PAGE ONE COMMENTARY

County Mayor Wants to
Censure Bad Boy Commish

DIGENNARO PUT CENSURE
RESOLUTION ON MEETING AGENDA
LAST WEEK AFTER NEUGENT GOT
CAUGHT USING COUNTY E-MAIL
SYSTEM TO SEND SUGGESTIVE
VIDEO. RESOLUTION WAS TABLED
FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

As long ago as 1998,
during County Commissioner
George Neugent’s first election
campaign— when we were able
to report exclusively that, a few
years earlier, he had been arrested
on charges of disorderly
intoxication and assault on a
law enforcement officer— we
have suggested to you that
Neugent gives a whole new
meaning to the term “white
trash.”

Once elected, his behavior
did improve somewhat.
But only somewhat. At least
he hasn’t been arrested again.
But Neugent seems to be in
an almost-constant state of
“disgruntlement” because, no
matter how the membership of
the commission has changed
over the years, he continues to
be, quite often, in the minority
on votes on important issues.

He also seems to have a
penchant for causing trouble
just to cause trouble. And he
doesn’t seem to mind twisting
the truth to do it.

A couple of years ago, for
example, he opposed the firing
of County Attorney Richard
Collins. And when he came out
on the short end of the vote, he
publicly accused three of his fellow
commissioners of violating
the state Sunshine Law by, he
said, conspiring in private to
fire Collins.

Based on Neugent’s allegation,
the State Attorney’s Office
launched an investigation
which lasted weeks and probably
cost thousands of dollars.
And, of course, the story made
headlines in the mainstream
media here, which damaged
the reputations of the accused
commissioners.

But when investigators
went to Neugent and asked him
to reveal the basis for his allegation—
you know, like some kind
of evidence— he admitted that
he didn’t have any. He had just
made up the allegation!
So the State Attorney
closed the investigation. But the
other media here still refer to
“questions about Sunshine Law
violations” when they write
about the commissioners that
Neugent wrongly smeared.

More recently, Neugent
has gotten caught using the
county e-mail system to not
only urge the defeat of fellow
commissioners, but also to respond
favorably to an e-mail
he received outlining how he
might kill a fellow commissioner.
In one e-mail, he called
other commissioners a “gang
of whores.”

In another e-mail, the
sender tells Neugent, “For a
long time, I have had the same
fantasy . . . you bolt gracefully
from one of those swivel chairs
and slide down the table and
grab the throat of the offending
commissioner . . . And you
pretend to rescue him. When
the cops come, the remaining
commissioners are speechless
and, of course, the tape was cut
and shredded— or whatever.
And the witnesses, including
myself and many members of
staff, give our statements . . . it
must have been a heart attack
or a stroke. George tried to
save him, but it all happened
so quickly . . .”

Neugent responded to the
e-mail: “You got it.”
He has also gotten caught
using the county e-mail system
to forward a video showing
multiple women with bared
breasts.

Neugent argued that he
didn’t send it to anyone he
thought would be offended.
Heck, we probably wouldn’t
have been offended if he had
sent it to us here at the newspaper.
In fact, he reportedly
did send it to some folks at the
Keynoter and the Key West
Citizen.

But that’s not the point.
As County Mayor Mario Di-
Gennaro pointed out, that was
a misuse of the county e-mail
system. “And,” DiGennaro
said, “it shows a world-class
lack of taste.”

We’ve been telling you
that for years.

Last week, DiGennaro
decided that he had finally had
enough and he placed a Resolution
of Censure on the county
commission meeting agenda.

As it turned out, the meeting
on Wednesday ran long and
the resolution was tabled for
consideration at a future time.
However, the gist of the
resolution is that Neugent has
acted “in a manner which is
not within the acceptable norm
of behavior.” If the resolution
eventually passes, county
staff would be instructed to
draft and bring to the board
“a policy which could be used
by the Board of County Commissioners
to invoke remedies
and penalties for infractions of county policy by a county
commissioner.”

Stay tuned. But it is unclear
at this time if DiGennaro
will ever bring the resolution
up again— since, last Tuesday,
two of the commissioners he
may have been depending on
to provide votes in support of
the censure resolution (Sonny
McCoy and Dixie Spehar) were
defeated in the Republican primary
election.

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