Two seek Secrecy On “Pay to Play” Report
THEY WANT INFORMATION ABOUT THEM IN CORRUPTION PROBE SEALED BYLINE: TONY DORIS, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DATE: May 18, 2007 PUBLICATION: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCALPAGE: 1B MEMO: Ran all editions.
Despite the end of the legislative session and mayoral race, state Rep. Mary Brandenburg and at least one other person mentioned in a sealed grand jury report on “pay to play” city politics are pursuing legal efforts to keep the sections referring to them secret. Read More…….
Chief Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll on Monday received a new motion to repress or expunge a section of the report. Also, a person she would not identify has asked that a circuit court case file number be assigned in order to appeal an earlier order by Kroll unsealing the report, she said. It is unclear whether the same person made both the motion and the request for a file number. Brandenburg’s lawyer said he did not request the file number.
Because of state grand jury secrecy rules, the judge declined to comment in detail or to say who filed which motions or appeals.
Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, has acknowledged a monthslong battle to keep her name out of the report, which was issued Feb. 2. In April, she said she wanted to at least delay its release while she was in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
The session ended May 4, but she and her attorney, Don Pickett, confirmed that they have not dropped the effort and are awaiting a decision from Kroll.
The grand jury report blasted the city for what developers saw as a “pay to play” culture in which campaign contributions are used as political capital coinciding with official city action on projects. Grand jurors focused on Mayor Lois Frankel’s $400,000 in contributions for her reelection campaign, most of them from development interests. One unnamed developer, protected by immunity from prosecution, said he had gathered contributions to Frankel from employees and then reimbursed them. Such reimbursements are illegal because they serve to evade campaign contribution limits set for individuals and companies.
The report became fodder for opponent Al Zucaro’s mayoral campaign, but Frankel was reelected in March with 59 percent of the vote.
A second grand jury is looking further into the issues raised by the first.
Frankel declined to comment on efforts to suppress the report.
Brandenburg’s attorney, Pickett, said it would be illegal for him or the lawmaker to comment while the matter is under court consideration.
Under the law, any portion of a grand jury report relating to an individual who has not been charged is kept secret until that individual receives a copy and is given 15 days to file motions to repress or expunge any portion believed to be improper or unlawful. Such a filing automatically seals that portion of a report until the circuit court rules or an appeal is concluded.
The sealed portion of the Feb. 2 report elaborated on a section subtitled “Mayor’s Ethics Committee.” Brandenburg, a former city commissioner, is one of 10 members of the panel, picked by Frankel, to recommend improvements to the city’s ethics policies.
“Based on the credible evidence and credible testimony before it, this grand jury concludes that one member of the ethics committee acted unethically while conducting ethics committee business,” the section stated. The details are contained in the portion still under seal.
The grand jury quizzed Brandenburg about conversations she had with leaders of a nonprofit that was having trouble getting city approvals for a redevelopment project in the city’s Northwood Neighborhood. The group, led by Carl Flick, said the ethics panelist pressured them to contribute to Frankel’s campaign in order to get approvals. Brandenburg said she merely suggested they could build political “goodwill” by contributing.
~tony_doris@pbpost.com