ELECTIONS KILL. Stacy White, Sheriff, State Attorney failed to act!

NEWSFLASH: It is optional for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to consult with the state attorney in potentially criminal matters.

According to Mark Cox with the Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County “There is no requirement that law enforcement agencies consult with the State Attorney’s Office. These agencies are independent from the State Attorney’s Office with their own command and investigation authority. If the law enforcement agency wishes to, it may forward the results of any investigation to the State Attorney’s Office in what is known as a direct file.”

So if the Sheriff Gee does not “wish to,” he has no obligation to forward the result of any investigation to Mark Ober, State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County. Apparently Sheriff Gee did not “wish to” forward the death of student Isabella Herrera in January 2012, an election year where 4 incumbent School Board members AND Sheriff Gee were seeking re-election.

Hillsborough County School student Isabella Herrera, who was seven years old, died from respiratory distress on January 26, 2012 that began on a School Bus. The aide and bus driver failed to call 911 or seek assistance at the pediatric clinic that they were parked in front of.

Do you believe that the 2012 School Board elections did not factor in to the decision of Sheriff Gee, Not-so-Superintendent Elia, then Board Chair Candy Olson to not inform the school board and the public about the Isabella Herrera tragedy for 9 months? Imagine how that campaign year would have gone if we had all known about this reprehensible action of the Sheriff’s Office, Superintendent, School Board and school district.

Apparently Sheriff Gee also did not wish to forward the death of Allen Daniel Hicks to the State Attorney only 4 months later in May of 2012. This death involved the Sheriff’s Office’s own staff. Hicks was booked without a medical screening and placed in cells where he lay approximately 36 hours before he was finally diagnosed with stroke symptoms and taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he later slipped into a coma and died on Aug. 7.

Not only did the Sheriff’s department not report the incident in their News Releases but they did not take any formal disciplinary action against their staff. Was this a quid pro quo? Had they taken action against the staff, the staff might have gone public or to the press much sooner. Is that why no disciplinary action was taken?

Recall that the School District also originally never disciplined the bus driver or aide in the Isabella Herrera tragedy. Was this another quid pro quo to keep them from talking?

And now school board member Stacy White wants to be your next County Commissioner and guess who is supporting the re-election of Stacy White? That’s right- none other than Sheriff Gee and State Attorney Mark Ober. Is this yet another a quid pro quo? A big thank you to Stay White for never criticizing their failure to act during the last campaign?

The failure of the Sheriff’s Office to report the Isabella Herrera tragedy contributed to its conveniently remaining virtually unknown to the general public for 9 months, during a campaign year when 4 incumbent school board members AND Sheriff Gee were running for re-election, the Republican National Convention was coming to town, and the School Superintendent was in the midst of her own performance review.

This failure to report arguably led to a failure to take action in the form of updating training and procedures until the death of a second special needs student Jenny Caballero on October 22, 2012.

Imagine what might have been if either or both of these tragedies had been reported by the Sheriff’s department in their News Releases. Conceivably, Jenny Caballero would still be with us. Conceivably, the public outrage over the lack of training and procedures at the School District over the Herrera tragedy would have even made the Sheriff review his own training and procedures and thus saved the life of Allen Daniel Hicks Sr.

But, instead the general public was left virtually uninformed and most of these incumbents had a safe ride for themselves to re-election.

Elections kill.

And here we are on the eve of the 2014 School Board elections and the School board is now expected to give the parents of Isabella Herrera $800,000 of your tax dollars to settle the case. Just in time to clear the way for another election year. What timing! Spending your tax dollars to settle their lawsuits.

Stacy White does not deserve to be your county commissioner any more than he should be your school district representative.