1

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.

2

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.

3

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.

4

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.

5

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.

6

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-of-state 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 half-dozen 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.

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20130115/ARTICLES/130119768http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20130115/ARTICLES/130119768

7

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.

8

9

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', wrote:

Mike

10

Michael L. Ku.t I Chief Operating Offcer

p: 904.527.5924 | t 904.527.59a4 | m:904.s24.6481 le: mkuriz@corectric.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',

Date: November 19, 2013 at 2:20t20 pM EST

To: "Brost, tvlike J. - VP/GM Electric Syslems,.

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

11

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

COLECTRICPARTNERS@ | Pioneering Solutions for Public Power

301 W Bay St., Ste 2600, Jacksonville, FL 32202 | www.colectdc.com

Notice: This communication is intended exclusively for the individuals or entities

to which it is addressed. This communacation, and

attachments therelo, may contain information that is prop etary, attomey-client

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

written communications to or fom State and Local Oficials and

employees are public records available to the public and media

upon request. JEA does not ditferentiate between personaland

business e-mails. E-mail sent on the JEA system will be

considered public and willonly be withheld from disclosure if

deemed confdential pursuant to State Law.

Under Florida law, emailaddresses

are public records. lfyou do not want youa emailaddaess released in response lo a

public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact

JEA by phone or in writing.

12

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 42,429.98

b. Nov. 11, 2013 1,892.44

c. Nov. 11, 2013 3,057.14

d. Nov. 11, 2013 3,602.88

e. Nov. 11, 2013 2,024.83

f. Nov. 11, 2013 986.05

g. Nov. 11, 2013 134.13

h. Dec. 5, 2013 1,337.01

i. Jan. 8, 2014 2,503.07

j. Jan. 8, 2014 986.06

k. Jan. 11, 2014 411.63

l. Feb. 11, 2014 4,203.30

m. Mar. 10, 2014 3,734.70

n. Mar. 10, 2014 2,892.95

o. Apr. 11, 2014 471.76

p. Apr. 11, 2014 746.94

q. Apr. 11, 2014 1,572.50

r. May 16, 2014 4,599.56

s. May 16, 2014 1,926.31

t. June 13, 2014 49,687.18

u. July 11, 2014 73,872.40

v. Aug.14, 2014 38,665.52

w. Aug.14, 2014 4.80

x. Sept. 17,2014 39,673.49

y. Oct. 13, 2014 1,408.33

z. Nov. 13, 2014 393.13

aa. Nov. 13, 2014 7,770.04

Total

13

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

a. Nov. 8, 2013 12,059.40

b. Feb. 5, 2014 530.60

c. Mar. 17, 2014 1,129.10

d. Dec. 5, 2014 565.50

Total

3. Hopping, Green & Sams, Tallahassee, FL GRU

a. Sept. 24, 2013 2,502.00

b. Oct. 23, 2013 414.00

c. Oct. 23, 2013 964.07

d. Nov. 19, 2013 775.53

e. Nov. 19, 2013 6,762.00

f. Dec. 17, 2013 4,145.61

g. Jan. 21, 2014 4.140.00

h. Jan. 21, 2014 987.00

i. Feb. 20, 2014 12,388.74

j. Feb. 20, 2014 878.08

k. Mar.19, 2014 10,077.20

l. Mar.19, 2014 258.62

m. Apr. 18, 2014 10,115.09

n. May 21,2014 21.099.51

o. May 21,2014 1,293.61

p. June 23, 2014 282.00

q. June 23, 2014 8,392.19

r. July 21, 2014 2,724.40

s. July 21, 2014 141.33

t. Aug.20,2014 2,349.12

u. Sept. 16, 2014 3.274.56

v. Oct. 29, 2014 2,219.99

w. Nov. 24, 2014 4,387.86

Total

4. de la Parte & Gilbert, PA, Tampa, FL, GRU

a. July 11, 2014 32.50

b. July 11, 2014 32.50

c. July 11, 2014 65.00

d. July 11, 2014 130.00

Total

14

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

a. Dec. 12, 2013 6,859.00

Total

6. Foley & Lardner, Washington, D. C. GRU

a. Nov. 22, 2013 18,344.30

b. Dec. 16, 2013 . 2,755.00

1Total

7. Rogers Towers, Jacksonville GRU Solar

a. Sept. 30, 2013 3,387.40

b. Oct. 11, 2013 19,820.96

c. Nov. 5, 2013 1,876.70

d. Dec. 10, 2013 17,305.39

e. Jan. 6, 2014 21,657.60

f. Feb. 7, 2014 725.00

g. March ?

h. April ?

i. May 5, 2014 Prior Balance 10,177.48

j. May 5, 2014 8,232.12

k. June 4, 2014 14,484.03

l. July 2, 2014 23.810.95

m. Sept. 4, 2014 250.00

Total

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

a. Jan. 14, 2014 5,520.50

b. Feb. 14, 2014 11,274.50

c. Mar. 10, 2014 12.69

d. Apr. 18, 2014 970.00

Total

9. John & Hengerer, Washington, D. C. GRU

a. Nov. 30, 2013 652.50

b. Jan. 31, 2014 682.50

c. Feb. 28, 2014 456.37

d. July 31, 2014 Balance Forwarded 790.00

e. July 31, 2014 1,206.25

Total

10. Winston & Strawn, LLP, New York, NY GRU

a. Feb. 24, 2014 5.035.21

Total

15

11. Holland & Knight, Orlando, FL GRU

a. Nov. 25, 2013 4,856.85

i. Dec. 10, 2013 1,855.00

ii. Jan. 15, 2014 3,041.50

iii. Feb. 19, 2014 2,567.50

b. Mar. 14,2014 5.767.00

c. Apr. 17,2014 10,728.11

d. May 12,2014 13,503.00

e. June 16, 2014 9,660.39

f. July 17, 2014 6,699.33

g. Aug. 14, 2014 790.00

h. Dec. 19, 2014 57,817.50

Total

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

16