Carlucci pulls a Simmonds; Moore gets lawyered up; Hizzoner looks for a bus to lie down in front of
Lorenzo v. Venice plods on, body count expected to rise; Moore hires Preiksat, Martin goes commando
-- John Patten, 06/16/08
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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Bad answer from an ex-AAB member
Attorney Andrea Mogensen is plodding on in her legal probing of city hall. Last week she expanded her records requests to include all emails to and from all members of the city's Airport Advisory Board for the last three years

One former board member is already headed for trouble. Nick Carlucci, an ex-board member, has already responded to a prior public records request by stating that he had deleted everything.

In a response to a public records request from Venice Neighborhoods Coalition prez Tom Brener, Carlucci wrote that he had deleted all of his AAB emails. Brener had requested all emails from AAB board members that broached the topics of hangar rent increases (as some of the AAB board members were also renters) as well as any emails that mentioned Marriott or that had been sent to or received from former mayor Fred Hammett.

On May 31, Carlucci responded by stating he had deleted most, if not all, of his AAB emails. Carlucci made the admission in an expository email in which he was apparently more concerned with justifying past AAB decisions than he was about complying with Brener's public records request:

"I regret that I am unable to comply with your request as I routinely delete my e-mails. I do this at least once a month and more often than not on a weekly basis. The AAB was never tasked by City Council to review any of the airport land development proposals. The AAB reviews of the Master Plan Update/ALP [airport layout plan] were extensive and open to the public. Hangar discussions were part of the AAB airport budget/fair market value MPU public review process. T-hangar rent increases (to bring those rents up to full fair market value) for the past two years were unanimously approved while I was on the AAB. Those rent increases were preceded by a third rent increase that occurred the year before I was on the board. The Airport Manager (Director) sends AAB members FYI e-mails over a wide variety of subjects. Some of his FYI e-mails may have contained some of the key words but I have no record to support that claim."
-- Nick Carlucci, email to City Clerk Lori Stelzer, 05/31/08

While Carlucci may have seen that as a way to permanently dismiss such requests from a pesky citizen group, he is probably already regretting such a hasty response.

What Carlucci should have written: Give me a bit more time, I have apparently deleted some of them but I want to try to retrieve them.

What Carlucci wrote instead: No. Go away.

That was a mistake. A bad one.

Last week in Judge Bennett's courtroom, Councilman John Simmonds made a nearly identical admission from the witness stand when questioned under oath by Mogensen. At least one of Simmonds' several computers was ordered by Bennett to be held by the city clerk as a result. Simmonds' computer is to undergo a court-ordered forensic analysis in an attempt to retrieve the emails that were deleted.

Moore gets lawyered up
Councilman John Moore, under a court order to answer questions from Andrea Mogensen, has hired Venice attorney Jon Preiksat to represent him. Moore is a named defendant in the civil suit of Lorenzo v. Venice et al.

After his first meeting with Moore earlier today, Preiksat issued this statement: "Councilman Moore was out of the country when he was added as a defendant to the lawsuit. He did not return to Venice until 11:00 PM on Saturday, June 14. On the very next day, Councilman Moore began work on compliance with Judge Bennett's court order. Pursuant to that order, today he has delivered his personal computer to the city clerk's office. We fully intend to cooperate with the court in this matter."

Hizzoner waits for the bus
Both Moore and Mayor Ed Martin were subpoenaed to, but did not, attend last Wednesday's emergency injunction hearing. Moore had been on vacation for several weeks and had not been served with the subpoena. Martin had left for Boston the night before the hearing on a planned business trip. Neither had hired attorneys at the time, so both were represented by City Attorney Bob Anderson. As a result of their absence from the courtroom, Judge Robert Bennett ordered both men to turn in their personally owned computers as well as their city-owned laptops to the city clerk for evidentiary freezing, this pending the outcome of a sworn affidavit or sworn Q&A session with Mogensen.

This, then, leaves the mayor alone without legal representation so far. Co-defendants Sue Lang and John Simmonds have both lawyered up (John Strickland and the Boone law firm respectively), while Anderson and an insurance company attorney represent the city as a corporate entity. Martin is, for now anyway, relying on Anderson.

Note to Hizzoner: That's a great way to get thrown under a bus when (not if) things go pear-shaped. Just ask John Simmonds. Hell -- just ask yourself. Anderson kinda forgot to tell the court that you had already complied fully with Mogensen's prior public records requests and now you can't even legally turn on your home computer as a result. Get an attorney, Ed. Today would be good.

John Patten is the editor and publisher of Venice Florida! dot com and had previously worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.