TAMPA - When the headlines first appeared in 2001, friends of then-Mayor Dick Greco told him: Fire Steve LaBrake.
He heard it on the party circuit. He heard it from City Council members. He read it on editorial pages.
But Greco stood by LaBrake until the end.
The former mayor not only remained loyal to his housing chief, he lashed out at politicians who wanted LaBrake's head. He condemned reporters for destroying a man mired in a divorce.
"Many people would rather criticize or throw darts or whatever the hell they do without understanding all the facts," Greco said in a December speech.
Thursday, he wasn't talking.
Greco, now a senior vice president at the Edward DeBartolo Property Group, did not return calls about LaBrake's 60-count indictment alleging bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud.
Greco's friends say the former mayor was guilty only of being too willing to forgive. His critics said Greco's back-slapping atmosphere allowed the LaBrake scandal to happen.
"The culture of permissiveness was very real, and these indictments prove it," said former City Council member Bob Buckhorn.
In 2001, then-City Attorney Jim Palermo supervised an inquiry of the LaBrake scandal, which was conducted by Gina Grimes, then chief assistant city attorney.
The report was sent to the Florida Ethics Commission, whose members blasted it as a whitewash.
The report addressed the allegation that Lynne LaBrake, then LaBrake's girlfriend, improperly profited by selling gift bags to the nonprofit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan, which received contracts through LaBrake's office.
The city report pointed out that she sold her gift bags to THAP Realty, a wing of the nonwebfeedCommission that THAP actually paid for the bags through one of its taxpayer-funded entities.
Grimes said she did not ask for copies of the checks that paid for the gift bags. In determining whether the ethics code was violated, she said, the source of the money was less important than the name on the contract.
Thursday, federal prosecutors filed bribery charges against the LaBrakes related to those gift bags. Grimes, now acting city attorney, did not return a phone call for comment Thursday.
Buckhorn blamed Greco for restricting the investigation. "I think, unfortunately, the person that wrote (the report) was given a limited leash," Buckhorn said.
Greco's friends said he never had the heart to investigate friends. In eight years in office, he did not fire one senior manager.
"Dick has a lot of compassion for people," said friend George Levy. "I think in Dick's mind, the people doing the talking were blowing it out of proportion."
"Dick believed in people," Levy said. "He trusted people."
Greco, who has been married three times, also sympathized with LaBrake's personal problems. LaBrake had had an affair with his aide, then Lynne McCarter.
"He came in here and told me his whole story," Greco said in March, as he prepared to leave office. "I saw him cry on two occasions. He told me personal things that made me feel for him as a person."
- Times staff writer David Karp can be reached at 813 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com
They face charges
STEVE LABRAKE, 52: The former head of Tampa's Business and Community Services department, which controls construction projects, housing grants, zoning, permits and low-income housing. Prosecutors allege he received bribes from Chet Luney and Dean Ryan, awarding contracts to them in exchange for favors that helped him build the W Corona Street "dream home." now works as a real estate broker. He faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and 28 bribery-related counts.
LYNNE LABRAKE, 33: Formerly Lynne McCarter, she is Steve LaBrake's wife. She was his top aide in the city's housing department when she was his girlfriend. Despite not having a college degree, she moved under LaBrake's direction from being a $6-an-hour clerk to the $55,723-a-year aide's job. She made thousands of dollars by selling Christmas baskets, "Welcome Packages," and a Toyota 4Runner to the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP). She and THAP CEO Chet Luney entered what prosecutors call a "sham" lease agreement on one of her properties. She faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and 28 bribery-related counts.
LORI A. ROBERTS, 40: As a loan officer with the USF Federal Credit Union, she handled the $230,000 mortgage Lynne LaBrake used to finance the W Corona Street home, which Mrs. LaBrake received despite a marginal financial statement. In 1995, Mrs. LaBrake prepared a city loan package for Roberts' home on Marham Avenue. Steve LaBrake fired a contractor and hired Ryan Construction to complete the home's renovation, and helped Roberts get a loan on a pool. Roberts faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD and one count of wire fraud.
CHESTER M. LUNEY, 59: Formerly the CEO of the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan (THAP), one of the city's largest nonprofit groups, which builds low-income housing and provides social services with tax dollars. Luney resigned his $78,000-a-year job from THAP in December 2001 amid revelations he performed favors for the LaBrakes. They include: signing a blind lease for Mrs. LaBrake and buying gift baskets and a Toyota 4Runner from her, hauling an old house off the W Corona Street lot and digging a hole for a pool there. In 2001, Luney resigned as a psychologist at the Veterans Administration after the Times revealed he was writing grants there to funnel money into his nonprofit. Luney faces one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud, 19 bribery-related counts and two counts of embezzling government funds.
DEAN R. RYAN, 65: A general contractor and president of Ryan Construction. He built the shell of the 4,200-square-foot home on W Corona Street for $120,000, after having received more than $1-million worth of city contracts from LaBrake's department. Prosecutors say he helped Lynne LaBrake pay off her credit card and paid to have a pool built for the W Corona Street home. In June, the city suspended Ryan Construction from doing government work because the company built a city-backed house on the wrong lot. Ryan is charged with one count of conspiring to defraud HUD, one count of wire fraud and nine bribery-related counts.
