No, Doug Guetzloe is not "winning" all of his lawsuits

When asked about the multiple lawsuits or criminal investigations that have been following him around for the past few years, Doug Guetzloe always brags that he is "winning" all the lawsuits and gets all the criminal charges "dismissed."  

Sorry, Doughboy, but, in the famous words of Congressman Joe Wilson, "You Lie!"

I've covered some of Guetzloe's past troubles here (most notably, that his constant claims that he has "won" the appeal and gotten his criminal conviction "overturned" are not true, merely that the 14 counts to which he pled no contest and for which he was convicted have now been consolidated into one count).

And now, today, something new and fun.  WKMG Local 6 posted today a copy of a October 2007 grand jury report on the "culture of corruption" at the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, which was released to the public today after Guetzloe's lawsuit to keep the report private was officially rejected by the appellate court, after 18 months of legal acrobatics by Guetzloe's favorite attorney/attack dog, Fred O'Neal.  Read Local 6's article here.

The grand jury report describes how OOCEA paid $107,500 to Doug Guetzloe and his company, Advantage Consultants, for what was claimed to be a consulting fee for a public opinion study about paying tolls.  However, "no scope of work was delineated" for the work, and [n]o expectations or goals were outlined in writing" for Guetzloe's work, and all he apparently did was produce a "two and a quarter page" report.  

The grand jury report also describes how the Advantage Consultants contract was concealed by hiring them as a subcontractor and the normal OOCEA bidding process was circumvented.

Considering the short and flimsy report that was generated, the large fee that was paid, the efforts to conceal the contract, and Guetzloe's activities with "Ax the Tax," a group that had been a loud and vocal opponent to toll increases in the past, the grand jury came to what they termed the "inescapable conclusion" that the payment was "hush money," and notes that "a quieter Ax the Tax did seem to flow from the $107,500 payment to Doug Guetzloe."

The hypocrisy of this just amazes me.  Doug Guetzloe has championed himself as the local champion in all fights against tax increases for years, but here is yet another example of his support or opposition of an issue being for sale.  Toll increases are a form of a tax increase, and for him to do a complete 180 in his position on the issue after getting over a hundred thousand dollars illustrates, in my opinion, exactly how true and honorable (or should I say false and dishonorable) his beliefs really are.

Anyone associated with the Florida Tea Party should really question what's motivating Guetzloe's loyalty now.  If Guetzloe is for sale, who's paying the bill this year?