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Voting machine executive's conspiracy case is dismissed
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer Criminal charges against an executive for the company that sold Pinellas County its new voting machines have been dismissed by a Louisiana judge. Phil Foster originally was to become project manager for Sequoia Voting System's $14-million contract with Pinellas. But Sequoia put another man in that job after Pinellas officials learned from the St. Petersburg Times that Foster was under indictment for conspiracy charges in a Louisiana election kickback scandal. He has said repeatedly that he is innocent. After that discovery, Pinellas officials reviewed the records of Sequoia and other companies in the running for the contract. They also tightened their purchasing rules, mandating that they find out such information about prospective contractors. Commissioners eventually chose Sequoia for the contract. Deborah Clark, the Pinellas County elections supervisor, said Monday that she would be glad to have Foster working on the Pinellas project again. The office doesn't need extra help right now, she said, but she would be happy to call him in. "Obviously, the man was falsely accused and has been completely exonerated," Clark said. A Louisiana state district judge threw out charges against Foster in April. But prosecutors plan to appeal the judge's move to Louisiana's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, said Assistant District Attorney Sandra Ribes. Ribes declined to comment further about the case. According to The Advocate of Baton Rouge, La., Jackson ruled that prosecutors had failed to show that their case against Foster did not use his testimony to a grand jury. Foster was given immunity to testify before the grand jury in the case against others involved in the scandal. Foster was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office. Prosecutors said that Foster, his brother-in-law and a former Louisiana elections commissioner were involved a scheme to circumvent state bidding laws, drive up prices for voting equipment, then use some of the profits for kickbacks. Clark said she knew that prosecutors planned to appeal the judge's dismissal. But she was confident in Foster's innocence. "I know him to be an honorable man. He is an excellent person in his field," Clark said. "I don't see a need to bring in anyone else, but if the situation should change . . . I see no reason why he couldn't or shouldn't be involved." Mike Frontera, a Sequoia vice president, is now the project manager for Pinellas and Hillsborough. Frontera said the company had told elections officials about the dismissal but hadn't asked for Foster to return.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Letters |
