Ethics blackout on complaints favors politicians like NSB City Manager P. Brangaccio
Headline Surfer image / With her seating positioned on the dais in the New Smyrna Beach City Commission chambers, City Manager Pamela Brangaccio, shown here next to Asst. City Manager Khalid Resheidat, is often seen slouching in her seat during meetings when the 24/7 internet newspaper's video video cmera is trained on her. It's even easier for City Attorney Frank Gummey to hide, by xsimply pushing his seat back where he's shielded by the city manager unless the video camera moves to the other side of the room.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Make no mistake about it: Exemptions in Florida's Government in the Sunshine are purposeful in protecting the government and its agents, ands at the expense of the citizens of the Sunshine State.
I have it on good authority that additional complaints have been lodged against the City of New Smyrna Beach and at least two of its key administrators -- City Manager Pamela Brangaccio and City Attorney Frank Gummey.
The problem is the person who filed is reluctant to go on the record for fear of reprisal in the form of a lawsuit by Gummey, who the source says has an unlimited taxpayer-supported checkbook to strike back.
I called the Florida Commission on Ethics and was told by the person who answered the phone she could neither confirm not deny these or any other names I might have because such information is exempt from Florida's public records statutes. She said it's not until the commission has ruled on a case that the complaint and the information contain there-in become public record.
How can this be. When a party or parties are sued in court, their names are public record,. When a person is accused in a court of law of a crime, their name is public record. So why are Florida's public officials -- those in municipal, county and state governments -- exempt when it comes to ethics complaints being filed?
This much I do know about City Manager Pamela Brangaccio. She is the subject of at least one complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
I know this because the complainant -- citizen watchdog Bob Tolley, known legally as Lewis Robert Tolley, forwarded copies of his complaint to Headline Surfer and to the Daytona Beach News-Journal;. And both media outlets have written stories as a result.
Thanks to Tolley's complaint being shared with the media, the public learned what the municipal government in New Smyrna Beach wanted to keep under lock and key.
The complaint dealt with Brangaccio authorizing the use of a city credit card to feed 46 people at a private party last November at SoNapa Grille in a private retirement party for former City Commissioner Jim Hathaway.
SoNapa Grille is the wine-bar restaurant owned by New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, who campaigned in 2009 for the top elected post in the non-partisan race, identifying himself as a "conservative Republican" even though he has openly supported Democrat Frank Bruno, the former county chair, who lost the 2012 dist. 8 state senate race to Republican Dorothy Hukill.
Barringer had openly endorsed Hathaway, a registered Democrat, in the non-partisan race for the dist 3 seat against Republican Deb Denys, also of New Smyrna Beach in the 2012 race. Denys won easily despite her fellow Republican colleague's support for her Democratic opponent.
Brangaccio is a crafty and sneaky administrator whose record of dealing with troublesome issues is clearly defined as being anything, but transparent.