Corrupt GSA Administrator Arrested

Police arrested a high-ranking city of Miami employee today after an undercover sting operation caught him accepting a $1,000 bribe on videotape at a Starbucks coffee shop across the street from the Miami-Dade Courthouse. Police say Miguel Angel Mejia, employed by Miami's General Services Administration, tried to shake down a contractor who had received an $11,500 air conditioning installation job from the city.

The contractor didn't want to pay the bribe, and called police. The contractor then took part in the sting operation, meeting Mejia at the Starbucks in March, police said. Police say Mejia, who was still in custody, has already confessed to his crime. Mejia was the acting superintendent of the GSA's Property and Maintenance Division.

On prosecutors' surveillance video shot at the Starbucks, Mejia and Patrick Kerney -- owner of Kerney and Associates, Inc., the contractor hired for the air conditioning work -- can be seen sipping coffee and chatting at an outdoor table. As narrated by prosecutors, Kerney is then seen pulling out a large wad of cash from one of his pockets and handing it to Mejia, who nonchalantly reaches across the table and accepts it.

Mejia faces one count of unlawful compensation, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. ''He wanted to put that money -- your money, taxpayer dollars -- in his greedy little hands,'' Miami--Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.

Corrupt Public Housing Authority

The Miami-Dade grand jury issued a report Friday calling the county's Housing Agency ''an utter and complete disaster,'' and condemning what it called ''cronyism, corruption'' and "gross mismanagement.'' The jurors commended The Miami Herald for its series House of Lies, an investigation that found the Housing Agency had awarded millions of dollars to developers who over a period of years had failed to build any affordable homes. The investigation also found that Housing Agency officials misused taxpayer money and diverted $5 million to pay for a new headquarters, complete with a $287,000 statue.

''As jurors, we, too, were disgusted and embarrassed by the misfeasance and gross mismanagement of many of our public servants,'' the grand jury wrote. The report, titled House of Cards: Built on Mismanagement and Cronyism, said that some Housing Agency employees 'seemed more interested in greasing their friends' palms by funding inept, nonperforming entities than being concerned with the goals of assisting our neediest citizens.'' The jurors also said that they had intended to ask county officials to fire all of the top management of the Housing Agency. But County Manager George Burgess, after reading just half of The Miami Herald's series, removed seven Housing Agency officials last week.

Burgess said Friday he had mounted a national search for a new director for the troubled agency and expected more staff changes. Several Housing Agency programs have already been moved to other departments. ''We just move forward and we fix the problems,'' he said. "Quite frankly I think it's an opportunity to make it better than it was, an opportunity to just cleanse.''

The grand jury noted that an agency program for helping low-income families afford their first home was also rife with problems. The program provides buyers who have obtained a mortgage for 80 percent of the cost of a home to finance the remaining 20 percent at a cheaper, subsidized rate.
''Senior administrators within the Miami-Dade Housing Agency routinely approved mortgage loan applications for ineligible homeowners who either made too much money to qualify or were not first-time home buyers,'' the report said.

Miami-Dade Police Department's office of public corruption, the State Attorney's Office and the county's inspector general are all investigating the Housing Agency. ''The outrage and frustration that the grand jury expressed over cronyism is something I think everybody in the community feels,'' said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle.
The term of the current grand jury, which began nine months ago, is over. But Fernández Rundle said her office would help the next grand jury continue to look into management problems in the Housing Agency. She also said her office was moving forward with the criminal investigation.
Inspector General Chris Mazzella said he expected to issue a report in the next two weeks. ''That report will focus on a significant program and should impact many other programs in the Housing Agency,'' he said Friday. "Every day, we find something new.'' Check out the Miami Herald investigative report!

FIU violates Lobbyist Laws

Florida International University has paid a high-powered lobbyist as a full-time employee for six years, even as he was representing 30 additional clients, including two other local universities, in front of the Legislature.
The arrangement appears to violate a 1974 law that forbids universities from using taxpayer dollars to pay outside lobbyists. FIU officials said they discovered the problem involving longtime lobbyist Fausto B. Gomez last month and are researching how to fix it.

The state ethics commission could subject both the school and the lobbyist to a two-year ban on lobbying the governor and the Legislature, which would be a crippling blow at a time when FIU attempts to build a new medical school. ''We're talking about an error here,'' said FIU Provost Ron Berkman. "We're not talking about any attempt to deceive.'' FIU has spent $517,820.88 in taxpayer dollars since 2000 on Gomez, according to FIU records.

Most of the time, Gomez was officially listed as a ''practitioner in residence,'' according to a letter that served as his contract. Gomez's responsibilities included ''guest lectures in political science and/or public administration courses, possible seminars and workshops for students, faculty or staff,'' the contract said. His primary job, though, was advising FIU's administration on dealing with state and local government issues.
Gomez's contracts were signed by former Provost Mark Rosenberg and authorized by President Modesto ''Mitch'' Maidique, according to a 2001 letter written by Rosenberg. In October 2005, Rosenberg left to be the chancellor of the entire state university system, which includes 11 universities.

''Clearly, I didn't know the rules and I'm very unhappy about this,'' Rosenberg said this week. Rosenberg said he didn't know if Gomez ever lectured during his time as provost. His successor, Berkman, says Gomez may have given some lectures, and perhaps even taught a class, but FIU officials could not find records to indicate when or where. Gomez, who earned a bachelor's degree in political science from FIU in 1977, declined to comment, referring all questions to university administrators.

His clients include Miami-Dade County, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Barry University and Carlos Albizu University, according to a recent compensation report filed with the state. The report says Gomez and his partner, Manuel Reyes, earned between $250,000 and $499,999 from their lobbying clients during the first three months of 2006.

Marcos Perez, FIU's vice president for administration, discovered that the arrangement ''may not be in compliance'' with the state law, according to a draft of a July 14 letter addressed to Gomez. The letter has not yet been sent because Perez is on vacation. The law -- passed in 1974 and toughened in 1993 -- prohibits state agencies, including universities, from using tax money on outside contracts to lobby the Legislature or the governor. Universities can legally pay lobbyists with money from their charitable foundations, though.

They also can use full-time employees to lobby, but Perez determined that Gomez should not have been considered a full-time employee because he has so many other lobbying clients. ''Your list of clients makes me believe that it is unlikely that you are fulfilling your duties as a full-time practitioner in residence,'' Perez wrote.

As Perez reviewed arrangements with six other school lobbyists, he found the school had paid $24,500 to the consulting firm of former FIU provost James Mau, also a registered lobbyist. Mau could not be reached for comment. The issues with Gomez were discovered just as he began making plans for what he deemed ''one of the most significant legislative sessions in FIU's history,'' according to a July 10 e-mail he sent to Perez. He wrote that the meeting should be held soon ``to afford us time to impact and influence executive and legislative contests.'' It is illegal in Florida for state employees to participate in elections while they are on the job.