Showing posts with label Charlie Crist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Crist. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2022

Breakdown of Broward County's registered voters two weeks before 2022 primary elections. As usual, voter apathy leads voter passion during the hot, humid summer months of South Florida


Breakdown of Broward County's registered voters two weeks before 2022 primary elections. As usual, voter apathy leads voter passion during the hot, humid summer months of South Florida.

As of today, two weeks before the 2022 Florida Primary election, with Early Voting scheduled to begin in Broward on Saturday the 13th, and with mail-in voting already taking place statewide, according to the Broward Superintendent of Elections office, while Democratic Party registered voters still outnumber Republicans in blue Broward County -where no Republicans serve on the nine-member Broward County Commission- a majority of the county's registered voters are NOT Democrats:

DEMOCRAT: 597,176
REPUBLICAN: 262,386
NPA: 361,595
OTHER: 19,626
TOTAL: 1,240,783
262,386 + 361,595 + 19,626 = 643,607

Compared to SOE figures of one year ago, August 7, 2021, below, this represents changes in the following:

Despite having competitive inter-party races for Governor and Senator, Democrats have lost 34,834 voters, roughly the population of Hallandale Beach.

For their part, Republicans have lost 5,954 voters in the 12 months before an election year with very strong GOP incumbents like Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio, and no contested primary competition for either man to drum-up voter registration/turnout before November's general election.

NPA has gained 2,109 voters, many likely new Florida residents who have abandoned Northern blue lockdown states like New York and Illinois, as seems self-evident anywhere you go in Broward, judging by the number of out-of-state license plates from those states this time of the year, as opposed to The Season in a few months.

Voters registered as OTHER, yes, OTHER, has gained 950 voters.

The total of registered voters in Broward County has decreased by 37,729 voters in the last year.

Active Registered Voters in #Broward County #FL as of 8/7/21,
DEMOCRAT: 632,010
REPUBLICAN: 268,340
NPA: 359,486
OTHER: 18,676
TOTAL: 1,278,512

https://browardvotes.gov

Dave

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Florida voters shake their heads in wonder as Tampa Bay Times continues flogging their stories re their poll of "political insiders" -favoring incumbents in 2012. Surprise!


Florida voters shake their heads in wonder as Tampa Bay Times continues flogging their stories re their poll of "political insiders" -favoring incumbents in 2012. Surprise!



Political insiders say Sen. Bill Nelson likely to win third term
By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
In Print: Sunday, December 25, 2011

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/political-insiders-say-sen-bill-nelson-likely-to-win-third-term/1207786

It's like a poll of national sports writers in Miami in the days before Super Bowl III that overwhelmingly favored the Baltimore Colts over the New York Jets, the Georgetown Hoyas over the Villanova Wildcats in the 1985 NCAA basketball tourney.
And how did you like last season's World Series between the Red Sox and the Phillies, the pre-ordained classic that never was?
Who actually had the Packers over the Steelers in the Super Bowl before the 2010 season started?
(You'll recall that my prediction before the game was spot-on.)

Dear reader of the blog, whose attention and time at this first post of the year I appreciate, please tell me when since 9/11 has there ever been a poll of elites and insiders in this country or this state or this county where the unexpected was accurately predicted?
Even when there were plenty of signs that something unexpected could well happen?
Precisely.

The sports analogy is nationally-known print sports writers and TV reporters appearing on nationally-syndicated sports talk radio shows of the sort that I have been listening to since I was a kid in the 1970's -just like I did with Tony Kornheiser's Washington, D.C.  radio program for WTEM-AM in the '90's before he was at ESPN- listening to them opine on the NCAA basketball tourney selections in the days before the tourney starts.


They're clearly eager to hear guests offering insight into possible upcoming upsets for the benefit of their listeners or viewers, but almost invariably, the host or co-hosts then ignore everything that's been said, heard and seen -and history- by then picking nothing but 'chalk,' i.e. picking nothing but the top-seeded teams.


Yes, despite every one's always saying that they want something unexpected, look what happens when "experts" are asked and results have consequences?

That's a pretty common 'phenomena' in contemporary U.S. sports media that you rarely hear anyone discuss or criticize, and it's political counterpart is equally common at almost every national and Florida-based newspaper and media website worth perusing, even the good ones.


It's a real buzz-kill, and in my opinion is one of the main reasons that few big political movements happen down here as spontaneously as they do in other parts of the country -the news media here really isn't interested in change, and cover and report accordingly, rather than let the narrative and natural ebb-and flow of events tell the tale.


This explains, in part, why the national news media write as if they would like Newt Gingrich to be finished after the Iowa Caucus this coming week, despite all the larger states he leads in, like Florida, for instance, despite less resources than Mitt Romney.

In short, the news media really doesn't want change, they just want the pretense that change could happen, which is why the voters who DO want big change are so frustrated by the news media's bias.
It's not just a political bias on the part of some reporters, though it IS that, but also a bias towards what they already know, understand and can explain, which is why so much political reporting is derivative to a nauseating degree.

That's another reason I'm in favor of having an election system like Louisiana's, where all the candidates run together and the general election is between the top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation.
(I know there's a name for this system but I'm too tired to think of the name of it.)

Now THAT would be fun and reward the voters with an election worth watching and get more sensible people in office, and be a handy tool for dealing with gerrymandering.
Imagine what gerrymandered districts would be like in South Florida under a system like this -less extremism of the left or right.


Florida voters across the state that I've been in touch with since this most recent post on the insider's poll continue to shake their heads in wonder as the old St. Petersburg Times and their reporters and columnists continue flogging a series of stories with a never-ending story-line about their poll of "political insiders" favoring incumbents in 2012.
Really?
Imagine that?

Of course they do!
And so do the state's print and electronic media thru their mostly bad and superficial coverage, too!
Which, of course, is part of the problem, no? 

The very same elites, "insiders" and news media that thought they would have Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio to play with -like a cat's toy- for a few months, with Rubio playing the role of well-chewed rubber mouse?


After all, hadn't these same forces already publicly proclaimed Charlie Crist a political genius, month-after-month, for 'splitting the difference,' despite the lack of any empirical evidence that held up to serious scrutiny, that he had fundamentally changed the broken and much-loathed political culture of Tallahassee, south Georgia's anti-Mayberry?
Yes.

Evidence, who needs tangible evidence that anything was changing for the better in Tallahassee when the state's news media was in love the way the Florida news media was in
full-thrall to Charlie Crist and his affable white hair in 2009 and early 2010?

Yes, Florida, the Sunshine State, where the then-formerly popular governor Crist lost that Senate GOP primary that the Sunshine State's Mainstream Media and political elites had considered a mere formality, having already been writing newspaper stories/columns and filing TV stories for months that took the position that he was "inevitable."


So "inevitable," in fact, that the state's news media actually started filing stories on whether Crist might soon be a GOP VP candidate, a pseudo-fact that because it was printed in Florida newspapers so often, started appearing more frequently in DC-based media, blogs and websites as well, where they didn't know any better.
(The Beltway pundits assumed the reporters here in Florida must know what they were talking about, and had some sources who knew it was true.)

And all of this MONTHS before the formality of an actual election
After all, the MSM and political elites would know, wouldn't they, they're "experts"?


And besides, as they were always keen on reminding us, Florida is SO important.
Except when it's not.
But they were 100% wrong and Marco Rubio trounced Crist in the GOP primary.

And then, not willing to accept the mandate of the people, the elites of both parties and many columnists and editorial boards decided that Crist should be given yet another chance to win, not just one, so millions were given to him by the comfortable status quo-types who reminded us over-and-over that despite his loss to Rubio, Crist was still the best candidate.

Then in November, Rubio trounced Crist for yet a second time, and made hapless Democratic Party nominee Kendrick Meek a third-place finisher in a three-way race, and a very bad third place at that.

Yes, Florida, the same state where the only statewide-elected Democrat in the FL Cabinet,
a multi-millionaire, former banking executive and longtime Democratic insider who was married to a wealthy attorney and former Democratic gubernatorial nominee, lost the gubernatorial race to a wealthy businessman who had never run for elective office before.


Losing in some part because she never did the one thing that all good elected officials must do -explain who they are, what they've done, what they are in favor of and against and why.
That is a necessity.


But Alex Sink and her political advisers and the Democratic Party, esp. the most liberal wind of that shrinking party, took all that for granted, as did most of the state's news media.

But finally someone started noticing what I had seen from the beginning -that she really was running for office in the worst possible way.
By late August and early September, reports started appearing in newspapers -but not on Miami-area TV- that her campaign had been done such a poor job of laying the groundwork explaining who she was and her stand on issues, that, surprise, there were still many voters who did not know that Alex Sink was a woman.

When you are running for governor of the fourth largest state in the country and three months before the general election, a sizable number of likely voters don't know what sex you are, you are poised for a bruising losing effort.
And that was when Rick Scott's TV campaign started in earnest of defining the woman who had been so blase that she and her staff thought that could wait until after the summer.

And the same elites and reporters were reporting for months that in a re-match now...
Sink would win.
But we don't have do-overs  a few months after the election, we just have the election.
Scott, a very flawed candidate, beat Sink, a very apathetic and blase candidate who didn't do the minimum required.

I ignore those stories for some of the same reasons that I voted against Sink, knowing that no matter how close the election might be or how much the news media, esp. the liberal news media in South Florida, wanted to play tail gunner for Sink and get Scott in a game of "gotcha," Sink was a seriously flawed person and candidate who was incapable of moving the football in Tallahassee and get the state out of its backwardness in so many areas.

Knowing that both branches of the state legislature are held by the GOP, and veto-proof if sink won, what could Sink possibly accomplish as governor given how  self-evident her personality and management flaws were?
She'd continually have been made a fool of as the legislature over-rode any vetoes she might made, even when I might have agreed with her reasoning.

To say the least, Alex Sink was not much of a gubernatorial candidate, and it's my guess that she would have been a terrible governor for the fourth-largest state in the country, even when she was right on the issue, because her personality and manner would NOT have worn well with residents.
In that election for governor between too very flawed candidates, we drew the well-meaning "Joker" who at least knew who he was, and we all have to live with that verdict for another three years.

Now, eleven months until the 2012 election, the same state "insiders" and experts I've described are alternately pre-ordaining Bill Nelson's re-election and/or the rise of some queer boomlet called the Connie Mack revolution.


To my way of thinking, where ideas -thoughtful and nuanced- really are important, Connie Mack is political 'fools gold' compared to Marco Rubio, who is Fort Knox in comparison, since as someone who supported Rubio from the beginning -even when state reporters were writing his premature obituary- I always knew that he was everything that Sink, Meek, Crist, Nelson and Mack are NOT.

In that comparison, to me, candidate Connie Mack is the small change you find in the shallow end of the hotel swimming pool while on summer vacation in North Carolina to escape the heat, humidity and boring existence of summertime South Florida.
(Asheville, North Carolina  1972 to be exact. A trip I've never forgotten: Mount Mitchell, Smokey Mountains, Stone Mountain, GA...)

Great for kids, like your two younger sisters, who race each other diving into the pool to get the quarters you throw, which amuses some of the other hotel guests around the pool otherwise zoning-out, but not really much to brag about for adults, or even teenagers paying close attention.

In short, there is no "there" there with Connie Mack IV.
Or any possibility of any upside that he would ever become the sort of thoughtful, savvy and sometimes counter-intuitive person that surprises you frequently with his principled stands representing the crazy-quilt of six different states cobbled into one that that is today's Florida, and able to cast important or even dire votes that will matter to this nation's future.


To me he's the personable but somewhat dis-connected high school homecoming king whose father is the mayor and largest developer in the area, and he's still milking the gravy train, occasionally doing the right thing, but not often enough to inspire either trust or respect.
To me, Connie Mack IV is NOT the answer to any reasonable question.


Like I've so often said on this blog about the city I live in, Hallandale Beach, and how it so thoroughly mis-managed to the detriment of the residents who want it to be MUCH BETTER now than it is, Mack's "An interpretive house of cards that falls apart at the slightest touch of rationality and evidence."


As for perpetually tone-deaf Alex Sink, the more things change...

Jetsetting Letter Misses Mark With Suffering Floridians
By Martin Merzer
Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Friday, September 30, 2011

A public flogging of a mendacious judge that's well-deserved -St. Pete Times editorial: Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency



A public flogging of a mendacious judge that's well-deserved -St. Pete Times editorial: Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency

Even in Florida, where so many aspects of basic public administration, logical checks-and-balances, separation of powers, transparency, public accountability and public records requests are actively fought by the elected officials and the judiciary -and their crony pals and lobbyists who made it all happen for them- eventually, the last shoe falls.

And this time, it's falling with a thud loud enough to be heard across the Sunshine State, in large part thanks to the tireless efforts of reporter Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times to connect-the-dots on a story that many others in Florida's news media avoided like a hot potato.

Yes, you mix powerful people with a sense of entitlement, old-fashioned notions of prestige, towering arrogance and abuse of the public's trust, and then throw taxpayers funding of it to solve the problem into the picture and you have a combustible end product that could explode before anything is built.

That's something to keep in mind now in Broward County, where judges, lawyers and the local legal and business establishment, plus their contractor friends and elected officials, all wanted a new County courthouse downtown despite the fact that the public does NOT.
So much so that the Broward County Commission refused to even allow the public to vote on the issue as a referendum.

Below is the editorial I had in an email I sent out yesterday to folks around the state, one that could hardly be more spot-on. Not that you would know about it at all based on how skant coverage this story has been on Miami-area TV newscasts.

It's the logical follow-up to my last post on this subject, from January 9th, titled, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater: 'Taj Mahal' courthouse in Tallahassee 'far worse' than a pricey building. And the judges behind it WON'T talk!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/florida-cfo-jeff-atwater-taj-mahal.html, and my first one on the subject the month before on December 19th, titled, Lucy Morgan in St. Pete Times: Why can't anyone remember how a $50-million courthouse now called the 'Taj Mahal' stayed off the radar and got okayed?

-----
St. Petersburg Times
A Times Editorial
Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency
In Print: Thursday, September 29, 2011

Paul Hawkes is the arrogant, duplicitous judge on Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee who put construction of a lavish $50 million courthouse for himself and his fellow judges before judicial ethics or integrity. Now, as he answers for his actions before Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission, Hawkes should forfeit his job. Any sanction short of Hawkes' removal from the bench would be too lenient in light of the stain he has left on the judiciary.

The formal charges brought in May against Hawkes by a JQC investigative panel describe a man whose ambition has run amok. Allegations include that he blatantly abused his authority to secure money and amenities for the new building, bullied state employees, ordered the destruction of an entire file cabinet of public documents, suggested a furniture vendor underwrite a trip, and even directed a court employee to help his son with legal work.

Concerns over Hawkes' conduct came to light through reporting by St. Petersburg Times senior correspondent Lucy Morgan, who first detailed the outsized role Hawkes played in getting the posh courthouse built even as the grip of a tightening recession meant courts around the state were losing personnel.

It would be a violation of public trust if Hawkes were able to keep his job through a negotiated settlement. Secret negotiations to avoid a trial are under way between lawyers for the JQC and Hawkes. One proposed settlement has already been rejected by the JQC panel, suggesting that Hawkes is looking to get off too easily. If there is no agreement, a trial is likely to begin early next year.

But Hawkes deserves no leniency in return for expediency. He refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing and deflects blame. First, Hawkes provided inaccurate accounts of his actions when testifying in January before a Senate committee. Then, in his formal response to the charges, he pointed a finger of complicity at his fellow appellate court judges, as if they were as much to blame for the ostentatious courthouse. These are not the actions of someone repentant or reformed.

Ultimately the sanctions Hawkes faces will be determined by the Florida Supreme Court, which will review any JQC recommendation but has the final word. Chief Justice Charles Canady, unhappy with Hawkes' conduct and its poor reflection on the judiciary, told Hawkes to resign as chief judge. That same impulse, to protect the integrity of the courts, should inform any settlement deal and require Hawkes' removal from the bench.

-----
Google Street View of the 1st District Court of Appeal Courthouse at 2000 Drayton Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32399.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Charlie Crist reduced to being himself again: Pitchman, just NOT from a pitching mound. At least it's not for Chevy!



SarahRumpfFL video:
Charlie Crist's new TV ad!
http://youtu.be/-rcg_-8hB4E


The title of today's post will be somwhat mystifying to you if you didn't see the video of Charlie crist that appeared in my October 8th, 2010 post titled,
Another reason to vote against Charlie Crist: his pitching is clearly outside of the 'mainstream'


I first discovered this video above uploaded to YouTube by Winter Park blogger Sarah Rumpf this morning at her SunshineStateSarah blog -clever title!- and then a reference over to it later in the morning at the St. Pete Times Florida politics blog, The Buzz, which you all should have bookmarked by now.


http://www.sunshinestatesarah.com/2011/05/it-was-only-matter-of-time.html http://www.sunshinestatesarah.com/

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/charlie-crist-back-tv-trial-lawyer-pitchman
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/

On the positive side, though some of you who supported Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate last year must surely be disheartened to see your man who was going to take on the partisan Washington establishment reduced to the newest lawyer advertising on TV, at least he wasn't singing and dancing his way thru... a rendition of "See the USA in Your Chevrolet."

The iconic advertising song first sung in the early 1950's by Dinah Shore on her eponymous TV show sponsored by Chevy,
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show -how's that for synergy?- and more recently, sung by the cast of Fox-TV's Glee, following the Super Bowl, which I featured here on February 6th in a post titled, Going Old School & New School: 'See the USA in Your Chevrolet' TV ad - Dinah Shore in 1952, 'Glee' cast in 2011http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/going-old-school-new-school-see-usa-in.html


In a word: Brilliant!

See the USA in Your Chevrolet - Dinah Shore, 1952 http://youtu.be/iK43-ERSwwM



The Cast of Glee "See the USA in Your Chevrolet"
2011 TV ad in show following Super Bowl 45 
http://youtu.be/JD7EsyYlqlU


For those of you who had never heard of or seen the original iconic Dinah Shore Madison Avenue classic, you're welcome.


That song was literally trapped in my brain over the weekend, and seemed to keep coming out as I hit one red light after another while traveling thru our local tri-partite ocean-side kingdom of Aventura, Hollywood and Hallandale Beach.

The part that I kept singing at the intersection -alone- waiting for the traffic light to turn green?

Traveling East, Travelling West
Wherever you go Chevy service is best
Southward or North, near place or far
There's a Chevrolet dealer for your Chevrolet car

Ironically, the law offices of popular South Florida lawyer/TV pitchman David W. Singer, so famous for his TV ads during Florida Marlins telecasts, are located down the street from me on U.S.-1, near Hollywood Elementary School.

-----

Not Breaking News: In this area, we have some east-west crossings of U.S.-1 that seem to last all of three seconds -and not a second longer.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SarahRumpfFL


For some fascinating videos on older cars, please see AutomobileHistoryUSA's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/AutomobileHistoryUSA

Here's one to give you an idea of what awaits you:



The Highway of Tomorrow: The Pennsylvania Turnpike (1951) sponsored by Chevrolet, in Technicolor

http://youtu.be/ohtUiPZ0xSc

http://www.vintagechevrolet.org/

Friday, February 18, 2011

“We cannot imagine any level of incompetence that would explain what we have seen." - FL State Grand Jury calls for ABOLISHING Broward School Board

dynamite stick Pictures, Images and Photos

“We cannot imagine any level of incompetence that would explain what we have seen..."
- Florida State Grand Jury calls for abolishing Broward School Board due to rampant corruption and mismanagement.

That was the subject header for an email I sent out earlier this evening upon hearing the amazing but welcome news in an out-of-the-blue blog email from Broward Clean Sweep, http://browardcleansweep.wordpress.com/ that the FL statewide Grand Jury under Broward Judge Victor Tobin, and established by former FL governor Charlie Crist, has issued a scathing 51-page report that damns with cold-hard facts the incompetent people and corrupt culture running the Broward School system into the ground.

It levels its cannons right at current Superintendent
James Notter, and explicitly calls for the abolition of the elected School Board. To which I can only add, "Huzzah! Huzzah!"

Clearly, the shoe that I and many other South Florida civic activists and bloggers -and some reporters- have been waiting for for what seems like forever has dropped.

I haven't heard the final thump yet, so the shoe is still falling at terminal velocity, and is likely to have more collisions on the way down, but it's clearly only a matter of time before familiar names in Broward County and beyond are being asked hard questions they have heretofore avoided answering publicly to anyone's satisfaction.


Soon, the public will fall back upon
Sen. Howard Baker's simple but elastic question of questions during the Senate Watergate hearings: "What did they know and when did they know it?"

-----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/18/2074314/state-report-abolish-broward-school.html
Miami Herald
State report blasts Broward School Board
By Mary Ellen Klas


In a scathing report released Friday night, the Florida Grand Jury blasted the Broward County School Board for a culture of corruption and reckless spending of taxpayer money.

The board is so riddled with problems, the 51-page report begins, that if the grand jury had the power, it would recomend it be abolished.

“We cannot imagine any level of incompetence that would explain what we have seen,’’ reads a report compiled by the Grand Jury. “Therefore we are reluctantly compelled to conclude that at least some of this behavior can best be explained by corruption of our officials by contractors, vendors and their lobbyists.’’

“But for the Constitutional mandate that requires an elected School Board for each District, our first and foremost recommendation would have been to abolish the Broward County School Board altogether.”

The report also criticized Superintendent Jim Notter, saying he was not strong enough in leading the nation’s sixth largest school district.

The report concludes:

"The corruptive influence here is most often campaign contributions from individuals with a financial stake in how Board members vote. Long ago the Board should have recognized the risk that putting themselves in the center of handing out hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars would inevitably drawn attention and undue influence from moneyed interests...Only now, years later and with pressure from all sides, have they begun to take steps to resolve this and other issues.

"Unfortunately based on the history of this Board as an institution, we have no confidence in their ability to make meaningful changes and to adhere to them. The solutions we see, at least short term, are to remove as much power and influence from the Board as possible and to have an independent outside authority monitor their dealings closely.’’

The report blasts the board for "an appalling lack of both leadership and awareness. Rather than focusing on the big picture and looking to the challenges of the future, they have mired themselves in the day to day running of the District, a task for which they are singularly unqualified.’’

Among the criticisms, the report says the school board ’"seems to be more comfortable with opening unfinished schools than angering the contractors that fund their campaigns through political contributions and fundraisers."

The list of findings is extensive: incomplete and inadequate construction records, untrained inspectors, "wasteful and dubious spending on ill conceived ideas," and board members who "direct that spending towards friends, acquaintances or supporters of Board members without any accountability."

The jurors conclude with 21 recommendations, in addition to calling for an outside monitor to oversee every move until the district and its oversight board roots out corruption and gets into shape. Among them:

Refuse campaign contributions from contractors, vendors and others doing business with the Board.

Require mandatory ethics training and testing by an outside agency.

All late additions to the Board’s agenda must be discussed at a public meeting.

Add more detail to agenda items or provide a link to where more information concerning the item can be found.

Reduce the threshold on spending items on the consent agenda.

Remove retainage reductions from consent agenda.

Require recommendation of the Superintendent or the Deputy Superintendent for reduction in retainage to be in writing and under their signature.

End the influence of the Board over the Building department by turning over inspections to local building departments.

Reduce number of school board members to 5.

Place before the voters the issue of electing the Superintendent.

Create independent office of Inspector General to monitor the Board and District

Prohibit board members from being involved in the selection of contractors, vendors, or financial institutions.

No official business should be conducted between school board members and staff

All bids should be opened in public, with Auditor there to certify bids met minimums.

No decisions should be made anywhere other than a regularly scheduled board meeting.

No discussions should be had other than at Board meetings or workshops as per Sunshine Law requirements.

Prohibit gifts of any value to any Board member or District employee from anyone doing business with the District or lobbying the Board

Empower Department of Education to penalize districts that don’t file require paperwork by withholding any state funds until certificates of occupancy, inspections and other project documents are filed.

Grand Jury Report at:
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/09/09-1910/Filed_02-18-2011_Final_Report.pdf

Whenever the State Grand Jury is ready to come visit Hallandale Beach and sit a spell and to hear from concerned citizens who've been paying close attention detail just what's been going on here for years under the Joy Cooper/Mike Good/Mark Antonio regime, we'll be ready and waiting.

There are dozens of people in this SE Broward County community, including yours truly, who have a mountain of facts and evidence to present to interested parties in a position to actually see that the spirit and letter of the law in this state is followed, NOT intentionally ignored. Not least of all, the state's Sunshine Laws, enshrined in the state constitution.

For years, Hallandale Beach City Hall has acted like those laws were merely suggestions!


This news about the Broward School Board finally getting their comeuppance could hardly come a day too soon for the beleaguered kids in this county, who for too long have been at the bottom of the School Board's pyramid, while lobbyists, contractors and cronies were up at the top, thanks to their $$$ and influence come election time.


Next Tuesday at 7 p.m. will be a public meeting of the Hollywood Democratic Club, featuring Broward School Board members Jennifer Gottlieb and Ann Murray, attempting to defend their dismal record of achievement.

And that was
BEFORE this positive news!

The meeting will be held at the Hollywood Community Center, 1301 S. Ocean Drive, Hollywood.

Let your voice be heard.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Hallandale Beach Blog endorses Beth Reinhard & Charlie Crist's departure - asks they get escort to airport so they don't miss their flights out of FL



I've been sitting on this for months just waiting for Election Day to get here.

Below is an excerpt of an email that I wrote back on January 23rd, 2010 and sent out to a few dozen people following the election of Republican Scott Brown to the Massachusetts Senate seat held for 47 years by Ted Kennedy.

(And when was the last time you saw the media talk about him? It's like he died. Or, alternatively, booked a flight on Oceanic Flight 815.)

Most of you know who come here regularly know where I stand on the subject of Dan Gelber, as well as his his pack of supporters, which includes some of the most anti-democratic and unethical pols in Broward County.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Dan+Gelber%22

He's far too ambitious for his own good and doesn't have a record of being honest with voters.


He will lose the FL AG race to Pam Bondi, whom I will be voting for, as I think she'll set many media hearts aflutter as she tries to improve on Bill McCollum's decent track record and fight Obamacare.

Pam Bondi - "About Me"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5LbUFAJn6o

Organized Crime at It's Worst



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vds3WkKOrAw

Obviously, this was written before we all got the good news that Beth Reinhard would be leaving the Herald and heading to Washington and The National Journal.

My worst fear is that her column will be replaced by -dare I say it- Patricia Mazzei.
I will be devoting an entire post on Mazzei soon that zeroes in on some particularly irksome articles of her's that all shared the same weakness, regardless of subject matter.

Once you notice it, trust me, it's hard to ignore when you see her articles.

You'll find yourself actively looking for it.


Sort of like the way that once I knew that Campbell Brown had a certain facial tic when she was on-air, reporting the news, it was hard not to watch her and just wait for it.

-----

Just a note to let you know that per some of my hints of late, I already had a ton of things I'd already written that were going to be posted on my blog tomorrow. Subjects include: ...the Dan Gelber vs. Dave Aronberg race for AG, and Scott Brown's remarkable triumph, plus a couple of anti-Beth Reinhard pieces, exposing her infamous shallowness when it reached new jaw-dropping lows lately.
(Seriously, five sentences about the race to replace Meek?)

But then I read this article below this morning, after which I'm apoplectic, and now, I may have to re-schedule some things just to keep my head from exploding. How does the chief political reporter for the largest paper in the state NOT mention in a story ostensibly about insiders vs. outsiders, that Gelber's father was/is a longtime judge, someone who knew everyone who was ANYONE in Miami-Dade even BEFORE he was a judge?

I even knew who his father was when I was a kid in the 1970's -it's beyond incredulous!
http://www.miamidade.gov/ethics/members.asp

Of course, rather than do like Gelber did, and work for his dad, the judge, one summer... or, as the Boston Globe put it
:
At the end of his junior year at Tufts University, Scott P. Brown did not take a typical summer job like many of his classmates. Instead, he spent two months in Army basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., after joining the Massachusetts National Guard.
I've now read ALL the Boston Globe stories on Brown for the past few weeks and am even more impressed with him than before.

I will be sharing some of what I learned about him in some of those posts, though they may be after Sunday now just because I'm so tired of writing.
By the way, here from Thursday is the best thing written on Scott Brown thus far, featuring some great investigatory sleuthing by the New York Times to connect-the-dots:

G.O.P. Used Energy and Stealth to Win Seat
January 20, 2010


This article is by Adam Nagourney, Jeff Zeleny, Kate Zernike and Michael Cooper.


BOSTON — The e-mail message from a Massachusetts supporter to one of the leaders of the Tea Party movement arrived in early December. The state was holding a special election to fill the seat held by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, it said, and conditions were ripe for a conservative ambush: an Election Day in the dead of winter with the turnout certain to be low.

“To be honest, we kind of looked at it and said, this is a long shot,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the director of state campaigns for FreedomWorks, which has become an umbrella for Tea Party groups. But the group was impressed by the determination of organizers in this decidedly Democratic state and was intrigued by the notion that this could be a way to effectively derail federal health care legislation.


Read the rest of the article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/us/politics/21reconstruct.html


This is the single best-written article I've read on any subject the entire year.


In the hard copy of this, they even have a chart showing the number of events Brown and Martha Coakley attended the past few weeks, and as you may already know by now, he outworked her 3:1.
Truth be told, some of those Globe stories appear brilliant in retrospect.


-------
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/beth-reinhard/story/1440999.html

Florida's top candidates for U.S. Senate hardly political outsiders

By Beth Reinhard

January 23, 2010

Out of the cascade of commentary about Tuesday's upset by a Republican in Democrat-rich Massachusetts came this gem from state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, who used to shoot hoops with the U.S. senator-elect in college:

"To the legions of Republicans in Florida who are claiming the 'I'm Scott Brown mantle,' let me say this: 'I know Scott Brown, Scott Brown was a friend of mine . . . you're no Scott Brown.' ''

The riff on the famous slap at Republican Dan Quayle after he compared himself to Jack Kennedy during the 1988 vice presidential debate was spot on. The leading candidates for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat -- Gov. Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek -- are all career politicians who commit sins of omission when they distance themselves from the establishment.

QUITE A LEAP

The governor is the biggest insider of them all. Crist compared Brown's avowed commitment to "the people's seat'' in Massachusetts to his own claim to be the "people's governor'' of Florida. It's quite a leap for the sitting governor of the nation's fourth largest state, a vice presidential shortlister, and the once-presumed Republican nominee to claim kinship with a truck-driving state senator who faced a double-digit deficit in the polls. (Do they even let pickups onto Fisher Island, where Crist's wife owns a $3.2 million manse?)

Crist's scorn for "the radical Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda'' when he congratulated Brown also rang hollow since the economic stimulus package he supported sits at the very top of that agenda. Crist pointed out that he had spoken to Brown after his victory, as if sound waves made them soul mates.

While Rubio is certainly the underdog in the GOP race, the former speaker of the Florida House and a six-figures-earning lawyer is no political outsider either. In the last 11 years, Rubio was out of public office for only the last one -- a part of his resume he frequently skips over in his stump speech. Can he honestly lay the blame for the recession at the feet of Crist and President Barack Obama and claim to have had nothing to do with it?

Rubio has to stretch pretty far to the left to put his arm around Brown, who backs abortion rights and the state health insurance program in Massachusetts. Rubio touted his participation Friday in the "Virtual March for Life'' on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Earlier this week, he backed Attorney General Bill McCollum's claim that the pending healthcare legislation is unconstitutional because it requires people to buy insurance. Like in Massachusetts.

PART OF THE MAJORITY

As for Meek, he does have one thing in common with Brown: Political analysts expect him to lose the general election. But while Brown was competing against the Kennedy dynasty in Massachusetts, Meek practically inherited his seat in Congress from his mother, Carrie Meek. She staved off potential rivals by waiting until the last minute to rule out another term.

That part of his bio didn't come up when campaign manager Abe Dyk said: "Having worked as a skycap for tips, as a Florida State trooper and having led the Coalition to Reduce Class Size, Kendrick Meek is the candidate best positioned to deliver that change as a U.S. senator.''

Ahem. Meek is part of the Democratic majority who sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He has roots in Liberty City but has long roamed the halls of Washington and Tallahassee. The closest he ever got to a nude Cosmo centerfold like Brown? A mention in a celebrity blog called "Young Black & Fabulous.''

Beth Reinhard is the political writer for The Miami Herald.

-----

http://www.pambondi.com/home/

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Hallandale Beach's pro-reform citizens ask FL Sen. George LeMieux to do a good turn and help end the 'culture of corruption' here: Call Victor Tobin!

Above, Miami Herald headline, November 26, 2009, page 3B:
Sen. LeMieux decries 'culture of corruption' in S. Florida


Oh
Senator LeMieux, if you only knew the half of it in the City of Hallandale Beach!

Before your term is up, can you please do your constituents here a favor and call
Judge Victor Tobin and tell him and his state-wide grand jury that like Norma Desmond at the end of Sunset Boulevard, Hallandale Beach is ready for its close up?

The concerned citizens of this beleaguered community are eager to talk to them and tell what they know.

Or as we say in the world of crime-fighting screenwriters everywhere, "drop a dime."


Sunset Boulevard (1950) -Final Scene, with Gloria Swanson as "Norma Desmond" descending the stairwell



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA9lFsiut2Q


Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/25/v-fullstory/1350672_sen-lemieux-decries-culture-of.html

November 26, 2009

Sen. LeMieux decries `culture of corruption' in South Florida

By Marc Caputo and Beth Reinhard
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

A slew of South Florida political scandals have uncovered "a culture of corruption'' that must be stamped out, freshman Florida Sen. George LeMieux said Tuesday.

"I feel bad about my home town. This is another black eye on Fort Lauderdale,'' LeMieux said in response to a reporter's questions about accused Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein.

In the past decade, Rothstein -- a Broward lawyer who allegedly bilked investors over bogus legal settlements -- helped steer about $2 million in campaign contributions to political causes, committees and candidates, including Gov. Charlie Crist.

Rothstein's troubles surfaced after federal indictments this fall of other Broward figures: fundraiser Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher and former Miramar commissioner Fitzroy Salesman.

"We've got a culture of corruption in Southeast Florida. And we need to do something about it,'' LeMieux said. "It makes us look bad. It's bad for business and bad for our way of life.''

Crist appointed LeMieux, his former chief of staff, to the Senate seat for which the governor is now a candidate in an increasingly competitive Republican primary. Rothstein attended LeMieux's swearing-in ceremony in September.

While lawyers in Broward's legal community whispered about Rothstein's source of seemingly inexhaustible funds, politicians and charities tooks loads of his money.

"You don't look at someone who's generous and just criticize,'' said LeMieux, who also ran Crist's governor's campaign before taking the job with Crist. LeMieux then joined a law firm until he was appointed to the Senate.

LeMieux acknowledged he "didn't understand how he [Rothstein] made all his money.''

All of Crist's chiefs of staff have hailed from Broward: LeMieux, current campaign manager Eric Eikenberg and current chief Shane Strum.

Crist has downplayed his relationship with Rothstein, though each attended the other's wedding reception. Crist appointed Rothstein to a judicial nominating panel in Broward prior to removing him from the post Tuesday.

Crist has called for a statewide grand jury to examine political corruption. LeMieux supports the effort.

Marc Caputo can be reached at mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com


Reader comments, in chron order, are at
http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/11/25/v-fullstory/1350672_sen-lemieux-decries-culture-of.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

Monday, October 11, 2010

Comm. John Rodstrom wants Gov. Crist to appoint Comm. for District 8 who'd approve FY 2011 Budget, or declare financial emergency and appoint receiver

Just got this news around 4:30 p.m. from a well-informed confidant in downtown Fort Lauderdale who knows what's what.

Broward County Comm. John Rodstrom wants Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint a Commissioner for District 8 to approve the Broward County FY 2011 budget, or declare a financial emergency and have Crist appoint a receiver.

Tomorrow's Broward County Commission meeting on the FY 2011 Budget will be in Room 422 at 5:01 p.m. and will be web cast.
http://www.broward.org/video/Pages/welcome.htm


Still
only works on Internet Explorer, but that's another blog post altogether.


(I won't be there myself because I'll be heading to the Community Meeting that Peter Deutsch and Ben Gamla Hebrew Charter School are hosting at 6 p.m. at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, behind City Hall. I expect a full crowd, and it'd be nice if someone from South Florida's news media actually showed-up tomorrow night to report on the story about what is being attempted here, but personal experience dictates that I NOT hold my breath waiting for that to happen.)

I was out all day today but am now seeing that Brittany Wallman actually discussed this story five hours before, around Noon, at the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog, complete with a video.

Broward Politics

Broward's Rodstrom seeks to take back employee pay raises, including at BSO
By Brittany Wallman
October 11, 2010 11:20 AM


Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom will ask the County Commission on Tuesday to declare a state of financial emergency, in order to waive all contract obligations, rescinding pay raises for county employees, including patrol and jail deputies.

Read the rest of the post here:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/10/why_rodstrom_voted_against_bro.html

------
From Broward County website:
http://205.166.161.204/agenda_publish.cfm?mt=ALL&get_month=10&get_year=2010&dsp=ag&seq=199#ReturnTo0

Supplemental Agenda Items #39 & #40


AI-6619 Item #: 39.
Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Date: 10/12/2010
Director's Name: John E. Rodstrom, Jr
Department: County Commission

Information
Requested Action
A. MOTION TO DECLARE State of Financial Emergency, which, at minimum, would cause the following actions:

Freeze all County wide pay increases effective immediately
Freeze all non emergency capital improvements as well as those that have not yet commenced
Suspend the Living Wage Ordinance as it relates to outside contracts with Broward County effective immediately

B. MOTION TO REQUEST that the Governor of the State of Florida take one of the following actions:

To appoint a Commissioner to Broward County District 8 seat who would be committed to approve a FY 2011 Budget.
OR
To declare a State of Financial Emergency for Broward County and appoint a Receiver who would have the ability
to approve a FY 2011 Budget on an emergency basis. (Commissioner Rodstrom)
------

AI-6620 Item #: 40.
Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Date: 10/12/2010
Director's Name: John E. Rodstrom, Jr
Department: County Commission

Information
Requested Action
MOTION TO NOTIFY all rating agencies immediately of a Material Adverse Change of Condition and request that no action be taken until a FY 2011Budget is approved either by an appointed Receiver, appointment by the Governor to the vacant Broward County District 8 seat, or by action of the Board of County Commissioners. (Commissioner Rodstrom)
Why Action is Necessary

What Action Accomplishes

Is this Action Goal Related

Previous Action Taken

Summary Explanation/ Background


Fiscal Impact