Progress on SBA investigation

FPC reminds me about a subject I've been thinking about for a while:

In Wednesday’s NY Times, this article: New Jersey Sues Over Its Lehman Losses - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com served as a reminder of how Florida got ripped off in the same way. Has Florida sued? Not mentioned in the article, though California was cited as having sued before
New Jersey.

Where are we? Why no suit?

New Jersey is out $180 million thanks to the collapse of Lehman. Florida also lost many millions, though a light search doesn’t reveal how much. There is an interesting similarity between Florida and New Jersey, in that both states had a board of officials supposedly overseeing the operation of the fund — like the money market funds we ordinary citizens have been forced to use by our friendly banks — where revenue was parked until needed by local governments to pay their staff and other obligations. In Florida it’s the State Board of Administration.

The Bond Buyer reports that the wheels are actually starting to turn in the investigation by the SEC of the State Board of Administration (I can't copy and paste the text, so here is a snap):
The SEC letter is here. As FCP notes, there seemed to have been connections between Jeb Bush and Lehman Bros.

Cheap dates

The Herald has a story about lobbyist dollars, and points out something I didn't know:

Florida law bans legislators from accepting more than $500 from each donor who contributes to their individual campaign accounts.

But there is no limit on the amount of cash that lawmakers can collect from all manner of special interests in separate fundraising committees that the lawmakers create to advance broadly defined public purposes, such as getting one another reelected.

So who are the biggest givers?

The Hospital Corporation of America, a major hospital chain seeking to change the way more than $1 billion in hospital money is awarded each year, donated the most money to the committees: $269,500 in the past two years. HCA also donated an additional $865,000 to other committees and to individual lawmaker campaigns in the same two-year period.

U.S. Sugar Corp. of Clewiston, which has hired 41 lobbyists in seeking to sell much of its land to the state, is next with $226,260. It donated an additional $365,000 to lawmakers and other political groups this election cycle.

AT&T, which is seeking favorable phone legislation this year, was the No. 3 contributor with $151,500.

Meanwhile, one in ten floridians uses food stamps.

PB County Commission Question

The Palm Beach Post seems to be intimating that Addie Greene is resigning before she is removed from office by criminal investigators. While this resignation threat (promise?) seems to have emboldened her to take a stand on any successors, I'd like to know if Gov. Crist is really moved by these demands.

Question: Is Addie Greene in a position to call any shots?

Precourt Conflict of Interest

Naked Politics opens up on state Rep. Steve Precourt (R-Orlando)

Precourt used the piece to make an ardent pitch for the CSX commuter rail project in Florida. "Providing transportation alternatives to the entire state is vital to our economy and the health of our communities," he wrote.

But what the Orlando Republican did not reveal is that the engineering firm that bears his family name has received $1.7-million from the state to do survey and mapping work for the controversial CSX project in Central Florida. Nor did Precourt disclose his ties when he voted for the deal last session, as some other lawmakers have when their public and private interests appeared to overlap.

NP notes that Precourt says he sold his stake, although "he occasionally assists Dyer, Riddle, Mills and Precourt on "miscellaneous stuff for continuity sake, given my 20 years with the firm" and that he has a small contract that pays him for his time. " Where, exactly, is the line between crony capitalism and public corruption?

Corruption Investigation in PBC

via PBP
This is a bit of a shock to the system, all members of the Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners have been asked to appear before a state grand jury. I don't have much to say about this other than wondering about if this will have any effect on the County's infrastructure applications and what the effects would be on the County's bond rating.