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Tampa Releases Jill Kelley E-Mails:"Hostess with the Mostest" Edition

The most excellent adventures of the Real Housewives of Tampa continue. Today's installment: Jill and Natalie's White House excursions. We even get a new unnamed player: the White House lawyer who invited them.

More interesting: Mayor of Tampa Bob Buckhorn has released his e-mails with Jill Kelley. The latest is Nov. 14, in which she refers to Paula Broadwell as a stalker and a criminal. What a name-dropper. In one, she calls Gen. Petraeus "Dave" . In another she knows that Gen. Allen will be calling her at 1:00 pm. that day. You can read them here.

My summary is below: [More...]

In October, 2011, Kelley tells the Mayor she'll be in Washington the coming weekend with David Petraeus. In another, she tells him she'll be sure to give "the Director" his regards. When she returns, she sends him an email about her weekend at the Petraeus' for his 59th birthday, referring to Petraeus as "Dave."

In January, 2012, she writes she is in Washington having dinner with Gen. Petraeus and Gen. Allen. In March, she writes she just got of the phone with Gen. Petraeus and Admiral Harward during which they discussed some "potential crises" that she will need the Mayor's help with, just as he will need her help. The crises seem to relate to a radio station and "Bubba the Love Sponge." She tells the Mayor she has a "First Amendment lawyer" who may file suit and Gen. Allen will call her at 1 pm. She also says she is receiving emails from both Petraeus and Allen about this. What is the crisis at the radio station? Apparently, something to do with Koran-burning.

There's an email from someone about Jill Kelley's three year term expiring on a board. It says Jill was a "wild-card appointment" of the (prior) Mayor's, and "has not been active or effective."

In May, 2012, she writes the Mayor that she is hosting VIP's from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal, through authority of the State Department. After the event, she will serve them a 15 course dinner at her place.

By July, 2012, the Mayor's responses get a bit chilly. "Sorry, I'll be out of town" he responds to a few of her invitations. In September, 2012, he writes her about why she did not get an appointment. He says the position required "a different skill set."

On October 26, 2012, she invites him time to a stone crab dinner at the Yacht Club with Adm. Harwood. She got no response. On November, 6, she invites him to the next Yacht Club stone crab dinner event, and a birthday party on her lawn for her daughter's birthday on Sunday. He declines.

The scandal breaks and she continues to reach out to him. On Nov. 8, she tells him she was in D.C. the past weekend -- at the White House "with her friends in the Administration" and she is "glad Potus got reelected!" (She and her family are Republicans.)

On Nov. 12, Mayor Bob gets a google alert for the City of Tampa that says "Jill Kelley" is identified in the Petraeus scandal.

On Nov. 13, she writes him asking for help with the paparazzi.

The coup de grace is her last email to Mayor Bob on Nov. 14, again complaining about the media. She sends a copy to Abbe Lowell. (my emphasis below.)

I wouldn't care - if they got the facts right and focus on the criminal that stalked all of us. But the truth will one day prevail.
Nonetheless, my family has been put through the ringer, and my kids are scared.

And to put insult to injury, your police dept gave the local 911 tapes to the press! My home address and cell phone number is played on them. I have been receiving threats all night, by people that now have my cell phone number.

I cannot understand why your dept would release my address and cell number, and make me and my daughters in harms way.

I'm not sending my daughters to school today, and my husband slept at the hospital, because its just gotten too difficult to even pull out of our own driveway. And now, I have to deal with people calling me with threats.

I'm scared and cannot believe what my City - in which I have contributed so much of my love, time, money and leadership, has now
done to me and my innocent family.

Sincerely,
Jill

Hostess With the Mostest: A hostess who is an over-friendly, social butterfly, constantly offering food and drinks. Dates back to at least 1957 and a play by that name with Shirley Boothe.

Now that she knows that all e-mails to public officials in Florida are subject to release under Florida's open records laws, I suspect she will choose another method of communication. Letting her lawyer speak for her would be a good start.

Update: On one of Jill Kelley's trips to Washington, she flew with Gen. Allen on a military plane.

Update: WTSP has all the police reports for the calls the sisters made to police over the years. In one, Natalie accuses her ex-husband of being a terrorist sympathizer. She accuses him of threatening to kill her and take their child out of the country. She says he has $5 million and once made her watch child p*rn.

In one of the longest reports, 18 pages, about a battery complaint against her ex-husband, a reference is made to a 302 page report compiled as a result of her complaints. I don't think we've seen the report, but the custody judge stated in his ruling that none of her allegations against her ex-husband were true. She said the battery happened outside of court when her ex-husband and his lawyer struck her with paperwork.

In another report in which she reported her ex-husband sent someone to spy on her, when the officer asked her to try and get a license plate next time, she told him that's their job, not hers.

In 2004, Jill's husband Scott took time to call and report some kids had stolen $5.00 in change overnight from his car which was unlocked in his garage. A few years later, Natalie and the nanny reported bicycles were stolen from the Kelleys' garage. Other neighbors witnessed the juveniles in the neighborhood. Four were apprehended and taken to juvenile detention. But when the police tried to contact Jill and Scott to get the make and model numbers of the stolen bikes, both said they were too busy at work to talk to them and never followed up. One bike was a Trek worth $400.00.

Below are links to the reports issued by police for each call.

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  • Display: Sort:
    White House visits (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by scribe on Sat Nov 17, 2012 at 07:43:28 AM EST
    are no longer the "hey, we're in DC so let's go see the White House" thing they used to be.  

    Time was, you could get a WH visitor's tour pretty easily.  Call your congressman's office and ask to get tickets, no problem.  Now, it's a lot harder.  

    Earlier this year I was in DC on extended business and figured it might be nice to go see the WH.  I'd never been and I wanted to see what my tax dollars were paying for.

    So, I called a friend in federal law enforcement who I knew had arranged tours for friends and family in the past and broached the idea.  The friend hadn't done the tour thing in years and figured he'd benefit by brushing up on current procedures.  He made a call to someone he knew over there and found out that since 9/11 everything is different.

    In short, the potential visitor goes through a pretty thorough vetting (name, address, SSN, etc. required in advance) that includes a comprehensive criminal background check and security screen.  Even then, you don't get off the tour group line - ever.

    Getting fed in the WH mess?  Doubtful.  Very doubtful.  

    I think some staffer is getting his walking papers soon.

    Ironically, re: your "Hostess" graphic (none / 0) (#1)
    by Peter G on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 08:25:01 PM EST
    Hostess Bakeries this morning declared bankruptcy and announced it was closing its plants and laying off all 18,000 employees.  If the Bankruptcy Court in New York approves, there will be no more Hostess Cupcakes or Twinkies, Ding Dongs, or Wonder Bread.

    not ironically (none / 0) (#6)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 08:52:55 PM EST
    that was why I chose the graphic!

    Parent
    Well, Jeralyn, thank heavens you put up ... (none / 0) (#10)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 09:11:52 PM EST
    ... a separate thread on the fate of Hostess Bakeries, so we could further discuss this most troubling topic of life without Twinkies and HoHos.
    >:-D

    Parent
    Jill and Scott Kelley sure tried ... (none / 0) (#3)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 08:38:43 PM EST
    ... their level best to redefine the term "social climber":

    Tampa Bay Times | November 16, 2012
    Jill and Scott Kelley cultivated politicians as well as generals - "The emails were anguished, pleading and sent straight to the mayor. Bob, hope all is well,' Jill Kelley wrote at 5:57 a.m. Tuesday to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, whom she knows socially. [...] But the emails reveal a facet of the Kelleys' life in Tampa that has until now received little notice. The couple not only lavished attention on top officers from MacDill Air Force Base, but cultivated friendships with Florida politicians -- even if it meant being pushy. Thursday, a photo of then-U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, with Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, on each arm, made the rounds on Twitter."

    I used to meet naked opportunists like the Kelleys all the time when I worked at the State Capitol here in Honolulu and for the congressional delegation in Washington.

    In fact, if you're in the business of politics and you take your job at all seriously, you quickly learn to look out for and spot these types of ingratiating schemers and freelance name-droppers, who could otherwise spell potential trouble for the office and the boss.

    Because if they're involved in something untoward and unseemly, and your association with them was only tangential, you could get away with a fleeting public embarrassment. But if your relationship was more than casual and could be characterized as some sort of quid pro quo, it could prove both scandalous and ruinous.

    That's Why I Think the Outrage... (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 10:57:49 AM EST
    ...seems a little over the top.  There are people like this at every level in life, they believe either their personalities or their skills are so grand, that all they need is to get their foot in the door and they will get what they want.

    And for many of them, it's works; this is networking.  Even at work, I get calls all the time from consultants trying to get their foot in the door.  They drop client names, or officers in our company, some are subtle, some aren't.  Either way some create careers/businesses/politicians had their start with this kind game playing.  

    It's unsavory, but it's not some anomaly that requires grand outrage.  I am positive if you dissected Petraeus' or the Allen's emails, it would be packed with this stuff.

    Their people who actually sell the promise of meeting connected people in Washington, I think they call them lobbyists.  Yet the outrage of this business to the person who wasn't responsible for any of it is mildly irritating.  There are powerful men who screwed and up and everyone is acting like this insignificant person is to blame for they inability to do the right thing.

    Parent

    She alludes to several DC trips (none / 0) (#5)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 08:50:12 PM EST
    To be with Generals.  Did she get there on a MacDill plane?  She didn't get her Friends of MacDill pass until Petraeus had been four months gone.  Who nominated her?  I read that you could nominate yourself though too.  But who signed off on it?  Was it Allen?  He was second in command at CentCom at one point but I'm too lazy to look it up right now? If Kelley had other trips on a military jet and on the taxpayer dime to DC other than the one we know about, was Allen on those flights too?  Was the twin sister on any of these flights as well?  Wasn't her custody fight in the DC area too?

    Yes, the sister's custody fight was in the (none / 0) (#7)
    by caseyOR on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 08:58:55 PM EST
    District of Columbia Family Court.

    Parent
    Petraeus left Tampa June 30, 2010 (none / 0) (#9)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 09:00:57 PM EST
    July 15, 2008 to June 1, 2011 had Allen as second big cheese of cheeses in Tampa

    Parent
    Perle Mesta... (none / 0) (#11)
    by unitron on Sat Nov 17, 2012 at 02:28:03 AM EST
    ...was the original "hostess with the mostess";Irving Berlin apparently coined the phrase in a song for the musical "Call Me Madam", for which she was the inspiration.