Grand Jury Agrees Lawmaker Gave ‘Pay To Play’ Advice
BYLINE: KELLY WOLFE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
DATE: June 7, 2008
PUBLICATION: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: A SECTION PAGE: 1A MEMO: Did not run MSL.
A county grand jury concluded state Rep. Mary Brandenburg “did not act ethically” in July 2006 when she told the members of a neighborhood nonprofit they would have to get out their wallets if they wanted to get things done in West Palm Beach.Brandenburg told members of the Northwood Renaissance redevelopment group that “the way to successfully conduct business in the city of West Palm Beach was to write substantial checks to the mayor’s campaign account,” ……Keep Reading
the panel concluded. The grand jury noted that “there is no testimo
ny or evidence” that Brandenburg was acting at Mayor Lois Frankel’s direction.
The findings released Friday were a previously sealed portion of the grand jury report originally issued Feb. 2, 2007. Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, waged a 16-month battle to keep her name out of the document.
“The grand jury is appalled by Mary Brandenburg’s lack of compassion and concern for the citizens of West Palm Beach,” the report said. “The grand jury applauds the Northwood Renaissance organization and support their continued efforts, and is saddened by the loss of affordable housing opportunities for lower to middle income residents of the city of West Palm Beach.”
Brandenburg said the grand jury’s findings were incorrect, based on inaccurate accusations.
“It’s a cowardly attack by some anonymous person or persons,” Brandenburg said. “Frankly, I think it was shameful behavior on the part of whoever did it. The last page describes me as acting unethically. That is absolutely incorrect, and the grand jurors didn’t think so either or they would have filed an ethics complaint.”
Kaye Sterling, a complaint coordinator at the Florida Commission on Ethics, said the commission would not investigate this matter unless a complaint was made. She declined to say if a complaint had been made, saying investigations are confidential until complete.
Brandenburg said she was shocked to read what was in the report, even though she had fought to keep it sealed. 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.
The 4th District Court of Appeal did appear to side with Brandenburg in April, when it ruled some portions of the report should remain sealed. Chief Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll made those revisions, and released the rest of the document Friday.
The report focused on a meeting Brandenburg - allegedly acting as a member of the city’s ethics committee - had with the nonprofit community development corporation, Northwood Renaissance. The organization wanted to talk about perceived ethics violations by West Palm Beach because it was having trouble getting approvals for a redevelopment project in the Northwood neighborhood.
According to the report, Brandenburg told the group “if Northwood Renaissance wanted to make progress in the political arena of the city of West Palm Beach, they were going to have to play the game the way everybody else did.”
“Mary Brandenburg progressed to how commissioners or elected officials could receive compensation for their votes,” the report said. “Mary Brandenburg discussed the right way and the wrong way to make contributions, giving an example of an inappropriate way to offer money; bribes and bogus consulting agreements with a spouse or elected official.”
Brandenburg said she didn’t say those things, and had not even come to the meeting as a member of the city’s ethics committee, which, she said, was only established to look at ethics among city employees.
“I’m disappointed in the grand jury and the process here and the inability for someone like me to face my accusers,” Brandenburg said.
The 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 actions on projects.
The report also said Frankel and Brandenburg are friends and that Frankel appointed all members to the committee, including Brandenburg.
The mayor’s office released a statement saying Frankel had no personal knowledge of the meeting between Northwood Renaissance and Brandenburg.
The mayor “cannot comment on the accuracy of conversations between those parties,” the statement said. “If any statements were made implying that votes or special favors could be bought by making a campaign contribution then Mayor Frankel finds such statements unacceptable and repugnant.”
- kelly_wolfe@pbpost.com