Conflicts of interest, cronyism at SFRTA, Tri-Rail's operator, amid furtive renewal of costly lobbying contract

SFRTA
A Tri-Rail locomotive. Tri-Rail is operated by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

The governing board of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, operator of Tri-Rail commuter service, ditched staff plans to seek bids for lobbying services and instead rehired its longtime lobbyist amid apparent cronyism, conflicts of interest and possibly wasteful spending.

The rehiring of lobbyist Candice Ericks, vice president of TSE Consulting, the lobbying arm of Fort Lauderdale’s Tripp Scott law firm, occurred during the March SFRTA meeting. Among the SFRTA board members who voted to derail seeking bids and renew Ericks’s expiring $246,000-a-year contract was Ericks’s own boss – Tripp Scott co-founder, fellow TSE lobbyist, and SFRTA vice chairman James (Jim) Scott.

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