Florida Elections Commission Complaint

In my mail yesterday, December 16th, 2010, I found a thick envelope with an official looking seal from the Florida Elections Commission.  Upon opening it, I found out that our City Vice Mayor/Acting City Manager Trudy Block is on a witch hunt.

Ms. Block, with the obvious help of our City Clerk, Patricia Jackson, and Temporary City Attorney, Tom Cloud, filed a formal complaint with the Florida Elections Commission naming myself personally in violation of election law.  In the response letter from the FEC, the Executive Director, Ms. Rossanna Catalano, states that Ms. Block's accusations are not based on facts and therefore deemed this complaint as legally insufficient.  Here is a link to the complete 14 page document that I received:  FEC Complaint  Just like I had informed Ms. Jackson when she had contacted me previously, I and the others working together do not meet the legal definition of a Political Action Committee and therefore are not required to do anything the city is claiming we need to.  I know the city would love to have a "hit list" of the people, besides myself, to target, but why should people be in fear of sticking up for their rights to be informed, have an opinion about how the city government spends their hard earned tax dollars, and demand proper representation from their public officials?  The many accusations in this complaint are outright lies and they know it.  Other points brought up, there is no legal standing for them to be prohibited.   Many of the possibilities you say we stated as "facts," we are still waiting on answers to many of those questions to be researched further.  We never made promises we couldn't keep, unlike the Mayor.  Mayor LaCascia has yet to follow up on his promise about working together with us and the County Officials to get those questions I posed to the former County Manager, Michael Herr, answered.   We simply wanted other possible solutions to the city's financial crisis to be explored and researched further as an alternate solution to the plans the city already had in mind.  I understand that it must be frustrating for city officials to have their dirty laundry aired out for everyone to see.  If city officials were more open about what is going on and were more trustworthy, there would be no need for what this blog does.  This blog is a way for the public to keep informed and voice their opinions and it doesn't cost anyone a dime! 

By the timing of Ms. Block's filing with the FEC, my guess is that the loan with BB&T was denied and she was so ticked off, she felt the need to retaliate, regardless of the facts!  How petty!   And for your information, Ms. Block, I did send a confidentiality waiver to Ms. Patsy Rushing via Fax this morning, so I am not violating any Florida Statutes!!  Instead of focusing your energy on trying to keep the public in the dark and causing problems for the individuals trying to keep the public informed, maybe you should focus your frustrations and energy on something more productive like getting the city out of it's financial hole and stop spending the hard earned tax payers money for the attorney you love to hide behind because you are not qualified to run this city properly.

The public has yet to receive any information regarding the status of the BB&T loan application, but in previous meetings in November, Ms. Block stated that this information would be forthcoming at the December Council Meeting, which it was not.  Maybe this is why Ms. Block could not even provide me the courtesy of eye contact when I addressed the council on another issue at the December meeting.  One word of advice, Ms. Block, you should not attempt to play poker.  We assume this loan was denied, and rightfully so.  You were trying to add additional millions to the already astronomical high city debt of this tiny city.  If this is the case, we applaud BB&T for making a viable decision based on the high risk facts and not your rosy glasses perspective on the city's current financial situation.

Obviously, the information we are sending out to the public must not be that far from the truth or you would not see me as a credible threat enough to target me personally.  What are you so worried about?  City Officials always complained about the lack of public participation and interest.  Now that we are more active and taking an active role in our futures, this is how you choose to respond?  Seems a little contradictory.  Maybe there is more to uncover that is not so on the up-and-up that the city does not want to reveal.  Maybe the city is attempting to be proactive and shut us up.  The little newsletters in the utility bills are obviously being used as a strategic attempt to discredit the facts that we have been uncovering.  The topics mentioned mirror our blog to a tee.  I'm honored that you feel our blog is worthy of taking your precious time to read it.

Mr. Mayor, you had questioned at a previous meeting, why didn't so many people put their names on their comments on the blog and preferred to leave them signed as anonymous?  I had brought up the possibility that maybe they feared retaliation, and you blew that possibility off as nonsense.  I was verbally attacked by Council Woman Adorno for even insinuating the possibility of this occurring.  Obviously, those individuals fears are not so far off, are they?!!  The city is looking to get revenge since they have not been able to easily push through their agendas, as hoped.  Is the city running out of options?  An animal can get pretty feisty and nasty when driven into a corner with little options to get out.



Lisa B. Shifflett