Problems may lurk in government whispers

By BRYAN GILMER

Revised August 11, 2000

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 8, 2000

Some elected officials have had a case of the whispers lately.

Members of the St. Petersburg City Council, Hillsborough County Commission and the Hernando County School Board sometimes whisper behind their hands to each other instead of speaking into the microphone at meetings that are supposed to be public.

For example: At a St. Petersburg City Council workshop July 27, Kathleen Ford leaned over and whispered something to Bill Foster.

Soon the furtive chat had stretched more than 10 minutes, with Ford gesturing, bobbing her head and once pointing a finger in the direction of colleague Jay Lasita, who was speaking publicly.

The whole purpose of a public meeting is for public officials to hash out an important decision -- in this case, whether to impose a new teen curfew -- with that discussion in public.

The Florida Government-in-the-Sunshine Law makes it a misdemeanor criminal offense for two or more members of the same elected body to discuss business privately.

When asked about the whispered discussion, Foster said it was not about public business but about youth soccer and Ford's children. Ford did not return calls over several days seeking an explanation of the whispered chat.

"I don't like to be rude," Foster said, explaining why he listened when Ford began to speak. Besides, Foster said, Lasita had spoken abundantly on the curfew issue already.

"When one of my colleagues speaks once or twice on an issue and gives it their best shot and I soak it all in, I'll give it that much. When it gets into round three or four, and it's repeat conversation, I invite anything else."

In Tampa, where Hillsborough County Commission meetings can drag on all day, commissioners also talk among themselves outside of earshot.

As the afternoon turns into early evening, Commissioner Jim Norman will lean back in his chair and whisper into the ear of Commissioner Ronda Storms. Commissioner Tom Scott is another member who often chats privately with other commissioners.

The whispering became so prevalent that then-commission Chairwoman Jan Platt, an outspoken champion of Government-in-the-Sunshine Laws, asked the county attorney's office last year to warn commissioners.

In a memo last October, Senior Assistant County Attorney Mary Helen Campbell reminded them what the law requires.

The memo did not stop commissioners from talking to each other privately -- sometimes in the hallway connecting their offices. Commissioner Pat Frank has spoken to fellow commissioners about agenda items in front of a St. Petersburg Times reporter.

After a meeting June 28, Storms huddled behind the commission chambers to apologize to Commissioner Tom Scott for any offense caused by comments she had made about the effort to attract Florida A&M University's law school to Tampa.

Asked about the conversation, Storms said she didn't consider it a breach of the Sunshine Law. And she said she wouldn't stop talking to commissioners during all-day meetings because the Times objected.

Professor Sandra Chance, director of the University of Florida's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, said discussions of public business in a hallway or during a recess are common violations of the Sunshine Law.

"The law prohibits secret discussions about public business," Chance said. "Whispering about public business during a public meeting or discussing public business during a recess of a meeting not only violates the letter of the law, but the spirit of the Government-in-the-Sunshine Laws."

In Hernando County, School Board members Robert Wiggins and Jim Malcolm are regular whisperers. They say it has a legitimate, practical purpose.

Malcolm, a veteran of local politics, knows nearly everyone in the audience. Wiggins, in just his second year on the board, knows relatively few.

So the veteran tells the rookie who's who: Names are exchanged, they say, but not discussion about votes.

Hernando school attorney Karen Gaffney said she sees nothing wrong with whispering names or personal chatter, as long hushed voices don't speak of board business.

But even discussions in hushed tones that are legal can create the "appearance of impropriety," Chance said, something public officials are wise to avoid. In Hillsborough, attorney Campbell wrote the same thing in her memo to commissioners.

"My question as a citizen of that area would be, "Why are my public officials engaged in soccer discussions during a public meeting when they're supposed to be paying attention to public business?' " Chance said.

To project a better image, Foster agreed it would be wise for him and colleagues to curtail their side conversations.

"Me, Bob (Kersteen), Bea (Griswold) and Kathleen probably talk a lot more than we should," he said. "Jay had a point that we ought to rotate seats periodically. I wouldn't object to that. Maybe I talk because I feel very comfortable with Kathleen and Bea."

- Times staff writers David Karp and Robert King contributed to this report.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.