Watch CBS News

Tamarac Commission Taps Dressler To Fill In For Suspended Mayor

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Tamarac commissioners have chosen one of their own, Harry Dressler, to take over the mayor's position.

The commission made the appointment after current Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco was suspended for a second time by Gov. Rick Scott last Friday. The suspension comes days after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear her case.

Flansbaum-Talabisco was charged in 2011 with unlawful compensation, bribery, official misconduct and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation.

The charges were brought against her 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.

In 2012, 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.

Last July, the Fourth District Court of Appeal decided that Judge Imperato was out of line when she threw out the case against her, causing the charges to be reinstated against Flansbaum-Talabisco.

Flansbaum-Talabisco has denied the allegations, the case will go back to Broward Circuit Court for trial.

With Dressler filling in as mayor, the commission must now fill his open seat.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.