Former Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson, whose competence was challenged on a host of issues during his time in office, will not be charged with any criminal violations by the FBI. That news came down on Wednesday.
The St. Petersburg Times reported that in March of 2009, the FBI seized papers related to an audit of Johnson’s office by the Tampa accounting firm Ernst & Young. The auditors found that Johnson’s administration broke Florida law by overspending its annual budget by $942,022. The audit also criticized Johnson for improper handling of federal grant money earmarked for voter education activities.
An FBI spokesman, Dave Courvertier, told the Tampa Tribune today that “No criminal violations were identified.”
To say that Johnson’s tenure at the Supervisor of Elections office was checkered would be an understatement. It’s well-known that he improperly spent over $400,000 in federal grant money for promotions and ads that he was not allowed to spend, according to an audit performed by the Florida Secretary of State’s office.
Another embarrassing (but not criminal) detail that we learned about Johnson over the past couple of years (many in reports written by just-departed St. Pete Times investigative reporter Jeff Testerman) was that in 2007, a process server who attempted to serve him on behalf of laywers for the NAACP tried for 18 days to find Johnson, but never could. Testerman wrote:
He couldn’t find Johnson at either of two county elections offices. His messages to Johnson were not returned. Johnson’s staffers said they had no idea where he was or when he might be in. They said they didn’t know how to reach him.
Neatherly concluded Johnson was ducking the subpoena when one elections staffer said Johnson wasn’t in, even though Johnson’s Mercedes-Benz was in the parking space designated for the elections supervisor.
Another story co-written by Testerman and Michael Van Sickler in 2009 said that about $155,000 of taxpayers’ money was dedicated to a voter education program in Hillsborough’s African-American community that used black community activists Jarvis El-Amin and Michelle Patty. The story charged that El-Amin campaigned for Johnson, which if true, would violate laws prohibiting the public’s money from being used for partisan purposes. The story said:
Once appointed outreach coordinator, El-Amin worked hard to get out the vote, and according to those who observed him at election rallies, polling places and community meetings El-Amin poured his energy and enthusiasm into getting out the vote for Johnson.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.
