The investigation of Kevin White
August 7th, 2008 by Wayne Garcia in Tampa Bay PoliticsCall it political envy. Call it racism. Call it stereotyping. Call it the truth.
No matter what angle you take on the latest allegations against Hillsborough County Commission Kevin White — that he accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions with the promise that he would vote for land deals for the swindler who arranged them — you have to acknowledge that rumors of White’s darker side of politics have swirled for years. Maybe it was the expensive suits he wore. Or the sexual harassment complaint he faces. Or his ties to the late GOP power broker Ralph Hughes.
Giving White more than the benefit of the doubt and putting rumors aside as rumors, however, this is a very tough bit of bad PR for him to defend against. A convicted swindler, Matthew Cox, agrees to cooperate with the feds to get a break on his sentence and gives up White. He says he funneled lots of money to White (not illegal) and later reimbursed some of the straw contributors out of his own money (possibly without White’s knowledge and, as the Kuhn case illustrates, probably not even illegal). Cox was on the lam on federal charges before he could ever put a zoning case in front of White, so there was no quid pro quo that can be proven. Cox certainly didn’t wear a wire at that time.
The only issue raised in the story that could end up in legal troubles for White is the allegation that Cox gave him $7,000 in cash after one election. How do you prove that happened? Cash?? Unless White were dumb enough (allegedly) to accept the money and put it into his personal checking account.
White is reckless about his fundraising. He provided the lead to my “Money Men” investigation about local power brokers when, while giving me an interview for a campaign story, we were interrupted by an associate of Tampa lawyer and lobbyist Steve Anderson, who handed White an envelope bearing a check from one of Anderson’s corporate clients. There aren’t too many politicians out there who will knowingly schedule the delivery of a campaign check from a lobbyist at the same time and place they are giving a media interview. At best, it’s chutzpah. At worst, stupidity.
If Kevin White is dirty, he should go to jail. And God knows there is enough smoke out there to believe that there must be a fire. But if (and it’s a big if) he is innocent of crimes, he is certainly guilty of taking money from just about anybody out there with a greasy reputation and an agenda to pursue that isn’t always in the public interest. For a former cop, White certainly has no radar whatsoever about the motives of the people who are funding his races.
Or, more likely, he just chooses to ignore it.
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August 7th, 2008 at 9:35 am
A member of Team Sprawl accused of taking money in exchange for the promise of land use approvals? I am shocked!
August 7th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Call his office at (813) 272-5720 and tell him to resign!
August 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Another stinky deal by a slippery commissioner. Am I surprised? . . .
August 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
this is really intriguing. having attended quite a few political events in my day, i never once saw him. those active in the dem party i know consider him a ‘fake’ democrat anyway. i’m not sure he’ll resign, but if he does we’ll have tons of candidates jumping into to try and fill that spot.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Kuhn proved the law in not enforced and that you can indeed get away with buying and renting the politician of your choice. It is even encouraged.
This new infomraiton only shows how inexpensive it is to buy or rent the politician of your choice.
Guess it is just the economy huh? Like dining out and the construction the bribes are not there like they used to be.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Onbe more thing - can we now finally admit as a community that the city council should not be doing the urban planning? Please?
These decision should be made by professionals to the overall plan from the politicians. Giving them the detialed power means they need to be bribed
August 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
City Councilmen and women don’t generally have the expertise to be making urban planning, or architectural, decisions at all.
Giving them authority of something that they have no training for, and in which millions of dollars is at stake, invites corruption.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Alyssa Ogden’s lawsuit says White at least twice asked her to give him a kiss while at County Center, and in one case, he pulled her toward him, then threw a stack of $100 bills at her when she refused, saying, “Just take it, just give me a chance.”
Cox told the Times his arrangement with White included giving him an additional $7,000 to help win his run-off election in 2003.
Question for the FBI - do you see the connection now?
August 10th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Wow, a convicted con man gets this kind of credibility! If White is dirty, they need more than a guy like Cox to nail him. I dont know if White is dirty or not, but we know Cox is.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
And the girl who accused hin of harrasment must have ben a whore? AIs that wehre you are going with this Fonzi?
And the guy who busted himn for misappropiating campaign funds must also have been a scum bag?
He has had 4 serious accusations amde against him and where there is that much smoke there is likely to be fire.