Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Ex-Boca mayor admits she misused her office
Haynie’s plea deal drops corruption charges, cancels out possible prison sentence
Former Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie overcame serious public corruption allegations Thursday with a plea deal that canceled out the possibility of 23 years in prison. But her political career is over.
Palm Beach County prosecutors dropped four felony counts accusing Haynie of concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, including money from prominent city developers, as well as not telling the truth to ethics investigators. They also dropped a corruption-related misdemeanor.
In exchange, Haynie pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors that accused her of making four improper votes as mayor to approve projects that benefited Boca’s largest commercial landowners, James and Marta Batmasian. At the time of Haynie’s pro-Batmasian votes in 2016 and 2017, she and her husband’s businesses had ties to the developers.
The punishment approved by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen: 12 months of probation, a $1,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson, head of the office’s public corruption unit, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that all of the charges were solid and could have been presented to a jury. But prosecutors decided Thursday’s outcome was a “fair and just result” for both sides.
“She accepted responsibility for her actions in misusing her office as mayor of Boca Raton and issued a letter of apology to the people of Boca Raton, both of which were major factors in the resolution of this case,” Johnson said. He added that another factor is that Haynie is restricted from running for office for at least the next year.
As part of Haynie’s “heartfelt” apology to the community, she vowed that you’ll never
see her name on another ballot.
“The citizens of Boca Raton should accept nothing less than the highest level of ethics from their elected officials,” Haynie wrote. “I failed to live up to that standard, and today, accepted responsibility by entering my guilty plea.”
Her defense counsel complimented State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s office for “acting responsibly” by bringing forward a “just resolution.”
Attorney Bruce Zimet also emphasized that Haynie emerges free of any taint of corruption.
“We’ve said from the beginning that this was not a corruption case,” Zimet said. “It obviously isn’t . ... Susan Haynie’s vote was never for sale. Susan Haynie’s votes were never sold.”
In her apology, Haynie wrote that she is sorry for “any negative light that my case cast upon our city.”
She declined to comment before leaving the courthouse with her spouse, Neil.
Zimet said, “Susan wants to move on with her life, and I think she’s had her taste of politics in Palm Beach County.”
Before Haynie was slapped with the allegations, she was a year into a second term as mayor and campaigning for a county commission seat. Haynie then was suspended and removed from office. Her term expired last year.
Haynie had received both praise and criticism for leading the city through a downtown construction boom that doubled the number of apartments and condominiums.
In the 2017 election, Haynie defeated Al Zucaro, who ran on a platform of opposing redevelopment. Zucaro, an immigration and trade attorney, filed county and state ethics complaints against her.
But after hearing about Haynie’s plea deal, he said it was the right thing to do.
“This episode, in my opinion, cost her dearly, and it cost the city dearly,” he said. “I actually support not having her have to face any more downside. Let her go on with her life. … I don’t see any utility in her being convicted of a felony, in her going to jail.”
The dropped charges include three felony counts called official misconduct. Each concerned allegations that Haynie hid income from 2015 to 2017, during her first term as mayor.
Elected officials are required by law to fill out a “statement of financial interests” each year. This must include all sources of income, properties and liabilities.
To arrive at the charges, investigators at the State Attorney’s Office combed through Haynie’s personal finances, ties to the Batmasians and years of her City Council votes.
An arrest report shows that in 2015, Haynie listed only income from the Stanley Steemer company. In 2016 and 2017 she did not declare any income. And in 2017 she listed ownership of a Key Largo address, which is a rental property.
But investigators say a review of bank records found “a steady stream of income” into a joint account Haynie shared with her husband for the company Community Reliance LLC, which they controlled together before 2016.
Investigators found more unreported income in another bank account for Community Reliance and a second company the Haynies founded in 2000 called Computer Golf Software of Nevada Inc.
In a finding highlighted by the detectives, this Community Reliance account showed income totaling almost $140,000 from firms controlled by the Batmasians.
The bottom line is that investigators identified at least $335,000 in income for Haynie from 2014 to 2017, which they say she was obligated to disclose.
“Haynie regularly wrote checks from all of the accounts, using funds to pay personal and professional bills as well as to pay herself an income,” the report released by prosecutors says.
There were four other charges.
Perjury in an official proceeding: This felony count concerned a statement Haynie gave to investigators at the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, which was conducting its own review at the same time as the state prosecutors. Prosecutors dropped the charge Thursday.
Specifically, the allegation was that Haynie wasn’t truthful when she said she had no involvement with the Community Reliance and Computer Golf Software companies. Also, there was an allegation that she gave a false statement about her husband’s role in having security cameras installed in 2016 at Tivoli Park, a 1,600unit apartment complex in Deerfield Beach that is mostly owned by the Batmasians.
Misuse of public office: This misdemeanor count claimed that as mayor, Haynie voted four times to approve matters pertaining to Batmasian properties in the city, at the same time she was being compensated by the couple. For this, Haynie pleaded guilty.
Corrupt misuse of public office. This misdemeanor also concerned Haynie’s votes in favor of the Batmasian interests, saying she did so with a “wrongful intent,” as she and her husband collected income “from the people benefitting from the outcomes of the votes.” Prosecutors dropped this charge.
Failure to disclose a voting conflict. This misdemeanor count concerned the same votes for the Batmasian projects, claiming that Haynie violated the law by not disclosing her personal conflict. Haynie pleaded guilty.
Prosecutor Johnson agreed with the defense that Haynie was not paid for her votes.
“There was no quid pro quo in exchange for her votes,” he said. “In fact, none of the allegations involved a quid pro quo of any nature. Ultimately, her votes did not affect the outcome of the city resolutions, except in one instance involving placement of a sign.”
Johnson’s boss, Aronberg, previously received campaign contributions from Marta Batmasian, records show. She contributed $500 to Aronberg during his first campaign in 2012 and then $1,000 in 2015.
Haynie has previously explained that she thought the votes were not a conflict when she made them because of advice she had received from the city attorney.
At the lawyer’s request, the Palm Beach County ethics commission issued an advisory opinion in 2013 that Haynie could vote on matters involving the Batmasians in certain circumstances.
“I followed the process in good faith,” Haynie told the Sun Sentinel in 2017. “I relied on the [ethics] opinion and the city attorney’s interpretation of that opinion . ... I was not hiding anything.”
Just before her arrest, Haynie agreed to a reprimand from the ethics commission and a $500 fine. The commission also dismissed a “misuse of public office” count and said it had insufficient evidence to find whether the voting-conflicts violation was intentional or not.
Still unresolved after Thursday are similar claims against Haynie by the Florida Commission on Ethics, which could lead to a fine.
“Susan has always held herself up to the highest ethical standards,” attorney Zimet said. “The plea relates to violations of the county code of ethics . ... Certainly she apologizes for what occurred. But certainly what occurred is totally different than the claims of corruption.”