Posted on July 7, 2004

Bush Suspends Indicted Mayor Of Opa-Locka

Herald.com (FL), Jul. 6

Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday suspended Myra Taylor as mayor of Opa-locka, citing her indictment last week on federal fraud charges.

Taylor, her minister husband and her sister have been accused of using more than $100,000 from their Vankara private schools for personal expenses such as Mercedes-Benz purchases, mortgage payments, utilities and college bills.

The family has denied wrongdoing, with the mayor calling the indictment an attack on the “black community.”

A long-time commissioner, Taylor was elected mayor in 2003. She was recently chosen assistant treasurer of the National Conference of Black Mayors.

The governor routinely suspends public officials accused of felonies.

Comments from Readers

From: Frank P.

The mayor of Opa Locka is not the only black politician JEB Bush had to suspend.The elections supervisor by the name of Miriam Oliphant(Haitian) was removed from office for corruption.I am surprised that JEB Bush has had the nerve to remove corrupt politicians.Look at the corupption of our political system as it is.He could also look into the school boards of Dade and Broward county.

From: Humpty Dumpty

I remember Lawton Chiles (Former Gov, Demo) having to suspend a city council member of Gainesville for selling crack cocaine. . . He of course cried racism.

From: Drew

Frank’s comment about the school board made me think about the black superintendent that the people of my city were able to finally get rid of. The school board, made up of liberal democrats of black and white color stood by the superintendent until events finally overrode them. The newspaper also showed unswerving support over the years. Unfortuantely, this imcompetent black superintendent was able to get a free ride for 22 years.

A chain of events occured that made it necessary for this man to go. First, it was found out that that a lot of people were getting hired that had serious criminal records. Some of the crimes involved children. Then it was found out that school violence had been grossly under-reported for years. What brought this out was an incident that was not reported to police as required by law. A student stomped another student on the head so hard that a shoe imprint was left on the boy’s face.

I think the final straw was when it became known that the superintendent demonstrated gross incompetence. He had to admit some 9 months after the fact that he had not read the directives sent by the state that outlined the guidelines for the school year.

From: spartacus

Same cries of racism are heard in Philly from blacks indicted in federal probe of politicians. Why don’t we hear this when blacks profit from affirmative action?

From: Ian Jobling (AR webmaster)

Spartacus,

I’m very interested in the Corey Kemp scandal, and would appreciate any links to stories about it that you or anyone else could send me through the “Send Us a News Story” link on the page.

From: Dave

Frank, FYI Bush stonewalled on Oliphant for a long time. He finally sacked her when the evidence against her was so overwhelming that he hsd no choice. Even though he can’t run again, he continues to pander to the minorities here. 🙁