Ernest Page (born circa 1942) is a former member of the

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, City Council who served as Orlando's interim

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in March and April 2005 while the elected mayor, Buddy Dyer, was facing charges of

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. After the charges against Dyer were dismissed in April 2005, Page returned to his

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

position. He was the first African-American to serve as mayor of Orlando. He was imprisoned for political corruption.

Biography

Page was born in Orlando, the son of Arizona and Edoras Page, an

African Methodist Episcopal The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

minister. He graduated from Jones High School in 1960, earned a B.A. from

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in 1964 and received a M.S. in mathematics from

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...

and an M.B.A. from

Nova University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...

. Page, an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, was first elected to the Orlando City Council in the early 1980s, but left office during his first term after a conviction for dealing in stolen property. He was elected to City Council again in 1996, and won re-election in 2000 and 2004. In March 2005, he was serving as mayor ''

pro tem ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

'' under Mayor Buddy Dyer when Dyer was indicted and jailed for electoral fraud. Following Dyer's removal, Page took office as interim mayor. He was interim mayor for about six weeks, until April 19, when the charges against Dyer were dropped and he was restored to office. On March 1, 2006, Councilman Page was arrested on charges of

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

while in the mayor's office. In September 2006 he was convicted of

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

and official misconduct for threatening to stop a redevelopment proposal unless the prospective developer gave a piece of the project to a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

group with which Page was affiliated. He was subsequently sentenced to 42 months in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

. Following his sentencing in December 2006, Page was removed from city office by an executive order from Governor Jeb Bush. Page appealed his conviction in federal circuit court, but lost the appeal in March 2008. He entered prison in June 2008. He was released from prison in 2011 after serving about 3 years of his -year sentence. Most of his prison time was spent at Marion Correctional Institution in Marion County, Florida.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Ernest American politicians convicted of bribery Florida city council members Living people Mayors of Orlando, Florida 1942 births Florida politicians convicted of crimes African-American mayors in Florida Politicians from Orlando, Florida 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians