10-11-2007, 01:23 AM
I am relatively new to Pensacola...so I must ask....IS EVERY ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIAL CORRUPT?......AND IS NEAL NASH PULLING THEIR STRINGS? This is what I have learned about elected officials in Escambia County....correct me if I am wrong...add to it if I missed something. If you believe there is a need for an independent investigation, please take this material and send it to Governor Crist, the FBI, and anybody else who has authority to independently investigate political corruption. Quite frankly I believe nothing will come of this scandal, because it runs too deep into local politics, local old families, and local wealth.
1) While acting as the Escambia County Administrator, since 2002, Mr. Touart was involved with Mr. Neal Nash in personal and business deals prior to Mr. Touart advancing to the Escambia County Commission, a proposal for the county to buy swamp land, owned by Mr. Neal, for $1,400,000 near Perdido Key in Escambia County.
Prior to this deal, Mr. Touart bought a $62,000 fishing boat in partnership with Mr. Neal Nash in the state of Mississippi. Later, Mr. Touart reported that he bought out Mr. Nash’s half of the boat, and now Mr. Touart owns the boat outright. Mr. Touart was unwilling to provide any information about this deal when asked by the writer from the Pensacola News Journal, (PNJ) Michael Stewart.
It is reported that Mr. Touart is driving a Lexis formerly owned by Mr. Neal Nash, ....if true how was this deal handled?
Despite repeated requests from Escambia County residents to the Escambia County Commissioners to investigate this matter and other transactions by Mr. Touart, the commission chose to ignore their requests for an investigation. Why have they ignored these requests?
2) Mr. Touart and Commissioner Mike Whitehead (more information on Commissioner Whitehead later) went on an unknown number hunting trips to Neal Nash’s hunting camp in Wisconsin. In one trip, both Mr. Touart and Commissioner Whitehead, were charged for violating various deer hunting laws in Wisconsin.
Neither individual has disclosed any information about who paid for this trip.
3) Mr Touart was involved in a condominium deal with Neal Nash. The PNJ reports;
“A Florida Ethics Commission spokeswoman says by owning a condo with Nash he may have violated Florida Statute 112.313 (7)(a) but may be exempt from the law under 112.313 (12)(e), which allows an exemption if the business is the sole source of the supply, in this case the property, and full disclosure is made by the public official.”
4) Mr. Touart’s wife Barbara, bought a lot in a an upscale gated community, called Nature’s Trail, owned and being developed by Mr. Neal Nash, and other local developers, including Ronald Swaine who is also the Chairman the Escambia County Planning Board. Ronald Swaine and Neal Nash share an office together. Ronald Swaine is Kevin White’s appointment to the Escambia County Planning board.
5) Mr. Touart is reported to have 15 to 20 pieces of property in partnership with unknown people along with partnerships in businesses. Mr. Touart has not been willing to reveal the names of all of these partners, therefore it is not possible, without an investigation, to determine if any of these partners have had business dealings with Escambia County, while Mr. Touart was the County Administrator.
6) It has been discovered that, in 2005, Mr. Touart shared ownership in a piece of property in the state of Mississippi with a then Escambia County Commissioner, Bill ****son, and developers (the late) Allen Levin and Cliff Mowe. Mr. Levin was a partner in a multi $100,000,000 condo development on Pensacola Beach, called Portofino Island Resort and Spa. Commissioner Michael Whitehead, said he was aware of these deals, and believes they were common knowledge. Other members of the Escambia County Commission claimed they did not know of Mr. Touart’s business deals.
7) Mr. Touart reports that he has outstanding loans on all of his properties that he owns with unknown parties. Without an investigation/review of his tax records, it is impossible to know how those loans are being handled, and if Mr. Touart is the recipient of any special consideration in repaying these loans, for example who is carrying the paper on these loans?
8) Mr. Touart and Escambia County Sheriff Ronald McNesby own condos next to each other on Inerarity Point.
Mr. Touart, used his position as Escambia County Administrator, and his relationship with Escambia County Sheriff Ronald McNesby, to confront the owner of Arety’s Angels a topless bar in Pensacola to get her to forgive a debt incurred by Mr. Touart’s son Matthew. Mr. Touart’s son, Matthew is reported to have stolen Mr. Touart’s credit card, and ran up a bill of thousands of dollars at the topless bar. When they confronted the owner of the topless bar she said she was intimidated by Mr. Touart and Sheriff McNesby, and she did reduce the debt. Later, the owner of Arety Angles Topless Bar, filed a complaint with the Florida Ethics Commission against both Sheriff McNesby and Mr. Touart.
Mr. Touart reported to the Escambia County Commission, his involvement with the topless bar was personal and on his own time. Yet, Mr. Touart presented his expenses for attorney fees in his defense before the Ethics Commission to Escambia County for reimbursement. In this action Commissioner Michael Whitehead was an advocate of Mr. Touart to have the county pay his attorney’s fees.
8) Mr. Touart’s son found a job in a company called Roads, Inc which contracts for business with Escambia County.
9) Mr. Touart is a business partner in a employee staffing business called Global Employment Services out of Pascagoula MS with a partner Jackie G Grimes.
Global Employment Services has a contract to provide labor for R.W. Beck, a nationwide engineering firm, which provides among other functions, clean up services after hurricanes. R.W. Beck is reported to have been paid more than $28,000,000 in work they completed in Escambia County, since 2001.
Global Employment Services applied for an application to perform employee leasing services in Florida, from the Florida Board of Employee Leasing Companies on January 17, 2007. This application was found to be deficient. The failure of Mr. Touart’s company to be authorized to work in Florida merits investigation.
10) Commissioner Michael Whitehead, along with a local civil engineer Charles Carlin (managing partner of Hatch Mott and McDonald) in 2006, tried to push through the Escambia County Commission an I 110 Toll Road Connector near Quintette Road on the north side to I 10 on its south side. Near the north end of the proposed toll road is a huge residential development called Jubilee in Santa Rosa County. Coincidently, Jubilee was having problems with expanding development because of traffic issues that stymied it’s growth. The civil engineer for Jubilee is Charles Carlin, from Hatch Mott and McDonald. An associate with the company developing Jubilee was Bo Johnson, a State House of Representatives, from Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, who is now/was serving time in prison for corruption related charges.
The I 110 toll road on the north end would have benefitted among others Jubilee and on the south end because it feeds into I 10 towards Pensacola Beach it would have benefitted among others the huge Portofino Island Resort and Spa development owned by the Levin family.
11) It has been reported, that Mr. Touart’s wife Barbara and Commissioner Kevin White’s wife got county jobs at the Escambia County Court House. It is reported that Commissioner Kevin White’s wife, left her job as a school bus driver to work at the Court House.
12) Commissioner David Michael Whitehead, AKA, Commissioner Michael Whitehead was charged and convicted of violating Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, while having a contractual relationship with B & W Productions of Pensacola, Inc. A civil penalty of $2,000 was imposed against the Commissioner Whitehead and he was publicly censured and reprimanded.
The state found that Commissioner Mike Whitehead was soliciting sponsorship for the show from people and businesses that came before the Escambia County Commission. For example Fred Donovan, a civil engineer and the President of Donovan Baskerville, was giving Ms Benson and Commissioner Whitehead $200 a month to sponsor the show.
For more information go to http://ethics.state.fl.us/orders/1998/98-188fo.html
Commissioner Whitehead had a television production/TV show called B & W Productions/ Lois and Mike Show. The B & W Productions was owned by former State House of Representatives Lois Benson and Commissioner Mike Whitehead. Lois Benson and Mike Whitehead were the stars of the Lois and Mike Show.
13) Lois Benson (former State Representative) is now a member of the Escambia County Utilities Authority (ECUA). Fred Donovan (see item 12) is a member of the Gulf Power Board of Directors. Fred Donovan’s brother, Marty Donovan, is a member of the Pensacola City Council. A multimillion dollar project is set to move the ECUA’s wastewater plant from downtown Pensacola (in the city) to the northern part of Escambia County. A portion of this project requires ECUA, to gain right of way access on land owned by Gulf Power. In a PNJ newspaper story in September 2007, it reports that Fred Donovan, President of the Civil Engineering firm Donovan Baskerville is hosting a party at his home for the Board of directors of the ECUA. (including Lois Benson) Mr. Donovan’s company stands to gain by his interrelations with all of the above individuals because his civil engineering firm has the potential for gaining inside information on potential projects.
14) The following questions pertaining to violations of the Sunshine Law, by Michael Stewart PNJ are:
“How did the "Settlement and Release Agreement," obtained by the News Journal this week, come about?
Whose idea was it to draw up such an agreement?
Did commissioners violate the Sunshine Law ? which requires public business to be conducted at public meetings ? by discussing Touart's fate either among themselves or through Lander as a third-party conduit before the Sept. 6 meeting?
Did they instruct Lander to begin working on the agreement or did she do that on her own?”
15) Commissioner Whitehead email to a constituent on October 3, 2007 on this subject stated:
“Unfortunately, the media has created the
perception that the touart issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, under
Florida Law, it hasn't. there is a specific process mandated for removal of a county administrator and the 3 commissioners running this show did not follow
it. They had apparently conspired with the county attorney and drafted a "deal"
which was offered to Touart. Neither robinson nor myself were parties to the
discussion. After touart submitted his retirement they decided not to honor
their agreement. I am not sure how this will resolve but I do know that a
fundemental key to honest government is honoring committments”
Therefore, if the above email is true, Commissioner Whitehead is accusing his three of his fellow Commissioners, and County Attorney Janet Lander of conspiring, (as the put together Touarts retirement deal), in violation the Florida Sunshine Law.
By way of background, Escambia County is notorious for its crooked politicians. In 2002, four out of five Escambia County Commissioners, were suspended by Governor Jeb Bush because they were indicted on corruption charges. Former Florida Senate President, and suspended Escambia County Commissioner WD Childers, pled no contest to corruption violations of the Florida Sunshine law. At the same time, Suspended Escambia County Commissioner Willie Junior was also convicted of corruption charges relating to violating the Florida Sunshine Law. WD Childers is still in prison, and Willie Junior is alleged to have committed suicide just prior to being imprisoned. The other two suspended Escambia County Commissioners Terry Smith and Mike Bass avoided prison by cooperating with the state in the trial of the other two commissioners.
In connection with the above corruption indictments two local real estate developers Joseph and Marci Georgeann Elliott were arrested and charged with racketeering bribery and money laundering.
The AP article on this subject reports the following: “Childers, 68, declined comment, but his lawyer, Fred Levin, said he was shocked the grand jury would indict his client after 32 years of public service.” (Fred Levin is Allen Levin’s brother, Allen Levin was involved with George Touart’s ownership of property in the state of Mississippi in 2002, see item 6 above.)
1) While acting as the Escambia County Administrator, since 2002, Mr. Touart was involved with Mr. Neal Nash in personal and business deals prior to Mr. Touart advancing to the Escambia County Commission, a proposal for the county to buy swamp land, owned by Mr. Neal, for $1,400,000 near Perdido Key in Escambia County.
Prior to this deal, Mr. Touart bought a $62,000 fishing boat in partnership with Mr. Neal Nash in the state of Mississippi. Later, Mr. Touart reported that he bought out Mr. Nash’s half of the boat, and now Mr. Touart owns the boat outright. Mr. Touart was unwilling to provide any information about this deal when asked by the writer from the Pensacola News Journal, (PNJ) Michael Stewart.
It is reported that Mr. Touart is driving a Lexis formerly owned by Mr. Neal Nash, ....if true how was this deal handled?
Despite repeated requests from Escambia County residents to the Escambia County Commissioners to investigate this matter and other transactions by Mr. Touart, the commission chose to ignore their requests for an investigation. Why have they ignored these requests?
2) Mr. Touart and Commissioner Mike Whitehead (more information on Commissioner Whitehead later) went on an unknown number hunting trips to Neal Nash’s hunting camp in Wisconsin. In one trip, both Mr. Touart and Commissioner Whitehead, were charged for violating various deer hunting laws in Wisconsin.
Neither individual has disclosed any information about who paid for this trip.
3) Mr Touart was involved in a condominium deal with Neal Nash. The PNJ reports;
“A Florida Ethics Commission spokeswoman says by owning a condo with Nash he may have violated Florida Statute 112.313 (7)(a) but may be exempt from the law under 112.313 (12)(e), which allows an exemption if the business is the sole source of the supply, in this case the property, and full disclosure is made by the public official.”
4) Mr. Touart’s wife Barbara, bought a lot in a an upscale gated community, called Nature’s Trail, owned and being developed by Mr. Neal Nash, and other local developers, including Ronald Swaine who is also the Chairman the Escambia County Planning Board. Ronald Swaine and Neal Nash share an office together. Ronald Swaine is Kevin White’s appointment to the Escambia County Planning board.
5) Mr. Touart is reported to have 15 to 20 pieces of property in partnership with unknown people along with partnerships in businesses. Mr. Touart has not been willing to reveal the names of all of these partners, therefore it is not possible, without an investigation, to determine if any of these partners have had business dealings with Escambia County, while Mr. Touart was the County Administrator.
6) It has been discovered that, in 2005, Mr. Touart shared ownership in a piece of property in the state of Mississippi with a then Escambia County Commissioner, Bill ****son, and developers (the late) Allen Levin and Cliff Mowe. Mr. Levin was a partner in a multi $100,000,000 condo development on Pensacola Beach, called Portofino Island Resort and Spa. Commissioner Michael Whitehead, said he was aware of these deals, and believes they were common knowledge. Other members of the Escambia County Commission claimed they did not know of Mr. Touart’s business deals.
7) Mr. Touart reports that he has outstanding loans on all of his properties that he owns with unknown parties. Without an investigation/review of his tax records, it is impossible to know how those loans are being handled, and if Mr. Touart is the recipient of any special consideration in repaying these loans, for example who is carrying the paper on these loans?
8) Mr. Touart and Escambia County Sheriff Ronald McNesby own condos next to each other on Inerarity Point.
Mr. Touart, used his position as Escambia County Administrator, and his relationship with Escambia County Sheriff Ronald McNesby, to confront the owner of Arety’s Angels a topless bar in Pensacola to get her to forgive a debt incurred by Mr. Touart’s son Matthew. Mr. Touart’s son, Matthew is reported to have stolen Mr. Touart’s credit card, and ran up a bill of thousands of dollars at the topless bar. When they confronted the owner of the topless bar she said she was intimidated by Mr. Touart and Sheriff McNesby, and she did reduce the debt. Later, the owner of Arety Angles Topless Bar, filed a complaint with the Florida Ethics Commission against both Sheriff McNesby and Mr. Touart.
Mr. Touart reported to the Escambia County Commission, his involvement with the topless bar was personal and on his own time. Yet, Mr. Touart presented his expenses for attorney fees in his defense before the Ethics Commission to Escambia County for reimbursement. In this action Commissioner Michael Whitehead was an advocate of Mr. Touart to have the county pay his attorney’s fees.
8) Mr. Touart’s son found a job in a company called Roads, Inc which contracts for business with Escambia County.
9) Mr. Touart is a business partner in a employee staffing business called Global Employment Services out of Pascagoula MS with a partner Jackie G Grimes.
Global Employment Services has a contract to provide labor for R.W. Beck, a nationwide engineering firm, which provides among other functions, clean up services after hurricanes. R.W. Beck is reported to have been paid more than $28,000,000 in work they completed in Escambia County, since 2001.
Global Employment Services applied for an application to perform employee leasing services in Florida, from the Florida Board of Employee Leasing Companies on January 17, 2007. This application was found to be deficient. The failure of Mr. Touart’s company to be authorized to work in Florida merits investigation.
10) Commissioner Michael Whitehead, along with a local civil engineer Charles Carlin (managing partner of Hatch Mott and McDonald) in 2006, tried to push through the Escambia County Commission an I 110 Toll Road Connector near Quintette Road on the north side to I 10 on its south side. Near the north end of the proposed toll road is a huge residential development called Jubilee in Santa Rosa County. Coincidently, Jubilee was having problems with expanding development because of traffic issues that stymied it’s growth. The civil engineer for Jubilee is Charles Carlin, from Hatch Mott and McDonald. An associate with the company developing Jubilee was Bo Johnson, a State House of Representatives, from Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, who is now/was serving time in prison for corruption related charges.
The I 110 toll road on the north end would have benefitted among others Jubilee and on the south end because it feeds into I 10 towards Pensacola Beach it would have benefitted among others the huge Portofino Island Resort and Spa development owned by the Levin family.
11) It has been reported, that Mr. Touart’s wife Barbara and Commissioner Kevin White’s wife got county jobs at the Escambia County Court House. It is reported that Commissioner Kevin White’s wife, left her job as a school bus driver to work at the Court House.
12) Commissioner David Michael Whitehead, AKA, Commissioner Michael Whitehead was charged and convicted of violating Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, while having a contractual relationship with B & W Productions of Pensacola, Inc. A civil penalty of $2,000 was imposed against the Commissioner Whitehead and he was publicly censured and reprimanded.
The state found that Commissioner Mike Whitehead was soliciting sponsorship for the show from people and businesses that came before the Escambia County Commission. For example Fred Donovan, a civil engineer and the President of Donovan Baskerville, was giving Ms Benson and Commissioner Whitehead $200 a month to sponsor the show.
For more information go to http://ethics.state.fl.us/orders/1998/98-188fo.html
Commissioner Whitehead had a television production/TV show called B & W Productions/ Lois and Mike Show. The B & W Productions was owned by former State House of Representatives Lois Benson and Commissioner Mike Whitehead. Lois Benson and Mike Whitehead were the stars of the Lois and Mike Show.
13) Lois Benson (former State Representative) is now a member of the Escambia County Utilities Authority (ECUA). Fred Donovan (see item 12) is a member of the Gulf Power Board of Directors. Fred Donovan’s brother, Marty Donovan, is a member of the Pensacola City Council. A multimillion dollar project is set to move the ECUA’s wastewater plant from downtown Pensacola (in the city) to the northern part of Escambia County. A portion of this project requires ECUA, to gain right of way access on land owned by Gulf Power. In a PNJ newspaper story in September 2007, it reports that Fred Donovan, President of the Civil Engineering firm Donovan Baskerville is hosting a party at his home for the Board of directors of the ECUA. (including Lois Benson) Mr. Donovan’s company stands to gain by his interrelations with all of the above individuals because his civil engineering firm has the potential for gaining inside information on potential projects.
14) The following questions pertaining to violations of the Sunshine Law, by Michael Stewart PNJ are:
“How did the "Settlement and Release Agreement," obtained by the News Journal this week, come about?
Whose idea was it to draw up such an agreement?
Did commissioners violate the Sunshine Law ? which requires public business to be conducted at public meetings ? by discussing Touart's fate either among themselves or through Lander as a third-party conduit before the Sept. 6 meeting?
Did they instruct Lander to begin working on the agreement or did she do that on her own?”
15) Commissioner Whitehead email to a constituent on October 3, 2007 on this subject stated:
“Unfortunately, the media has created the
perception that the touart issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, under
Florida Law, it hasn't. there is a specific process mandated for removal of a county administrator and the 3 commissioners running this show did not follow
it. They had apparently conspired with the county attorney and drafted a "deal"
which was offered to Touart. Neither robinson nor myself were parties to the
discussion. After touart submitted his retirement they decided not to honor
their agreement. I am not sure how this will resolve but I do know that a
fundemental key to honest government is honoring committments”
Therefore, if the above email is true, Commissioner Whitehead is accusing his three of his fellow Commissioners, and County Attorney Janet Lander of conspiring, (as the put together Touarts retirement deal), in violation the Florida Sunshine Law.
By way of background, Escambia County is notorious for its crooked politicians. In 2002, four out of five Escambia County Commissioners, were suspended by Governor Jeb Bush because they were indicted on corruption charges. Former Florida Senate President, and suspended Escambia County Commissioner WD Childers, pled no contest to corruption violations of the Florida Sunshine law. At the same time, Suspended Escambia County Commissioner Willie Junior was also convicted of corruption charges relating to violating the Florida Sunshine Law. WD Childers is still in prison, and Willie Junior is alleged to have committed suicide just prior to being imprisoned. The other two suspended Escambia County Commissioners Terry Smith and Mike Bass avoided prison by cooperating with the state in the trial of the other two commissioners.
In connection with the above corruption indictments two local real estate developers Joseph and Marci Georgeann Elliott were arrested and charged with racketeering bribery and money laundering.
The AP article on this subject reports the following: “Childers, 68, declined comment, but his lawyer, Fred Levin, said he was shocked the grand jury would indict his client after 32 years of public service.” (Fred Levin is Allen Levin’s brother, Allen Levin was involved with George Touart’s ownership of property in the state of Mississippi in 2002, see item 6 above.)