Lobbyist barred from lobbying

TALLAHASSEE -- A long-time lobbyist has lost his livelihood after pleading guilty to a felony charge of  misappropriating public money while serving as a faculty member at the University of Florida.

Dr. Paul Wharton, 51, entered the plea last week before U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle in Jacksonville.

The judge sentenced Wharton to two years of house arrest, five years' probation, a $10,000 fine, $252,000 in restitution and 2,000 hours of community service.

"It has been a very humiliating process and a very painful and expensive process," Wharton said Monday. "I've already lost quite a lot of career opportunities."

Read the full story here.

Comments

Paul Wharton is a good man. I am sorry to see this, but I know he will recover.

Grant as a character witness? U gotta be kidding.

[doublestandard]

I'm sure there are a lot of good men and women who have stolen got caught. Yes, such a good man using taxpayer's money to pay his credit card bills, his vacations, white water rafting - if you or I did that how many Legislators would be pleading for us? How many felons has Wise helped in the past? Or is this his first one?

Look, I have to work hard for my money. I pay too much in taxes. These jokers, including Wise, have a sense of entitlement to my money.

Kick the bums out!!!

Wharton is a decent man and it was very kind of Grant, Uhlfelder and Dr.
St.Petrey to testify on his behalf.

how many decent men and women who commit an act of theft are in prison serving lengthy sentences? those folks don't have well-placed friends to rationalize criminal behavior. there are a lot of folks in prison who haven't stolen 1/5 of what this man has taken.

paul is gentleman, steve wise is a statesman and doublestandard is a jackass

Wharton screwed up and will be in house confinement for 2 years when not working pro bono. He repaid 250,000 dollars of all money taken.
He can't lobby again. He helped a lot of people pro bono for many years.

scoundrels, brigands, and thieves. throw him in the hole so he'll have to deal with the brothers as punishment for his crime.

It always amazes me to see the sheer number of government-hating "conservative" republicans lining up to serve in government-lobbying groups. Isn't the republican
party the self-described "party of values?" Does Republican Jesus want these folks to embezzle funds for a cushy lifestyle? Does Republican Jesus say that theft is okay as long as the thief is a republican?

This shows the double standard that still exist in southern society. Siplin is called shifless and stupid and all the derogatory names insinuated a black male. How many Senators tesitified on Siplins behalf. But this White UF Professor fellon that comits an even more heinous crime in stealing peoples money (including those that are elderly) to enrich himself, has other senators testifying for him and pleqading for his easy restitution and bloggers sreaming how "good" a man he is. Hypocrites.

Michael Milliken is now a saint and stole almost a billion. His partner Jim Dahl is a huge Seminole booster and big shot in Tallahassee.Dahl never went to prison. Every public official goes and meets with Milliken and they take his contributions and gifts.
Martha Stewart is on tv again.
Al Dunlap got recognized by FSU.
Desai who was appointed by the Governor to the State Board of Education almost bankrupted his HMO. He was not confirmed by the Senate.

[terminator]

We've always known Senator Wise elevator didn't quite stop off at the top floor but has he gone completely off his rocker?

The Senate better clean up their act fast.

They are more and more starting to look like the Republican House members in DC. One scandal after another.

How can you take these guys seriously when they do stupid sh*t like this!

Incredible.

Wise's suggestion is almost as dumb as Pruitt, Webster and Carlton endorsing Corcoran only to see him drop out two days later.

Who ever said the Senate was the "wiser" chamber must of been smoking some strong stuff!

How come Mike Spinelli, who is a convicted felon, gets to keep lobbying. He claims he is close to the House leadership too.

I concur with Terminator's assessment.

What about Bernie Parrish? Wasn't he convicted of a felony too. How about Larry Smith, former Congressman. What is he doing in the halls of the Capitol.

Jim Dahl is a crook. So is this Jack ass..

The Florida Capitol is nothing more than a place to raise funds from lobbyists. Every year it gets worse.

If we are going to stop all of this hypocrisy, we need to stop all of this totally excessive fundraising.

Taking excessive funds from lobbyists who appear before you should be a crime. All bundling should be reported and all legislative contacts with lobbyists that give in excess of 25,000(bundled) to the parties should be reported.

Why the hate on Jim Dahl and not Pat Roberts he is the real crook!

In the furor that followed the publication of a previous book on Mr. Milken, "Den of Thieves," by James Stewart, much attention was focused on whether Mr. Milken had been guilty of insider trading himself in a case involving an abortive merger of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Diamond Shamrock; Mr. Stewart concluded that he was. In part, the evidence turns on contradictory statements by James Dahl, a onetime Milken aide who received immunity for testifying against him.

How come so many state officials including florida education commissioners of education, lt governors, senators, etc go to california to meet with Milken. How come Jim Dahl is a FSU hero.

how did pat roberts get back into this?

leave the poor guy alone.

[Heck]

Heck, this happens in our back yard all the time. The sheriff in Pinellas takes their airplane to Key West often enough. Geesh, they work for us people, if their on tax dollars, why not let them use goverment transportation, money and phones? If their using our stuff (as citizens) then they should be available to us. Ever try calling an elected official and get past the secretary? Ha!...............no way in hell....

They trusted former Seminole Booster president Don Reinhard with millions of investment dollars. When they discovered their entire portfolios had evaporated, they accused him of fraud and deceit.

Now Reinhard has filed for bankruptcy, and an array of investors and court officials have accused him of a new round of fraud and deceit. They say he is trying to use bankruptcy court to unlawfully avoid his debts.

Isn't there something at FSU named after Reinhard.

We have a candidate running for president who took illegal funds from Keating, a convicted felon.. Makes Wharton look like a small fish.

[doublestandard]

Oh yes, let's feel so sorry for this greedy guy who got his fingers caught in the till. Oh yes, poor baby - so he resigned from his lobbying contracts the DAY he was SENTENCED. So, as of the DAY BEFORE he was still pulling in the big bucks. Oh yes, he has exhibited such sorrow and regret! His only regret is that he got caught. The good he has done does not justify the harm he has caused. He is no better than the teller who steals from the bank and should be treated the same. His big bucks (and I use the word his jokingly) should not buy him special treatment.

[been there, done that]

Paul Wharton is a decent guy who made a mistake. Sounds like UF was aware of this practice of shifting leftover grant funds to charitable groups and using the money to support the UF's lobbying efforts. Paul Wharton didn't invent this practice. Paul took the fall on this because he foolishly and stupidly paid some personal expenses from the charitable group he controlled which was also paying lobbying expenses which were legitimate. I guess nobody in Tallahassee has ever paid any personal expenses (hotels, fancy meals, trips, rental cars, parties, etc.) out of the political slush funds they control, right? These funds include campaign accounts, "527" committees controlled by individual politicians, money given to political parties (especially the Republican Party of Florida) which is used for all kinds of personal expenses and so on, ad nauseum. Everybody in Tallahassee better hope that some FBI agent doesn't start looking at how all that other money gets spent. Lots of people would be going to jail for income tax fraud for failing to report all these goodies on their income tax.

I do not know Wharton but I have to admire folks who stand by their friends when they are fallen. Any opportunistic jerk can be buddy buddy with big shots. It takes a real man to stick by their friends. I think comparisons to Siplin are unfair, Siplin is a liar and a fool. He has not shown an once of remorse unlike Wharton. Good for Wise reaching out, he is a true Christian.

[Boca Grande]

9:39 P.M. I let your defamatory statements about various celebrities go. But your crack about Desai is beyond ignorant. You are an idiot. You can't even read a newspaper. Desai's HMO has never been anywhere near bankrupt. It has been in technical default of certain arbitrary regulatory capital requirements that have nothing to do with the ability to pay debts as they come due. Desai got into this situation because his company grew too fast and he received bad legal advice. He has had investors ready, willing and able to give him the cash to meet those capital requirements. However, the price of that investment is a concern for Desai. Desai will deal with his situation like a man, in an honorable way. He will be confirmed. You will still be a fool.

Hookers and Blow! BLAH

The ban on lobbying by ex-felons was written to grandfather-in the likes of Bernie Parrish, etc. It applies to those convicted of a felony AFTER Jan. 1, 2006.

I admire those men for speaking on his behalf at the sentencing hearing, but were they also there to divide the spoils and pick up his clients? Will have to remember to look at their registrations...

Spinelli is able to lobby -even though he is a felon - becasue he was "grandfathered in." The Senate tried to ban all felons, but the House rejected the idea, in an effort to protect their favorite criminal. (Hey Terminator, you didn't include this in your list of house accomplishments, then again, maybe Spinelli is the Terminator . . .)

Paul is a decent man and I agree with (May 14 11:52) in that he is taking the fall for something that was known and condoned at some level. As per comparisons to some other folk, I won't be the one to judge and deny someone making a living; there is sufficient hypocrisy in the system to ensure that all can make a living in the halls - it takes two to dance and if the advocate is shady, the principal and the legislator should go into business arrangement/conversations with their eyes wide open.

Who is Paul Wharton?

[panhandle dem]

Remember Rep. Jamey Westbrook? He was aquitted of bogus charges. He was charged with stealing $387 worth of peanut quota and the man was and still is worth millions!! But the R's beat him with it.

Paul Wharton was an excellent and knowledgeable advocate for children. I am sorry that he has made this mistake.

I would like to echo the positive comments made in regard to Paul Wharton's character. While this news came as a shock and I do not condone it, he has always been a good friend and gentleman.

i believe that one person is responsible for the many favorable wharton posts on this blog.

You’re probably correct, 11:05…

The word “Lobbyist” is simply a soft word for the phrase “Criminal Intent”

It’s kind of like “Undocumented or Guest Worker” rather than “Illegal Immigrant”

[former Legislative Asst.]

While those who don't know him will simply label him another crooked lobbyist, it is hard to believe that he really committed the crime. I join with others who have watched him work for years to better the lives children of those with cleft palate.
Putting him in the same category as some of the others mentioned here is just not accurate.

[doublestandard]

Fine, he's a good, kind, compassionate thief. He needs to do time like any other convicted felon and not receive special treatment. The good news is that if he keeps his nose clean he can get his voting rights back under the Peoples' Governor's felons' rights bill. [The Peoples' Gov. was so busy last session getting felons voting rights that he didn't have time to work on KidCare, property taxes, and PIP - thank heaven he has his priorities right!]

[concerned citizen]

This apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The Wharton's may have started out wanting to help children with cleft palates, but when they turned it into their own personal slush fund, they should have all gone to jail. Too bad they didn't nail his father in all this mess too. They should share a jail cell for what they have done.