民主真谛之一：媒体对于政府的监督

南佛州这旮匒，山高皇帝远，选票都数不清，连兔子也不拉屎。

可是资本主义的舞照跳，污照贪，贿照受。

媒体对于政府的监督，也照样有效。

这不，号称美国小纽约的西棕榈滩市的几任县市长，都先后被媒体拉下了马，监狱里面蹲着呢。

最近几天，媒体又盯上了州政府。蛛丝马迹，连日常的伊妹儿都不放过。

South Florida Water Management District spends tax dollars at lavish resorts

South Florida's top water managers, advisers and staff have spent more than $219,000 in five years on overnight meetings at resorts from Key Largo to Walt Disney World, billing the public for rooms and receptions, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has found.

Trips by board members and employees of the South Florida Water Management Districtinclude stays at the Ritz-Carlton and at other luxury hotels as closeas seven miles from their homes, a review of travel invoices andexpense records show.

Today, the district's nine-member board will consider a policy that would reduce spending on meetings outside the agency's West Palm Beach headquarters. The move comes after questions by the newspaper about the trips.Agency officials said Wednesday they have "spoken" practices, but needwritten guidelines on the timing and destinations of the boardmeetings. Sessions away from the headquarters are intended to make iteasier for people across the agency's 16 counties to participate indecision making.

Current district travel policy provides general rules on how muchemployees can receive for mileage, meals and other expenses while onagency business. For example, the policy stipulates that the districtshould pay no more than $200 per night for a hotel room, unlessotherwise authorized. The Sun-Sentinel foundthe agency exceeded that amount at least a dozen times, and in one casecreated a paper trail to justify spending more after the fact.

"Make up something good," Sherry Loy, an employee processing expensesfor a 2005 governing board meeting at the gated Ocean Reef Club in KeyLargo, wrote, asking a colleague for "an official looking e-mail"explaining why the district spent $249 per night for 15 rooms.

Loy declined to comment Wednesday.

The travel records show that over the five years, the district's board and its advisory commission spent:• More than $125,000 on luxury hotel rooms for trips involving three to50 people. The district paid $342 each for 27 rooms for a February 2006board meeting near Fort Myers at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resortand Spa, which boasts "pools, waterslides, golf ... tennis, climbingwall," and "gooey treats around the firepit." The tab included a $400"porterage" fee of "40 x $10," according to the hotel voucher. Thedistrict said the charge was for delivering "meeting materials andequipment."

• More than $55,000 for meals and receptions, including a $3,642reception in June at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando. The menuincluded mini beef Wellington,firecracker shrimp, a "fresh fruit spectacular" and spring rolls withduck sauce. An agency spokesman said the district "uses occasional andmodest receptions to facilitate community outreach and localconstituent interactions." Lunch for 20 cost taxpayers $981, or about$49 each. The bill included a $100 fee because the function includedfewer than 25 people.

• More than $5,300 on refreshments, including $456 for 12 dozen gourmetcookies (or $38 a dozen) and $330 for tea and coffee for the board'sApril 2007 meeting at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, about 16 miles from district headquarters.

• More than $2,600 for hotel rooms no one occupied. The Key LargoBay Marriott Resort charged the district $695 for five "no-shows" inNovember. The district said no-show charges occur "as a result oflast-minute schedule changes that cannot be avoided."

Board members are appointed by the governor and are unpaid.

"We are volunteering our time," board member Nicolás J. Gutiérrez Jr.said Wednesday. "Nobody is enriching themselves. ... It's more of asacrifice."

Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida, agovernment watchdog group, said the board members are "not meant to begiven luxury kind of accommodations," but are supposed to safeguard thepublic's money.

"Unfortunately, in this situation there is no realaccountability," Wilcox said of the board. "They don't have to run forelection or answer to any kind of voters."

'HOW DID WE MISS THIS?'

The findings follow the Sun-Sentinel's reportin January detailing how board members regularly use the district'sturboprop plane and helicopters to fly to meetings. The flights includetrips with only one passenger and hops over short distances, such asfrom West Palm Beach to Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

State Sen. Gwen Margolis, D- Sunny Isles Beach, and other lawmakers have called for a state audit of the flights.

The district covers a vast area from Orlando to the Florida Keys and isresponsible for protecting against floods, restoring the Evergladesand ensuring that people have enough water. In times of drought, theagency restricts how often people can water their lawns. It has abudget of nearly $1.3 billion.

Last month, board Chairman Eric Buermann requested an internal "stem tostern" review of the district's spending, saying: "These arechallenging and uncertain economic times for Florida governments." Hisrequest specifically referred to employee travel and off-site boardmeetings.

The district's board normally meets monthly at the agency's WestPalm Beach offices. In recent years, the meetings have been moved toother cities two to five times a year.

At a meeting of the district's Audit and Finance Committee onWednesday, administrators said they need a written policy on how oftento hold meetings and where. "How did we miss this?" asked board member Michael Collins, one of the board's most frequent travelers.

Under the proposed rules, the agency would define how often thegoverning board and its Water Resources Advisory Commission meetsoutside of West Palm Beach.

The advisory commission, led by two governing board members, has45 representatives for interest groups, including agriculture,business, Indian tribes and local governments.

Commission members spent more than $34,000 to stay nearly a dozentimes at resorts since 2003, records show. The hotels included theJupiter Beach Resort, which promotes its "Turkish marble flooring"; thePirates Cove Resort and Marina in Stuart, which touts its reputation as"a hideaway for captains of industry, notables and celebrities"; andthe Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, where the commission paid for 33rooms in September 2006, according to the hotel bill.

The new rules would require the district to first consider meeting at public facilities, such as a school, rather than a hotel.InNovember the district board met over two days at the 17-acre waterfrontKey Largo Bay Marriott Resort, which offers a spa, three restaurantsand a dive center. The district paid $13,530 for rooms and food.

About three miles south on the Overseas Highway, the Key Largopublic library has a meeting room for 120 people that the districtcould have used for free. "The board of county commissioners was inhere yesterday," said Claudia Moriarty, senior library assistant.

Slightly farther south, the Coral Shores High School has aperforming arts center that seats 740 and is available in the eveningsfor $125 an hour. The water district "never asked us," said DaveMurphy, assistant principal.

The district told the Sun-Sentinel it holds itsmeetings at large hotels because they have sizable conference rooms andtechnical support to help with audiovisual and Webcast equipment.

The proposed rule says hotel meeting space should be used when otherpublic facilities are not available or when the hotel is "moreconducive." Priority would be given to hotels with environmentallyfriendly business practices.

Buermann, who joined the board in 2007, said holding off-sitemeetings is part of "good government." But he said there may be roomfor belt tightening. "You can't necessarily go to the KOA campground,but you don't need to go to the Four Seasons either," he said.

HOTELS CLOSE TO HOME

The district's board members live across the agency's 16 counties andoften must stay overnight to attend meetings at various locations. Butsome stay at hotels and bill taxpayers even when they reside nearby.

In June, when the district held its governing meeting at the RosenCentre Hotel in Orlando, board member Harkley Thornton had a room, eventhough he lives seven miles from the hotel. The room cost $110.09.Thornton, through an assistant, declined a request for comment.

Alice Carlson, who lives in Naples, stayed for two nights inSeptember 2005 at the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa at a cost of$361.40. Carlson, who no longer serves on the board, was attending awater conference about 35 miles from her home. She could not be reachedfor comment Wednesday, despite messages left on her home and officephones.

In another case, when the district held its monthly board meeting atthe Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo in December 2005, board member MichaelCollins had a room for one night for $249. He lives about 30 miles awayin Islamorada.

Collins stayed at the hotel again when the district met there inNovember 2006, this time for two nights, costing more than $400.

Asked why he stayed at the Ocean Reef Club in 2005 and 2006, Collinsdeclined to comment, saying: "I got to go. You can get all that fromthe public record."

Though water business took him farther from home on two otheroccasions, Collins again stayed in luxury accommodations at districtexpense. In November 2005 he stayed at the "boutique four-star" ChesterfieldHotel in Palm Beach for $204. And in April 2006 he stayed for $266 inTallahassee at the Governors Inn, which promises to "freshen your roomwhile you're at dinner and leave chocolate on your pillow." His expensereport said no discounted government rate was available.

Travel records included the same explanation for ExecutiveDirector Carol Ann Wehle's June 2006 stay at the Ritz-Carlton, PentagonCity. She secured the government rate of $180 one night, but paid $449the second night because "no government rate available for 2nd night.All hotels sold out in DC area," a notation states on her expenserecords.

The district spent $220 in Washington D.C. for Wehle to stay at the Ritz-Carlton near Georgetown in September 2006.

A couple of weeks later, she stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples,at $164 a night, for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Associationconvention.

Megan O'Matz can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone]. Andy Reid can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail]