State: Bush suspends four Escambia officials

Four of the five Escambia County commissioners had been arrested as part of a widening scandal that includes charges of bribery, racketeering, theft, and violating the state's government-in-the-sunshine law.

All four were suspended by Gov. Jeb Bush.

At the downtown county courthouse, County Manager George Touart, on the job just a week, tried to regroup Wednesday with the only commissioner who wasn't indicted, Tom Banjanin.

Banjanin, a former state legislator who describes himself in his county biography as "an all-around jolly-good fellow, and a defender of the taxpayer," said he'll do his best to keep things running. He faces re-election this fall but says he has no plans to use his status as the county's only unindicted commissioner as a campaign theme.

Bush must now appoint four interim commissioners to stand in for those arrested: Mike Bass, Terry Smith, Willie J. Junior, and W.D. Childers, an infamously feisty former state senator known as "the banty rooster."

Childers faces five misdemeanor charges that he violated the state's government-in-the-sunshine law. Wednesday, he invited a visitor into his living room and explained he wouldn't comment on the advice of his attorney.

Standing in bare feet, shorts and a T-shirt, Childers joked: "You like my red-neck tuxedo? You want some crackers and potted meat while you're here?"

Childers is no stranger to grand jury investigations. Several times during his 30 years in the Florida Senate, grand juries in North Florida investigated him over real estate transactions and other deals. None of the investigations led to criminal charges against him.

Wednesday is not the first time a Florida governor has suspended so many county commissioners in a single day.

In 1967, then-Gov. Claude Kirk suspended all five Taylor County commissioners for spending money to improve private property. A year later, Kirk suspended all five Citrus County commissioners for malfeasance and neglect of duty after private investigators hired by the governor found hundreds of forged county checks, questionable spending totaling more than $250,000. In 1983, three members of the Hillsborough County Commission were charged in a bribery sting.

The indictments Tuesday stemmed from a grand jury investigation of two recent land deals involving real estate agent Joe Elliott, who also was indicted. The indictments accuse some commissioners of shaking down local developers and engineering firms for money in exchange for favorable business or votes from the County Commission.

"I'm having trouble understanding how something like this could happen in this day and age," said Pensacola Mayor John Fogg, who worries that the scandal will delay some important community improvement projects.

Community activist Gail Fournier, who ran against Childers for the County Commission and lost, was not completely surprised.

"The development community has been running this county and completely destroying it," she said. "We had heard the rumors that they were meeting out of the sunshine. You could tell when the votes came down."

A number of county employees have left because of the chaos surrounding the commission in recent months.

"There's no sense of panic here," said acting County Attorney Janet Lander. "Sadness and resignation, yes. Flamboyant officials in troubled times come and go, but the work of the county goes on."

Childers' lawyer, Fred Levin, was critical of State Attorney Curtis Golden for investigating Childers.

"I flew in from Washington this morning and as the plane circled Pensacola Beach I looked down at all of the things W.D. Childers brought to this county," Levin said. "No senator ever did more for his district."

When told of Levin's comment, Golden said, "W.D. Childers may have served the community in the past, but does that give him a license to do what he wants to do?"

Golden said he could not discuss the investigation but said the indictments appear to be receiving a very positive reaction in the community.

Since the grand jury has not finished investigating, and many potential witnesses are county employees, the continued presence of commissioners being investigated "would be detrimental to its successful completion," grand jurors said in an interim report.

The formal charges include multiple misdemeanor counts of violating the state's Sunshine law, a measure passed in 1968 that prohibits members of county commissions, school boards and other governmental agencies from discussing public business in private.

In addition to the misdemeanors filed against all four commissioners, Commissioner Willie J. Junior, 59, was charged with racketeering, four counts of bribery and extortion and grand theft, all felonies. He is accused of soliciting and accepting bribes on several different occasions over the past two years, threatening bodily injury to several people and taking between $20,000 and $100,000 belonging to the county.

Commissioner Michael T. Bass, 55, was charged with two counts of bribery, a single count of money laundering and racketeering. He is accused of seeking $150,000 in campaign contributions in return for a favorable vote on a county courthouse complex master plan.

Bass is also accused of attempting to get Elliott, the real estate broker, to conduct a series of financial transactions involving $100,000 and soliciting an additional $150,000 in campaign contributions from a citizen who had matters pending before the commission.

Junior is a Democrat. The other three commissioners are Republicans.

In addition to the commissioners and Elliott, the grand jury indicted Elliott's wife, Georgann, on charges of bribery, racketeering, money laundering and structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

-- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

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