{"id":106781,"date":"2018-10-26T10:42:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=106781"},"modified":"2018-10-26T10:43:31","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:43:31","slug":"mayor-gillum-has-serious-problems-with-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=106781","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Gillum has serious problems with the FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Andrew Gillum needs to explain conflicts in stories of lobbyist pals, FBI agents | Cotterell<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->Bill Cotterell, Capital Curmudgeon<br \/>\nTallahassee Democrat<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong>The back story:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/news\/2018\/10\/23\/reports-fbi-gave-andrew-gillum-his-ticket-hamilton\/1740859002\/\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">&#8216;I got you&#8217;: Texts, emails detail how Adam Corey, FBI arranged trips for Andrew Gillum<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">And he didn\u2019t forget the race card as he suggested the records were just another attack on his integrity. \u201cThe goal is obviously to use my candidacy as a way to reinforce, frankly, stereotypes about black men,\u201d Gillum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Whose goal? Are there unknown forces out there trying to torpedo him?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Meanwhile, what about the \u201cHamilton\u201d tickets? And what about the previous explanations of the New York trip \u2013 as well as the Costa Rica vacation? Gillum says he paid his share for the Pacific coastal villa but the mayor\u2019s former friend, lobbyist Adam Corey, provided the Ethics Commission records suggesting his firm may have written off the mayor\u2019s expenses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The FBI has been investigating the city-county development authority for over three years, although Gillum has repeatedly said the feds have assured him he\u2019s not a target. The state Ethics Commission won\u2019t finish its separate inquiry, which does involve Gillum, until well after the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Records subpoenaed by the Ethics Commission and released by Corey\u2019s attorney included messages between Corey and Gillum about an FBI agent posing as an Atlanta developer named Mike Miller. During the New York trip, Corey texted, \u201cMike Miller and the crew have tickets for us for Hamilton tonight at 8 p.m. Let me know if you can join us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Gillum replied, \u201cI can be free by 6 p.m. Awesome news about Hamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RSJuNNiP-d0\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo float\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/f9a2aca2336cf93af9eca2e49fa975d6c8c9820a\/c=66-0-1081-1353\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/05\/28\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636631293607433687-adam.jpg?width=180&amp;height=240&amp;fit=crop\" alt=\"Adam Corey, former lobbyist, real estate developer\" width=\"180\" data-mycapture-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/05\/28\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636631293607433687-adam.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/af099d92642c10b0181b350d40433dafa724f562\/r=338x400\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/05\/28\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636631293607433687-adam.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h5>Adam Corey, former lobbyist, real estate developer and restaurateur who received $2.1 million in local tax money to renovate the building that now houses his Edison Restaurant. He is a longtime friend of Mayor Andrew Gillum, and was his volunteer campaign treasurer when Gillum ran for mayor. He also lobbied before the city on behalf of several clients and arranged a trip to New York City that also involved Gillum and undercover agents.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Hali Tauxe\/Democrat)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Last year, Gillum declined to answer questions from this newspaper about the trip. Asked about Hamilton and going to a New York Mets ballgame, he said, \u201cI have no knowledge of any of that.\u201d After he won the Democratic primary, Gillum told the\u00a0<i>Washington Post<\/i>he got the theater ticket from his brother, Marcus, whom he assumed had paid for it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The mayor\u2019s explanation on Tuesday, after Corey\u2019s attorney made his document dump, was classic evasion. Broadway tickets from a businessman seeking favors from the city? Let me tell you about my grandmother. Ethics and gifts? Did I mention I\u2019m the first in my family to graduate high school?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Early voting was already well underway when this latest news broke, with more than a million ballots already cast. As this is written, Wednesday afternoon, we don\u2019t know how Republican Ron DeSantis will use this new information in their evening debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But it\u2019s safe to assume DeSantis and the Republicans will work up some negative advertisements \u2013 probably featuring the words \u201cFBI,\u201d \u201cinvestigation\u201d and \u201cEthics Commission\u201d as often as possible. Perhaps with grainy, sinister-looking photos of Gillum moving across the screen, with snatches of ominous headlines, amid shots of luxury resorts and glittering Broadway vistas, as a voiceover tells the tale in sepulchral tones.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-RSJuNNlsmis\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo float\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/74e75a13474fdb36ac6d632f7b9d9f005a5f1dd9\/c=137-0-1399-1682\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/07\/17\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636359060012342695-miller-pixelate-48-v2.jpg?width=180&amp;height=240&amp;fit=crop\" alt=\"This photo shows the three men believed to be undercover\" width=\"180\" data-mycapture-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2017\/07\/17\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636359060012342695-miller-pixelate-48-v2.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/cd443b4bd30310240efc176c4d14398ee51403e6\/r=365x400\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/07\/17\/Tallahassee\/Tallahassee\/636359060012342695-miller-pixelate-48-v2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h5>This photo shows the three men believed to be undercover FBI agents who used aliases and cover stories as part of an investigation in Tallahassee. Pictured from left are Mike Miller, Mike Sweets and Brian Butler. The Democrat decided to blur the physical characteristics of the men after discussions with the FBI.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Special to the Democrat)<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Will it matter on the morning of Nov. 7?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">That depends, partly, on how it influences the undecided voters \u2013 and if they will vote. Floridians enthusiastically committed to Gillum will be steadfast in their support. Probably hundreds of thousands already cast their ballots in the first two days of early voting, before the story broke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">And the same can be said for diehard DeSantis supporters, who mailed in their ballots last week or turned out bright and early when their polling places opened on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">With polls indicating a tight race, and considering Florida\u2019s history of deciding gubernatorial elections within a percent or two, this is not what Gillum needs to be talking about in the last two weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><i>Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com<\/i><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/opinion\/2018\/10\/24\/gillum-needs-explain-conflicts-stories-lobbyist-pals\/38265693\/\">http:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/opinion\/2018\/10\/24\/gillum-needs-explain-conflicts-stories-lobbyist-pals\/38265693\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andrew Gillum needs to explain conflicts in stories of lobbyist pals, FBI agents | Cotterell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}