Good for US federal judge Lawrence King holding off sentencing former employees of a powerful consulting engineering firm until charges of political bribery are fully investigated in Miami.
One of the more enduring forms of political leverage by special interests is the revolving door between highly paid engineering consultants and government bureaucracies. This is a subterranean world of big influence and big pressure, eased through payoffs to political candidates and incumbents where possible.
Some of the contributions are legal--they show up as strange addresses either here, or, from distant places with no apparent relation to Miami--some of them are not. We don't hear much about those unless a defendant facing a long jail sentence is persuaded, for one reason or another, to flip.
Keeping the lid on that kettle in Miami-Dade is now an issue in the embezzlement trial of three former employees of Post Buckley Shuh and Jernigan (PGS&J), accused of taking $36.6 million from the firm (reported in today’s Miami Herald business section).
In a separate count, one defendant was charged of reimbursing PSB&J employees and their relatives for $11,000 for campaign contributions to Senator Mel Martinez.
But another defendant has claimed that leads she provided on further political corruption have not been followed up by the US Attorneys Office in Miami, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Elections Commission.
The defendant’s attorneys have charged that government investigators gave a very low priority to following up because of the pervasive influence of the engineering firm. By refusing to credit her with cooperation on helping to disclose wider political corruption, the defendant faces a much longer prison sentence. She has a very big motivation to be taken seriously, and Judge Lawrence King is interested to know if she has been taken seriously, or, not.
PBS&J has been extraordinarily influential at County Hall—and so we are not surprised by the charge of the defendant that fraudulent behavior at the company took place within an overall climate where political corruption may have been viewed as the tolerated status quo.
Reaching to those particulars, if that is true, would be a very unique event.
If the defendant’s evidence leads deeper into the workings of Miami-Dade County government, the light coming out of Judge Lawrence King's chamber will provide an invaluable service to the public in the pursuit of justice.
2 comments:
Wonder if the reluctance of the US Attorney to get involved has anything to do with reports that the Bush White House has been removing US attorneys around the nation who aren't loyal to the political order...
You wouldnt be referring to one PBSJ employee who became chief of staff to Alex Penelas shortly after he was elected mayor ... and who worked the Homestead Air Force Base deal from the outside/ in? Wonder what the total expenses have been, to consulting engineering companies through various county departments... dont you?
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