Florida GOP Police Blotter #14: Top GOP fundraiser/donor indicted for fraud

I never get tired of seeing Republican "leaders," especially in Florida, get caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Oh, yes, I know there is corruption on the left side of the aisle, too ... but for every corrupt Democrat you can show me, I'm quite sure I can show you at least a dozen GOP scofflaws.

Today's example of this is Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, a Hollywood ophthalmologist who has been charged with hindering a state investigation into possible insurance fraud.

[Mendelsohn] surrendered to FBI agents on charges linked to his alleged efforts to thwart a 2000-2005 state investigation into Mutual Benefits Corp., a Fort Lauderdale life insurance company.

An indictment charges Mendelsohn with wire and mail fraud, aiding and abetting wire and mail fraud, and making false statements related to a fraudulent fundraising and lobbying scheme, according to prosecutors.

Mendelsohn raised more than a half-million dollars from Mutual Benefits in 2003 to finance the hiring of a dozen lobbyists and make contributions to lawmakers to stop legislation that would have tightened regulations on the so-called viatical industry. The industry sold life insurance policies of people dying of AIDS and other diseases.

That's quite a laundry list of charges there, Dr. Mendelsohn. What do you suppose all your highly-placed buddies would have to say about that?

Over the past decade, Mendelsohn and his political action committees raised about $2 million from Mutual Benefits, doctors and others for state candidates, including Crist's bid for governor in 2006.

Mutual Benefits gave $525,000 to one of Mendelsohn's PACs, Alliance for Florida's Future, in 2003.

Mendelsohn also was the former legislative director for the Florida Society of Ophthalmology, whose PAC raised more than $1 million over the past decade. Campaign finance records show that money from the ophthalmology PAC was transferred to the Alliance for Florida's Future PAC.

After [Mutual Benefits' former CEO Joel] Steinger turned on Mendelsohn, the ophthalmologist — who had a reputation for boasting of his political connections to GOP lawmakers — tried to help his own defense by working with the FBI starting in the summer of 2007, the sources said.

Mendelsohn claimed that he was able to win over [Gov. Charlie] Crist, [now-U.S. Sen. George] LeMieux, [Crist's general counsel Paul] Huck and others on Steinger's behalf.

To bolster his claim to the FBI, Mendelsohn made a secretly recorded call to LeMieux at the governor's office in July 2007. LeMieux, who served as a deputy attorney general under Crist when he was attorney general, had just managed Crist's successful campaign for governor.

In the call, the doctor spoke about Mutual Benefits and how he had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for candidates and lobbyists to help the firm's legal and political efforts in Tallahassee, sources said.

To LeMieux, the call seemed suspicious, as if Mendelsohn were trying to implicate him, the governor and others, sources said. LeMieux alerted Huck, who called the FBI.

Ah, I see ... they loved the doctor when his dollars were flowing to their campaigns, but as soon as the heat was turned up, they threw him under the bus. Nice.

So, Sen. LeMieux and Gov. Crist (who, contrary to popular belief, are not one and the same) .... you're just going to let your buddy rot on the police blotter? You just don't like him now that he's in trouble?

Figures. Your hands probably are dirty enough as it is.

Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: I'll take "Potpourri" for $400

Did you ever have one of those days when you just weren't sure what you should do? I mean, there's no one BIG thing on the agenda, so you just kind of pick up the threads of a bunch of little things hanging out there ...

Well, that's kind of what today's Blast Off! Radio is like. We're going to go free-form, stream-of-consciousness today to some extent ... but we'll make sure to touch on a few interesting items of note from the past week in Florida and national politics. There's the selection of George LeMieux, a trusted Charlie Crist aide, to be Florida's next U.S. senator ... the ongoing wingnuttery with regard to health care reform (and the town halls that evidently make the right-wing crazy!!) ... a look at the latest hypocritical hate from Florida's radical Christianists ... and of course some discussion of the legacy of Ted Kennedy. Plus, we'll commemorate the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destructive visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, not too far from the broadcast location of Blast Off! Radio today, and we'll take a moment to recall what the president was doing that very day.

As always, though, your participation makes the show happen. It's oh, so easy to be a part of Blast Off! Radio ... here's all you need to know:

TIME: 4:00 pm Eastern TODAY

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I hope you'll make a point of joining me today for all the snark and substance of Blast Off! Radio. Catch you this afternoon!

(cross-posted at FPC Blog)

It's Senator LeMieux

In a move that comes as not much of a surprise but could prove detrimental to Gov. Crist's own Senate hopes, the governor shortly is expected to nominate has chosen his former chief of staff and campaign manager, George LeMieux, to fill the remainder of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez's term.

We all knew that Crist would choose someone who had no designs on staying in the Senate seat that the governor covets, so that eliminated a number of potential GOP candidates who would have had to give up their current positions or who still had higher political aspirations (see, e.g., Daniel Webster). But the selection of LeMieux brings to mind the old "spoils system" -- you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours -- and while LeMieux surely is nothing more than a placeholder for the next year or so, the appointment is perceived by at least one leading Florida Republican as "only slightly less damaging than appointing himself."

This can only be good news for Rudy Giuliani Marco Rubio, whose strong performance in county GOP straw polls to date shows Crist's weakness among party loyalists. While Crist continues to lead statewide polls and, not incidentally, the fundraising race handily, there's still a long way to go, and I think Rubio is savvy enough and wingnutty enough to make some political hay from this Senate nomination.

Time will tell ... but the early line from here is that Crist doesn't do himself any favors with this pick.