Orlando mayor, judge surrender in election probe

BY MIKE SCHNEIDER

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS   11 March 2005

ORLANDO Mayor Buddy Dyer, his campaign manager, a Circuit Court judge and a campaign consultant to both officials surrendered Friday on a felony charge that they paid for the collection absentee ballots.

Dyer, Judge Alan Apte, Dyer's campaign manager Patti Sharp and Ezzie Thomas, a consultant to Dyer and Apte, are charged with violating a state law enacted after Miami's 1998 mayoral election was thrown out because of fraud committed in the collection of absentee ballots.

Dyer, Apte and Sharp all declined comment to reporters as they left the Orange County Jail after being booked on one count of providing pecuniary gain for absentee ballot possession or collection. That's a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Dean Mosley, Thomas' attorney, said that just because his client was indicted doesn't necessarily mean that he will be prosecuted. He had no further comment.

The grand jury had been investigating whether absentee ballots were illegally collected by a worker for Dyer's and Apte's campaigns before last year's election. A fourth indictment remains sealed until the person surrenders. Orange County State Attorney Brad King declined comment Friday, an aide said.

Under Florida law, public officials charged with a felony can be suspended by the governor until their case is decided and they are removed if convicted. Gov. Jeb Bush is reviewing the charges against Dyer and Apte, but has not made a decision, spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.

The grand jury looked into allegations that Thomas illegally gathered absentee ballots in predominantly black neighborhoods.

Thomas was hired by Dyer's campaigns for Florida Attorney General and Orlando mayor to perform get-out-the-vote activities. Thomas also has worked for some of central Florida's most prominent politicians, including now-U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, when he was a local county official, and Secretary of State Glenda Hood, when she was mayor.

Dyer has said that when he signed checks and approved invoices, worth about $10,000, for Thomas during his campaign. But the documents did not say what Thomas was being paid to do and Dyer has said he didn't know, either.

Earlier this year, Dyer testified in a separate civil lawsuit deposition that he was not involved in field work with his campaign.

The civil lawsuit was brought by the runner-up in the mayoral race, Ken Mulvaney, who sued to have the election thrown out. Dyer won re-election by nearly 5,000 votes but cleared the threshold that triggers a runoff by only 234.

"I was mayor. I spent most of my time being mayor," Dyer said in the deposition. "I spent very little time actually on the campaign."