The Political Whore

Will Justice Prevail?

Ed.’s note: George Niemann filed this report before Brian Blair’s arrest on Father’s Day on two child abuse charges.

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

Here’s the latest update on the Brian Blair campaign finance scandal.

In case you didn’t know, former Commissioner Blair is headed to a “trial” on charges he violated Section 106.19 of Florida Statute relating to campaign finance regulations (Case# FEC 08-224).

On Feb. 28, the Florida Elections Commission ruled that there was “probable cause” that he violated the statute more than once. His violations involve the acceptance of illegal campaign contributions from two contributors. Anyone can make a clerical error, however, the Elections Commission looks beyond just the accounting. They look for actions that indicate the intent of not following the law.

Well, they found it in Brian Blair’s case.

To make matters worse, one of the illegal campaign contributions came from none other than Hung Mai, who is currently serving as a Hillsborough County Planning commissioner. Mai did fund raising during Blair’s campaign and in turn, Blair helped get him appointed. As you can see, Hillsborough County politics resembles an ant farm. Citizens are at ground level so you just have to dig down to see where all the tunnels lead and who the worker ants are. In this scenario, Mai is one of the “workers.”

Following that probable cause finding in February, Blair was forced to make a choice. He could opt for an informal administrative hearing (which is the equivalent of pleading guilty with an explanation in traffic court) or go for a full-blown trial-like hearing before an administrative judge. Blair is going for broke; he opted for the full-blown trial with a judge, a prosecutor, a defense team, witnesses, and character witnesses, to boot. It is scheduled for July 29 in Tallahassee (exact time and location below).

I’m not sure Mr. Blair realizes that his political career may have ended in Nov. 2008. Perhaps he’s interested in making a George Foreman- or Hulk Hogan-type comeback, who knows?

This case is very revealing. The evidence shows that he received multiple contributions from the same people and/or business firms. His treasurer, Joe Chillura, even penned a handwritten addition on a note to one contributor that Blair signed, thanking him for making the additional contribution acknowledging that it was illegal. Here it is; see for yourself:

Blair and Chillura knew they had accepted more than the legal amount. The commission maintains that they intended to keep the money and ignore the law. They only returned the funds after the Elections Commission filed charges against Blair.

The commission has a very strong case. It resembles the OJ Simpson case in some respects – the world knew what happened that night, but the dream team managed to get OJ acquitted. The evidence in this case is indeed compelling, but maybe Blair’s dream team will somehow convince the judge that the glove/pen doesn’t fit.

What is his defense? If you can believe it, he’s blaming Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson for the failure to return the money. At the Feb. 28 probable cause hearing Blair said that Johnson’s office didn’t provide enough support to help them keep their books in order. You have to ask yourself, how did every other candidate in Hillsborough manage their books without breaking the law???  During that same hearing, Blair also said that he’s never done anything wrong in his life. The Elections Commission and staff broke out into laughter when he said it.

Wondering about the character witnesses? The Elections Commission prosecutor, Eric P. Lipman, was in Tampa last week (June 17-18) with a court reporter taking depositions. On the witness list you would see a familiar name if you follow land-use hearings, comp-plan amendments, growth management and/or special interest lobbying. It’s none other than Steve Allison, mild-mannered (while on camera, anyway) development promoter. Isn’t it ironic? The former commissioner searches to find someone who can attest to his character and the only person he can come up with is a development lobbyist??? If Rose Ferlita or Kevin Beckner needed character witnesses to speak on their behalf, there would be a plethora of real citizens, including myself, who would attest to their morals and strong character. Poor Brian Blair can only muster support from a single lobbyist. And in all likelihood, that support is a political favor paid back to Blair for his diligent help in attempting to pave over Hillsborough during his tenure as commissioner.

There was an unconfirmed rumor that Brian’s defense team was trying to locate the Iron Sheik so he could testify:

Witness List (as we'd like to see it)

The trial will be held July 29 at 9:00am in the courtroom located at 1230 Apalachee Drive in Tallahassee.

Many citizens have expressed a desire to attend the trial to see whether Blair can successfully distance himself from all the ethics and campaign charges that seem to follow him and threaten his goal of becoming a career politician like his idol and mentor, Jim Norman. Who knows, if enough angry citizens show up at this trial, it may end up looking like a remake of the movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame…..S-a-n-c-t-u-a-r-y!!!!!

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