Tamarac Mayor Suspended By Governor, Again
TAMARAC (CBSMiami) -- Florida Governor Rick Scott suspended the mayor of Tamarac Friday for a second time.
According to the Sun Sentinel, the suspension comes days after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear her case.
Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco was charged in 2011 with unlawful compensation, bribery, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation.
The charges were brought against her after the State Attorney's Office claimed Flansbaum-Talabisco secretly accepted $21,000 from developers Bruce and Shawn Chait to support her 2006 campaign. In exchange for the contribution, the state claimed that she voted favorably for the Chaits' company, Prestige Homes, which wanted to build more than 700 homes on two former golf courses near Florida's Turnpike and Commercial Boulevard while avoiding paying big money in development fees to the city and Broward School District.
In 2012, Gov. Rick Scott restored her as the city's mayor nearly two weeks after Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato dismissed the public corruption charges leveled against her citing a lack of evidence.
In July, the Fourth District Court of Appeal decided that Judge Imperato was out of line when she threw out the case against her, causing the charges to be reinstated against Flansbaum-Talabisco.
While Flansbaum-Talabisco denies the allegations, the case will go back to Broward Circuit Court for trial.
According to the paper, a special commission meeting has been called for Tuesday at 9 a.m. at City Hall for commissioners to appoint a mayor during her suspension.