Florida's chief officer of enforcing open sunshine laws, Bill McCollum, was noticeably absent at today's annual Sunshine Appreciation Lunch in Tallahassee, sponsored by the First Amendment Foundation. But this is no surprise given Bill McCollum's record.
"Why is Bill McCollum so scared of putting some sunshine in these dark corners? Good things never come out of shady places," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said. "Bill McCollum doesn't walk-the-walk and today he did not even talk-the-talk when it comes to transparency in government. Where was the officer in charge of enforcing Florida's open government laws?"
Last year, the Palm Beach Post suggested that McCollum might be "stonewalling" when his office told reporters they would have to pay $770 for copies of his public schedule, and added that the request "would take at least a week to purge secret information before the file could be viewed."/p>
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Following Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink's call to for more aggressive action to crack down on rampant Medicaid fraud, and criticism by fellow Republicans, Attorney General Bill McCollum's election year ploys fall short. Any knee-jerk response from Bill McCollum does not cover up a record of dropping the ball on policing Medicaid fraud which costs Florida up to $3.2 billion a year.
"Florida is losing billions of dollars to runaway Medicaid fraud, as our state is facing a Medicaid budget crisis - it is clearly time for strong leadership to crack down on this rampant fraud and ensure better use of our taxpayer dollars," said Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman. "Unfortunately, Bill McCollum's failure to more aggressively crack down on Medicaid fraud has helped allow these con-artists to steal billions of dollars from our state, and his election year attempts to cover up his failures on Medicaid fraud are too little, too late."
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Florida taxpayers are being swindled out of as much as $3.2 billion each year by people committing Medicaid fraud, yet Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum is failing to do much about, as the Miami Herald reported today. Even though McCollum's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is the second largest in the country, Florida ranks 39th in the country for number of convictions per staffer and 25th in the country for money recovered per federal dollar received.
"Florida taxpayers are being ripped off by as much as $3.2 billion a year in Medicaid fraud and Bill McCollum is failing to effectively tackle the problem. We need leadership on this issue-If Florida taxpayers could recover the potential billions lost, how could we use it?" Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff asked. "Bill McCollum deserves to know the answer to that question. So, we're surveying Floridians by e-mail and will share with Bill McCollum what we find out."
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Florida Democrats Demand Crist Appoint Special Prosecutor To Investigate Republican Corruption
Today, Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman demanded that Governor Charlie Crist use his authority to start an independent investigation into the Republican Party of Florida's alleged corruption by appointing a Special Prosecutor, as new information that has come to light raises questions about Attorney General Bill McCollum's potential prior knowledge of corruption at the state GOP and his conflicts of interest in this case.
"Exactly what did Bill McCollum know about Jim Greer's secret sweet-heart deal to leave his job and precisely when did McCollum know it?" asked Thurman. "Since McCollum's conflicts of interest serve to question McCollum's motivation not to investigate or get all the facts out on the table, only an independent investigation by a Special Prosecutor can legitimately determine if crimes were committed by Republican politicians and party officials. McCollum's central role in the timeline of the case, and his refusal to take action, taint the integrity of this potential investigation. At this time, only an independent review will carry any merit. This is the only way to ensure Floridians have justice and officials are held accountable for their actions."
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Florida Democratic Party Releases Web Video Highlighting McCollum's Hypocrisy
Despite repeated outcries from Democratic and Republican leaders, a flood of calls from taxpayers to the Attorney General's corruption hotline, and newspaper editorials demanding action, career politician Bill McCollum still refuses to investigate potential corruption with state GOP finances and party-provided credit cards for legislators, in direct contrast to McCollum's previous calls for transparency in government.
Today, the Florida Democratic Party released a web video highlighting McCollum's hypocrisy, which can be viewed here:
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Republican gubernatorial Candidate Bill McCollum likes to talk about his support for openness and transparency, but Career Politician Bill McCollum covers his cronies in times of scandal, as proven this week.
"Bill McCollum continues to duck and dodge taking action in his role as Attorney General in favor of his political allies, again. Whether its partisan misdeeds or questionable credit cards to lawmakers, Bill McCollum's last priority is the taxpayer and his first priority is his political cronies. Why is Bill McCollum protecting the status quo and the political elite instead of working to bring some transparency to the way business is run in Tallahassee? Why is Bill McCollum afraid of a little sunshine in these dark corners?" Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman asked.
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Running Away From His Responsibility, Running Away From His Own Petty Attacks, Running Away From Transparency, Inaction In GOP Ethics Scandal
At Least Bill McCollum's Getting His Exercise From All That Running
It's barely afternoon but Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Bill McCollum has already gotten his exercise in for the day, running away from taking aggressive action against financial institutions as Attorney General, running away from his own petty political attacks against CFO Alex Sink and running away from transparency and his own inaction in the sweeping ethical scandal currently plaguing the GOP.
First, in this morning's cabinet meeting, McCollum ran from taking the lead on holding financial institutions accountable, saying his office was on "stand-by."
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