Update:  It turns out the amount of Toppino’s subcontracts on Cudjoe Regional total well over $12 million.  It’s almost certain that Zuelch knew that when this article was written, and Toppino most definitely would have.  Yet they led the Citizen to believe that the number was something less than $1 million.  The gullible and careless Citizen accepted it as fact.  Shady.  Very shady.

So I just read this:  Toppino vows to avoid conflicts.

It caused me to snort with laughter and inhale coffee down my wind pipe.  Don’t worry I’m okay.  Breathing has returned to normal.  If you decide to read it, be aware of the choking hazard.

Where do I even start with this schlock?!!!

In the past five years, the FKAA has paid Monroe Concrete $240,839.46 for work and concrete, FKAA Executive Director Kirk Zuelch said, and has paid Charley Toppino & Sons $716,886.55 for construction contracting work. Also, the two companies were subcontracted by Layne Heavy Civil for work on the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater Treatment District.

Huh?  According to FKAA documents, Toppino has a $919,000 contract with the FKAA for a pump station today.  There are also the above-mentioned subcontracts on Cudjoe Regional that I haven’t even checked into yet.  Where does this $717,886 number come from?

I already talked about a bunch of Toppino contracts here – $12 million in nine years.  This isn’t even a complete list.  It does not include any subcontracts.  I got my information directly off FKAA agendas.  Is the information provided in the agendas incorrect?

Good grief.

Toppino can work with legal staff all he wants, but the basic question remains:

Why should the ratepayers be forced to tolerate a board member with major potential conflicts of interest?  

There were eleven applicants!  Eleven.  Most with minimal or even zero conflicts.  I don’t get it.  There’s already so much wide-spread discomfort with FKAA that voters overwhelmingly favored a switch from an appointed to an elected board in 2012.  It wasn’t even close – 70% to 30%.  The legislation to put the will of the voters into effect was shot down in the senate.

Now we get an appointed board member who regularly does business with his own agency?  What in the screaming hell is going on?