I learned long ago that politicians should never be in charge of policing themselves.
It’s like asking dung beetles to protect the cow patties.
In a best-case scenario, many politicians will only go after bad actors in the opposing party. Often, though, they won’t go after anyone — because they don’t want anyone coming after them.
We saw spectacularly gross proof of that 20 years ago in Washington when a corruption probe sent Louisiana Democratic Congressman William Jefferson to prison. Jefferson was in so deep, the feds found bricks of cash in his freezer — stuffed in frozen-food containers in batches of $10,000 apiece.
Yet would you like to know what the bipartisan reaction was among congressional leaders to the feds going after Jefferson? Outrage. Not over the corruption. Instead, Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican Dennis Hastert united to express anger that the feds had collected evidence from his congressional office.
I offer that preamble to this point: While it’s probably not surprising, it’s still ridiculous that no one has demanded answers or accountability in the wake of controversies involving two local legislators — Democrat Bruce Antone and Republican Carolina Amesty.
This past week, the Sentinel carried a story that raised questions about whether Antone lives in his state House district as the law requires.
And the paper has been filled with pieces about Amesty over the past year — about a funding request she filed for millions of tax dollars that the supposed beneficiary said contained a lie, and also about documents she notarized for her family’s university that at least one person said was false.
All these stories should’ve prompted investigations. Yet the response from law enforcement and legislative leadership has been deafening silence.
Antone’s residency
The story about Antone featured stellar shoe-leather reporting by students in the University of Florida’s Fresh Take Florida program who scoured campaign filings, financial reports and property listings to conclude the Orlando Democrat “doesn’t always report living in [his] required district.”
Democrat lawmaker Antone doesn’t always report living in required district, records show
Some of the details were bonkers. Chief among them: One place Antone listed as his residency suggested he was living with his 72-year-old legislative aide. A neighbor told the investigative reporter she had never seen a man at the apartment. And the aide said she wasn’t allowed to answer questions.
Fresh Take also found that “Antone continued, as recently as two months ago, to receive mail at his address outside the House district he represents.” After reporters confronted Antone with the facts they’d uncovered, they reported that “Antone changed his residential address the following day.”
This comes on the heels of another campaign Antone ran in 2020 — for the Orange County school board — when the Orlando Sentinel and one of his campaign opponents also questioned whether he was living where he claimed.
After a lawsuit was filed and the Sentinel noted discrepancies in his story, Antone dropped out of the race.
In Florida, candidates can run in the wrong districts. No one’s in charge of checking | Commentary
Here’s the rub: It shouldn’t be up to journalists or political opponents to ensure that lawmakers are following the law.
Theoretically, House leaders can enforce these issues. But they rarely do — perhaps because so many of their pals are involved in similar controversies. At one point in time, Florida Today said it was having trouble confirming that three different GOP legislators from Brevard County were living in their districts.
All the vested interests seemed happy to look the other way.
Amesty messes
Amesty, the Republican who represents the Orlando House district that includes Disney World, has been featured in numerous brow-raising reports.
One involved a $3 million funding request Amesty submitted, supposedly for a flooding project to benefit the tiny South Florida town of Key Biscayne. The request hadn’t been vetted by any independent experts nor deemed necessary by any state department, according to the request. Also, the money wasn’t slated to go to respected flooding experts, but rather a small chamber of commerce in South Florida that had endorsed Amesty’s campaign for office.
The most damning detail, though, was that the only supposed justification for spending this $3 million was a “letter of support from the village manager of the Village of Key Biscayne” — a letter that did not exist.
The city manager said he never wrote it. The city said it never asked for the money. And the mayor and council were so irritated by the falsehood, they fired their lobbyist over the ordeal.
South Florida city fires lobbyist over Orlando Rep. Amesty’s request for $3 million | Commentary
But House Speaker Paul Renner never answered a single question about whether anyone would be held accountable — even after Amesty herself noted that part of her request was filled out (by someone else, she said) “under penalty of perjury.”
More recently, the Sentinel penned an exposé about questionable behavior at a small, private university that Amesty’s family owns. The headline alone should have prompted an investigation: “Rep. Carolina Amesty notarized document that teacher says he never signed.”
Rep. Carolina Amesty notarized document that teacher says he never signed
And that was just the start of a story chock full of troubling details, including four other professors who said they never worked for the university that listed their names on an application for a state license.
Where’s the accountability?
It’s possible that everything Amesty and Antone have done is on the up-and-up — that they are paragons of virtuous public service. But the public deserves answers.
State Attorney Andrew Bain’s office said it couldn’t confirm or deny whether any investigations are ongoing. And House Speaker Renner has refused to answer questions.
That’s not good enough. This state needs to go after political corruption and white-collar offenses with the same zeal it does petty crimes, perhaps with a unit in each state attorney’s office dedicated exclusively to that.
Because someone other than Florida journalists should be demanding answers.
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
