Another Crook

Palm Beach County Commissioner Warren Newell has resigned.

WEST PALM BEACH - Under an ethical cloud, Palm Beach County Commissioner Warren Newell resigned his seat and said he plans to cooperate with federal authorities and "plead guilty to a criminal offense."

"As an elected official, I fully understand my fiduciary relationship to the public," Newell wrote in a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, which said his resignation is effective immediately.

"I also understand how I breached that relationship. I take full responsibility for my conduct. It is my intention to cooperate with the Federal Government, and, in the coming weeks, I intend to plead guilty to a criminal offense."



Newell would become the second county commissioner to plead guilty to a federal crime. Former Commissioner Tony Masilotti was sentenced to a five-year jail term in June.

Newell faced questions for failing to disclose an apparent personal interest in several of his County Commission votes. In February, revelations emerged that Newell had ties with a marina that got $14 million from the county. Newell pushed for the deal with the Palm Beach Yacht Center, never disclosing that he moored his boat there, owed the marina $35,900 in back fees, and was starting a bank with one of its owners.

I wish the courts would throw dishonest politicians who get convicted in a certain year, in jail for life. Maybe a message would get out, that you better stop robbing the public you were elected to serve. Newell, who will become the fourth major Palm Beach County politician to plead guilty to corruption charges in about a year, deserves every day he gets sentenced to in jail.

Click here, here and here to read my previous posts on Warren Newell.

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