Thread: FL lawmakers caught living in swanky digs outside their districts

From Watchdog.org.
FL lawmakers caught living in swanky digs outside their districts

By William Patrick
July 12, 2013

SEN. JACK LATVALA: The chairman of the state Senate Ethics and Elections Committee wants a criminal investigation to uncover whether certain legislators actually live in their own districts.

By William Patrick | Florida Watchdog

TALLAHASSEE – At least six Florida lawmakers are in hot water with a state ethics committee over whether the elected officials actually live in the districts they represent.
The lawmakers, which include four state legislators, could face third degree felony charges for violating the Florida Constitution and signing a false oath.

Senate Ethics and Elections chair Jack Latvala has asked Gov. Rick Scott to direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct a criminal investigation into the matter. The senior Tampa Bay Republican also wants the House and Senate to take action.

Latvala called the alleged violations “disgraceful” on Twitter after a WPLG investigative report found state Sen. Maria Sachs living at her posh Boca Raton ranch outside of her district, despite claiming residency at a condo owned by a lobbyist.


“I would be very surprised if (Sachs) ever spent a single night in her district in that 740 square foot condominium,” Latavala told WPLG.

Sachs failed to file her second quarter financial disclosure report, due June 30, but documents filed with the Florida Division of Elections last year show her 2012 net worth was $895,000.

House Minority Leader Perry Thurston is the subject of a Florida Bar investigation over his residency claims. Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Hazelle Rogers also have homes outside their districts.

See the full video report here: Senator calls for full criminal investigation of elected officials residencies.

http://watchdog.org/95177/fl-lawmake...eir-districts/

Senator calls for criminal investigation of elected officials' residencies

Perry Thurston, Jared Moskowitz, Maria Sachs appear to live outside districts they represent

Author: Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com
Published On: Jul 10 2013

VIDEO REPORT AT LINK:

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. -The Florida Senate ethics committee chairman wants a criminal investigation into elected officials who appear to live outside the districts they represent.

"I think it's really a crying shame that we have as many as half a dozen Florida state legislators who are violating the [Florida] Constitution every single day by living outside their district," said Sen. Jack Latvala, a Republican from Clearwater. "I think you've done the people of Florida, or at least South Florida, a great service by exposing how many of these legislators are violating the constitution."

Local 10 investigated Florida House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston, State Representatives Jared Moskowitz and Hazelle Rogers, and State Senator Maria Sachs, who all have homes outside the districts they represent. Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness also claims to live in a condo in his district that the station found .

Quick Clicks

• Senator caught on video staying outside district
• A Broward County Commissioner claims to live in this dump?
• Florida Democratic leader caught living outside district

The Florida Constitution requires all legislators to live in the districts they represent and those legislators have to swear that they meet the requirements.
"Signing a false oath is a third-degree felony and if we've got members of the legislature who have done that, then we ought to have that examined and investigated," Latvala said.

Latvala said he has contacted the Gov. Rick Scott's office, Senate President Don Gaetz, and House Speaker Will Weatherford about the issue. He wants Scott to order an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"I'm going to have all three of those officials to take action, so we can get to the bottom of this issue for the people of the state of Florida," Latvala said.

The Florida Bar also began a review of the residency of Thurston, whom Local 10 caught at his Plantation home outside his district. He offered no comment when asked recently about the Bar investigation. An ethics claim has also been filed against Sachs, who was seen on undercover video staying outside her district in her $1.5 million estate in Boca Raton while claiming to live in a small condo in Fort Lauderdale.

"I would be very surprised if she's ever spent a single night in her district in that 740-square foot condominium," Latvala said.

http://www.local10.com/news/criminal...z/-/index.html

Widespread flouting of constitution by South Fla. Democrats living outside of their districts

By Karen Cyphers on June 27, 2013


What’s with numerous members of the South Florida Democratic delegation living outside the districts they were elected to represent, in flagrant disregard for the constitutional requirements of holding such office?

Over the past many weeks, Local 10 reporter Bob Norman has been checking in on where legislators and county commissioners say they live — and where they are actually spending their days and nights. The following is based on his reports and those by Media trackers.

Add State Sen. Maria Sachs as the most recent culprit of residency shiftiness – claiming to live in a 740 square-foot condo in Fort Lauderdale with the complicity of her friend, landlord and lobbyist Judy Stern, when in fact her son Marcello lives there so that she may continue to reside in her $1.5 million estate in Boca Raton, well outside of her district.

Surveillance tapes from private investigators only corroborate what is already known: Sachs is using the condo to flout the constitution. No wonder she won’t answer questions about where she lives; or why her son refused to answer the door when Norman paid a visit, insisting that his mother was inside but then going silent.

To Republican State Sen. Jack Latvala, Ethics Committee Chairman, this isn’t small potatoes.

“I’m inquiring on a constitutional issue, a requirement that legislators live in the district that they serve,” said Latvala. But Sachs is just one of many such offenders to pursue, and her story seems banal compared to that of others — such as House Minority Leader Perry Thurston.

Thurston claims to live with a convicted felon in a small, rundown Lauderhill home, rather than with his wife and family in their longtime two-story home in an upscale Plantation neighborhood. Thurston won’t admit the discrepancy, even when caught by Norman leaving his Plantation home one morning.

“Are you supposed to be living here, Perry? Can I talk with you a second?” asked Norman.

“Nah,” replied Thurston.

“You’re not in your district,” said Norman.

“I am,” said Thurston, who then shut the door on Norman.

But Thurston’s would-be Lauderhill neighbors readily share he doesn’t really live there — and some aren’t so happy about it.

“If you’re going to represent the area, live in it,” said Suzanne Leary, who lives in Lauderdale Lakes. “It’s like live here and deal with what we’re dealing with.”

Or, at least, don’t put up a fight when the Broward County Property Appraiser removes the homestead property exemption on your Plantation home, right? Not Thurston. The BCPA took him at his word about living elsewhere, and acted accordingly.

That wasn’t cool for Thurston, who probably enjoyed having it both ways.

That’s when Florida Elections Commissioner Barbara Stern, daughter of Thurston’s political consultant Judy Stern (same Judy Stern, as featured with Sachs above), sent an email top BCPA officials questioning their removal of homestead tax exemptions for Thurston, along with other clients of her lobbyist mother.

Writing from the email account of her private legal practice, Barbara Stern asked for all correspondence, memos, witness statements, and legal authority relied upon pertaining to their investigations of Thurston, as well as State Rep. Joe Gibbons. Somehow Barbara still maintains that she is uninvolved in her mother’s business — and used that claim in order to be confirmed into her appointed post by the Florida Senate, despite concern over such potential conflicts of interest.

Gibbons, who represents Hallandale Beach, appears to live in Jacksonville with his wife and family while renting out a small condo in his House district. He plans to run for a seat on the Broward County Commission in 2014.

Then there’s State Rep. Jared Moskowitz who won a seat in a Coral Springs district and did so by renting an apartment a few miles away from his Parkland Golf and Country Club estate, where his wife continues to live. And as it turns out — so does he.

Norman called him, too, and Moskowitz insisted that he lives in the apartment saying, “I woke up there this morning.” But when Local 10 visited the apartment that same day, it was clear from the date on an envelope stuffed in the door crack that the door had not been opened for days. Moskowitz stuck to his story despite the inconsistency; and also — like Thurston — had failed to relinquish his homestead exemption on his true residence.

Rep. Hazelle Rogers the same. She rents a condo in her district, a few miles from where she actually lives. Rogers didn’t offer a comment to Local 10.

Likewise, Democratic Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness claims to live in a run-down housing unit in Lauderhill with furniture and boxes stacked to the ceiling, a realtor’s locked box on the door knob, and a refrigerator that isn’t plugged in.

And earlier this week, longtime Democratic Dania Beach Commissioner Patricia Flurry resigned when evidence surfaced that she was living in Fort Lauderdale.

“This is rampant within the South Florida community,” said Former North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns.

Thurston is considering a run for Attorney General in 2014. At least that’s a statewide office, in which he could safely “move back home”.

http://www.saintpetersblog.com/wides...heir-districts