The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is West Palm Beach City Commissioner Ray Liberti. Liberti is resigning from office tomorrow. On friday he was charged with three federal felonies, two for mail fraud and one for obstruction of justice.

Read the entire Palm Beach Post article for the slimely details. Liberti shook down two businesses for money. One was a nightclub, the other a licensed massage parlor. Liberti even wanted to convert one into a brothel.

He threatened them using his city commission stationery and even faking to be a Sun-Sentinel reporter. Liberti a former state house representative and democrat has been one of the better known politicians in this county for years. Now he is in disgrace and you have to wonder if Liberti had a history of similiar behavior in public office and we don't know about it.

For betraying the trust of his constituents, West Palm Beach City Commissioner Ray Liberti is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- TMH's Bacon Bits, Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Right Wing Nation, Stop the ACLU, Wizbang, Point Five,


WEST PALM BEACH — In April 2005, City Commissioner Ray Liberti was fresh from a decisive election victory and embarking on his second two-year term. With three decades of public service, he curried the image of an elder statesman, a professor and professional planner focused on park improvements, downtown projects and redeveloping hardscrabble parts of town.

All the while, Liberti was scheming to profit from his public position, according to federal investigators. Sometime that April, Liberti allegedly hatched a plan to enrich himself by exploiting the power of his office.

Liberti, 59, was charged Friday with three federal felonies and faces a maximum of 30 years in prison. Hours later, he announced his plan to resign Monday.

His double life came to the federal government's attention a year ago, according to sources familiar with the charges. Unaware he was talking with government informants, Liberti indicated he was tired of making money for other people as a commissioner, that he wanted a piece of the action. He allegedly agreed with them to use his city hall clout to intimidate the owners of a massage parlor and nightclub into selling their businesses at cut-rate prices.

The buyers had an audacious plan: They wanted to open an adult entertainment business on one of the city's main drags, South Dixie Highway. Later, Liberti was told, their plan was to transform the licensed massage parlor into a brothel.

For his help, Liberti collected $66,000 and a $2,000 watch, federal investigators said.

The details of the case both saddened and angered his colleagues at city hall. Some worried about a lasting scar of corruption on West Palm Beach.

"It's a slap in the face of the citizens of the city," Mayor Lois Frankel said. "I'm going to be looking at every nook and cranny to see if he had any undue influence on anything because I will not tolerate it for three seconds."

Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell called it "just a sad day for the city all the way around. This kind of behavior should never be going on in this city or any city. People in our country have such a low level of confidence for their elected officials often and this just adds to it and that's heartbreaking."

As the city commission president, Liberti directed a heavy load of city business. At the same time, he allegedly launched an eight-month campaign of harassment against the business owners that grew bolder and more aggressive as the months went by. To apply pressure, Liberti filed false complaints with trusting and obedient city agencies, sources said: the police and code compliance departments, as well as the city attorney's office and a county commissioner.

On April 28, 2005, the day after an important meeting with county officials about water-service issues, Liberti is accused of meeting with one of the prospective buyers of a massage parlor called Relax With Us. The asking price was too high, so he and a business partner suggested Liberti "close down" the parlor to reduce its value. Liberti allegedly agreed to "do his homework."

The next month, when the commission was wrestling with the rising costs of a new government center, Liberti met privately with one of the buyers, who reported that Relax With Us had been raided by code enforcement officers — leaving the owner extremely shaken.

Liberti, according to sources, indicated that was just a sample of what he could do. "That's what you wanted, isn't it?" he allegedly told the buyer.

After another unannounced code inspection, Liberti's bragging was captured on tape. "That's what I do, I slay dragons and kill vampires," he reportedly said — a phrase he used verbatim four months later in pitching his qualifications to manage the Indian Trail Improvement District, a government job he ultimately did not accept.

A few days later, Liberti allegedly told the buyers he expected to be paid "big time" for his services. For starters, he was interested in an expensive TAG Heuer watch. A few days later, Liberti looked at photos of watches and picked the $2,000 model he wanted, sources said.

In early July, around the time Liberti was engaged in a public debate over the rights of protesters at clinics where abortions are done, he appeared pleased to hear how the massage parlor's owner "was a ghost" after city police were spotted watching her business, according to sources. Liberti told one of the buyers that he "had a dream" that police would get involved. Sources said the police department was acting on a complaint from Liberti.

Liberti accepted the TAG Heuer as a gift and was asked in early September to apply more pressure to get the selling price lower. Liberti allegedly called an unidentified Palm Beach County commissioner and asked for health department inspectors to swoop in.

About two weeks later, after being told of plans for the brothel, Liberti allegedly offered his assistance in getting city licenses and permits. After the offer, Liberti collected $5,000 in cash.

About two days later, he asked about getting another $9,000. He explained that he needed it before taking off on a trip to Europe on Nov. 10.

Five days later, he allegedly called Relax With Us, posing as a reporter for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and said he was planning to write a negative article about the business. Later, he bragged and laughed about it.

On Nov. 8, commissioners met to discuss an issue critical to the city's future: an overhaul of the prized downtown waterfront. Liberti had something else on his mind, according to sources. During the meeting, Liberti called one of the buyers and asked for $5,000. When the meeting adjourned, Liberti left city hall and collected the cash.

Liberti also worked on getting the owners of the nightclub Nessun Dorma, which was destroyed in a suspicious fire in October 2004, to lower the selling price.

He reportedly told his clients that he would threaten a nightclub representative, saying he wanted "to see anyone who goes on that property die." Once his clients bought the property, Liberti assured, the club's accumulated code-enforcement fines would be eliminated.

On Dec. 6, Liberti resumed harassing Relax With Us, this time more brazenly. He visited the parlor himself, told the owner he was a city commissioner and would order further enforcement action if the business wasn't sold to his clients within a week.

About two weeks later, he told his clients he'd crafted "the final straw": a threatening letter on official city letterhead. He cautioned the buyer to destroy it after showing it to the massage parlor's owner because it contained "very indictable stuff."

The Dec. 19 letter, sent via U.S. Postal Service Express Mail to Liberti's clients, would become evidence for one of the two mail fraud charges against the commissioner.

Later, the clients told Liberti he'd just earned another $10,000, to which Liberti replied that he "could use a good payday, it's been a crazy year."

In late December, Liberti exerted his influence even further, getting an unsuspecting assistant city attorney to send a threatening letter about $26,000 in liens to Nessun Dorma's owners. That letter, fraudulently obtained, was the evidence for the second mail fraud count.

Jan. 4 was the payday Liberti requested, according to sources. Liberti allegedly was given a shaving kit, with $56,000 in cash stuffed inside.

Liberti was told the massage parlor purchase was completed with one snag. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he was told, was asking questions about the large amount of money paid to the owner, a foreign national.

Liberti allegedly told the buyers to lie to the authorities if ever asked about Liberti's involvement. That advice was the basis for an obstruction of justice charge.