Hatzel Vela, Reporter
Published: March 28, 2023 at 5:33 PM
Updated: March 29, 2023 at 6:51 AM
The news story hiding in plain sight is often news that #SoFL media newsrooms simply have no interest in covering, whether fairly or with bias. In any case, Rod Velez's legal qualifications to take office on Broward School Board will come to a head soon, as Gov. DeSantis may again have to replace an elected official in Broward County.
For several weeks since the August 23rd primary election, the talk among Broward's political chattering class -and in the South Florida news media, to the the extent it ever appeared- had been about whether or not Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would AGAIN remove Donna Korn if she won the Broward School Board At-Large seat that was the subject of a runoff race last Tuesday vs. Allen Zeman.
Their race, which Zeman won 51% to 49%, was the subject of a recent large group email blast of mine as well as a subsequent blog post here on Oct. 19th.
The Korn Conundrum: Broward School Board At-Large candidate Donna Korn, who's already been removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis bec of a Grand Jury's recommendations, remains unpopular with the public and unable to defend her track record. But her opponent, Allen Zeman, is not just someone who is largely unknown, but has a troubling history of claiming things to be true that are NOT. Of actually lying with impunity. What should Broward County voters do?
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-korn-conundrum-broward-school-board.html
But while that subject generated at least some attention, what had NOT been discussed publicly in the 1,001 ways that you would expect or anticipate for a subject as serious as whether or not a candidate was even qualified to run for elected office, were many facts coming to light via myriad stories and rumors re Broward School Board District 1 Rod Velez, and his eligibility status to represent Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and Dania Beach if he was, in fact, elected, as a result of a prior felony conviction.
Shameful! South Florida Business Journal, showing no regard for ethics, aims to give an "Achievement Award" to Keith Koenig, Robert Runcie's #1 financial backer/apologist, who was the front-and-center FACE of #Broward's White Biz Estab., who did NOT want to know abt rampant corruption, thievery, + incompetency, just wanted to ensure access to BCPS contracts! He loves the $ gravy train that is BCPS!
Like so many other galling things that we've observed in the South Florida media scene of 2022, just when you think that you have a reasonably-informed understanding of just how low low really is, there's someone or a platform who by sheer dent of their sheer imbecility, takes your breath away with their brazen disregard for the known facts and the history of the area.
Someone who will act as if all the evidence of unethical behavior and conduct you see all around you is really not there. It's all just our imagination we are told. Or, possibly a frame-up.
But what are we to make of all the self-evident fingerprints belonging to people whose names are well-known to us, and whose alibis, excuses and explanations for why they looked the other way fails every smell test?
And so it is that with these questions In mind that I share the rather shocking news with you today that I have just learned that the South Florida Business Journal, despite having plenty of time to vet and choose someone worthy, aims to go ahead and reward Keith Koenig, the CEO of City Furniture, with their 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony in April.
Koenig is the person who was the safe, White face of Broward's Business Establishment for most of the recent past during the ruinous cult-like reign of Robert Runcie as Broward Schools Superintendent, that only ended recently. Koenig is someone who continually defended someone in great authority who was charged with lying to a grand jury, even while other charges were not brought that should have been.
Keith Koenig is someone who could not be bothered to answer any questions from the South Florida news media at any point over the last few years about his personal role in any of these matters, to say nothing of his personally paying for an attempted public whitewash via $ to Smith-Knibbs PR.
Which, fortunately, failed.
Here's the thread that brought us to today's incredible news... with more information below it that connects-the-dots!
Video above of so-called press conference where no questions from media were allowed is at: https://youtu.be/y0EuPhn2FDo
The folks behind it? The Usual Suspects:
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Puppet-master Keith Koenig's role in this sordid story is below in red. I'm printing this Sun Sentinel editorial and Scott Travis article in its entirety here, so that you will know exactly what was said and written last year, which was easily searchable by the SFBJ if they really cared about... facts.
And optics.
When you reward the people who were in a unique position to demand much better of elected officials and government functionaries but who instead, FOR YEARS, looked the other way, as rampant corruption, incompetency and inefficiency that harmed all the kids in Broward and in many cases kept them in unsafe schools with moldy walls and missing roofs.
All of that, even while lots of honest and forthright people in this community -including me- have been sharing all the known facts about what was going on and didn't blanch from the unpleasant reality.
Koenig and his gaggle of behind-the-scenes puppet-masters at The Broward Workshop as well as his many allies in the crony capitalism pay-for-play scene of Broward that is SO dependent on government largesse, teat money, in this case, taxpayer money controlled by Broward Schools and the all-female, all-Democratic Broward School Board, are as morally responsible for the continuing mess that is the Broward Schools as Robert Runcie and former School attorney Barbara Myrick and Schools mouthpiece Kathy Koch.
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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Director: 'This is where we get off the rails' - Schools PR chief set up secret effort to save Runcie's job
Scott Travis, South Florida Sun SentinelDave
"Sitting in the large indoor #Opryland atrium during a break in the convention, Dr. Osgood described how [AKA] was used to mobilize opposition to the attempted ouster of #RobertRuncie" https://t.co/2qJMK0d5XJ @smtravis @Colleen_Wright @nathalie_lynch @browardpolitics @RedBroward— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 1, 2019
"Dr. Osgood viewed the effort to remove Mr. Runcie as politically motivated and possibly tied to race. She thought it sought to place blame for the horrific shootings on a black man.— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) July 1, 2019
“There was a massive move to remove Bob,” she said, “who had nothing to do with the shooting...
- Though Dr. Glover, the group’s leader, emphasized that the organization is apolitical, the behind-the-scenes clout of A.K.A. was a factor last year in a Broward County, Fla., school fight, according to Rosalind Osgood, a member of both the Broward school board and A.K.A.
- Sitting in the large indoor Opryland atrium during a break in the convention, Dr. Osgood described how the group was used to mobilize opposition to the attempted ouster of Robert Runcie, the Broward school district superintendent, in March 2018, a month after the Parkland school shooting.
- Dr. Osgood viewed the effort to remove Mr. Runcie as politically motivated and possibly tied to race. She thought it sought to place blame for the horrific shootings on a black man.
- “There was a massive move to remove Bob,” she said, “who had nothing to do with the shooting. With our local chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha, we were able to work with churches to organize 700 people who showed up to a community forum on school safety, and then organize 2,100 people to show up to a school board meeting where the vote was taken.” The effort to oust Mr. Runcie was defeated.
- Dr. Osgood, a minister, said she had decided to endorse Ms. Harris while at the convention.
- “I think what she represents is historic for women across generations,” Dr. Osgood said. “She breaks all the traditional boundaries and status quos.”
- Rosalind Osgood filed for the District 5 seat currently held by Benjamin Williams. Ms. Osgood appears to have ties to disgraced Broward Democrat legislator Mandy Dawson and Broward Democrat operative Terry Scott. More to come…
Ethics questions re someone who teach ethics -and her Tallahassee lobbyist friend- who also happens to be a candidate for Broward School Board |
I then had a link to a story that I thought was not getting enough attention:
- Might be time for the South Florida news media to ask Rosalind Osgood, cited in this article, what she SPECIFICALLY plan to do for Broward County kids, parents and taxpayers if elected from District 5 that doesn't involve churches.
Torey Alston has been specific, consistent and articulate about what tangible goals he supports in changing the culture and expectations of kids, and how he would accomplish those goals if elected.
The political romantic in me thinks that should really count for something, something positive, but if nobody in the news media notices...
Just saying...
Broward School Board Candidate Tapping Funds from Controversial ... Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood is tapping funds from controversial Tallahassee lobbyist David E. Ramba, official campaign records show. florida.mediatrackers.org/.../ |
Broward School Board candidate Rosalind Osgood is tapping funds from controversial Tallahassee lobbyist David E. Ramba, official campaign records show. Heading into the November runoff for the School Board position, Ramba, his companies, and political committees under his control have already given $4,000 to Osgood.