Gov. Scott Restores Flansbaum-Talabisco As Mayor
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Suspended Tamarac Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco has her old job back.
On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott restored her as the city's mayor nearly two weeks after Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato dismissed the public corruption charges leveled against her citing a lack of evidence.
Flansbaum-Talabisco, 57, had been charged with unlawful compensation, bribery, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation.
The charges were brought after the State Attorney's Office claimed Flansbaum-Talabisco secretly accepted $21,000 from developers Bruce and Shawn Chait to support her 2006 campaign. In exchange for the contribution, the state claimed that she voted favorably for the Chaits' company, Prestige Homes, which wanted to build more than 700 homes on two former golf courses near Florida's Turnpike and Commercial Boulevard while avoiding paying big money in development fees to the city and Broward School District.
Flansbaum-Talabisco was not the only Tamarac politician to be arrested in connection with Chaits.
Former city commissioner Marc Sultanof was charged in 2010 with six felony counts for reportedly accepting $30,000 from the Chaits in exchange for his commission votes on their project. Also implicated in the Chaits corruption probe are suspended Broward School Board member Stephanie Kraft and her husband Mitch.
