August 30, 2004

Commissioner’s land-use voting falls short of claims: Public records can help distinguish a political candidate’s claims vs. reality. A county commissioner’s votes checked by Bill Coats of the St. Petersburg Times paint a different picture on land-use decisions than promoted by the commissioner – who is up for re-election. At a recent political forum, Commissioner Ken Hagan said he didn’t see a problem with accepting campaign contributions from building and real estate interests since he voted against them “on a weekly basis.” But public records present another view. “A Times check of 265 land-use votes by Hagan since he took office two years ago revealed only 19 cast against the applicants, often developers and their attorneys. In 14 of those votes, Hagan joined a unanimous County Commission in defeating a land-use proposal. No other commissioner was less likely to oppose development, although Tom Scott was close.” Hagan supported applicants in 93 percent of his votes, the story says. The public records handbook covers minutes of public board meetings on Page 284.

Unexcused absences take teens out of driver’s seat: Statistics obtained from the Florida Department of Education by Nirvi Shaw of the Palm Beach Post show authorities suspended 9,804 student driver licenses last year because of too many absences at school. The figures are part of an update story on a law state lawmakers created five years ago that suspends students' licenses if they miss 15 days of school with unexcused absences within a 90-day period. To regain their tickets to ride, students have to go to school 30 days straight without unexcused absences. Of the licenses suspended statewide, “293 were in Palm Beach County. An additional 52 student licenses in Martin County and 202 in St. Lucie County were suspended. Although the statewide tally seems high, it's lower than it was three years ago by about 1,100. And 65 fewer licenses were suspended in Palm Beach County last school year than in 2000-01. But despite being punished once, 322 students across the state had their licenses suspended a second time for too many absences last school year.” The public records handbook profiles the Department of Education home page on Page 177.

August 27, 2004

Little League official faces sex case: Arrest records trigger this story by Jaime Hernandez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on sex-related charges against the longtime administrator for north Broward County's Little League district. Dennis Duke, 63, is accused of possessing child pornography and promoting sexual activity by a minor. “Duke, who had no criminal record prior to his arrest, has been the administrator for the north Broward Little League district since 1990. He has been involved with youth baseball in some capacity since 1973.” He declined comment when contacted for the story. The public records handbook covers arrest reports on Page 23.

August 26, 2004

Knight was at 'end of my rope': Paul Pinkham of The Florida Times-Union relied on various public records to flush out the story behind a Jacksonville man who took an attorney hostage at gunpoint, forced evacuation of a downtown office building and prompted a judge to appear on local TV to "resign" as he demanded. Among other documents, Pinkham explored criminal court records, official records at the circuit court clerk's office and correspondence with the governor's office to help explain what prompted John Knight's behavior. Knight said a 1999 fighting conviction – one that seemed just like another case at the time – kept him from getting job offers, ruined his life and eventually led to the boil over that culminated in a hostage crisis that gripped Jacksonville earlier this month. The revelations in this story include a wrong official judgment filed at the clerk's office that showed Knight had a domestic violence conviction when he really didn't. The story also links to correspondence Knight exchanged with the governor's office and other officials in efforts to clear the fighting conviction. The public records handbook covers criminal court records on Page 103 and explains the official index of the circuit court clerk's office on Page 305.

August 24, 2004

Tasers don't cut officer injuries: Statistics can often help determine which view on an issue is more on target. Philip Ewing of the Tallahassee Democrat reviewed Florida Department of Law Enforcement records on assaults of officers to determine “the proliferation of Taser stun guns has not reduced the number of Florida law-enforcement officers injured in assaults each year,” despite claims by police and the manufacturer. The story says some regional police agencies, including those in Tallahassee, have seen fewer hurt officers. But the trend does not extend to the rest of the state. “Police and Taser International say the weapons cut down on officer injuries, but an analysis of Florida Department of Law Enforcement data showed that, even as more officers carry them, Florida's rates of police injuries have stayed about the same over the past five years.”

August 23, 2004

School board hopeful has felony conviction: Background checks on political candidates are a primary responsibility of the press. The research of Kimberly C. Moore of Florida Today turns up a felony conviction in North Carolina for a school board candidate in Brevard County. The story says candidate Steve Sherbin, “who is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility, also declared bankruptcy last November following a failed business venture.” A spokeswoman for the Florida Parole Commission said Sherbin is entitled to vote and run for public office in Florida as long as he had his rights restored in North Carolina before he moved to Florida and registered to vote, and showed proof of the restoration when he registered. Sherbin did. The public records handbook covers criminal background checks in Florida on Page 101.

Don’t worry, antennas aren’t watching you: Public records use isn’t confined to mainstream news stories. Orlando Sentinel “Road Dog” columnist Jim Stratton uses a memo from the Florida Department of Transportation to help quench a reader’s curiosity on what those white panels are all about along the Bee Line Expressway. Stratton has some fun with the memo’s straight-forward language describing “120 supplemental non-revenue toll tag antenna.” An FDOT human explained the panels are part of a traffic-information system scheduled to start in mid-2005. Eventually, drivers will be able to check on traffic conditions along many of Central Florida’s main roads using their computers or cell phones. The public records handbook covers Florida Department of Transportation project files on Page 201.

August 20, 2004

August 18, 2004

Firm overbilled Broward County in airport expansion, audit finds: An audit obtained by Scott Wyman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel drives this story about officials seeking “almost $250,000 from the engineering firm hired to monitor construction at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after concluding it repeatedly overbilled Broward County for its inspections.” The audit revealed Qore Property Sciences billed the county twice for some services and charged for work its contract did not cover. The Sun-Sentinel reported last year that Qore may have billed the county for hundreds of hours of work not covered by its contract. Records showed “the company billed the airport for administrative and clerical time by listing the work as inspection services when the only allowed charges were for the inspection and testing of construction material.”

Tax notice mailed to property owners: Property owners across Florida are getting the news about their latest property assessments for tax purposes. This story by Nick Mason of the Bradenton Herald isn’t particularly records driven, but it does a nice job of explaining how the property tax process works and how owners can challenge their assessments. The public records handbook profiles property appraisals on Page 322, property tax rolls on Page 326 and property value adjustment board files on Page 327.

August 13, 2004

August 11, 2004

August 10, 2004

August 9, 2004

August 6, 2004

August 5, 2004

August 4, 2004

'Lost' vote data in Miami-Dade just misplaced: Merely floating a public records request can spark big news in some cases. Joe Mozingo of the Miami Herald reports that a request made to Miami-Dade election officials by the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition resulted in the revelation that officials couldn't find important data files from a September 2002 primary. "The records at issue: audits produced by the machines that provide a record of every vote cast and serve as the only reliable backup to check the accuracy of electronic vote counting." Officials responded in an e-mail that their system had crashed last year in May and November, causing the data files for the September 2002 primary to be lost. The revelation caused a stir as state election officials and the system manufacturer jumped in to investigate. However, as the story explains, the data had never really been lost.

August 3, 2004

August 2, 2004

Bush draws big bucks from pro-sports brass: Public records can illustrate how pro sports and politics connect. Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel explored federal election campaign finance reports to show how most Florida sports franchise owners and top athletes are putting their money behind President Bush in the presidential race. Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos of the Orlando mayor, Wayne Huizenga of the Miami Dolphins, Wayne Weaver of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Micky Arison of the Miami Heat and William Davidson of the Tampa Bay Lightning have given the maximum allowable for individuals – $2,000 – to the Bush campaign recently. “Many of their family members have done the same. Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella, former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell, former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino and legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, who has deep roots in Central Florida, also have given $2,000 apiece to this Bush campaign.” The story says that of the 14 NBA owners or managing partners who contributed $2,000 under their own names and were listed with the Federal Election Commission during this 2004 presidential cycle, “nine gave to the Bush campaign, three gave to (John) Kerry, one gave to Dick Gephardt and one hedged his bets between the Rev. Al Sharpton and John Edwards.” Campaign contributions to a wide variety of federal candidates can be researched online at www.fec.gov/. The public records handbook covers state and local campaign financial reports on Page 60.

DCF employee, two others charged in defraud case: State personnel files and arrest records assist Abhi Raghunathan of the Naples Daily News in reporting the arrests of three people charged in a scheme to defraud the state out of thousands earmarked to aid poor people. Authorities said former Department of Children and Families worker Jesenia Gonzalez used her knowledge of government procedures to forge training certificates for family day-care homeowners, falsify applications for food stamps and electronic benefit cards. They said her efforts also helped fraudulently issue Medicaid benefits to former DCF worker Ana Soria and obtain illegal child care payments for Soria’s mother, Edelmira Andrade. The story draws extensively from personnel files of Gonzalez, noting she had once earned accolades for her work. An evaluation in Gonzalez’s file said, “She will make a great leader one day.” The public records handbook covers arrest reports on Page 23 and government personnel files on Page 239.