The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is former West Palm Beach Commissioner Jim Exline. He gets the award for the following.

WEST PALM BEACH — The main photo-op for former City Commissioner James Exline on Wednesday was a mug shot taken along with his fingerprints, after he admitted to a tax fraud charge that could place him behind bars for three years.

Despite Exline's willingness to plead guilty, U.S. Magistrate Linnea Johnson entered a plea of not guilty for Exline at his first appearance in federal court on Clematis Street, a few blocks from the city hall offices where he served for seven years. A hearing to change his plea to guilty was scheduled for March 19 before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, said Exline's attorney, Robert Gershman.

A land-use planner and former city staffer, Exline was paid $50,000 in October 2004 by a developer whose project he helped through the approval process at the city planning department where he once worked, prosecutors said. He directed the developer to make out personal checks to a downtown jewelry store, which then paid Exline.

Not only did the commissioner fail to advise the planning employees evaluating the project that he was acting as paid consultant, he also failed to declare the income on his 2004 tax return, prosecutors said.

Exline, 42, would not comment Wednesday, but has said he was attempting to conceal the income from his wife, Yusdaly Brito Gonzalez, during their divorce.

Sure blame it on your divorce and ex-wife. Exline is just the latest in a long line of greedy and dishonest politicians. In addition to going to jail, Jim Exline is today's Knucklehead of the Day.

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