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Showing posts with label Broward Sheriff's Office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broward Sheriff's Office. Show all posts

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!









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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 

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Friday, October 10, 2014

Updated: It disappeared! South Florida Sun-Sentinel article -online Thursday- re allegations of indecent exposure being investigated by the Broward Sheriff's Office against Hallandale Beach Comm. Leo Grachow has disappeared completely from website; @TweetsByMAOS has more news on this unraveling story that HB City Hall is trying to stonewall


Blog updated October 14, 2014 Woman accuses Hallandale commissioner of indecent exposure in condo sauna
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hallandale/fl-grachow-hallandale-sauna-20141009-story.html

 So what happened to South Florida Sun-Sentinel's article -online Thursday- by Susannah Bryan re allegations of indecent exposure being investigated by the Broward Sheriff's Office against interim Hallandale Beach Comm. Leo Grachow, who is running in November to retain Seat 2 against former HB Comm. Keith London?

 At the top is a photo of what that URL looks like at 3:30 p.m. today, many, many hours after I started being deluged with phone calls, emails and texts from people in the area asking me:
1.) if I knew what happened in the incident,
2.) why the city was trying to cover it up by refusing to legally produce public records for the newspaper, and 
3.) why the article disappeared from the Sun-Sentinel's website.
Unfortunately, I have no definitive answers, but strongly suggest you contact the newspaper directly and ask her; sbryan@tribune.com

For more on this issue, see what our friend up in Deerfield Beach, Chaz Stevens had to say on the matter, first yesterday afternoon, BEFORE the story disappeared, complete with some details;


https://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/09/bolo-issued-for-commissioner-leo-grachow-and-his-penis/


Chaz subsequently posted the following:



http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/10/hallandale-beach-candidate-leo-the-lien-grachows-personal-financial-armageddon/

and then there was this well-aimed blast at the Heart of Darkness in Hallandale Beach, 400 S. Federal Highway


http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/10/we-send-up-a-public-records-flare/

plus this


http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/11/a-leo-grachow-penis-gate-update/

and most recently,


http://www.myactsofsedition.com/blog/2014/10/12/the-s-s-story-that-was-pulled/

It's noteworthy to me, and a rather sad commentary on the general lack of a sense of old-fashioned competitiveness or enterprise journalism among South Florida's news media that days after this story saw the light of day, at least for a few hours, that neither the Miami Herald or any of the four English-language TV stations have reported word one on this story, or why the City of Hallandale Beach is fighting so hard to keep public information AWAY from the public that is entitled to it by state law.
At least as of 9:50 a.m. today.

 Why do you suppose that is?
Look at who runs things there: Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Renee C. Miller and City Attorney , V. Lynn Woodward. 
It's exactly what it looks like. 
People who do NOT want to see former HB Commissioner Keith London elected over Cooper-supported interim HB Commissioner Leo Grachow. 
Joy Cooper wants to keep her Rubber Stamp Crew intact!

 These are, after all, the very same people who refused to turn over public information -phone records and text messages- that I was legally entitled to under the state constitution and had had formally requested in 2013 through a PRR.
I strongly suspected those records would show Cooper and Miller and others lobbying the members of the Broward County Commission and County Adminstrator to prevent an audit of the scandal-plagued Hallandale Beach CRA, which has wasted millions of dollars under Joy Cooper.

 I never got those records I was legally entitled to, but I was proven 100% correct.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/latest-on-curious-case-of-at-city-of.html

 Meanwhile just on Sunday, with nothing on this blog newer than this post re Grachow, I had 2,355 pageviews, and I suspect most of them were headed to this particular post. 
Because what was their alternative if they wanted more news on this subject, other than from Chaz?
The so-called professional news media of South Florida was asleep at the switch!

 My last blog post about Leo Grachow was this much-read one from June 19, 2014. Since the story hit the fan last week, nearly everyone around South Florida and environs who covers or follows politics and local govt., esp. in Broward County, to say nothing of Hb residents themselves, has been looking at it: 
Observations re Leo Grachow's selection as Hallandale Beach's interim Commissioner: "I thought he was a perfect fit for the job." So says a clearly disconnected-from-reality Comm. Bill Julian, who DIDN'T rate Grachow best, but instead voted BEST the least-qualified of the 3 finalists! Meanwhile, the candidate giving the single-best oral presentation, Chad Lincoln, received a 1 (out of 25) from HB's notoriously thin-skinned Mayor Joy Cooper; voting distribution chart

2014 Florida elections, Broward Sheriff's Office, Chaz Stevens, crime, Hallandale Beach, indecent exposure, Joy Cooper, Keith London, Leo Grachow, My Acts of Sedition, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Susannah Bryan, 
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Broward Judge Patti Englander Henning strikes YET again! Same judge who foolishly took Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's side in her/city's lawsuit against Michael Butler over his Public Records requests; the Oral Brown case


View Larger Map
Broward County Courthouse, 201 S.E. 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Broward Circuit Couty Judge Patti Englander Henning strikes YET again! Same judge who took Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's side in her/city's lawsuit against Michael Butler over Public Records requests
In case you forgot, Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Vistors Bureau Director Nicki Grossman's sister, Patti Englander Henning, is the Broward judge who ruled that HB Mayor Joy Cooper's use of private email to conduct city business was a-okay, contrary to both common sense and Florida's Constitution.
She's nothing if not consistent in her approach to justice, as this new story makes quite clear.


Earlier Tuesday night, in an email about this very matter, I wrote that the judge would be on the ballot for retention in November, but I later came to find out that she is on the bench until 2015.
Damn the luck!


Please read this first before reading the South Florida Times story from last week, which I only came across Tuesday night:


BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
Judge Patti Henning Strikes Again
By Bob Norman 
October 27 2009 at 3:21 PM
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/10/judge_patti_henning_and_mayor_joy_cooper.php




South Florida Times
JUDGE’S ROLE IN MAN’S "HOG-TYING" DEATH CASE CRITICIZED
Written by Elgin Jones  
Friday, 13 April 2012
FORT LAUDERDALE — A lawsuit over the death of a Lauderhill motorist more than 10 years ago at the hands of Broward Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics remains active in the courts and the actions of a judge in the case are being called into question.
Read the rest of the article at: 
http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9707&Itemid=331


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For those of you who are somewhat new to the blog and who never read this excellent Bob Norman piece in the NewTimes when it first came out in 2007, or when I have linked to it here, I suggest you take a hard look and get some more insight into Mayor Cooper's volatile temperament, constant desire to get her way and willingness to use the city's resources to get what she wants for her part of the city, as opposed to what's best for the whole community, and to get a sense of the judge's apparent tendency to ignore the state's laws in order to rule how she wants -they're like twins!- read this:


BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
Storming the Castle
Hallandale Beach and a Broward judge are trying to drive a man from his home
By Bob Norman
August 23, 2007

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2007-08-23/news/storming-the-castle/
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Sunday, December 18, 2011

How stories re Al Lamberti and Louis Granteed show the smug hypocrisy among South Florida's news media, esp. the unsatisfactory coverage of actual news in Broward from the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes


Below is an email I sent on Wednesday to reporter Brittany Wallman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in which I use her story about Broward Sheriff candidate Louis Granteed swinging by The Cheetah strip club in Hallandale Beach to connect it to previous  actions of the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes towards current Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, and a matter I've previously discussed on the blog -smug hypocrisy among South Florida's news media, and unsatisfactory coverage of actual news in this county from the NewTimes.


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re your post titled "Sheriff calls news story on his campaign website "spam''
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/12/sheriff_calls_news_story_on_hi.html


You know what would really be great?
If the Broward NewTimes actually joined the 21st-Century and posted the office email addresses of all of its top editorial staff, just like the Herald, Sun-Sentinel, local Miami TV station news operations and most reputable blogs do, even ones I criticize and find overly-sycophantic, local and nationally, of which there are plenty.


Like, perhaps, Eric Barton's official office email address.
Nope, that's top secret!
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/about/staff/


Instead, as I noted many months ago in blog posts about the NewTimes' abject failure to cover many subject areas that they ought to be right on top of, but aren't -like anything about FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, and her near-invisibility in south Broward, before and after the election 13 months ago; her trip to Israel being paid for by AIPAC; her failure to ever sign-up to co-sponsor the House companion bill for Obama's Jobs Bill despite continually criticizing the GOP for not supporting it, just like DWS has done, et al- the NewTimes continues to rely on a corporate gatekeeper/walled-off email system that ensures that readers writing comments can't tell whether or not their email to NewTimes personnel was actually ever received by the individual(s) they wanted to receive it, and, of course, you CAN'T cc or bcc anyone else with the concerns you're sharing, whether over the merit of something, bias, wrong info, need for a correction...


Very basic stuff, but the NewTimes has continued to fail that "comment" test.
Eric Barton needs to look in the mirror, perhaps then he'd find out himself why so many former readers like myself have abandoned it in droves.


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Speaking of Louis Granteed, in case some of you didn't spot it in a post of mine from Wednesday December 14th titled, Dr. Judy Selz zeroes-in on wasteful city spending, angering Comm. Lewy; Keith London's take on Hallandale Beach City Comm. meeting of Dec, 7 2011
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/dr-judy-selz-zeroes-in-on-wasteful-city.html
Some free advice to 2012 Broward Sheriff candidate Louis Granteed, currently Assistant Hollywood Police Chief, per conversations he's had with friends of mine in Broward at various events:
You might want to strongly reconsider constantly praising Lewy to the hilt when you meet citizens from Hallandale Beach. If they are an informed person, chances are great that they are already more than hip to Alex Lewy and what he is all about.Your praise only serves to draw attention to how little you know about him.
Just saying...







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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Only in Broward: Courthouse security apprehends man with gun at entrance, but judges overreact, want armed cop in EVERY courtroom. In a word: NO!

Only in Broward County: Courthouse security catches man with gun at entrance, but judges overreact oh-so predictably, demanding an armed cop in EVERY courtroom.
As if on cue, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million for more deputies in courthouses.
In a word: NO!

How can I put this in a way that you will understand -the courthouse security we already have WORKED.

Whether that is because the security that day -Wednesday- was Sherlock Holmes-like or because the person apprehended was stupid enough to put a gun in a gym bag thru a magnetometer at a place that warns you in advance, you be the.. yes, judge.

Here's the line from the Sun-Sentinel article below that tells you everything you need to know:
Though armed deputies roam the courthouses, there are none working in any Broward courtroom unless a judge asks for one or there's a murder trial.
Exactly.
Because an armed deputy is NOT required for every single courtroom.

In any case, what would all these armed cops do on Fridays after lunch?

Hasn't Broward legal blogger JAABLOG already proven time and again that on Fridays, many of the courtrooms in the Main Courthouse in downtown Ft. Lauderdale are empty?
Yes, he has proven it to a fair-thee-well.

Guess they could provide security and walk along the largely tourist-free FTL riverfront and count the number of graffiti 'tags' on the bridge and the poles and the signs...

Is it impossible for even one legitimate Miami-based TV/print reporter in the year 2011 to do a story on the Broward County Courthouse, and for just once, just for the hell of it, actually describe in detail what things are like there on Fridays?

I know that this is expecting a lot since they could NEVER manage to do even ONE story on the financial, historical and political context behind the "fix" that was the Broward County Courthouse Task Force under Chair -and downtown FTL property-owner?- Ilene Lieberman, and the predictable decisions that were made, despite the fact that that story was practically given to them on a silver platter.
And still they blanched...
"It's not a question of 'Do we need a courthouse?' We need it and we need to get it done," said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman who headed the task force.

(See more on that so-called Task Force below, which once included Scott Rothstein.)

It's really NOT that hard to do.
But you have to want to actually do it.
To NOT keep making excuses for avoiding the story and knowing that you will rattle some powerful and well-connected Broward cages in doing so.
To stop procrastinating.
Here in South Florida, the local news media doesn't want to.
Other than Bob Norman.


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
After second gunman this year enters a Broward courthouse, sheriff seeks security funding
By Linda Trischitta and Danielle A. Alvarez, Sun Sentinel
8:48 PM EDT, September 28, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE

After a second incident this year when an armed man entered a Broward County courthouse, the chief judge and the sheriff called for county funding to increase security.

No one was hurt before Francois V. Brown, 39, of Miramar, was arrested Tuesday at the county's south regional courthouse on Hollywood Boulevard.


On Wednesday, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants $17.2 million from the Broward County Commission to hire and arm deputies in four Broward courthouses and family court.

Read the rest of the article at:


To quote myself from JAABLOG's February 2, 2010 post titled Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me ...
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 9:29 PM

2/3/2010 1:40 AM Hallandale Beach Blog wrote:

First, some facts about Tuesday's vote on financing a new Broward County Courthouse, a story that only the Daily Business Review, JAABLOG and I wrote about. Not asking for plaudits, just noting it for historical context.

For those courthouse denizens who animate this blog with their constant contempt of Broward taxpayers thru your comments here, who think that a new Broward County Courthouse is very important, guess what?

The South Florida news media could hardly care less about you. You barely register on their horizon. You are insignificant.

In the days and weeks before the vote, the two daily South Florida newspapers and the four network TV stations sat on their hands and reported nothing about this issue. Neither the Herald or the Sun-Sentinel have mentioned this subject in print or online since last September, when a Guest Op-Ed purported to have been written by Comm. Stacy Ritter was published in the Sun-Sentinel.

Once again, on something very important, South Florida's news media has shown they were sleeping on the job, and let the people down.

Did you EVER see anything last year on TV about the ties that the members of the Lieberman-led Task Force had to the Broward legal establishment, who desperately want a brand new pony?
Preferably, with a brand-new barn and a lifetime supply of feed. On the taxpayer's dime. Nope. There never was one

Watching the coverage Tuesday night at 11 p.m., actually thinking there'd be some interviews -with somebody!- this point was drive home all over again.

At 11:16 p.m. CBS-4's Antonio Mora did a 15-second read without any visuals and said the vote happened "last night," which as we know, is incorrect.
At 11:27 p.m., Local10's Laurie Jennings also did a 15-second read
with archived visuals of yellow tape and leaking ceilings.
There's the press coverage of your shiny new pony.

And why is it that so few usually well-informed people actually know how poorly Lieberman handled the rigged Task Force last year?
I wrote last year on my blog how she and the county administrators didn't follow basic aspects of the state's Sunshine Laws, and instead, tried to fool the public by arranging for the agenda and assorted relevant public docs for the last meeting, which should've been online before the meeting, to be placed online HOURS AFTER the last meeting was already over.

Not that they actually had the final public meeting listed online days before the meeting, since they didn't. Lieberman was the one in charge -the Chair. But the media didn't care -just like now.

Keep up the great work, JAABLOG!

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In case you forget how that vote for taxpayers paying for a new Broward Courthouse went, voting in favor: Ken Keechl, Stacy Ritter, Ilene Lieberman, Al Jones and Diana Wasserman-Rubin.
Voting against: Sue Gunzberger, Lois Wexler and John Rodstrom.
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