Homestead, Fla., Democratic Mayor Steve Bateman was arrested Wednesday for connections with a $125-an-hour consulting job with a nonprofit, the Miami Herald reports.
He was charged with two felony counts of unlawful compensation and several misdemeanors relating to failure to disclose the compensation.
The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office was probing Bateman’s deal with Community Health of South Florida Inc., which secretly paid the mayor $125 an hour while it needed the city’s blessing to help expand its chain of health clinics.
Bateman, who has a county license to install awnings, shutters and screen enclosures but is not a general contractor or registered lobbyist, never publicly disclosed the lucrative arrangement to his colleagues on the City Council, which holds sway over CHI’s plans.
Bateman also never informed the county of his employment with the nonprofit, even when he met with Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his top aides to personally plead for Miami-Dade to fast-track a multi-million-dollar Homestead sewer system expansion that would facilitate construction of a proposed CHI children’s clinic in downtown Homestead.
Bateman billed the company for 29 hours, earning $3,625 for his lobbying work.
CHI also set aside a monthly $300 vehicle allowance and set aside $120,000 to pay the mayor for work next year.
Bateman is seeking reelection in November.