Judge disallows computer firm's claim against Byrd
A claim that the House speaker wanted a hidden site in a computer system to track "political IOUs" cannot be raised at trial.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published October 29, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - It was an explosive, headline-grabbing charge: House Speaker Johnnie Byrd forced a company to add an electronic hiding place to the House computer system so he could secretly "keep track of political IOUs."
But the allegation by a computer company suing the House was "scandalous," a judge ruled Tuesday, and he ordered it removed from the court record.
The decision by Leon Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom means the allegation cannot be raised during a coming trial.
"It is not relevant," Sjostrom told lawyers during an hourlong hearing. "That's just not appropriate for a complaint."
Hayes Computer Systems of Tallahassee sued the House for $2.9-million it says it is owed for installing a computer system to track bills, amendments and votes. The House has paid more than $3-million in fees to a Clearwater computer firm, Jagged Peak, to modify the system and to attorneys hired to oversee it.
The judge did not strike Hayes' allegations that the secure site existed or that Byrd threatened to hold up payments to Hayes unless the site were created.
Still, the decision represents a victory for Byrd. His attorneys said the charge was baseless and made largely to generate more bad publicity for the Plant City Republican, who is running for U.S. Senate.
"We're dealing with speculation, or paranoid suspicions. ... This type of press coverage is going to serve to polarize the parties, not work out some kind of a resolution," said Charles Geitner, a member of Byrd's legal team at Broad & Cassel in Tampa.
Hayes' attorney, Kenneth Sukhia, stood by the allegations and said the judge's ruling does not weaken the company's case. The lawsuit claims Byrd pressured Hayes to install the so-called "DSS," or "decision support system," which allowed him to use state equipment for personal political reasons.
Sukhia quoted from a recent deposition and notes maintained by a Hayes employee, Michael Maddox, who said Byrd demanded a "surreptitious" area walled off from the rest of the network where he kept track of "promises made and promises kept" to lawmakers. Sukhia said Maddox reported to Bob West, a staffer overseeing the House computer system.
"The existence of the application should be hidden, downplayed as much as possible," Sukhia said, reading from Maddox's notes. "Private information accessible only by a small, known group. Private information must remain private until destroyed."
"It stunk," Maddox said in the deposition, according to Sukhia. "It bothered me a lot to the point I didn't want to write the system. I absolutely did not want to write the system. I wanted to quit."
Byrd's attorneys were equally adamant that the depositions of Maddox and his boss, Hayes president Karen Martinoff, fail to prove that Byrd insisted on the feature, why it was requested or whether other legislators had access to it.
Geitner read passages of Maddox's testimony where he repeatedly said "I don't recall" or "I can't speculate" in response to questions.
"The only thing that this witness could say is that the system was secret and from that, he gleaned that it was to be used for keeping track of political IOUs. But nobody ever told him that," Geitner told the judge.
Judge Sjostrom has imposed $1,000 in sanctions on Hayes to compel the company to respond more quickly to the House's demands for information in the case.
