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Orlando Mayor Dyer is indicted

Former Democratic state Sen. Buddy Dyer is suspended after he and three others are charged with violating state election law.

By wire services
Published March 12, 2005

ORLANDO - A year ago this week, it felt like victory.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer had won reelection, avoiding a runoff with a second-place challenger by only 234 votes.

On Friday, however, the fallout from that election veered into a freefall from power.

The former Democratic state senator turned himself in at the Orange County Jail, indicted with three others on charges of violating state election law.

By early afternoon, Gov. Jeb Bush had suspended him from office.

Though the setback seemed sudden, the mayor's problems began the night of the March 2004 city election as results trickled in at county election headquarters.

For a time it appeared challenger Ken Mulvaney had enough votes to force a runoff. But Dyer ended up sweeping the absentee ballots.

The next day, two black activists tipped Mulvaney's brother to apparent irregularities with absentees. The signature of Ezzie Thomas, known in Orlando as the absentee ballot king, was on about 265 absentee ballots as a witness. Others who were paid $100 by Thomas witnessed another 100 ballots.

Knocking on doors, Mulvaney's supporters found that most of the voters Thomas helped were elderly. Some were blind.

Mulvaney filed suit two weeks after the election, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began investigating. The probe resulted in indictments handed up Thursday by a grand jury in Orlando.

Dyer was indicted for allegedly paying Thomas for absentee votes; Thomas was indicted for allegedly accepting the money for those votes - all in violation of a 1998 state law.

At the center of the case is about $10,000 in fees that Dyer's re-election campaign paid Thomas. But the purpose of those fees is in dispute.

The grand jury also indicted Circuit Judge Alan Apte and Dyer's campaign manager, Patty Sharp. Dyer, Apte and Sharp each were booked Friday on one charge of providing "pecuniary gain" for absentee ballot possession or collection.

Apte employed Thomas during his 2002 campaign.

Thomas insists he only showed voters how to properly fill out ballots. He also would take a ballot if people asked. Others allege he did more.

"This investigation apparently was focused on only my campaign and the campaign of one judge," said Dyer, a Democrat in the nonpartisan office.

"My campaign employed a campaign consultant who allegedly violated the law by encouraging older African-American voters to participate in the elective process and I'm being held to account for that."

The mayor denied that he or anybody with his campaign did anything wrong. He also called the charge "politically motivated."

"I intend to fight these charges with every ounce of strength that I have," he said.

City Council member Ernest Page will take the mayor's place until there is a special election within two months. Dyer could return to his $144,349-a-year job if he successfully fights the charge.

"When we are successful in that fight, I will return to the office to serve as your mayor," Dyer said.

Apte was "unassigned" from his responsibilities, and his docket was turned over to another judge, said Karen Levey, a spokeswoman for the 9th Judicial Circuit of Florida.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission likely will decide whether Apte stays on the bench.

Sharp's attorney, Bill Sheaffer, said the defendants committed no crimes.

The indictment "is the result of a number of circumstances that have created an imperfect storm," he said. "The circumstances being powerful political operatives, witnesses who have not told the truth and a rogue grand jury that does not have the ability to discern the truth."

Dean Mosley, Thomas' attorney, said that just because his client was indicted doesn't necessarily mean he will be prosecuted. Thomas and his attorney said they were surprised by the indictment.

"You have to have intent to commit a crime," Mosley said. "My client never had any intent to commit any crime."

Special prosecutor Brad King, who was brought in from Marion County, declined comment Friday, an aide said.

The law in question was enacted after Miami's 1998 mayoral election was thrown out because of fraud committed in the collection of absentee ballots.

Last summer, the investigation attracted national attention when FDLE officers were accused of being too aggressive in questioning black voters about Thomas' activities. Many charged that the department's tactics would keep black citizens from voting in the November presidential election.

Bush became involved Friday because of a Florida law that calls for the governor to suspend public officials charged with a felony until their case is decided, and they are removed if convicted.

The indictments are sure to send ripples through the Orlando area's political community, where Thomas is a significant figure.

A 73-year-old retired small-business owner, he is president of the Orange County Voters League, a nonpartisan volunteer group that encourages minority voting.

He has worked for some of Central Florida's most prominent politicians, including now-U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., when he was a local county official, and Republican Secretary of State Glenda Hood, when she was mayor. Hood now oversees elections in Florida.

Other former clients include state representatives, city and county commissioners and a judicial candidate. Dyer employed Thomas to perform get-out-the-vote activities during his unsuccessful bid to become Florida attorney general in 2002.

Dyer is a former leader of the state Senate's Democrats. He was first elected mayor in a February 2003, winning a special election to fill the remainder of Hood's term after she was appointed to her state office.

Dyer has said that during his 2004 re-election campaign he signed checks and approved invoices, worth about $10,000, for Thomas. But he said the documents did not say what Thomas was being paid to do and Dyer said he didn't know.

Earlier this year, he testified in a deposition for the civil lawsuit filed by Mulvaney. He said he was not involved in campaign field work.

"I was mayor," Dyer said. "I spent most of my time being mayor."

Times staff writer Thomas C. Tobin contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press and Orlando Sentinel.

Buddy Dyer, his campaign manager and a Circuit Court judge are accused of providing pecuniary gain for absentee ballot possession or collection. The purpose of fees is in dispute - a 1998 state law prohibits paying someone or being paid for collecting absentee ballots.

[Last modified March 12, 2005, 01:03:00]