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The Miami Herald

January 26, 2000, Wednesday

Florida Lawmaker Says Employer Urged End to Sit-In at

Governor's Office
BYLINE: By Steve Bousquet

LENGTH: 886 words

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--Two representatives of Wackenhut Corrections Corp. phoned Miami Sen. Kendrick
Meek during his sit-in in Gov. Jeb Bush's office suite last week and pressured the legislator -- a highly
paid Wackenhut employee -- to abruptly end his protest of the governor's race policies, Meek said
Tuesday.

Wackenhut Corrections is part of the worldwide security giant that depends on good will with the
governor's office for multimillion-dollar contracts with the state of Florida.

Only after the sit-in ended did Meek find out the Bush administration is considering shutting down
Wackenhut's privately run prison in Glades County to save money, and that the Palm Beach
Gardens-based firm is pitching a $ 25 million plan for a new 450-bed, state-run center for sex offenders
in Arcadia.

Meek, who earned $ 68,500 last year at Wackenhut, says he was shocked by the calls because he does
not work for the firm's prison operation. His job is finding security contracts for a separate Wackenhut
unit.

"He told me, Get out of the office,'" Meek quoted Wackenhut lobbyist Damon Smith as telling him in a
call on the evening of Jan. 18, four hours after he and Rep. Tony Hill of Jacksonville launched their
protest. "My response was that everything is going to be OK, we're having a peaceful sit-in. I said we
didn't storm the office, so just calm down."

Smith, a prominent lobbyist with an array of clients, confirmed he called Meek, whose cell phone
number he keeps in a speed-dial memory. He said he called Meek "as a friend," not as a Wackenhut
representative, and did not recall telling Meek to leave.

"I don't recollect saying Get out of there,' but I recollect saying what the devil are you doing in there,
maybe using stronger language than that, and it might have been interpreted as such," Smith said. "I
remember asking what prompted him to do that."

Meek, who was reluctant Tuesday to elaborate on the calls from representatives of a company that is
still his employer, would only say he was "disturbed" by the calls.

Meek said the second call came in a voice-mail message from George Zoley, chairman of Wackenhut
Corrections Corp., about an hour after Smith's call. Meek said Zoley's message was similar to Smith's.
The message was erased, Meek said, because his voice-mail box was overloaded.

Wackenhut spokesman Patrick Cannan said Zoley was traveling in the snowbound Northeast Tuesday
and could not be reached. Cannan said he did not know why Zoley would have called Meek. Asked
whether Wackenhut felt a sit-in by one of its employees would hurt the company's relationship with the
governor's office, Cannan replied: "I don't want to answer that question."

A third Wackenhut official, vice-president Drew Levine -- Meek's boss -- also called Meek twice and

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offered encouragement and asked about his family and his own well-being, the lawmaker said.

Meek, the son of congresswoman Carrie Meek, has emerged as Bush's most outspoken critic on racial
policies.

"We're dealing with a governor who's very powerful," Meek said. "I don't know the history of the
Wackenhut Corp. and the governor and what those relationships are. I'm not confirming that he had a
hand in this."

Bush's spokesman, Justin Sayfie, said neither the governor nor any of his aides contacted Wackenhut
officials and lobbyists during the sit-in, and that such a charge without proof was irresponsible.

"The governor did not make any phone calls, did not speak with and did not have any conversations with
anybody from Wackenhut, or any of their representatives. Neither did any member of the governor's
staff put through such a call," Sayfie said. "That implication is totally false."

Smith, the lobbyist who called Meek, said he did not believe Wackenhut even knew at the time of the
sit-in that the prison system was considering closing down the Wackenhut-run prison in Moore Haven
or a rival firm's prison in Panama City. The proposal was in Bush's budget -- released the second day of
the 25-hour sit-in -- and it was discussed at a legislative committee meeting last Thursday.

Like most legislators, Meek holds a private job that has the potential to conflict with his public duties. He
said Tuesday that in his six-plus years with the company, Wackenhut has never pressured him to take
a position or vote in a way that benefits the firm.

Meek noted he opposed privatization of prisons in his 1988 Senate campaign, in direct opposition to
Wackenhut's financial interests.

In his role as a business development officer, Meek inevitably relies on his wide network of contacts as a
public official.

Partly through Meek's efforts, Wackenhut Corp. has security contracts with Miami-Dade, Tri-Rail, and
the South Broward Hospital District.

Wackenhut spokesman Cannan said Meek remains on the firm's payroll.

"Kendrick Meek came to work for us with the experience of a degree in criminal justice and experience
as a law enforcement officer for the state of Florida," Cannan said. "He was uniquely qualified to fill his
position as a business development officer for the Wackenhut Corp. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to
comment."

Herald staff writer Lesley Clark contributed to this report.

-----

To see more of The Miami Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com

SUBJECT: LEGISLATORS (90%); US STATE

GOVERNMENT (90%); GOVERNORS (90%); PRISONS (90%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (90%); PUBLIC
CONTRACTING (75%); CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS (73%);

PERSON: KENDRICK B MEEK (94%); KENDRICK B MEEK (94%);

COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (94%);

STATE: FLORIDA, USA (94%);

CITY: TALLAHASSEE, FL, USA (92%); JACKSONVILLE, FL, USA (73%); MIAMI, FL, USA (73%);

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COMPANY: GEO GROUP INC (94%);

TICKER: WAK WCCX (NASDAQ) (98%); WCCX (NASDAQ) (98%); WAK

INDUSTRY: General SIC8744 FACILITIES SUPPORT SERVICES; SIC8744 FACILITIES SUPPORT

SERVICES; General

LOAD-DATE: January 26, 2000

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

KR-ACC-NO: MI-SECURITY

JOURNAL-CODE: MI

Copyright 2000 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Copyright 2000 The Miami Herald

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