"Fasano fiasco" draws a second lawsuit

The never-ending dispute over driver's license handbooks _ which are distributed annually to high school students _ has taken yet another turn.

National Safety Commission filed a lawsuit in Leon County today alleging that proviso language placed in the state budget by Sen. Mike Fasano, the chairman of the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, was "unconstitutional." This is the language that directed the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to print the handbook without the use of advertisements, a shot at NSC since that group had a contract to print the handbook for free but placed in it an ad for an online driving school that they operate.

Traffic school competitors, including one represented by Fasano's former aide, contended the handbook deal gave NSC an unfair advantage. Sherry Dickinson, the wife of former DHSMV executive director Fred Dickinson, was a lobbyist for NSC at the time it won the state contract.

Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed the proviso language, a move that was challenged by a lawsuit in June. But NSC's lawsuit contends that legislators violated the law by placing the proviso language in the state budget to begin with. NSC also maintains the language impairs a legally-binding contract. NSC is being represented by Holland & Knight.

“As many senior government officials have explained to me, the  origins of this entire ‘Fasano Fiasco’ stem from his extraordinary abuse of power,” said Ken Underwood, CEO of the National Safety 
Commission.  “Senator Fasano exerts enormous influence over the DMV  through his powerful budget chairmanship and he has inappropriately  threatened to withhold funding if the Department doesn’t meet the demands of the special interest group that includes his business  partner to illegally cancel a valid contract.''

Here's a copy of the lawsuit: Download nsc_lawsuit.pdf

Here's a copy of the NSC press release: Download nsc_press_release.pdf

Comments

The lobbyists for Underwood are running away as fast as they can...by the end of the week he'll have no one left representing him in Tallahassee...Keep checking the Secretary of State's Lobbyist List.

The lobbyists for Underwood are running away as fast as they can...by the end of the week he'll have no one left representing him in Tallahassee...Keep checking the Secretary of State's Lobbyist List.

Someone must be putting the screws to them. Who would do that and what are they afraid of?

To answer the above question ; Maybe they are afraid of being associate with such a corrupt person as Underwood. He is the pinnacle of corruptness. First he hires the wife (Sherry Dickinson) of the person in charge of the DHSMV (Fred Dickinson) to lobby the Department to out source the printing of the handbook. He then obviously wins the contract since Sherry’s husband is manipulating the entire process. Meanwhile, Sherry, Fred and Underwood are making an obscene amount of money. So much money that Fred is willing to gamble the job he has held for over a decade and eventually loses it. But by that point Underwood has made so many millions that he has an arsenal to defend his corrupt contract. In conclusion Underwood is taking out his aggression on the only politician who has stood up to him, which is Senator Fasano. Its quite ironic that Fasano is the one being sued when it should he Underwood and all the corrupt politicians who contribute to the war chest Underwood has amassed.