Above, my screenshot of grim-faced, low-tech Broward State Attorney Michael "Mike" Satz as he appeared on the August 12, 2012 version of WPLG-TV's "This Week in South Florida" with Michael Putney. Satz, in this office since his 1976 election, was simultaneously imperious and condescending in his treatment of energetic and well-informed Democratic primary opponent Chris Mancini, who hammered Satz over how truly backwards the SAO office is, and their third-rate website has proven this for years, as I know well. Overall, Satz's appearance was like a giant finger-in-the-eye to anyone in Broward who has been paying close attention to how consistently unsuccessful his office has been in rousting public corruption out from City Halls across this county, the most-corrupt in Florida. The FBI has been doing the real heavy-lifting on that, not Satz and his office. Maybe the FBI should come to Hallandale Beach because Satz's office is either ignoring what's right in front of him or hibernating.
Vote NO on Miami Herald's sorry 2012 local and state election coverage. Here's more proof of why you should vote thumbs down...
Question: What do Broward State's Attorney Michael "Mike" Satz and Florida state Rep. Joseph "Joe" Gibbons have in common, besides both being Democrats who (claim) to live full-time in Broward County?
The anti-Gibbons mailer I received in August from his opponent. Satz does, Gibbons does not, preferring the Jacksonville area where his wife works and his kids live, but it's Satz's job to prosecute Gibbons for breaking the law, isn't it? Yep! Guess what? Satz doesn't want to, so residents of SE Broward like me get to be repped by a guy whose head is really in NE Florida, where his family is, not Broward, and occasional drop-in appearances like his this past Saturday among people waiting in line to vote, can't hide that central fact. It'll be yet another grim reminder of where we live and what passes for journalism in South Florida in the year 2012.
Answer: What they have in common is that the Miami Herald's editorial board endorsed both carpetbagger Joe Gibbons of Jacksonville and over-the-hill mediocrity Mike SatzBEFORE the newspaper ever printed a single article about their respective races.
Then, slipshod Herald editors thought they'd pull a fast one on us and ran a thread-bare story.
Yes, but days AFTER the August Primary Early Voting period had already started!
As usual, too little too late at One Herald Plaza.
For the entire time that Putney, Satz and Mancini were on the same set, Satz never once looked at Mancini when he was speaking, even when at great length, which this shows. He channeled Al Gore in the 2000 debates. Did he honestly have no idea how badly he came across to the public. I've watched this entire segment 3-4 times and each time, Satz comes off worse than the previous time. Since Mancini lost in the primary, I'll be voting for Jim Lewis for State's Attorney, as 36 years of Satz is enough.
If Hallandale Beach voters get the reform they want on Tuesday, Broward IG John W. Scott and Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz better get busy, because a letter to Gov. Rick Scott and some key FL legislators about Satz' & Company's INEFFECTIVENESS in cleaning-up corruption here will hammer them but good.
And maybe even lead to an invitation to Gov. Scott and others to come here for a tour of the place where laws are treated like suggestions, and where Joe Gibbons pretends he doesn't know anything at all about what's been going on here.
(But Gibbons doesn't want to admit that it's because the Jacksonville paper he reads at breakfast doesn't run Hallandale Beach news!)
Perhaps the state legislature and pro-ethics Senator Paula Dockery needs to hold a field hearing in Hallandale Beach on the subject of government ethics to hold some Broward elected officials' feet to the fire.
Above, screenshot of Bill Julian's myth-filled campaign website, featuring three photos of mine that he stole directly from this blog, circled in orange, as it appeared when I first discovered the theft on June 19th. Fourteen weeks later, less than 3 days before Election Day, they're still there, hiding in plain sight. http://billjulian.org/Julian is not just a repeat offender, but lousy at engaging in a cover-up of his own dishonest behavior.
Less than three full days before Election Day, mendacious Hallandale Beach candidate Bill Julian continues misrepresenting both reality and himself. Dishonest Julian continues illegally using photos from this blog to promote his candidacy for an office that he's repeatedly shown he's NOT "fit" for
As if that were not enough for this busy plagiarist, Julian is also illegally using my photo of the Hallandale Beach Water Tower on promotional fliers that he has been placing inside small businesses around Hallandale Beach, where the owners know nothing of his true record and penchant for lying, exaggerating or violating the law. For an example of this, swing by the restaurant known as Zona, on the northeast corner of northbound First Avenue and NE. 3rd Street. It's right on the window. Yes, the place that used to sell tacos and where everyone always catches the red light near the FEC Railroad tracks. Below are some of the first emails in a series that have been exchanged the past few days following my phone call on Saturday alerting the owner of the company that hosts Julian's website to Julian using photos of mine for months that he is not legally authorized to use and has not paid for. Despite the fact that I clearly state near the top of the blog that among other places, my photos are NOT to be used for campaign purposes. Julian didn't care and stole them anyway. That's who he is. The weird part in this whole situation is that the owner of this company, Mike, is defending Julian even while acknowledging that he will NOT ask Julian how he came to have these particular photos, which most of you will recognize on sight since they've been here for so many years. I have a strong feeling that Mike may come to regret that approach of his. I will have more on this in the coming days, but here are the first few chapters, and all of this aggravation because Bill Julian can't and won't follow the law. The first email here is from late this afternoon today, going backwards towards Saturday, with me being the referenced DBS. I've eliminated the email addresses here for obvious reasons ------------
Dear Mike:
Despite the fact that someone who has been a public official as long as Bill Julian
should know better, once again, when given the chance, Julian operates NOT within
the scope of the law but on the other side of it.
Did you even ask him how he claims to have the right to use them?
I'm guessing that you did not.
If you ask him, he will NOT be able to answer even the simplest question
about my photos on his campaign website without acknowledging that, in fact,
he stole them without permission and without paying for them.
The Internet is not a Chinese restaurant menu for people the likes of Julian to illegally
pick and choose things they want without permission and without paying.
I sent you a detailed email which specifically had the links to the first time those
photos -my photos- ever appeared on the Internet, and Google Images also
proves it since they have the photos there and whose blog is shown as being
the ones that are associated with the photos back in 2008 and 2009, long before
you had ever heard of Bill Julian.
How would that be possible if they were Julian's copyright and his name never
appears on Google Images associated with them?
They wouldn't. Period
If the photos are still up on Friday morning, and NOT deleted from anything and
everything that you as the owner and Bill Julian as the client are in control of, I'll
only be too happy to contact the appropriate legal authorities for redress, and
that includes the Florida Commission on Ethics, which under law, is empowered
to fine candidates in violation, regardless of whether or not they win.
I'm trying my best to save you from being embarrassed by your association with
perpetual scofflaw Julian, but if you keep making excuses for him, and don't use
logic or reason to do what is right, I'm afraid that you,. too, will have a problem that
you can't possibly win on.
Bill Julian, like so many things he did while he was a public official, persists in
acting like he has a justified sense of entitlement, and can do whatever he wants.
No, he can't.
DBS
On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 3:40 PM, Mike wrote:
David,
I talked Bill and to my attorney today and will gladly comply with your request once you provide to me proof of your copyright ownership for the graphics in question i.e. .. copyright registration, transfer of copyright ownership documentation or documentation from the US Copyright Office.
Regards,
Mike
Mike-Owner
-------Original Message-------
From: DBS
Date: 11/3/2012 3:04:41 PM
To: mike
Cc: DBS
Subject: re Bill Julian's serial use of my copyrighted photos on his campaign website without my permission, using your resources
Dear Michael:
Per our phone conversation earlier this afternoon about Bill Julian's serial use of my copyrighted photographs on his campaign website without my permission.
Something that I'm sure that he never mentioned to you when setting up his website with you
Obviously, I want those photos of mine removed from his website ASAP.
The first time that I wrote about it was on June 20th, the day after I first discovered he was
illegally using them.
This particular post has the three photos of mine he uses and the specific dates that I first shot
them and how I used them on my blog for years: July 3, 2009: March 3, 2009; and May 8, 2008.
Stop thief, stop! So guess whose campaign website contains 3 of my original blog photos -all taken without permission or paying for them? Bill Julian. Yes, just like Hallandale Beach City Manager Mark Antonio's serial copyright theft of many of my original photos. Antonio will soon learn that stealing just doesn't pay!
I'd appreciate your quick attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
DBS, Hallandale Beach, FL
-----
Late Monday addition to the blog post.
Almost forgot to mention it earlier but...
The city's rules regarding campiagn signage are very clear and given to each candidate by the City Clerk.
During Early Voting, campaign signs around the city's Cultural Center may NOT be left overnight. They must be picked up following voting each and every night.
Early Voting was over Saturday night and yet as of late Monday afternoon there is one Hallandale Beach candidate who has chosen NOT to follow the rules -Bill Julian.
There's no other city candidate in violation of this rule around the City Hall Municipal Complex, just Bill Julian. (No, not even Mayor Cooper and Comm. Sanders.)
His very large campaign sign has been in place on city property near the cannons around the circle between City Hall and the Cultural Center and was still there as of Monday at 3:30 p.m., 45 hours after Early Voting concluded.
Please explain to me why he has been allowed to violate the city's own rules and the sign was not confiscated by Code Compliance and moved by the city? Hmm-m...
More fact checking of the Miami Herald for signs of commitment to real journalism reveals self-evident bias: It's almost as if Miami's Downtown Business Establishment ordered Herald to print swooning love letter to Miami-Dade Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho on front page, 2 days before public votes on bond issue Carvalho and Herald champion -Herald enthusiastically salutes idea and only shows readers more proof of why it can't be trusted to objectively report local news in South Florida Like 99% of all the stories the Miami Herald has run about Miami-Dade Schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho the past few years, today the Miami Herald's reporters and editors have once again refused to put away their pom pons and bias while pretending to be real ink-stained wretches -and perform some real acts of random journalism- by refusing to make a serious effort to perform basic journalism tasks like finding anyone critical of this poorly thought-out bond effort and why it should be any better managed than the last one.
And who's doing the polling for these smug characters who think nothing of using tax dollars to lobby for a yes vote?
Hmm-m...yes, it's such an obvious question given that all of the stories on this issue inevitably involve quoting one of the handful of Miami pollsters who work for everyone in town, but the Herald's guileless reporter seems to have never considered the possibility that one pollster might sandbag another in an article like this and is laughing their ass off at the fact that they got away with it.
Taxpayers with a yen to save money rather than get their news straight might well feel "Who needs PR spin doctors at the School Board when the Herald will it do for free?"
I last wrote about education policy, the M-D School Board and this reporter in particular on September 10, 2012 in a blog post titled, Fact checking the Miami Herald's dubious claims on Education: Over the weekend, I unexpectedly found myself forced to 'school' the Herald's Executive Editor after she bragged about the Herald's coverage of Education. I had to bring up some inconvenient facts rebutting that claim
Miami-Dade Superintendent Carvalho not on ballot, but stands to win big
Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho staked his prestige on voters approving a $1.2 billion bond issue to fix schools. The bet looks like it’s about to pay off.
By Laura Isensee
November 4, 2012
One of Miami-Dade’s smoothest politicians just might persuade tax-weary voters to OK a $1.2 billion bond issue to finance school and technology upgrades, repaid with property taxes.
And he’s not even elected.
(If you can believe it, the article actually gets MUCH worse from here on in. The only thing that isn't done in this sycophantic story is a long description of the sort of suits Carvalho wears, and maybe something faux insider about how he keeps his physique, with more details on both than anyone could possibly care about.)
Read the rest of the article, if you can call it that, at:
For more on what's going on these sorts of issues at the School Board, go to the Miami-based Audacious Lady blog, by Natasha Alvarez, at http://www.audaciouslady.com/
Most news articles that appear in the MiamiHerald disappear within 10-14 days of their first appearance on the website and proceed to their Paid Archives where most will never be seen again. It's a sign of how much the Herald and its top management support this particular bond issue that they seem to have changed their own extant corporate procedures by keeping ALL of the links to stories on this subject LIVE. What does that tell you?
Correct, the newspaper is NOT an objective source of news on this subject.
Campaign for school bonds starting in Miami-Dade
One pollster believes the bond referendum has a good chance of passing. Voters will be asked if they want to borrow $1.2 billion to upgrade school buildings and technology By Laura Isensee August 31, 2012
Déjà vu opinions from a new perch: National Journal's Beth Reinhard may've left the Miami Herald behind, but she STILL makes the same tired and unpersuasive arguments as before. You'll never guess who she writes will be the key to 2012 vote. Surprise -Hispanics!
She's wrong -it's actually Catholics in the Midwest and PA
If you think that former Miami Herald political reporter and columnist Beth Reinhard can go even three sentences in this story WITHOUT mentioning the I-4 Puerto Rican voters that we've all been reading about for at least 18 months, you LOSE.
Lose, just like Herald readers did for so many years when they opened the paper and thought that if only out of randomness, perhaps that would be one of the few times in the year when they might see something original under her byline, and yet inevitably, what would follow was almost always the same banal and predictable words and "observations" about subjects that we'd all already seen. Already seen and better-described and analyzed by other reporters and columnists MANY MONTHS before.
Yes, she even comes up with some of the predictable italicized names (for Hispanic food) to show that she's in touch.
Que Dios!
The National Journal
The Story of the Hispanic Vote Is the Story of the 2012 Campaign
Cuban-Americans aren’t the only Latinos candidates need to woo in Florida. Puerto Ricans also command attention.
Where after NOT explaining why Spanish-surnamed voters in the near-future will politically be more like Puerto Ricans than Cubans or Mexicans or Central Americans, and thereby curtail Cubans' relative power and favored role in Florida and the U.S., at the beginning of the fifth pargraph.
Just saying it doesn't make it so.
There, she lays this gem on the table:
"Regardless of the outcome, the Hispanic vote will be one of the most important markers of the parties’ futures...'"
The only saving grace -and I do mean ONLY- is that Reinhard doesn't make the obligatory butt-kissing reference to some Univision TV personality flacking a book like Jorge Ramos, did in 2004, complete with grandiose and self-serving reference to the power of people with tildes in their last name, something that Reinhard surely would have seen fit to do if she were still at the Herald.
What's that? You say that you don't you recall the name of the Ramos book from 2004? It was "The Latino Wave: How Hispanics Will Choose the Next President" Hmm... not so much. But because he's one of their favorites, America's Mainstream Media just pretends that boast and the book behind it never existed, and it's like Ramos never got an at-bat and struck-out. At One Herald Plaza, right on Biscayne Bay, there still seem to be far too many people, even in the year 2012, who haven't caught on to the fact that their constant sycophantic need to make Hispanic media or Hispanic-oriented advertising executives -especially the ones in Miami whom the Herald wants to sell advertising space to or partner with, with all its attendant log-rolling- the ones quoted so extensively and so over-the-top in articles about Spanish-language media the past few years, sound like young Jones Salks, instead of car salesmen or Hi-Fi salesmen of the mid-1970's that they are, reeks of desperation.
Would you like that new stereo with "Quad" sound, sir?
The people they've quoted so promiscuously were nothing more than salesmen trying to sell something -a product or service.
That's fine, but there's nothing lofty or high-minded about selling toilet paper and air freshener and cookie and beer, so stop acting like there is.
Butler1Mike YouTube Channel video: Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper contradicts herself, saying that she didn't vote for the city's overly-generous pension plan in 2001 that lasted for many years, but then defends the pension plan that the city had that has (or will) make multi-millionaires out of several employees, including three former City Managers, as entirely appropriate for a city so small. Yes, here as she has so many times over the nine years that she has been mayor, Joy Cooper shows herself to be one enormous ball of contradictions, which is why there is never an intersection of logic and reason and genuine taxpayer accountability in her city. Just her doing whatever she wanted, saying whatever she wanted, and flying by the seat of your pants! Uploaded October 31, 2012. http://youtu.be/xhlnEezjZGU http://www.youtube.com/user/Butler1Mike
No Broward city let's you down more consistently and more predictably when it comes to attention to detail than...
For those of you who were there last Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. like me, how awesome was it to see all the hustle-and-bustle and nervous energy of so many voters, candidates and their friends milling around the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center, the only site in the city for Early Voting, and just as about any of us could've predicted, about half of the city's parking lot lights and safety lights around the Center were NOT working.
The light above in the foreground is from my camera's flash, otherwise none of the signs would be legible to you.
Again, without my flash, you'd see no shadowy figure crossing at the designated place. You know, without lights that actually work, those security cameras aren't nearly as effective. Looks like the lights on the access route from S.E. 3rd Street were out, of course! Not that the police or the police chief who drive on it constantly ever notice and do something about it. Nope!
Yes, you'd never know by the appearance of so very much neglected maintenance that the city's Police Dept. HQ was just steps away, given how very lax the city has been for so many years about basic safety and common sense and liability issues.
"Liability," what's that?
If you're like me, how funny was it to see the myriad candidates and their devoted friends and family members handing-out their campaign palm cards to voters lined-up on a median strip in the parking lot, south of the Cultural Center -and outside of the "no campaigning zone"- waiting patiently for a Broward Supervisor of Elections official to come out and have the first few people come inside to exercise their right to vote, and yet the folks at the end of the line could NOT even read the palm cards they were handed because they were so far from a working light and it was so very dark?
Yes, good times, indeed!
What could be better than lots of senior citizens parking and walking around in poorly-lit parking lots early in the morning? What could possibly go wrong?
So, do you see all the dozens of Early Voters lined-up at 6:57 a.m.?
Who needs city Dept. heads and employees who actually show a little foresight once in a while, and who earn their salary thru hard work and attention to detail, when you can, instead, have SO MANY of the sort that we seem to have been blessed with here in Hallandale Beach?
Government employees who have a larger sense of entitlement -and a seeming chip-on-their-shoulders- than would seem normal based on the constant sub-par look of the city, both aesthetically and maintenance-wise.
City employees who, for whatever reason, perhaps tradition, think that their performance is NOT Job One, but rather an abstract idea that they never have to actually reach, just pretend to aspire to at Dept. meetings.
After all, if we've learned anything in nine years of living here, it's that there are absolutely no consequences to employees' continued poor performance or chronic bad attitude or perpetual surliness to taxpayers, the real bosses, of course.
(I sometimes wonder what it's like in the cities where all those City of HB employees live, since so few Dept. heads and regular employees actually live here, otherwise perhaps they'd take more pride in their job. Clearly, not, though.)
Yes, the fact that it's been known for several months now that this location would be the City of Hallandale Beach's ONLY site for Early Voting made it entirely predictable that on the first day, many voters would think they'd beat the rush by showing-up to vote first thing at 7 a.m.
And for those of you reading this far from these shores, yes, even here in sunny South Florida, at this time of the year, it's very dark at 6:45 in the morning.
Of course, most of these voters, unlike most of us who regularly attend civic meetings or City Commission meetings at or around Hallandale Beach City Hall, and thus, who already know how bad things are safety-wise around City Hall and Bluesten Park two blocks away when the sun is NOT out, could't have planned for how very poorly prepared the city was.
I guess it was a good thing, after all, that there were no surprise guests from the Romney-Ryan team showing-up as some had been saying via the grapevine and some emails I received the night before, since even with the TV camera lights, with so many city lights out, it would've been hard to do anything that would've looked good on TV, either LIVE or recorded for airing later in the day.
Yes, I'd gone there early that morning after getting no sleep overnight to lend some encouragement to some friends who are running for office as pro-reform candidates -Keith London for mayor, and Csaba Kulin, Michele Lazarow and Gerald Dean for City Commission- observe a bit and and snap some photos and video of the activities.
But instead, even while doing those things, I walked into what was yet another discouraging reminder of how poorly-run this city has been under Mayor Cooper the past nine years, and how consistently poor performance has no consequences for employees, no matter who they are or how much money they make.
Changing that pernicious culture of entitlement, bad attitudes and sleepwalking performance at HB City Hall, of making sure that Hallandale Beach taxpayers REALLY DO receive a dollar's worth of work and services for a dollar's worth of taxes, and, finally having real consequences for city employees who are NOT performing up to the public's expectations, no matter who they are, is why I'm voting the way I am on Tuesday. If you live here and really care about what sort of future this city will have, of what kind of quality of life you and your family can enjoy, I strongly suggest you do the same.
Vote London, Kulin, Lazarow & Dean, YES for City Charter Question #5, and NO to all the other HB Charter questions.
It's now five days and counting 'till the day you can finally reclaim your city back from the very people who have taken you and your neighbors for granted, have constantly tried to squelch your rights whenever they could, and who have made an art of wasting your tax dollars in ways that would be laughable if they weren't so painful and expensive. There are four candidates in this city who have stood-up when it counted -includingright now. You already know their names - I just said them Not perfect people, of course, but people much like yourself who genuinely care about this city's future, and who fervently believe that this city's residents deserve -at a minimum- to be properly respected once again by a Mayor and City Commission that doesn't continually embarrass them thru their repeated poor judgment and ethical lapses. Imagine that? Actually represented by a Mayor and City Commission with some genuine integrity, and represented by people who are properly-prepared for public meetings, and who aren't afraid of the hard work and heavy-lifting that will surely be required to get this city out of its current slide into irrelevancy.
You've said for years that you wanted honest and hard-working people in charge at City Hall who would fight for real reform and financial accountability, and finally clean-up this city's poor image. Well, now it's up to you to actually show-up and vote for it and the candidates who will make it a reality.
What sort of city do you want to wake-up to next Wednesday morning? THAT'S the question you as a voter have to answer positively when you get the chance. http://kulin2012.com/
Within the past hour, I sent the following information as part of a larger email about another subject altogether, to a LOT of people around Broward County.
I'm posting it now instead of that larger email on the chance that it might do some voters and candidates some good, because thus far, I have heard nobody mention it anywhere.
Some deadlines really are deadlines!
-----
Because I've been receiving so many emails from local, county and state candidates everyday, as well as ones from the various constitutional ballot issues, this morning I decided to contact someone I know at the Broward Supervisor of Elections to get the official line about what they were telling voters calling in to their "request" line, about what the deadline was, since the emails and mailers I receivenever mention the deadline.
Yes, you'd think it would be obvious.
As Election Day gets closer, the window for the public to request absentee ballots and have them received in time to mail back or drop-off at polling stations gets smaller and smaller.
Yet the person I know at SOE told me that some people actually think that they can call on Friday morning and still get an absentee ballot in time, which is crazy, but par for the course.
I was told that they are telling the public that absentee ballot requests must be made by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, otherwise, voters have to drive up to their Lauderhill facility to get one in-person.
Obviously, if people are already trying to avoid going somewhere in their own city to begin with, you'd think that the prospect of having to drive to Lauderhill to get a ballot would dissuade people from waiting and cause them to vote Early if they were really concerned about long lines on Election Day, but then you almost never lose by underestimating the apathy level of the majority of South Florida residents...
I was told that they are telling the public that requests must be made by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, otherwise, voters have to drive up to their Lauderhill facility to get one in-person
Broward County Absentee Ballot Requests - (954) 357-7055
REMINDER: Voted absentee ballotsMUSTbe received by the SOE's office no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.
They can NOT be accepted at polling locations!
If you requested an absentee ballot and later decide to VOTE AT THE POLLS, take your absentee ballot with you to be cancelled at your polling place.
Oh, no, this type of thing could never ever happen in Hallandale Beach!
Poll workers call 911 on Volusia County candidate's mom
Caller tells authorities woman was starting 'a riot'
Jefferson Starship - "Jane" One of the defining songs of not only my Freshman year at IU in 1979, but that era in rock. http://youtu.be/0PwG69620WA Like a cat and a mouse (cat and a mouse) From door to door and house to house Don't you pretend you don't know what I'm talkin' about
Their lack of Journalism ethics is hiding in plain sight: In their head-scratching endorsement of do-nothing Hallandale Beach Comm. Anthony A. Sanders over civic activist Csaba Kulin, the Tribune Co's Sun-Sentinel said he has "experience." Yes, but it's of the completely ineffective and unethical variety we don't want more of!; Vote Kulin!; @SandersHB
That's why Sanders is, so far, the Broward Inspector General's poster boy! Sanders is all the things you aren't supposed to be if you're a public official. The Tribune Company'sSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel has a big problem -it's own internal liberal bias and world view of how the world ought to be if they could only re-write it, as opposed to the way the world and the people in it actually are and really behave. The newspaper, literally, can't help itself, like a well-to-do and very good-looking teenage girl I knew in North Miami Beach in the 1970's, the younger sister of a friend at North Miami Beach High School, always claimed Yes, Little Sister was a habitual shoplifter. Thought she came from a nice family and certainly knew the difference between right-and-wrong, like the same self-serving nonsense the Sun-Sentinel spouts about it trying its best to practice journalistic principles, when push came to shove, despite the fact that she could well afford to buy the stuff, Little Sister habitually shoplifted for kicks and cheap thrills to kill both the ennui and what she said was pressure to conform and live-up to her older sister, my friend, who was very smart, friendly and good-looking, but sans the ethically-convenient angst. Similarly, like her, the Sun-Sentinel acts like they could put a stop to their political bias and very curious and increasingly-obvious editing choices whenever it wanted to. But the Sun-Sentinel, like Little Sister, doesn't really want to. It's fun to act like the rules don't apply to you. It's sort of like the Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew on the city commission the past nine years, no? It's part of how it sees itself in the world at large. Almost as if not letting bias slip in when it's convenient would be to deny its basic nature, almost a self-betrayal, so it keeps doing what it's been doing and acting like nobody like me notices. So the Sun-Sentinel, like my friend's Little Sister, keeps kidding itself that it really doesn't have a problem. But the truth is that regardless of the times that you live in, ethical hedging all the time, whether by an individual or a family or company, eventually takes it toll, and it has certainly taken its toll on the Sun-Sentinel's readers as the paper continues to become ever more irrelevant to any discussion of what's going on in the larger community with every passing month. That's especially the case for the discerning news reader who, whatever their politics, wants their facts straight-up, without any shaking or misdirection, so they can draw their own conclusions. Today, after sitting on some facts for a few days, I'm ready to reveal my own version of what radio broadcaster Paul Harvey famously called "the rest of the story" on his hugely popular radio newscasts for decades that were full of Middle America folksiness and manners. And, I'll show you how that directly affects Hallandale Beach. And here, "the rest of the story" are the facts and context that you do not routinely get from the Sun-Sentinel if their management team and Editorial Board have anything to do with it. And more recently, in the Sun-Sentinel's perplexingendorsement of do-nothing, know-nothing incumbent Anthony A. Sanders Stand by for news!
CBS News Charles Osgood's 2009 appreciation for radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, following his death at age 90. http://youtu.be/S5_OIoMBjSk
A week before the Sun-Sentinel's vetting meeting at their HQ in downtown Ft. Lauderdale to decide its endorsement selections in this city, I told my friend and Hallandale Beach City Commission candidate Csaba Kulin to be sure to bring a small tape-recorder with him.
I specifically told him not to call them in advance of the meeting and ask if he could, just bring to it and put it on the conference table when he sat down with the other five Commission candidates and the three reps from the Sun-Sentinel.
After all, the latter had recording equipment available to them.
Now for Csaba's purposes, it certainly wasn't to use for purposes of a campaign commercial, since that would be impractical for him because of the costs, but rather for the more practical purpose of him having a contemporaneous recording of all the ridiculous and flat-out lies that would likely be coming from incumbent Anthony A. Sanders and former Comm. William "Bill" Julian as they sought to rationalize and defend their indefensible voting records and unethical behavior to the Sun-Sentinel three reps, who did NOT even know some basic facts
they should've known days before.
I had told Csaba in advance that I was about 100% certain that regardless of what Comm. Sanders said or did in their meeting room, the Sun-Sentinel, which like the Miami Herald, endorsed Sanders in 2008 despite his lack of qualifications and inability to speak intelligently or in detail on important facts of public policy in Hallandale Beach compared to other candidates, would again get the paper's recommendation.
Even if Sanders didn't show-up, since he is not the most reliable of people.
When Csaba asked why I thought that, and wouldn't they, you know, make their decisions based on what they already knew about the candidates and heard from them in that room, I told him that there was a LOT MORE here than meets the eye in the matter of endorsements.
That is, it was an opportunity for the Sun-Sentinel to once again show its Editorial Board's liberal political philosophy, including its most pernicious one of treating people not as individuals, but rather as chess pieces on a chess board, to be moved and manipulated.
In short, I told him that there were political statements to be made and that one of them would likely be that we'd eventually see the handiwork of Sun-Sentinel Editorial writer and Board member Doug Lyons, a fervent believer in diversity on government bodies, regardless of whether the individual is unqualified or unethical, which is one of the things you don't consider when you're treating people like chess pieces.
(It's the same reason that Lyons never makes any reference to Florida state Rep. Joe Gibbons representing Broward County in the legislature even though he is NOT a full-time resident here, preferring to live in Jacksonville with his wife and kids.
But isn't that unethical and illegal?
Yes, but that doesn't matter as long as it's Gibbons, because Gibbons supports the Sun-Sentinel's world-view, so he gets a pass from everyone.)
Yes, unqualified or unethical people will get the nod from Lyons and the Editorial Board even if that amounts to keeping a town like ours in turmoil even longer than is necessary.
And in the Editorial Board's selection of Sanders, have they not accomplished all three?
He's still unqualified after four years in office, he's STILL an unethical Pastor, and he promises to keep this town in turmoil as long as he and his wife work their handiwork with the city's budget, continuing to act like they are above having to answer questions from the public, which is why he has refused to debate this year.
Sanders is afraid of what people will say because he knows that he has NOT been at all what he claimed to be and he knows they will call him out. So he hides.
Before the vetting meeting officially started, Csaba asked if he could record what was said so that he's have a true account of it.
The Sun-Sentinel said NO, and when Csaba asked if the candidates were being recorded, videotaped or having their comments streamed online, they replied NO.
But the truth of the matter is that a very reliable person has confided to me that back in August, the newspaper's Editorial Board actually streamed some candidates comments LIVE, and among those listening in elsewhere were some representatives of their opponents and other interested parties.
Someone, I can't say who just now, happened to listen in and actually wrote down what was asked and said and commented on what was being said in that Ft. Lauderdale building from many miles away, even before the candidates left the building.
How do you suppose that happened?
After the meeting, while everyone was getting up from their seats and heading for the door, the folks from the Sun-Sentinel told them that they had been recorded.
But if I got the story right, they didn't mention anything about having streamed it.
But wouldn't that be illegal?
Again, consider where it happened.
THAT seems to be how the Sun-Sentinel rolls these days.
Nowhere in their endorsement of last Tuesday do they mention that Comm. Sanders and former Comm. Julian were strong supporters of the very egregiously anti-democratic move that columnist Michael Mayo -who was present that day as one of the three S-S reps, but who says that he is not part of the Editorial Board- decried in his column and blog soon after the interviews.
That is, that Hallandale Beach is having an election in one week that will elect three people to the City Commission, but that the city's voters can only vote for two.
Excerpt from Sun-Sentinel editorial of October 23:
Anthony Sanders and Michele Lazarow for Hallandale Beach City Commission
The race to fill two at-large two seats on Hallandale Beach City Commission is a little bit deceptive as it's the top three vote getters who will actually serve on the next commission thanks to the need to replace Commissioner Keith London who resigned to run for mayor.
Still, voters "technically" have only two seats to fill, and the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommends voters re-elect Anthony A. Sanders and elect Michele Lazarow. The two bring a mix of energy and experience and both are in the best position to help the city's western neighborhoods.
Sanders, a 52-year-old pastor, is the commission's lone black member. A four-year veteran on the dais, He's has been a staunch advocate for the city's predominantly black west side neighborhoods, and although his tenure has been marred by questionable business dealings with the city, Sanders' experience and knowledge of the city's needs give him the edge.
Lazarow, 45, has her own history that qualifies her for the commission. She is a longtime resident of the city and a former owner of a popular women's boutique. Her business experience and past dealings with the city should help her as a new commissioner incorporate more city business-friendly procedures, especially small businesses struggling in the city's west side.
The other candidates are Gerald E. Dean, 58, a small business owner; Ann Pearl Henigson, 66, a former secretary; William "Bill" Julian, 59, a licensed thoroughbred racing steward and former city commissioner; and Csaba G. Kulin, 73, a retired director of technology with the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
Also completely missing in the endorsement or the Mayo blog post is any reference at all that they would have continued in their ignorance had not Csaba brought it up during the meeting. Somehow, they were completely in the dark about one of the most vexing issues in the city that they supposedly were making educated comments about.
Guess they weren't quite so educated after all, huh?
And all this happened despite the fact that I had personally sent Mayo and Lyons several bcc's about this when it actually happened weeks ago and how it came about due to the desire of Comm. Alexander Lewy to change the complexion of the election halfway thru in order to thwart Keith London.
So instead of endorsing Csaba Kulin, the person most-responsible for bringing forth factual information -the city's own documents- that makes public how three former Hallandale Beach City Managers have pulled the wool over the City Commission and taxpayers for years to the tune of MILLIONS of dollars that they will receive in pension payments over the coming years, and did NOT earn all of it, the Sun-Sentinel, the news outlet that DIDN'T even know what was going on here, has endorsed Anthony A. Sanders.
Sure, the man with "experience" who is also the HB city commissioner who is the least-prepared member to discuss anything that is going on in the city, and the one who for well over three years has, literally, been in fear of being alone in a room with smart and well-informed HB taxpayers and answer their sharp questions about his behavior and votes.
No, like the Cooper Rubber Stamp that he is, the poorly-informed puppet that he is, in order for Sanders to appear in public, there must always be city employees close at hand to run interference and even feed him answers.
As far as Hallandale Beach's voters are concerned, the truth and the transparency -and mea culpas- that they regularly preach to others in their editorials and columns are STILL missing in action at The Tribune Co.'sSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Don't hold your breath that they will ever come... the Sun-Sentinel doesn't think they have a problem.
