Ambassador to Italy Mel Sembler recently negotiated a $113 million deal to buy and refurbish a mansion in Rome. Congressman Bill Young from his hometown worked to appropriate the money and the two named the Shrine after themselves. But this is not the first time Young has appropriated money as favors to Sembler and this is not the first time a Sembler crony has tried to get a monument erected to him. Sembler has a dark past and The St. Pete Times, his hometown newspaper, should have done a better job reporting the real Sembler story.

Last Friday Mar. 4, 2005 Al Kamen and The Washington Post uncovered a scheme by Ambassador to Italy Mel Sembler and Congressman Bill Young (Chair House Appropriations Committee) to procure a mansion in Rome for $83 million and name it as a monument to themselves! BUT KAMEN ONLY TOUCHED THE SURFACE OF THE ICEBERG. The full story is published by me in the Tampa Bay Independent Media Center and is here. Some things covered in my story are: -in addition to the $83 million to buy the mansion, another $30 million has been earmarked to refurbish it for a total of $113 million -14 years ago when Sembler was then ambassador to Australia one of his cronies tried to get a monument erected to him in St. Petersburg -Young appropriated $50 million to repair the causeway out to the town where Sembler lives -Young appropriated $3 million to build a research center center at Betty Sembler's (Mel's wife) latest drug rehab program. The center has been named for Congressman and Mrs. Young. -AND MUCH MORE. Beyond things like that, Sembler has a dark past and the St. Pete Times (his hometown newspaper) knows it, yet refuses to report on Sembler beyond stories about his gala 50th wedding anniversary in Rome, his wife's 70th birthday, and such. A case can be made that Andy Barnes and the St. Pete Times (Sembler's and Young's hometown newspaper) is in Sembler's pockets like all the other Republican politicians. For instance, the appearance is that Mel Sembler gave the Times exclusive rights to sell only its newspapers in Sembler-built shopping centers if Barnes would kill the story of a protest at Mel Sembler's house by a score of former clients from Sembler's destructive Straight drug rehab program. And that Barnes agreed, not just for exclusive rights, but also he was among a group of Republican businessmen trying to woo the Republican Party into having its national convention in Tampa and Barnes wanted it at his St. Pete Times Forum. A protest story about the party's most prominent fund raiser would have lessened the chance of getting the convention in Tampa. And again THERE IS MUCH MORE. If Barnes had of reported responsibly about Mel Sembler, perhaps we taxpayers would not be stuck today paying for a 1/10 billion dollar monument to Mel Sembler's ego. Thank you, Wes Fager, ed www.theStraights.com