http://www.sun-herald.com/DSNewsstory.cfm?pubdate=052408&story=tp4de4.htm&folder=NewsArchive4
05/24/08
E-mails spark House investigation
Rep. Kreegel says he was asked for info
State Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, faces investigations by both the Florida Elections Commission and the state House into allegations he directed his former legislative aide to take actions against a political opponent to help Kreegel's campaign last November, according to documents from those agencies obtained by the Sun Friday.
But Kreegel said Friday he was responding to a request from a constituent, the employer of Kreegel's opponent, who wanted to learn more about her employee's questionable academic credentials.
Kreegel's political opponent, Keith Richter, states on his campaign Web site he has a master's degree in mathematics (2006) and is working toward a Ph.D. from Canterbury University.
Kreegel said that day people were contacting his office with "the buzz" that Richter's credentials were from a correspondence college that had several addresses in recent years, including one located on an island in the Indian Ocean.
Dr. E. Rogers, a dean at Hodges University in Fort Myers, where Richter worked as an assistant teacher, called Kreegel at about 8 p.m. one night last November because she was having trouble verifying Richter's academic credentials, Kreegel said.
Kreegel said he directed his former legislative assistant, Barry Millman, to respond to Rogers' request.
"I told her, 'I don't know what you have, but I'll have Barry send you any public records he has,'" Kreegel said.
David Rivera, chairman of the House Rules and Calendar Council, asked House Speaker Marco Rubio to appoint a probable cause panel or a special investigator to investigate Kreegel for violating a rule against using state employees or funds for campaign purposes, according to a May 20 letter Rivera wrote to the speaker.
Kreegel could be fined, scolded or terminated as lawmaker, if the the allegation is affirmed.
The elections commission also notified Kreegel this month that it found the complaint against him "legally sufficient," according to a May 14 letter from Barbara Linthicum, executive director of the commission.
Kreegel was advised he may respond in writing to the allegation within 20 days.
Both of those investigations are based on the same complaint, filed last fall by Richter's campaign coordinator, Robert J. Anderson of Lehigh Acres. The complaints originally were dismissed for technical faults. Anderson revised them in April.
Anderson said he has also filed a third complaint with the state ethics commission. He said he has yet to receive a notice about that complaint.
He said he was "surprised" that the House was pursuing its investigation into Kreegel's actions. He said the House is hesitant to pursue investigations about members.
"I thought I had a better shot with the ethics and elections commissions," Anderson said.
Millman told House investigators last fall that Kreegel told him to send information to the Hodges University dean as part of his "constituent services," according to a House report on that investigation.
However, Millman was subsequently terminated after he failed to release copies of e-mails he wrote in response to Kreegel's direction. Millman had said he failed to locate the e-mails because Anderson requested e-mails pertaining to International University, not Hodges University, the report indicates.
Anderson also claimed that Kreegel violated public records laws because he "knew or should have known" that Millman was withholding public records. But Rivera found those allegations were "not well founded."
Kreegel pointed out that Anderson has a criminal record. In 1998, he was charged with multiple counts of check fraud and convicted on two counts.
"So, he's no slouch," Kreegel said.
Anderson, however, questioned what his past record has to do with his right to file a complaint about Kreegel's actions.
"I paid my time," he said.
You can e-mail Greg Martin at gmartin@sun-herald.com.
By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer
Pd. Pol. Adv. House Dist 72 Coalition for Better Leadership PAC
E-mails spark House investigation
