Showing posts with label audits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audits. Show all posts

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Latest news re Hallandale Beach CRA: Where are Joe Gibbons, Shevrin Jones and Barbara Sharief hiding? They're NOT adequately representing HB citizens who want to find out where the $80 Million in CRA funds has really gone; Response of JLAC re my inquiry re legislator's letters re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

Latest news re Hallandale Beach CRA: Where are Joe Gibbons, Shevrin Jones and Barbara Sharief hiding? They're NOT adequately representing HB citizens who want to find out where the $80 Million in CRA funds has really gone; Response of JLAC re my inquiry re legislator's letters re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

November 1st, 2013


If any FL state legislator you have recently spoken to has told you, either flat-out or strongly implied, that they have made clear their desire for there to be a JLAC-authorized audit of the HB CRA, as the official response I received from Tallahassee Thursday afternoon makes clear, those state legislators are NOT being honest with you.


There are 140 elected state legislators in Florida and not a single legislator among the bunch has had either the backbone or initiative to directly contact JLAC's office and publicly declare their public support for this community's desire to find out where the $80 Million in CRA funds has really gone the past ten years.


So you might ask, where ARE the four state legislators that represent Hallandale Beach in Tallahassee, and why are they still in hiding on this issue, and not stepping-up to represent their constituents and get the facts on such an important issue?


Well, since you asked, as you'll recall from my previous email on this matter, state Sen. Eleanor Sobel and state Sen. Oscar Braynon II have lined-up firmly on the side of protecting the flank of the very woman who is most directly-responsible for the mess that combines the very worst aspects of corruption, crony capitalism, incompetency, indefensible public policy and consistent lack of oversight and accountability, Mayor Joy Cooper


As for Braynon, well, my sense of things in talking to the people who are the most-involved in this community is that Braynon is so little known and seen in this city that he is far more rumor than reality, a fact that should not go unnoticed or unremarked upon by others.


As for state Rep. Joe Gibbons and state Rep. Shevrin Jones, well, like members of an Old West bank-robbing gang, they are currently hiding in plain sight from their own constituents within the safe confines of the hip pocket of Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper and her lobbyist pal, Judy Stern.

To be brought out whenever these two women find it convenient and serve as props that insulate them from any moral or legal responsibility and incoming fire from legislators, the media and the public.

Sorry to say it, folks, but there's your late-2013 snapshot of the 'Profiles In Courage' of your members of the Florida legislature. They are exactly what they appear to be.


And after you've finished pondering that question, that is, how we can be represented by so many people who show so little concern about such an important issue, ponder something else: Where is Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief?


The handful of times I've personally interacted with her she's always been friendly, engaged and willing to speak honestly about what she thought about a particular issue or situation, even if it was an unpopular opinion.

Which is all to the good I think.

But here's the thing.

I've probably sent Comm. Sharief and her staff a few dozen emails over the past two years re the HB CRA, each one full of facts, first-hand anecdotes and the city's very own troubling and inexplicable words and docs that painted the picture of the longstanding mess it's been in, doing little public good while greatly profiting a small handful of people with connections to HB City Hall.
Even if only because of those emails I sent her, Comm. Sharief knows -or should know- much more than most of the reporters who've written about this subject, the few who have

I would argue that my sending those emails to her was entirely appropriate given that most of the incompetency, corruption, and general shadiness with the HB CRA took place in -wait for it- her District.


So given all that, what has Comm. Sharief actually said or done the past two years to show that she's actually looking out for HB taxpayers and small business owners on this matter involving, I remind you, tens of millions of dollars?


Comm. Sharief and her staff have NEVER responded to any fact-filled email of mine that specifically dealt with the HB CRA over the past two years.

Comm. Sharief was NOT present at the Broward County Commission meeting in June when former HB Commissioner Keith London and current Comm. Michele Lazarow spoke honestly and plainly about the longstanding need for this community to finally have an honest and thorough audit.

Yes, an honest accounting for what has taken place in the past that will assure HB residents.

To no avail.

Despite having the better part of two years to say or do something that was in any way supportive of the effort for the people of Hallandale Beach to finally get the truth, Comm. Barbara Sharief has said and done nothing.

Period.

Are HB residents, taxpayers, small business owners -and voters- supposed to ignore that inescapable fact?

I think not.

Why are local TV/print reporters and other bloggers NOT directly asking the five of  them to explain themselves on this issue, and say why they are sticking it to the people of this community, and, frankly, actually seem to be supporting the very people who are directly responsible for this financial scandal, as Sen. Sobel and Sen. Braynon have made clear for everyone with their condescending tone in their letter to JLAC telling them NO AUDIT.


If you feel inclined, here's how you reach them:


Braynon's District Office: 606 NW 183rd Street Miami Gardens, FL 33169 (305) 654-7150


Sobel's District Office: The "Old" Library First Floor 2600 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, FL 33020 (954) 924-3693


Gibbons' District Office  Suite 203, Pembroke Park Town Hall  3150 SW 52nd Avenue Pembroke Park, FL 33023-5413  (954) 893-5006


Jones' District Office  1965 South State Road 7  West Park, FL 33023-6733 

(954) 893-5010

Sharief doesn't list a district office on her website, only her main office at the Broward County Governmental Center, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Room 410 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 

954-357-7008

Joint Legislative Auditing Committee (JLAC) is physically located at 876 Pepper Building,

but their mailing address is 111 W. Madison Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1400 
(850) 487-4110  jlac@leg.state.fl.us

Those are the facts as of 2:00 p.m. on November 1st, 2013.

It's up to you to change the dynamic now or we will never find out where that $80 Million in CRA funds really went.

On a happier note, there are still lots of very talented people in this world whom you have never of -until now- who have bright futures ahead of them, and one of those persons is Miriam Bryant 



Steve Layton YouTube Channel:  Miriam Bryant sings the DuBose Heyward/George Gershwin classic from Porgy & Bess, "Summertime" on the August 10th, 2013 broadcast of SVT's "Sommarkväll" at The River Cafe, Göteborg, Sweden.
http://youtu.be/5cVr9VKmmdo
As seen in my October 30th, 2013 blog post re Miriam,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/just-like-swedish-summers-short-sweet.html

Hallandale Beach is on both the ocean and on the Intracoastal, so why in the year 2013 do we NOT have even one restaurant like the one shown in Miriam's video, The River Cafe in Göteborg, Sweden?


Good question.

That's why there are elections that carry genuine consequences.
Something similar-but-smaller in scale that allows the public to actually be able to see and feel the water should already be in the works on the south side of the Intracoastal bridge, next to where The Related Group's project The Beachwalk is being built now.
But it isn't, is it? Nope.
Another missed opportunity for Hallandale Beach.

-----

I've removed the email addresses below for obvious reasons and replaced by name with initials.

The Committee has not received any written requests, either for or against an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA, since the September letter from Senators Sobel and Braynon.


Kathy DuBose, Coordinator

Joint Legislative Auditing Committee 
(850) 487-4110 


From: JLAC 

Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 1:44 PM
To: Dubose, Kathy; White, Deborah
Subject: FW: Attn: Kathy DuBose -re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC


From: DBS

Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 1:00 PM
To: JLAC

Cc: DBS

Subject: Attn: Kathy DuBose -re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC


---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: DBS
Date: Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM
Subject: Attn: Kathy DuBose -re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC
To: Joint Legislative Auditing Committee
Cc: DBS


October 30th, 2013

12:55 p.m.

Dear Ms. DuBose:


Just wanted to follow-up on my previous email of two months ago and your response of Sept. 9th regarding the possible audit by JLAC of what I and so many other Hallandale Beach citizens believe has been an ineffectual and poorly-managed Hallandale Beach CRA for

so many years.

To date, has the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee received a request FOR or AGAINST an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA from any member of the Legislature, other than the September 16th letter AGAINST an audit co-written by Sen. Eleanor Sobel and Sen. Oscar

Braynon II?

There have been no media reports in South Florida of any kind the past six weeks on this issue, to say nothing of anything publicly from the two state senators who are supposed to represent the citizens of this community, who have borne witness to the millions of CRA dollars that have gone out  the door with nothing tangible to show for them, not the very people directly responsible for doing so.


I just wanted to know what the scoreboard is looking like as of this afternoon.

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

----
I've added these links to earlier Broward Bulldog articles to give any new readers of the blog some sense of perspective that's not written by me:

"Hallandale finds allies amid aggressive response to county’s request for CRA documents." I'll have a lot more on this matter and our angry and vindictive Mayor Cooper soon.




Broward opens broad inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs; millions at stake




Hallandale Mayor sends multiple texts to Lobbyist during Broward Commission meeting




Defiant Hallandale commissioners reject call for new legal opinion on CRA spending




Hallandale may seek Attorney General opinion on CRA spending; statewide impact seen




Hallandale diverts millions from CRA’s budget to pay for non-redevelopment programs




Hallandale Mayor & Commissioners fail to document contacts w/ lobbyist Judy Stern




Unhappy Broward commissioners want more control over city CRAs




Lobbyist Judy Stern uses texts to thwart Hallandale CRA investigation




Legislature asks Hallandale for answers about CRA spending; Subpoenas land at city hall




A problematic model: Hallandale Beach CRA under city manager’s thumb




Broward Auditor looks at Hallandale Beach CRA with eye toward recovering misspent funds
By William Gjebre* BrowardBulldog.org 
The Broward County Auditor’s Office has begun looking into whether Hallandale Beach should be required to repay some of the millions in tax dollars allegedly misspent due to “gross mismanagement” by city officials.





Broward Inspector General: Hallandale leaders don’t know what they’re talking about, By William Gjebre* BrowardBulldog.org. The Broward Inspector General’s final report on the “gross mismanagement” of millions in tax dollars by Hallandale Beach is sharply critical of city leaders it says have shown a “basic misunderstanding” of what’s gone wrong.







Friday, October 18, 2013

Where has the Hallandale Beach CRA spent $80 Million? Keith London on urgent need for Florida JLAC to authorize Florida Auditor General to audit the Halladale Beach CRA

My friend and former Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith London sent out the following email alert recently to the people of this southeast Broward County community, largely because he knows they share his deep and abiding concern about the troubling financial status of (and operation of) the Hallandale Beach CRA, the controversial subject of dozens of past blog posts here over the years, including some this past week.

If you are a Florida resident, whether you live in Hallandale Beach or not, I strongly urge you to read Keith's words and to follow-up in the coming days by contacting the very people in Tallahassee on the JLAC who will be deciding whether or not to authorize Florida Auditor General to audit the Hallandale Beach CRA.

As most of you know from my emails, blog posts and tweets of the past few days,
there are powerful forces involved in this fight, both locally and up in Tallahassee, who desperately want to prevent an audit and prevent the true facts and figures from ever seeing the light of day, and they will do anything they can to accomplish this.

THAT is why it's so important that you spend a few minutes to contact them and ask them to give the residents, taxpayers and small business owners of this beleaguered community the opportunity they've always wanted: to FINALLY get the answers they are owed about where all the CRA money went while everyone in charge looked the other way -or looked-on approvingly.

Answers they have never gotten from the powers-that-be in this city, who have much to fear from genuine transparency and real accountability and oversight, three things they often preach but never practice themselves.

Which, of course, is a large part of why the HB CRA is in the current position it's in, and why nobody who pays close attention to things in this city trusts Hallandale Beach City Hall.

-----



Everyone,
Act today to protect your tax dollars! Email or call the Florida Legislature's Joint Legislative Auditing Committee (JLAC) to request that the Florida Auditor General audit the Halladale CRA.
I spoke to outgoing JLAC Chairman Senator Abruzzo last week and he explained the agenda is being set this month for the legislative session. It is now or never!
Only JLAC has the purview and the legal ability to order the Florida Auditor General to audit the Hallandale CRA. But if they do nothing now, they will set a precedent that will haunt future attempts to ensure tax dollars are spent properly. Please take the opportunity to make sure your voice is heard!  Here are links to all committee members’ emails and phone numbers
Representative Lake Ray Incoming Chairman
If you choose to include them in your email or call, here are a few facts.
In the JLAC's June 4th 2013 letter to the Hallandale Beach CRA, they requested the following.
·         The CRA follow the Attorney General opinion 2010-40
·         Request a new AG opinion and then abide by the decision 
·         Explain and justify the Specific Improper and Questionable CRA Expenditures , totaling $2,168,598 identified as misspent by the Broward Office  of Inspector General (OIG) in their report titled “Gross Mismanagement of Public Funds by the Hallandale CRA”

The CRA Board of Directors (BOD) voted 3:2 to reject JLAC inquiries daring JLAC to take action.
This was done at a Special Meeting held in the July where 40 residents attended requesting further scrutiny and transparency.

We need JLAC's help to get answers. Where has the CRA spent $80 Million? How can $12.5 million in “pooled cash” be wire transferred from a city account into the CRA account without ever being voted on by the CRA BOD or Commission?
Your actions and support are necessary to ensure your tax dollars are being spent appropriately and our local government is representing its citizens!
See the attached letter from the OIG attorney and remind JLAC members that the OIG looks poised to start another investigation of the Hallandale Beach CRA.
Please contact everyone on JLAC by phone or email today.

Keith S. London

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Instead of looking-out for you and your Hallandale Beach neighbors, HB's craven state legislators (Sobel, Gibbons, Jones & Braynon) are doing Mayor Joy Cooper's dirty work in Tallahassee, making excuses for her ten years of oversight/policy failures with the HB CRA; #JLAC

Today I'm delivering into your hands more proof of what I've hinted at for many months about who in this community was working hard to help the people of Hallandale Beach,
and who was ACTIVELY working against us and our collective long-term best interests. 
The name is hardly a surprise.

For your inspection, via this email and later this morning on my blog, I've got what I consider to be the Smoking Gun that shows how Mayor Cooper's network of cronies
around the state is working behind-the-scenes (and unremarked upon by the local 
news media) to run interference for her, obfuscate, and in general, do their best to 
prevent the truth from coming out about what has been going on here for years with her
in charge, and with millions of dollars going out the door with little to show for it.

That Smoking Gun comes in the form of a smarmy and incriminating letter that Mayor
Cooper's good pal, state Sen Eleanor Sobel, and state Sen Oscar Braynon II, sent to the Joint Legislative Auditing  Comm. (JLAC) in Tallahassee, asking them NOT to investigate the incompetent and maybe even illegal activities of the HB CRA while the Mayor has been in charge of the CRA Board and NOT to perform an audit so that HB citizens will finally know the truth. 
As I could've predicted.
As we ALL could've predicted, because that's who she is.

As you read the attached letter, what's noticeable by its absence is the same exact thing that has been completely absent from public conversation the entire time that Eleanor Sobel has been in the state Senate, supposedly representing us, and in particular, missing the past two years while so much public scrutiny has attached to the HB CRA while it was
FINALLY being investigated by the Broward Inspector General's Office -anything by Eleanor Sobel remotely resembling genuine concern about getting to the truth of things, and actually finding out what happened to all those millions that were supposed to eliminate blight and create jobs within the CRA district, but which were instead used as part of a crony capitalism racket based on politics, with the CRA loan to the fake newspaper being but the most obvious example of that.

There's a very logical reason that there are ZERO newspaper articles or TV news videos
available of Sobel saying that she wants to get to the bottom of the whole sordid CRA mess.
She doesn't want to!

She wants to ignore the issue completely and does NOT want the South Florida 
news media asking her to publicly explain why she has been so invisible in HB 
for so many years, and on this troublesome issue in particular.
Just like state Representatives Joe Gibbons and Shevrin Jones, who have also been completely invisible on this matter and who want to stay on the mayor's good side. 

In her letter, Sobel fundamentally misrepresents what happened because she has to have the Mayor's back on this issue -or else.
Same reason that useless Gibbons and clueless Jones didn't do the right thing for HB citizens, taxpayers and small business owners, esp. the ones who live and work within that district, which is most of the city, including me.

With these three people, being a friend of Joy Cooper is far much-more important than 
actually doing their job responsibly and looking-out for the best long-term interests of HB's 
citizens, their own constituents.
In my opinion, they flat out sold us out

Rather than signing the letter herself, though, Sobel shows her true nature and somehow 
has managed to make things even worse.
She uses the cover of a co-signing African-American legislator like Braynon on this letter,
-someone who, literally, has NO IDEA what's been going on here with the HB CRA 
and that I have NEVER seen at any meeting or event, never even heard his name 
mentioned once- in her attempt to perform PR spin for the mayor and the city among her
colleagues.
It's perfectly despicable.

That Sobel has managed to get this guy who literally has no idea who anyone in this city
is, to simply roll over for her in her attempt to publicly protect her friend Joy Cooper, says 
as much about her as it does for his really poor judgement in letting us know with certainty
how truly disconnected he is to our community.
And just in case you forgot, most of the CRA corruption took place in HIS legislative district, too. http://maps.flsenate.gov/de1/map.html?plan=s016s9030&district=36


Yes, just more of Eleanor Sobel being Eleanor Sobel.
Again, a point that ought to be hammered home as often as necessary.

Fecklessness all around us in Hallandale Beach.


Friday, September 13, 2013

In Broward County, CRA numbers just don't add up - Broward Bulldog has latest news re Broward County Inspector General's office opening a broad line of inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs, including Hallandale Beach's, "with millions at stake"; #audit, #stonecoldfacts, @MayorCooper

Above and below, northbound U.S.-1/Federal Highway as City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County becomes City of Hallandale Beach and Broward County, alongside Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex. August 28, 2013 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
In Broward County, CRA numbers just don't add up - Broward Bulldog has latest news re Broward County Inspector General's office opening a broad line of inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs, including Hallandale Beach's, "with millions at stake"; #audit, #stonecoldfacts, @MayorCooper
Sent out this email this morning to all Friends of the Blog and "all the ships at sea" in Hallandale Beach, Broward County, and in Tallahassee, Florida Governor Rick Scott and FL CFO Jeff Atwater, certain select Florida state Senators and members of the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee...



CRA numbers that just don't add up -FYI re Broward Bulldog: Broward opens broad inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs; millions at stake

Yes, it seems like only yesterday that I'd been up half the night penning one in a series of emails to Governor Scott about what's been going on for YEARS at Hallandale Beach City Hall with the CRA Board and its very highly-paid, tone-deaf staffers repeatedly taking advantage of this city's taxpayers and small business owners to further crony capitalism and pure political patronage as best they could, using the cover of fighting social ills like "blight," the word that you never ever hear uttered at HB City Hall.

Yes, the very same characters at HB City Hall who have an annual Visioning meeting to discuss their individual and collective thoughts and strategies towards the spending of taxes and CRA funds, not that facts matter a great deal.

They call it a public meeting, but they prefer a public that is seen and not heard, since in this city, the public can't ask questions or ask for clarification or even make suggestions at it, forcing citizens to just sit and observe for hours on end while reality takes a long holiday.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/visioning-and-public-participation.html

But in this case I'm thinking of, my email to Gov. Scott wasn't from yesterday, it was March, six months ago:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-open-letter-to-florida-governor-rick.html

The next time you hear someone in Broward County, like one of the usual "experts" or pundits or maybe a self-interested lobbyist like Mayor Joy Cooper's supercilious pal, Broward lobbyist Judy Stern repeat the Conventional Wisdom in this county that nobody really cares about ethical behavior, transparency and accountability in Broward cities, except a handful of people, just keep this in mind.

As of Friday September 13th at 2:55 a.m., in the 48 weeks since I first wrote my October 15th 2012 post titled, "Ethics? Not for us! Follow-up to my post re Hallandale Beach's unethical "business as usual" attitude, with "special rules for special people" if they are named Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and  Anthony A. Sanders; What ethics? What rules? @MayorCooper, @SandersHBit's been seen 51,134 times at  
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethics-not-for-us-follow-up-to-my-post.html

Yes, that's more than a thousand page views a week and more than the total population of this city, even during "the season."
Imagine that! 

That total doesn't even include the number of people who saw it the day it was first posted, when it was the default post of the blog. 
That's a lot of people who now know a lot more facts about the truth regarding the corruption, unethical conduct and plain old incompetency that have been commonplace in Hallandale Beach all these years while Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz and his staff did NOTHING to help us.
Just saying...

And now on to today's featured attraction...
-----


Broward Bulldog
Broward opens broad inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs; millions at stake
By William Gjebre and Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
September 12, 2013 AT 6:29 AM

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 1:33 AM
Subject: FYI re Latest news re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC
Cc: "Scott, John W." <InspectorGeneral@broward.org>

Well, after making a phone call this afternoon to JLAC's office up in
Tallahassee,
I received the response below.

Now we at least have some documentation proving who this community's real friends in Tallahassee are -and aren't- these days, and who's just been feeding us lip service about rallying to the cause of giving Hallandale Beach citizens their long overdue accounting of where the HB CRA millions were really going for years, while nobody at HB City Hall was performing
anything close to the level of genuine oversight and scrutiny that was demanded -or which HB taxpayers, residents and business owners had a reasonable right to expect.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JLAC <jlac@leg.state.fl.us>
Date: Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC
Mr. Smith:

To date, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee has not received a request for an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA from any member of the Legislature.

I apologize for the slow response. After your call today, Debbie mentioned your email on August 19th, but neither of us recalls seeing it before.

Kathy

Kathy DuBose, Coordinator
Joint Legislative Auditing Committee 
___ 
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 12:34 PM
To: JLAC

Subject: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

Monday August 19th, 2013
12:30 p.m.
To Whom It May Concern:
As of this morning, has the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Commission received any correspondence from the following state legislators formally requesting that JLAC perform an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA: Sen. Eleanor Sobel, Rep. Joe Gibbons and Rep. Shevrin Jones?
Living here, and being very involved in the effort to get your Committee to do one so that
citizens of this community can finally get the financial answers that we have long been
denied, I can tell you that there are no media reports of any of the three of them doing so,
thus far, so I just want to get confirmation of that fact.
Thank you for your assistance! 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Complete lack of concern shown by Eleanor Sobel, Joe Gibbons and Shevrin Jones for their Hallandale Beach constituents re wasted HB CRA $$$ is galling -and is noticed by LOTS of voters and reporters; Have HB's state legislators said or done a single thing re the Hallandale Beach CRA scandal, or done anything to help get a thorough audit of it by the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Comm., so that HB residents can finally get the long-overdue financial accountability that HB Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew of Lewy & Sanders have fought? So far, the answer is a big fat NO

My short and to-the-point email of Monday to the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in Tallahasseejlac@leg.state.fl.us
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Directory=committees/joint/Jcla/&File=index_css.html&Tab=committees
regarding a matter of great public concern in the city I live in.


Monday August 19th, 2013
12:30 p.m.

To Whom It May Concern:

As of this morning, has the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee received 
any correspondence from the following state legislators formally requesting that JLAC 
perform an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA: Sen. Eleanor Sobel, Rep.  Joe Gibbons
and Rep. Shevrin Jones?

Living here, and being very involved in the effort to get your Committee to do one so that
citizens of this community can finally get the financial answers that we have long been
denied, I can tell you that there are no media reports of any of the three of them doing so,
thus far, so I just want to get confirmation of that fact.

Thank you for your assistance!
-----

For those of you who don't know, state Rep. Shervin Jones represents the part of Hallandale Beach west of the FEC Railroad tracks and Dixie Highway.
In my opinion, he is also a career-politician-in-training just like like Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Alexander Lewy, and obviously I mean that as a big warning sign for anyone who cares about common sense and actually solving problems, instead of relying on tried, tired and unproven ideas that come from liberal orthodoxy.

Jones has recently been brought up short by his caviar dreams and his West Park reality, the reality that gave him a gerrymandered seat for all practical purposes. But in a state like Florida with term limits, even a gerrymandered seat promising no competitive races doesn't seem as fun a sinecure as it once did, even for an African-American pol who had no real experience of any kind, yet drew no opposition when he first ran, in part because his father is the mayor of the city he's from.
That gives you an idea of what the district is like -not a lot of civic discourse.
More like a herd mentality.



Anyway, Jones, of FL House 101, who is supporting Lewy in his effort to replace term-limited Gibbons in the FL House District 100 seat in 2014, and Gibbons in his efforts to defeat former Hollywood City Commissioner Beam Furr in the 2014 race to replace term-limited Broward County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger -who endorsed Furr many months ago- is under investigation by the Broward State's Attorney office for his curious spending habits.
Or is it his expensive eating habits so very far from home?  





Broward Beat
State Rep. Likes To Eat On Lobbyist’s Dime
By Buddy Nevins
August 2, 2013
State Rep. Shevrin Jones likes to eat….well…on his campaign’s dime.
He’s basically found a way for lobbyists like Ron Book, who donated $1,000, to pay for his meals.
Jones has spent roughly $2,000 of the $9,350 he raised from lobbyists on “meetings” and “campaign meetings” in various restaurants. Lobbyists were the only ones giving to his campaign.
Jones has no opponent.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments at
http://www.browardbeat.com/state-rep-likes-to-eat-on-lobbyists-dime/





Broward Beat
State Atty Investigates State Rep’s Campaign
By Buddy Nevins
August 12, 2013
The Broward State Attorney’s Office is investigating state Rep. Shevrin Jones’ campaign expenses, a well-placed courthouse source said.
The source said a Browardbeat.com post triggered the investigation into Jones’ spending at restaurants in addition to a campaign loan repayment.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments at
http://www.browardbeat.com/state-atty-investigates-state-reps-campaign/