Miami firm involved in anti-hazing program did not detail use of $1 million from state

TALLAHASSEE - A Miami company that failed to deliver on a statewide anti-hazing program for Florida’s public universities provided documents to the House showing how it used some of the $1.7 million it received in taxpayer dollars, but it didn't account for more than $1 million of the state money.

Records provided by Educational Management Services of Miami show the company's use of more than $645,000, including payments to lobbying firms, airfare for trips around the state and a stay at an Orlando resort hotel.

Educational Management Services was created by Fausto Gomez, a lobbyist, and is run by his wife, Alina Gomez, out of the Miami office that also is used by the lobbying firm, state business records show. Fausto Gomez resigned from the company in February, records show.

The EMS documents were provided in response to a demand by House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who sought details about how the taxpayer money was spent after lawmakers placed it inside Florida Polytechnic University's budget. Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, asked the university and the company to submit invoices, emails, contracts and audits.

Lawmakers gave the anti-hazing program $3 million. In 2015, FPU received a $1.5 million line item clearly outlined in the state budget. The next year, lawmakers added another $1.5 million inside the university's budget without identifying it specifically but informed FPU that the program should receive the hidden money tacked on to its budget.

More: Florida Sen. Bill Galvano drops support for anti-hazing program hidden in state budget

​The $1.5 million in the current budget was provided through a secretive process used by lawmakers to set aside state money for special projects. The Naples Daily News has reported that lawmakers tucked $315 million into university budgets for special projects over the past seven years.

The university's contracts with EMS were to develop an anti-hazing program for the state's 12 universities.

Rick Maxey, FPU government relations director, said the university kept $1 million from the two appropriations and made the rest available to EMS through contracts. The university terminated its contract with the company the day after receiving the letter from Corcoran on April 10, Maxey said.

“This project was something we never wanted,” Maxey said.

More: Florida legislators hide projects in university budgets

Fausto Gomez declined to discuss his role with EMS. He said he did not ask the Legislature to provide money for the anti-hazing program and noted that EMS received the money from FPU.

"I did not lobby for any appropriation for Poly. I have never represented Poly," he said. "I did not lobby for EMS, and EMS did not have money in the state budget."

Gomez’s anti-hazing program competed with an established anti-hazing course at the University of Central Florida. The Legislature approved $1 million for that program run through UCF in 2014. The university awarded a contract through a competitive bid to Largo-based AliveTek over EMS to launch an anti-hazing course.

Click here to get complete coverage of the Florida legislative session »

The Palm Beach Post reported in 2015 that EMS filed a formal bid protest against AliveTek's award of the contract. The EMS protest was filed by Dean Cannon, a former House speaker who became a lobbyist, the paper reported.

As of February, AliveTek used the $1 million to teach 40,000 university students at 11 of the 12 state universities. EMS stood to receive $2 million and taught 95 FPU students.

Documents provided to the House by FPU show EMS received $1.7 million in payments since August 2015. Documents later provided by the company show it used some of that money to pay Cannon's lobbying firm and for other expenses. Corcoran spokesman Fred Piccolo said his staff was still reviewing the material.

EMS turned over documents that detailed how it spent $645,791 of the money.

Alina Gomez, through Tallahassee lawyer Daniel Woodring, declined to answer questions from the Naples Daily News about the remaining $1,054,209. She provided a written statement through her husband noting that the company would continue its anti-hazing program for free.

“The Legislature was right to recognize the seriousness of the hazing problem, and Speaker Corcoran is right to recognize that the universities have failed to fully use the program,” Alina Gomez wrote. “That’s why we continue to stand ready to deliver exactly what the Legislature asked for, at no cost to the state, through the 2018 academic year, to make sure every single first-year college student in Florida is educated and protected."

The documents Gomez provided Corcoran through her lawyer showed EMS spent $170,000 on "indirect costs," although no details were provided. Gomez also paid herself $84,000 in salary over the two years. She also signed a $40,000 contract with Maria V di Colloredo-Mels to advertise the anti-hazing program called “Hazing Solutions.”

EMS also paid $40,000 for two lobbyists. State law forbids universities from using state money to hire contract lobbyists. However, the law does not clearly specify whether it extends to university contractors who pay lobbyists.

Tallahassee-based Capitol Insights, owned by Cannon, charged EMS $10,000 in December 2015 for what he listed on an invoice as “consulting fees.”

Cannon’s firm also submitted an invoice to EMS for $1,118 that claimed a Jan. 21, 2016, “dinner with a legislator.”

Lobbyists at Cannon’s firm were not registered to represent EMS before the Legislature. Cannon served as House speaker from 2011 to 2012.

Gomez also paid Tallahassee lobbyist Bill Helmich $30,000 to represent her company during this year’s legislative session. Helmich registered in February with the state Legislative Lobbyist Registration Office to represent EMS before lawmakers.

In February, EMS paid $832 for two nights at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes resort in Orlando. The stay was for a fundraiser at the FPU campus in Lakeland, roughly 40 miles away. The nightly rate for the room listed on the hotel bill was $239. The invoice also included two $30 resort fees for use of the property, which offers a lazy river, a spa and a state-of-the-art exercise room. Other charges included meals at the hotel, which is connected by a walkway to a Ritz-Carlton Orlando.

EMS also spent $10,500 for services provided by an accountant, Isela Monteagudo, of Doral, who submitted 17 invoices for “compiling statements.”

The company also spent $1,983 on airfare to fly from Miami to Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee.

Documents turned over by EMS did not explain relationships of experts who were advertised to sell the online course. Corcoran's request for records sought this information.

The course website credits guidance from University of Maine Professor Elizabeth J. Allan and Howard University instructor Mary Madden. Also listed as contributors were Los Angeles consultant Syreeta Greene and Rasheed Ali Cromwell, president of the Harbor Institute, based in Washington, D.C.

EMS paid the Harbor Institute $120,000 over two contracts that provided the curriculum for Hazing Solutions. EMS paid the Tallahassee-based American Safety Institute $86,666 to host the website for the course.

EMS also paid New York-based Edulence $61,894 to create a more elaborate website for the Harbor Institute curriculum.