Mel slides out of office in his own slime

This is the worse case of foggy memory
I've seen in all my 2 hours after joining the Tenet board

I guess this would explain his wanting to leave to be with his family.

And Crist's foggy memory and "Why is this not being investigated?"

Now we know why Mel was in such a rush to slide out of office -

The Miami Herald reports that:

"Mel Martinez's office repeatedly intervened in a 2007 legal dispute between the Defense Department and a company owned by a top Republican fundraiser who is now at the center of a campaign-finance investigation, according to records obtained by The Miami Herald.

In a series of phone calls and e-mails, a Martinez aide urged Pentagon contract officers to seek a "fair resolution'' to $14 million in contract claims sought by the International Oil Trading Co., a fuel-supply company co-owned by Harry Sargeant III of Boca Raton.

That being the same one who Coordinated campaign donations to McCain And Crist.

Which McCain returned Crist didn't.

"At one point, Pentagon officials told the senator's office it was 'not appropriate' to discuss any settlements while the company's lawsuit was pending in court, records show.

As Martinez's staffer was lobbying the Pentagon, Sargeant and his wife donated $50,000 to the Republican National Committee -- then headed by Martinez.

At the time, Sargeant was the finance chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. ...Sargeant's company ultimately received $3.2 million from the Defense Department -- settling claims the Pentagon had initially denied entirely.

The Pentagon says Martinez played no role in the settlement. ...Sargeant gained notoriety last year as a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, whose campaign returned $50,000 in suspicious donations solicited by a Sargeant business partner.

In February, an employee of a Sargeant company was indicted on federal charges of funneling illegal contributions to several candidates, including McCain and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist -- a college buddy of Sargeant's.

The employee, Ala'a al-Ali, is accused of using straw donors in California to steer about $55,000 in illegal contributions to candidates.

Get this:
In an interview with The Miami Herald last year, Martinez said he offered only "routine'' assistance to Sargeant's company.

He said his office helped IOTC obtain information, but he did not try to sway the Pentagon's stance in the case.

"I do this for hundreds of people throughout the state of Florida,'' Martinez said last year."Much more here: Records: Martinez aide intervened in dispute between Pentagon, GOP fundraiser".

... and LeMieux slides in"Amid charges of political cronyism and claims he was picked to be the governor's proxy in Washington, there is renewed scrutiny of LeMieux's dealings and those of his law firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart:"

• The law firm, chaired by LeMieux, helped foreign workers get visas last fall to help build a high-rise hotel and condos in Miami, depriving dozens of Florida workers of jobs at a time of rising unemployment. ...

• Two weeks before LeMieux left Crist's office, Gunster Yoakley landed a $500,000 contract representing the state Department of Transportation on two matters. ...

• After leaving Crist's office in December 2007, LeMieux earned about $150,000 over a 13-month period as an adviser to state Republican Party chairman Jim Greer, a lucrative sideline that has led some to label LeMieux a "political consultant." He will not discuss what he did to earn that money ...

• For the past 15 years, West Palm Beach-based Gunster Yoakley has represented U.S. Sugar Corp., which for months negotiated with Crist's office to sell much of its land to the state and federal government to clean up polluted runoff in the Everglades. ..."Sen. LeMieux faces scrutiny on his way to Washington".

Which makes one wonder, yet again -

"Why is this not being investigated?"

http://flapolitics.blogspot.com/2009/09/mel-slides-out-of-office-in-his-own.html

Crist Foggy on the Gambling Compact

A WPLG reporter in Miami was stunned/skeptical over Gov. Charlie Crist's inability to answer questions about the gaming compact.

Local 10's Roger Lohse blogs:

Me: "So if the state gave the airport a permit, would the Seminoles still be required to pay?

"Crist: "I'd have to review that to find out for you."

Me: "You don't know the answer to that?

"Crist: "Not offhand, no.

"Me: "But you signed the contract with the Seminoles

."Crist: "That's right and I'll look into that detail for you."

Excuse me?

The governor can't recite a major clause in a contract that he negotiated and signed -- one that could cost taxpayers, by his own estimate, $6.8 billion over the next 20 years. That seems hard to believe.

At this remark I wonder if the reason he could not recite the clase that he negotiated and signed might be it was the same way he signed letter to indorse an hate movie to the rest of Fl.

Read Here

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/09/charlie-crist-foggy-on-those-gambling-compact-details.html

Or is there another reason or would care to explain these facts ?

Some how I think these items would be foggy too.

Amid charges of political cronyism and claims he was picked to be the governor's proxy in Washington, there is renewed scrutiny of LeMieux's dealings and those of his law firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart:

• The law firm, chaired by LeMieux, helped foreign workers get visas last fall to help build a high-rise hotel and condos in Miami, depriving dozens of Florida workers of jobs at a time of rising unemployment.

Other questions that don't follow. Read Here

CBS4 News in Miami first reported the law firm's efforts, which included persuading the U.S. State Department that the Mexican workers had special skills that Americans didn't. Neither LeMieux nor the firm would discuss what involvement if any LeMieux had in arranging the visas.

So much for being transparent.

• While serving as Crist's chief of staff in 2007,

LeMieux helped secretly negotiate a lucrative gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court as unconstitutional, and has triggered a debate over the expansion of gambling in Florida.

So much for the rights of people in Fl.

LeMieux recently helped negotiate a second compact that the Legislature will consider this fall. He has said the compact will contribute more money to Florida schools and will limit future expansion of gambling.

• Two weeks before LeMieux left Crist's office, Gunster Yoakley landed a $500,000 contract representing the state Department of Transportation on two matters.

DOT general counsel Alexis Yarbrough, who signed the contract on Dec. 20, 2007, is the wife of Shane Strum, a deputy chief of staff who reported to LeMieux when he worked for Crist. LeMieux said he played no role in his firm's hiring;

DOT has said the firm has special expertise in arcane railroad law. The firm did work for DOT before LeMieux returned there.

• After leaving Crist's office in December 2007, LeMieux earned about $150,000 over a 13-month period as an adviser to state Republican Party chairman Jim Greer, a lucrative sideline that has led some to label LeMieux a "political consultant.

" He will not discuss what he did to earn that money, which was paid from the party's federal account to his firm, MTC Strategies (named after his sons Max, Taylor, and Chase).

• For the past 15 years, West Palm Beach-based Gunster Yoakley has represented U.S. Sugar Corp., which for months negotiated with Crist's office to sell much of its land to the state and federal government to clean up polluted runoff in the Everglades.

Ended up being sold for much more than its really value. Read Here

LeMieux said he avoided any involvement in the U.S. Sual while working for Crist or afterward. The state's chief negotiator was Eric Eikenberg, a LeMieux protege who succeeded him as chief of staff.

To date, he has declined to release a full list of his law firm's clients, citing attorney-client privilege, but has said he will fully comply with Senate disclosure laws. "I have 30 days to file it. I will comply with whatever the law requires," LeMieux said.

Crist said he was not concerned about questions of LeMieux's business dealings.
"I know of his personal integrity, his professional integrity,

" Crist said. "And I'm comfortable that."

I'm sure that he is. Read here

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/sen-lemieux-faces-scrutiny-on-his-way-to-washington/1033873

Time for the Public Board of Education

Or just wait till Charlie done with gambling with the school system.
Pushing more of what the lotto was suppose to have done.

Lake Property Appraiser: Charlie Crist lied to voters
by Aaron Deslatte on Sep 2, 2009 9:27:48 AM

TALLAHASSEE -- Lake County Property Appraiser Ed Havill takes Gov. Charlie Crist to the woodshed today in the Sentinel for his appointment of former chief-of-staff George LeMieux to the U.S. Senate, along with the laundry list of complaints conservatives have been lobbing for a while.


Havill writes in a harshly worded op-ed that he has switched his party registration from Republican to no party affiliation thanks to Crist's moves:

"Crist went through the public motions of pretending to consider various others to fill the seat vacated by Mel Martinez.

By choosing his 2006 political campaign manager, George LeMieux, the governor decisively demonstrated two things:

"He is only interested in what's best for Charlie Crist, and he has utter contempt for what's best for Floridians.

"As the property appraiser for Lake County for 33 years, three areas in particular have troubled me.

"Crist lied to homeowners of this state when he said that property taxes would "drop like a rock," as he elbowed Amendment 1 through the Florida Legislature, and subsequently put it on the ballot.

"Today property taxes, licenses, fees and service charges have placed financially strapped Floridians in a worse situation than they were in when Crist was elected."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/09/lake-property-appraiser-charlie-crist-lied-to-voters.html

Linking this artical.

Parlor games swirl around Crist's U.S. Senate pickposted by Aaron Deslatte on Aug 26, 2009 6:43:01 PMBy Josh Hafenbrack,

Tallahassee BureauTALLAHASSEE -- University of North Florida President John Delaney is picking up steam as a potential darkhorse pick on Gov. Charlie Crist's candidate list for the U.S. Senate, sayeth members of Tallahassee's chattering class.

A sure sign that he's gaining consideration:people backing other candidates are getting nervous.
There's even an anonymous Web site hammering Delaney for his policies as Jacksonville mayor (1995-2003).

Charlie Crist on Friday chose his friend and top political adviser, George LeMieux, to fill the Senate seat a gambling buddy. I guess it was in the cards.

During that period, Delaney, a lawyer, pushed something called the Better Jacksonville Plan, which increased the sales tax a half-cent in order to make infrastructure improvements around the city.That could be a problem for Crist.

An anti-tax and pro-gun record are the governor's few remaining ties to his party's base. (And Crist signed a $1 billion tobacco tax increase this year, breaking a no-new-taxes pledge he'd signed before becoming governor.

More recently, Delaney supported current Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton's plan to increase the city's property tax rate by 12 percent -- a move that would undermine some of the property tax cuts regularly touted by Crist.

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee rejected the idea.

Here's the lead to a clip from the Florida Times-Union on the $2.2 billion sales tax campaign, led by Delaney when he was mayor in 2000:

If you live in Duval County, expect Mayor John Delaney to show up this summer at a town meeting, club event or fish fry near you with a simple message:

Trust me with your money. I've earned it.From now until county voters decide the future of his $ 2.2 billion Better Jacksonville Plan, Delaney will bank on a carefully built image as a thrifty administrator to help him coax voters into backing a historic proposal to fix Jacksonville's growing pains by raising sales taxes.

"I don't need any more money to pay for the day-to-day operations of city government.

Don't need a red nickel," the mayor promised when he visited a dinner meeting of Jacksonville dentists last week.Instead, he said the tax hike he proposed Monday would pay for construction projects to widen roads, replace outdated public buildings downtown and fix drainage problems City Hall could never afford to fix.

Only one problem with this Charlie Crist came out that his smart use of stimulas money while other states just used it for re paving projects to be use to widen highways .

"Don't need a red nickel," So just where is the tax hike money going to be used for?"

This is a product you buy for that increase," he said. "It's not some bureaucracy.

It's a product."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/08/parlor-games-swirl-around-crists-us-senate-pick.html

Crist's A-Team

"(Two years ago / In 2006), a cracked group of politicians & lobbyist unit was investigated by the courts for some crimes but they could not prove.

These men promptly released into the public Fl. underground.

Today, still not wanted by most of the public , they survive as politicians of fortune.

If you have a problem, if you have lots of cash you can donate and if you can find them, when not on vacation. And they may get around to fix.. Maybe you can hire Crist's A-Team."

Governor Charlie Crist's former Chief of Staff George LeMieux has made millions since leaving state government. Now LeMieux's business dealings are likely to become the focus of Democratic attacks on U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist.

Huge State contracts with LeMieux's law-firm, awarded at the time LeMieux left the governor's office and which LeMieux claims he had nothing to do with, will be the focus of FOIA requests.

LeMieux's role in the negotiating a gambling compact with the Seminole Indian Tribe which granted the Indians card-games not allowed by state law, and subsequent contributions to the Republican Party of Florida from the Indians.

The Seminoles seem really happy with Crist and RPOF. The Seminole Tribe (since 1996) has donated nearly $912,000 to the state party, with 71 percent of that money coming in since Crist took over state party fundraising once he won the 2006 Republican primary.

Who paid for LeMieux's accompanying Crist on his European Trade Mission and what kind of largesse LeMieux got from the RPOF are both likely to become public now that Tallahassee State's Attorney Willie Meggs is getting access to the GOP party records in the House Speaker Ray Sansom investigation.

Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, whose party disclosure reports to the Secretary of State hide more than they reveal, will be in the cross-hairs as well....Also worrisome to the Crist camp are conversations LeMieux had with indicted viatical scamster Joel Steinger of Mutual Benefits while Steinger was wearing a wire for the Feds.

We now know that Ex-Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom ran up at least $170,000 in inappropriate charges on his Republican Party of Florida American Express card including a lavish European vacation for himself and his family, expensive out-of State restaurants and even the New York City Apple store.

RPOF Chairman Jim Greer has been privy to the itemized American Express bills and was clearly aware of the Speaker's spending spree - yet he said and did nothing.

Why? Because Greer's spending on himself and his family makes Samson's expenditures look small-time. Greer has used the RPOF as his personal piggybank, spending donor's money on 5-star resorts, spa services, highly rated restaurants, green fees, luxury jet aircraft, limousines , sporting equipment, $800 bottles of wine, sports tickets and worse.

Former Party Chairmen Tom Slade and Al Cardenas flew commercial and drove themselves in low-budget rental cars when on Party business.

Reimbursement for meals was limited to real Party business, not taking the wifey out for a night on the town.

Both Chairmen presided over the growth and electoral success of the state GOP.

Governor Charlie Crist, who talks endlessly about transparency, has been aware of Greer's wild and inappropriate spending as it was an issue when Greer ran for re-election to his party post.

When news leaked of one wild and expensive weekend Greer spent at the Breakers in Palm Beach, where the cost of his room service alone could have elected a Republican to Congress, Greer said it was all a mistake - and sadly, the Governor did nothing.

Meanwhile, Greer continues to resist any attempt by party funders to see the actual American Express Bills, perpetuating the cover-up of the misuse of party funds. Read Here

Having lost the State for the McCain-Palin ticket (with left-over funds in the RPOF Federal account) Jim Greer is the first Republican State Chairman since 1964 to preside over the loss of the State by the GOP in a Presidential year, not to mention the loss of a Congressional seat.

The Mutual Benefits scandal will take down more Florida politicians who the company approached to stem the federal investigation that ultimately brought the company down. LeMieux may be the biggest fish. More Mutual Benefits news…

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/07/roger-stone-vs-george-lemieux.html

Ray Sansom, former speaker of the house in Florida was recently indicted by a Leon County grand jury on felony charges of perjury and misuse of office.

Part of the reason for that was six million dollars that Sansom diverted to North Florida State College for an "educational building" that turned out to be an airplane hangar.

During budget season, it missed Crist completely and was approved by the governor.Fast forward a few months and it has now been discovered that Sansom has racked up over $200,000 in credit card charges billed to the Republican Party of Florida.Charges include baby sitting services, purchases from Best Buy, and hotel charges in Nashville, New York, and Chicago.

Kind of sound like something you heard before maybe?

What is ironic is that some of that $200,000 was for airline tickets for Sansom's family and sightseeing tours in Europe while Sansom and family were ironically traveling with Governor Charlie Crist.

Hmmmm......On Friday, August 21 Governor Charlie Crist had the audacity to say that officials need to be frugal with other people's money.

http://www.examiner.com/x-16781-Tallahassee-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m8d22-Charlie-Crist-covering-his-tracks-on-Ray-Sansom-issue