County commissioners exert extraordinary control over choosing which companies do business with Broward government — on everything from building a multi-million dollar convention center hotel to contracts for janitorial services.
The contracting process is the subject of intense lobbying and has become a focal point of criticism in the wake of corruption investigations that have ensnared County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, a school board member and a former Miramar city commissioner.
A task force writing new ethics rules for the commission is exploring reforms aimed at eliminating any hint of influence-peddling and pay-for-play decision-making.
"It absolutely would be better if commissioners are not involved in procurement," said prominent Fort Lauderdale business executive Roy Rogers, a member of the state Ethics Commission. "If commissioners aren't participating, it would remove any shadow from the process."
Under rules they wrote for themselves, commissioners have the power to join professional staff on any committee to evaluate bids and select a contractor. At least three commissioners have sat alongside staff on a majority of all selection committees since 2007, according to a Sun Sentinel review of county records.
Commissioners Lois Wexler, Ilene Lieberman and Ken Keechl appointed themselves to more than 70 of the 160 selection committees formed in the past three years. So did Eggelletion, who was suspended two months ago following his arrest on federal money-laundering charges.
Even the commissioner least involved in contracting — Diana Wasserman-Rubin — joined more than 30 selection committees.
That's very different from how contracting works in other governments.
Commissioners in Miami-Dade, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties do not serve on committees that choose contractors. In Orange County, one commissioner serves on the procurement committee on a rotating basis. Palm Beach County commissioners do not serve on selection committees except in rare cases when the project is so high-profile that they take direct control of the process.
Even at Fort Lauderdale City Hall, two blocks from the county Governmental Center, commissioners do not help select contractors.
Former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle said he fought efforts to allow city commissioners to be as involved as their county counterparts. He describes county contracting as "too political."
"The county process is just upside down, and it's done for campaign contribution rainmaking," Naugle said.
National government purchasing standards suggest politicians should stay out of evaluating bids.
"You don't put members of Congress on evaluation committees for defense contracts, and there is a good reason for that," said Maggie McConnell, a Phoenix lawyer who co-chaired an American Bar Association committee on procurement guidelines. "There is no way to eliminate the hint of bias and favoritism that it brings to the process."
Broward commissioners often rely on a bidding process in which they set no criteria on how proposals should be evaluated. Each member of the selection committee ranks bidders and the votes are tallied. They don't need to say why they favored a firm — whether their choice was based on price, the firm's expertise or merely their personal feelings.
Critics allege that the process allows personal relations between lobbyists and commissioners, as well as campaign cash, to sway decisions.
A notebook accidentally left in the Commission Chambers two years ago by one construction executive provided a peak into how companies view the process. Later obtained and reviewed by state prosecutors, the notes of URS Corp. executive Todd McClendon delineated which of the company's lobbyists were to target which commissioners.
URS oversaw expansion at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from 1995 to 2008.To keep its role, URS relied on a team of lobbyists: George Platt, Ron Book, Bernie Friedman and Russ Klenet. McClendon referred to them as his "posse."
Prosecutors were interested in Klenet's role. The husband of Commissioner Stacy Ritter, Klenet was listed in the notebook next to hers. The pair told prosecutors she abstained on URS votes as long as he worked for the firm. He left URS' employment in 2007, and the investigation was dropped.
Commissioners argue their involvement in contracting ensures voters have a voice in how tax money is spent.
Source:sun-sentinel.com/
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