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Panel to probe complaint against Kreegel
(Last updated: May 27, 2008 8:53 PM)
Staff Report
A House panel will probe whether Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, directed a former legislative aide to contact the employer of his Republican primary opponent with derogatory information using state computers.
House Speaker Marco Rubio announced Tuesday that he had appointed a five-member Probable Cause Panel, which will have until June 30 to complete its investigation and recommend whether any further action should be taken. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, will be the chairman. The other Republican members are Dick Kravitz, of Jacksonville, and J.C. Planas, of Miami. The Democratic members are Loranne Ausley and Curtis Richardson, both of Tallahassee.
Kreegel said Tuesday that he preferred to decline comment pending the panel's findings.
The complaint was originally filed last fall by Robert J. Anderson, a Lehigh Acres resident who has done campaign work on behalf of Kreegel's Republican primary opponent, Keith Richter, also of Lehigh Acres.
The complaint alleges that Kreegel's legislative assistant at the time, Barry Millman, used state computers to inform officials at Hodges University in Fort Myers that Richter was claiming a degree from an institution blacklisted as a diploma mill. Richter had just been hired as an adjunct professor, but was subsequently downgraded to instructor.
Anderson's original complaint was rejected last December by Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, chairman of the House Rules and Calendar Council. Among other technical problems, the complaint lacked the required notarized cover letter.
Anderson filed essentially the same complaint April 23. This time, Rivera stated in a May 20 letter to Rubio that some of Anderson's allegations are not well-founded.
However, this still leaves the question of whether Kreegel "directed his legislative aide to contact the employer of an announced candidate ... to provide publicly available information that might damage the relationship between the employer and the employee."
But Rivera's letter added: "It is not alleged that the information provided was not true or of legitimate interest to the employer. The substance of the allegation appears to be that Rep. Kreegel's actions were motivated by his electoral interests, although they appear to be otherwise lawful."
Millman resigned shortly after Anderson filed his original complaint.
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Panel to probe complaint against Kreegel
