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Hopefuls for mayor shine light on a law
By KATHY SAUNDERS TREASURE ISLAND -- When Mayor Leon Atkinson admitted to breaking the state's Sunshine Law, the people who want his job were listening. Atkinson, who is not running for re-election, has said he doesn't like the law governing open meetings, that in the past he has talked to commissioners about city business behind the scenes and that all of the city's elected officials have done the same. Mary Maloof, running to succeed Atkinson, has been criticized throughout the campaign for skirting the Sunshine Law as a sitting commissioner. Maloof said she phoned the mayor after a meeting last fall about the commission's vote on the land development regulations. Her call, she said, was to explain her reasons for voting. Under the law, elected officials are not permitted to talk about anything they may have to vote on in the foreseeable future. "It's a very special thing that we all have to watch out very carefully for," Maloof said last weekend during a mayoral candidate debate. Maloof maintained that her phone call to Atkinson "had nothing to do with me violating the Sunshine Law." Two of her opponents in the mayor's race, George Makrauer and John "J.D." Hadsall, have spoken out many times about Maloof's and Atkinson's actions. "The Sunshine Law is a very, very simple law," Hadsall said. "I don't know what he (Atkinson) was thinking. It's not rocket science. You have to just conduct business in public forums in announced meetings." Makrauer said Atkinson phoned him at home at least twice while he was a commissioner for District 1 from 1997 to 1999. He said he told the mayor he could not talk about city issues. Atkinson said commissioners had been breaking the Sunshine Law in the way they approved minutes from previous meetings. A ruling last year clarified that commissioners should publicly adopt minutes at open meetings rather than just sign off on the documents in the clerk's office. Asked about other times when he may have violated the Sunshine Law, Atkinson said, "That's the only thing I'm going to admit to." Atkinson said he plans to work to repeal the state law, saying it's bad for business. He pointed out that the state legislators who adopted the law exempted themselves from the same restrictions.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
