Showing posts with label 2010 Florida politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010 Florida politics. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Florida 2012 GOP Presidential primary -deadline is Tuesday in Broward County to register to vote or change your party affiliation to Republican

Florida 2012 GOP Presidential primary -deadline is Tuesday in Broward County to register to vote or change your party affiliation to Republican


Just a reminder to those of you living in Broward County who want to vote in the January 31st Florida GOP Presidential primary, this Tuesday is the last day to:

a.) register to vote if you aren't already registered, and

b.) legally change your party affiliation from Democratic or Other to Republican in order that you can participate in the official culling of candidates.

Last Tuesday, I spoke to a very friendly and helpful woman at the Broward Supervisor of Elections' HQ on Andrews Avenue so that I could mention it amongst some other 2012 Political Odds & Ends I planned to cobble together in a post, but some more-pressing and upsetting news here at HBB -that I'll mention soon- prevented me from being able to get that information online in the middle of the week, when it would've done more good.

I'm told that you'll be sent a new voter ID card within 2-3 weeks, but as long as you take care of everything before the three separate Broward SOE facilities below that are open to doing the above close on Tuesday, the next day they'll be open, you'll be fine come Primary Day. 
Note that the facility in Pompano Beach is open until 6 p.m.

See also:
Helpful Checklist on How to Be Prepared for the Presidential Preference Primary Election

Broward County Supervisor of Elections' Office 

Main Office
115 S. Andrews Avenue., Room 102,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Monday-Friday  Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Voting Equipment Center
1501 N.W. 40th Avenue
Lauderhill, FL 33313
Monday-Friday  Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

E. Pat Larkins Center
520 N.W. 3rd Street
Pompano Beach, FL 33060
Tuesday & Thursday  Hours: 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

(954) 357-7050

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The show is Jeopardy! and the question is: "Can I have 'Midterms' for $2,000"


"Can I have 'Midterms' for $2,000"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvhOI7Z9oKU

Above, a video showing a side of American pop culture that you'd think the South Florida news media would've already shown over-and-over by now.

In any case, seeing it puts me in the mood to recall a thing or two I once wrote in 2009 about Marco Rubio, back when the South Florida news media had all but conceded the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate nomination to Charlie Crist.


But some of us could see that what was so appealing about him to us would also prove just as appealing with Florida voters, confounding the "experts" who discounted his talk about taking the Constitution seriously.

The excerpt below is from a June 22nd, 2009 email to a Hallandale Beach friend who'd first told me weeks before about the underdog Rubio's appearance that June night in Hallandale Beach, which took place before an overflow audience at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center.

All of my photos below are from June 22, 2009, Hallandale Beach.



That's Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel at the table.

-----

As I said earlier, if I don't get that info from you tonight, I'll write the basics about his appearance at the HB Cultural Center Tuesday night, and try to post it before I go to sleep tonight.


I may(?) also post the clueless Beth Reinhard column from Saturday's Herald that was one of the worst of the many bad columns she's penned since I returned to South Florida:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/1105950.html

She's truly awful and bereft of either insight or originality.


But by embracing DeMint, Rubio risks moving too far to the right. DeMint
advocates sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries and making English the official language of the United States, which could mean that Rubio's Spanish-speaking constituents would not be able to get ballots and other government documents in their first language.


I'm going to be picking that column apart soon on my blog, as it is full not only of intellectual laziness, but factual errors, not the least of which is the comments about the language of the ballots, since the DOJ has oversight over certain states because of the federal Voting Rights Act, and that includes Florida.
You know, where we live?

Plus, because South Florida's county officials have decided that it's good public policy that ballots also appear in Spanish (and Creole), and that is supported by the majority of the local populace, Reinhard's argument is a straw man.

A good reporter would already know that.
That Beth Reinhard doesn't, or acts like she doesn't, gives you some true sense of her profound political ignorance.
Not that this is exactly Breaking News to me.

See also the New York Times:
Justices Let Stand a Central Provision of Voting Rights Act
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/us/23scotus.html

Frankly, I almost always groan after reading something Reinhard's written.

In fact, it was after reading some nonsense she'd written about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, while I was having breakfast with my father at Denny's, that I decided I needed to finally listen to my friends back in D.C., who'd been urging me for years to start a blog when I was still living there.

Right, when all my media and political connections were close-at-hand and would've proved very useful to me in sharing some very interesting stories, anecdotes and insight that I was either eyewitness to or privy to, that had heretofore remained the domain of party chatter among very close friends with a curiosity matching mine.

10:35 p.m.

Just got your new email with attendee info.
Thanks!

Confirmed Speakers: RNC Secretary Sharon Day, Broward GOP Chairman Chip LaMarca, Marco Rubio Candidate for US Senate, Lt. Col. Allen West Candidate for US Congress, Joyce Kaufman 850 AM Radio Host, and a special video presentation from Michael Steele.
Performing our National Anthem, National Vocalist Lou Galterio.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Spot-on! Scott Powers on 10 FL statewide candidates given $5.8 million in taxpayer funds "who arguably didn’t need the money but took it anyway"

Sometimes, all your faithful blogger needs to do to bring something important or worthwhile to your attention is to get out of the way ASAP so you can read it yourself, since there's hardly anything I can add to the original story that could make it any clearer.
As is so often true in those cases, it involves Florida or South Florida politics and government, and what a complete fiasco something was, is or is becoming.


This is such a time as Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel shows how Florida's public campaign-finance laws, intended to create a more level playing-field, doesn't, if ever, work as planned.
So why keep it?


Do you keep a compass that refuses to actually point in the right direction?
I don't.

I was always against public-financing of statewide political candidates in principle, even before I read this eye-opening piece on Tuesday night.
After reading it and thinking about the financial implications of continuing the system into the future, I'm even more convinced that it's a well-intentioned bad idea.


Especially now that we all have some idea how much taxpayer money went down the drain.


Or, should I say, provided employment for political consultants and advertising revenue for TV station owners.
I see why THEY would like it and want to keep the system intact, I'm not nearly as sure why we as taxpayers should continue something so manifestly broken and unworkable.


Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse
blog


Campaign finance leftovers: taxpayers contributed $5.8 million

Posted by scottpowers on January, 18 2011 9:22 AM


How much did taxpayers contribute to all those nasty campaign ads heading into last fall’s election?

Try $5.8 million, and counting.
The latest available reports from the Division of Elections show Florida taxpayers spent more than $5.8 million to bolster the campaigns of 10 candidates for statewide office last year, giving public dollars to individuals who arguably didn’t need the money but took it anyway.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/01/campaign-finance-leftovers-taxpayers-contributed-5-8-million.html

The parent Orlando Sentinel article was:
Candidates collected $5.8 million in public money
By Scott Powers, Orlando Sentinel

10:54 p.m. EST, January 17, 2011

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-state-public-finance-20110116,0,6550241.story

Reader comments at:
http://discussions.orlandosentinel.com/20/orlnews/os-state-public-finance-20110116/10

Monday, November 15, 2010

Do you recall me telling you months ago that FL State Rep. Joe Gibbons no longer lived in HB? Bob Norman hammers some more nails in that coffin!

For those of you living outside of Broward County specifically and South Florida in general, the subject of FL State Rep. Joe Gibbons, and specifically, his NOT actually living in the legislative district he has represented in Tallahassee -as it happens, MY district- is an old and familiar story with me and many South Florida civic activists, elected officials and members of the news media.

People whose job and personal interests lead them to follow what goes on down here at the intersection of government, politics and personal ambition, very, very closely.


My April 18, 2010 post on
Gibbons was to the point and appropriately titled:
In case you'd forgotten what sort of person Joe Gibbons was, here's a quick reminder: Y-O-U are at the bottom of his pyramid 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-case-youd-forgotten-what-sort-of.html

To quote myself:
You might be interested in knowing that just this year, I have been approached about five times at myriad events throughout Broward, all by different but clearly well-informed people, each specifically asking me variations of the same question: Did I know that Gibbons and his family really live in/near Jacksonville, and NO LONGER live in his FL House District?

I didn't.
Who does he think he is, Steve Geller?


Sometimes that discussion has taken the form of heated personal conversations around South Florida, but more often than not, it has come in the form of fact-filled, link-filled emails about the rights and responsibilities of public officials in South Florida -and the commensurate responsibility of law enforcement organizations and the news media- to NOT treat Gibbons with kid gloves.

To NOT make excuses for him in public that simply don't hold up to even the lightest form of scrutiny.

That opinionated back-and-forth, with few if any defending Gibbons, has actually happened even a handful of times in the immediate month before the election, as yours truly even toyed with the idea of contacting interim Florida Secretary of State Dawn K. Roberts,
http://www.dos.state.fl.us/ and asking that a formal investigation take place, as well as a formal complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics. http://www.ethics.state.fl.us/

If Gibbons lied on state documents, he needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for each and every violation, and needs to be expelled from the Florida House of Representatives.
PERIOD!

Even in the past week,
Gibbons' name has continued to pop-up in the news, as last week, Gibbons was named as incoming Democratic leader pro tempore, the No. 2 in the Democratic Party leadership ranks.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/11/two_broward_democrats_named_to.html

So, that all said, when those very same well-informed people got on their computer today and saw that the topic of Bob Norman's Daily Pulp blog, the most popular and insightful one on current events in South Florida, was the subject of Joe Gibbons and where he lived, they knew they were already better-informed than the majority of the regular readers.


So, how many nights a year does Joe Gibbons actually sleep in his House District?

If his wife and kids live in Jacksonville -
and she does- and his Akerman Senterfitt office is in Tallahassee -and it is- and he's making visits to Milton in Santa Rosa County, so close to Alabama that it's actually on Central Time, where do you think Gibbons REALLY lives? 

THAT certainly explains a lot.
Below is the highlighted Google Alert that I received in August that only shines more light on this issue.

OUR
State Representative should be running for re-election from -wait for it- Jacksonville, NOT from Broward County. It's my understanding that in order for Gibbons to have been an eligible candidate in the first place, he MUST already live in the House district for which he filed his candidacy paperwork.

Not where he used to live, actually
LIVES.

Right now.

The people in this part of the state are entitled to be represented by someone who lives
HERE, NOT Jacksonville.
Where's the formal investigation of whether FL State Rep.
Joe Gibbons legally met the requirements for office when he filed his paperwork?
That's coming, I promise.


And how long has it been since Gibbons actually lived here in Southeast Broward at least as long as so many of the tens of thousands of wintering Canadian snowbirds?



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Alerts
Date: Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 9:58 PM
Subject: Google Alert - "Hallandale Beach

Freedom Fund banquet is Saturday
Pensacola News Journal
Joe Gibbons , D-Hallandale Beach , will be the speaker. Attorney Alishia W . McDonald will be the mistress of ceremony. Gibbons, a Harlem native, ..


FYI: The Freedom Forum Banquet was Aug. 14th in Milton; tickets were $40 per person.

-----
BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
House Pro Tem Investigated For Homestead Fraud
By Bob Norman
Monday, November 15, 2010@ 10:15AM

State Rep. Joe Gibbons, who has been named the No. 2 Democrat in the Florida legislature, was investigated for homestead fraud earlier this year -- and government records indicate he lied to officials during the probe.

The Broward County Property Appraisers Office investigation also found that Gibbons' homestead in Hallandale conflicted with with another controversial homesteaded property in Jacksonville owned by his wife, Florida Board of Governors member Ava L. Parker.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/11/joe_gibbons_investigated_homestead_fraud.php


And, incredibly, just days ago...
Douglas C. Lyons covers the state capitol for the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Talk Back South Florida blog
Why not Joe Gibbons as chair of Florida Democratic Party?
By Doug Lyons 

November 10, 2010 09:18 AM

He may not appreciate me using his name as a trial balloon, but here goes ...
I believe the Florida Democratic Party needs a shot of new blood. So I'm throwing out a name to replace the current party chair, Karen Thurman, since everyone else is.
My choice would be state Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach.


Read the rest of the post at:

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/theslant/blog/2010/11/xxxxx_12.html

-----

www.sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/fl-psc-proposals-20091104,0,2671078.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Legislators consider tightening PSC ethics rules Proposal come in light of allegations of "cozy ties" with utilities
By Julie Patel Sun Sentinel

November 5, 2009

Florida legislators Wednesday held the first in a series of hearings on proposals to tighten ethics rules for the Public Service Commission — including legislation to restrict communication between agency staffers and the utilities they regulate.

Critics have pointed to what they say are "cozy" ties between the two groups.

Members of the Florida House Energy & Utilities Policy Committee heard presentations from the commission's director, the state utility consumer advocate and others that touched on proposed changes lawmakers are expected to deliberate when they convene next year.

The proposals come in the wake of criticism of PSC ties with Florida Power & Light Co. officials that emerged during the commission's public hearings on FPL's proposed $1.27 billion base rate hike.

National utility experts say Florida's utility regulation laws are comparable to those in other states but there some gaps. For instance, a Florida law bars commissioners — but not PSC staffers — from communicating with utility employees on pending matters, such as a rate hike proposal.

"That's an absolute must," said Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, the state-appointed advocate for utility customers, about a proposal to extend the rule to include commissioners' advisors, as other states do.

Among the legislative proposals lawmakers are expected to deliberate.

Electing, not appointing, commissioners. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, have written bills that would require PSC members, now appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, to be elected. Candidates would be prohibited from accepting contributions from utility employees.

Expanding restrictions on PSC, utility communications. Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, has filed a bill to make the rules more like those for judges so all communications between commissioners and utility employees are made public. Fasano is drafting legislation that would adopt all the recommendations from a 1992 grand jury report that examined how to improve the integrity of utility regulation, including adding provisions to Florida's so-called "ex parte" law that bars commissioners from communicating with utility employees on substantive pending matters.

The Sun Sentinel reported that a key PSC official and two staffers who have since resigned attended social functions with FPL employees around the time the utility asked for a base rate hike. Others exchanged phone calls and text messages with utility representatives.

Restricting utility hires of government officials. Fasano is drafting legislation to restrict the hiring of former PSC regulators by utilities. In September, the Sun Sentinel identified 18 former regulators and government officials who have been hired as FPL employees, consultants or lobbyists or work for law firms that were hired by FPL.

Public disclosures. Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, is drafting legislation that would require individuals who provide public comments at PSC hearings to disclose any ties to utilities or vested interests. A Sun Sentinel analysis in September found that more than a third of the customers, politicians and business leaders who praised FPL at three South Florida forums had financial or family ties to the company and its employees.

FPL officials have defended their handling of the rate case, saying they want the proposal to be judged on its merits.

Some regulatory experts also recommended fixing what they say is a disparity between consumers' access to regulators and those of utilities.

For instance, most conferences available to regulators are presented by groups representing utility interests. Commission Director Mary Bane told lawmakers the PSC will explore banning PSC members from attending certain conferences at a Nov. 24 meeting on ethics proposals.

Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, asked Kelly if the Office of Public Counsel's small budget "gives you what you need to bring [rate cases] to a successful conclusion?"

Kelly said it does and noted that the office plans to spend about $300,000 to fight FPL's request to increase base rate by $1.27 billion. Meanwhile, FPL plans to spend $5 million, including $3.7 million from customers' base rates, utility records show.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Mike Good: Not just fourth in a four-way race in Cooper City -a very bad fourth!



Cooper City's New City Commission 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY05mwBG9R4

Not pictured above, former Hallandale Beach City manager Mike Good.

Not just fourth in a four-way race in Cooper City -a very bad fourth!

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/FL/Broward/22350/39516/en/summary.html#

CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT ONE COOPER CITY (Vote For 1)

16 of 16 Precincts Reporting


PercentVotes
John Sims
Percent of total votes
39.30%3,251
Gary Laufenberg
Percent of total votes
33.36%2,760
Melissa Mears Megna
Percent of total votes
22.74%1,881
D. Mike Good
Percent of total votes
4.61%381



8,273

As one civic activist I know commented in response after I'd shared this bit of news Wednesday morning in an email, "And that's a GOOD thing!"

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2010/09/mike_good_cooper_city_commission_candidate_john_sims.php


To keep up on all things pro-reform Cooper City, which is currently the minority position on the City Commission led by misanthropic mayor Debby Eisinger, see http://coopercitycivicgroup.blogspot.com/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHSChLzO9FU

More on the longstanding unethical maelstrom that is
Debby Eisinger, out in western Broward County, far from the beach, home of the Cooper City Cowboys.

Eisinger, thru her bellicose words and often unethical behavior, is the poster child for all the ills that have taken over the state of FL in the past 10-15 years: a thin-skinned, anti-democratic elected official with both an edifice complex and a love of un-checked development, and a yen for the higher taxes that her ego demands in order to satisfy her govt. castle built upon sand.

In case you forgot about those problems, I refer you back to
Behind Florida's Exodus: Rising Taxes, Political Ineptitude
By Tim Padgett / Miami Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1919916,00.html

As I've recounted here more than a few times, when
Eisinger was on the Broward County Charter Review Comm. in 2008, she voted against allowing Broward citizens to decide for themselves, in the November election, whether they wanted to have an elected county-wide mayor, instead of the preposterous current system wherein Broward county commissioners appoint one of themselves mayor for a year, with ZERO accountability to voters.

Bob Norman's recent New Times posts on Eisinger's mendacity are devastating:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Debby+Eisinger%22&x=16&y=15

Especially this one from Sept. 23rd, Dirty Politics Shame City, Defame Candidate http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/cooper_city_background_checks.php
Be sure to read the Sept. 23 post below from David Nall, the City Commission candidate that was caught up in Mayor Eisinger's latest twisted and illegal City Hall gambit, and labeled a "criminal" by Cooper City City Hall.

He wasn't.

http://coopercitycivicgroup.blogspot.com/


City Apologizes For Calling Candidate Criminal
Channel 4 video at: http://cbs4.com/local/cooper.city.candidate.2.1931461.html

In case you haven't already heard about it or seen it for yourself, see the video about Cooper City at: http://www.youtube.com/user/browardperson and this explanation
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/09/cooper_city_mayor_miffed_over.html

----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/28/1897384/apology-comes-too-late-for-candidate.html

Miami Herald

Posted on Thursday, 10.28.10
COOPER CITY
Apology comes too late for candidate Candidate for Cooper City's District 2 commission race says city's apology ``too late.''

BY SERGIO BONILLA
Special to The Miami Herald

David Nall just wanted to represent his city.

But after Nall, 43, filled out paperwork to run for commissioner, Cooper City hired an independent company to do a background check.

The result: Nall had been arrested for credit card fraud more than two decades ago.

Problem is, the report was wrong.

The city has since apologized and put a correction on its website, but Nall said it's too late for his campaign.

"The damage is already done,'' Nall said.

This is the first Cooper City election that requires background checks on candidates formayor and City Commission. All candidates had to sign paperwork consenting to background checks, Cooper City Attorney David Wolpin said.

The city hired IntelliCorp, based in Beachwood, Ohio. The report was submitted back to the city Sept. 13. IntelliCorp said it obtained the incorrect records from the Florida Department of Corrections.

After Nall notified IntelliCorp of the error, the company asked the corrections department to reinvestigate his record.

According to IntelliCorp, the corrections department confirmed its original findings.

However, a background check produced by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed Nall to have a clean record.

But the incorrect background check fell into the hands of his opponent for the City Commission District 2 seat. And now, Nall said, he feels the city has betrayed him.

"It was a malicious attempt to hurt my character,'' said Nall, the financial controller of GSD Contracting and a Little League coach for the Cooper City Optimist Club.

Several days after the report came back, Nall said, his opponent and her supporters were seen canvassing the gated community of Embassy Lakes with a copy of the background check in hand.

His opponent, Lisa Mallozzi, the incumbent, calls that a "flat-out lie.''

Before running for commissioner, each candidate signs a statement of ethical practices. One of the stipulations reads:

"I will neither use nor permit the use of malicious untruths or innuendos about an opponent's personal life, nor will I make or condone unfounded accusations discrediting an opponent's credibility.''

Nall said he felt that this rule was violated by Mallozzi.

Nall was irritated and embarrassed but it wasn't until his daughter found out about the accusation that he felt angry.

He was in the kitchen discussing the matter with his wife when their 10-year-old daughter asked, ``Daddy, you've been arrested? You're a criminal?''

"Now, it's affecting my kids,'' Nall said.

"You guys can attack me in anyway, but leave my family out of politics.''

In order to prevent another Nall situation in the future, Mallozzi said the agency should have to contact the candidates before releasing any information.

The recommendation has gone before the Cooper City Commission, but has not passed.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Perfidy is backstabber Alexander Lewy's middle name: examining his duplicitous behavior that he'd prefer you ignore

Above, February 16, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of participants at Hallandale beach City Comm. Keith London's monthly Resident Forum meetings, which mayor Joy Cooper has frequently crashed in the past, even though she herself refuses to have anything resembling it. Just like the rest of her Rubber Stamp Crew of Julian, Ross & Sanders, her puppets on a string.

So who's the shy person holding paper in front of his own face?


Why it's none other than
Alexander Lewy who has fairly regularly attended London's meetings since the unpopular Diplomat LAC issue late last year, despite the fact he's running against London.

I have dozens of such photos from this particular meeting, as well as his appearances at several other
London meetings before and since, this was just the most absurd one of several.

After this particular meeting over eight months ago, several 'regulars' commented to me -without any prompting on my part- that they couldn't help but notice Lewy's odd paper-holding behavior, as I shot photos of the entire room every so often during the two hours it lasted, dividing the room into into thirds from where I was sitting in the front, near the door, to be sure to get everyone in it.

Though I had noticed it, too, while shooting, I thought perhaps they were exaggerating, and it was just a sign of his boredom, perhaps, but once I got home, I resolved to make a point of really looking closely at the photos.


What I noticed was that despite the fact that
Lewy was in less than 20% of all the photos I shot that night, every photo taken of his part of the room shows him holding that paper in front of his face, like it was some sort of mask.
But it wasn't a costume party and we already knew who he was.

As to the comments about it being odd behavior, I agree.

Who am I to argue with self-evident logic like that?


Lewy
attends the meetings despite having previously told me that he thought that the HB
residents who attend were... well, that's what this post is about: what Alexander Lewy really thinks about Hallandale Beach's most civic-minded residents.

It probably won't surprise you to learn that that condescending Lewy disparages them behind their backs.
Yes, yes, now you have it!


Correct, that's where Lewy the Liar becomes Lewy the Backstabber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVC2j_Kdw8c
It's a seamless transition.

Below is a letter I wrote a year ago to a couple of dozen people throughout South Florida who pay close attention to what happens in local govt., including some print and TV reporters whom I trust, but mostly, the recipients were Hallandale Beach's most civic-minded residents.
It appears below exactly as I wrote it a year ago.

This should answer any lingering questions you may have about Alexander Lewy.

----------
November 5th, 2009
3:30 p.m.

Last year, I wrote an email to some folks, possibly including yourself, where I mentioned in passing a few things going on around HB that I wanted to draw your attention to because -shocker- they seemed typically screwed-up examples of HB City Hall chronic neglect.

I concluded like so many of my emails with the comment that later in the day, I'd be over at Panera's or Starbucks later at a particular time in case anyone was free and would like to talk about the subjects in more depth or any other issue pertaining to what was going on hereabouts.
Admittedly, pretty tame stuff.

But somebody in Hallandale Beach, typically, thought this was pure revolutionary talk, and an opportunity to endear himself with someone named Joy Cooper.

After weeks of asking around and trying to look at this logically, i.e. who stands to profit, Alex Lewy emerged as the person whom every other recipient of that particular email I've spoken to believes is the party who shared it with Mayor Joy Cooper.

If you didn't already know, Lewy often met her and talked to her at length at various restaurants around town when he was running for City Commission, according to people I trust who were eyewitnesses, esp. the now-defunct Frankie's.

Many well-informed people in the city believe that Lewy was the second candidate that the Cooper Crew supported last Fall, just in case Dotty Ross got the well-deserved heave-ho she was due because of her chronic lack of attention to details, literally, blind to what's going on in front of her.

To repeat what I said on October 22nd:
At the Sunrise Park opening ceremony yesterday afternoon, if you can believe this, Comm. Ross invited him to address the small crowd after she was finished by referring to him as "John Sanders" instead of Anthony.

Fourteen months after
she approved him as interim commissioner and actually voted for him, after admitting on the dais that she didn't know who he was or anything about him, this is the logical consequence.
Trust me, I was there and her puppet-masters in the crowd were clearly squirming in their seats as she flubbbed the simple hand-off.

Yes, Dotty Ross: The Girl in the Bubble.

So perhaps you're asking yourself, what's the big deal if the email I wrote was so tame, if not lame, right?

Well, what was completely different from any previous or subsequent emails was that later, Cooper wrote a very weird rambling email referencing that specific email of mine, full of what could only be called childish gibberish, full of syntax and spelling errors, that she sent to both Michael Butler and myself -after midnight.

But then she's sent emails to some people in this community before that said or implied "Drop dead."
I know those people, and they've told me about it, and in some cases, even saved the email.
Tell me, which email address of hers do you think she used?

Before the final few people I sent my email to told me individually who they thought had shared that letter with Cooper -each naming Lewy, just as previous recipients had- I had a few encounters with Lewy that left me cold and speaks volumes about him and his overweening
ambition.

It also left me convinced that he should be kept away from any and all power and responsibility as long as possible, and not just because of his age, his inexperience or lack of tangible accomplishment of note -on his own.
Because of his character, or, rather the lack of any character.

For many of us who want genuine reform, government transparency and accountability in this city, so it will be more pro-active and attractive to residents, newcomers and businesses, we know that will require a 180 degree change in the anti-democratic culture of corruption and deceit that currently pervades HB City Hall -so much so that HB residents and business owners are actually repelled by it- we've not been afraid to say as much in public.

(A friend of mine even had a conversation with Mayor Cooper within the past two weeks and brought this matter of public participation up. Well, if you can believe it, Cooper responded that she actually sees the lack of people attending City Commission meetings as a positive sign, an indication that residents are happy with the way things are, ending with the typical Cooper dig, "unlike Hollywood.")

But not everybody is comfortable speaking their mind in public, even if they desire it, which is something I understand, even if it makes things more difficult than I wish it were.

After all, Caesar Rodney's vote in Philadelphia was as important as the ones cast by Adams, Jefferson or Hancock, but outside the Mid-Atlantic states, few people know of his important role in creating the Declaration of Independence, since he wasn't known as an orator.
But guess who's on the U.S. quarter representing the State of Delaware?
And in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building?
Caesar Rodney.

1999 Delaware State Quarter
The reverse was designed and engraved by William Cousins.
Caesar Rodney was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He rode 80 miles on horseback to cast the deciding vote in favor of independence. In his lifetime, he held more public offices than any other Delaware citizen.

But when you run for office in this city, you have to either be FOR change or the status quo.
One or the other, not both.

It's typical of his huge ego that Alex Lewy somehow convinced himself that, having never done anything, he'd wage a campaign that allowed him to tap the labor resources and contacts he had thru dint of his ethnic handholding job working for Kendrick Meek, and finesse this important last point by continually saying one thing to one group and another to still another group.

This hardly makes him unique in politics, of course, but in a small town like this, when it's fairly well-known who's for reform and who's a bosom buddy of the Cooper & Good Crew at City Hall, even profiting from sweetheart deals, that forked tongue approach is not really a smart
tactic, since eventually, you're self-serving nature will emerge and be exposed.

This crack in the armor showed itself to me shortly after I had endorsed Arturo O'Neill and Carlos Simmons for City Commission, not that it was worth much as we all saw, otherwise we'd ALL be living in a much more NORMAL, less combative and infinitely better-managed city, with MUCH MORE transparency and accountability for citizens.
Early voting had already started over at the HB Cultural Center and late one Tuesday afternoon, as I had been doing for days, I swung by the area in front to see what sort of crowds were outside and to talk to Arturo and Carlos and their family and friends who were working the crowds in the parking lots.

Plus I took a few minutes top explain to reporter Mark Joyella from Channel 10, who was doing some LIVE stand-up reports, why he'd have nothing behind him to frame the shot at 11 p.m., on account of all the parking lot and auxiliary lights there being out, just like the ones in front of City Hall and the Police Dept.

Well, while walking on the sidewalk about 5:45 p.m. from the Cultural Center, where I'd just bought a Coke from their vending machine, to City Hall for Comm. London's 6 p.m. Resident Forum, where I suspected some local candidates would appear, who do I run into but the aforementioned Alex Lewy.

Naturally, I mentioned where I was headed and asked if he'd be coming by for a bit, since it only seemed natural, since I'd heard that Ken Gottlieb, Rick Saltrick and some other candidates would attend. (They did.)
Well, in retrospect, I only wish I'd had my video camera with me, because Lewy proceeded to whiff on my innocuous comment and reveal himself for the sort of prick I'd long since suspected he was.

He said that not only would he NOT be swinging-by Comm. London's meeting of concerned HB citizens, he scoffed at the very idea that HB citizens would attend those meetings in the first place, and at Comm. London in particular for holding them, saying that they were pointless.

So ask yourself, what sort of person runs for office despite being openly dismissive of not just the people in that town in general, but the most concerned and well-informed people in the city?
Alex Lewy.

So, guess who comes into the room a few minutes later, when
it's FULL, to make an election pitch for themself?
Alex Lewy

I resisted the urge to grill Levy and expose him as the worst sort of condescending, know-it-all hypocrite when Comm. London asked if anyone had any questions, but I was biting my tongue the whole time.

Once the final votes came in from the only precincts I really cared about, i.e. who was the guilty party who forwarded my email to Joy Cooper, and every single vote was for Lewy, that was that.
Now everyone knows.

I mean what are the odds that everyone thinks it's Lewy and everyone is also wrong?
A LOT of people detest Alex Lewy, sure, but some are merely ambivalent, from not really knowing him and yet they all named him.
The very people who are paying the most attention to what's going on in this city.

When you think about it, because of his reflexive self-serving nature, trying to please someone in power like Cooper completely fits Lewy's pathology.

In discussing the Ben Gamla Charter Hebrew School matter in mid-October with some other HB residents, after mentioning some other matters of concern, I wrote the following:

Of course, if
Alex Lewy had won and edged Dotty Ross out last November, the basic problem would still remain, since he is someone who is very clearly confused about personal ambition being a substitute for a personality, or even a political framework for understanding how
the
world works, or ought to. This gets to the fundamental problem of his consistently self-serving personality and poor judgment.

In my opinion, much like
Mayor Cooper now, Lewy would positively do somersaults or jump off a roof in order to get into the good graces of someone with influence like Peter Deutsch, his friends and political and financial campaign supporters in order to advance his own aims.
That's why Lewy is someone who needs to be rejected at every single opportunity,since he is exactly the sort of person who gets into politics for all the wrong reasons.

Well, two weeks later, I still stand by what I wrote then, and if anything, think I was tame.

I strongly suggest that any of you who ever think about dealing with him, think twice.
Since last Fall's election, I've kept my distance from him and suggest you do the same.
He's slimy and NOT to be trusted.
By the way, since I've been doing more video shoots of HB at night for reasons that you'll soon be able to see for yourself, I'm in a position to mention here, yet again, that 3 of the 4 public parking lot lights closest to the East-side entrance to HB City Hall are STILL out, including the one just a few feet from the only police-controlled surveillance camera on that side of the building.

Just like last week
.
And last month.
And last year.

Hallandale Beach City Hall, including the City Manager and the Police Chief know all about it, they just consciously choose to do NOTHING about it.
Just a reminder, that's the city where YOU live.

So in that regard, what's the difference between the dismissive and apathetic -not to mention negligent- attitudes of City Manager Mike Good and corrupt Police Chief Thomas Magill and Alex Lewy?
There is none.


Keeping with that theme of the city's incompetency and neglect,
yesterday morning I heard the the new Hallandale Beach City Hall tactic re the public ever seeing the docs re city's $50,000 CRA grant to the faux newspaper, the South Florida Sun-Times.Mayor Joy Cooper said the docs are "proprietary" and can't be shared with public!
And seemed very pleased with herself!

Twenty years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Hallandale Beach still needs glasnost!


Plan on posting a lot of info on my blog over the weekend and finally start posting video I keep talking about.
Seeing is believing.

Will be at Panera's today from 4-6 p.m.

Adios!

Dave

Sunday, October 31, 2010

What negative campaign ads? Two years later, this SNL skit about John McCain is STILL funny, esp. Bill Hader's sarcastic voice!

-----

-----

McCain Approves Open
Sen. McCain approves truth-enhanced negative campaign messages


http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live//video/McCain-Approves-Open/669582

The antidote to negative campaigning is laughter, mockery and stone-cold facts.


Here's a 2008 Saturday Night Live skit that does just that -sort of- with Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Darrell Hammond as U.S. Senator John McCain and Bill Hader as the creepy-yet-effective VO announcer.


I only wish that the 2010 campaign commercials I'd seen in the South Florida TV market were as clever and inspired as this skit.

Frankly, as much as people complain about them, I've seen a lot of TV ads that others thought were negative which I felt weren't so much negative -or as negative as they should've been considering who they were mocking- so much as poorly-produced and ham-handed, like the Joe Garcia ads for FL-25 against
David Rivera.

That's the House seat that
Mario Diaz-Balart abandoned in order to run for his retiring brother Lincoln's seat, FL-21, which the New York Times' campaign blog run by Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight, currently puts at precisely 99.5%.

Which is why those videos produced by
Scott Fortune that I mentioned here on Monday,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-tv-ad-from-fairdistrictsfloridaorg.html
are so effective for the idea of ending gerrymandering, if not getting him into Congress from a ridiculously drawn district, FL-3.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottFortune4U

Facts and mockery cut thru the TV clutter every time.


http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/florida/25


http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/florida/21

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The mystery man behind the pro-Alex Lewy 527 ad/flier attacks on Keith London; the multiple ethics rap sheet on lobbyist Roger A. Pennington


Is that an emergency siren/beacon I see in that flier and ad in the city-funded faux newspaper?Why yes it is, thanks for noticing.

Well, you know what that means don't you?
"Outside" political money is here in Hallandale Beach's elections.

To be specific Roger A. Pennington's Committee to Protect Florida.

He just loves the red siren/beacon graphic, using it over and over in various campaigns he's been a shadowy figure in throughout the state.

(See the St. Pete Times story at the bottom.)

Trust me, Pennington's money is NOT here on the side of the angels, or increased reform or accountability at Hallandale Beach City Hall, or even a dollar of service for a dollar of taxes.He's here to elect Alexander Lewy.
Period.

Even Bill Julian -yes, even Bill Julian- has told numerous people around town that he has nothing to do with the ads and fliers, and finds it offensive.
Which, using deductive reasoning, leaves us with exactly one suspect, doesn't it.
Yes, Code Name: Lewy the Liar
.

While I have no proof of it myself, there are plenty of usually well-informed people in town who strongly suggest that we all look closely for the hidden hand of
Lewy's mentor and campaign rainmaker, mayor Joy Cooper.
The reasoning is simple and well-understood.

Cooper
is as desperate, if not more so, to get
Keith London and his reasonable questions about finances, policies and accountability out of HB City Hall, as her protoge Alexander Lewy is desperate to sit there on the dais alongside her and be her newest puppet.
And paid-in-full member of the Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew.

Plus, which Hallandale Beach city official goes to Tallahassee more than Joy Cooper?
Tallahassee, where Pennington and his 527 are based.
Hmmm-m-m....


For a very liberal Democrat like
Lewy, it's rather curious that he'd be in bed with the sort of deliberatively shadowy outside money types that's usually railed against by his soon-to-be-unemployed boss, Kendrick Meek.

But as I've already told you, Alexander Lewy is desperate, desperate, desperate to get elected here.

Not out of any great magnanimous desire to help the citizens of this city, mind you, but rather to help himself and take his first step in becoming a career politician.

(Which, naturally, is part of why I won't ever vote for him, besides him being such a loathsome character, and a genuine back-stabber who's completely untrustworthy. But then you already knew that.)

Besides, shadowy financing of negative ads against Tim Ryan and Ken Gottlieb worked for Eleanor Sobel's Florida Senate campaign to replace term-limited Steve Geller, didn't it?

Still, even if Cooper isn't involved, I have some very good hunches who is, based on a number of conversations with well-informed people who know about ECOs, including some reporters, who gave me a head's up on some information I didn't originally have.

Quick story about Roger A. Pennington, who in 2006 was charged with five counts of violating
Florida's campaign elections law while serving as Chair of an Electioneering Campaign Organization (ECO) called -if you can believe it- the Committee to Restore Integrity in Politics, CRIP.

No doubt because creating an ECO called "
Entrenched Interests Committed to Remaining Insiders" just wouldn't have sounded so appealing publicly.

Well, even more comically, Pennington signed a consent decree with the Florida Ethics Commission that he was guilty, admitting that he did illegal things, DESPITE having been given copies of the applicable rules beforehand.

He also admitted that he never contacted an attorney about the matters.


That's both a humorous and ironic admission because he's repped the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers for many years.

You'd think that if there was a lobbyist in Tallahassee who'd know the name of a good attorney,
or know when to contact one, it's him.
http://www.fec.state.fl.us/Final%20Orders/2006/112.pdf

Pennington, head of Committee to Protect Florida, seems to be yet another member of the pro-Alexander Lewy Dream Team, a grab-bag of ill-mannered sad sacks, malcontents and self-enrichment types who hope to continue to feed on the city's teat if Lewy gets elected.
Which is to say, via your wallet and purse.


Think of their help to Lewy as their insurance policy.
Lewy: pro-Diplomat LAC, pro-Red Light camera expansion in HB, pro-Ben Gamla Jewish Charter high school in quiet single-family NE HB neighborhood, and anti-Amendment 4... the list goes on and on...

Have you seen many of the ardent Lewy supporters, who are eager for things to get better? Their definition of better, of course, is far, far different than mine, and I suspect many of you who are reading this as well.

They live in the strange and perplexing upside-down universe of Joy Cooper and Alexander Lewy.


For them, better is a 5-0 vote where no reasonable questions are asked, much less, answered by highly-paid city employees, and any of their cronies can always count on their support in the future when they have a hare-brained idea that can't just can't get funded by a bank.


But when you are on the HB City Commission, because of the CRA, it's like being a member of the Loan Committee of a bank, isn't it?

It doesn't have to actually make sense, or even conform to the existing city rules, which you can always vote to over-ride anyway, right?

No, it only has to get the majority of votes cast by the City Commission.

Which is why the Rubber Stamp Crew positively HATES questions.
Because questions have to be answered.


In some ways, Lewy's own supporters are almost like a paid commercial for the pro-reform and pro-transparency elements in this city with which I am so strongly associated with, as well as Michael Butler, Mary Washington, Csaba Kulin, Louis Pellegrino Jr., John Pearson,Comm. Keith London and many others I could name here, but won't.

I'm only too happy for Lewy supporters to publicly identify themselves, since it makes it much easier for me and everyone else paying attention to know whom to take seriously in this community about making it better FOR EVERYONE.
Not just the friends, cronies and lackeys of HB City Hall.

And, conversely, whom, NOT to take seriously, of which there is already quite a long list, now that you mention it.

Frankly, I only wish that more Lewy supporters would publicly disclose their allegiances, so we ALL would all know who they are, but many of them are keeping it close to the vest.
And that's easy to understand.

They don't want people to know they support Lewy, since they also know so many people in this city justifiably loathe him.

It's far easier to keep it quiet.

You know, like where that money is coming from to run those scurrilous and untrue anti-London ads and fliers?


Speaking of the
opposite of reform, transparency and accountability, has anyone seen Lewy supporter Joe Kessel on any of his campaign fliers?
If they exist, I haven't seen them.

Kessel
as you'll recall, was a member of a very odd group that held its collective hand out for some city money, despite not being in compliance with many of the city's own requirements on their application.

They received tens of thousands of dollars from the city's CRA fund for a
completely preposterous idea, which still makes many otherwise level-headed people in this city see red at the thought of the money being wasted -intentionally.

You can find more about HB City Hall spy and Lewy supporter Kessel here, thought he was actually part of more stories that i could sometimes mention because of space limitations.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Joe%20Kessel

Or this March 4th, 2009 post in particular:
Hallandale Beach insiders to offer goodies/new propaganda TV channel to HB City Hall for $200k CRA loan Wed. morning
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/hallandale-beach-insiders-to-offer.html

Tell me, was Kessel legally registered as a lobbyist with Broward County, for the City of Hallandale
Beach, while he was under contract to them, when he publicly spoke before the Broward Planning Council and the Broward County Commission in favor of the Diplomat LAC proposal pushed by the city, his employer?

Did he at least publicly disclose his financial arrangement with the city during his public comments?

The answer to both questions is an emphatic NO.
He didn't.


(Just as he hadn't publicly revealed his conflict of interest during the public meeting the Diplomat was required to have at the HB Cultural Center.)


There are many members of the Broward County Commission and the South Florida news media
who know this already.So how's that investigation going, exactly?

Personally, I'm not usually one to question well-worn idioms like "Don't judge a book by its cover" but in Alexander Lewy's case, I'm afraid circumstances force me to, so I will.
He is exactly what he acts like -
The Devil You Don't know.


In my opinion, based on the stone-cold facts and what I have observed of him in-person for a few years, Alexander Lewy deciding your future with a vote will cause Hallandale Beach's besieged citizens to "Pay through the nose."
And pay in ways they can't even imagine now.

-----

You can find out more about Roger A. Pennington's clients at the Florida Senate homepage:http://www.flsenate.gov/

-----

Committee to Protect Florida
"527" Political Organization Filing Information http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/committee-to-protect-florida.asp
-----
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/mar/22/consultants-are-lobbyists-too/

Consultants are lobbyists, too, in Tallahassee

St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
March 22, 2009
TALLAHASSEE — The unlimited special-interest cash streaming into Florida legislators' political accounts has enriched a small group of influential consultants who received $19.5 million from political committees and campaigns in the 2008 election cycle.
The torrent of money flowing through the Capitol has also fueled an industry of consultants who lobby.
Of the 60 political consultants for lawmakers' political committees, at least 12 work as lobbyists, according to a Times/Herald analysis. The consultants-lobbyists are hired by corporations to influence the same legislators who pay them for political help.
This circular network ties together special interests, lobbyists and lawmakers in a tight web of money and insider access. The lobbying clients seek legislative help. The legislators seek cash, for re-election or pet causes. The common link: the consultant.
Roger "Rocky'' Pennington, a veteran Republican consultant, says he and other consultants must strike a careful balance when special interests want to hire them because of their relationships with specific lawmakers.
"Once they start hiring you because they want influence with one person, you aren't a lobbyist — you're an influence peddler," Pennington said. "You have to ask yourself, are you lobbying because of the merits of the issue or are you lobbying because of your friendship or relationship with the elected official?"
Pennington was paid $2.1 million over the past two years to serve as political adviser to a host of lawmakers and to buy expensive TV ads for them. He says he minimizes problems by refusing to take clients halfway through the session, when clients most try to influence the votes of individual lawmakers, and he now is semiretired with only one client, the Municipal Electric Association.
Just last week, Altria, which manufactures Marlboro cigarettes, hired one of the Capitol's newest lobbyists, Todd Richardson. He's a political consultant for Republican Rep. Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale.
Bogdanoff chairs the House Finance and Tax Council, where Altria hopes to kill a plan to raise the cigarette tax.
"What I'm doing is completely legal," Richardson said. "Relationships are the name of the game. I have more relationships than with just Ellyn. I have relationships with a lot of freshmen and with almost every member of the House."
Richardson was paid $126,000 in wages and reimbursements in his role as a consultant for Bogdanoff's campaign and political committee, Creating Possibilities. Bogdanoff opposed a cigarette tax hike long before Altria hired Richardson. She said she had no problem with his other work as a lobbyist for the cigarette company.
As the full force of term limits takes effect in the Legislature, more lobbyists are becoming consultants to increase their access to new legislators, said consultant and lobbyist Joe Perry.
The lobbyists can build up "sweat equity'' by acting as consultants for legislators, said Perry, a Democrat who has been paid $209,000 for fundraising and consulting work since 2007.
Perry acknowledged that when special interests hire people who have been on the payroll of lawmakers, they hire a unique commodity.
"There's no doubt we have access to these folks and probably more so than the rank-and-file lobbyists," Perry said.
But he said there's a downside, too. Perry lobbies for insurance giant FCCI Insurance Group, which seeks workers' compensation legislation opposed by many Democrats — the same people who hire Perry for political work. Perry said he can't afford too many conflicts like that.
"If I were to take too many lobbying clients and create a lot of enemies, I'll kill my fundraising business," he said.
Political committees — called committees of continuing existence — have become the cash cows of Florida's political process. They can be formed by legislators and used to collect unlimited amounts of so-called soft money from special interests, as these contributions are not subject to the typical cap of $500. The money can be rolled into other committees called "electioneering communication organizations,'' which spend money on attack ads and direct-mail pieces.
The 12 consultants-lobbyists were paid about $374,000 in total by the 40 committees they worked for, and received an additional $3.5 million from other political groups and campaigns during the past election season. The 60 consultants altogether received about $1 million from the committees and $18.5 million more from virtually every campaign and political group.
Not all consultants-lobbyists worked for a lawmaker's committee in the past election cycle. Still, the political committees — and the relationship they foster between lawmakers and consultants — offer a window into the world of Capitol insiders.
For example, the committees give lawmakers the opportunity to steer business to allies and friends. Consultant-lobbyist Esther Nuhfer earned most of her $201,000 from the campaign and political committee of her friend, Republican Rep. David Rivera of Miami.
Rivera's committee, Future Leadership, also paid $10,000 to Bridget Gregory Nocco, a prodigious Republican fund-raiser and Rivera friend.
The big money washing through the Capitol stands out in a year when the budget is in the red and large numbers of Floridians are losing jobs. Against that backdrop, the idea of consultants who lobby makes even the king of Florida political consultants uncomfortable.
Randy Nielsen, a top Republican consultant, said he didn't want to "cast aspersions'' on his colleagues, but he warned that "you can do a disservice to the client if you lobby them."
Nielsen is not a registered lobbyist.
"I don't see how you can give clear, unfettered advice if you're paid to lobby your clients," Nielsen said.
Nielsen's firm, Public Concepts of West Palm Beach, raked in the most consulting money this election cycle: $4.1 million over the past two years. In the 2000 cycle, Public Concepts earned $390,000. Not all that money went to Public Concepts. As with other consulting companies, some of the cash paid for media buys, lawyers and investigators to do opposition research.
Public Concept's most high-profile client is Senate President Jeff Atwater, a Republican from North Palm Beach who calls Nielsen "my consultant'' and made sure the firm reviewed his speech to the Senate that opened the legislative session March 3.
Consultant-lobbyist Bill Helmich collected $297,000 from a variety of lawmakers and political groups for consulting and hiring help. Helmich acknowledged there is a risk in mixing lobbying and consulting.
"Theoretically, if you get involved in a race where you end up losing, the person who won could hold a grudge," he said.
Lawyer and lobbyist David Ramba represents 37 clients and sells legal advice to 40 political committees, many controlled by legislators. Ramba said his legal adviser role doesn't give him much of an advantage. "Most of the time I'm delivering bad news," he said. "I tell them what they're not allowed to do with their money."
For instance, Ramba told Republican Sen. Mike Bennett of Bradenton that money from one of the lawmaker's two committees was off-limits to help pay for a Jewish community dinner.
Bennett has raised $528,000 through his two political committees since 2007 and he acknowledges the dicey balancing act legislators engage in when their closest political advisers are also paid lobbyists.
"You're going to give your buddy as much leniency as you can until you hit that ethics line … wherever that line is. It happens in any friendship," he said. "If I had my druthers and you didn't need soft money to play the game, I would like to see all this disappear."
12 Political Consultants* Who Lobby
(Total amount received/Number of clients/Notable client)
1. Roger Pennington, Republican
$2.1 million/1 client/Municipal Electric Assn.
2. Christian Ulvert, Democrat
1 $522,290/9 clients/Dosal Tobacco.
3. Bill Helmich, Republican
$297,100/9 clients/Miami-Dade County
4. Joe Perry, Democrat
$209,744/2 clients/FCCI Insurance
5. Esther Nuhfer, Republican
$201,618/1 client/Evidence-based Assoc.
6. Bridget Gregory Nocco, Republican
$181,973/4 clients/U.S. Sugar
7. Todd Richardson, Republican
$126,006/2 clients/Altria Tobacco
8. Amber Stoner, Republican
$116,026/1 client/HCA Healthcare
9. Jerry Wayne Bertsch, Republican
$55,417/1 client/American Cancer Society
10.Randy Enwright, Republican
$52,983/7 clients/At&T
11. Thomas Grigsby, Republican
$23,763.73/3 clients/Florida State Fraternal Order of Police
12. Screven Watson, Democrat
$22,644.36/4 clients/U.S. Sugar
Total: $3,937,778.61
Source: Division of Elections data
-------

St. Petersburg Times
In Florida House District 45 race, flier recycles old tactic
By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer July 4, 2010

Back in 2007, a political group called the Committee to Protect Florida hammered a state Senate candidate named Richard Corcoran.


In its arsenal was a mailer that accused Corcoran of making false allegations about an opponent in a previous race.

The mailer showed an image of a flashing police beacon along with a warning: "BEWARE! Richard Corcoran is back in the area looking to buy a seat in the Senate."
Corcoran dropped out of the race, citing the negative campaign.

Now, as he runs for the state House District 45 seat, the Committee to Protect Florida has returned — and paid for a familiar flier that just hit mailboxes in Pasco and Pinellas counties.
The flashing police beacon is back.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/in-florida-house-district-45-race-flier-recycles-old-tactic/1106803