Free Republic

Former South Florida state legislator Mandy Dawson was arrested Wednesday on a federal income tax charge, and she is scheduled to go before a judge in Orlando later Wednesday for her initial court appearance. The allegations are a troubling epilogue to the 16-year political career of the groundbreaking politician. Broward County’s first black woman in the state Legislature, she came to be known as a champion of the poor and the medically needy, serving six years in the state House followed by a decade in the state Senate. Dawson, a Democrat whose district stretched from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach...

Florida State Senator Mandy Dawson (D) is under investigation for soliciting support from nine lobbyists to pay for a trip to South Africa for her and a male companion. Even more stunning than the fact that she serves on the Ethics Committee is the language she used in her solicitation letter... acknowledging that her request was improper and instructing donors to work around the rules. "I need to raise funds to help defray the cost. As a longtime supporter of mine, I am asking if you would consider helping to sponsor my trip. I would like to request $2,500, if...

TALLAHASSEE - State Sen. Mandy Dawson, who personally asked lobbyists to help pay for her trip to South Africa, was reprimanded today and stripped of one of her committee assignments by the Florida Senate. The Senate agreed that Dawson, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, broke state law when she sent out letters on official Senate stationery requesting lobbyists to send money to the state's Legislative Black Caucus. The caucus wound up paying $5,000 for both Dawson and for a male traveling companion to take a 10-day trip to South Africa in late January and early February. Dawson broke two state laws...