I remember what a slime Jim Heekin was -- a year ago this month -- when he wouldn't give up a seat in the crowded New Smyrna Beach Library room for my wife, Sera, during a big public hearing on the merger "redo" between Adventist Health System and Bert Fish hospital, for who he was the legal representative.
I sat on the floor taking notes and Sera stood operating our video camera. After the first 90 minutes there was a 10-minute break and Heekin with his fancy suit, shiny shoes and finely-stitched socks got up from his chair and walked off.
I saw this as a great opportunity for my dear wife, a lady, to finally have a seat.
Within a few minutes -- probably after a bathroom run -- Heekin returned and demanded the seat. His seat! "I don't see your name on it," I responded.
Before I could say another word, Sera, told me quietly, but sternly, "He's not worth it."
And how prophetic those words turned out to be. The Southeast Volusia Hospital Board taxing district, which operates publicly-funded Bert Fish Medical Center, is suing Heekin and his law firm for $22.5 million, after his admission in court that he wrongly advised the Bert Fish board.
It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. I say "guy" because he's no gentleman. Had we been alone, I would have told him to "go (you-know-what himself)" and kept the chair any way.
The taxpayers of New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill and a portion of Port Orange have really been slapped in the face by those wielding the most power and influence. The lawyers all got rich in the failed merger.
The chief executive officer of Bert Fish, Bob Williams, reportedly walked away with a million dollars, though I still haven't been able to get precise figures. Williams is another slime. I approached him at a board meeting after Circuit Judge Richard Graham ruled the merger unlawful on Feb. 24.
The chief executive officer of Bert Fish, Bob Williams, reportedly walked away with a million dollars, though I still haven't been able to get precise figures. Williams is another slime. I approached him at a board meeting after Circuit Judge Richard Graham ruled the merger unlawful on Feb. 24.
At that point, Williams was "advising" the taxing district on a non-paid basis for a few weeks while the unwinding process was taking place with the Adventists pulling out. "It's in the public record," he shot back at me, without making eye contact with me as I looked right at him, and in his usual arrogant way, added "Go look for it."
It's funny how, the judge didn't buy that so-called "do over" with Williams and Heekin releasing all of their documents and e-mails in a mishmash on the hospital website when McKinnon challenged the veracity of the meetings.
Heekin and the Adventist lawyers made out pretty good, too, garnering nearly $3.4 million in legal fees. The legal costs came full circle Tuesday when the plaintiffs in the suit, Jon Kaney Jr. and Noah McKinnon, were granted "slightly under $1 million," Bert Fish attorney Darryl Bloodworth told the Daytona Beach News-Journal in a story published today. He told the newspaper his board will be asked to approve the funding at its Sept. 29 meeting.
Twenty-one secret meetings in the course of 16 months. There is no doubt in the public record that Heekin and Williams led the administrative charge to make a deal in violation of Florida's Sunshine laws to fatten their own wallets.
And so it is the taxpayers of Southeast Volusia who will pay the price while the likes of Heekin and Williams ride off into the sunset as even fatter cats, but still slime, nonetheless.