GUEST POST: Sweeping Gentile Under the Rug

Performance Outweighs Being Held Accountable

- Naked Conch - Posted by Larry Murray - September 2, 2012
I was disappointed, though not surprised, to read the report here on Naked Conch that Andy Griffiths is waffling on the issue of Ken Gentile and his fraudulent claim to be a Florida licensed CPA.  Courage of one's convictions is not a commonplace amongst politicians and Griffiths is no exception.

Three months have passed since I raised the issue of Ken Gentile and his fraudulent claim on his application that he was a Florida licensed CPA and his continued use of "CPA" with his signature on numerous documents. Purportedly, the School Board had its attorney, Dirk Smits, conduct an investigation well over a month ago.  That there was an internal investigation has never been confirmed and certainly no report has been publicly presented to the School Board.

During the School Board Candidate's Forum at Finnegan's Wake every candidate called for Gentile's dismissal.  One candidate, Andy Griffiths, went even further as he called for the heads of both Gentile and CFO Michael Kinneer.  I must admit that when I heard that statement that I could hardly believe my ears.

Since then, Griffiths has publicly backed off his demand for Kinneer's dismissal,apologizing to him at a Board meeting, and it appears that he is doing the same with Gentile.  Griffiths is famous for putting his finger to the political winds and one assumes that he has decided to reverse field for some political advantage.

Gentile, it appears, has done a better job as Finance Director than his predecessor, the CFO.  At least, that is the opinion of the School Board and others.  Gentile has worked diligently in that job to become "the indispensable man" and the School Board, including Griffiths, seems to view him as irreplaceable.  The logic is that to dismiss Gentile would cause irreparable harm to the District and the administration of its finances.

The whole thing dovetails nicely with the editorial in the Citizen regarding the Grand Jury's recommendation that County Administrator Roman Gastesi and his deputy, Debbie Fredericks, be dismissed for receiving stolen goods.  The Citizen argues that it would be a shame to fire the two considering the great jobs that they have done much as the School Board, Griffiths included, is reluctant to dismiss Gentile because of his job performance.  It seems that in Monroe County, doing a good job transcends all else.

While I follow the logic in both cases, I fail to embrace either the ethics or the morality of such decision making.  Gentile clearly engaged in a continuing fraud with regard to his CPA license and should have been dismissed long ago.  My guess is that Griffiths and the Board are hoping that everyone will just forget about it.  So far, it is a strategy that is working.

Dr. Larry Murray
Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
Former Member of the MCSD Finance and Audit Committee