The state party acknowledges that its funds paid a fine filed against the Leon County committee.
By JONI JAMES
Published July 7, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Democratic Party confirmed Wednesday that it was the source of a mysterious $10,500 payment to settle a fine against the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee.
But state party officials said it appears only one person was aware of the transaction: Debbie Griffin-Bruton, a former state party controller who also was the local committee's elected treasurer.
It's the second time in recent weeks that state Democratic leaders have concluded that Griffin-Bruton, not former state party chairman Scott Maddox, was responsible for the party's financial missteps.
Griffin-Bruton wrote three checks to the Peoples First Community Bank in Tallahassee on Dec. 16 using a stamp of Maddox's signature, said party spokesman Mark Herron, who discovered the disbursements late Tuesday while scouring the party's books.
By writing three checks - for $5,000, $5,000 and $500 - Griffin-Bruton avoided getting a second signature as required by the party for any check over $5,000, Herron said.
Peoples First then converted the checks into a $10,500 cashier's check that was submitted that same day to the Leon County elections supervisor to satisfy a fine against the local committee for filing its third-quarter 2004 finance report 21 days late.
Herron said the money ideally would have been identified as a contribution to the Leon committee from the state party.
He said the state party is convinced that neither Maddox nor his chief of staff, Paige Carter-Smith, was aware of the transaction.
Leon County elections supervisor Ion Sancho said Wednesday he didn't know if the transaction met the requirements of the law, which requires such fines to be paid with "party funds."
After an internal audit last month, the party blamed Griffin-Bruton for mistakes that led the IRS in May to slap a $200,000 lien on the state party for not paying federal employee payroll taxes, though it said Maddox, a candidate for governor, showed poor judgment in hiring her.
Wednesday's announcement "confirms what Scott has been saying through this whole thing: This is clearly the unfortunate act of one employee who tried to cover her tracks," said Sallie Stohler, Maddox's campaign manager.
The findings came one day after a political adversary filed a complaint against Maddox with the Florida Elections Commission.
The Florida Police Benevolent Association alleged Tuesday that Maddox broke state law Jan. 10 when he signed a report stating the local committee had had no expenditures during the time the $10,500 fine was paid.
Maddox was chairman of the Leon County committee and state party chairman.
Maddox has said Griffin-Bruton never told him of the fine and that he signed the report in good faith.
Griffin-Bruton could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In a letter circulated last week by Maddox, Griffin-Bruton took the blame for the problems, saying her performance suffered due to the demands of caring for her husband, who has Alzheimer's disease.
When the party received a bank statement with the canceled checks, Carter-Smith reviewed the statement and initialed it, as part of standard procedure. But she said Wednesday that nothing on the statement caught her attention because the party was still processing expenses totaling "millions of dollars."
Carter-Smith, who succeeded Maddox as chairman of the local committee, said Griffin-Burton never mentioned the $10,500 fine to her.
