Gloria Battle, an ally of Deerfield Beach Vice Mayor Sylvia Poitier, may have committed a crime by voting to authorize more than $12,000 in funding to the Haitian American Consortium, a nonprofit corporation for which she is the secretary.
Based on a post by city activist Chaz Stevens on his blog, My Acts of Sedition, it appears Battle got a $250 check from the consortium on December 12, 2008. The next month, January 2009, Battle was nominated by Poitier, then appointed to fill one of the empty places on the commission after the corruption-related suspensions of Mayor Al Capellini and Commissioner Steve Gonot.
Then in March 2009, Battle voted to pass a resolution that called for more than $100,000 in funding through the Community Development Block Grant,
of which $12,206 went to the consortium.
It's not clear what the
check was for. But Stevens argues that whatever it was, it establishes
a financial tie between Battle and the consortium, meaning that Battle
was obligated to disclose her conflict of interest prior to that vote.
Battle's most recent telephone numbers are disconnected, so she couldn't be reached for comment. State corporation filings for the consortium contain no phone numbers for the corporate officers. A message left at the consortium was not immediately returned.
