Paging Eric Buermann ... Helllooo, SFWMD ... Still Waiting, Mr. B

After leaving a comment at the end of my Monday column challenging its accuracy, South Florida Water Management District Chairman Eric Buermann invited me always to get "accurate and meaningful" info from him. Directly. From him.

Right there he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Ever try getting information from the District? To have any shot at all, you need electric prods, a set of thumb screws and a CIA playbook. I had none of the above when I wrote my Monday column because my requests for real information or quotable quotes, well, fell on deaf ears. Anyway, I thanked EB for the offer -- what a guy -- and took him up on it.

Here are the questions I sent him to deduce if wasteful spending is still a way of life at the District -- the same questions I wanted answered first time I called:

• I wonder now if you might send me the details of Executive Director Carol Wehle's salary and benefits package I had originally asked for. How many District employees receive salary plus the full benefits package she does?
• Why did you cast the only vote in January against looking into selling the District airplane? How much, total, does the plane cost per year?
• What are the current construction and renovation projects at District headquarters -- including redecoration and changes to the interior -- and what are all of their costs?
• What is the District's bidding process for hiring contractors and consultants? Does the Board oversee all of these activities or does the executive director/management staff have sole discretion in awarding any of them?

Well, the chairman took it upon himself to call me personally, which I greatly appreciated. During our conversation, he said he was only able to answer about plane use. The plane discussion, he explained, was too political and the plane itself didn't deserve to be sacrificed for political expediency. It's a 1980s craft, it's been overhauled a number of times, it's paid for, and independent audits have shown selling it doesn't represent worthwhile savings. OK. I still haven't seen a breakdown of operational expenses, but EB was earnest and I was ready to move on.

The other questions could be easily and thoroughly answered, he said, they are a matter of "black and white" and he promised one of two people -- "probably both" -- would immediately send me "more information than I probably will ever want."

Immediately. One of two people, probably both.

Right.

If you're reading, Mr. B, maybe the e-mail went astray? Or the phone calls didn't go through?

I have to admit, I'm more than a little disappointed. I thought he was shooting straight. But I remember now that, after being pressed several times about what specifically he was challenging in my column, what facts I got wrong, he identified nothing.

I tried again today to reach the new info-friends I'd been promised, but nothing. Still nothing.

It's Presidents Day weekend, after all. Could they all be on that District airplane winging their way to the Bahamas on the taxpayers' dime? A last sun-and-fun, Bacardi-filled fling before the governor grounds the high-flying lot of them? Wheee!

Call me when you get back?

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