Headline Surfer photos / New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer and City Manager Pam Brangaccio continue operating away from the glare of the press as much as possible, even with ethics violations and other issues looming.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- When I was a reporter for the Journal News, a large metro daily in West Nyack, NY, one of my first reporting beats until I was freed to cover police and courts, my true love, was covering the sprawling town of Haverstraw.
It was run by Supervisor Philip J. Rotella, who stood barely 5 feet tall and was well into his 90s, but clearly in charge of municipal operations, even making morning runs to the "sanitary landfill" in his SUV to collect dump receipts.
One such ride with him when I first started out in 1989, was like a trip to Hell in back, not only because he drove like a raving lunatic, but because of his utter disdain of the news media. He was Boss Hogg, straight out of the Dukes of Hazard, except that unlike the dim-witted fictional TV show character, he was sharp as a whip.
The fire-breathing dragon ruled Haverstraw with an iron fist and was among the longest serving elected supervisors in the state of New York. And even after he failed to qualify for an election one term, he didn't fret about it. He became a write-in candidate and won by a landslide.
One of Rotella's most telling one-liners in dealing with the press and inquiries that he perceived as challenging to his authority was "No news is good news." Another was an edict he sometimes made all too clear, as he had trouble hearing himself speak and would yell without realizing, to his handlers with a snot-nosed 27-year-old reporter like myself picking up: "Tell him nothing! Nothing!"
After I left New York for Florida, the Haverstraw supervisor died, the attorney who did his handy work went to prison on fraud charges and his landfill wasn't so sanitary, after all, and was shut down.
Fast forward nearly a quarter-century later, and with 27 years in the reporting business, I see an eerily-similar situation in New Smyrna Beach with this city's disdain of real news coverage and little, if any, transparency with the public.
In my career, I learned two things from the likes of Philip J. Rotella and others: The first is that things are not always as they appear. The second is that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
No two statements more clearly define the machinations of New Smyrna Beach government: a two-headed fire-breathing dragon fueled by CRA monopoly money and a municipal kingdom where taking care of your friends has become all too commonplace.
One of Adam Barringer's very first actions as the newly-elected mayor was jumping into the Intracoastal near the Brannon Center, along with two other men to rescue an elderly woman who accidentally drove her car into it.
One of Brangaccio's first acts as city manager was complaining she felt like she was being treated like a "little girl" because the commissioners balked at her $132,500 salary, settling in instead at $115,000.
Then they melded as one -- a partnership where one builds on a fat pay check by taking care of the narcissistic pretty boy face in the empty suit that spews mostly smoke.
From there, it was just a matter of time before her current $125,000 allotment, $7,250 short of her goal and an ever-fattening retirement.
Barringer and company gave themselves an extra year in office in 2009, by going to even-year elections. And then he did what most politicians do once they get elected -- the opposite of what they campaigned as loathing -- selling out!
I was prepared to write an open letter today asking Barringer and Brangaccio to "do the right thing" and resign their respective positions in the wake of increasing scandal.
But as the day wore on and I held out hope that they might at least come out of their municipal lair and and answer basic questions as to the newest scandal in the police department that was released after those of business Friday in a scant press release about a thousands bucks or so stolen from the evidence locker, it dawned on me.
Adam Barringer and Pam Brangaccio could care less what I think is best for the city. Certainly, waving a white flag is not in their DNA. After all, who am I to question the two headed-dragon with its coat of arms emblazoned with CRA dollar signs.
Remember, it was Brangaccio who just a week ago looked a citizen in the eye without hesitation after that person and many of the 500 attending an annexation meeting at the Brannon Center questioned why the city was so eager to bring them aboard: The answer was so obvious. They're running out of cash.
In a show of true arrogance, Brangaccio didn't blink an eye, letting this unincorporated resident and the countless others around her know in no uncertain terms they were mere outsiders on her turf as she proclaimed: "Ma'm you're in my home -- this is the Brannon Center -- New Smyrna Beach."
Within minutes, the citizens walked out en masse.
That Barringer and Brangaccio each have two pending cases alleging misconduct before the Florida Commission on Ethics, is a testament to this two-headed fire-breathing dragon. And while the ethics complaints are mere allegations, the supporting documents and evidence are credible enough that the state agency informed both the investigations were moving forward.
In order to convince Barringer and Brangaccio that stepping down would end the insider games, it hit me like a ton of bricks: Neither has shown one iota of contriteness or accepted any responsibility for their actions, real or perceived. There have been no press conferences, rational explanations for possible honest shortcomings -- just a quick-hit press release a few months back, bashing citizen watchdog Bob Tolley for filing the ethics complaints in the first place.
Nothing has changed. Even after a 32-year-old Port Orange woman was killed in a horrible crash on the South Causeway Bridge (her surviving husband told the News-Journal they had been drinking at the CRA-funded Cinco De Mayo street party on Flagler), there were no condolences or sympathies from the mayor, the city manager or any of the elected officials, for that matter.
And the while crash remains under investigation, it was a stark reminder of the numerous stories and videos this internet newspaper has chronicled regarding lax police enforcement of the city's open container law or reigning in patrons hopping from one bar to the next, beer bottle or plastic cup in hand, that we foreshadowed was inevitable.
Like Port Orange's water rate scandal that cost the city millions in lost revenues, a new city manager there and the payouts to those employees who cashed in and left that mess for others to clean up, is a strong example showing New Smyrna Smyrna Beach really is on the same path to others cleaning up the messes left behind.
Let's be real about this: We have overpaid 6-figure administrators and attorneys who provide cover for part-time elected officials who suddenly recognize the importance of budgets come re-election, but otherwise take care of themselves and their friends while providing that oh so lucrative CRA advertising drug to print media.
As we wind through the five years of the two-headed fire-breathing dragon, the theme of absolute power corrupting absolutely is so pronounced.
Brangaccio was a master at working off surpluses to keep taxes down while raises began shooting up, as far back as 2009. Mackay's former campaign manager, Gerard Pendergast, an architect, suddenly became the "official" architect of the CRA without bidding.
Two years ago, Mackay and her artisans with "The Hub on Canal" got a $50,000 CRA rent subsidy, personally approved approved by Barringer and the commission. And even as the CRA was still intact, the City Commission, acted as a "de facto" CRA, getting Sally her rent.
Mackay was no longer talking about running for a second term, her former campaign manager was getting the exclusives on CRA architectural reviews. Earlier this year, Mackay's Hub got another $50,000 in rent subsidies, even after stating publicly the artisans were thriving.
The CRA was eventually disbanded in favor of the mayor and commission serving as the CRA, but not before Barringer got a key appointment on the CRA, that of young friend Chad Schilsky, an owner of That's Amore.
Then Schilsky subsequently applied for grant, with Barringer Construction named as a contractor. Though Schilsky and Barringer abstained on their respective commissions, the whole thing unraveled when it was discovered it was illegal -- a discovery of the law not by $215,000 City Attorney Frank Gummey, but by longtime CRA consulting attorney Marc Hall.
Schilsky was forced to sign a letter he said he didn't even write when he was summoned to Brangaccio's office and ended up paying Barringer Construction of his own pocket. Barringer was especially resentful of this internet newspaper for reporting the news, at one point, snidely saying of this reporter: "He's just a blogger."
He was kind of right. After all, we did win a first-place award in the 2012 Florida Press awards, though we also won for public safety reporting, general news reporting and best online presence with use of social media.
Barringer would then provide for another friend, one-time part-time county PR writer cast-off Holly Smith, who was awarded $60,000 annually as a public relations consultant for the CRA, putting our releases for the so-called, "NSB Waterfront Loop," a fancy synonym for CRA district.
And Holly Smith went right to work, charging the CRA for work she did on the weekly Observer newspaper owned by Michele and Robert Lott, who left New Smyrna Beach in 2011, only to fold and stave off creditors in bankruptcy. To date, Smith's been paid $120,000 and is now a permanent city staffer.
And friends of city hall were taken care of, too. There's Cindy Jones, owner of Southern Trends, herself the recipient of two $10,000 CRA grants for her store -- upstairs and downstairs.
She and Debbie Petersen, another Canal Street merchant and spouse of attorney Sid Petersen, got their $27,000 CRA-funded outdoor artificial Christmas tree, which then-Mayor Sally Mackay justified in 2009, as something that would last 10 years -- never mind that to date -- it has cost more than $70,000 overall for wiring, lights, set-up, etc.
Tack on another $10,000 each subsequent Christmas for Jones' "Christmas on Canal," with caroling and Holly Smith escorting Santa as the highlights with Mayor Barringer yucking it up with Petersen and Jones for the tree lighting.
With no challenger in sight for Barringer riding the the CRA spending parade that provided more than a million bucks for alcohol-fueled street parties on Flagler Avenue where the cops allowed public drinking, with another city hall pet, Adelle Aletti, and her Flagler Avenue Merchants Hospitality Group getting a whopping quarter-of-a million bucks in five years to promote six festivals annually, all catering to the bars.
Barringer last year took care of boyhood friend Dave Fernandez, securing with the approval of the commissioners, a $60,000 in a CRA grant for his Trader's bar on Flagler Avenue.
The mayor then took care of another friend, securing the appointment of Steve Sather to a vacant seat on the planning and zoning board, with full knowledge that Sather pleaded no contest 20 years ago in circuit court to trying to purchase a large quantity of cocaine from an undercover cop.
Though adjudication of guilt was withheld under then-more lenient sentencing guidelines, Sather was placed on home confinement and then a lengthy probation.
Then things got really ugly for Barringer in a hurry as the city, through Holly Smith pumped out an endless stream of press releases and ribbon cutting photos promoting the CRA successes -- primarily streetscapes and waterfront docking.
But outside of the CRA monopoly money that was taking care of the city's movers and shakers, with new bars popping throughout the CRA district, including Canal, Barringer and Brangaccio became more distant to longtime city commission attendees like Bob Rees and angered residents like Deb Dugas who wanted relief regarding the noise, trash and fights on Flagler that come with the partying.
Then the mayor, who had no opponent as he was sworn in for his second term, found himself embroiled in not one, but two controversies that would lead two subsequent complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
First, the city, led by Brangaccio, held a "private party" at the mayor's So Napa Grille wine-bar restaurant for retired City Commissioner Jim Hathaway who lost the November election race for County County to Deb Denys. Barringer, who has described himself as a conservative Republican openly endorsed the Democrat Hathaway over fellow republican Denys in the race, angering his own party.
So here was the mayor holding court in his own restaurant for the sullen Hathaway and 45 others at 30 bucks a piece with the tab picked up on a city credit card. Brangaccio joined Barringer in the ethics complaints that followed.
Headline Surfer showed up to get photos unaware of the financial arrangements until Commissioner Judy Reiker's husband, Guy Mariande, unleashed a tongue-lashing that this was a private invitation-only party and the press was not welcomed. He further stated this reporter's presence was "making everyone here feel uncomfortable."
Headline Surfer left after snapping a few pictures of Hathaway and spoke briefly with Tolley to see what he knew of this. The next day, Tolley filed a public records request demanding the funding source, learning a city credit credit card had been used just like at a public reception earlier at the Babe James Center for Lynne Plaskett that featured finger foods and snacks.
Among the guests for the Hathaway sit-down dinner were the Petersens, Sid and Debbie -- who employ Hathaway's wife in his law firm on Canal.
Like Brangaccio's cold, calculating response to the annexation residents that dared challenge her authority described earlier in this write-up, the ultimate showing of Mayor Adam Barringer's true colors was when he sat atop a shiny red fire engine -- a big smile as he waved like a conquering king to the peasants below that lined the sidewalks of Canal for the 2012 Christmas Parade.
These adoring citizens were unaware that some 20 minutes earlier, NSB cop and war hero Ralph Hunnefeld -- who saw combat in Iraq and witnessed the blood spilled of his fallen soldiers in arms -- endured the phony handshake of the mighty mayor, angry he wasn't allowed to cut barricaded side street, said: "Thanks for being a pr-ck!"
In the long run, the two-headed fire-breathing dragon will eventually be slain by the knight in shining armor -- armed with a MacBook Pro. It's just a matter of time as the reporting always writes the final chapters.