ETHICS QUESTIONS SURROUND ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting today that Orange County auditors are looking into ties between Sheriff Kevin Beary and a not-for-profit company he started with taxpayer resources and has paid him $43,000 in consulting fees.

The company, National Domestic Prepardness Coalition Inc. (NDPCI), was formed two years ago by Beary, two sheriff's office employees, and a neurosurgeon who once served as a medical advisor for the sheriff's office. It has gained stature in the homeland security field, developing a method that law-enforcement officers, government agencies and businesses can use to gauge how vulnerable buildings such as courthouses and hospitals are to terrorist attacks. The coalition also trains law-enforcement officers how to use its "assessment model."

Auditors want to know if county funds were used improperly. The Sentinel report mentions:

--- Beary and two Sheriff's Office employees were founding directors of the nonprofit corporation, which drew on at least $174,000 of public resources -- such as travel expenses and salaries -- that were later reimbursed, county records show. The Sheriff's Office employees have worked for the nonprofit coalition even as Beary has pushed for more tax dollars to address a shortage of deputies.
--- Beary insisted during his re-election campaign last year that he had not been paid by the coalition. But weeks after he won the race, he accepted the $43,000 in consulting fees from the nonprofit, according to his financial-disclosure records and a sheriff's spokesman.

--- Though Beary said he cleared the payments he received in advance with state ethics officials, those same state officials say his involvement with the coalition wasn't fully explained.

Not only that, but...

The coalition initially shared office space with the Sheriff's Office, and its publications bore Sheriff's Office telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. When the coalition received a $654,000 federal grant last year to demonstrate its product, the Sheriff's Office announced that the county -- not the NDPCI -- had received the funds: "Orange County receives $654,383 to demonstrate homeland security assessment model to the rest of the nation," a news release said, making no mention of NDPCI...