The Tampa Tribune

Let The Sunshine In

By Doug Stanley

The Tampa Tribune

A secret plan to build camps for Cuban refugees. Charities that exhaust donations on their own operations. A public official who runs a pornography business on the side.

This is a sampling of recent news stories made possible by access to government records. Preserving this access, and drawing attention to its importance, is the goal of "Sunshine Sunday" today, a project of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

Florida has some of the nation's oldest and strongest access guarantees. Yet every year, state lawmakers act to restrict them.

"We're already tracking about 100 bills that would affect public records or sunshine laws," said Adria Harper, director of the First Amendment Foundation of Florida. "Not all of them are bad, but some of these bills could have a devastating effect on public access."

The foundation is particularly concerned about bills that would close the selection process for CEOs of public hospitals and prohibit obtaining, distributing or possessing information identifying a person without that person's permission.

Harper understands the growing concern over identity theft that is driving some of the bills, but finds many to be overly broad and burdened by unintended consequences.

Still, Florida's system keeps information flowing.

Here is a sample of Tampa Bay area news stories over the past year that were made possible by access to government records.

Tampa's Convention Bid, May 26

If Tampa had landed the 2008 Republican National Convention, public parks would have become tent cities filled with protesters unable to find hotel rooms.

At least 1,500 law enforcement officers would have been needed for security, and the cost to taxpayers would have run into the tens of millions of dollars.

As local officials wooed GOP decision-makers, those and other details became public in documents released under Florida's open records law.

The Republicans ultimately chose Minneapolis-St. Paul over Tampa.

Felons Caring For Kids, April 21

State officials stopped low-level workers from granting convicted felons exemptions allowing them to work with children after a Tribune report on the practice. The story was based on public records.

Convicted felons seeking to care for children and for people who are developmentally disabled now must pass scrutiny by top officials and lawyers.

The Florida Department of Children & Families changed its policy after the newspaper's reports on waivers for felons seeking care licenses.

Of seven applications reviewed, five had been approved - including one from a woman with a drug conviction who later was charged with child abuse after she was accused of shaking a toddler in her care.

Lawmakers and child advocates called the exemption policy appalling.

Skirting Campaign Reform, April 23

During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, records revealed a new twist on maximizing corporate giving.

Some corporations were forming a laundry list of companies, then had each give the limit of $500 to a candidate.

The method enabled a driving school operator in Ponte Vedra Beach and a commercial real estate developer in Boca Raton to contribute thousands of dollars to the campaign of eventual winner Charlie Crist.

Fifteen companies headed by Kenneth L. Underwood of Ponte Vedra Beach contributed $500 each to Crist on March 31 - just two days after the companies were created.

A spokesman for Underwood called the timing a coincidence.

The Crist campaign called the donations legal and pointed out they represented just a fraction of what the campaign had raised.

Cuban Refugee Camps, Aug. 4

An exodus of refugees from post-Castro Cuba would be shuttled to long-term detention centers across the United States.

The Mass Migration Response plan, obtained through a public records request, calls for sending refugees to classified sites outside Florida within 72 hours.

State and local law enforcement officers would act as immigration officers.

"While the state of Florida has no legal authority to enforce immigration law, it has the responsibility to protect its citizens from disruption of daily events," the plan states.

The plan shows the tricky policy issues facing politicians as the question of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's health lingers.

Toll Authority Reforms, September

Prompted by news stories, the governor's office looked into whether open meetings laws were broken when the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority hired a new lawyer.

The office found no violation but investigators concluded there was the appearance of impropriety. Lawmakers called for a full audit.

In its report, the governor's office also questioned how much the authority was spending on lobbying, so the Tribune requested all of the lobbyists' invoices.

These public records showed that the authority had paid one firm, run by John Beck, more than $1 million since 2000 and that there had been little supervision of the firm's work.

Ultimately, Beck was fired and the authority agreed to changes in how it approves and tracks money paid for legal, lobbying and public relations services.

Charities Give Little, Oct. 8

Floridians donate billions of dollars to charities every year, but in some cases little goes to help the needy.

A Tribune analysis of public records that charities must file found that 20 spend 75 cents of every dollar they take in on fundraising and other expenses, leaving only 25 cents for the cause. An efficient charity spends no more than 25 percent of revenue on fundraising and administration, according to federal guidelines.

Although Florida ranks fourth in the nation in the number of nonprofit organizations registered with the Internal Revenue Service, it devotes few resources to making sure charities are on the up and up.

State officials acknowledge that with nearly 11,000 charities to monitor and bare-bones staffing, the Division of Consumer Services struggles with basic oversight.

Tollway Chief And Porn, Nov. 9

During the expressway authority investigation, the Tribune learned that the authority's executive director had ties with authority contractors.

Research using public records led to something the reporters hadn't expected to find: The director, Ralph Mervine, owned a company in San Diego that made gay pornographic videos.

Among the documents leading to this finding were incorporation papers Mervine filed when he took over the company, which are public records.

Tribune reporters approached Mervine about the findings and, within hours, he resigned.

Standards For Executioners, Feb. 14

The bungled execution of killer Angel Diaz in December led to the revelation that the only job requirement for executioners who inject condemned inmates is to meet the minimum age of 18.

Florida's nine-page guideline for carrying out executions, made public in February under the public records law, requires no special training or certification for executioners.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush put the death penalty on hold in December after Diaz took 34 minutes to die because the lethal chemicals missed his veins.

An initial Department of Corrections investigation found that the two executioners present didn't follow guidelines when there were signs of trouble.

Diaz, 55, was sentenced to death for killing a Miami topless-bar manager 27 years ago. He proclaimed his innocence to the end.

Reproduced courtesy of The Tampa Tribune.
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