This just in: Public records paperwork on Walia's campaign treasurer has arrived - Candia Lynch-Mausser nailed for securities fraud by SEC in 1995

Judgment and sentencing paperwork from 1995 (13 pages, PDF) shows that city council candidate Harry Walia's campaign treasurer, Candia Lynch-Mausser, was a leader of a Cincinnati securities fraud ring in the early 1990s. While never criminally charged, the SEC adjudged her civilly as guilty of fraud and assessed over $6,000 in "disgorgement" fines against her. The company she worked for was ordered to pay $30,000 as a direct result of her actions. Additionally, Mausser was barred from ever selling stocks and securities for a minimum of four years.

Up until the receipt of the documents early this morning, Venice Florida! dot com only had sketchy details of Mausser's legal problems with the SEC. Knowing that Venice Florida! dot com was looking into the charges, Walia's campaign had reportedly been telling the Gondolier and the Herald-Trib that Mausser's SEC history was a minor matter and that Mausser had gotten into some small trouble as the result of taking bad advice from someone that she had trusted.

The investigative and judgment paperwork from the SEC received today indicates that nothing could be further from the truth.

The SEC filings and judgments were sent pursuant to a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Venice Florida! dot com approximately ten days ago.

According to the filings, Mausser was an employee at, and later the "Branch Manager" of, a franchise office in Cincinnati of Corporate Securities Group, Inc., a Florida-based corporation. The Cincinnati office was owned by Dr. George Rizos and Matthew Zahn.

Mausser was accused by the SEC of selling unregistered securities, lying about their value, and funneling the sales proceeds to Rizos' personal accounts instead of into the corporate accounts of Corporate Securities, Inc.

From pages 3 and 4 of the PDF file (same as pages 1 and 2 of the second document in the file): "Mausser willfully violated Section 17(A) of the Securities Act of 1933 in that, in the offer or sale off securities, ...Mausser employed devices, schemes, or artifices to defraud; obtained money or property by means of untrue statements of material facts, ...[and] engaged in practices or courses of business which operated as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser."

Specifically, Mausser was accused of making "...material misrepresentations and omissions in the offer or sale of Goldstar securities by making baseless price predictions, making false assertions that Goldstar would be freely tradable and would be listed in NASDAQ."

In other words, Mausser was a sort-of miniature version of Art Nadel.

Mausser had two co-defendants, Rizos and Zahn. Rizos was ordered to pay $14,500 in fines and disgorgement fees, while Mausser was ordered to pay $6,300. No penalty was assessed against Zahn. Corporate Securities was ordered to pay $30,000 in fines because of Mausser's and Rizos' activities.

Additionally, Mausser was barred for four years from selling stocks and securities and from working for anyone who does sell them. Rizos was barred for two years while Zahn was barred for six months.

That makes two out of two staffers on Walia's campaign staff with what could loosely be termed as less than stellar backgrounds.

Walia's events coordinator, Heather Skeffington, is on probation with the Florida Department of Corrections for burglary. Additionally, she is still facing charges of using a stolen credit card and exploiting the elderly.

In one of the biggest PR mistakes ever in the history of Venice politics, Walia used Skeffington to park cars at his July 24 fundraiser for Republican Bill McCollum's gubernatorial bid. McCollum is currently employed as Florida's Attorney General. Attendees at the event were not told that they were giving their house and car keys to someone who was on probation for burglary and was facing other theft-related charges.

--THE REAL STORY-- Inside sources: Police not charging Walia, Crowe with filing false police reports because of Walia's political connections, particularly with Attorney General Bill McCollum

Herald-Trib was close, but no cigar

Despite an abundance of proof that city council candidate Harry Walia  (photo at right) knowingly gave police false information in sworn affidavits and interviews, there are no plans to charge Walia with filing false police reports. According to police sources who wish to remain anonymous, the police are giving Walia a pass due to his Republican Party political connections, both local and statewide.

In late July and early August of this year, police conducted an investigation into allegations that Garry Moore, of State of the Art Landscaping, had sabotaged and vandalized Walia's irrigation system and electrical wiring. Walia refused to pay Moore for fixing a water fountain pump. Walia was, at the time, fixing up his backyard for a July 24 fundraiser for the gubernatorial campaign of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. McCollum did attend the fundraiser at Walia's house.

Walia is alternatively known in numerous legal records, including the deed to his house, as Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia.

Walia, his girlfriend/attorney Diana Pankova(1), and two staffers, Heather Skeffington and Candia Lynch-Mausser(2), all gave sworn written statements to Venice Police Detective Ron Perisho, all implicating Moore as having criminally caused a series of electrical and plumbing failures that police later determined were due to shoddy repairs previously authorized by Walia. All but Pankova gave taped verbal interviews to Perisho as well.

According to a statement obtained by Venice Police from an electrician contracted by Walia, the system had been defective from long before Moore had ever laid eyes on it, and it was rapidly deteriorating. "It was a Mickey Mouse job," Ron Parish, of Best Electric, told police in his police interview.

Walia liberally name dropped the state's attorney general, Bill McCollum, in his interview with Detective Ron Perisho, this as heard in the audio recording of Walia's police interview as obtained by Venice Florida! dot com. At one point, Walia infers a strong chummy relationship with McCollum by stating that the pair of men were together until midnight on July 24. Walia name drops McCollum in his written sworn affidavit as well.

Moore, who did this repair as a one-off job and had never met Walia or been at the property prior to July of this year, stated to this writer that he tracked down prior workmen that Walia had used and that these workmen claim that they had warned Walia repeatedly about the shoddy electrical and plumbing work that
was on his property, but that Walia ignored their warnings.

Both Moore and Venice Florida! dot com have been inquiring as to why Walia remains not criminally charged with knowingly filing false criminal complaints.

The unofficial reason given to both Moore and to myself was that this whole mess was too political and that Walia is too highly connected.

Officially, the reason given to Venice Florida! dot com is that the complaints were dropped as "unfounded," therefore they don't exist as criminal complaints any more and thus cannot be false.

According to Moore, the official reason given to him was that, despite proof of Walia's prior knowledge that both the police and Moore unearthed, Walia is goofy enough that police couldn't prove that Walia understood that he was making a false statement. In other words, the police appear to be claiming that they will not charge Walia because Walia might claim an insanity plea. Remember, this is a man who is currently running for election for a seat on Venice City Council on a so-called "common sense" platform.

Moore has filed a contractor's lien against Walia's house for just over $900. Additionally, Moore has filed suit in small claims court. Walia has filed a countersuit.

The second criminal complaint involves Walia campaign staffer and supporter, Cyntia Crowe, who was caught on video physically attacking this writer at the Venice Library immediately after a League of Women Voiters debate.

Crowe had watched as Walia, outside of the room where the debate had been held, was asked about the criminal complaint that had been filed against Moore. Crowe then followed this writer back into the room where the debate had been held and issued threats of an impending lawsuit. When asked why, Crowe repeatedly refused to answer and proceeded to threaten and then follow through with a right-handed punch.

The video, and a verbal witness statement made to Venice Florida! dot com by Mayor Ed Martin, clearly show that Walia is not in the room at the time of the attack. In fact, Walia was some twenty to thirty feet outside of the room and around a corner.

Nevertheless, Walia and Crowe both filed criminal affidavits claiming that I physically attacked Crowe (PDF, 4 pages).

That complaint was dismissed as unfounded after detectives reviewed the video, which by that time had been published to YouTube.

Again, no charge of filing a false police report is being contemplated by the Venice Police Department, this because the complaint has been determined to be "unfounded," so it doesn't actually exist as such and therefore cannot possibly be a false complaint situation (or: since it was false, it cannot be valid and only a valid complaint can later be investigated for being false).

Meanwhile, Venice Florida! dot com has made inquiries to Attorney General Bill McCollum's office to inquire if it is the attorney general's policy to give a pass to offenses and crimes related to fundraisers for McCollum's election campaign.

I am still awaiting return calls from Captain Tom McNulty of the Venice Police Department and from the state's Attorney General's Office to see if either law enforcement agncy can come up with any clarifications as to why Walia is getting a pass from prosecution for what are prima facie cases of abuse of perceived authority in the filing of false police reports.

[FOOTNOTES:
(1) Walia identifies Pankova as his girlfriend in the audio recording of Detective Perisho's interview
(2)  Walia staffers and witnesses against Moore,  Skeffington and Mausser, both have problematic legal pasts. Skeffington is currently on probation with the Florida Department of Corrections for burglary. She still is facing charges of exploiting the elderly and multiple counts of using a stolen credit card. Mausser and an associate were accused of securities fraud by the SEC in 1994, a $30,000 administrative fine was imposed against the pair.]

Batshiat Crazy Harry's foul odor solution and other great insights from the candidates

Venice Florida! dot com welcomes Mary D. as a new volunteer staff writer. This is her first piece.

Ref: Ideas for council candidates by Bob Vedder, Venice Gondolier Sun, 10/28/09

"While we think this year’s city council candidates lack experience in city and community affairs, they still have many ideas, some good, some questionable. ... Yet there is a lot more to a candidate than ideas. I hope we have laid out enough information for you to choose."

I must have missed all the info the Gondo has been laying out about the candidates. This babble fest seems to be one of the more detailed write ups and it didn't provide squat as to who is qualified. One particular blurb from this article did catch my attention though:

"Because our beaches are rated very low, Harry Walia suggested that we route stormwater into the holding ponds that used to be for treating effluent at the old Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. Harry has had some engineering experience, which came out a couple of times in his interview. Jim Bennett, his opponent, thinks we need to better define what is causing the problems before we seek a solution."

Wow, now Batshiat, in addition to those many other talents we've seen like drunk-driving, speeding, running a development into bankruptcy, avoiding paying for services received and showing off his scary knowledge by making comments like Venice joined the UN for $3500, acknowledges that he can fix our wastewater system with his engineering skills. That's funny because, from what I've read, Harry can't fix his own fountain or sprinkler-system.

Perhaps this next idea of Batshiat's will give us more insight, "to solve the foul odor coming from the wastewater and water treatment plants ... He thought there should be a tall vent stack to carry the odors higher so as not to bother homes and businesses nearby." Maybe Harry can just invent a giant deodorizer to put on the side of the treatment plant instead. I think it would make as much sense. I'm qualified to make that comment because I had a semester of engineering in college, which I'm guessing is more "experience" than Batshiat has ever had.

Can't ignore Jim Bennett's comment that he needs to better define what is causing the problem. Ah, the problem would be rain, Jim, and at times lots of it, and with no good place to go after it lands on the ground. Maybe Harry can control the weather, though. In between his engineering courses, he may have taken a class in ancient rain-dance rituals. Of course, I'm sure there are more problems to define now that I've answered that one. I'm sure Jim will get to the bottom of them before he votes for the giant deodorizer.

Some of the other great insight offered by the Gondo's article was that Ted Koszarski would like to use volunteers as consultants and that he himself would volunteer to do a veterans video archive, and that Emilio Carlesimo would like to have a swing set on the beach. Ted and Emilio were not quoted on their theories about rain and smelly water so we'll have to make a leap of faith as to what they think about my giant deodorizer idea.

According to the Gondo, after reading this pile of crap you are officially locked and loaded with all the info you need to vote this coming Tuesday. Good luck ...

Herald-Trib [finally] nails Batshiat Crazy Harry for being batshiat crazy

Carlesimo won't openly endorse or denounce Walia, refuses to admit or deny that he voted for Walia

"The police report, filed Sept. 23, is the latest twist in the Walia-Bennett race. Bennett's supporters have cited the report, a 16-year-old DUI against Walia -- later reduced to reckless driving -- and a number of lawsuits and foreclosures he has been involved in the last few years in opposing Walia."
--from City Council candidate's complaint is dismissed by Kim Hackett, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 10/28/09

Well, not exactly. This isn't "the latest twist," nor was it being "cited" by "Bennett supporters." That's more than a bit dismissive of an incredible amount of time that I've put in to research this very shady politician.

This was the starting point for a series of investigations into Walia's past that has resulted in two physical attacks against me so far, one by Walia supporter Cynthia Crowe, another by Gondo reporter and Walia supporter Greg Giles. Walia and Crowe filed a criminal complaint against me for hurting Crowe's wrist when, according to the pair of would-be victims, my chest slammed into her fist (I wish I were kidding -- you can see the video and read the affidavit for yourself).

That complaint was also dismissed by police as "unfounded." Mercifully, I had a vidcam rolling during the latter incident. YouTube can be a good friend.

Bennett once stepped on my foot. I have every reason to believe it was an accident. He apologized, not that there was any real need to.

Walia didn't like my questions, so he inquired about getting a restraining order to prevent me from attending any more political events as I might endanger more of his supporters' wrists when they take a swing at me.

Bennett once took me out to lunch.

I can't call myself a Bennett supporter, but if I'm interviewing a candidate, I sure as heck have a preferance to getting a free meal over being punched and then later lied about.

Still, Hackett scored a major coup when she caused Batshiat Crazy Harry to pop the latch on his cranium so that she could could peer down inside at the vodka and ether soaked cobwebs within, this when Batshiat stated of Garry Moore, "He tried to burn down my house!"

Did you see the name drop of Attorney General Bill McCollum? Did you note that, as though that gave some imprimatur of validity to Batshiat's ramblings? He tried that name drop with the cops, too, it's in the recorded audio of his police interview. It worked so well with police that they still wrote Walia off as totally unreliable: "He could have paid Mr. Moore but for whatever reason, [Walia] is blaming [Moore]," that quote attributed by Hackett to Detective Ron Perisho.

Translation: Walia is nuttier than Jimmy Carter's farmland.
Then there is the check-swapping scam at a health care provider, the accusations of fraud, inducement to fraud, and conversion levied against him in a counter-suit filed by Florida Flight Training Center, and more.

Look in your own archives for a story I found from 2000 or so when Walia was in a dust-up with a Sarasota pizzaria owner.

Drivers License suspension, tags not assigned, driving with no insurance -- those are out of county charges that show up in his DUI court file driving record as then-recent events (normally, these are crimes of poverty, but Walia claims to be and been highly affluent).

There's more. Much more. Way too much more. Enough that Venice Florida! dot com has officially dubbed him "Batshiat Crazy Harry."

I'm actually debating whether to vote for him, as he is and will continue to be the most fun and inane untamed wildness that I could watch for the price of a vote.

Walia's running mate, Emilio Carlesimo, has stated that he has already voted. Curiously, Carlesimo won't admit or deny that he voted for Walia. There's a ringing endorsement, eh?

Readers submit their own Walia scandal articles to Gondo, Herald-Trib, are told to go away

When I published the article entitled How to write your own Walia scandal story, it was intended as a deliberate and outrageously voiced jab at the local print media for continuing to fail at their very basic mandate, to wit: to report the news and to inform their readership.

What I didn't expect was that any readers would actually take me up on the challenge.

Two readers did, working independently. They both took the core elements available on Venice Florida! dot com, gathered additional material, and did their own interviews. Before submitting the articles to Venice Florida! dot com, they shopped them to the two local print newspapers for hopeful publication.

Both women writers (neither of whom have I yet to actually meet in person) claim they encountered a hostile barrage of denials from Greg Giles at the Gondolier. Giles made it clear that he believed that if the stories were not written entirely from the perspective of his favored candidate, the stories could not possibly be fair and balanced (a la Fox News). Those weren't Giles' exact words, but the message was clear to its recipients: Go away and leave me alone, I barely have a job at a barely-existing newspaper and if this shitpile collapses, I don't think I can find anyone else who will hire me.

The irony here is that Giles (seen at the right side of photo, being confronted by Venice Taxpayers League prez Gary Budway at a recent campaign event) has claimed to me that I am biased while remaining clear that his straight news coverage at the Gondo is unbiased.

I am biased. I am partisan. I never claimed to be otherwise. It's a deliberate attempt to bring some balance into an extremely biased media environment that claims to be otherwise. As to this new Gondo/Fox News philosophical merger in the Gondo's bogus claim to be fair and balanced, I have a few rude Monty Python quotes that spring to mind. Some Shakespeare insults as well.

I'm not saying it is wrong to be biased. It is genuinely and transparently dishonest to be so heavily biased as the Gondo has become while claiming to be unbiased. It's a lie and the paper is fooling no one.

Victor Hull at the Herald-Tribune, after being offered a couple of inches-thick stacks of papers from the pair of women, reportedly stated that he needed more info from them about the nature of the documents. God forbid he should actually have to glance at a stack of docs.

So, I am led to believe that the research department at the Herald-Tribune is unaware of the existence of the internet, this web site, or the clerk of court. Either that, or Hull is just too lazy to attempt to understand the story or he's too lazy to make a few phone calls to validate any of it or he's too lazy to tell one of his staffers to make a few phone calls to validate it.

Another possiblity, one that I am beginning to give more and more credence to, is that William Randolph Hearst has risen from the grave, bought both papers, and, like his famous missive about Billy Graham so many years ago, has sent two-word telegrams to both papers: "Puff Walia!"

The latter theory makes more sense than anything else. It means that both papers are under orders from a highly influential and powerful man to deny readers any meaningful insight as to who the stealthed-out CQG is asking you to vote for.

Please: do not tell me the CQG is not in this. I was at the VASI forum. I watched the temporarily dethroned King of Venice, land development attorney E.G. 'Dan' Boone, as he lovingly gazed at his best hopes to regain his throne: candidates Emilio Carlesimo and Carlesimo's running mate, Batshiat Crazy Harry Walia. If these two get in, it's Happy Days Are Here Again time at the Boone, Boone, Boone, Dewy, Cheetham, and Howe law firm, which in turn means that the treasury looting will begin again under the guise of heading towards prosperity.

The way Dan Boone was gazing at retired fireman Carlesimo could only mean one of two things: that Boone was having a near-rapturous religious experience in his ongoing worship of green bits of paper, or he has turned gay late in life and he totally wants a wet weekend with a guy who knows his way around a fire hose.

I'm not exaggerating for the sake of humor here. I don't need to. The truth is pretty hilarious. As Carlesimo talked, Boone, unaware that anyone was watching him, looked like a child at the circus. A gnomish, deformed child with spinal bifuda, granted, but a child nonetheless. I've never seen him gleeful before, and yet the glow on his face as he gazed at Carlesimo was undeniable.

But I digress.

Since the papers refuse to inform, I will do two things over the next few days. The first is ask for a one- or two-week boycott of both newspapers. Everybody calls in on the same day to cancel their subs for two weeks. The front page of Venice Florida! dot com will be replaced during this time with boycott calendar. I urge all readers of this site, as well as leadership of the VNC and VTL, to help the call out on this rather radical move in an attempt to make the newspapers aware that their readership are indeed NOT IDIOTS as their editors seem to think.

The other is that I will be running the two articles written by readers that were intended for publication in the Gondo and the Herald-Tribune. If the Herald-Trib or the Gondo actually wants to take a crack at it, then I will withhold publication. Short of that, a hearty sweet F.A. goes out to both publications for their failure to inform in the face of a hungry audience.

Herald-Trib joins the Gondo in cover up of Ahluwalia's past and present shady deals

Ref: Venice council race intensifies by Kim Hackett, Herald-Trib, 10/24/09

COVER UP COVER UP COVER UP COVER UP
I CALL SHENANIGANS -- BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
THE ABOVE LINKED-TO ARTICLE CONTAINS DANGEROUSLY TOXIC LEVELS OF BULLS**T

A normal side effect of numerous business deals does not include twice going to the police station to file false charges against people because, as in my case, Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia didn't like my questions, or in the case of Garry Moore, because Ahluwalia wanted to avoid paying $900 for a decrepit fountain pump and an additional $800 to $1200 to repair the rest of a decrepit outdoor plumbing system.

Normal side effects do not include accusations of fraud and inducement to fraud, as the current countersuit against him from an airport business alleges.

I knew Ahluwalia for three minutes, had asked him one question about his affiliation with the young Republicans, and he threatened to sue me. Later on down the campaign trail, he didn't like my questions again, so he sent an old woman out to try to beat me up -- she and Ahluwalia tried to file criminal charges against me because I hurt her wrist when I attacked her fist with my chest.

Nobody "accused" Ahluwalia of using two names. The topic came up, Ahluwalia denied it, then came the proof that he was not telling the truth and Ahluwalia's tearful response of wrapping himself in the flag and claiming racism without actually saying the word.

As to the DUI -- there is that, but there is much more surrounding it over the past two decades, including two license suspensions (one as a result of the DUI), driving with no insurance, driving with no valid tags, an auto negligence lawsuit, and ticket after ticket after ticket for speeding. This guy thinks he is a teenager.

You know the full stories on this and much more.

This goes beyond partisan politics -- this is an issue of two papers deliberately fooling the public into favoring two pro-growth candidates because newspapers need growth to financially survive. Truth is abandoned in favor of $$$.

I've never been pro-growth or anti-growth. My issues have always been due process, truth in government, and truth in the press. Everything I've ever written revolves around at least one of those three concepts. Right now, the H-T is full of FAIL in the truth department.

I understand the need for $$$, growth would definitely raise my bottom line big time, but not at the expense of being honest with your readers or mine. That is not an option to me, although the Herald-Trib seems OK with it.

This is a cover up. Pure and simple. Prove me wrong.

The headline uses the word "intesifies" -- you wouldn't know it from this article.

One last thing. Pet peeve like fingernails on a blackboard. Grammar. To Kim: NEVER EVER EVER START A SENTENCE WITH "BUT" OR "AND." WERE YOU RAISED BY WOLVES?
Those two words belong in the middle of a sentence, never at the beginning or at the end (stylized prose, which inverted pyramid is not, and poetry excepted). Been meaning to say that for a long time, because you do it a lot, and you did it again in this article.

I probably should have said that to you in person, but right now I am so disappointed in you and so pissed at your newspaper that I'm unloading. I'd cancel my subs but I did that to both the Gondo and the H-T long ago.

Gondo's Greg Giles covers for Walia, picks up where Cynthia Crowe left off

Gondo's Giles, Venice Florida! dot com's Patten get in a tussle at Gondo's offices

Over on the message board on the main web site, a "Jayne" wrote the following in response to my article entitled How to write your own Walia scandal story:

Well, after printing about 2 inches worth of documents and writing a very well-written article, if I do say so myself, it seems that we are running up against a wall when it comes to the Tribune and the Gondolier. Got one response from Victor Hull at the Tribune saying he needed more info which I offered to send but haven't heard back from him yet. I went to the Venice building but evidently the reporting and editing staff are "hardly ever" there, according to the front desk. Armed with a completed article and a file of documents to support it, I spoke with Greg Giles at the Gondolier this morning and that seemed like a strange conversation. I will wait until I hear back from him before I comment further on that. I can't figure out the resistance to FACTS (sorry for shouting, JP) - this isn't a smear campaign about anyone, it's about presenting facts so that voters can make an informed decision. Why is that so abhorrent to the establishment media?

I responded with this post:

Giles and I had a confrontation over this matter where Giles wanted to come to blows. He deliberately blocked my way coming out between two desks at the Gondo offices as I was trying to leave. I said "You wanna move?" He responded, "You wanna make me?" What is this, high school?

So I tried to push past him. He gave me a shove that pushed me backwards onto his desk, then started screaming that I started it by pushing him (well, not entirely untrue) and that he wanted me to get up.

Great. Wonderful. I had every eye in the Gondo building on me and I knew if this went any further, I'm gonna be painted as the psycho loon who was trying to kill Giles.

I rolled off of his desk and backed away, saying, "Yeah, whatever, OK, yeah, sure, whatever you say."

That was this past Tuesday afternoon.

What led up to this was that I was sitting at Bob Mudge's desk and Giles kept coming over to try to goad me into an argument. I had gone in to give Mudge some of this same paperwork on Ahluwalia and the police reports, plus Ahluwalia's attorney's accusatory police affidavits that contained even more false information.  Giles walks into the conversation uninvited and stated that he views my articles on Walia as "character assassination." I responded that I cannot kill what never existed.

Giles walked away, then barged back into the conversation to call me an asshole and to accuse me of wanting sex with him in a bathroom (to understand that, you have to jump back to a prior council meeting: Giles overheard a conversation I was having with the Herald-Trib's Kim Hackett and he threw in his two-cents with a "F**k you" aimed at me. I responded "would you like to do that here or would the men's room be more private?" Giles got even more visibly pissed then and shook his fist at me; that image instantly made me think that I was the Red Baron to his Snoopy).

Giles walked away again. He came back to Mudge's desk again, the crap started again, Mudge told him to go away again, and Mudge chided me as well.

After he left this time, I joked with Mudge, "Aw c'mon, Bob, lemme ask him to step outside." Mudge didn't think it was funny, so I complained to him that he never let me have any fun. I was joking but I had no idea what was to come next. I truly didn't think Giles was that wacko. I knew he didn't like me, but I thought he would have more self-control.

So that leads up to Mudge making some copies and me getting up to leave and getting into a fracas with Giles.

Giles was visibly shaking with rage -- I mean just vibrating. I even commented on that just before I asked him to move out of my way: "Look at you, you're actually shaking."

I was a little pissed off about his behavior, but strangely, the biggest emotion I had at the time was humor. I found the whole thing to be funny and childish. I don't understand any of that. If Giles was so in Walia's camp -- OK. So what? Why get that personally pissed? I've been angry over a lot of crooked shenanigans over the years, but not angry enough to start swinging. I do not understand Giles' motivations at all here.

I didn't want to make a big deal out of it cuz after the Cynthia Crowe fracas, it all begins to look like I'm walking around looking for a fight. A friend of mine laughed and said I'm an idiot, I lead with my chin -- my "in your face" attitude with crooks and liars just begs for a punching from crooks and those with guilty consciences. "You just can't walk up to a crook and say 'hey, you're a crook!' -- the crook tends to get pissed and you are conveniently now the closest thing to him to release the piss on."

Make no mistake -- the Gondo is in Ahluwalia's camp. I give Ahluwalia two months in office before he is fighting ethics complaints. I will yell loud and clear that both the Herald-Trib and the Gondo knew about this man and deliberately fooled the voters by not doing that which they are entrusted to do -- report the news, but as to what that will affect, I don't know.

Giles and the Gondo have no intention of publishing any of this info on Walia, deeming it unimportant that you know nothing about the real man behind the names of Ahluwalia and Walia. Hopefully, after the election, they will reap the wind for their failure to do that which they are entrusted to do -- report the news.

As for Giles, if you don't like what the Gondo is doing, cancel your subs. If the paper wants to marginalize this election, marginalize the paper.

Mausser update -- SEC records sought by Venice Florida! dot com

On Wednesday, we reported that Candia Lynch-Mausser, staffer for Harry Walia's election campaign, had once been investigated by the SEC for securities fraud.

Mausser is listed on Walia's campaign contribution sheets as his Deputy Treasurer.

Mausser was called before the SEC in an administrative hearing in late 1994 or mid-1995, according to sketchy online records found by Venice Florida! dot com.

Venice Florida! dot com has issued a FOIA request for further documents in the case, including the results of the SEC administrative hearing.

Added to other items discovered by Venice Florida! dot com, this all has the cumulative effect of making Walia the most disturbing candidate ever in memory in southwest Florida.

... more to come...

Batshiat Crazy Harry at VASI: "If you don't like me, move out of my town!"

No new surprises at yesterday's candidate forum held at city hall by VASI, the Venice area pilots' association. An audience of mostly out-of-town pilots and airport hangers-on gave rousing moments of applause to Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia (aka Harry Walia, photo above taken at the VASI forum) and Emilio Carlesimo. Some token limp applause went to Ahluwalia's opponent, Jim Bennett, while Carlesimo's opponent, Ted Koszarski, wisely decided to skip the whole mess and host a veterans' war seminar instead.

Ahluwalia took the bold step of stating, although not explicitly at first, that since he lived in town longer than his opponent, that gave Ahluwalia more ownership rights in both the town he lives in and in the seat in government that he is seeking. This culminated in Ahluwalia's claim of total ownership of Venice when, in a boomingly loud voice, he shouted "If you don't like me, move out of my town! I'll even pay for new tires for your car."

Ahluwalia made it obvious that he was directing the comment both at his opponent and at me for uncovering and publishing stories about his past and present shady behavior. The VASI audience laughed heartily and approvingly at the comment.

In the same speech, he talked about how he will listen to all views and return city hall to a time when anyone could speak their mind and be listened to. Ahluwalia never stated when such a time existed.

Ahluwalia stated that he lives near the airport and that complaints about noise are exaggerated. He stated that the noise is no worse than a rattling home air conditioner or an older model dishwasher.

Carlesimo's comments about the airport mirrored his speech at VASI last year, when he made the now-infamous comment, "When I hear jets, I hear the sound of money."

Carlesimo stated he was in favor of selling the airport portion of the land that Sharky's restaurant sits on to the restaurant, apparently unaware that the city would be the purchaser of the section of land, not Sharky's. He was opposed to the city buying the Venice Jet Center, which makes sense if you understand that Carlesimo supporter E.G. 'Dan' Boone can make more money for himself and future clients at taxpayer expense if the Jet Center is managed by private entities rather than by the city. Not that the city has such a great track record at running anything profitably, that due in a large part to many prior meddlings by Boone.

(photo credit: J. Patten)

More funky stuff from Walia campaign: Walia's executive assistant, Candia Mausser, accused of securities fraud in 1994

-----BREAKING-----

The executive assistant to City Council Candidate Harry Walia (aka Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia), Candia Lynch-Mausser, was once accused of securities fraud by the SEC, this according to information found on the SEC's official web site.

Venice Florida! dot com is further investigating the old, but recently discovered, claims.

This means that it is now known that Walia, and two of his staffers have all been either arrested or accused of criminal acts. Walia himself is currently accused of fraud and inducement to fraud in a civil counter-suit filed against him by Venice Airport business, Florida Flight Training Center.

Heather Skeffington, temp Walia staffer and one-time girlfriend of Walia supporter Ed Taylor, is on felony probation for burglary. She is also facing charges of using a stolen credit card and exploiting the elderly.

Walia, Mausser, and Skeffington were all key witnesses in a failed attempt to falsely accuse landscaper David Moore of vandalism at Walia's house. Moore was contracted by Skeffington and Walia to repair a fountian, but when other parts of Walia's electyrical and plumbing system failed because of shoddy workmanship in prior construction, Walia attempted to have criminal charges filed against Moore for vandalism. An electrician hired by Walia stated to police that nothing had been intentionally damaged and that prior repairs done for Walia by other workmen had been "Mickey Mouse jobs."

Police closed the case, calling Walia's accusations "unfounded."

Mausser gave a sworn statement to police supporting Walia's and Skeffington's version of events.

This story is breaking and ongoing....

From the SEC's web site, dated October, 1994:

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS INSTITUTED AGAINST CORPORATE SECURITIES GROUP, INC., MATTHEW ZAHN, DR. GEORGE RIZOS AND CANDIA MAUSSER; CEASE AND DESIST PROCEEDINGS INSTITUTED AGAINST DR. GEORGE RIZOS AND CANDIA MAUSSER

The Commission announced that it instituted public administrative proceedings against Corporate Securities Group, Inc., a registeredbroker-dealer; Matthew Zahn, a registered representative; Dr. George M. Rizos, an unregistered individual; and Candia L. Mausser, a registered representative; and instituted cease and desist proceedings against Dr. George M. Rizos and Candia L. Mausser.

The Order Instituting Proceedings alleges that Mausser made material misstatements and omissions of fact in connection with an offering of Goldstar Corporation securities, in violation of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

The Order also alleges that Mausser effected sales of Goldstar securities without the approval of Corporate securities, in violation of section 15(a) of the Exchange Act.

The Order further alleges that Rizos aided and abetted and caused Mausser's violations of section 15(a) by arranging for the Mausser to participate in an offering of Goldstar securities and assisting Mausser in selling the securities, and that Zahn and Corporate Securities failed reasonably to supervise Mausser with a view to preventing Mausser's violations of section 15(a) of the Exchange Act.

A hearing will be scheduled to determine whether the allegations are true, and if so, what remedial action, if any, is appropriate; and whether a cease and desist order should issue against Rizos and Mausser. (ReI. 34-34737)

REFERENCE: http://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1994/dig100594.pdf

City to Gondo: One more time on that Sharky's story, eh?

From: Pam Johnson [city hall]
To: Bob Mudge [editor, Venice Gondolier Sun]
Date: Wednesday - October 21, 2009 11:18 AM
Subject: Correction request

Bob: In this morning's paper, the headline says "FAA: City should consider selling Sharky's"

First, the FAA is saying that there is a piece of property that goes through the Sharky's leasehold that is on airport property. The rest of it is city owned property, along with the pier. FAA is suggesting that strip that belongs to the airport should be purchased by the city and the money from the sale go to the airport enterprise fund. Sharky's is actually a business that is privately owned. The business leases the land it is on from the city.

Secondly, in the Let Em Have It line, there is a mention that City Hall employees only work 37 hours a week. While that used to be true, the schedule has been amended and since January 2009 union employees work 8 hours a day, not including their lunch time, and do not get paid overtime until they work more than 8 hours a day. Salaried employees usually work more than 40 hours a week with no additional pay for hours worked beyond 40.

Thanks, Pam

Batshiat Crazy Harry: City should pull out of United Nations, gays need to talk to God

In a 'Live from the Community Center' webcast feed last night, Batshiat Crazy Harry invented a whole new psychotic political dilemma. According to Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia, better known to locals as city council candidate Harry Walia, the city paid $3,500 earlier this year to join the United Nations.

Ahluwalia promised that if he is elected, he will pull the city out of the U.N., which he said is run by the same kind of communists that are running the city. He further compounded this lunacy by stating that the U.N.'s headquarters should be moved to Cuba.

It was the defining comedy moment of an otherwise incredibly dull and poorly attended candidate rally. Ahluwalia rented out the Venice Community Center and invited the public and his supporters, however his mailed out fliers stated the so-called "town hall meeting" would take place on Wednesday, October 20. The meeting actually took place on Tuesday, October 20.

Approximately 30 people attended, most from the south county Republican club, which made the vast pan shots of the community center look astonishingly empty. This was augmented by online viewers in the first-ever live webcast of a local political event. Online viewers numbered as high as 7 at one point. Two of those online viewers were myself and current Taxpayers League prez Gary Budway, while the rest seemed to be from the community center itself as the live feed panned the crowd to show several Young Republicans from Sarasota watching Harry on laptops and iPhones.

When it came to the online Q&A, only Budway and I gave him any questions. Budway and I were talking on the phone throughout the online show, which crashed several times during the feed from connection failures at the community center.

Posing as "Jean," Budway asked about the proposal to use the city's portion of one-cent sales tax revenue to fund an entertainment venue at the high school on county land. Ahluwalia winged it by stating that he would prefer some kind of public-private partnership, apparently unaware that in the current squabble, the one-cent tax is the proposed public portion of funding in a proposed ad hoc public-private partnership fiasco.

Posing as "Raoul Duke" (apparently nobody at the rally reads, as that nick should have been a dead giveaway), I first asked what Walia was going to do about that web nut that is cyber stalking him. That caused a smiley to be sent back to me by the web-feed's admin, but the question was never put to Walia. Later, I asked, "As a gay man, what does Mr. Walia plan on doing about fair housing rights for gay retirees in Venice?"

Not that this is a local problem that I am aware of as Venice has a huge gay retiree population and very few people are dumb enough to mess with a consumer group that large. I just wanted to see if Walia would say something stupid. To my delight, he did.

"Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh," Walia groaned heavily, staring down at his shoes after the question was posed to him. Budway and I immediately burst into laughter. "Look, I am only running for city council, not for the President of the United States. Everyone is equal in my eyes, whatever you do is between you and God. Does that answer your question, Raoul?" That last bit was spoken directly into the camera.

So communists are running city hall and the United Nations, Venice is now a voting nation at the U.N., which needs to be moved to Cuba, and gays should be dealing with God about any housing issues that they might have.

What a delightfully trippy mind -- a naturalized immigrant with xenophobia and homophobia. How is that even possible?

Republicans diss Egghead Jim (R) to favor Batshiat Crazy Harry (R)

Jim Bennett is a Republican. Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia (aka Harry Walia) is a Republican.

One of them is a crook and a con-man. The other is a nerdy egghead.

They are running against each other for Seat 4 on city council, an allegedly non-partisan race.

So guess which one of those two is being backed by the local Republican Party.

Hint: it ain't the egghead.

At the SunFiesta this past weekend, Bennett's signs kept disappearing from the Republican tent. What signs of his that remained kept getting knocked over. That's according to Bennett. Ahluwalia's signs remarkably stayed put. The Republican float in the parade likewise favored Ahluwalia, as it was covered with the unartful dodger's signs, despite complaints from Bennett that he was being dissed.

Ahluwalia has been a big time donor to other Republicans. Bennett hasn't.

Lesson learned: Republican ethics get very fluid when money is involved. Given all of the scummy behavior that I have already documented on Ahluwalia, I think if I could prove that he cooks and eats dead babies, the Republicans would still back him en masse.

Nancy Detert and Doug Holder still love him. Go figure.

Then there's this email chain below from the party, still giving him support. Go figure.

Wonder how supportive they'll be when his money dries up from all of the lawsuits that he's involved in?

---------------------
 
From: rcsscgop@verizon.net [Leonard De Young, of the Republican Club of South Sarasota County]
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 2:16 PM
To: mailing list
Subject: FW: Upcomming Events

Please reply to Cynthia (crowebird2@comcast.net) if you can help .

>From: crowebird2@comcast.net [Cynthia Crowe]
>Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 9:47 PM
>To: rcsscgop@verizon.net
>Subject: Re: Upcomming Events

>Hello Peachy and Leonard

>Harry asked if we could get some help on Saturday Oct. 24th at the
>Venice farmers market at 10 AM, the Conservative kids will be walking
>for Harry. He will have sweetmeats etc. for breakfast, and a rally before
>the kids start their walk. He hopes he can have many of his supporters
>there, He needs your help to inform his supporters.

>Thank you for all your help Cynthia

>P.S. see you tomorrow

Day 4 of Gondo's web site being down and nobody has noticed

I called up the Gondo to find out why their web site has been down since late Friday (it's Mondy as I'm writing this). Left a message with Bob Mudge (editor).

I asked the gal answering the phone if she had been given a pat answer for anyone calling with a complaint about the web site being down. Her response was to ask if the web site really was down. She said nobody has called so far, she was unaware that the web site was down, nobody on the staff had apparently noticed it either.

I'm not faulting the gal answering the phone. Web site maintenance isn't her job. Answering the phone is.

You would have thought, though, that after four days of their global online presence being not present, somebody would have come up with a cover story for inquiring readers.

Even more telling, though, was that as of 11:00 am on a Monday, not one reader had called up to complain, possibly because no online readers had noticed either.

Still, not having a cover story ready is inexcusable. On a corporate level, this is typical of the Gondo's view of their audience (in other words, another case of Gondo  total fail).

Harry wept -- police report from the DUI arrest of Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia

Finally, here is the seven page narrative of Harry Walia (aka Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia, as his driver's license indicated was his name at the time) and his arrest in 1996 for DUI. Walia only blew a 0.116% blood alcohol content percentage (0.080% is the legal limit presently, although the minimum for prosecution in 1996 was 0.100%).

So while he wouldn't appear to be very drunk on paper, Ahluwalia's behavior, as documented by Venice Police Officer R.J. Perry, indicated that the Sikh with the chic was totally wasted. The initial description of Ahluwalia's driving has him weaving all over the place, driving down the center of the road, going the wrong way down a one way street, attempting a turn and then failing to figure out how to make the turn, etc.

When asked to exit the car, Ahluwalia almost fell over and had to hold onto the door and step sideways in order to regain his balance. As to his field sobriety test, more staggering around, losing balance, etc. Ahluwalia couldn't recite the alphabet properly, although that may have been a cultural/language thing, as he is a native of India.

When Ahluwalia arrived at the jail, his behavior was described as "mumbling" and "crying."

Ahluwalia put up one hell of a legal fight subsequent to his arrest. The State Attorney's Office plea bargained him down to reckless driving a year and a half after the initial arrest, this after numerous filings by Ahluwalia's attorney, even though none of the descriptions of Ahluwalia's driving would normally fit under the statutory definition of "reckless driving."

In the court record, although not included here, was a copy of Ahluwalia's Florida driving record up until the date of hiis arrest. That, too, was illuminating: his driver's license had been suspended out of Hillsborough County, although the record doesn't say why. His driving privileges had been reinstated in early 1995. Then there are numerous speeding tickets, polus charges of driving with tags expired and driving with no insurance.

You can read the full report at http://www.venfl.com/features2/pdf/ahluwalia-dui-arrest.pdf

If you haven't seen the accompanying mug shot yet, you can find that at http://www.venfl.com/messageboard/images/ahluwalia-mugshot.jpg

Ahluwalia's campaign meltdown -- Three Mile Island comes to Venice

More scandals to be unveiled in coming days
---
P.R. nightmare problems are surrounding City Council candidate Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia (aka Harry Walia), threatening to derail his entire campaign. For an investigative news reporting site like Venice Florida! dot com, Ahluwalia is the gift that just keeps on giving. New revelations about the shady politician are surfacing daily as more and more people are contacting Venice Florida! dot com to tell their Ahluwalia horror stories.

Previous revelations included a DUI arrest in 1996 and a recent countersuit brought against him by Florida Flight Training Center. Ahluwalia is suing the FFTC for breach of an oral contract, FFTC's countersuit claims Ahluwalia is nuts and accuses Ahluwalia of several counts of fraud and inducement to fraud (PDF document, pops in new window).

One new scandal this web site has just uncovered involves a check-swapping scam that Ahluwalia participated in, this in an attempt to defraud a local doctor out of a measly $92.00. In that case, Ahluwalia was sued for the original amount plus a huge amount more in attorney fees. That story is upcoming on this web site.

Then there is Ahluwalia's attempt at swindling a local landscaper out of two days worth of work. Ahluwalia accused the landscaper of deliberate sabotage in a complaint filed with the Venice Police Department earlier this year. Police found the complaint to be without merit and closed the case with no further action. Meanwhile, the landscaper has filed a construction lien against Ahluwalia's house for $900. That story is also upcoming on this web site.

Ahluwalia is currently being sued for millions of dollars in three separate lawsuits filed in Hillsborough and Sarasota Counties. Add that to all of the other lawsuit that we have uncovered, and it looks like over the past four years, Ahluwalia has personally been involved in twice as many lawsuits as the city with roughly three times as much at risk.

You just can't make stuff like this up. One wonders what the hell was going through Ahluwalia's head (and the heads of his close supporters, for that matter) when he thought running for office would be a good idea.

Ahluwalia, Crowe accuse Patten of attempted murder

Apparently unaware that video cameras can actually record video, city council candidate Harbhajan Ahluwalia (aka Harry Walia) and his brainless boobie, Republican bigwig wannabe Cynthia Crowe, filed police reports with the Venice Police Department claiming that I tried to inflict bodily harm on a poor beleagured Crowe.

According to Crowe, my chest made unlawful contact with Crowe's fist when she punch-shoved me backwards into a group of people that were standing behind me.

While Crowe states in her sworn affidavit that she was trying to leave the event, the video clearly shows she was re-entering the room from behind me. She claims I blocked her from exiting, the video clearly shows that she was walking around me to get back into the room, this after she confronted me from behind as I was attempting to re-enter the room.

Ahluwalia, who was in another room entirely during this fracas (down the hall and around the corner, actually, about 30 to 40 feet away) somehow acquired x-ray vision and was able to contribute his witness account of Crowe's near-death experience. Ahluwalia claims he was behind a table to the right of me, while an accidental but fortuitous sweeping pan shot at the beginning of the clip shows that he was nowhere in sight and clearly not where he states that he was.

Video and my previously published account of the minor fracas can be found here, Crowe's and Ahluwalia's sworn witness statements can be found here.

Venice police reviewed their affidavits, then apparently discovered that video of the incident had been posted by me. The detective division reportedly reviewed the video online from YouTube and immediately closed the case file "...due to no crime occuring."

A threatening email from Crowe came arrived in my inbox the day before all of this mess. That was the first time I had ever heard of Crowe. See below for the text of that email.

I'm still trying to see if the pair of idiots could possibly be nailed for filing a false police report.

From: crowebird2@comcast.net
To: jpatten@veniceflorida.com
Cc: aarpfl@aarp.com
Subject: low life
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:07 pm EST

JaneQpublic, Or JP.
I,m asking you nicely to go after me Cynthia Crowe. So you can round up
your wagons of PROBONO lawyers to defend your filthy lies. In my
opinion and I truly believe you are whacked and in need of mental
counseling. but we are coming for you anyway. Do your advertisers
know about you yet. I'm boycotting every one of them and will inform
them of this. Cynthia Crowe.

Ahluwalia hides behind his women -- now with video goodness

.
Monday night, 10/12/09, at the League of Women Voters meet the candidate forum, Venice Library.

Ahluwalia would not answer questions as to why a landscaper has placed a $900 construction lien on his house. The story so far: Ahluwalia hired Gary Moore back in July to do some quick emergency work on Ahluwalia's house so that he could host a fundraiser. Then he stiffed the landscaper, refused to pay him, and accused him of deliberately breaking some sprinkler heads. According to the landscaper, when he went to collect the money, Ahluwalia kept banging his fist on the table, screaming "Do you know who I am? I'm a very powerful man! I'll ruin you!!!"

Unconfirmed at this point is a side element to this story that Ahluwalia may have tried to have criminal charges posted against Moore for deliberate destruction of a sprinkler head. I've left a message at the cop shop to verify if this is true.

So, after the forum, Ahluwalia was doing a meet and greet in the hall. I asked Ahluwalia about the lien and if he intended to pay Moore. Ahluwalia ignored me and the question but his attorney girlfriend, Diana Pankova, went off on me, asking me how dare I do this to a good man, can't I get my facts straight, leave the man alone, etc. It was a classic basketball pick and roll move: every time I tried to ask Ahluwalia a question, she would cut in between us to set the pick, whine at me in a high-pitch annoying yowl, and Ahluwalia would roll the other way. I'd move around to try to get Ahluwalia's attention to ask him again about Moore, she'd jump at me again, he'd move away.

This was so slick, I had to try it a third time, and damn if she didn't do it perfectly again. She's fast, she can instinctively set a mean pick, but she's short and you can't coach height, so, sadly, her future is not in the WNBA.

The bummer: I thought I had the vid cam going, but I had it on pause. Crap, crap, crappity crap.

And that was really all the trouble that I cared to try to stir up. Ahluwalia's geriatric SuicideGirls bodyguard posse had other ideas, though (link to Wikipedia, NSFW).

I had run into Ahluwalia campaigner Cynthia Crowe at the beginning of the meeting. She's a wannabe bigwig in the local Republican party, which is apparently getting more retarded every minute. She stated before the forum to me that I was so gonna be sued. I spun off some snappy retort and promptly ignored her.

Now, as I am walking away from Ahluwalia, she got right in my face (I mean inches away) to tell me I was so gonna be sued, I better run fast if I knew what was good for me. I immediately flipped the camera on before she could completely get past me into the room, and I asked her why she wanted to sue me. Three or four times. She went ape-shit, threatened to punch me out, made this big-ass fuss like I was stalking her, then caught me off guard and gave me a pretty powerful shove -- it caused me to knock over someone behind me (or nearly knock over, still not sure).

Natch, I'm a guy, so the ladies around that were part of the League of Women Voters didn't see this gal twice seek me out to threaten me. Nope, what they saw was a psycho reporter with a hand cam terrifying poor innocent grandma: "Sign ze papers, old woman, or we'll cut off your hands."

So they started giving me a hard time and they asked me to leave. I didn't, but I didn't bother trying to mess with Crowe anymore. The women had bonded, I own a penis, therefore I am evil.

Still, the video I got of that is pretty damned funny.

Lesson learned: do not piss off psycho fat broads. Especially after they have threatened to come after you. They get real testy. Then they come after you.

Right at :30 into the video, I am thrown backwards, that's where Cynthia charges at me and shoves me in an attempt to knock me over -- I landed on some people behind me, which prevented me from falling, I still don't know who I crashed into or if they were OK. Click on video below.