if we don't call for some action by the City against Turner, you can be sure that the City will continue winking and nodding at Turner and other vendors of their ilk. After all, if we don't care enough to take action, why should they?!

If you want to join me in sending a message to the City Council that we're watching them and aren't going to let them get away with their usual tricks, please sign the petition - http://www.gopetition.com/online/31796.html.

Jacksonville's Toothless Tiger

Today's post is about Jacksonville's Toothless Tiger - Carla Miller, the City Ethics Officer (and her compatriots in ineffectivness, the Jacksonville Ethics Commission).

I'm want to make this clear up front - I'm NOT attacking Ms. Miller on any sort of personal level. I think she's made it clear that she takes her job seriously and believes in what she's doing. She's a fomer federal prosecutor, she's been all over the world helping cities develop ethics program...she knows her stuff. The problem is that she can't do her job properly even if she wants to! Because here in Jacksonville, "politics as usual" means that that last thing anyone wants is the Ethics Officer to go around enforcing any sort of decent standarss!

The Florida Times-Union has put out two interesting pieces in the last few days. I apologize, readers, for taking so long to get to them, because they're pretty important pieces. The first details an akward, embarrasing moment for this city and the second explains how we've come to this situation.

While you should absolutely read both of those stories, I'll sum up for you. The Jacksonville Ethics Commission is a 9 member board and the members are appointed by the Mayor, City Council President, School Board, etc. Each of those members owe their position to someone - the person who appointed them. The Commission has no full-time staff and no real budget. They don't have any real power to go initiate investigations. If the Florida Times-Union has it correct, Ethics Officer Carla Miller doesn't even report to the Commission - her bosses (plural!) are the Mayor and The City Council.

Even if - IF - either the Commission or Ms. Miller WANTED to do an investigation, they'd be stuck in the gates. No money, no staff, and the fact that at any given moment they have a natural conflict of interest themselves - do they serve their bosses, the city, the taxpayers? Or do they just do the best they can to cover their own behinds in an ugly situation?

Again we come to my favorite topic, Jack Webb and Trail Ridge. As I'm sure you know, City Council VP Jack Webb has done a real good job of making it look like he sold his vote - and his influential voice - to Republic Services, the billion-dollar waste management company that wants to operate the Trail Ridge Landfill. You'll see in various posts here and in all kinds of news stories at the Times-Union that both Webb and Republic look really bad - it's hard to see how this wasn't some kind of a premeditiated, back-room smoking-a-cigar kind of deal between them.

At the most recent meeting of the Ethics Commission, the best our theoretical "watchdogs" could do was resolve to "invite" Mr. Webb before them at their next meeting. INVITE? To come have some tea? And maybe a biscuit or scone, too?

Our watchdog is a toothless tiger. Impotent. Useless. Not because they're bad people, and not because they don't want to do their jobs. It's because the City of Jacksonville won't give them them the tools and independence to do their job. After all, they sure wouldn't want any investigations going on - politicians might lose their seats and big businesses with their lobbyist pals might lose their big paydays.

Mayor Peyton, City Council - give our Ethics Commission and Ethics Officer the tools and freedom they require to do their job!

Ethics Commission, Ms. Miller - please, 'invite' Mr. Webb a little harder and make sure you get to the bottom of this Trail Ridge story!

Incentives, TARP and Abel Harding

I'm going to step away from Ethics & Politics for a minute (sort of) to give a shout out to Abel Harding.

Mr. Harding, you may know, is the editor and founder of the excellent blog, Jacksonville Politics Online. He is now working for the Florida Times-Union as a columnist, and I strongly urge everyone to check out his work. He's a smart guy and he's got some strong insight into both business and politics.

His post in today's Times-Union discusses not just the price we all (as US taxpayers) pay in the fall of CIT, but also the price paid especially by Jacksonville and Florida taxpayers.

Mr. Harding notes that the Jacksonville City Council approved a JEDC plan to award a $3,000 tax credit to CIT for every job created in Jacksonville by CIT. While I understand that a City needs to do what a City needs to do to bring in good jobs & industry (and this was in 2006), in hindsight, it seems like the JEDC & City Council's bet wasn't a good one.

There's no real ethical dilemma here - but this is a good opportunity for us to remember that it's a good idea to think twice before awarding tax breaks, cash incentives, or other deals to large businesses who may not be as strong as they'd like one to believe.

In any event, I hope you all check out Mr. Harding's columns in the Times-Union and check out his blog as well. He's a smart guy, and worth reading.