Kruse Accuses Whitmore Of Blackmail, Renews Bid To Fire Coryea

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — County Administrator Cheri Coryea’s job is once again on the line after Tuesday’s Manatee County Commission meeting, during which a commissioner publicly admitted to an extramarital affair amid claims a colleague was going to blackmail him over the indiscretion.

At-large Commissioner George Kruse admitted to an affair and accused the county's other at-large commissioner, Carol Whitmore, of using that information to blackmail him during a discussion about a Friday morning meeting between the two. That meeting has been criticized by other commissioners, as well as county residents, who say it toed the line of legality when it came to the Sunshine Law, Florida’s statute regarding open government.

Placing the blame for the meeting partially on Coryea, who organized it at the request of Whitmore, Kruse renewed the bid to fire the county administrator. Her termination was first discussed at the commission’s Nov. 19 meeting. At that special meeting, the commission decided to notify Coryea of their intention to fire her without cause in a 4 to 3 vote.

First-time commissioners James Satcher, Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Kruse, joined by Vanessa Baugh, who was recently sworn in for her third term, led the discussion to fire Coryea Nov. 19 and voted in favor of her dismissal. Van Ostenbridge proposed her termination, and he, along with Satcher and Kruse, had only been in office for 50 hours at the time. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Misty Servia and Whitmore voted against letting Coryea go.

Ultimately, though, the commission decided Coryea should retain her position at its Jan. 6 meeting.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Kruse motioned to revisit Coryea's termination, which the commission supported in a 4 to 3 vote. Bellamy, Servia and Whitmore were the “no” votes. Coryea's position with the county will be discussed at a future meeting.

Kruse and Whitmore’s Friday meeting was also discussed at length Tuesday, resulting in the commission establishing protocols for all meetings involving more than one commissioner. These protocols include alerting all commissioners to any meeting or event of this nature and requiring the attendance of the county attorney or a member of their office.

Whitmore said she had Coryea organize Friday’s meeting with Kruse, who works in real estate, because he’s “probably the most educated and experienced (commissioner) in finance and affordable housing Manatee County has ever had.”

And as at-large commissioners, they had a lot to talk about, as they tend to deal with “more global” issues compared to others on the commission, she said.

The meeting was promoted the same way all meetings are shared with the public, Whitmore added, including posting it to the county website and on a physical bulletin board at the county’s administrative building.

Open Meetings Questions Raised

Van Ostenbridge, who was the only other commissioner able to attend the meeting after learning about it at the last minute from a citizen, called it “the bare minimum of legality.” He and other commissioners were upset they hadn’t been told about the meeting in advance.

“Just because you can get away with something because it’s just legal is no excuse to do it,” he said. “This is the perfect example of bad government.”

He said that both he and Kruse were “set up in that meeting,” adding that “the spirit of transparency was certainly not upheld.”

Whitmore stressed it was “a legal, advertised meeting,” noting she had double checked with the county attorney beforehand. There’s also an audio recording of the meeting available.

“Carol Whitmore does not break the laws and I can’t believe we’re talking that you would think I’d break the Sunshine Law, especially in this hostile environment right now,” Whitmore said. “Nobody in their right mind would do that and I double checked to make sure (it was legal.)”

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Still, she apologized to Kruse and other commissioners, and also said Coryea shouldn’t be punished for her involvement in the meeting.

“Cheri has seven bosses and if a boss asks her to set a meeting up or orchestrate setting a meeting up, that’s not a fireable offense,” Whitmore said.

Commissioner Publicly Admits Affair

Kruse told the commission that last year he “did the absolute worst thing a person could do to someone they love…(he) had a short, but nonetheless real, affair.”

Kruse said he was recently told by a trusted source that not only did Whitmore find out about his affair, but she also obtained pictures of him out with the other woman and told people about his cheating.

“If you found out a coworker was having an affair, would your first thought be to get physical proof for your files? No, because most people do not operate through corruption and deceit,” he said.

He added, “I believe her intention for obtaining the pictures was to use them to manipulate votes on this board. … This is how far I believe she’d go to retain power and destroy fellow commissioners if she doesn’t get her way. Maliciously trying to alter votes away from the majority interests of this county can never be tolerated.”

Whitmore called this “a terrible accusation,” one that’s “not true.”

She said, “For those that actually know me, I don’t think I’m a master manipulator and I would never do anything illegal. That’s just, like, a joke…I just can’t believe people think that I have that much power.”