The alleged Pay-To-Play

Lawsuit: Two county commissioners pressured builder into making political contribution

Mack Bernard I can believe but Dave Kerner?

"Palm Beach County Commissioner Mack Bernard pressured a contractor to support last year’s affordable housing bond issue, according to a lawsuit filed by a Greenacres builder, Robling Architecture Construction Inc.

The claim, which county attorneys are "vigorously" opposing, is drawn from new evidence Robling claims it obtained as part of a lawsuit it filed in June against the county after it failed to win a multi-million dollar contract overseeing the construction of new fire stations.

By a 4-3 vote on March 22, 2022, commissioners awarded the work to Core Construction Services of Florida, despite the county purchasing agent's finding that Robling should have been awarded the deal. The agent said Core was improperly given points for having a presence in Palm Beach County.

Based on emails obtained from Core, Robling’s lawyers are seeking to add Bernard and former Commissioner Dave Kerner as defendants.  Bernard’s aide pressured Core to make a sizable contribution to the Hometown Housing Trust, a nonprofit created to support the passage of a bond referendum to build affordable and workforce housing in Palm Beach County

The lawsuit also alleges that the emails show there were meetings between Core and Bernard and Kerner and that the two men engaged in activities that exceeded “the scope of their official capacities as county commissioners and acted in bad faith, willfully and wantonly and in disregard for Robling’s constitutional rights.”

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