The latest Sunshine Law scandal broke earlier this month. State Attorney Kirk Zuelch says a technical committee instrumental in selecting the contractor for the planned construction of the multi-million-dollar Key Largo sewer project, may have violated the State Government-In-the-Sunshine law. If so, the deal could be nullified, Zuelch said. But County Attorney Jim Hendrick pooh-poohed that allegation, saying that the committee was acting as county staff, exempt from the Sunshine Law— and, besides, who appointed those people anyway?
In Monroe County, of course, the only purpose of the Sunshine Law is to be selectively enforced. Having said that, here's an open letter to County Attorney Jim Hendrick:
Your public reaction to the alleged Sunshine Law violations of the sewer contract "Technical Evaluation Panel" was the same as Kirk Zuelch's public reaction when Key West The Newspaper first suggested, back in 1994, that the members of the Trust For Public Land (TPL) Advisory Council broke the law by meeting privately for months to develop recommendations as to how the City of Key West should buy ($18.5 million) and manage the Key West Bight. At that time, Zuelch asked, "Who appointed those people? If they weren't asked by the City to make those recommendations, how could they violate the Sunshine Law?" Does that sound familiar?
Of course, I'm sure Zuelch knew then, as you do now, that government boards "may not avoid their responsibilities or conduct the public's business in secret by use of an alter ego." Even committees that are purely "advisory" are subject to the Sunshine Law. In fact, in the current case, that is Zuelch's rationale for his "investigation." Why would he have different positions concerning the application of the same law at two different times?
Subsequently, of course, the Attorney General's office determined that the TPL committee did, indeed, violate the law. (Duh!) A chagrined Zuelch then just brushed it off by arguing that nobody on the panel "knowingly" did anything wrong. Of course, members of the TPL group included City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley, soon-to-be State Rep Debbie Horan, Assistant City Manager and current State Rep wannabe Ron Herron and other notables. You don't think that Zuelch had the slightest intention of prosecuting these folks, do you?
Eventually, and probably very quickly, the county group accused of Sunshine Law violations will simply schedule a well-noticed meeting and discuss and, presumably, make the same decisions in public that they allegedly made in secret. And that will be that. That's what the County Arts Council did. And that's what our local hospital board did.
If Zuelch takes the same position that he took concerning the TPL Council, there will be no prosecution because, as he wrote in March 1997, "there is insufficient evidence to show any intentional violations of the Sunshine Law." But, of course, Zuelch may not take the same position. The Sunshine Law is a classic example of KWTN's often-stated editorial opinion that, in Zuelch's mind, the only purpose of a law is to provide a hammer to be selectively used.
You will certainly remember that, back in 1993 or thereabouts, two elected members of the Mosquito Control Board went public with allegations that three members of the board had conspired (a possible violation of the Sunshine Law) to create an unneeded administrative job and, then, illegally hire Key West Mayor Dennis Wardlow to fill that position. The chairman of the MCB actually went to Zuelch and made a formal complaint. Zuelch's position was that a duly-elected board can create any job they want and hire anybody they want to fill it.
But Zuelch's position changed a couple of years later when the job-unfixers were elected. Zuelch fell all over himself to try to use the Sunshine Law to save Wardlow's job and, when that failed, he tried to use the same law to punish them for daring to un-fix the job. He failed— but his efforts created enough bad press that you and some of the more gullible County Commissioners were able to use it to try to take over the MCB.
The point here is that Zuelch's enforcement of the Sunshine Law is selective. And in view of his history with this law, his current election-year posturing seems downright silly. Let's all watch together to see how fast the current "charges" fall apart.