Charlotte Greenbarg sounds the alarm about Broward back-scratching in action: Bob Norman: Lieberman in China; Looks, walks & quacks like a duck? Duck!

Thought you'd find this of interest, though some of you may've already received Broward Coalition president Charlotte Geenbarg's email.

At the bottom, I've added Charlotte's spot-on email to the Broward County Commission yesterday, plus the copy of the amendment Comm. Lieberman wants to have heard on the 14th, after her trip to China, which I sent many of you on Monday.

I've seen ducks up close before -this ethics amendment of her's looks like a duck to me.

Perhaps we should all get a t-shirt printed-up reading: "One of my commissioners went to China but all I got was much-weaker ethics laws."

By the way, for those of you who don't know your Texas geography, Tarrant County includes Fort Worth, and it's county pop. is 1.7 million, says the guy whose family first moved to the Hill Country of Texas in 1855.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Charlotte Greenbarg
Date: Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Subject: Bob Norman: Lieberman in China
To: Charlotte Greenbarg

This probably isn't the best time to visit China;
all travel should be on hold until the County gets it act together, ethically and fiscally.

Personal note: When we were in business late 70s, 80s and until 1993 when we sold and retired, the Chinese government offered to provide at no cost to us for 2 years all the labor we needed to manufacture our orthopedic soft goods and the famous black belt w/suspenders that my late husband perfected. We said no thanks. First, we'd have to lay off the factory full of people who supported families, many single moms, and second, we knew that once they made our goods, they'd go back to China and undercut us, probably with inferior products.

Charlotte

-------

BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes

Daily Pulp blog
Lieberman In China
By Bob Norman, Tue., Aug. 31 2010 @ 10:43AM

While the Chaitgate corruption investigation rages on, Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman won't be at today's commission meeting. She's gone to China.

Lieberman's office confirmed she left for Beijing yesterday as part of a delegation representing the National Association of Counties. She will be there for ten days to "promote econcomic development."

​The commissioner, who has come under intense scrutiny in the State Attorney's Office investigation of the dealings of dirty developers Bruce and Shawn Chait, is currently the president of the Florida Association of Counties, which is affiliated with the national group.

Read the rest of the column at:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/lieberman_in_china.php

Reader comments at:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/lieberman_in_china.php#comments

------
Charlotte's email to the Broward County Commission last night at 7:50 p.m.:

Ladies & Gentlemen:

You've just had (5 p.m. today) an item added to tomorrow's agenda, dealing with the selection of an insurance provider. Staff tied on the selection (Commissioners are no longer on selection committees now that the Ethics ordinance has passed) between Coventry and Aetna.

Problem is that the Florida Assoc. of Counties (FAC), President of which is Comm. Ilene Lieberman, contacted each Commissioner re: this selection. Turns out that the FAC would get $2/month for each enrolled employee if Aetna gets the contract. This is a statewide "arrangment" that FAC has with Aetna.There's nothing wrong per se with the company Aetna; but the "arrangment" waddles and quacks.

Furthermore, FAC Pres. Lieberman is presently in China representing FAC.

So how is this connected to Item 51? Well, we need an open record of who gets and gives what to whom. We wanted
full public disclosure when we demanded an Ethics ordinance. When FAC has an event (and the National Assoc. of Counties and others likewise), there are sponsors for the open bars, for example, and those sponsors are often law firms and lobbyists that do business with counties or have clients who do. But we don't know that, do we? It's not easily available information. And there's the rub.

You need to let the Ethics Ordinance continue to take effect before you begin to make any changes, and Item 51 is a very large change.

I am copying my members on this communication, and know from many, many meetings, emails and conversations that they totally agree with this position.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Greenbarg

President

The Broward Coalition, Inc.

-------

Wendy Murray's cc of her email to the Broward County Commission

Thank you, Wendy!

Charlotte

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 8:03 AM

Subject: Re: Poster Child for why Item 51 should not be passed

Dear Commissioners,

I agree with both Charlotte and Don.

Please inject ethics and integrity into the Broward County Commission by acting openly and with the avoidance of perceived mischief.

Being an elected official is an honor bestowed upon you by the votes of the residents you serve. Public service should be discerning and in the best interest of the residents. It should not be self-seeking nor give the appearance of such.

Truly, I thank you for your service and hopefully, I observe your actions to avoid all perceived mischief while embracing the arms of integrity and character.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Wendy Murray

P.S. Please forgive any typos as sending from phone. Thank you.

Wendy Murray, FEMV, CMCA, LCAM
Director of Business Development
Association Services of Florida
10112 USA Today Way
Miramar, FL 33025
www.associaflorida.com
954-922-3514

----------

Per my email yesterday

http://www.broward.org/commission/Pages/Meetings.aspx

Meeting Agendas

AI-6294		Item #: 51.
Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Date: 08/31/2010 Director's Name: Jeffrey Newton Department: County Attorney
Information
Requested Action
MOTION TO ADOPT Resolution directing the County Administrator to publish Notice of Public Hearing to be held on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, at 2:00 p.m., in Room 422 of the Governmental Center to consider enactment of a proposed Ordinance, the title of which is as follows: AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, RELATING TO THE CODE OF ETHICS; AMENDING SUBSECTION 1-19(b)(1) OF THE BROWARD COUNTY CODE OF ORDINANCES, TO ALLOW COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO ACCEPT ACCOMMODATIONS PROVIDED FOR OR ARRANGED BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS NACo AND FAC TO ATTEND OR PARTICIPATE IN OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS OR EVENTS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR INCLUSION IN THE CODE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (Sponsored by Commissioner Ilene Lieberman)
Why Action is Necessary
The proposed Ordinance was prepared by the Office of the County Attorney at the direction of the Board of County Commissioners at its Commission meeting of August 17, 2010.
What Action Accomplishes
The proposed Ordinance amends the Code of Ethics to provide an exception to the gifts restriction and prohibition, allowing County Commissioners to accept accommodations to attend official events and functions that are provided for, or arranged by, state, regional, national, and international organizations, including the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Florida Association of Counties (FAC), which promote the exchange of information or the professional development of elected public officials, thereby saving Broward County the cost or potential cost of such attendance.
Is this Action Goal Related
Previous Action Taken
Summary Explanation/ Background
The proposed ordinance amends the Code of Ethics to provide an exception to the gifts restriction and prohibition, allowing County Commissioners to accept accommodations to attend official events and functions that are provided for, or arranged by, state, regional, national, and international organizations, including the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Florida Association of Counties (FAC), which promote the exchange of information or the professional development of elected public officials, thereby saving Broward County the cost or potential cost of such attendance.
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary:
Fiscal Impact Statement by Office of Management and Budget attached as Exhibit 3.

------
See also: http://205.166.161.204/adv_search_results.cfm?fp=ADVSRCH
for the Motion to Direct and Motion to Adopt requested by Comm. Lieberman and County Attorney Jeffrey Newton.

------

In case the link to Bob Norman's column of last Monday above -which mentioned Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper- doesn't work for you:

Our Politicians at the Trough
By Bob Norman, Mon., Aug. 23 2010 @ 3:23PM

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/florida_league_of_cities_dinner.php

------

Speaking of ducks, if only South Florida news reporters would start paying closer attention and boning-up on the context and backstory of these sorts of stories, maybe even showing-up en masse to the County Commission meetings just to humor citizens like myself, and started channeling Le Canard enchaîné.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Canard_encha%C3%AEn%C3%A9

Of course, the Chained Duck intentionally has very limited info on le Internet, which they explain away thusly at http://www.lecanardenchaine.fr/:

"Mais notre métier, c'est d'informer et de distraire nos lecteurs, avec du papier journal et de l'encre. C'est un beau métier qui suffit à occuper notre équipe."
But our job is to inform and entertain our readers, with newsprint and ink. It is a wonderful profession that's sufficient to occupy our team.

If only the Sun-Sentinel and Herald were both like-minded and high-minded, and focused their energies on the very large task before them in Broward County, a target-rich environment for corruption with a Capital "C" rather than waste their resources. But no.

Miami TV news reporters have no such excuses.
Instead, the latter do "news stories" on eyelash operations, or get sucked into doing stories on bus shelter advertising signs bought by Hollywood film studios to promote an upcoming film with the word "virgin" in it, which got on the air last night on Channel 4 at 11:11 p.m.
http://cbs4.com/watercooler/Still.A.Virgin.2.1887590.html

Which only makes me ask: If a dog chases its own tail, is that news?
As we all know from personal viewing experience, in South Florida TV circles, dogs that chase their own tails are golden!

Broward County Comm. Sue Gunzburger's email to Broward civic activists about ethics reform and Tuesday's Commission meeting

On Thursday, Broward County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger, who represents me here in SE Broward, sent the email brlow out via her campaign office to her supporters, Broward civic activists and the South Florida news media to make them aware of what was afoot with next Tuesday's Commission meeting, the subject of my blog post yesterday, concerning Buddy Nevins comments at Broward Beat.

Outrage: Commissioners To Debate Gutting Ethics Reform
http://www.browardbeat.com/outrage-commissioners-to-debate-gutting-ethics-reform/

The email below was sent to super-activist Charlotte Greenbarg, the President of the Broward Coalition, who thoughtfully forwarded it to me. http://www.browardcoalition.org/

------

Stand with Sue for Ethics Reform

** Urgent Action Needed **

Dear Charlotte,

It seems County Attorney Jeff Newton, working again in stealth coordination with at least one of my colleagues, is conspiring for a second attempt to torpedo ethics reform. Click here to read respected political journalist Buddy Nevins' new column exposing this latest scheme to derail ethics reform.

In the Agenda and backup for next Tuesday's Commission meeting (Item 8 -- and the related amendments -- on the 2 PM Agenda), Mr. Newton is actually proposing that we adopt the proposed Ethics Code (Agenda Item #7) ... and then vote minutes later to totally gut it. This is outrageous!

The County Attorney's so-called "glitch" ordinance proposal (Item 8) is a joke. It is nothing but a thinly veiled political attempt to kill ethics reform. It provides a lengthy "cooling off" period of many months before the ethics reforms would even take effect.

Why is this lengthy delay needed? Do any of my colleagues really need 120 days or more time to become ethical and comply with the new Ethics Code before it takes effect? I hope not.

In reality, the proposed delay is a stalling tactic to allow some of my colleagues to orchestrate lawsuits which would seek to kill ethics reform before the effective date. It would also eliminate any criminal penalties for violating the Ethics Code,

Even worse are the proposed amendments, which are purportedly instigated and authored solely by the County Attorney. These amendments would:

• Totally kill the proposed ban on County Commissioners simultaneously collecting a public salary while also earning big bucks leveraging public office by serving as a paid lobbyist.
• Totally exempt Commission spouses/domestic partners from the gift ban.
• Exempt Commissioners, spouses/domestic partners, and Commission personal staff from most of the new ethics bans.
• Exempt all current commissioners from complying with strictest parts of the proposed new Ethics Code.

With your help in June, we were able to scuttle the plot to kill ethics reform with a ridiculous "declaratory judgment" lawsuit. In response, the County Attorney hired -- at taxpayer expense -- attorney E. Bruce Johnson to weigh in with a "legal opinion" denouncing the proposed Ethics Code. Mr. Johnson's lengthy opinion letter seemingly parroted the County Attorney's absurd stance that any real ethics reform was unconstitutional.

What the County Attorney and Mr. Johnson failed to disclose was that Mr. Johnson has a significant financial conflict of interest that should have prevented him from rendering any opinion. You see, Mr. Johnson's own law firm earns money from having one of their attorneys (State Senator Chris Smith) engage in the same shady "lobbying down" conduct that we are seeking to ban. Thus, it was no surprise that Johnson put forward an opinion that the questionable conduct -- the same conduct which puts money into his own pocket -- is fine with him.

On my own, I inquired last month of respected former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth on this issue. He told me he reviewed the proposed Ethics Code and saw no problems with it. In fact, Attorney General Butterworth told me there was no reason he saw for bringing any declaratory judgment action against it nor for legitimately questioning the constitutionality of the ethics proposals.

Despite this, the County Attorney (and presumably one or two of my colleagues) will not stop until ethics reform is killed. With the sad and disappointing headlines of the past year -- the arrests and convictions -- I couldn't think any better argument would be needed to urge adoption of a tough code of ethics.

HERE IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP. NOW.

Please call or email the Broward County Commissioner who represents your district. Demand that s/he vote on Tuesday to adopt the proposed Ethics Code (Public Hearing Agenda Item 7) and reject the so-called "glitch" ordinance (Public Hearing Agenda Item 8) and ALL of the County Attorney's proposed amendments to Item 8.

If you stand with me in support of real ethics reform, please contact your own Commissioner and let him/her (or all of them) know your views on this important issue. Here is the contact information:

District 1 - Ilene Lieberman - 954.357.7001 - ilieberman@broward.org
District 2 - Kristin Jacobs - 954.357.7002 - kjacobs@broward.org
District 3 - Stacy Ritter - 954.357.7003 - sritter@broward.org
District 4 - County Mayor Ken Keechl - 954.357.7004 - kkeechl@broward.org
District 5 - Lois Wexler - 954.357.7005 - lwexler@broward.org
District 6 - Sue Gunzburger - I already stand with you 100% for real ethics reform.
District 7 - John E. Rodstrom, Jr. - 954.357.7007 - jrodstrom@broward.org
District 8 - Vacant
District 9 - Albert C. Jones - 954.357.7009 - acjones@broward.org

Be very clear in your comments to them. Let them know you will not be fooled by any slick political spin or intentionally complicated legal gibberish offered as excuses. The bottom line: Any Commissioner who votes in support of the "glitch" ordinance (Item 8) or ANY of the proposed amendments to Item 8 is an ENEMY OF ETHICS REFORM.

There can be no compromise on ethics. No matter how upset some of my colleagues may be with me for continuing to advance this most honorable cause.

Please get involved right now. I need your help. This cause is too important for anyone to stay silent. Will you stand with me for ethics reform?

Sincerely,
Sue
-------------
This email was the subject of Bob Norman's Daily Pulp blog column Thursday.

BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
Morning Pulp
By Bob Norman Thursday, August 5 2010 @ 9:04AM

In the latest outrageous bit of behavior from our delinquent Broward County Commission, there is a new plan afoot to gut the new ethics reform. The insidious plan (as it appears on the agenda): The commission will pass the ethics proposals put forth by the Broward County Ethics Commission as they are, as required by law, and then immediately vote on amendments that would exclude themselves and family members from having to follow some of them. Among them is the key provision to bar them and their relatives from lobbying in Broward County.

Read the rest of the post here:
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/broward_county_ethics_reform.php

The subject of the Broward County Commission possibly gutting the Broward County Ethics Commission's work was also the subject of a number of posts by Brittany Wallman at the Broward Politics blog of the Sun-Sentinel.
These are in chronological order.

Ban on doing business with the county could hit Broward commissioners
By Brittany Wallman August 5, 2010 08:00 AM
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/08/ban_on_doing_business_with_the.html

Proposed county ethics "glitch'' law lets commissioners go after their complainants
By Brittany Wallman August 5, 2010 11:45 AM
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/08/commissioners_still_could_acce.html

Ethics reform dismantling draws quick foes in Broward
By Brittany Wallman August 5, 2010 05:30 PM
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/08/ethics_reform_dismantling_draw.html

Weeks later, Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel & Miami TV newscasts STILL consciously ignoring Bob Norman's spot-on story re School Board's Jennifer Gottlieb

Weeks after Bob Norman perhaps fatally exposed Broward School Board Chair Jennifer Gottlieb's very poor judgment in devastating detail in his must-read Daily Pulp blog at the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes, the reporters, columnists and editors of the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as well as the various so-called "Business Journals" and TV news operations in Miami are STILL consciously ignoring that unflattering story about a powerful person because... well, they can.

BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
Daily Pulp blog
Emails Reveal School Board Chairwoman Romanced Schools' Banker
By Bob Norman, Fri., Jul. 2 2010 @ 8:48AM -

She was a second-year elected school board member at a political conference in Tampa, getting quite literally wined and dined by high-rolling bankers at Citigroup, enjoying the "luxury" of a night out in a town that didn't know who she was.

He was one of those bankers, working the deals behind what has become $2 billion in Broward School Board debt. Both were married with young children.

And after meeting and flirting at an all-you-can-eat lobster and steak dinner put on by Citigroup for elected officials at The Palm restaurant in Tampa, romance blossomed between current Broward County School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb and Citigroup finance manager Rick Patterson.

Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/07/school_board_chairwoman_jennifer_gottlieb.php

That post from July 2nd currently has 499 comments as of 4 p.m. today, which shows that despite the local MSM's attempt to bury this story, people who actually pay attention to what's going on in the community, regardless of their opinion, are talking about it, anyway.

This foolish attempt to bury the story only makes the old traditional media in South Florida seem more irrelevant and ridiculous than ever, and it's not like they are that relevant anymore to begin with, since there are clearly many reporters on local Miami TV who ought to be in smaller TV markets, but are here, warts and all.
(That will be a topic of future posts.)

And seriously, when was the last time you read a lengthy and well-written story in the Herald about the goings-on at local Miami TV news operations the way that once was fairly common in the 1970's and '80's?

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and things are exactly what they seem, and in this case, there clearly seems to be a conspiracy of silence among the South Florida news media and chattering class about the personal and professional behavior of Jennifer Gottlieb.

But then as we are constantly at pains to remind ourselves, this is South Florida, an outlier more often than not in the best of times when journalism is either hard-hitting or popular, and this is hardly the first time since my family moved here in 1968 that a perfectly valid and compelling news story was ignored by the then-extant MSM on account of... well, whatever the popular excuse offered up at the time at One Herald Plaza or over at the old Channel 4 studio in downtown Miami was.

Usually, when pressed, the answer was always "lack of column inches" in the newspaper or available time on a newscast.

Try to imagine a current local TV anchor publicly going after a local pol like Demetrio Perez Jr. the way that anchor/news director Ralph Renick does here in 1982?
It's inconceivable in the current era of sycophancy, and our great loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyuJGHrjbRY

1982 Ralph Renick editorial on WTVJ on political efforts in Miami to prevent Scarface from being filmed in Miami due to concerns of negative portrayal of Miami and its Cuban-American population.



The local TV and print reporters whom we've grown accustomed to seeing report regularly on the latest education funding/scandal/crisis/antics involving School Board Superintendents Alberto Carvalho in Miami-Dade and James Notter in Broward, overwhelmingly female reporters, are quite simply, NOT doing their job by ignoring this story.

They've collectively taken a pass on mentioning something embarrassing about an elected official in Broward County that should be of great concern to every Broward County taxpayer, especially those with children in the public school system.
Why?

And is part of the reason that there is such great reluctance among South Florida's news media to face this issue head-on precisely because the person involved is female? As I've stated previously in writing about other neglected education issues, I personally think the answer is YES.

There is a palpable dis-connect and obvious sense of hypocrisy among South Florida's news media in how they report on the foibles and legal problems of male and female elected officials, so it should hardly be surprising that once again, they just swallow their hypocrisy whole because this case involves a female.

If this had involved a male School Board chair, though, we all know that this same story would've made the front page of the Miami Herald, albeit, with lots of quotes from supportive friends
and work colleagues.

My own experience in corporate life from working with large nationally-known law firms on big cases, as well as from being involved at a high level in presidential political campaigns, plus my own personal relationships with people in South Florida, Chicago and Washington, D.C., is that people who have particularly bad habits tend to have those traits throughout the day, regardless of whether they are at home or not.
There's no OFF switch they hit.

People who are consistently NOT punctual, NOT properly prepared and who are generally untrustworthy, who can't keep a confidential secret about a client from others, tend NOT to be able to do the exact opposite when they are away from the office.

I've personally gotten lots of very smart and talented people re-assigned or fired from firms or political campaigns because of the above issues, and I had no qualms in doing so because I've found that personal recklessness almost always reveals itself at the worst possible time.

Just like a film director, I need to know that people around me on a project or campaign are on top of things and focused on the matter at hand, not worrying about extraneous matters, esp. involving romance.

If you see people consistently making poor decisions and exhibit carelessness in their job, are you really supposed to believe that their judgment is any sounder and grounded when you don't see them?

That said, this personal issue Bob Norman writes about so thoroughly doesn't make Jennifer Gottlieb a bad person, just human.

But it does indicate to me that she should be somewhere else, and NOT making important decisions.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=Jennifer+Gottlieb&x=0&y=0

Because Jennifer Gottlieb is running for re-election as an At-Large Broward School Board candidate, every registered voter in Broward County can and should vote against her and give her the time she clearly needs to get her personal life together, however that shakes out.

Having said that, on Saturday afternoon at the Hallandale Beach Parks Master Plan meeting, while I was setting up my camera tripod in the back of the A1A Community Center, I saw her husband Ken, the former State Rep. who's running for Circuit Court Judge.

I felt both sorry for him but also very uncomfortable, since he doesn't know whether or not people he runs into have read the story Norman wrote, which in my opinion was extremely fair.

Two years ago, I voted for Tim Ryan for State Senate to succeed Steve Geller when Ryan, Gottlieb and Eleanor Sobel ran for the seat that Sobel eventually won after a VERY NASTY primary race that left a very bad taste in Southeast Broward voters mouths, due to the influence of secretive groups affiliated with Sobel that ran untruthful TV attack ads and mail that savaged both Gottlieb and Ryan.

(Ryan later took Sobel to court about the groups' efforts, but after an initial flurry of stories about the trial, the press coverage completely disappeared. Shocker!
That's the current state of South Florida journalism in a nutshell: here one minute, gone another! Just like the summer rain!)

Unlike some people I know in the Broward political/citizen activist community who swear by the guy, I'm lukewarm to Ken Gottlieb, but I will acknowledge that he does seem like a genuinely earnest and hard-working guy who puts everything into his efforts, which makes him somewhat unusual in these parts, where coasting on the job and letting staff do all the work is the norm.

Personally, though, I'm just not crazy about the idea of enthusiastic activist pols becoming judges because I don't think people can fight that part of their nature.

I believe that the personal qualities that people clearly liked and admired about him in one job, State Rep., are not the same ones required to be a fair-minded judge that all parties can have full confidence in.

Frankly, if his wife Jennifer wasn't already on the Broward School Board, though I haven't put too much time into thinking this through to its logical conclusion, I'd much prefer him or Tim Ryan as Broward State's Attorney in two years against incumbent Michael Satz, who seems energy-deficient in the extreme.

Natural enthusiasm in a D.A. is much better than in a judge, especially in such a target-rich environment like corrupt Broward County.

Tuesday's meeting re Ethics of Broward County officials/employees and IG proposal; Stacy Ritter's lack of character

Above, Broward Commissioner Stacy Ritter's photo on Broward County website

On Saturday, I wrote and sent around a pithy
email and then posted it here about this week's
votes and meetings on the Broward County
Ethics process, along with revealing excerpts
of Broward Commissioner Stacy Ritter's
all-too-predictably self-serving comments to the
Broward Ethics Commission from Jan. 13th,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/broward-county-commissioner-stacy.html

Maybe Stacy Ritter doesn't know it yet,
but becoming known around the state as the
poster-child and apologist-in-chief for rampant
public corruption in Broward County and its
existing wink-wink attitude, is not exactly the
message voters want to hear in the year 2010.

If you missed seeing those creepy and intemperate
comments of Ritter's, which only shows her
rather obvious lack of character and scruples
-not that it's news to me or many of you, I know-
go to Bob Norman's Daily Pulp post today
to see his thoughts on the matter.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/01/monday_quick_takes.php

For more on Ritter's husband, lawyer/lobbyist
Russ Klenet, see
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/?keywords=Klenet&x=23&y=14

After I posted that, I also emailed a copy of it
over to Broward Beat's Buddy Nevins, too.
That was the first time I've ever sent anything
to Nevins, even though I've often linked to
or referred to his stories before in emails and
blog posts, and have had Broward Beat on
my blog roll for many months.
(See his most recent post at bottom.)

Since I was pretty much able to buy the
Miami Herald whenever I wanted at my
favorite D.C. news stand, on the corner of
Connecticut Ave. & K Street, when I worked
for 15 years in the D.C. area, but not the
Sun-Sentinel, Nevins was a complete
unknown to me until I returned to South
Florida.

I wrote him in part because to the extent that
I've been following his posts, it doesn't seem
to me that he's ever really written about the
specific process involved here in getting an
independent IG, per se.

Perhaps he didn't find that aspect of the story
very interesting, but I've found that seeing
the machinations in person, and hearing from
some well-informed people about what some
in the county are trying to do behind-the-scenes
to derail the ethics train, very interesting.
Interesting but shocking.

But then the unethical crowd in Broward County
government, the Broward School system and
myriad City Halls -especially Hallandale Beach,
Deerfield Beach, Sunrise- have a lot to lose
if the curtain is pulled back and their true
personas and dirty laundry is exposed,
don't they?

My thinking in sending Nevins that email
was that actually seeing Ritter's politically
tone-deaf comments in black-and-white for
himself might induce him to actually show-up
in person.

Perhaps the same way it may also induce
several other local reporters to attend,
some of whom have already indicated to me
via email that they have a stronger desire
to attend and get caught up to speed,
now that they've seen this side of Ritter.
We'll see.

Per the Inspector General, see this
video of Bill Scherer from the Broward
Politics YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrowardPolitics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsXY8oaABoA

On the other hand, since the Herald and
Sun-Sentinel -and all local Miami TV stations-
have utterly failed to mention tomorrow
afternoon's Broward Legislative Delegation
meeting at 2 p.m., and its import in the larger
scheme of things, I'll believe it when I see it.
Reporters actually showing-up is the
first step, oui?

Unfortunately, 4 pm Tuesday is also when
the City of Miami City Commission is scheduled
to have a meeting that will include a vote
on an interim replacement for Michelle
Spence-Jones.
http://www.bloggingblackmiami.com/2010/01/open-letter-to-city-of-miami-commission-from-concerned-citizens-of-district-five-poll.html

I also plan to be at Tuesday morning's Broward
County Commission meeting.

My plan as of now is to get some lunch after
the County Commission morning meeting and
then head over to Broward College around
1:15, along with my camcorder and tri-pod,
to scout around and find a good line of sight
in the room from which to record the meeting
and avoid extraneous bodies and heads in the
shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHV3pfkOBFY

One of the few positive advantages of the
regular meetings of the Broward County
Ethics Commission getting so few people
there -five counting me last Wednesday,
including Patti Lynn from the Broward
Coalition and Kareen Boutros of the
Broward Workshop- is that I can just pop
my tri-pod on the back table, zoom-in and
sit down.

My original thought had been to write
something and posting and/or sending it
out tonight, but now, I'm just going to wait
until afterwards and see how the Delegation
actually votes, after hearing public comments.

Will be interesting to see if any well-known
lobbyists show-up for the meeting.
IF they do, I'll capture the Kodak Moment
for you.

Hope some of you can make it to the meeting
and let your voice be heard so that self-evident
red herrings aren't allowed to derail this
important process.

-----

Broward County Commission meeting

10 a.m., Public Hearings begin at 2 p.m.

Governmental Center, 115 South Andrews Avenue,

Room 422,Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301

Tuesday's County Commission agenda is at:

http://205.166.161.204/agenda_publish.cfm?mt=ALL&get_month=1&get_year=2010&dsp=ag&seq=158#ReturnTo0

Broward Legislative Delegation meeting

2-4 p.m.,Broward College,

12th Floor Boardroom

111 E. Las Olas Boulevard

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

Map: http://www.broward.edu/maps/whcmap.jsp

-------
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/1444198.html
Miami Herald
Editorial
January 25, 2010
Chasing corruption out of Broward

Voters who approved the Broward Ethics Task Force in 2008 to develop a code of conduct for county commissioners must have been prescient.

In 2009, Broward was rocked by FBI arrests of County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher and former Miramar commissioner Fitzroy Salesman. Eggelletion pleaded guilty in December to federal money-laundering charges. He's also accused of accepting a $3,200 golf membership to vote in favor of a developer's project.

The task force must have had the golf gift in mind last week when it proposed tighter rules for gifts county commissioners can accept.

It's long overdue.

State law bans gifts meant to influence an official's vote but allows gifts worth up to $100 from lobbyists and their employers. That's a lot of freebies.

The task force wants to ban gifts, period, from lobbyists and contractors and limit gifts from anyone else to $50 or less.

That's a start -- although why public officials should be allowed to accept any gifts other than honorary plaques is anybody's guess. A sense of entitlement, perhaps, that comes with holding public office?

The task force must set new ethics rules to help the County Commission avoid the appearance of impropriety. Besides gifts, the panel is looking at rules that would limit commissioners' outside employment to avoid conflicts and their control over county contract awards. It also wants to create an ethics czar -- the equivalent of Miami-Dade County's Inspector General, who investigates county agencies.

Task force members are conflicted over whether the ethics czar should be able to launch investigations independently, without first receiving a complaint.

That's a no-brainer.

The state's Ethics Commission must wait for a complaint, as does the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission -- which ties their hands and protects powerful politicians feared by would-be whistle blowers. Both state and Miami-Dade ethics commissioners are seeking authority to conduct independent investigations.

Broward should get ahead of the curve and give its ethics boss independence to begin probes.

The County Commission can either approve the new ethics rules or put them to voters in November. Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl rightly wants to ask voters to expand the task force's ethics rules to other government officials -- the sheriff, property appraiser, supervisor of elections, clerk of courts and elected city officials. The School Board should be included, too.

Broward residents have seen their share of public corruption in recent years, and it's clear they've had enough abuse. The task force should develop a tough, but workable, set of ethics rules that apply to public officials countywide.

Readers comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/1444198.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

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Rothenberg Political Report
"Can Candidates Accept Text Contributions?"
By Nathan L. Gonzales
January 25, 2010

Americans are donating to the Haiti relief effort at unprecedented levels through text messaging, but can congressional candidates use them same technology to solicit contributions? For now, the answer appears to be “no.”

Read the rest of the story at:
http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2010/01/can-candidates-accept-text.html

--------

Broward Beat
Who’s Next After Wasserstrom?
By Buddy Nevins
http://www.browardbeat.com/whos-next-after-wasserstrom/#comments

Tuesday's Broward School Board meeting, honest govt. audits and Ann Murray

Monday October 5th, 2009

3:55 p.m.

I received this important email from savvy, well-informed

Broward civic activist Charlotte Greenbarg on Saturday,

and it's something that I'd strongly urge you to consider,

since it concerns a subject that in my opinion has gotten

far too little attention in the South Florida media,

such as it is.

That is, other than from the Daily Pulp's Bob Norman.

My own comments follow.

---------------------

This is really important for everyone who values honest, ethical government and those teachers and administrators who are trying to do their best under very, very difficult circumstances.

On Tuesday, October 6, the School Board agenda Item D-5 has the reports of audits, including the infamous ASHBRITT/C&B audit. At the June 4 Board meeting, even though the Ashbritt audit was not on the agenda, four Board members subjected Chief Auditor Pat Reilly to what can only be characterized as an inquisition (three of the four were particularly offensive.)

A Federal Grand Jury is looking at the circumstances surrounding the Ashbritt/C&B situation and the audit findings, and both FEMA and the FBI are investigating. We expect that Chief Auditor Pat Reilly and Director of Facility Audits Dave Rhodes will be the target of more Board members’ abuse. Deputy of Facilities Mike Garretson, whose department was the subject of the audit, has said that no one should speak to Pat Reilly because it was his fault the audit got to the FBI.

The meeting begins at 10:15 a.m., but of course there’s no way to know when Item D-5 will be heard. And of course, it costs quite a bit to park downtown in Fort Lauderdale to get to the School Board building aka Crystal Palace. It’s at 600 SE Third Ave.

If you cannot attend, please let the Board members know that you fully support the independence of the Auditors, as well as the findings in the Ashbritt/C&B audit that revealed the district is owed $765,000 from Ashbritt. The audit is on the district’s website www.browardschools.com

We need a show of numbers to protect our Auditors.

Here are the emails for the Board members. Please pass this on to your entire email blast lists.

maureen.dinnen@browardschools.com (Board Chair)

jbrooks@browardschools.com (Ben Williams)

jennifer.gottlieb@browardschools.com (Vice-Chair)

phyllis.hope@browardschools.com

ann.murray@browardschools.com

marcia.simmons@browardschools.com (Bob Parks)

stephanie.kraft@browardschools.com

robin.bartleman@browardschools.com

There are only eight of the nine members presently serving, because as you may have heard, Member Beverly Gallagher was arrested by the FBI recently on corruption charges.

Thanks,

Charlotte
---------------

Well, I will be there in person on Tuesday,
what about you?

Since many of you may've been out-of-town
or otherwise distracted in the sweltering last
dog days of August prior to Labor Day,
when some important things were coming
to light about the Byzantine world of the
Broward School Board, and their latest war
on taxpayer accountability and their
very own auditors,
I wanted to make sure that before I wrote
anything else, you had the opportunity to
make yourself aware of the facts of an
excellent Bob Norman Daily Pulp
blog post from August 28th,
which adroitly zeroed-in on the
fund-raising activities of our own
School Board Member, Ann Murray,
whom I skewered in an email and
subsequent blog post on August 20th,

Voters Remorse: Ann Murray on thin ice in August with constituents after latest Broward School Board debacle

Norman's spot-on investigation of
Ann Murray "Going for the Gold"
is here:
Ann Murray Gets the Royal Treatment
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/08/ann_murray_broward_school_board.php

After first reading that, I then looked at
this bit of helpful info, which gave me
some important context and perspective
to filter all this troubling news:
http://www.browardsoe.org/CFFilingDetail.aspx?type=contribution&file_id=642

I like to think of myself as a fair-minded person,
but in the five weeks since Norman's column ran,
Murray has seemed to only make a bad situation
worse with her clumsiness and cluelessness.

Murray's tone-deaf comments in this Herald
article from Friday:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1262422.html
to wit, The bottom line, board members agreed,
is to try not to get bogged down in what Board
member Ann Murray called "the ninnies and
the nay-nays.'' does nothing whatsoever to assuage
my already existing strong doubts about her.

She STILL seems completely oblivious to not
only her own particular responsibility to do the
right thing, but also oblivious to the large and
growing number of personal doubts about her
in the local community.

Which is to say, oblivious to Southeast Broward
voters' perfect willingness to simply chalk their
vote up for her last year as a mistake,
and dump her overboard, and then promptly
vote for someone else new next year
who means what they say about reform
and accountability.

I know that because despite the fact that
I haven't said much about it on my blog,
since then, I received quite a lot of comments
to my email and blog post about Murray
and the School Board six weeks ago.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/voters-remorse-ann-murray-on-thin-ice.html
Surprisingly, not a single one of them was
positive about Murray.

For that matter, it was the exact same for
Jennifer Gottlieb, who REALLY seems
to rub a LOT of people the wrong way.
http://www.nationaleminentdomain.com/2009/09/articles/national-eminent-domain/a-monument-waste-in-florida/

Many complaints about them were about
specific issues, but most concerned their
overall lack of responsiveness and their
rather aloof cliquishness, almost as if
they thought they were the cool
High School seniors, and the voters
were the lowly freshman trying
desperately to fit in, which just rankles
the Seniors something fierce.

I don't claim that this is a scientific
representation, but I will say that
more than you'd expect, the folks who
wrote were very upfront about saying
they made a mistake in casting their
past School Board votes but
"won't make the same mistake twice."

For instance, to pick just one random
sentence out of the many upset emails
I received:
"It seems that Jennifer’s main objective
is to get a public (Montessori)
high school built for her sons…
a feat she has yet to accomplish..."

Yes, a lot of people expressed a very
strong desire to be rid of both
Murray and Gottlieb in a
two-fer next year.

Addition-by-subtraction at its very best!

As for the subject at hand, Tuesday's hearing,
the most recent Norman blog post on Ashbritt
makes utterly clear who is leading the charge for
the entrenched interests on behalf of corporate
cronyism and campaign back-scratching
-Stephanie Kraft.

FBI Takes Over Ashbritt Case; Officials Nervous

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/10/wanna_see_a_subpoena.php#more


And did you see this rather curious
Miami Herald article last Monday?
I've highlighted the bizarre paragraph
below in red.

sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-broward-schools-gifts-092909,0,4569379.story

Gifts to district employees is topic of School Board meeting

Meeting is first since board member's arrest on corruption charges

By Hannah Sampson

The Miami Herald

8:28 PM EDT, September 29, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE

At their first meeting since suspended Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher was arrested on corruption charges, her former colleagues on Tuesday took up the question of what gifts district employees can and cannot accept.

While the discussion was timely -- Gallagher is accused of promising to steer construction work to undercover FBI agents for cash -- it had been planned long ago.

The updated policy includes few changes, but will mandate training for teachers, employees who are involved in purchasing and other district workers on the subject of soliciting and receiving gifts.

"I think that would be necessary and helpful," said board member Stephanie Kraft.

School Board members' actions are governed by state statute and ethics rules.

According to the district's policy, employees cannot solicit or accept anything of value based on the understanding that the gift would influence their actions.

Also prohibited: accepting meals, free entertainment or sports tickets, cash or other ''tangible gifts of appreciation'' from anyone doing business with the district. Any gift from anyone doing business with the district that would give the appearance of impropriety is also forbidden.

Allowed: birthday or holiday gifts of appreciation for teachers from parents. Vendors or potential vendors can also give testing incentives, employee of the year awards or school supplies if officials approve those in advance.

The previous policy didn't address whether teachers could accept parents' gifts.

"The clear intent is that we're talking a bottle of perfume or something," said board chairwoman Maureen Dinnen. "We're not talking a trip to Paris."

Last Wednesday's arrest barely got a mention. Opening the meeting, Dinnen said: "It has been a very difficult time for us, but we are hardworking people. We work together and we are a great board and we are going to work like that today and in the future."

Board members also said they want to change district policy so that internal school district audits do not become public records until a completed audit is presented to the School Board or audit committee, as allowed under Florida law. A completed audit would include responses from the audited department.

"I believe the process itself gets tainted when things come out before it's complete," Kraft said.

One of the companies federal agents have asked School Board members about is AshBritt, a Pompano Beach-based contractor mentioned in a controversial audit earlier this year that said the school district had overpaid more than $765,000 in repairs after Hurricane Wilma.

An early draft of the audit suggested that work done by AshBritt and another company may have involved fraud or collusion. The company has denied any wrongdoing.

Miami Herald staff writer Patricia Mazzei contributed to this report.

-----------------------------
Re-reading this story from a week ago
caused me to think something that may
well have occured to you as well the
first time you saw it.

First, which self-serving School Board member
or employee was dumb enough to share the bit
about "as allowed under Florida law" with
reporter Hannah Sampson?
I'd really, really like to know who that was!

Second, changing the Broward School Board's
self-serving policy procedures doesn't trump
Florida's State statutes.
Period.

Stephanie Kraft can think she's powerful enough
to call a frog a prince, but as far as the State
of Florida is concerned, it's still legally a frog.

The State of Florida has already made
quite clear that regardless of whether
or not the Broward School Board wants
to call something a "public record,"
any drafts of any letter, memos,
correspondence, proposed policies,
renderings, et al regarding any public
matter are, by definition, public records.

I think the FBI shares this opinion, too,
don't you?
You don't have to be Perry Mason to
know that, simply paying attention.

For myself, tomorrow's meeting will be
the last time for Murray to show her
true colors.
If she continues to conveniently forget
she was elected because she ran on a
platform of reform and accountability,
as far as I'm concerned, it will prove
to be her own personal Waterloo.
There will be no going back.

If Ann Murray dithers or obfuscates,
or if she tries to play the lame
'peacemaker' card, instead of being
the person SHE said she was when
she campaigned, she becomes
persona non grata and
DEAD POL WALKING all in one.

As quickly as she burst onto the scene,
she can be Gone With The Wind.

Given how little she's actually done
to assuage the doubts of those
of us who went ahead and voted
for her over Rick Saltrick last year,
she better have her 'A-game' together
on Tuesday or it will be sayonara
for Ann Murray,