One of the last reports issued by the Florida Grand Jury under outgoing Attorney General Bill McCollum was this report issuing anti-corruption recommendations regarding State and local government. Much of it focuses on public corruption related to elected or appointed officials.
Update June 4, 2011: Local Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a column on this same Corruption Report HERE.
I have summarized the findings of the Corruption report below, since they did NOT provide a summary, index or table of contents in the 127 page report.
"Since 2000, Florida’s three federal United States Attorney’s Office districts had more public corruption convictions than any other state’s combined district totals. Florida led the nation in the number of federally convicted public officials from 1998 through 2007. According to this testimony, Florida leads the next closest state, New York, by over an 8% margin. (pg 120)". In a chart on page 120, Florida had over 800 "Convicted Public Officials from 1998-2007" compared to almost half the other states had less than 100 convictions in the same time period. (Ed note: However, that could mean the laws in some states made it HARDER to convict or prosecute public corruption.)
One press article denounced the report for not actually indicting anyone for corruption. See HERE.
This Grand Jury report was a follow up to a 1999-2000 Public Corruption Study Commission established by Gov. Jeb Bush where many recommendations were
HERE is the press release or read it below:
Note: On May 31, I contacted the Attorney General's office to find out the status of the recommendations in the December 29 Public Corruption report. They should be back to me by the first week in June, 2011.
HERE is the final Grand Jury webpage which contains a link to the press release issue by new Attorney General Pam Bondi for the final Feb. 21, 2011 report HERE, which is the ONLY place we could find a download link for the final report and separate link for attachments. NOTE: The FINAL report, issued by Pam Bondi's office is only 51 pages, compared to the interim report of 127 pages. This "Final Report" does NOT cover or update the issues in the Interim report I summarized below, but it outlines their examination of the Broward County School Board and their resulting recommendations, which is an entirely different topic. Very confusing. vj
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Start of Summary Written by FiscalRangers.com
The Convening of the Nineteenth Statewide Grand Jury
This Grand Jury was impaneled in February of 2010 upon the petition of Governor
Charlie Crist to the Supreme Court of Florida. Specifically, Governor Crist stated in his petition
that the following should be addressed statewide:
1. Examine criminal activity of public officials who have abused their powers
via their public office;
2. Consider whether Florida’s prosecutors have sufficient resources to
effectively combat corruption;
3. Address the effectiveness of Florida’s current statutes in fighting public
corruption;
4. Identify any deficiencies in current laws, punishments or enforcement efforts
and make detailed recommendations to improve our anti-corruption
initiatives;
5. Investigate crimes, return indictments, and make presentments; and
6. Examine public policy issues regarding public corruption and develop specific
recommendations regarding improving current laws.
"We have determined that public officials are often not being punished under the
public corruption laws in Florida for four main reasons:
1. The act is not criminalized;
2. The cases are too difficult to prove due to their definitions and extra
elements of proof;
3. The punishments imposed too lenient and do not fit the crime; or
4. The prosecutor decides to charge another crime or accept a plea in order to
allow a defendant to avoid the negative publicity of public corruption
charges."
THERE WAS NO SUMMARY in the December Interim report of the recommendations (stupid, stupid), and NO INDEX and NO Table of Contents, but starting on page 18 of the report, there were numerous recommendations with lengthy background text, including our summary below.
VJ
Summary of Florida Public Corruption Issues & Recommendations in the December, 2010 127 Page Interim Report
- I-A -1 Revision of the definition of the term "public servant" subject to anti-corruption prosecution and provisions to be expanded to include "any officer or employee of a governmental entity" and also includes employees of special districts, contractors and non-governmental agencies (charities, etc). Basically, any person or firm getting public funds would be subject to the provisions. This change was recommended to reverse a weak public servant definition passed in 2003 that prevented prosecution of various wrong doers. The report text includes various examples of prosecution problems due to the current, weak wording. For example, one non-profit agency implementing programs for a Florida Dept. could not be prosecuted for "excess" spending, plus bid rigging, falsifying records, kickbacks, nepotism and bribery.
- I-A-2 Changing definitions related to "intent" to make prosecution easier for criminal or civil corruption cases. "We have heard testimony that the language and definition of “corruptly” or “with corrupt intent” has limited the effectiveness of Florida’s criminal anti-corruption laws by placing an
extra burden beyond the requirement of criminal intent that is standard in criminal offenses."
- I-B Bid rigging and bid tampering provisions need strengthening.
- I-C - Revise wording in statutes related to commercial bribe receiving and bribery to facilitate easier prosecution.
-I-D A statute should be enacted based on recommendations from a Corruption Grand Jury for Palm Beach County that recommended increased levels of criminality of actions "under the color of law". Basically, that means an employee who commits corruption under cover of their official position.
- Increased criminal penalties are needed for wrongs defined by the Code of Ethics which are only subject to civil sanctions.
-I-E Conflict of Interest provisions should be expanded and "criminalized", such as vote influencing. The existing Conflict of Interest penalty provisions are considered too weak.
-I-F Misuse of Public Position - this should be subject to criminal prosecution, not just civil.
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II - Regulatory Enforcement (page 55)
II-A - Offices of Inspector General - Create an independent "Office of State Inspector General" who will oversee inspections and investigations performed by all other state Inspector Generals. Also beef up regulations to give agency IG's more "independence" (which is very common in corporate audit departments). Also provide added resources to IG's. (Note: This author worked with and trained IG staff in anti-corruption and audit techniques in Iraq for 23 months). "Inspectors general offices at any governmental agency or entity should be allowed to conduct investigations without having to notify
the agency head, executive director, or any other person outside of the IGO of an ongoing investigation."
IG tiplines or Hotlines should be created for each IG (don't exist now).
IG's should have sworn law enforcement officers in office (so they can perform legal investigations leading to prosecution). Non-sworn officers don't have the training to develop evidence, interviews, etc that would hold up in court.
- Whistleblower's Act - create monetary rewards for whistle blowers like the Federal government has. (8) Expand coverage to any employee filing complaint on any entity receiving government funding to perform government services.
- Enablement of Independent Private Sector Inspector Generals (IPSIG) to ensure compliance with specified regulations, and they are already used by the Federal Dept. of Justics.
- Auditors and Clerks of Court (Pg. 64) - Auditor General is a state constitutional officer with fiscal audit duties.
"The Florida Auditor General is created in Article III of the Florida Constitution and is
implemented under Chapter 11, F.S. The Auditor General is appointed by a majority vote of the
Legislative Auditing Committee and is subject to confirmation both the House and the Senate.
The Auditor General is to perform his or her duties independently, but under the general policies
of the Legislative Auditing Committee. The Auditor General serves at the pleasure of the
Legislature. An Auditor General is required to be a licensed CPA with at least ten years of
experience."
Court Clerks act as local auditors, but there is hardly anything in the report about them, or the Court case used to resist opening audits of other County operations without agreement from the Audited agency. I basically do not believe Court Clerk "audit" functions are credible except for providing routine financial audits of cash and other quality control operations within Court Clerk operations. The Court Clerk Auditor in Lake County doesn't even public their audit reports online. vj
C. Codes of Ethics and Ethical Standards - pg 67 - Florida’s Code of Ethics (Chapter 112, Part III),
the Florida Commission on Ethics, and locally created codes of ethics and commissions on
ethics. The Commission on Ethics has no enforcement authority and that it goes to the Governor to be enforced.Recommendations include: Increasing maximum penalties like those used by the Elections Commission from $10,000 to $100,000, change rules to mandate conflict of interest standars for appointed State officials to mirror the standard for local officials; usage of blind trusts; usage of internet portals for filing disclosures; criminalize some penalties; beef up gift reporting requirements; expand financial disclosure laws to cover board members of community redevelopment agencies and local government finance directors, and there are several other recommendations.
Commission on Ethics (pg 79) - Recommended to give them limited authority to self-initiate investigations via super-majority vote of Commissioners. Also, rewrite it to expand who is covered, such as non-profits receiving government funds. Plus, centralize, consolidate and use uniform definitions, and increase powers to interpret Codes. "We recommend metropolitan counties establish a code of ethics and a commission on ethics and public trust similar to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust."
D. Election Laws, Campaign Financing, and the Elections Commission (pg 91)
Recommendations: Expand rules to cover more "publicly funded" people, like contractors, non-profits, etc. from helping a candidate. "Currently, a
filing officer or employee of an elections office who receives a filed document and who observes
a potential violation of election or campaign laws is not required to report any such suspected
violation." - This needs to change to require they report suspected violations to the State Division of Elections. Also, current law has not penalty for repeated late candidate filings. Thus, legislators need to create separate civil violations with escalating fines for candidates who are repeat late filers.
"It has been observed that some candidates and/or committees routinely fail to file timely reports knowing the penalty is much lighter than the potential benefit. It is suspected that these reports are being withheld in order to deceive or otherwise confound the opposition as to the true fundraising ability of the late filer. Thus the late filer is garnering an unfair advantage. "
Residency Definitions are VERY weak, prevent penalties for violation, and need much tighter definition. Also, the Elections Commission needs specific authority to investigate candidate residency violations. Local governments, in County or City areas, can define them much tighter than the State does.
ELECTIONS Commission (pg 99)
"Under F.S. 106.24 the Florida Elections Commission is created within the Department of
Legal Affairs, Office of the Attorney General. The Elections Commission is a separate budget
entity and agency head. The Elections Commission is composed of the Governor and nine
members who are appointed from both political parties and confirmed by the Senate."
"Unlike the Federal Elections Commission, the Florida Election Commission does not review every political committee filing and does not have the ability to initiate its own investigation or audit."
Recommendations include: Improvement in the way the Commission can initiate investigations, including residency violations; provide authority to investigate based on a super-majority of Commission; beef up their jurisdiction to include "willful" and "non-willful" criminal and civil violations; have the Elections Commission follow the Administrative Procedure Act and have "final order authority".
E. Convicted and Suspended Vendor Lists
"Under F.S. 287.133 a “convicted vendor list” is established to be kept by Department of Management Services (DMS), but we heard the number of vendors on these lists is minimal as the lists are under-reported." "Another reason this list is not being utilized is because DMS does not receive notification of the convictions from the clerks. The current system relies on vendors to self-report and this is not happening. If a vendor does not report, we heard that DMS may not ever learn of the convicted vendor."
Recomendations include: Create a "temporary suspended vendor list" for any vendor charged with a public entity crime (i.e. violates election laws?). "A single debarment list should be maintained which encompasses all contractors who have been barred by the State or any county or city." Also bar vendors from procurement contracts if they wee conficted of a felony or crime of "dishonesty). "Any vendor or person convicted of a crime involving theft or procurement related crime with the State of Florida should be barred from entering into any contracts with the State of Florida for life."
III. Education, Training and Culture (related to ethics) (pg 107)
"We heard that the Code of Ethics does not require public officials, officers, or employees
receive training. Specifically, we heard that training is severely lacking in Florida for elected public officials who comprise most of the referrals to the Commission. According to testimony, public officials are more likely to get into trouble than employees because they encounter more situations where the Code of Ethics applies to them. We heard the Commission frequently is told by public officials that they did not understand the definition of a “special private gain” after a complaint has been filed against them for a voting conflict violation."
Recommendations: Designate Chief Ethics officers in local agencies; provide ethics training to new officials.
B. Election and Campaign Finance (pg 113)
"We heard from a commissioner in his experience as both a public official and previously
as a lobbyist he has come face-to-face with the very disturbing practices of fellow public
officials."
Recommendations: "Enact stronger requirements for candidates for state, county, and municipal office
to receive education and training regarding election and campaign finance laws."
C. Law Enforcement and Prosecution (pg. 114)
"We also heard how some sheriff’s offices and police departments have dedicated public corruption investigators. For example, the Miami-Dade Police Department (which covers the entire county) has around twenty-five investigators in its public corruption unit."
Recommendations: "Law enforcement (FDLE, Sheriff's, etc) and prosecutors should receive funding in order to pursue public corruption cases."
- end of summary -
vj
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Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release
December 29, 2010
Media Contact: Jennifer Krell Davis
Phone: (850) 245-0150
The Office of Statewide Prosecution today released the first Interim Report of the 19th Statewide Grand Jury on Public Corruption. The report outlines legislative changes that are recommended to strengthen existing civil and criminal laws to combat public corruption in the State of Florida.
“The Cadets at our nation’s military academies swear an oath to neither lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do. There is no reason we should hold our public officials to a lesser standard,” wrote the Statewide Grand Jury. “We hope our words are heard and our recommendations are followed.”
Key recommendations of the Statewide Grand Jury include:
- Expanding the definition of public employees to include private employees contracted by government entities that perform government services;
- Creating sentencing enhancements for offenses committed by officials who use their public position to facilitate their crimes;
- Creating an independent State Office of Inspector General, responsible for hiring and firing agency Inspectors General;
- Expanding definition of criminal bid tampering to include bid-rigging schemes; and
- Authorizing the Ethics Commission to initiate investigations with a supermajority vote of commission members.
The Grand Jury has been charged with investigating public corruption in Florida. The Grand Jury’s term is set to expire in February 2011. It has been presided over by Broward County Chief Judge Victor Tobin and supported by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A copy of the report is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/JFAO-8CLT9A/$file/19thSWGJInterimReport.pdf
If you have any questions or need additional information, please call the Attorney General’s Communications Office at 850.245.0150.
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Extracts from Report on Florida Auditor General - pg 64+)
The Auditor General is a state constitutional officer who has fiscal auditing duties for state government.
The Florida Auditor General is created in Article III of the Florida Constitution and is
implemented under Chapter 11, F.S. The Auditor General is appointed by a majority vote of the
Legislative Auditing Committee and is subject to confirmation both the House and the Senate.
The Auditor General is to perform his or her duties independently, but under the general policies
of the Legislative Auditing Committee. The Auditor General serves at the pleasure of the
Legislature. An Auditor General is required to be a licensed CPA with at least ten years of
experience.
The Auditor General is provided with the authority to audit any governmental entity and
certain nonprofit entities. Some audits are required to be done by Florida Statutes and typically
are required on an annual period of time. Audits may also be performed at the direction of the
Legislative Auditing Committee or at the discretion of the Auditor General. The auditor general
performs five types of audits including: financial statement audits, operational audits,
information technology audits, Florida Educational Finance Program (FEFP) attestation
engagements, and quality assessment reviews of state agency inspectors general.
An annual financial audit is done by the Auditor General’s Office on the State of Florida,
most of the district school boards, state universities, and others. Operational audits focus on an
agency’s legal compliance, internal controls, and reliability of records and reports. These audits
are usually focused on a high risk topic area such as insurance or banking regulation. In
addition, the Auditor General audits state agency inspectors general at least every three years to
review the quality of audits the IGO is conducting. The Auditor publishes approximately 200
reports a year with around 1200 findings and recommendations. The vast majority of these
findings are related to deficiencies in internal controls. Internal controls are important as they
ensure that information is being reported accurately, fraud and losses are being detected, and
efficient and effective functions are in place. Often, problems with internal controls are
computer system related.
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from the footnotes of the report - pg 123
We have classified public corruption crimes to include, but are not limited to:
• Bribery offenses, 838.015, 838.15 and 838.16 (held unconstitutional);
• Unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, 838.016;
• Corruption by threat against public servant, 838.021;
• Official Misconduct, 838.022;
• Bid tampering, 838.22;
• Speculation by county or municipal officers, 838.04, 838.05;
• Extortion by officers of the state, 838.11;
• Falsifying records, 838.13;
• Officer or judicial officer withholding records, 838.14, 838.15;
• Misappropriation of moneys by commissioners to make sales, 838.17;
• Officer assuming to act before qualification, 839.18;
• Failure to perform duty required by officer, 839.24;
• Misuse of confidential information, 839.26;
• Willfully refusing or neglecting to perform duties of an official, 104.051(2);
• Fraudulently or corruptly performing duties of an official, 104.051(3);
• Attempting to influence or interfere with voting elector by election employee, 104.051(4);
• Remuneration by candidate for services, support, etc., 104.071;
• Aiding, abetting, advising, or conspiring to violate elections code, 104.091;
• False or malicious charges against, or false statements about, opposing candidate, 104.271;
• Prohibited political activities of state, county, and municipal employees, 104.31;
• Violations of campaign contribution limitations, 106.08; and
• Falsifying a material fact; making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement; or making or using false
documentation within the jurisdiction of the Department of the State.
