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I, Gabe Hillel Kaimowitz, investigative reporter since 1958,

March 19, 2015


an attorney in good standing in New York since 1969, in Michigan, since 71
(now emeritus) and in federal courts in six of the 12 circuits,
resident of Florida since 1985 (corrupt Orlando until 1992, then Gainesville)
accuse Bar members and the Office of the Attorney General in Florida,
who have been aided by Florida Blue Key (FBK) and
certain state historians, and by public officials in Gainesville,
and by Gainesville Sun publishers, and area network TV outlets,
who are covering up unlawful, and unethical actions
by presenting misleading facts, legal fictions, and key omissions,
the pervasive racial segregation in that North Central Florida community,
as well as the abuse of public power in this University City,
by the Office of the City Attorney, in Gainesville, and several if not
most judges in Alachua County, Eighth Judicial Circuit, as well as
Clerks of the Court for Alachua County, the First District Court of
Appeal, and the Florida Supreme Court.

Two provisions of the modern Florida Constitution of the Bill of Rights have been
trashed along the wayArticle I, Section 21 concerning the meaningful right of
access to the courts, and Article I, Section 24, concerning the Sunshine Law
guarantees of access to public records and assurance of open meetings.
The primary purpose of those actions is to create the false impression that Florida
and its flagship University, especially its Levin School of Law, and the UF Shands
Medical Complex, and the primary city where they are located are progressive
institutions which avoided the mistakes exposed by the Civil Rights Movement in
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, in the 1960s.
This report is made now, first, because the City of Gainesville especially its Mayor
Ed Braddy has made so many visible mistakes since 2013, to cover up a known
boondogglea 30-year contract for biomass fuel for electric production by
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)and second because of the anticipated rape
of the Florida Public Records Act by the Florida Bar Board of Governors.

Misuse of Public Records Laws


On June 6, 1971, the New York Times lauded Florida basking in Sunshine
LawOfficials accepting ban on secrecy in public affairs. Since then, State
leaders have worked diligently to restore that secrecy to the extent necessary to
cover up serious wrongdoing by prominent officials. This year, the Florida Bar
Board of Governors is expected to put the final nail in the coffin of meaningful
disclosures. The Board is endorsing the right of public attorneys to keep records of
public governments and officials confidential under the client privilege doctrine,
work product rule and anything else which would allow them to keep public
meetings closed, and records confidential. The public? Hey. Let them eat cake.
But what of three organizations which seem to have done so much in Florida
to keep public business in the open? That would be the Office of Open
Government, in the Florida Attorney Generals Office; the First Amendment
Foundation, and the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University
of Florida. Whenever the Sunshine Laws seem threatened, the Office of Open
Government steps in to explain how complicated they are, and what might be done
to get public records being withheld or access to public meetings. The First
Amendment Foundation laments the increasing number of exemptions and how
difficult it is for the public other than media to view records, in light of the
increasing cost demands to produce them.
The Brechner Center compiles examples of numerous instances of
challenges to public official withholding of information. The most recent listing
showed reckless disregard of spelling and grammatical errors. In brief, the three
have done little or nothing to protect public access. Why?
Each has been headed by a female Florida Bar member for most of the last
20 years. Before the womens revolution hit the Sunshine State, the three women
might have been known as Harkness Angels, Mr. John F. Harkness being the
executive director of the Florida Bar since 1983.
2

The breakthrough for the revelations of the abuse of the Florida Public
Records Act AND constitutional provision came this week of March 2015, as a
result of what was said and what was not in an excellent overview which
apparently originated in the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. The key
revelation resulted from a quoted media attorney--the performance of Floridas
Open Government office (Pat Gleason) had been unsatisfactory in a newspapers
attempt to get information from a public agency.
Pat Gleason, FSU Law, admitted to practice law in 1976, allegedly has been
assisting Florida attorney generals since Robert Butterworth, in 1995 to comply
with public records and open meetings provisions. The invariably ignored Florida
constitutional provision went into effect in 1993. She left the office briefly but
returned under former Gov. Chain Gang Charlie Crist (R, I, D-FL).
Barbara A. Petersen is president of Floridas First Amendment Foundation.
Before taking that position in 1995, Petersen was staff attorney for the Joint
Committee on Information Technology Resources of the Florida Legislature. She
worked exclusively on public records legislation and issues.
Chance earned her M.A. with high honors and distinction in Journalism and
Communications in 1985 from the University of Florida where she also earned her
B.S. with high honors in 1975. She was a teaching fellow at the UFs College of
Law and a research assistant with the Center for Governmental Responsibility at
the College of Law. She has directed the Brechner Center since 1999.
Leading the way to keep local records from the public, and to keep the
public away from certain sensitive meetings has been former Gainesville City
Attorney Marion Radson (1981-85 assistant, 1985-2012 City Attorney, since 2012,
consultant who has double dipped in the DROP program for retired officials.)
Too impatient to wait for the Florida Courts, Legislature or even the Bar to
act, Radson, starting in April 2009, and May 6, 2010, took control of the system
used by Gainesville, at least since 1993 to allow the public access to most records.
He first persuaded the City Commission to limit the power of the City Clerk to
respond to every request for access, and then got those elected officials without
discussion to adopt a policy making it virtually impossible to know who held what
records. If a member of the public figured that out, he or she might be charged as
much as $39,000+ just for the City to begin a search for the requested information.
3

Hillel Asks:
What are the City Attorney/GRU-City Attorney/Mayor Trying to Hide?
In 2006, Mike Kurtz, former GRU Director and one of six City Charter
Officers, resigned under pressure. A majority of the City Commission granted him
benefits far beyond the usual severance package. Kurtz was a proponent of a new
coal plant for production of electricity. He was opposed by environmentalists.
Commissioner Ed Braddy, a Kurtz supporter, was absent from the meeting.
Former Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, beloved by the left including the Nation
magazine, was considered a hero. If not coal, what? If additional fuel source
were not needed immediately, when? By March 2008, answers began to take
shape. The Orrick law firm of San Francisco, New York, and other major cities
accepted on its terms the offer of the GRU attorney--an assistant City attorney--to
take on representation of the City, of GRU, in unspecified matters, in addition to its
long-standing work on bond issues for the utility.
An outsider, Robert Hunzinger, became GRU director and charter officer (a
term he never understood) about the same time. By 2008-09, the City agreed to a
30-year contract with a private corporation to supply biomass as a fuel source to
power electricity over that period. The Gainesville public had reason to believe
there was an opt-out clause, but in a single letter, the potential buyer informed
GRUs Ed Regan that was unacceptable. The Commission approved of the
contract. The Office of the City Attorney redacted so much of the document that
the public could make no sense of it.
Approval of the arrangement was needed from the Florida Public Service
Commission (PSC). In 2010, Mayor Hanrahan assured that body that the
Gainesville City Commission, sitting as the board of directors for GRU, had
approved the agreement. No such board in fact seems to exist.
4

What About Other Lawyers Who Know of City/GRU wrongdoing?

The PSC gave Gainesville the go-ahead.


The 3-2 majority
included Nathan Skop, a Florida Bar member. Skop in Gainesville would become
one of the leading spokespeople opposed to the 30-year contract. In Gainesville
another leading opponent has been Jim Konish. He too is a Florida Bar member
who generally remembers to compliment the work of the Office of the City
Attorney, no matter what problems he may have with the contract or City
governance.
Another Florida Bar member, Ray Washington, also became a leading
opponent, and actually briefly represented a group led by citizen Jo Beatty to sue
the City/GRU and the private contract holder now known as Gainesville
Renewable Energy Center. Mr. Washington graciously turned representation over
to Marcy LaHart, a noted animal rights lawyer. Ms. Hart has shown little interest
in the issue either before or after her representation.
Mr. Washington has a unique background. He can trace ancestors back for
several generations, to Florida and elsewhere in the deep south, perhaps even to
Reconstruction Days. By 1981, his journalism career was flourishing with a
popular Florida Cracker column. His respectful interview of notorious
apparently murderous racial segregationist Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall is
available to this day.
Later with the Gainesville Sun, Mr. Washington did from time to time write
articles which might be taken as gibes of local Florida lawyers like former Judge
Larry Gibbs Turner. Mr. Washington noted how Mr. Turner and others, including
John Jopling, of the Dell Graham firm, and Stephen N. Bernstein, an alleged sex
offender, had been raking in high legal fees to defend University of Florida from
School of Medicine federal charges of Medicare and/or Medicaid fraud.
When Mr. Washington did that expose he was had been a member of the
Florida Bar for five years, after being graduated from the University of Florida
School of Law. In brief, Mr. Washington more than anyone else knows where the
evidence of wrongdoing considered here is buried. In 1999, Mr. Washington had
interviewed me, and began his account with me scurrying around like perhaps a
possum. I shared with him the wrongdoing I knew was occurring between the
County and City Equal Opportunity Offices, but he proved to be of little help.
5

So what did happen starting in 2013


to confirm wrongdoing in Gainesville?
Christopher Curry on January 15, 2013, reported: City paid law firm close to $1 million

on biomass-related fees
www.gatorsports.com/article/20130115/ARTICLES/130119768
Jan 15, 2013 - By Christopher Curry ... GRU paid $924,021 to the law firm Orrick,
Herrington & Sutcliffe for helping with matters involving the biomass power ...
Inspired by Ray Washingtons prodding, I followed up on that report, with public
record requests to show that Orrick was continuing at a pace to equal those charges in
2013. What is more, I found that the Office of the City Attorney was adding other out-ofstate law firms to defend GRU and the City from?
Under Marion Radson, the City for years had paid out hundreds of thousands of
dollars to out-of-town law firms to defend Gainesville against civil rights and other
actions. In one year alone, he was asked to account for $626,000 to a single Miami
law firm for such defense. Mr. Radson often argued that the sums were covered by the
self-insurance program administered by the Citys Risk Management program. Again,
the Sun confounded that report with one story which stated that the City paid as much
as $9 million to maintain its Risk Management layouts to out-of state attorneys.
The out-of-town law firms invariably were white. The only local exception was
the Dell Graham P.A. law firm which originated in 1876, as Reconstruction was coming
to an end. Sam T. Dell was Gainesville City Attorney from 1939-64? By 1999, Dell
Grahams senior partner John Jopling and Mr. Radson worked together not only in law
but in religious practice as well, at the Trinity United Episcopal Church of Gainesville.
Such connections between legal practice and church work apparently are common in
Gainesville, especially when the lawyers and judges are United Methodist members.
The overlap also shows up between lawyers and judges. For instance, Mr.
Jopling in 2014 was proud to note in the local Business Report Monthly that a halfdozen judges in the Alachua County Circuit and County Courts had experience at Dell
Graham. Judge Donna Keim became the seventh when she was appointed to the local
Circuit Court bench this year. Some of the Dell Graham judges also are among the
nine or more who have been trained by the so-called Cotton Fletcher State Attorney
Office in Alachua County, either with Rod Smith, 1982-1992, or Bill Cervone, since then.
When you consider that now retiring U.S. Senior Judge Stephan Mickle is the only
black ever seen in the Circuit Court since the 8th Judicial Circuit was started in 1845, or
in Gainesville, in the U.S. Court for the Northern District of Florida, it becomes
understandable why the assertions made here fall on deaf legal ears locally.
6

Getting down to the Nitty Gritty


In June 2013, during a Citizens Comment session, I presented the data I had
compiled on what I regarded as the abuses under Marion Radson in the use of
outside counsel. Minority law firms were not used. The Dell Graham P.A. law
firm did have a black, a firm generation Panamanian American, 2005-2013,
perhaps the first in its nearly 140 year old history, but he did not seem to have
participated in the Dell Graham effort for the City.
The Office of the City Attorney itself had hired Evelyn Sapp in 1985,
before Marion Radson took office, but she left almost immediately. By 1986, Mr.
Radson did hire Ron Combs, Esq. Mr. Combs was the token black in the Office of
the City Attorney until 2013, when his arrest for being nude while trying to break
into what apparently was the residence of a prominent white woman, prompted
him to resign. A third black, Walter Matthews, III, did work for the Office of the
City Attorney, for less than a year in 2000-01, but he left for Colorado. Mr.
Matthews again was heard from in 2014, when he was disbarred in Florida.
Based on my allegations, in June 2013, Commissioner Todd Chase moved
and former Commissioner Susan Bottcher second a recommendation which was
unanimously approved to refer the Outside Counsel issue to the Citys two-man
audit, finance, and legislative committeeMayor Braddy and Commissioner
Randy Wells. The Committee was to report back by December 2013.
Mayor Brady and Commissioner Wells did consider the issue in September
2013. They decided unanimously not to report back to the Commission, but
instead to get a report about use of Outside Counsel form Marion Radsons protg
City Attorney Nicole Shalley. That report would be filed away. That issue never
surfaced again in the City legislative tracking calendar.
In November 2013, GRU Director Robert Hunzinger resigned. Longtime
employee Kathy Viehe stepped in to act as interim director. She immediately tried
to find out about additional outside counsel who could protect GRU from all the
slings and arrows of its detractors.
7

MailMeter Archive - Individuat Search and Retrieval Page I of 2


WlrrKroRn Iia t I \()l{ x, l\ Thx! Snt from my iPhone
On Dec 2, 2013, at 1'l:22 AM, "Michael L. Kurt', <mkurtz@colec{ c.com> wrote:
Mike
9

Michael L. Ku.t I Chief Operating Offcer


p: 904.527.5924 | t 904.527.59a4 | m:904.s24.6481 le: mkuriz@corectric.com
<mairto:mkurtz@corectdc.com>
From:-Brost, Mike J. - VP/GM Eleclric Systems Imaitto:BrosMJ@ea.coml
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 10:08 AM
To: Michael L. Kurtz
Subject: FW: cRU Biomass p.oject
From: Oykes, Melissa H. - Chief Financial Offcer
Sent: Tuesday, November. 19, 2013 5:49 pM
To: Dykes, Melissa H. - Chiet Financial Oficer; Cindy Laquidara
Subject: Fwd: GRU Biomass project
FYl. Any suggestions tor Mike and GRU?
Mike
Begin tolwarded message:
From: "Michael L. Kudz', <mkurtz@cotedric.com>
Date: November 19, 2013 at 2:20t20 pM EST
To: "Brost, tvlike J. - VP/GM Electric Syslems,. <BrosMJ@jea.com>
Subjed: GRU Bionass Proieci
From: to: Bccl Subjecl: Attachm6nts I
viehe, kathy e
michael l. kurtz
Re: GRU Biomass Project
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 9:10 AM
To: Brost, Mike_J._-_VP/GM Etectric Systemsi Cindy Laquida6
Subject: RE: GRU Biomass project
Sorry for ihe late reply l also had a good experience working with Alston & Bird. It
they're looking for someone Jaworski etse to call, Fulbdght & is atso very good.
From: Brosl, Mike J. - VP/GM Eteciric Systems
Monday, December 02, 20'13, fi2.41:07 PM\
a-.-..-,{. Monday, December 02, 2013.
' '-* '-' {12:41:09 PM)
http ://grummpr0 I /l SR/print. aspx 2/11/2015
Page 2 of 2
10

Mike Kurtz wrote:


Kathy Viehe, now interim General Manager at GRU, called to talk to me and
Joanie Teoflo seeking help. Joanie and lrark? Kinevan are addressing the power
sales and envkonmental attibutes marketing issues.
She also asked me whether lor ourolher member might have any recommendations
for good law firms wih a strong background in power plant construction and,
preferably, st.ong expenise in environmental projects like their biomass planl. She
is hoping to have their staff attomeys talk to outside firms about potentially
evaluating the GRU PPA to see if there arc opportunities available to GRL
to leverage some concessions from lhe plant owners.
I provided herwith a contacl at Austin & Bird, Bill Hughes. I also suggested they
contact VanNess Feldman. Both frms have considerable power plant experience.
Have you guys had a particularly good experience in the pastwith a specifc law
firm you are vrilling to recommend that GRU contact?
Mike
Michael L. Kurtz I Chief Operatang Ofiicer
p: 904.527.5924 l f: 904.527.5954 | m: 904.524.6481 | e: mkurtz@colectric.com
<mailto:mkunz@colectric com>
COLECTRICPARTNERS@ | Pioneering Solutions for Public Power
301 W Bay St., Ste 2600, Jacksonville, FL 32202 | www.colectdc.com
<http:/tu/ww.colectdc.com/>
Notice: This communication is intended exclusively for the individuals or entities
to which it is addressed. This communacation, and
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privileged. confidential and/or otherwise legally
exempt from disclosure. lf you are not the intended recipient, please delete any and
all copies of this communication and attach ments.
Florida has a very broad Public Records Law. Virtually all
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JEA by phone or in writing.
11

Have GRU and the City continued to hire for hundreds of thousands of dollars
outside counsel from outside of Gainesville to defend against allegations being
made about the Great Biomass Project? Consider this:
City Payouts to the Best and the Whitest of Private Law Firms, for GRU,
since September 2013.
1. ORRICK, remittance address, Chicago, Ill. GRU
a. Nov. 13, 2013
b. Nov. 11, 2013
c. Nov. 11, 2013
d. Nov. 11, 2013
e. Nov. 11, 2013
f. Nov. 11, 2013
g. Nov. 11, 2013
h. Dec. 5, 2013
i. Jan. 8, 2014
j. Jan. 8, 2014
k. Jan. 11, 2014
l. Feb. 11, 2014
m. Mar. 10, 2014
n. Mar. 10, 2014
o. Apr. 11, 2014
p. Apr. 11, 2014
q. Apr. 11, 2014
r. May 16, 2014
s. May 16, 2014
t. June 13, 2014
u. July 11, 2014
v. Aug.14, 2014
w. Aug.14, 2014
x. Sept. 17,2014
y. Oct. 13, 2014
z. Nov. 13, 2014
aa. Nov. 13, 2014
Total

12

42,429.98
1,892.44
3,057.14
3,602.88
2,024.83
986.05
134.13
1,337.01
2,503.07
986.06
411.63
4,203.30
3,734.70
2,892.95
471.76
746.94
1,572.50
4,599.56
1,926.31
49,687.18
73,872.40
38,665.52
4.80
39,673.49
1,408.33
393.13
7,770.04

2. Akerman, Senterfitt, remittance address, Atlanta, GA, GRU


a. Nov. 8, 2013
b. Feb. 5, 2014
c. Mar. 17, 2014
d. Dec. 5, 2014
Total
3. Hopping, Green & Sams, Tallahassee, FL GRU
a. Sept. 24, 2013
b. Oct. 23, 2013
c. Oct. 23, 2013
d. Nov. 19, 2013
e. Nov. 19, 2013
f. Dec. 17, 2013
g. Jan. 21, 2014
h. Jan. 21, 2014
i. Feb. 20, 2014
j. Feb. 20, 2014
k. Mar.19, 2014
l. Mar.19, 2014
m. Apr. 18, 2014
n. May 21,2014
o. May 21,2014
p. June 23, 2014
q. June 23, 2014
r. July 21, 2014
s. July 21, 2014
t. Aug.20,2014
u. Sept. 16, 2014
v. Oct. 29, 2014
w. Nov. 24, 2014
Total
4. de la Parte & Gilbert, PA, Tampa, FL, GRU
a. July 11, 2014
b. July 11, 2014
c. July 11, 2014
d. July 11, 2014
Total

12,059.40
530.60
1,129.10
565.50

2,502.00
414.00
964.07
775.53
6,762.00
4,145.61
4.140.00
987.00
12,388.74
878.08
10,077.20
258.62
10,115.09
21.099.51
1,293.61
282.00
8,392.19
2,724.40
141.33
2,349.12
3.274.56
2,219.99
4,387.86

32.50
32.50
65.00
130.00

13

5. Mercer, Thompson, LLC, Atlanta, GA, GRU


a. Dec. 12, 2013
Total
6.

6,859.00

Foley & Lardner, Washington, D. C. GRU


a. Nov. 22, 2013
b. Dec. 16, 2013
1Total

18,344.30
2,755.00

7. Rogers Towers, Jacksonville GRU Solar


a. Sept. 30, 2013
b. Oct. 11, 2013
c. Nov. 5, 2013
d. Dec. 10, 2013
e. Jan. 6, 2014
f. Feb. 7, 2014
g. March ?
h. April ?
i. May 5, 2014
j. May 5, 2014
k. June 4, 2014
l. July 2, 2014
m. Sept. 4, 2014
Total

3,387.40
19,820.96
1,876.70
17,305.39
21,657.60
725.00

Prior Balance

8. Van Ness Feldman, Seattle, WA, remit to Baltimore, MD, GRU


a. Jan. 14, 2014
b. Feb. 14, 2014
c. Mar. 10, 2014
d. Apr. 18, 2014
Total
9. John & Hengerer, Washington, D. C. GRU
a. Nov. 30, 2013
b. Jan. 31, 2014
c. Feb. 28, 2014
d. July 31, 2014
Balance Forwarded
e. July 31, 2014
Total
10. Winston & Strawn, LLP, New York, NY GRU
a. Feb. 24, 2014
Total
14

10,177.48
8,232.12
14,484.03
23.810.95
250.00

5,520.50
11,274.50
12.69
970.00

652.50
682.50
456.37
790.00
1,206.25

5.035.21

11. Holland & Knight, Orlando, FL GRU


a. Nov. 25, 2013
i. Dec. 10, 2013
ii. Jan. 15, 2014
iii. Feb. 19, 2014
b. Mar. 14,2014
c. Apr. 17,2014
d. May 12,2014
e. June 16, 2014
f. July 17, 2014
g. Aug. 14, 2014
h. Dec. 19, 2014
Total

4,856.85
1,855.00
3,041.50
2,567.50
5.767.00
10,728.11
13,503.00
9,660.39
6,699.33
790.00
57,817.50

12. Holland & Knight, Orlando NOR GRU Pension Plan Compliance Review
a. Sept. 16, 2013
Balance Brought Forward
138.08
b. Sept. 16, 2013
75.00
c. Total
More on the other outside counsel work later, but the following is included, because it illustrates how
Outside Counsel is used to protect public officials and employees, not the public. Gainesville spent
thousands with Baker & Hostetler, because of the long-standing Kopper Superfund pollution site. But
the Citys interest primarily was in the polluted land under the Transit Yard in the neighborhood where
City employees worked.

Baker & Hostetler, Cleveland, OH City Interest in Koppers, because of Employees Transit Yard
a. Nov. 12, 2013
312.00
b. Feb. 27, 2014
2,141.00
c. Mar. 27, 2014
1,098.00
d. Apr. 28, 2014 General Environment
108.60
e. May 21, 2014 AIP Job Corps
390.00
f. June 17, 2014
1,842.00
g. Aug. 28, 2014 General Environment
2,821.00
h. Sept. 20, 2014 General Environment
2,693.00
i. Nov. 26, 2014
663.00
j. Dec. 17, 2014
450.00
Total

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