Tampa , FL Tollway Chief Quits, Linked To Porn Sites

[seafan]

Tollway Chief Quits, Linked To Porn Sites

By JOHN W. ALLMAN, LINDSAY PETERSON and CATHERINE HAMMER
The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov 9, 2006

TAMPA - Ralph Mervine, executive director of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, resigned Wednesday after a Tampa Tribune investigation found he is listed as the owner of a gay pornographic film production company.

The San Diego-based company, Coast Productions, operates at least two adult Web sites and has an adult Yahoo membership group. All three advertise and display young men, ages 18 to 21, offering photos and video clips of explicit sexual activities.

snip

Coast Productions produces DVDs for sale at $39.95 apiece, as well as monthly Web site memberships to view shorter video clips of young men engaging in sex acts alone or with partners.

Mervine resigned hours after being approached by reporters about the company. He had worked for the authority since November 2004 as interim executive director. The board in July voted to make Mervine's position full time.

snip

"This is unbelievable. This is unreal," board member Tom Scott said. "I'm just shocked, man. I am shocked."

The issue intensified after Gibbs received a phone call from a reporter about Mervine's links to Coast Productions.
--snip

snip

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[phusion]

1. Why exactly did he have to resign?

Seriously, what's so wrong with the business he is running that he had to resign? Is he married or something?

edit: I guess he wasn't really forced to resign, but was probably too embarrassed to stay?

[Eugene]

3. He left Coast Productions off his financial disclosure form.

A serious ethics no-no for public officials. Of course
listing a gay porn biz would have raised many eyebrows.
He was already under fire before he got found out.

No problem with gay porn but this is just too bizarre! :eyes:

[phusion]

8. ahh, didn't catch that...

and yes it is bizarre!

[Orsino]

11. Unfortunately, all the masses will hear...

...is that he resigned because he makes gay porn. Or is gay, or something. Gay, gay, gay.

[reality based]

2. He seems to have been a controversial administrator

One of his opponents mentioned in the article, Tom Scott, is a Democrat who has just been defeated for reelection to the governing board by a Republican. http://www.tbo.com/news/reports/politics/hillsdist7/index.shtml

[NashVegas]

4. Oh, the Devil Surely Is Busy This Year

...

[reality based]

5. He seems also to have been involved in questionable

contracts with people tied to Jeb Bush. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB4Q5P1KRE.html

[saigon68]

6. sounds like another RePuke "FAMILY VALUES GUY"

[bkcc]

7. He'll be fine.

I'm sure he's making more money from the porn business.

(Just trying to look at the bright side...)

[nashville_brook]

9. FL toll agencies have NO accountability

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-expressway0306nov03,0,1113970.story

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[seafan]

12. There's much more to this story: This Expressway Authority has

been under investigation for improper contracting decisions.

I am trying to find the old DU thread about this, but the search feature is not operable right now.

To the best of my memory, this is what happened:



There are 7 (IIRC) board members on the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, 5 of which are Jeb Bush appointees. One of Jeb's appointees runs a construction company that was *awarded* the contract to build some road projects overseen by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority.

The original legal counsel for the Board became aware that this was going to be a bad move, to award a lucrative highway contract to one of its own board members' companies, so when the attorney warned of conflicts of interest, the Jeb-appointed Board members promptly fired him.

Then they hired a new legal firm with deep ties to Jeb Bush, Gray-Robinson, to represent the Board for all future legal work.



The board is under FBI investigation for all of this.


Here is a link:

Expressway Board Member Crossed Line, Critics Say ---August 25, 2006



One other pertinent quote from the original article in the OP:

The agency was investigated by Gov. Jeb Bush's office in September and is under review by the state auditor general and the FBI.

Scott, a Hillsborough County commissioner, had asked for Mervine's termination or resignation since the legal contract controversy in August.

Scott lost Tuesday's election for a countywide commission seat to Mark Sharpe and will leave the authority Nov. 20. The commission appoints one representative to the seven-member authority board.

Before joining the authority, Mervine worked around the world, serving as a senior project engineer for the Arabian American Oil Co. in Saudi Arabia from 1977 to 1980.

Mervine spent several years as a vice president for Brown and Root in Houston and a safety products company, Sure-Step of Tampa. In 1989, he went to work for the Florida Department of Transportation as director of operations for District 1, in Bartow.

Mervine left his job with DOT in 2001.

Looks like Mervine is another BFEE crony. And Jeb rode herd into the investigation (to sanitize evidence of his influence and connections, perhaps??)

Also interesting is Mervine's ties to the porn film industry..... remember that Jack Abramoff and Mark Foley also dabbled in filmmaking and acting. Just so many strange ties are bubbling up to scrutiny with these people.

[lpbk2713]

13. As I recall ....

Part of it had to be completely demolished and built all over again from scratch because it was poorly designed. Seems like it was sinking in the mud.

[stop the bleeding]

15. yep I recall that as well - the main pillars of support.

This story just got a whole lot more interesting.

[seafan]

14. Gray Robinson firm: Partner's wife was * camp. mgr '04; another atty worked for Noelle Bush case

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/02/Tampabay/Road_agency_under_fir.shtml">Road agency under fire again

By JANET ZINK and MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published September 2, 2006

Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday ordered an investigation of the authority amid accusations that it violated ethics policies and the state's Sunshine Law in awarding a lucrative contract for legal services.
--snip
(State Sen. Victor) Crist said he's glad that Bush is looking at the agency, but the Legislature might provide a more objective examination because the governor appoints four members to the authority board.

snip

Public concern over the Expressway Authority erupted this week after the authority's board ignored a selection committee's recommendation that its attorney, Steve Anderson, be rehired as the authority's legal counsel.
Instead, the board chose the law firm Gray Robinson, with all four of Bush's appointees approving the selection.

Gray Robinson also has links to Bush. Karen Unger, who is married to Gray Robinson partner Jason Unger, served as Bush's campaign manager in 2004. And Gray Robinson lawyer Peter Antonacci in 2002 represented Bush's daughter, Noelle, when she was charged with writing phony prescriptions for Xanax.

Bush ordered the investigation after reports that David Hendrix, a partner at Gray Robinson, met with John Beck, a lobbyist for the authority, and the authority's executive director, Ralph Mervine, in the weeks before the contract was awarded. The meetings may have violated the state's open government laws, according to an in-house lawyer for the Expressway Authority.

snip

This isn't the first time the Expressway Authority has been investigated.

In March, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched a criminal probe of allegations that there had been "collusion" on the part of the agency's lobbyists, Beck and Cynthia Henderson, in the bid process for a proposed toll road in New Tampa.

Some mighty interesting ties between this legal firm and Jebbie, huh?

more...

[seafan]

16. Update November 18, 2006: 'Board Rejects Mervine Computer Audit'

Board Rejects Mervine Computer Audit

By JOHN W. ALLMAN and LINDSAY PETERSON
The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov 18, 2006

TAMPA - The Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority doesn't want to deal with Ralph Mervine anymore.
The authority says that because Mervine, 55, resigned Nov. 8, it has no reason to investigate whether he used his work computer for his outside business - two Web sites linked to a gay, pornographic distribution company that he owned for seven years.

The company, Coast Productions, shut down this week, according to its attorney, Jeffrey J. Douglas of Santa Monica, Calif.
Mervine and at least two other men, Kenneth Eckert Pitts and Thomas C. Neal, have been affiliated with Coast since 1999, when the company was created in San Diego. Mervine is listed on documents as Coast's owner.
Mervine quit hours after being asked by The Tampa Tribune about Coast. He has refused to discuss it since.

On Friday, authority spokesman Mathias Bergendahl and board member James Hargrett questioned the value of exploring Mervine's computer use.
"Time and money spent on an investigation into any possible activities of a former employee are not expenditures that would help further the authority's mission," Bergendahl said.
Bergendahl said the investigation is not warranted because Mervine could not be disciplined if inappropriate use is identified.

Hargrett, a former state senator, said it does not serve the public interest to comment on Mervine any longer. He said the authority should be focused on finding an interim executive director to replace Mervine.
Reminded that he recently called on board members to be transparent in their work, Hargrett responded angrily, "I was talking about transparency in making policy.

"How would it serve the public to know how Ralph Mervine was using his computer?" Hargrett asked. "How is that policy?"
Mervine's $208,000 salary was paid by toll revenue collected from motorists who travel the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Asked whether it is in the public's interest to find out how public money was being spent, Hargrett said, "I'm sure you'll tell us that."

snip

Backstory, from October 4, 2006:

Tampa-Hillsborough Tollway Authority under FBI/DOT investigation (Jeb ties)