Schiavo Political “Guru” Seals False Swearing Deal
Posted on Wednesday, 25 of November , 2009 at 12:34 pm
© By June Maxam
An Exclusive NCG Investigative Report
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TALLAHASSEE, FLA—If you were a Democrat seeking elective office or wanted to become involved in the world of politics, would you hire a corrupt political consultant?
Michael Schiavo, one of America’s most infamous husbands, did in the formation of his now defunct political action committee, TerriPAC. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together.
For three years, the state attorney’s office of Miami-Dade County and the Public Corruption Investigations Bureau of the Miami-Dade Police Department investigated Derek Newton of Coral Gables, Fla., formerly of Pinellas County where Schiavo now resides, for election fraud.
Derek Newton, a Democrat, created a fictitious candidate in order to sabotage the election campaign of a candidate who was opposing one of his clients.
Derek Newton made false filings under oath with the Florida Division of Elections and the Miami-Dade Elections Department.
Derek Newton created a fictitious law enforcement officer.
Derek Newton signed a plea agreement avoiding criminal charges, admitting that he had engaged in false swearing, a felony under Florida law.
According to Florida statutes, a person who willfully swears or affirms falsely to any oath or affirmation, or willfully procures another person to swear or affirm falsely to an oath or affirmation, in connection with or arising out of voting or elections committees felony of the third degree, punishable by up to five years in state prison.
Newton admitted to a single count of false swearing under an administrative agreement contingent on it being accepted by the Florida Elections Commission and last week, the “deal” between the Newton and the state of Florida was approved.
Newton must pay $1,000 to the Florida Elections Commission, $5,000 to the Public Corruption Unit for the cost of the investigation and $1,000 to the State Attorney’s Office, according to Miami-Dade Det. Joseph Curl.
So far, although Newton remains active as a Florida political consultant, no Florida newspaper has reported his “conviction” for election fraud.
Instead, Florida media such as the St. Petersburg Times continue to consider him as a viable source regarding the political climate in the state. On his Facebook page, Newton says he’s a fan of Obama and “Sprinkles cupcakes” as well as the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/02/buzzs-5-questio.html
Newton’s election fraud case was supposed to have been on the FEC agenda in August but he received a three month reprieve when one of his attorneys failed to show at the session, claiming that he had “other matters” and could not attend, Curl said.
It was determined that Newton created a fictitious candidate in filings made with Miami-Dade County and the state during the 2006 campaign for State Representative District 108.
Newton, now 36, was acting as a political consultant for Peter Walsh, a Miami attorney and former assistant state attorney for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office who was seeking the office of State Representative for District 108 as a Democrat in addition to Kathy Emery and other candidates.
Kathy Emery, a three-term member of the Biscayne Shores Community Council, had resigned her elected seat on the council in order to run for the open seat in District 108. The Sept. 5, 2006 district primary was her first time running for office in a partisan election.
Newton has admitted creating a fictitious person named “Kathy Avery”, filing candidate’s statements and other documents in the name of “Kathy Avery” during June and July 2006 in connection with the District 108 campaign, apparently for the purpose of causing confusion and drawing votes away from Kathy Emery.
Although the “announced candidate’s statement” filed June 28, 2006, with the state claimed that “Katherine Avery” was a native of Miami, a U.S. Army veteran and an active law enforcement officer, no such person exists and more importantly, no such law enforcement officer exists.
Det. Curl told The North Country Gazette that Newton and his attorneys, Ben Kuehne of Miami and Bruce Young of Tampa, signed a plea agreement earlier this year in which Newton admitted his involvement in the creation of the fictitious candidate.
Joseph Centorino, the head of the public corruption unit for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, confirmed that the state would not be lodging criminal charges against Newton who he termed a “dirty trickster”.
Neither Centorino or Curl will release a copy of the case file or the admission signed by Newton until the case is officially closed which should occur quickly now that the Florida Elections Commission has approved the deal.
A search warrant had been executed by the Public Corruption Unit in January, 2008 at Newton’s property in Coral Gables, Curl said. He said that four laptops were seized along with about 200 discs. However, he said that they were not able to seize Newton’s main computer as it had mysteriously “disappeared”.
The detective said that they were able to confirm that emails relating to the fictitious candidate “Kathy Avery” had originated from Newton’s home computer but that they were unsuccessful in matching the exact date of the Avery filings to the computers that they seized. He said they were hampered in their investigation due to the fact that Comcast, Newton’s internet service provider dumps their records every three months.
“We were able to show it was his computer involved but we couldn’t match the exact date”, Curl said, a fact which hampered a criminal prosecution. Curl said despite the use of handwriting analysis they were also unable to conclusively determine who had signed the name “Kathy Avery” to the documents filed under penalty of perjury. However, in the administrative agreement signed by Newton, Curl said that Newton admitted his involvement.
Perhaps Newton’s most famous client was Michael Schiavo of Clearwater, the individual who fought his in-laws for nearly 10 years in the Florida court system, vying for a court order to remove his brain injured wife’s feeding tube in order to achieve her death.
Twice it was removed and then ordered reinserted but on March 18, 2005, Schiavo and Pinellas County judge George Greer were successful in having the tube removed for the last time with Greer even ordering, contrary to Florida law, that she could not receive food and hydration naturally.
Terri Schindler Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, of marked dehydration, 13 days after the feeding tube was removed as the whole world watched in a horrific invasion of her privacy and her family’s privacy engineered by Michael Schiavo, euthanasia attorney George Felos and Greer.
Newton became the treasurer and registered agent for TerriPAC, the now defunct political action committee formed by Michael Schiavo in December 2005 to “hold politicians accountable”, at least those in Congress who had voted to save the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo.
Newton grew up in Seminole and according to Curl, attended St. Petersburg College in 1993 at the same time that Michael Schiavo was a student there.
On Aug. 30, 2006, the records indicate that TerriPAC contributed $250 to the Peter Walsh campaign, Newton’s client who was being challenged by Kathy Emery.
During the life of TerriPAC, from December 2005 until the plug was pulled in September 2007 in the midst of an investigation by the Federal Elections Commission, Schiavo, his brother, Brian Schiavo and Newton incurred several fines from the FEC for reporting deficiencies and alleged false filings.
Newton’s November Group of which he lists himself as manager isn’t incorporated with the state of Florida or registered with the Department of State, according to the public records filed at sunbiz.org. According to state business records, Newton was the registered agent and president of the November Group Inc. which was initially filed in February 2002 but administratively dissolved in September 2003 for failing to file an annual report. Newton filed November Group Consultants Inc. in October 2003, dissolved for failure to file, reinstated in December 2004 and then permanently dissolved for failure to report to the state in September 2005.
A complaint filed against Schiavo, Newton and TerriPAC with the Federal Elections Commission for financial irregularities based on the FEC’s own records was dismissed. Newton wasn’t required to file his response with the Federal Elections Commission under oath and made numerous alleged false statements.
Schiavo had angrily denounced the Republicans, especially President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for attempting to save Terri’s life. Only five Republicans in the House voted against reinserting the tube while attorneys for her parents sought the de novo review of the case in the federal court.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/06/24/political_shenanigans/http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/09/03/schiavo_swearing 11-25-09
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Category: Courts, Crime, Florida, Good News, Government, Police, Schiavo
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