A Miami official had a tip for investigators: Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones may have asked the city's bus-bench vendor to hire a former campaign staffer.

Investigators never followed up on the claim.

Detectives and prosecutors fielded a flurry of allegations during their two-year probe of Spence-Jones, which ended last month with no charges filed. While they chased allegations of influence peddling and even violations of the city's personnel rules, other threads received scant attention, records show.

THOROUGHNESS

Lead prosecutor Joe Centorino, of the Miami-Dade state attorney's office, defended the inquiry's thoroughness and said some tips remain active. He acknowledged some potential witnesses were not called, but said he did not believe the outcome would have differed.

''There was a lot of hearsay going on, but I think we got to the bottom of what happened,'' Centorino said. ``We went down a lot of blind alleys with this.''

In 2007, Mary Conway, the city's former chief operating officer, told Centorino of ''second-hand'' rumors that Spence-Jones asked bus-bench vendor Fuel Outdoor Holdings to hire Billy Hardemon -- the husband of her confidant Barbara Hardemon.

''Mike Freedman with Fuel would have to confirm it,'' Conway testified.

Freedman, Fuel's CEO, was not interviewed. Centorino said the bus contract ``wasn't part of this investigation.''

Fuel did hire Billy Hardemon as a City Hall lobbyist. In an interview last year, Freedman told The Miami Herald that Spence-Jones played no role in the hiring.

Conway also told prosecutors that the city's finance director, Larry Spring, told her Spence-Jones wanted the Crosswinds Communities developer to spend $50,000 on a public-relations firm. Other witnesses said Spence-Jones urged the company to improve its community outreach -- and suggested Barbara Hardemon for the job.

Investigators never interviewed Spring. Centorino said Spring's statement was of little value as hearsay. The prosecutor said he spoke on Thursday to Spring, who did not recall the earlier talk.

INTERVIEWS

Prosecutors interviewed a handful of private contractors said to have close ties to the commissioner, examining whether Spence-Jones tried to steer contracts their way.

Among them was Phil Fisher, an event and concert producer with offices in Miami Beach and Chicago. Fisher said he was hired for city events by Spence-Jones when she worked on the city staff as an event coordinator, and that she recommended him for another job in 2007.

Investigators did not ask Fisher about his work for Spence-Jones' election campaign. According to campaign records, his company received more than $11,000 for ''event consulting'' for Spence-Jones in 2005.

Fisher said he had no financial ties with the commissioner. But he wasn't questioned about his work for her campaign. Centorino said that work ``wasn't part of the investigation.''

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