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Showing posts with label Burnadette Norris-Weeks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burnadette Norris-Weeks. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2015

Thoughts on the continuing Burnadette Norris-Weeks ethics problem in Broward County: Thru her actions, attitude and behavior, Broward SOE attorney Norris-Weeks has come to personify the worst unethical excesses of Broward County's pay-to-play culture and the insider's sense of entitlement that pro-reform pols and citizens have fought hard to eliminate.

Thoughts on the continuing Burnadette Norris-Weeks ethics problem in Broward County: Thru her actions, attitude and behavior, Broward SOE attorney Norris-Weeks has come to personify the worst unethical excesses of Broward County's pay-to-play culture and the insider's sense of entitlement that pro-reform pols and citizens have fought hard to eliminate.

 Since last Spring when I took advantage of the Ultra Music Festival being downtown to also take some photos for the last time of what was then left of the partially-destroyed Miami Herald building from directly in front of One Herald Plaza -a building overlooking Biscayne Bay that I had been in dozens and dozens of times from the 1970's thru the mid-'90's when visiting The Miami News, but which by this time was also missing some of the letters from its iconic sign- I've been meaning to write something about what I have long sensed is the real lack of backbone and community engagement and push back among many of Broward County's current and in some case well-known civic groups and their leadership that, in the abstract, ought to be doing MUCH MORE publicly to lead the fight to make Broward's future better for everyone.
Not least, among those in civil society who actually follow the letter and spirit of the law, especially ethics laws meant to provide transparency to the public and inspire trust in institutions by them.

Push back by actually taking people to task by putting their feet to the fire and publicly embarrassing them or shaming them when their unchecked egos, ambition and sense of entitlement to go off the charts the way that Burnadette Norris-Weeks has clearly done the past few years, given that in the current environment, with our present collection of sleepwalking news reporters, she has absolutely no fear that the South Florida news media would ever hold a mirror or TV camera up to her, and show it to the public to inform them and educate them about her behind-the-scenes dealings.
As would happen in most though not all parts of the U.S. -or at least used to.

 So, to better understand this vexing issue involving one Broward insider's ego and over-the-top sense of entitlement, I've posted this collection of information in reverse chron order, most recent at top.

I remind many of you, especially you newcomers to the blog, that for many months, I was often the only Broward citizen present at those early morning meetings of the Broward County Ethics Commission meetings at Broward County Govt HQ, which I dutifuly videotaped and took notes on to be entirely accurate, in-between sips of McDonald's coffee.

Week-after-week, month-after-month, I saw who was and who was NOT trying their best to fullfill the hopes of Broward's long-frustrated citizens on the issue of finally getting the much-needed, stronger ethical rules for Broward elected officials and employees and the people they interact with. I saw who was and who was NOT making the honest effort to change the unacceptable status quo that then-existed and markedly improving it in both letter and spirit.

So with that in mind, I can tell you that Burnadette Norris-Weeks was NOT a Profile in Courage 
then and she was NOT years later when serving on the appointed Broward County Charter Commission, where she had the rare opportunity to serve the long-term best interests of Broward citizens, businesses AND incorporate notions of Good Government Best Practices.

But instead of doing that, Norris-Weeks voted AGAINST Broward citizens like you and me from even being able to vote at the polls that November, and to decide the outcome of the issue of a countywide-elected mayor for Broward County, as the public would be able to do in 99% of America.

But NOT here in Broward County, and Burnadette Norris-Weeks was one of the small handful of people who voted AGAINST you and I even being able to vote for or against it, much less, voting and deciding it one way or the other.

A helpful reminder from me in 2009 of Burnadette Norris-Weeks' anti-democratic sensibility: 

And now we read that last week Norris-Weeks was appointed by ethically-challenged Broward County Comm. Dale Holness to the new incarnation of the Broward Charter Review group. 
Why?

What possibly justifies this woman's continual bad judment and curious sense of ethics and propriety from being represented over-and-over on important Broward panels in ways that are genuinely harmful to both Broward citizens and the larger business community?
Why should the public expect anything different from her this time but more of her anti-citizen actions that prevent genuine accountability and oversight, to say nothing of actual improvement in governance?

If you wonder why Broward County is still mired in the state of continual funk it's been in for years, and why no matter where in the county you go, the public (and the news media) consistently is bewildered at what they hear about what's REALLY going on, wonder why the public has so very little trust and respect for Broward's myriad govt. agencies and functions, it's because of the accurate perception that establishment insiders like Norris-Weeks have consistently used her position to give herself unfair, anti-competitive advantages over others.

And the public perception that Norris-Weeks, when on Broward govt. panels, uses that role to further special interests, NOT for the benefit of the majority of Broward taxpayers and Small Business owners, who are very much against crony capitalism and pay-to-play govt., is right in the records for everyone to see.
Once Broward gets around to making it public a year later...

So tell me, why haven't you or I seen a single story yet on Norris-Weeks' multiple episodes of curious behavior and bad judgment on Channel 4, 6, 7 or 10's newscasts? 

Or in the Miami Herald?

Good question.



But first things first...
Clearly, one of the few times that one of the most ardent opponents of ethical reform in Hallandale Beach, Andrew Markoff, was said to be correct.



Broward Elections Lawyer Owes Nearly $11,000 In Broward County Taxes 
Posted on January 29, 2015 by Red Broward

Commissioner: Ban elections office attorney from politics  
WRITTEN BY THE SUN-SENTINEL POSTED: 06/04/2015, 02:29PM 

Broward Beat
Some Commissioners Fed Up With Elections Chief
By Buddy Nevins

 It was Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes’ turn in the barrel this week.

 Snipes got grilled – her word for the 30-minute cross-examination was “bullied” – by Broward County Commissioner Mark Bogen on Tuesday.

 Like a prosecutor questioning a murderer, Bogen started out something like this: “Would you agree the most important thing for any supervisor is to run efficient and impartial elections?”

 It went downhill from there for Snipes.
Read the rest of the post at 
www.browardbeat.com/some-commissioners-fed-up-with-elections-chief/







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Broward Beat

 By Michael J. Ryan

The following is an open e-mail Mayor Mike Ryan of Sunrise calling for a policy governing political activity by any Elections Office lawyer.
The background:  Commissioner Mark Bogen last week called for a clear policy governing Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes’ attorney. He did this after discovering that the office lawyer Burnadette Norris-Weeks had actively taken part in campaigns.

Read the rest of the column at:
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---

Broward Beat
By Buddy Nevins

Burnadette Norris-Weeks — the beleagued Elections Office attorney who is embroiled in a fight over her politicking — obviously hasn’t heard the age-old expression: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Norris-Weeks has lashed out at Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan for daring to criticize her actions — campaigning for candidates at the same time she is supposed to be an impartial Broward Elections Office official.

Read the rest of the column at:


Other than the fully-engaged reaction from Sunrise's mayor, I'm unaware of anything by the people who ought to be The Usual Suspects.
Just silence from The Broward League of Women Voters, The Broward Workshop, The Broward Alliance CEO Council, or even the Good Government Initiative at the University of Miami, under former Miami-Dade County Comm. Katy Sorenson, who was long known as the most pro-reform supporter of strong and effective ethics on that ethically-challenged and corrupt group that seems to be on perpetual probation for crimes against taxpayers and common sense.

 How much of this is because of business and political connections, large and small, and how much of this is because of race, and the fear of being taken apart publicly for simply saying the facts aloud while the local news media largely averts its eyes for whatever reason?
That latter point is something that Buddy Nevins references above in his June 5th account of Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes appalling performance the past few years and the public criticism of her that has only grown MUCH LOUDER.

Up to a point.
And that point in my opinion is the same one that explains the silence now on Norris-Weeks.
Commissioners won’t say much of this publicly because of politics:Its politically incorrect to attack one of the few black office holders in Broward.Perhaps more important, Democrats – eight of the nine commissioners  — fear they would be alienating their base in the African American and Caribbean American community if they publicly condemn Snipes.
Another aspect of this whole matter that I have written about a lot in recent emails but not yet here on the blog concerns the selection by crony capitalism-loving Broward Comm. Dale Holness of Burnadette Norris-Weeks to the Broward Charter Review panel for the second time in a row: why does #SoFL have so many more unethical and incompetent political and government officials than other areas of the U.S. its size? Especially among African-Americans?

 Is it the lack of a large enough pool of educated, Middle Management types who DON'T depend on the public payroll for their personal & professional advancement?

You don't have to be a political junkie or news junkie to realize that #SoFL and #Broward are lacking in the very type of people who in most parts of the country actually make up a good portion of the middle management of well-run companies that actually manufacture tangible consumer and industrial goods, instead of selling the hope of sand, surf and sun to visitors.

Also, how is it that in the year 2015, the Broward Workshop,with all the access to resources and media professionals they have, do NOT have a Twitter feed? 
Seriously.
Their charming and always-helpful Exec. Director, Kareen Boutros, is someone whom I like, after first meeting her at the previous edition of the Broward Charter Review meetings in 2008, but it's time for them to get into the 21st Century.

I'm grew up and was educated in South Florida in the 1970's, but still I continue to be #dumbfounded and #frustrated by what is tolerated and passes for "Normal" around here that would simply NOT be acceptable behavior and conduct in the rest of the U.S. then or now.
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Just Broward County being Broward County when facing their own serial incompetence. A sad, familiar refrain... The sorry state of ethics and Good Government in South Florida where government incompetence and corruption are too frequently the norm; Broward County Courthouse Taskforce

Below are some thoughts by some very concerned Broward County citizens on what's going on up at
Andrews Ave. with the Broward County Commission, with my own comments just below them, which are, in large part, excerpts of an email of my own sent to the writers and the much larger community who receives my emails.

The emails are in reverse-chron order with some identifiable email info removed, and some blank spacing eliminated, but otherwise identical to how I received it over the weekend.
The comments are pretty self-explanatory and the official govt. response speak volumes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charlotte Greenbarg
Date: Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Subject: FW: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion from Mae Smith
To: Charlotte Greenbarg

Read the whole list of emails. Interesting. Go Mae!
Charlotte
From: Warence Mae Smtih
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:52 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'; Commissioner Diane Wasserman-Rubin; Commissioner Ilene Lieberman ; Commissioner John Rodstrom ; Commissioner Ken Keechl; Commissioner Kristen Jacobs; Commissioner Lois Wexler; Commissioner Stacey Ritter; Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger
Cc: Michael Mayo
Subject: RE: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion

 To all who have the authority or power to take responsible action:
Commissioner Eggelletion was removed from office in September it appears on the website as if he still represents the district. Why is it taking so long to remove his name off of the website? This is misleading to the residents of District 9. When School Board Commissioner Beverly Gallagher was removed from office; the school board immediately removed her pictures and name from all business of the school board. The school board felt a need take immediate action. Is there a reason for you to be so slow to remove his name?
Today Ex-Commissioner Eggelletion turned himself into the Broward County Jail. The Feds has him on one corner and the State Attorney’s Office finally has him on the other. I don’t think Governor Crist is stupid and I don’t think you are. What are the chances of the Governor Crist re-instating him to office? All material and websites that advertise his name as Commissioner for District 9 should be removed NOW!!!!
Warence “Mae” Smith
President of St. George Civic Association, Inc.
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 5:15 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'; 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Cc: Mae Smith; Michael Mayo
Subject: Another arrest: J. Eggelletion
Commissioner Keechl and Ms. Henry:
The attached story about another arrest of former Comm. Eggelletion further questions your approach about your unwillingness to update your website. Your official website states that he remains a Broward County Commissioner and that he represents District 9. I seems that you put little value in the content of the website, even the home page and somehow this inaccuracy about who holds an elected office is a small issue to the Commission and to the County Administrator.
http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3512&Itemid=1
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park, FL
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 11:20 PM
To: 'Henry, Bertha'; 'Keechl, Ken'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Ms. Henry:
I guess that makes sense to you, but certainly not to me. Updating of the web site is dependent on actions of the Governor? There is a vacant spot on the Broward County Board of Commissioners, but you seem to be not willing to acknowledge it on the web site. Apparently the web site is not expected to be current or accurate, even when it addresses a matter as important as our elected officials. Evidently that is also quite acceptable to the other Commissioners. It also seems to me that this update to the website should be quite manageable and a rather simple task. Certainly that is our expectation in the private sector, but in the public sector our expectations are expected to be much lower? This makes me continue to wonder how well the large tasks are being managed.
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park
From: Henry, Bertha
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:07 PM
To: Keechl, Ken; 'Dave Reierson'
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Dear Mr. Reierson,
We expect the Governor to make an appointment any day now. Once done, we will update all at once.

From: Keechl, Ken
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 12:47 PM
To: 'Dave Reierson'
Cc: Henry, Bertha
Subject: RE: J. Eggelletion
Dave:
Under the Broward Co. Charter, this decision is that of Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry. I have cc’d her on this email. Ms. Henry, please respond to Mr. Reierson directly.
Thanks for your continued support, Dave.
Ken
Ken Keechl, District 4 Commissioner
Vice Mayor Broward County
From: Dave Reierson
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:59 AM
To: Keechl, Ken
Subject: J. Eggelletion
Commissioner Keechl:
I see that J. Eggelletion is still listed as a Commissioner of the Broward County Board of Commissioners. His website states that he represents District 9. Neither is true. Why hasn’t this been corrected?
Dave Reierson
Oakland Park, FL

----------
November 10th, 2009

Up until now I've always avoided forwarding emails to you for all the obvious reasons, but as you can see below, other concerned citizens in Broward are noticing the very same sorts of 'curious' things that we've been noticing and taking note of for quite some time and also asking why? 
Their emails and questions ring familiar to us and resonate deep inside because they contain the same lyrics from that same old sad song of incompetence and misfeasance sung by Broward County administrators and elected officials, starting with Bertha Henry and her assistants.

To cite one recent example, Broward County administrators DIDN'T properly keep the public information on their website accurate or up-to-date on their so-called Courthouse Taskforce, under Broward Commissioner Ilene Lieberman as Chair.


(When you're looking for fresh objective eyes on a subject, why was a Broward Commissioner on the Taskforce in the first place, thereby effectively giving her two votes on the matter?
Someone who reportedly owned land in the immediate area?
And then made the Chair?

The entire Courthouse Taskforce had self-evident professional and personal conflicts of interests of the sort that, in a well-run county would've never allowed them to pass muster, since there was nobody on it who was even openly agnostic about needing a new facility, much less, critical of the county's self-serving bias with taxpayers dollars.

But with just a few rare exceptions, seemingly everyone in South Florida media just looked the other way, because the Broward County Commission desperately wants a new Courthouse, and doesn't much care what taxpayers say or think, or what sorts of behind-the-scenes moves they have to finesse in order to get their way.

There's a reason why the Broward County Commissioners don't want to have a public referendum on this issue.

If the media is supposed to be 'watchdogs' for the public, why did South Florida's media 
suddenly go deaf, mute and blind on this issue and never ask tough questions about the 
personnel makeup of this Taskforce, and why did the Editorial Boards of the Herald and Sun-Sentinel just sit on the sidelines and take one for the home team, i.e. The Establishment, and never ask?

Do you know what they call a place where the 'watchdog' doesn't bark?
Of course you do, because you live here, too. They call it our reality -South Florida 2009.)

Under Comm. Lieberman's watch, the Taskforce waited until hours AFTER their last scheduled public meeting before finally putting up the agenda and any and all relevant updated info, docs and renderings, as well as the Minutes of the previous meeting, which was supposed to be online for the
public to examine long BEFORE that meeting ever started.

In a well-run community where there is actual punishment and public rebuke of those who don't play by society's norms and laws, and who continually don't do what they're supposed to do, there's a real tangible downside to those who don't place the info on the county's website WEEKS BEFORE, if not days before, as the County kept trying to peddle their sad-luck mold stories to anyone in the media who'd ask, complete with arranging tours of supposed off-limit areas.

But this isn't a well-run county as we all know, so it WASN'T done.
There was no public accountability.

That's why in the days prior to that final public meeting of Broward's Courthouse Taskforce, I emailed Comm. Sue Gunzburger's office to let her know about this failure by the county to properly keep the public FULLY informed.
Her always-helpful staff forwarded my concerns to the top of the county.

Later, I received what I can only describe as a series of pathetic, self-serving excuses from one of County Administrator Bertha Henry's assistants.

These rather silly and unsatisfactory missives were very similar to the ones I received this past Spring when I grilled them about the fact that ONE YEAR after-the-fact, the relevant information and Minutes from the FINAL public meeting of the county's Charter Review Commission in April of 2008, including the actual arguments for and against individual items being proposed for the Nov. 2008 ballot for county voters, as well as the actual procedural and final votes by the individual committee members, were STILL NOT on the county's website.

So, after posting them every few weeks, what, they just forgot to do it BEFORE the actual election?

Call me old-fashioned, but I happen to believe that Broward County's citizen taxpayers, having already paid for all the costs involved, had an absolute right to actually read that information and
see for themselves why some proposals made the cut and others didn't, and know specifically who said what when.

Maybe they'd have noticed as I did from having actually been there in person, the highly anti-democratic comments and votes taken by the Broward city mayors who were appointed to the CRC,
under Chair Lori C. Moseley of Miramar, all of whom, coincidentally, were women.

In my opinion, the worst offender of all was Cooper City mayor Debby Eisinger, whose comments and behavior made me think that what she'd really like to be in another life is a despot.
And not a benevolent dictator, either.

 Last year there was a proposal before the CRC to take a resolution to the County Commission to support a process that would lead to a procedure that allowed the public to place legitimate agenda items on the County Commission agenda

With 19 members present, 13 votes were need to pass.
http://www.broward.org/charter/pdf/crc_regular_meetin20040908final.pdf
page 10

It lost 13-5.
Only two women on the CRC voted yes: H.K. "Petey" Kaletta and Burnadette
Norris-Weeks.
Six voted against: Debby Eisinger, Lori Moseley, Patricia Good, Maggie Davidson, Hazelle Rogers, Jodi Jeffreys-Tanner.

Page 20, On the proposal for the creation of an advisory MTA, which I strongly supported and which passed 15-4, voting against were Debby Eisinger, Lori Moseley and Patricia Good

On the proposal that received the lion's share of media attention last year which would allow Broward County citizens to vote in November for or against a County-wide elected mayor, George A. Morgan, Jr. the Exec. Director of The Broward Workshop put it plainly on page 73 in his submitted remarks: "...The voters have a right to decide this important issue... Don't take their right to vote away..."

At page 84, Mr, Morgan speaks in person

On page 127, you can see who voted for and against which led to the motion failing on a 10-9 vote, failing to get the 13 votes.

The women voting to prevent Broward County voters from deciding this issue themselves:
Burnadette Norris-Weeks, Maggie Davidson, Hazelle Rogers, Jody Jeffreys-Tanner
and our ol' pal, Debbie Eisinger.

Cooper City mayor Debbie Eisinger voted against all three, earning her the booby prize.

That Eisinger, Joy Cooper and a few other Broward pols recently endorsed Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber, see Gelber rolls out more Broward endorsements
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/10/gelber_rolls_out_more_broward.html


Posted by Anthony Man on October 7, 2009, it caused me to write a post a few weeks ago
that you'll soon see, tentatively titled without exaggeration, Rogue's Gallery of Broward
Officials Endorses Dan Gelber - Includes Joy Cooper, Naturally.

All of these important matters about the CRC were seemingly only observed by myself, since the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's coverage of that final public meeting was woefully short of what was needed or required.

So as to your question of what sort of people possess the chutzpah to think they can do nothing,
after-the-fact, when it suits them, and think they can get away with it, I'd suggest it's the very same
people who don't do what they're required to do, before-the-fact, when it suits them and they think
they can make it stick.

 The answer, of course, is the Broward County Commission, though sometimes, it's also the Hallandale Beach City Commission for the same exact inexplicable reasons.

 Except when it's not at all inexplicable but patently obvious to both you and me: because they can.

 It's the same reason that the Hallandale Beach City Commission last week refused to agree to Comm. Keith London's common sense plan to post the Diplomat Country Club's very unpopular Local Activity Center (LAC) application on the city's feeble website.

Nobody would even second the motion.
Joy Cooper, William Julian, Dotty Ross and Anthony A. Sanders all just sit there like bumps on a log, as the silence echoed throughout the Commission Chambers.

Why?
Because they don't want you to know!


And trust me, in a few weeks, they'll be criticizing HB citizens from the dais just like Mayor Cooper was doing in earnest last Wednesday morning, over the city's very unpopular RAC plan, saying that people in the community were "uneducated" and were spreading lies, etc.
It was typical Joy Cooper theatre-of-the-absurd.


 Yet they won't post the important yet very unpopular LAC plan on their own website so that people in the community can actually see what the specific details are.
THAT is what passes for normal in corrupt and poorly-run Hallandale Beach, Florida in the year
2009.

If you're interested, you can see some of my own contemporaneous comments about the myriad actions of both the Broward Charter Review Commission and the Courthouse Taskforce by going here,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Charter%20Review%20Commission
and here, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=courthouse
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