“Crime probe urged - 3 fired after 'conspiracy'?” |
| Crime probe urged - 3 fired after 'conspiracy'? Posted: 20 Sep 2010 03:29 PM PDT Crime probe urged - 3 fired after 'conspiracy'?
The attorney for three former county administrators has called for an investigation to determine if their firings were part of the fallout of a "criminal conspiracy" to affect local elections. Three county department heads - Building Maintenance supervisor Daniel Salmon, Landfill/Solid Waste director Lee Pickett and Road and Bridge supervisor Butch Hartman - were fired Aug. 6 after becoming embroiled in a scandal related to their behavior at a May conference in Fort Lauderdale. A fourth scandal figure, Code Enforcement supervisor Brenda Rothwell, resigned Aug. 5. The four were captured on video, obtained by a private investigator, engaging in frivolity. In a letter Monday to Nassau County Commission Chair Mike Boyle, attorney John Cascone questioned the motives of the anonymous county employees who hired the private investigator. "First and foremost, it is my belief that whoever was behind the release of the DVD depicting alleged improper behavior did so with an intent to have an impact on the election cycle just past," he wrote. "... I do not purport to be an expert on election law, but I am of the firm belief that an investigation needs to be sought for the purpose of determining who was involved and whether or not a criminal conspiracy was engaged in to affect the election." Cascone questioned the timing of the video's release - less than a month before the Aug. 24 primary election - and also intimated that there might have been an element of personal vendetta against the fired employees in the release. "There are too many 'coincidences' that impacted (the fired employees) that seemed to have been planned out for their ultimate impact," he said. Boyle, however, saw no laws broken in the video's release. "I think if (Cascone) believes there was a violation of law involving election, he has a duty to bring it forward and ask the appropriate officials to conduct that investigation," he said Thursday. "If (there was a crime), his clients are the ones who've been wronged by it and they're the ones who should initiate the investigation, in my mind." Boyle was defeated in the Aug. 24 Republican primary election by Steve Kelley. He said prior to the election that he thought the timing of the video's release was suspicious and possibly related to the pending vote. Cascone also criticized the county's appeals process. Hartman, Pickett and Salmon all appealed their job terminations, but they had to appeal to County Manager Ted Selby, the official who made the decision to fire them in the first place. Selby denied their appeals Sept. 6, saying he had "lost confidence" in their ability to run their departments. "... A process where a person dismisses someone and is the only course of appeal is somewhat futile and, to my criminal defense mindset, abusive of due process," Cascone wrote. According to Boyle, however, it was an unfortunate fact of life that the fired administrators had already reported directly to Selby, and thus had no higher authority to appeal to. "To be honest, the charge or accusation of 'lack of confidence' is almost a death knell," he said. "Confidence is a perception, and once your boss says he no longer has any confidence in you, there's really no one who can come along and say, 'Well, you should have.' "I think Mr. Selby was faced with a very difficult set of choices and I respect him for taking decisive action," he added. Boyle also noted that beyond a general request for an investigation into the timing of the DVD release, Cascone made no further legal demands for his clients. "There doesn't appear to be any specific action required or requested, and none that I can figure would be appropriate," he said. Story created Sep 20, 2010 - 08:22:25 PDT. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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