Responding to a ``rash of crimes'' by public officials, Gov. Charlie Crist announced Wednesday that he wanted to empanel a statewide grand jury to root out corruption.

But while Crist talked tough about the need for reform at a press conference, he refused to discuss his close ties to indicted political player Alan Mendelsohn, a Broward eye doctor who had once falsely claimed he could bribe Crist.

Mendelsohn, who has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges, funded attack ads against at least one Crist gubernatorial opponent in 2006, held fundraisers for the then-attorney general and later persuaded Crist to write a personal letter to the University of Florida to admit Mendelsohn's son to medical school.

Crist made Mendelsohn a member of his gubernatorial transition team in 2007.

``What I can air out for you is the concern this administration has for a number of cases. It doesn't center around one case at all,'' Crist said when asked about Mendelsohn.

``Since I have been governor, unfortunately, I have had to remove over 30 people from public office,'' Crist said. ``That's almost one a month. And it's obvious to me that something's wrong with the system.''

The big problem: Money, said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause Florida, a good-government advocacy group.

``To run for office, you have to raise so much money, too much money,'' Wilcox said, ``and the ones who want to give it are special interests whose bottom line is to influence public policy.''

Wilcox said that, with such big money at stake, it's inevitable that questionable activity surfaces.

Crist has set fundraising records, pulling in $6.7 million in contributions since announcing his U.S. Senate candidacy in May. He is scheduled to appear Oct. 30 at an Arizona fundraiser with that state's former governor, Fife Symington, who was convicted in 1997 on federal fraud charges. His conviction was overturned and President Clinton later pardoned him.

Aside from Mendelsohn, two other Crist fundraisers have drawn scrutiny:

• Harry Sergeant III, Crist's college fraternity brother and fundraiser, employed a foreign national who allegedly gave illegal campaign contributions to Crist through an intermediary listed as ``H.S.'' in a federal indictment.

• Sergio Pino stepped down in 2006 as Crist's campaign finance chairman amid a grand jury probe into whether he raised funds illegally. Pino was never charged.

With back-to-back scandals, Broward's overnight reputation as the state's corruption capital is built on a series of sensational cases filed in federal court last month that charge several politicians and public figures with fraud and other offenses.

• Mendelsohn, a Hollywood eye doctor and fundraiser, was charged in a 32-count indictment with manipulating a major contributor to give his political action committees more than $2 million on the basis of false promises.

Mendelsohn is accused of illegally spending at least $624,000 on himself, his mistress and politicians -- including funneling $87,000 to an unnamed former elected official.

The formidable GOP fundraiser also is accused of conning a Fort Lauderdale viatical insurance executive, Joel Steinger, into donating more than $1.5 million based on Mendelsohn's claim that he bribed Crist and other officials to shut down state and federal investigations into Steinger's company, Mutual Benefits Corp.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@