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Showing posts with label 2020 elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020 elections. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Last minute Election Day thoughts about voting in Hallandale Beach, and the frustrating things I've seen there recently; Vote for common sense and experience: Maggie Ivanovski in Seat 3 Commission race

For you newcomers to the blog, a little recent history about the normal laws about political campaigning were routinely ignored, with photos that show it for all to see: 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2/ See the contemporaneous Twitter thread of the time connecting-the-dots to then-<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HallandaleBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HallandaleBeach</a> Comm. Sanders via photos + letters: <a href="https://t.co/jazEfak8bB">https://t.co/jazEfak8bB</a>,<br>and, the self-evident proof that both the <a href="https://twitter.com/MYHBeach?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MYHBeach</a> City Mgr. and <a href="https://twitter.com/BrowardIG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrowardIG</a> ignored. 😒🙄🤨😠<a href="https://t.co/HGegEwgNBX">https://t.co/HGegEwgNBX</a> <a href="https://t.co/4d6zIxcWLU">pic.twitter.com/4d6zIxcWLU</a></p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1322202177159503873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>




<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/politicofl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@politicofl</a> The spot-on <a href="https://twitter.com/NickNehamas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NickNehamas</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/Blaskey_S?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Blaskey_S</a> followup re fake website: Prof. Hill <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiLawSchool?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiLawSchool</a>: &quot;the website appeared to violate state election laws that require political communications to disclose who paid for them...“ <br><br>Time to investigate! 🔍🔍<a href="https://t.co/IQsziAheeE">https://t.co/IQsziAheeE</a> <a href="https://t.co/8w7LdcwSG5">pic.twitter.com/8w7LdcwSG5</a></p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1322022500042182659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>





<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The tumult of a nation divided by politics is spilling into the voting lines <a href="https://t.co/yoxmwvs550">https://t.co/yoxmwvs550</a></p>&mdash; Susannah Bryan (@Susannah_Bryan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Susannah_Bryan/status/1322972424921645057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>




<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yakubovich has been INVISIBLE in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HallandaleBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HallandaleBeach</a> public policy but aims to use being President of 1 of 3 BeachClub condo towers on beach to his advantage. My nickname for him = Boris BadEnough, since his bellicose threats @ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarlyVoting?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EarlyVoting</a> is both clownish yet VERY off-putting.</p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1322995262781071361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When ppl said Yakubovich = a bully, I thought maybe he was just... headstrong. Nope! Late Sat. afternoon I heard him &#39;joking&#39; w/pals that bec he has support of HBPD union, he wld have ppl who disagreed w/him or called him a liar arrested. Who&#39;d be dumb enough to say that ALOUD?🤨 <a href="https://t.co/g8CJD2Ffjl">pic.twitter.com/g8CJD2Ffjl</a></p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1323006641931980804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/MYHBeach?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MYHBeach</a> Do you think that for once, on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElectionDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ElectionDay</a> night, bec polls close @ 7 pm, city cld actually make sure the street lights near <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HallandaleBeach?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HallandaleBeach</a> Cultural Center, as well as HBCC&#39;s parking lot lights, are WORKING B4 it gets dark? Always been pitch black conditions in past!</p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1323011174397562883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/EdMorrissey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EdMorrissey</a> Your multiple criticisms of ineffective <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dem?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dem</a> efforts in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MiamiDade?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MiamiDade</a> = 100% correct. <br>Which suggests this <a href="https://twitter.com/NewYorker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NewYorker</a> article shld have come out 1 yr ago, no?<br><br>How Latino Grassroots Organizers Are Fighting to Lift <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Biden?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Biden</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Florida?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Florida</a> <a href="https://t.co/WLZyy05xkg">https://t.co/WLZyy05xkg</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/kausmickey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kausmickey</a></p>&mdash; HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog (@hbbtruth) <a href="https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1323015435571396611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Another short reminder why I'm endorsing civic activist Maggie Ivanovski and encouraging you to vote for her for the Hallandale Beach City Commission, Seat 4.

Over a few visits to the Hallandale Beach Cultural Center last week where Early Voting was taking place, I saw for myself that the level of discord, animosity + PERSONAL THREATS was FAR WORSE than anything I've seen there in 15 years of being there for several hours a day.
Which supported all the things that i was hearing from people via emails and phone calls, that, to be fair, were anecdotal.
But when everyone keeps saying the samer thing, almost verbatim, maybe it's what's really happening, no?

Unfortunately, what I saw on the ground last week only confirmed what I'd been hearing -very egregious boarish behavior was the norm once you got anywhere near the HB Cultural Center parking lot or the one nearby at the closed Broward County Library, and the antagonists, well, again, no surprise.
Supporters of Joy Cooper, Annabelle Lima-Taub, and her her bellicose and boarish puppet, Dmitriy Yakubovich. He's got HUGE sense of entitlement!

Yakubovich has been an INVISIBLE presence in Hallandale Beach public policy at HB City Hall or in the larger community since he has been here, but it's very clear that he aims to use being President of one of the 3 BeachClub condo towers on beach to his advantage. 
My nickname for him after reading his material, what's been written abioyt him by others and then seeing him prowl the road between the Library and Cultural Center is Boris BadEnough, since his bellicose, loud-mouthed threats at Early Voting were both clownish yet VERY off-putting.

To be honest, I put all the early negative comments I heard by people I respect in Hallandale Beach re Yakubovich's bellicosity and preening sense of entitlement as, well, smoke. 
But then I saw him in action twice last week.
It's fair to say that when it comes to him, where there's smoke, there's a real fire.

When people said Yakubovich acted like a Russian bully, I thought maybe he was just... headstrong. Nope! 

Late Saturday afternoon I was near enough to Yakubovich to hear him 'joking' with some of his friends and supporters and some name personalities that because he had the support of the Hallandale Beach Police, i.e. their union, he would have people who disagreed with him or who called him a liar arrested. 
Honestly, who would be dumb enough to say that ALOUD in public?
And would you vote for them?

It takes all kinds, but Yakubovich is clearly someone who would not be the sort of positive change agent that HB City Hall desperately needs right now.

In the Group 3 Hallandale Beach City Commission race, you don't need to choose between the lesser of two evils... you can vote for the candidate with the experience of being a common sense, pro-citizen advocate at Hallandale Beach for longer than all of her opponents combined: Maggie Ivanovski.




Or, as I wrote last week:



Monday, October 12, 2020

Why I'm for Maggie Ivanovski - and you should be too if you care about #HallandaleBeach residents having the much-better run city govt. they've long deserved: her YEARS of experience pushing back vs. HB City Hall's bad ideas, inadequate oversight


Above: My friend Maggie Ivanovski, the Seat 3 candidate with the MOST experience in battling the bad ideas and impractical ordinances that have been coming out of Hallandale Beach City Hall like clockwork for the past 15 years. The city will positively change for the better the moment she and her genuine EXPERIENCE are representing you and reforming it from the inside, and making the City Commission much more relevant and accountable. 
But Maggie needs YOUR vote in order to make that a reality!

Monday October 12th, 2020

I'm very happy to be writing to you today to share some positive developments in our slice of the world in SE Broward, and let you know that I'm endorsing a candidate in the Hallandale Beach City Commission election on November 3rd.

A very savvy, energetic, and hard-working friend of both mine and my friend and fellow civic activist, Csaba Kulin's, Maggie Ivanovski, is a woman who has been part of the group of the hardcore pro-reform, pro-financial accountability civic activists we all know, and have worked very closely with in Hallandale Beach for well over ten years to reform Hallandale Beach.

She decided a few months ago to finally take the plunge and run for Seat #3 of the Hallandale Beach City Commission, after having previously considered running for City Commission twice over the years, but ultimately decided that she couldn't due to family and career demands.
Maggie is in this race to win it, and then do the hard work that comes next.

Despite not running previously, Maggie has been a CONSTANT public presence at nearly every HB City Commission, CRA, and HB Quadrant meeting of the past 15 years, as well as at innumerable neighborhood meetings around town of very frustrated HB residents that Csaba and I attended. Sometimes, they were even meetings that he and I organized for the sole purpose of countering proposals/ordinances at HB City Hall that we all believed were contrary or even dangerous to HB residents' best long-term interests on a whole host of issues.

Whether at small intimate meetings of 6-10 people at homes in Golden Isles, or at condo or hotel meeting rooms that drew several dozens of interested people, while most people were content to just sit and listen to others, Maggie was in the moment and asked hard questions and made effective points.

Then as now, Maggie is a go-getter who will not sit on the sidelines when the future of Hallandale Beach and its Quality of Life is being discussed, and that's precisely the sort of person you need on the HB City Commission right now - to hit the ground running!

In that respect, Maggie has been one of the few savvy, well-informed, and independent-minded voices for genuine reform, public transparency, and financial accountability that Csaba and I and others could absolutely count on to be present in the Commission Chambers or anywhere else in the city to push back.

When it was time to speak intelligently and calmly when the HB City Commission or CRA were yet again trying to mislead the public or otherwise engage in historical revisionism or a coverup, as has, unfortunately, so often been the M.O. in HB over the years, Maggie was there to be counted on, and would and did push back against the ridiculous ideas and ordinances that have come regularly like clockwork at City Hall over the past 15 years.

Unlike most HB residents who, typically, only speak publicly at meetings when a matter directly affects their own neighborhood, as is also true in Hollywood, Maggie has been notable for not being afraid of speaking publicly for OTHER HB neighborhoods, and doing so with a stronger knowledge of the facts and the possible consequences of a bad decision than most of the people seated up on the dais with a vote. Yet another reason why you should be voting for her NOW. 

Most people in Hallandale Beach who know Maggie outside of her job as a very successful Broward realtor, or from seeing her in the Golden Isles Drive neighborhood she's lived in for nearly 25 years -she's also been the President of the Golden Horn Condo for the past 10 years, with no increases in condo maintenance fees that whole period!- know her as a hard-working HB/Broward civic activist.

An activist that was NOT afraid to call out HB Commissioners and staff to account for their continual failure to not only accomplish various goals or priorities on-time or on-budget, but in particular, for calling them out publicly for their failure to properly and fully engage the residents, Small Business owners, and stakeholders of the community.

As you and I both know, the HB City Commission under its leadership of the past 20 years has often preferred to do as much as possible under-the-radar, regardless of what the state's Sunshine Rules say about that kind of behavior. 
Behavior which hasn't gone unnoticed by the office of the Broward Inspector General, in part, sometimes, due to my own fact-filled letters to them connecting-the-dots.

As Csaba and I could both tell you, Maggie's inability to run previously was definitely Hallandale Beach's loss, because I can assure you that if she was already on the HB City Commission, most if not all of the completely unnecessary melodrama, finger-pointing, and public embarrassment that has been associated with the HB City Hall the past four years would not have been allowed to reach the current tipping point -where HB residents feel personally upset by who represents them on the City Commission.
And that definitely includes controversial Seat 3 incumbent, Anabelle Taub-Lima.
 
That is to say, where the Commission's incivility and penchant for talking about pet issues or projects and go on and on about them instead of sticking to the agenda, has consistently generated negative newspaper headlines and TV newscasts for the city's residents, doing done nothing for their dwindling faith that people at City Hall really WERE trying their best. 

At a certain point, you can no longer ignore the overwhelming evidence that's looking you in the face, can you?

As I've previously written in numerous emails that you have received and from scores of blog posts that tens of thousands of other people read on my popular blog, since I returned to South Florida in late 2003 to care for my dad and step-mother, after living and working in Washington, D.C. for the previous 15 years, it's long been the case that the editors at the Sun-Sentinel and Herald, as well as the assignment editors at the four English-language Miami TV stations, ONLY do stories on HB when it involves crime or something happening at HB City Hall that has nothing at all to do with Good Government or the proper functioning of democracy.

A fact that I know better than almost everyone, since I've then written about it with much more context in fact-filled emails, blogged about it on my blog, and then tweeted about it on my popular Twitter feed, so that lots of influential people down here in South Florida and in Tallahassee can see what's going on, too.

Maggie is the only person I know in HB who comes even close to Csaba's level of dedication to making sure that the average HB resident and Small Business owner is properly heard,  and not taken advantage of or misled by the City Commission and its often-belligerent and headstrong city staff.

Like us, Maggie is fully committed to reforming the city and bringing it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century when it comes to increasing the level of public scrutiny, public oversight, and civic engagement, and ensuring that a meaningful degree of financial accountability is always present.
In short, injecting the proper amount of common sense and skepticism to absurd proposals and bad public policy ideas that should never be approved.

While Maggie is very friendly and engaging, she also is very much a modern, professional woman. In her case, a very successful realtor, and in the recent past, even a member of the South Broward Realtors group that weighs in on political endorsements.

Maggie understands from all the craziness and finger-pointing at HB City Hall that she's been a first-hand observer of for so many years that her job as a Commissioner is NOT to be best friends with the city staff, nor is it to make ponderous and long-winded speeches about some pet issues that have nothing at all to do with the city's proper operation.

Rather, a big part of her job is to make sure that the City Manager and the staff provide the City Commission with the most accurate and recent information they need -when they need it- to make the best possible decisions on behalf of the people she represents.
People who have consciously chosen to make HB their home or locate their business there, and who deserve so much better representation than they have received the past 15 years.

Everyone who has spent any time at HB City Hall knows that's true, given how opining out loud about pet issues and non-germane subjects far from the city have increasingly come to dominate the talk on the dais, as well as be one of the things that has resulted in the city garnering so many bad headlines.

Because Maggie has been a constant presence for so long at HB City Hall, she has a very good institutional knowledge of the many issues, problems, people, questionable ethics, and wasted opportunities that have come before, a knowledge that NONE of the other candidates in her race has.
Frankly, Maggie has forgotten more about what has happened there than what the rest of them know, collectively.

Maggie knows, like Csaba and I do, who voted for what in the past, and also knows who the people are who've continually thought nothing of coming to HB City Hall to speak on behalf of their clients and then proceed to lie, exaggerate, and embellish, yet never suffer any negative consequences for this false representation, to the public's chagrin.

Csaba and I both know very well that Maggie's can-do attitude and professional demeanor was and is desperately needed right now at Hallandale Beach City Hall to prevent even more embarrassing episodes starring HB elected officials and bureaucrats. 
We firmly believe that it will only be when people like Maggie are actually ON the HB City Commission that things in the city will change for the better -and stay that way! 

People like Maggie who are hard-working and conscientious enough to be properly prepared for all public meetings, and have actually done ALL the reading before the meeting starts, instead of simply showing up and winging-it and then deferring to everything the staff recommends, as has more often been the case, as so many of my past blog posts have described in detail.

Unlike the other candidates in the race, Maggie will DO the required reading AND the heavy lifting and WILL be prepared to ask hard questions of not just the city staff, but also the attorneys and the members of the development teams coming before the city who want variances and favors and, often, financial inducements to do the right thing they should should already be willing to do.

It's also why I've been busy using my extensive national, state and South Florida campaign experience to help Maggie out.
I want THE best-qualified person in this race to actually get elected, and actually make the positive changes the city needs to be the sort of place it should already have been many years ago.

I'm helping Maggie because I do not want her to come in a close second or third to a woman like Cynthia Cabrera, who claims to be a longtime HB resident, but who, unlike Maggie, has been largely invisible and unconcerned when bad things were happening in Hallandale Beach. 
What kind of qualification is Cabrera's longtime apathy? 

That Cabrera is neither as personally experienced or as well-informed as Maggie about the specific issues that have plagued and dominated what's happened at Hallandale Beach City Hall for years is clear, since when Maggie attended meetings, every Commissioner and staffer from the City Manager's office knew exactly who she was the moment she walked into the room.
That's what happens when you show up, open your mouth and push back hard against bad ideas and unethical behavior.

Cynthia Cabrera claims to be a longtime Hallandale Beach resident, but the truth is that you can't find anyone in town who recalls her being even one-tenth as involved, reliable, or as public as Maggie has been FOR YEARS in defending and articulating the best interests of the average HB resident and Small Business owner at HB City Hall.
You can't for the simple reason that Cabrera was invisible.
Cabrera's innumerable campaign signs can't make up for that harsh reality.

For all of Cabrera's talk of being a longtime HB resident, her very own LinkedIn profile lists her as having lived and worked in the Washington, D.C. area for at least three years from 2013-2016. You don't have to take my word, see for yourself:
Exactly!

To make matters worse, Cabrera does herself no favors by being so free in accepting large campaign dollars from real estate developers, as her campaign disclosures make quite clear.
Given Hallandale Beach's unique location and demographics, real estate developers will always be viewed somewhat skeptically by many residents, who want to protect their investment and Quality of Life, so it makes you wonder why nobody in the local South Florida news media, especially the South Florida Sun Sentinel, ever bothered to ask these hard questions about Cabrera, or ask her the most obvious question of all: Why was she SO invisible on matters of local concern to people like you?

You don't need me to tell you that you deserve a whole lot better on the HB City Commission than a disinterested woman like Cynthia Cabrera. 


Maggie is in this race to win it, and then do the hard work that comes next.
Please let me know that you are willing to reward Maggie's many years of very hard work and civic engagement over so many years to make Hallandale Beach better for both its residents and Small Business owners, and not reward people who have never been there for you, your family and neighborhood in Hallandale Beach.

Maggie is more than deserving of your highest endorsement in this race, she is deserving of your VOTE to make Hallandale Beach's government better, more efficient, and more accountable to the people who live there.




Even now Maggie can use your help, so if you are interested, please contact her today via her cell phone number, (954) 646-2573, or via her campaign email:
m.ivanovski2020@hotmail.com

Dave

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Bad judgment, bad journalism, and bad taste -plus plain old political avarice- continue intersecting in #Broward in heretofore unknown and unexpected ways as controversial former Sheriff #ScottIsrael tries to regain patronage-rich post he was stripped of


Bad judgment, bad journalism, and bad taste -plus plain old political avarice- continue intersecting in Broward County in heretofore unknown and unexpected ways when it comes to reporting on the efforts of controversial former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel to regain the patronage-rich post he was stripped of last year.

Two weeks from today, Broward will wake up to news about who earned the Democratic Party's nominee to be Broward Sheriff. Who will it be?

Consider how each of these facts, on their own, in other parts of the country would be considered damning, and then consider what they -collectively- say about how things are done in South Florida politics and rates barely a shrug from most journalists.
I half-expect that among the younger reporters, esp. on TV, who lack any kind of institutional memories for what has gone on in South Florida in the past 30 years.
Few make an effort to learn the politcal 

Whether it's: 
a.) the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's inexplicable endorsement of disgraced former #Broward Sheriff #ScottIsrael, who was first suspended from office by FL Gov. Ron DeSantis and then had that removal made final when the Florida state Senate refused last October to reinstate him. 
As most of you regular readers of this blog will recall, all four of Broward's Democratic senators -Lauren Book, Gary Farmer, Kevin Rader, Perry Thurston Jr.- voted for Israel's reinstatement as Sheriff, a vote and effort which raised many more questions among Broward citizens and voters -and local media- than the four of them seemed prepared for. 
Text of endorsement is at bottom

b.) the bewildering endorsement and then quick rescinding and backtracking of an endorsement of him by the unpopular, problem-plagued Broward Teachers Union, after a large member and public backlash; or, 

c.) via a previously unknown to me #SoFL lifestyle magazine called THINK, that's sold at Publix supermarkets, which currently features Scott Israel on the cover just as the Aug. 18th Democratic Party primary and Early Voting in Broward County nears, and as he seeks to regain the reins of that large, powerful and cash-dispensing political patronage machine that also deals with crime fighting.

Perhaps worst of all with respect to the latter, Scott Israel is the cover boy because there is a profile inside, and if you can believe it, that profile NEVER mentions the 17 students and teachers murdered at #MSD, or the murders @FLLFlyer!









-------------
So, here's a selected overview via Twitter of what's been happening the past few months in the race to be Broward Sheriff and the persistent efforts by allies and cronies of Scott Israel to sabotage things at BSO and find anything that they believe will publicly embarrass his successor, Gregory Tony.

Tony was savvy enough to get rid of many people at BSO who were high flyers under Israel, who, himself, was a very big believer in traditional political patronage, including hiring people to work for BSO not because of their outstanding abilities, talent or expertise, but rather because of who they were -a relative or child of an important supporter in an area where Israel wanted to be boss.

A good place to start reading about and/or understanding what's often seemed like often craven sense of entitlement that Scott Israel had exhibited is with my blog posts of 2013:

July 24, 2013
Broward County Ethics in Action! Sometimes the gravy train of cronyism leads you and your family to a yacht vacation to The Bahamas; Local10 investigative reporter Bob Norman asks Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel to answer questions about his family's yacht vacation after the Sheriff claimed paying $1,500 settled the matter. But websites say the value of that yacht trip is MUCH 
MORE!; @CityEthics
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/broward-county-ethics-in-action.html

August 28, 2013
End-of-the-Summer BSO Blues continue under Broward Sheriff Scott Israel. Ethical, financial and management problems -and questions about his hiring so many high-priced political hires- hover over Sheriff Israel almost 10 months after his election, and are examined, separately, by Broward Beat's Buddy Nevins and Local10's Bob Norman.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/end-of-summer-bso-blues-continue-under.html

By the way, before you start re-reading some of the headlines and stories about what's been going on the past year with Scott Israel and Gregory Tony, ask yourself a question.
It concerns a frequent foil on this blog, someone who has exhibited such appalling personal and political behavior and so little interest in properly serving his hallandale beach constituents when I lived there, serial liar and manipulator Florida state Rep. Shevrin Jones, District 101, which includes part of Hollywood. Jones is now a candidate for state Senate District 34, and, most importantly for this post, is the son of the mayor of West Park, with a population that's smaller than many condominium developments in Florida, and less than half of Hallandale Beach's.
West Park is not so much a city as it is a political clubhouse -and the home of WPLG/Local10 News.

So, Jone not only has a primary job that pays him over $100,000 a year, despite nobody being especially clear what it is that he does for such a sum, considering how much time he's away in Tallahasse doing his second job as a state rep, but has, yes, a third job.
Wow, that's a lot of hats, isn't it?
A lot of situations where he has a loyalty to different people, right?

Well, in that third job of his, he's paid $72,000 a year by BSO for what is designated a part-time position.
Wow, $72,000 for a part-time position, when you already have two other jobs?

Well, when you know that BSO has a contract with the City of West Park, which his father was mayor of since it was incorporated, though not now, it all makes much more sense, doesn't it?
So that being said, if Jones had been in the Florida state Senate last Fall when they had to vote and decide whether or not to reinstate Scott Israel into his job after he'd been suspended by Governor DeSantis, how do you think he'd have voted?
(Assuming he wasn't smart enough to recuse himself from the vote, so he would not get charged with ethics violations?)
Well, why don't you ask him?

As I write this blog post on Wednesday morning August 5th, there are 13 days to go until the August 18th primary election where Jones is attempting to get promoted politically after many years of accomplishing very, very little as a state Rep., and become one of just 40 state senators in Florida, the third-largest state in the nation.
A political post from which I have long-believed based on simply keeping my eyes open and asking lots of questions, that Jones will devote every single waking day of trying desperately to inject himself onto the radar of South Florida news media under the flimsiest of possible reasons, something he has already been doing for years.

Why?
To become the successor in Congress to Rep. Frederica Wilson when she is no longer on the scene and can thoroughly trounce him.
Trust me, that's his goal, which is a very, very scary prospect condisdering how shallow and narcissistic he is.
In case you forgot, narcissistic personality disorder symptoms include an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others' feelings, an inability to handle any criticism, and a sense of entitlement.
Check.

I'll have more on that quest of Jones in an upcoming blog post, but returning to the question of Jones and his jobs, if you were a Broward voter who were to ask him how he'd have voted last October on Israel's reinstatement, that would put you one up on the South Florida press corps,
Not a single South Florida-based reporter has shown any interest in asking him this simple question and asking him to explain why.
Me, I think that speaks volumes.

These tweets are in reverse-chron order to flow more logically:











































































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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Sun Sentinel Editorial Broward sheriff
Despite past, Dems should nominate Israel
July 19, 2020

The six-way Democratic primary for Broward County sheriff is one of those elections without an ideal choice, in which the question is simply which of the viable candidacies is the better one. That is why we recommend Scott Israel, the former sheriff.

Gregory Tony, the incumbent, should not have been appointed and does not deserve to be elected. The other four candidates lack sufficient money and political support to be competitive. There are only two viable candidates in this race: Israel and Tony.

This has been our most difficult endorsement decision. We recognize that it will be poorly received among the families shattered by the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where a former student firing a military-style semi-automatic rifle left 17 students and faculty dead, and 17 injured. Their grief is beyond anyone's comprehension and deserves respect.

Many of them held Israel to blame, as did Gov. Ron DeSantis when he carried out a campaign promise to suspend him.

We thought so too, at first, and advised then-governor Rick Scott to remove Israel.

With time, however, that judgment seems harsh. Israel could not have prevented the tragedy. The school system was more to blame. So was the FBI, which did nothing about a credible warning of a potential school shooter.

Israel's most serious failing was a policy that left it to a deputy's discretion whether to engage an active shooter.

Overall, Israel had been a good sheriff.

The question, then, is whether Tony, his major rival, deserves the office to which DeSantis appointed him upon suspending Israel.

He does not, and the department would be in better hands with Israel.

Tony's career is marred by deceit. He lied to DeSantis to get the job. He lied by concealing a significant fact that the governor and the public deserved to know - that when he was 14, he had shot and killed another young man. He also withheld this fact from the Coral Springs Police Department, where he began his law enforcement career 15 years ago.

He also kept from Coral Springs that he had used a hallucinogenic substance - LSD - in the 1990s, and that he had been charged with passing a bad check while a student at Florida State University. He told Coral Springs he had not known about the charge.

Besides credibility, there also are questions of conflict of interest, a hot temper ill befitting the office, and injudicious conduct in his private life.

Israel and Tony dominate the field of six. There are no longer runoffs in Florida, so the nomination may be won with a small fraction of the vote.

Voters have one chance to get it right.

The nominee - and the likely next sheriff, since Democrats dominate Broward politics - will either be Israel, a veteran at 64, or Tony, who at 41 seems to be out of his depth despite the five stars that adorn his collar.

Israel's tenure before the Parkland tragedy was progressive and without personal scandal. As we have said before:

"In many ways Israel has been a good sheriff ... Burglaries and violent crime are down. He's taken stands against guns on campus, the Stand your Ground law and people openly carrying guns. He's made reluctant deputies wear body cameras and at least one non-lethal device - like a Taser or baton - on their belts. And he's masterful at community relations, handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving, riding in the LGBTQ pride parade and attending services at diverse churches and temples."

BSO's failures at Parkland

Israel could not have known that Scot Peterson, the decorated deputy assigned to the high school in Parkland, would prove to be a coward. Peterson hid outside while Coral Springs police rushed in.

The reason that BSO deputies didn't take the lead owed to the vagaries of Broward's 911 system, which routed calls from inside the school to Coral Springs PD. The sheriff's dispatcher initially knew only what Peterson was reporting on his radio - misinformation about possible gunshots outside and directions for deputies to stay back.

BSO's epic failure that day remains seared in our collective memory. While some deputies eventually demonstrated bravery, far too many showed cowardice, hiding behind trees, cars and walls. Besides Peterson, seven other deputies also heard the gunfire and failed to pursue the shooter. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, which investigated the tragedy in detail, said they showed "no sense of urgency" despite hearing gunshots on a school campus. And unlike Coral Springs police, who every year trained to respond to active shooters, BSO only held active-shooter drills every three years.

Israel was criticized fiercely - including by this editorial board - for his decision to change BSO policy to give deputies the discretion, rather than the duty, to confront an active shooter. It turns out, however, that other Florida sheriffs had a similar policy, which Israel says was necessary to avoid compelling a deputy to walk into a trap.

However, following criticism in the investigating commission's initial report, he changed the word "may" to "shall." The policy, maintained by his successor, allows for "very limited extenuating circumstances" when a sole deputy might have to wait for reinforcements.

Israel might never have been removed had he taken responsibility for what happened, rather than credit for the response, which the Sun Sentinel's reporting proved to be untrue. For BSO's response was his responsibility, if not his fault. There is a difference.

Neither can Israel's boastful defense in the days that followed be forgotten. We can only hope he's since learned some humility. We saw hopeful signs during our interview.

Now the question is whether Tony is a suitable sheriff.

The governor's hasty choice

DeSantis chose poorly in his haste to keep a campaign promise to suspend Israel days after taking office. He knew little about Tony other than that he was then a Republican, and that he had been recommended by a Parkland parent.

There's no sign that the governor questioned whether Tony's time at Coral Springs PD - which he left after 11 years as a sergeant - qualified him to manage an entity as enormous and complex as the Broward Sheriff's Office. Only a cursory records check was done, rather than a proper background investigation.

Even so, there was a place on the form where Tony should have revealed the shooting.

Living in a rough section of Philadelphia, he had shot and killed a neighbor, 18, who he says was threatening his life and the life of his brother. A newspaper reported that he was taken into custody. A juvenile court found him blameless and apparently expunged the record. Now he quibbles that it was not technically an arrest because of his age.

Law enforcement is not just another line of work. Police have a license to kill. DeSantis was entitled to know that Tony had already killed. But for the reporting of the Florida Bulldog, an online investigative news site, it might still be a secret.

Asked his reaction to the revelations, DeSantis told reporters in May: "It's not like he's my sheriff. I didn't even know the guy."

Decisions to withhold information from the governor - and to swear that false answers on law enforcement documents were "true and correct"- came from the man Tony is today, not the teenager he was in Philadelphia.

A referendum on the governor

The governor didn't just bungle Israel's replacement. He mishandled the suspension itself, which also faulted Israel for BSO's response to the mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport the year before.

The special master who reviewed DeSantis's suspension order for the Florida Senate concluded that the governor had failed to prove a single charge.

"Insistence is all the governor gives," wrote Dudley Goodlette, a respected Republican lawyer from Naples who once chaired the House Judiciary Committee.

Goodlette said it would be an "unworkable precedent" to remove the sheriff over the failures of those who responded to the school. As for the airport incident, he said the deputy stationed there had reacted promptly to arrest the killer.

In disregarding Goodlette's legal advice, the Senate turned the Broward Sheriff's Office into a partisan trophy. It voted 25-15, mostly along party lines, to support the Republican governor by removing the Democratic sheriff. Although DeSantis had chosen a Black to replace a white sheriff, Broward's two Black senators voted to reinstate Israel, as did the three who are white.

At last word, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating whether Tony broke the law by omitting the Philadelphia incident from the affidavit he submitted for his background check.

Citing our editorial calling for his resignation or suspension because of his non-disclosure, Tony declined our invitation to a joint candidate interview. Israel accepted, along with rival Al Pollock, a retired sheriff's colonel. We separately interviewed Andrew Smalling and Willie Jones together. Santiago Vazquez was unable to attend. You can view the videos online.

Of note, Israel retains significant support among Broward's Black politicians and opinion leaders. They credit him with always listening and working with them to stop the schoolhouse-to-prison pipeline. They resent that DeSantis replaced a Democratic sheriff with a Republican appointee who was not known in Broward. Tony is now a registered Democrat.

For many, this election is as much a referendum on DeSantis as it is on Israel and Tony.

Tony's tenure and temper

Tony's problems go beyond the past that he concealed. He twice lost his temper with deputies grieving the death of a colleague from COVID-19 - first at the hospital, then at the funeral home. Abruptly and rashly, he suspended Jeff Bell, president of the deputy sheriffs' union, after Bell accused him of not giving officers enough masks and other protective equipment against the coronavirus.

Even if Tony considered the criticism unfair, as perhaps it was, he should have had the maturity to bear it.

Earlier, he lost his temper with members of the Tamarac City Commission over their desire to have a third deputy barred from policing there following the rough arrest of a 15-year-old Taravella High School freshman. Tony, who had already suspended two others, barked back. "I will not stand here as if I'm suspect to anything. I will not be lectured to."

He also criticized the state attorney for dismissing the charges against the student.

Now, Tony's advertising touts him as a terror for rogue cops. But to use the cases of men whom he has fired or suspended as political fodder jeopardizes the successful prosecution of the misdemeanor charges against three of them.

Moreover, Tony waited two days past a deadline in state law to suspend a sergeant whom he accused of failing to react during the Parkland shooting. An arbitrator has ordered the man restored to duty with substantial back pay.

Poorly executed discipline is as bad as none at all.

Public and private dealings

How Tony spends the public's money has also raised questions.

He gave a $750,000 contract for bleeding control kits to a South Carolina company, North American Rescue LLC, with which he had had a side business relationship. Blue Spear Solutions, formed by Tony and his wife, marketed North American's products. Recently, Tony's affiliated PAC, Broward First, reported contributions of $5,000 and $10,000 that the Florida Bulldog traced to the founder and an employee of North American Rescue.

Tony refused to comment when the Bulldog asked about the sizable pay raises he had given to five BSO employees who moonlight for Blue Spear, which his wife runs.

Broward First, which has raised more than $1 million to support Tony, got much of it in a single $500,000 contribution from Donald Sussman, a Fort Lauderdale hedge fund investor. That's more than the entire $347,725 raised by Israel's PAC.

As for direct contributions to their campaigns, Israel and Tony lead the field with $153,205 and $163,611 respectively. Pollock trails them with $96,290.

Tony was in private life five years ago when he and his wife posed semi-nude for photographs at what appears to be a swingers club in Miami. Granted, public officials are entitled to private lives, but children can find these raunchy photographs on the internet. And swingers clubs hardly represent our community's values. We assume DeSantis didn't know about that, either.

The other candidates

Among the other Democratic candidates, we were particularly impressed with Andrew Smalling, a former captain and acting major in the sheriff's office - and a former chief in Lauderhill - who is now a faculty member and assistant dean at the Broward College Institute for Public Safety.

Smalling, 58, has constructive positions on reforms in criminal law and police practices, especially recruiting. He was the only candidate to talk about the excessive militarization of civilian police agencies and their emphasis on a "warrior mentality." He likely would be a leading candidate were the position being filled by appointment, as it should be, so that political connections and fund-raising wouldn't be factors. Regrettably, Florida doesn't allow that option and Smalling's campaign has gained little traction.

Pollock, who is 66 and lives in Davie, is an experienced law enforcement officer who has support from the unions representing deputies, sergeants, firefighters and paramedics. The jailers' union backs Israel. None of BSO's unions have endorsed Tony.

In our candidate interview, we questioned whether Pollock would be tough enough in renegotiating contracts that make it difficult to discipline or remove dubious officers.

Pollock and Israel are both harshly critical of Tony, but we believe only Israel has enough political support to defeat him.

The sheriff employs nearly 6,000 people for patrol and investigations, firefighting and rescue, regional communications, maintaining four jails and operating 911. The budget is almost $1 billion. It is a demanding job that calls for much judgment, experience and integrity, as well as for sufficient political skills to get elected.

The remaining Democratic candidates are Santiago Vazquez and Willie Jones. Jones, 65, retired from the BSO. He calls for building better relations between the command staff and rank and file. He ran a distant second to Israel in the 2016 Democratic primary.

Vazquez, 51, is a 23-year veteran of the BSO, who ran against Israel as a Republican four years ago. He did not participate in our joint interview with Smalling and Jones.

We encourage you to read all of the candidates' questionnaires and view our interviews with them online.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O'Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.

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Dave 
David B. Smith