Why I’m not going to the Tallahassee Chamber conference

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you always have.” – Henry Ford

Just a week before the local corruption trial began, the city commission approved an $ 8 million no bid sale of public land to a hotel developer outside of the state. First and foremost among the public speakers, Sue Dick, President of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, urged the Commission to ignore its own policies and award the sale without a competitive process.

The ongoing public corruption process, which involves pay-to-play systems in our local government, is the “who’s who” of the chamber loyalists. Long-time host of the annual chamber retreat, Gary Yordon, revealed in his testimony that he has misled the public by registering as a lobbyist for another company as governance for a client who ultimately pays for governance backed by Maddox. Yordon recently retired as master of ceremonies at this year’s event, making it the first of the network to show an air of self-esteem.

Testimony also indicated that when the FBI first arrived in town to investigate local corruption, the Chamber’s then Vice-President Ben Pingree, who now works in local government, was escorted to the chamber retreat, a luxurious weekend for Politicians and their business clients hiding in a networking event for Chamber Business members on posh Amelia Island.

The platinum sponsor this year? Truthfully. A medical marijuana company routinely featured in study coverage that Scott Maddox used his position to “gain an advantage”.

Burnette test week 2 to take away:What FBI agents heard about Tallahassee’s “whole damn trial”

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The Chamber Chairman’s own firm, Ajax Construction, was only listed as a governance client in 2014, the same year indictments revealed that a business owner had asked a property developer to use governance as an advisor in exchange for Scott Maddox’s voice.

A quick look at the list of attendees reveals at least one company that prosecutors have identified as a means of payment for “official acts” by Maddox.

More:The ABCs of a Corruption Case: Your Guide to the Companies and Individuals Connected to Scott Maddox

Let me know when you see red flags.

The process so far shows that it was not a one-off deal for the former mayor, but as usual. And people knew.

In 2016, seven die-hard chamber members even wrote a public letter to Maddox asking him to stay in his office and even conjured up the infamous symbol of transplant and corruption: “We need your business-friendly, tax-prudent voice in town” . Commission.”

The majority of the signatories will be on Amelia Island this August, and we haven’t heard a beep – not the slightest hint of reckoning or introspection. It has not been recognized that what happened in Tallahassee was not the result of one man, but of an entire system that consistently placed personal gain over the public good.

It’s shocking to see this year’s “don’t see no evil” approach from Chamber Managers, a group that has enough public relations professionals to fill a 747. How could they get the optics so wrong? It’s either the most vicious portrayal of “I am inviolable” I’ve ever seen – or a straightforward denial of the scale of the crimes that have ravaged our community.

The Maddox Messages:

Tallahassee cannot afford to keep its business leaders silent. If together we make a clear break with the bad old days, then innovative new companies will carefully view our well-educated, diverse city as a promising place to put down roots and grow with us.

Tallahassee needs to dispel its reputation as a business-friendly place that is only well connected. If we miss this moment, I fear the next generation of talent will look elsewhere when it comes to business and local government support.

When I scan the Chamber’s list of conference attendees, I see a broad cross-section of our business community – good, honest companies and many business owners whom I consider friends. But until those at the top can join us in denouncing wrongdoing and giving up their self-proclaimed role as local government puppets, I can’t bring myself to participate as an elected official.

In the most transformative time of the last century – Tallahassee celebrates its bicentenary – there has never been a moment more ripe for leadership to face this situation.

I hope that as the waves of Amelia Island wash away the remnants of the Chamber’s political influence, a new current emerges as a leader who can restore confidence in Tallahassee’s business culture.

Because what we’ve seen is clearly not working.

Jeremy Matlow is a city commissioner and small business owner. He lives with his wife and two children.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: After this story was first published, the sentence about Gary Yordon was edited to clarify the relationship between the lobby organizations.

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