Former Florida mayor sentenced to prison for secret consulting job

[Baitball Blogger]

A south Florida mayor was sentenced to 22 months in prison on Friday after being found guilty of corruption tied to his lobbying work for a secret consulting job while in office.

Steven Bateman, 59, had sought a more lenient sentence following his conviction for illegally lobbying for a construction deal while he was the mayor of Homestead, a Miami suburb, between 2009 and 2013.

He had been seeking a sentence of no more than six months in prison, spread out over two years, from Florida Circuit Judge Robert Luck, according to his attorney. Batemen was allowed to remain free on bond pending appeal.

In September, a jury found him guilty of two felony counts of illegal compensation, one of which was later overturned by the judge due to insufficient evidence, said Michael Davis, one of the attorneys representing Bateman.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-florida-mayor-20141215-story.html

He must have gotten on somebody's bad side. We had a Mayor (a Democrat no less) who put up objections when Commissioners were discussing the regulations they wanted for a special zoning district. He wasn't aware the mic picked up his comment when one of the commissioner asked who owned a certain property, which was either annexed into the district, or was part of the district. The Mayor chucked and replied, "that's mine."