After being called crooked and a thief by DeSantis and trump, it turns out that Andrew Gillum was not involved in any way in the Tallahassee corruption case. As many of us suspected, it was a smear campaign all along.
Gillum was dogged throughout the campaign by his opponent Ron DeSantis about his ties to the investigation, which included trips to New York and Costa Rica and meetings with undercover FBI agents.
[…] Gillum said the FBI told him he was not a subject of the probe, but DeSantis and President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked him over it.
DeSantis declared him “Crooked Mayor Gillum” at one point, and in a tweet the president declared that Gillum was a “thief.”
The article goes on to note that the cloud of suspicion may have played a significant part in Gillum’s narrow defeat. As they intended it to do. The combination of uncertainty about Gillum’s role and the almost 6,700 ballots they refused to count probably did cost him the election.
About the indictments:
Maddox, 50, and his longtime business partner and former chief-of-staff Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 53, were indicted Tuesday for “conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest services fraud and bribery,” the Department of Justice released in a statement Wednesday morning.
The indictment alleges that Maddox used his influence as a city commissioner to illegally benefit two corporations he operated with Carter-Smith and whose clientele included individuals with business before the city. The corporations, Governance Inc. and Governance Services LLC, provided government and lobbying services. They were operated and presented to the public as one entity under the name Governance.
“Per the indictment, Governance was part of a racketeering enterprise that extorted money and accepted bribes from Governance clients under color of Maddox’s office and through fear of the economic harm that Maddox could inflict in his position as an influential City Commissioner,” the DOJ statement says. “The indictment alleges that Maddox voted on matters and exerted influence on City employees to take actions that benefited the businesses that paid Maddox and Carter-Smith through Governance.”
Maddox was arrested this morning and Paige Carter-Smith resigned today from the Downtown Improvement Authority.
Maddox and Carter-Smith pleaded not guilty to all charges. Both were released pending their trial, slated to begin Jan. 14, but were ordered to give up their passports and seek permission if they want to leave North Florida.
Rick Scott has suspended Maddox:
"It is in the best interest of the residents of the city of Tallahassee, and the citizens of the state of Florida that Scott Maddox be immediately suspended from the public office which he now holds," Scott said in the executive order.
[…] The City Commission now has 20 working days to appoint a successor to fill out the remainder of Maddox's term, which ends in 2020. If they cannot choose a replacement within that window, the governor could choose a replacement.
Discussion about a “successor” and “replacement” sure makes it sound like the “suspension” is permanent.
But there’s no recourse for Andrew Gillum at this point. The damage was done by election day, and we can never know how much of a difference the false allegations made in voters’ minds.