State Attorney Mark Kohl has accused former County Commission candidate Sullins Stuart of commiting perjury and violating election law. This should be a wake-up call to politicians and power brokers here that it's no longer "business as usual" in the State Attorney's Office.
It should also be a reminder to those who want to play rough in the political arena that payback is often not pretty.
Under former State Attorney Kirk Zuelch, infractions by candidates and others who were part of the Fat Cat Coalition here often went "unnoticed"— while the most minor infractions (real or imagined) of opposition candidates and activists were prosecuted, often to the point of absurdity.
Recall Zuelch's refusal, back in 1993, to react to charges that an unneeded job had been "fixed" for Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow at the County Mosquito Control Board (MCB). But a few years later, when two reform candidates were elected to that board and set out to unfix the job, Zuelch tried to get them indicted. He was unsuccessful, so he settled for just smearing their reputations.
Even after the MCB job had been unfixed, efforts continued to try to punish those on the Mosquito Control Board who had played a role in reform. County Attorney Jim Hendrick even tried to orchestrate a takeover of the MCB (and its multi-million-dollar budget) by the County Commission. That effort failed, even though Hendrick was able to convince a majority of the Commissioners— most of whom were completely clueless about the issue— to support the plot.
One of the County Commissioners who supported the takeover was Shirley Freeman. When we asked her why, she didn't have an answer.
"How could you support such a radical proposal— one government body trying to take over another one— without a reason?" we asked. "Well, I have secret information," she stammered.
She has yet to reveal what that secret information is. Of course, we believed then, and we believe now that she simply supported takeover because Hendrick told her to support it— and she was understandably reluctant to give that as her rationale.
So when she decided not to run for another term and picked Sullins Stuart as her replacement, we here at Key West The Newspaper rebelled— assuming that, if elected, Stuart would simply be a Freeman puppet— and supported his opposition. Rightly or wrongly, Stuart went into the campaign carrying Shirley's baggage.
We supported Attorney Jiulio Margalli in the primary and former Key West Mayor Sonny McCoy in the runoff.
Friends of this newspaper who supported Stuart's candidacy blame us for his 12-vote loss to McCoy. Maybe. But we think some of the responsibility should be shared by the Key West Citizen, one of the papers that enthusiastically supported Stuart.
At a candidate forum sponsored on Sept. 21, 2000, by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of the Florida Keys, Stuart said, "I have a mental illness"— and went on to explain that he suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, no big deal in today's society. Stuart's achievements make it obvious that he has been in no way disable by this affliction.
But the front page headline in the Citizen— just 10 days before the election— blared: "Commission Candidate Admits To `Mental Illness.'" That had to be a campaign killer.
After such a close election, Stuart's friends— probably including Shirley Freeman— urged him not to give up. He asked the three-member County Election Canvassing Board for a recount. It just so happened that Shirley was on the Canvassing Board. The board rejected Stuart's request by a 2-1 vote, with (you guessed it) Shirley casting the lone "yes" vote.
Shirley would later resign from the Canvassing Board after Key West The Newspaper published allegations that she had a conflict of interest. State law prohibits a member of the Canvassing Board to be actively involved in the election campaign of any candidate on the ballot— and Shirley was involved in Stuart's campaign. She even wore a big Stuart campaign sign around her neck at various social and political functions.
But even after his rejection by the Canvassing Board, Stuart still refused to give up. He sued the Board— as well as Sonny McCoy— charging vote fraud. His suit alleged that the Canvassing Board had accepted enough illegal votes to change the outcome of the election. He also alleged that "some electors were given or offered something of value for the purpose of procuring the Republican nomination . . . for McCoy."
In other words, Stuart suggested that two of the members of the Canvassing Board (Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer and Judge Susan Vernon) were at least stupid, if not downright dishonest— and he hinted that Sonny McCoy may have bribed potential voters!
The bad news for Stuart is that he couldn't come up with any evidence to support his charges. And more bad news: His aggressiveness attracted the attention of newly-elected State Attorney Kohl.
What Kohl found, according to the charges filed with the court last week, was that Stuart failed to resign from his job on the Monroe County Planning Commission before he signed up to run for the County Commission, as is required by law. Then, Kohl charged, Stuart committed perjury by signing a statement that he had resigned from any job he might have to resign from in order to legally run.
Stuart says he didn't know that he was supposed to resign from the Planning Commission job— but he did quickly resign right after he got into the runoff with McCoy.
Stuart is also charged with filing an incomplete financial disclosure statement.
A Stuart supporter we talked to Wednesday called the charges against him "outrageous."
"He was a first-time candidate. How could he be expected to know all the rules?"
Well, one of the ways first-time candidates learn the rules is to attend the seminar for first-time candidates and read the literature provided by the Supervisor of Elections.
But don't cry too much for Sullins Stuart. We predict he'll cop a plea and probably go the Pre-trial Services route.
The important message here is that a new day has dawned in the State Attorney's Office. If you break the law and get caught, Mark Kohl will prosecute you— even if you have important friends.