The Political Whore

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

Wednesday’s proceedings were like riding a roller coaster. Here’s the highlights:

• Alyssa Ogden’s mother cries as she tells about learning of the sexual harassment.
• White’s father badmouths the alibi-busters who didn’t corroborate White’s story.
• Alyssa’s sister tells about how White lusted after her, also.
• Whites lawyers file a motion to throw the case out of court.
• White goes back on the stand, and his testimony causes a firestorm of protest from Alyssa’s attorney, as well as the judge.

The details:

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By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist
The second day of Commissioner Kevin White’s sexual harassment trial covered a lot of ground.

Two very important things happened today. White himself testified. In addition, the video depositions of his uncle, Andre Moses White, and his longtime family friend C. Blythe Andrews were entered into evidence and viewed by the jury.

The bottom line on White’s testimony: His testimony was far from plausible.

The bottom line on the Andre White and Blythe Andrews testimony: They blew away White’s alibi. Read the rest of this entry »

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

(This is installment one, which coincides with day one of the trial. I plan to provide day-to-day coverage of this trial in installments until the day that it goes into the hands of the jurors for deliberation, which is expected to be Friday.)

The civil trial in Ogden v. White began Monday in US District Court-Middle Trial District of Florida-Tampa Division. Judge Richard Lazarra is presiding. Alyssa Ogden is accusing Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White of firing her for not agreeing to have a “relationship” with him, thereby creating what she is calling sexual harassment.

White has two lawyers representing him and Hillsborough County has two lawyers representing the county’s interest in defending the case.

Alyssa Ogden, had one lawyer, Ronald Fraley, presenting her case.

The courtroom was large but with a small viewing gallery. The viewing gallery was filled with members of the press on one side and what appeared to be supporters/family of White on the other side, including White’s wife, Jenny.

It took the morning to pick the jurors. Six women and two men are on this jury. It might be that the preponderance of women may give the plaintiff the edge as far as favorable jurors go.

In the afternoon the case began. In his opening statement, Alyssa’s attorney told the jury that his client was so distraught over what happened that she was traumatized and had to seek help from a psychologist to cope with it. The cost of therapy so far is $15,300. The anticipated damages being sought so far is $100,000. He said he would prove that she was hired for one reason — that the commissioner had more interest in her than her ability to answer phones and maintain a schedule.

White’s primary attorney, Steven Wenzel, began his opening statement with the words, “It didn’t happen.” He said he was going to prove that Ogden couldn’t do the job and after she got fired decided to make a sexual harassment case out of it. According to Mr. Wenzel the motivation for this case was money. In an attempt to question her credibility, he says that she had the opportunity but never told County Administrator Bean or County Attorney Renee Lee or Commissioner Rose Ferlita (all strong women that might be supportive of a harassed female employee) of her ordeal.

Then came Ogden’s testimony, which was sizzling.

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

The Hillsborough budget saga continues. County Administrator Pat Bean has submitted a proposed budget and now the county commissioners are reviewing it in detail via a series of budget workshops.

Even though some commissioners are continuing to dig and review the budget, we still have the same nagging problem – there is a huge imbalance between cuts in basic services and large donations to non-profit organizations. While we’re closing parks and libraries, we’re still lavishly funding organizations like the Sports Authority, the Sports Commission and Hillsborough’s many chambers of commerce.

Fear not, though. Commissioner Jim Norman, known in some circles as the Johnny Appleseed of Money Trees, has come up with a creative twist on how to solve the budget cut dilemma. In an editorial by the Tribune dated Aug. 6, it was reported that, during one of the budget workshop meetings, Commissioner Appleseed suggested that the county should seek donations from citizens. He thought that they should put a donation check box on Tampa Bay Water’s bills so that citizens could donate up to $5 toward keeping the parks and libraries open.

It’s easy to understand Appleseed’s motivations for putting forth this idea. The Sports Authority provides Norman with a luxury suite at Raymond James Stadium to watch football games in (St.Pete Times, Sept 20, 2008). He’s helped them stay well funded all these years so they want to reciprocate by affording him with, shall we say, the type of comfort that only connected politicians can appreciate. If he cuts their funding, will he continue to watch games from inside that gorgeous enclosed luxury suite with a private kitchen or, instead, will he be reduced to sitting on a bar stool at Beef O’Brady’s looking at a flat panel TV? It’s easy to see why the Money Tree man doesn’t want to kill the money tree.

But are citizens willing to donate more money to keep basic services alive, while their tax dollars are going toward funding organizations that give luxury boxes to politicians, and while those same citizens still have to pay a dear price to sit in the bleachers? I think Johnny Appleseed still has a problem.

So I put on my thinking cap and, EUREKA!!! I’ve taken the Money Tree man’s idea and improved it!!!

Let’s do this – let’s significantly reduce the funding for the Sports Authority and the Sports Commission in the budget, keep the parks and libraries open, and allow citizens to donate up to $5 to the Sports Authority/Sports Commission via their water bills.

Here’s what Tampa Bay Water’s bill might look like:

If you would like to see more funding directed toward basic services for communities and less of it applied to corporate donations, let Jim “Johnny Appleseed of Money Trees” Norman and the other commissioners know.

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

In April 2009, former Hillsborough Commissioner Brian Blair opted to go for a full hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to settle the charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions from Hillsborough Planning Commissioner Hung Mai and another political supporter. In February 2009, the Florida Elections Commission found “Probable Cause” that Blair intentionally violated campaign laws.

The final hearing was set for Wednesday in Tallahassee before ALJ Jeffrey B Clark. But a source there tells me that a one-time 30-day delay may be granted in the case. [UPDATE: On Wednesday we learned that is exactly what happened. The judge in Blair’s case just issued a ruling on the motion filed to send the case back to the elections commission.  He denied the motion and set the new court date for Sept. 9. And get this, the trial is being moved to Tampa!!!]

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Our FLA senator, Mel Martinez, center, chums it up at with Tampa Chamber visitors recently.

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

Since we’ve got such a budget crunch looming that we have to close public facilities and lay off Hillsborough County workers, I wonder if Hillsborough’s economic development “donations” to the many chambers of commerce ended up paying for the Tampa Chamber’s trip to Washington, D.C.? And if so, how much did it cost to send this delegation to the capital to discuss legislative business impacts on our dime?

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

On Wednesday, Hillsborough’s Moral Courage Award became respectable again. The County Commission voted 7-0 to remove Ralph Hughes from the award’s name. It also agreed to not to assign any honorary name to this award, going forward.

I attended this week’s commission meeting to throw my 2 cents in when I saw that Commissioner Rose Ferlita had put the Moral Courage Award discussion on the agenda.

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

It looks like Commissioner Ken Hagan has decided to become the first point of contact for all county residents with problems.

As you may recall, Wayne Garcia reported that Hagan (District 2) has been distributing fliers in District 1 in what the Hillsborough County Commission chairman calls a public service gesture.  As it turns out, the distribution of these fliers is heralding a new method of operation for the county,  which is the brainchild of Hagan. During these hard economic times, Hagan has decided to singlehandedly re-engineer the way the county does business.

Interestingly enough, the flier says that Hagan wants to know about any issues that county residents have. He also encourages everyone to contact him saying, “Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of service.” Well, I decided to ask the commissioner if he really meant that. Is he going to work on anyone’s issue, regardless of which district they’re in? Does that mean that he intends to be the first point of contact for all of the districts??? I got some surprising answers when I called his office.

I spoke with Hagan’s senior aide, Rich Reidy by telephone on Monday. Reidy emphatically supports his boss’s idea of being the first point of contact for any inquiries, on a countywide basis. Here’s how Reidy responded to my questions: Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and UCAN-Hillsborough activist

I got an invitation to attend a Town Hall Capital Update Meeting being hosted by District 62 Rep. Rich Glorioso in Plant City. Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, “That’s not my district, I don’t care what he has to say.”

Ah, but you should care what he has to say and here’s why.

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