What would happen if Mayor Dyer is not in office?

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For the short period he had in office, he will probably be remembered as the mayor that did the most for downtown. Premier Trade Plaza, The Vue, The Esplanade.

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Hood sidesteps absentee issue

By Beth Kassab | Tallahassee Bureau

Posted March 16, 2005

TALLAHASSEE -- Secretary of State Glenda Hood said Tuesday that she hired a now-indicted campaign worker for "voter outreach" during her 2000 Orlando mayoral bid but sidestepped questions about whether he collected absentee ballots.

The campaign worker, Ezzie Thomas, along with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and two others, face felony charges for election-law violations stemming from absentee ballots collected during Dyer's campaign for mayor last year.

"Ezzie did voter outreach, just as many people did on different campaigns," said Hood, the state's chief elections officer, as she presided Tuesday over the unveiling of new sculptures honoring the Miccosukee Indian tribe just outside her office.

Asked specifically whether Thomas collected absentee ballots when she ran for her third term as Orlando mayor, she said, "He worked in the black community on voter outreach, just as people did in the Hispanic community and the community overall."

Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hood as secretary of state in 2002, a role that oversees the state's culture and art offices as well as elections.

Thomas' lawyer, Dean Mosley, has said that his client told prosecutors that several candidates, including Dyer, hired him because of his reputation for gathering a lot of absentee votes. Mosley could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Hood would not say what she thought about the indictment against Dyer, saying she wouldn't answer any more questions on the topic at the art event.

"You can call and I'll talk about that another time," she said. "It's only fair to the Miccosukee tribe."

Later in the day, Hood spokeswoman Jenny Nash said the secretary would not answer any more questions. But Nash added that her boss was not part of the investigation by FDLE or prosecutors.

"At no time during the investigation was Secretary Hood contacted or were any members of her campaign, as far as she knows," Nash said.

The law has a three-year statute of limitations. So Hood, who hired Thomas five years ago, could not be prosecuted even if an investigation were to find any wrongdoing.

Election records show Hood, a Republican, paid Thomas $6,599 in four installments between Feb. 10, 2000, and March 13, 2000. The election was March 14, 2000, and Hood won with 55.4 percent of the vote.

Nash said Thomas' voter outreach during Hood's campaign included "voter education" and "voter turnout," but she would not elaborate on the issue of absentee ballots.

Dyer, a Democrat who paid Thomas $10,000 last year, turned himself in at the Orange County Jail on Friday and was released on a third-degree felony charge that he paid Thomas to collect absentee ballots for his 2004 campaign.

Thomas, Dyer campaign manager Patti Sharp and Orange Circuit Judge Alan Apte, who paid Thomas $5,000 in 2002, also were indicted by a grand jury and turned themselves in on similar charges.

State Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and state Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, also are known to have paid Thomas during their recent campaigns, according to financial records.

Antone, who paid Thomas $500 in 2002, did not return repeated calls.

Siplin, who paid Thomas $2,500 in 2000 and $4,000 in 2002, said, "I don't have any comment about that matter."

Beth Kassab can be reached

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Dyer supporters rally to protest indictment

They say his suspension as Orlando's mayor disenfranchises voters, especially blacks.

By Rich McKay | Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted March 17, 2005

Holding signs high over their heads and chanting, "Our vote counts!" about 100 supporters of ousted Mayor Buddy Dyer rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday to claim that the suspension of Orlando's top leader is dirty politics.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush suspended Dyer on Friday after he surrendered on charges he paid a consultant to collect absentee ballots in Orlando's predominantly black neighborhoods. The protesters at City Hall said they were angry that Dyer, a Democrat, and three others are the first people ever indicted on charges they broke the 1998 absentee-ballot law.

"This is a rally for justice; this is a rally for democracy," said Orlando resident Thomas Alston, the former leader of the Orange County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "I'm not saying it is or isn't racist, but all these votes they're taking away from us are black votes."

Meanwhile, Dyer made his first public appearance since leaving office at a charity event around the corner. He said he had nothing to do with the rally but was encouraged.

"You know, we haven't organized any of this," Dyer said. "It's been very heartening."

Alston said the idea for the rally came about during a discussion around his kitchen table Friday.

"This is a grass-roots thing," he said. "Because we're mad. We elected Buddy, and now they're taking our vote away."

The protesters were a mix of young people, some wearing T-shirts and dreadlocks, and middle-aged executives in business suits, who were undeterred by a brief but heavy rain. For 45 minutes, they shouted at the rush-hour traffic. Some drivers honked horns as they passed.

John Kelly Harris, who recently ran a failed campaign for a County Commission seat, joined the protesters.

"Dyer's done a fantastic job as mayor," he said. "In his short time in office, he's got this city turned around. He's already left his mark."

Dyer was indicted by a grand jury over alleged violations in how absentee ballots were handled in his 2004 re-election campaign. Campaign-expenditure records show that Dyer paid campaign consultant Ezzie Thomas $10,000 to get out the vote in the black neighborhoods in west Orlando. An Orange County grand jury charged Dyer with paying Thomas to collect absentee ballots.

Also indicted were Dyer's campaign manager, Patti Sharp; Thomas; and Circuit Judge Alan Apte, who hired Thomas for his 2002 campaign. Apte is a Republican.

Dyer supporters cry foul because other highly placed politicians, including Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, both Republicans, as well as others, hired Thomas after the 1998 law. If any violations occurred in those campaigns, no one can be charged because the statute of limitations has passed.

"Of course it's partisan," said Debbie Flanagan, 69. "You have a Republican governor taking out a Democrat mayor."

Flanagan, carrying a homemade "Buddy is best" sign and wearing a Re-elect Mayor Dyer T-shirt, said: "They did this because they're afraid of Buddy. He's getting too powerful."

Dyer didn't attend the rally. Instead, he was hosting the $125-a-plate fund-raiser for After School All Stars, a national charity for underprivileged children. He was scheduled to emcee the event at Kres Chophouse and Lounge on Church Street before his tumble from public office.

Dyer won re-election in 2004 by beating four opponents with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote.

The candidate who finished a distant second, Ken Mulvaney, sued, arguing that Dyer's reliance on absentee ballots helped him avoid a runoff. Even though Thomas only handled a few hundred absentee ballots for Dyer, Mulvaney wants a judge to throw out all absentee ballots cast in the race -- more than 4,700 votes.

Judge Theotis Bronson is expected to rule on Mulvaney's request within two weeks.

Protesters such as Robin Bouey of Orlando said throwing out the absentees would disenfranchise thousands of black voters.

"You think your vote should count, and then you turn around and someone has taken it away from you," Bouey said.