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Trash Talk
T"E~~I_H~~J.r~iam~t!~r~I~;com
Ethics panel may fine commissioner
OPA-LOCKA
• An attorney for Opa-Iocka Commissioner Rose Tydus said She will not fight charge. from Mlaml-Dade's ethic:. c:ommfSSlon over her dealings with a waste management Company,
BY CHARLE.5 RASIN crabln@MiamiHerald.CDlll
Two years ago, Opa-Iocka Commissioner Roie Tydus argued against a selection committee and her city man¬ager's recommendation to hire a Dew garbage-hauliq rum that would bave saved tupaye1'S more than $1 mU¬lion.
In her C8ge supporting a contract renewal witb Waste ~ment IDe., Tydus told fellow commlssionen: "WMI has proven to be ve£y corpo¬rate friendly to tho city o{
Opa-locka. •
Tuesday, that decision came back to haunt her.
Miami-Dacfe's Commission on lUIlcs and Public Trust said Tuesday it had reason to belleve Tydus sold at lell&t $4,417 worth of nOWe1'S {rom her private business to Waite Management between 2004 and 2006.
The ethics commission also foUnd Tydus held a pri¬vate job that con1Ucted with her elected position, and that the commissioner did DOt dis¬close $16,000 in eamiDp' she received in 2005 from the Dow-djssolved nonprofit Opa-Iocka Rescae Mission, which she operated,
The thrce COUnts could cost the cOmm.ilSioner 1\S much as $500 each and a let¬ter of reprimand. Her attor¬ney Sen Kuehne said his eli-
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eDt w6n't fight the charges,
"Commissioner Tydus
lully intends to resolve mat¬ters with the Comniission on Ethks because the allegations were lID unintentional over¬sight on her part," Kuehne said
The investigation into Tydus, who has heJd office since 2000. came as the result q[ other Opl-loeb investiga¬tions by the county police depUtment's public corrup¬tion unit and the state attor¬ney's omce.
The findings Infuriated Steven Barrett, a fol'lDItr two¬term Opa-locka commis¬sioner. who said his larbqe bill jumped (rom $27 to $42 a month.
"It's embarrassing and I shame. Rose told the commis¬sion it should pass this. Who were they (WMIJ Corporate
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friendly to - her?" Barrett said.
The rmdings are the Jatest in I series o{ embanusmeDts for Opa-Jocka City Hlill in the past two years.
In May. Emmanuel Nwa¬dike, 64. was charJed with 18 counts of racketeering. extor¬tion, fraud. money. launder¬i~g, unlawful compensation, dttlCiaJ mi!eonduct and labri. c:atiDg evidence,
The state attorney claims be used his pOSition as a pri¬vate enginee£ under Contract with the city to steer $2.4 mU¬lion in c:ontracts to a sin,cle firm - which then compe.n¬sated him with $348.000 in Idckbacks.
NWlclllte says he is inno¬cent.
His arrest came 10 months alter Opa-lodea city Commis¬sioner Terence Pinder was
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charged with accepting cash and gifts ti'om City Hall lob¬byisl Dante Starks.
Both Pinder and Starks have pleaded DOt guUty.
The allegations against Tydus are tar less damaging than those against Pinde1' and
Nwadlke. _
Still, the ethics commis¬sion said she should. not have been dealing with Waste Managemebt during the com¬missiOD'S unanimous 2006 vote to award it the •new three-year, $1.8 million COIl¬tract.
And• it traced her relation¬sblp with the garbage firm back to at least 2004, when she began selling flowers for WMI COrporate events (rom the company she owned. Rose Tydus All Occasion Gift Baskets.
An ethies commission
FAMILY SURVIVES APARTMENT FIRE
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review of Tydus' bank records show the commis¬sioner received three sepa¬rate checks from Waste Man¬agement oC IDare than $1,000 eacb - ODe in 2004, another in 2095, a third iu 2006 - for gift baskets.
According to the commis¬sion's fUIdiDg. her bank state¬ment showed WMr was her oaly CUStomer.
"When briefly interviewed about her dealiDgs with WMI, Tydus said she did not see. anything wrong with the rela¬tio.nship, and stated she intended to ei:plllld her busi¬ness witb the vendor even further." wrote ethics com¬mission advocate Michael Murawski.
"Ultimately," wrote Mur¬awski. "she provided a sworn statement admiHiDg to all 0{ the above tntmac:tlom. ••
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POLICE
Captain scolded for gun
. incident
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