If Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum really cared about protecting Florida's children rather than promoting his political career, wouldn't he have used the money to fund cybercrime investigations and put predators behind bars rather than running nearly $2 million in TV ads promoting his political career instead of public safety. During this severe economic crisis, Bill McCollum's incredible lack of judgment should shock Florida's taxpayers. Florida Democrats will continue to hold McCollum and his Republican Party accountable for their waste, fraud, and abuse of tax-payer's hard earned dollars.
The settlement agreement specifically states that McCollum could have used $2.5 million help pay for investigators (as the money went to Legal Affairs Revolving Trust Fund.) Under the agreement, they only had to spend $500,000 on public education.
Budget cuts endanger cybercrime investigations
April 14, 2008
Tallahassee Democrat
Bill Cotterell
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR
Barely a year ago, Attorney General Bill McCollum and legislative leaders were ready for a statewide assault on the cyber-predators who stalk online chat rooms in search of sex with children.
But as the House and Senate begin budget negotiations, Florida's fiscal restraints have eliminated two of the seven specialized strike forces - in Tallahassee and Fort Myers and two others are barely hanging on in Tampa and Pensacola.
"This morning, we probably could have issued upward of 20 arrest warrants with just two law-enforcement officers sitting here for a couple of hours," Assistant Attorney General Maureen Horkan, who heads the child-predator cybercrime unit, said last week during a demonstration McCollum set up in his conference room.
McCollum made cyber-predators a top priority of his 2006 campaign and last year the Legislature agreed to let Horkan add outposts in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa, Tallahassee and Pensacola to her Jacksonville operation.
Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando are up and running, Horkan said, but Pensacola has only a victim's advocate in Santa Rosa County and Tampa has two victim's advocates and a law-enforcement officer. Tallahassee and Fort Myers operations have been shelved and continuation of the Tampa and West Florida operations depend on the current budget negotiations.
"If we could open the Tampa office, we could reach Fort Myers," said McCollum "We'd much prefer to open a Fort Myers office but without the Tampa presence, we just can't cover Fort Myers."
Under the toughened state law passed last year, travelling to meet a minor for sexual purposes is punishable by 15 years in prison. Soliciting is a five-year felony.
"We are frozen in our hiring," said Horkan. "Anybody we would hire is someone who runs the risk of losing their jobs in a matter of months."
McCollum's office could absorb a 10 percent cut in general revenue, as proposed by the
Senate budget, but would lose 38 positions if it had to take the 15 percent hit contained in the House budget. In either case, the Tallahassee and Fort Myers cyber-predator units would not get started, but McCollum would keep what he's got in Tampa and West
Florida.
Although it's surprisingly easy to make a case, as predators eagerly incriminate themselves online, Horkan said men are emboldened by the statistically small odds of getting caught. She said the unit has never arrested any women.
"There's millions of them and there's 13 of us, so the odds are certainly in their favor," she said. "The positive side of that, for our purposes, is that we can't lose. As many bodies as we put at the computer, that's how many we could arrest."
McCollum said the plan started last year with 56 employees, but is now down to "about
22."
"I just happen to think public safety, and this, should be at the top of the the priority chain," said McCollum.
"I think the Senate still is there with it," he said. "I can't speak for why the House council came up with this. I was surprised, frankly, that they did. I can't say it's a lost cause or anything like that."
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said new programs are prone to cuts when the Legislature has to fund other pressing needs.
"The question is, where else is the money coming from?" she said. "We have to cut so deep in health care and elsewhere. We want to do as little harm as possible and it may be that this program won't be able to expand as the attorney general was hoping it would."
Rep. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, vice-chairman of the House budget council, said he was not familiar with the cyber-predator issue. But he said House and Senate money managers face a lot of tough choices this year.
"It's not over until we get done. We're in the business of compromise." said Mayfield.
"We're balancing all sorts of things in the courts and education and the medically needy. This may be a program that has to wait a year, until we get our revenue collections going again."
