Article: 012710-Inspector General Proposed to Delegation

New ethics inspector urged for Broward

Commissioners, legislators suggest adding inspector general

By Anthony Man and Scott Wyman, SunSentinel

3:07 a.m. EST, January 27, 2010

Efforts to create an ethics czar to police local governmentgained momentum Tuesday from state and county officials, even as word of thelatest investigation of a local official — an inquiry into County CommissionerDiana Wasserman-Rubin — jolted the Broward political world.

The proposals to create an inspector general to ferret out misconduct are along way from becoming law, but the separate actions by the County Commissionand the Broward Legislative Delegation were hailed as a signal that electedofficials are getting a message that the public is fed up with corruption.

"The momentum here is proof positive. There's really something going on inthe community that says it's time," said Roy Rogers of Lighthouse Point, vice chairman of thestate Ethics Commission and chairman emeritus of the Broward Fair CampaignPractices Committee.

Charlotte Greenbarg, president of the Broward Coalition, an influentialorganization of condominium and homeowner associations, said the public expectsresults. "We think it's high time that something got accomplished on thepositive side of protecting the public and the taxpayers."

The commission asked its attorneys to draft a referendum for the Novemberballot to form an inspector general's office that would not just be a watchdogover county government but also countywide elected officials, the School Board,cities and other agencies such as the North Broward Hospital District.

The office would report either to State Attorney Mike Satz or a group ofjudicial and local officials.

The Broward Legislative Delegation voted 13-2 for essentially the sameproposal: a law requiring a referendum that would ask voters if they want aninspector general. Satz wants an inspector general independent of his office.The legislators' version puts the office under a panel of local officials.

The state attorney said the inspector general should be independent because theoffice would be "preventative as well as punitive."

State Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, and state Rep. Perry Thurston,D-Plantation, both voted no, arguing there wouldn't be a need for an inspectorgeneral if Satz was willing to devote attention and resources to investigatingpublic corruption.

"I want the state attorney to do his damn job," Smith said.

The County Commission decision was unanimous.Wasserman-Rubin, who is under investigation by the State Attorney's Officeconcerning her business dealings, voted in favor of drafting the proposal butdid not speak on the matter.

"The public needs to know we are serious about doing something about theperception of misconduct and that we are trying to do the right thing,"said Commissioner Stacy Ritter, who made the proposal. "The publicunfortunately thinks we are all corrupt, and if we can do something to fix thatimage, we should."

Thurston said he thinks the measure received such strong support — with othersoverlooking what he sees as problems with the legislation — because of thepolitical climate resulting from the arrests last year of then-County CommissionerJosephus Eggelletion and School Board memberBeverly Gallagher in a federal corruption investigation. Eggelletion haspleaded guilty to federal money-laundering charges and resigned from office.

"It's the political environment," Thurston said.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.comor 954-356-4550. See a draft of the proposed inspector general legislation pluspro and con arguments on the Broward Politics blog atSunSentinel.com/BrowardPolitics