Pinellas Land Deal Under Investigation
Given that the topic dominated today's weekly live chat, I thought I should point out here that my colleague Will Van Sant is reporting on The Buzz that Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe has, indeed, opened an investigation into the land deal between the Pinellas County Commission and county Property Appraiser Jim Smith.
Here's the link. Meanwhile, the County Commission is convening at 3 p.m. for its regular meeting; it will be interesting to see what is said about all this. The meeting is being broadcast live on Pinellas 18, the county government's cable channel.
Welcome to TroxBlog, the web-home of columnist Howard Troxler, where he and readers discuss his column topics and current events. The goal here is to focus on the merits of issues, instead of personal attacks or knee-jerk partisanship.
Book 'em, Danno........there's lots more dirt to dig up, I'm sure. Tip of the iceberg, I have NO doubt.
Posted by: Lorraine Margeson | July 24, 2007 at 04:04 PM
Howard, I guess just about everyone hates the property appraiser these days. But methinks too big a deal is being made of this fiasco. Did he handle it properly? No. Was his property underassessed? Yes, but like he offered up as a lame excuse, "no one sells anything for what it is assessed for on the tax rolls." Certainly Mr. Smith, as a citizen of Pinellas County, is allowed to participate in the real estate opportunities out there. But since his dealings were with his employer (the Citizens of Pinellas County) he displayed an amazing degree of stupidity in how he handled the transaction. I'll bet he wishes he had never strongarmed the county into making the purchase in the first place. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Posted by: Larry | July 25, 2007 at 09:04 AM
A recount of last night's commission meeting and their late night "moves" to protect themselves.......
Commissioner Ronnie Duncan shooed the public out of chambers for this late-breaking motion. Motion on the floor.......Duncan hands over the gavel to Comm. Stewart and moved the board for approval of the scheduling of a meeting to discuss the hiring of Independent Counsel to represent the board in light of the State Attorney's Grand Jury investigation of the Smith land sale to the County.
Unanimous approval of the motion................meeting adjourned.
I don't much like paying for their individual defense, do YOU?
Posted by: Lorraine Margeson | July 25, 2007 at 10:02 AM