Kendrick Meek tied into criminal fraud case, as he advertises just to the left of this post!!

[FreeJG]

May 14, 2010

Kendrick Meek tied into criminal fraud case

The Miami Herald is giving Kendrick Meek a very, very bad weekend: As U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek championed a proposed biopharmaceutical complex for Liberty City in 2003, his Miami chief of staff received $13,000 from the project's developer to help the aide buy a house, newly released police records show.
The developer, Dennis Stackhouse, is now awaiting trial, accused of stealing nearly $1 million from the failed Poinciana Park project that was supposed to revitalize the blighted Liberty City community. Nothing was ever built.

The police records show that Stackhouse engaged in an elaborate campaign to curry favor with Meek as the builder sought the congressman's help in obtaining federal funding for the project. In addition to helping the aide's house purchase, Stackhouse hired Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, paying her $90,000 in consulting fees and paying for a Cadillac Escalade for her to drive.

Meek twice sought congressional earmarks to benefit the project but has insisted that was unrelated to his mother's work for the developer.

On Friday, he repeated that his efforts were designed to help bring jobs and development to the heart of his district — not to provide political payback to Stackhouse.

Some details of Stackhouse's relationship with Meek — a Democrat in a three-way race for the U.S. Senate — were first revealed in a series of Miami Herald articles in 2007. Responding at the time, Meek said that he was unaware that Stackhouse had hired his mother and that he had never discussed the Stackhouse project with her.

Posted by Adam Smith at 11:53:18 PM on May 14, 2010 in Adam C.
St. Petersburg Times

[FreeJG]

1. Now the ad is gone....

At least the post is still here!

[Dr.Phool]

3. Donate a 10 spot, and you won't see the ads anymore.

I was boycotting donations for a while, but when I started getting ads for Pat Toomey, I gave in.

[EFerrari]

2. I don't know about you, but I fact check everything Miami Hurled prints. n/t

[Mojorabbit]

4. It would be weird

that he would not know his mother had been hired. But then I am looking through the lens of my family which is close, he may not be close with his mother. I have no idea.

[EFerrari]

5. I don't know him but I know them. They'll print anything and have.

I just mean, check behind them before assuming they're reporting in good faith.

[dmr]

6. Meeks responds - and supports prosecuting Stackhouse.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/93904299.html

- snip -

Meek says his integrity is intact and this has nothing to do with him, implying it's surfaced only because he's running for Senate.

The congressman says the chief of staff in question hasn't been working for him for over two years; Meek supports prosecuting Stackhouse.

"Unfortunately, he was not a truthful person," said Meek, referring to Stackhouse. "He's being prosecuted. None of the public dollars that were achieved federally went towards the project, it was redirected. But, when we look at putting people back to work, we're going to run into these situations sometimes. It has nothing to do with me. I have not been interviewed by anybody for no reason at all -- there's not any reason for anybody to be concerned with me."

- snip -