Oops!... She did IT again! #LaurenBook plays #SoFL news media + #HollywoodFL for chumps -yet again! Folks, she's NOT on your side. EVER! She's on HER side. Period! But she's perfectly happy for you to think she's noble as she helps herself to your tax dollars AGAIN!

Oops!... She did IT again! #LaurenBook plays #SoFL news media + #HollywoodFL for chumps -yet again! 

Folks, she's NOT on your side. EVER! 

She's on HER side. Period! 

But she's perfectly happy for you to think she's noble as she helps herself to your tax dollars AGAIN!

Per the Florida Bulldog story below about Hollywood taking it on the chin yet again, since I've written so accurately about her so many times in the past as she has sought to make the political the personal and the personal the political, on Monday I'll be posting a fact-filled blog post on Florida state Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book's latest antics in Tallahassee involving taxpayer dollars going where SHE wants them to go, and the larger societal issue of the optics of her long standing ethics problems, and the abject refusal of #SoFL news media -and larger society- to ever hold her to account publicly.

In many cases, for the very same reasons that so many of you already know and have 

shared with me over the years that SO vex and frustrate you and me alike.

It's like she has a hall pass that never expires.

It's a sad reality: Nobody with any kind of power in South Florida will publicly tell her NO!

Tell her that nobody is fooled by what she's doing and the way she continually justifies 

her public behavior on the public dime.

Which, of course, is, perhaps, the most galling aspect of her whole persona and shtick, no?

1/ #LaurenBook plays #SoFL media + #HollywoodFL for chumps -yet again! Folks, she's NOT on your side. EVER! She's on HER side. Period! But she's perfectly happy for U to think she's noble as she helps herself to yr tax dollars AGAIN! https://floridabulldog.org/2021/05/new-senate-democratic-leader-lauren-book-conflict-of-interest/… #ethics #transparency

New Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book has conflict of interest as Republicans quietly shower taxpayer millions on her charity  

https://www.floridabulldog.org/2021/05/new-senate-democratic-leader-lauren-book-conflict-of-interest/

2/ My blog post on her is coming Monday! MT

@Florida_Bulldog

: Why did new #FL state Senate Minority Ldr. #LaurenBook strip much needed $ fm more-diverse #HollywoodFL to give it to less-diverse #DavieFL? It's represented by her lobbyist father, #RonBook! #ethics #transparency

Dave 

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith

More proof that "Despicable" lives in Broward County, too. How much damage can one man do to a single County in Florida in the year 2013? When it's Mike Satz, the answer is PLENTY!; Broward Bulldog: "State drops burglary case against teen; Satz tolerates police misconduct, Finkelstein says again"

 

The screenshot of Michael Satz on Local10's "This Week in South Florida" that I last used on June 5, 2013 in my blog post titled, "When it comes to Public Integrity, it's "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" at the Broward State Attorney’s Office: What are all you people in Hallandale Beach who want good, clean government looking at me for, anyway? Why are you expecting me to actually do something about the longstanding corruption, incompetency and malfeasance at Hallandale Beach City Hall, to say nothing of what the Broward Inspector General's office just called the city's "gross mismanagement" for years of the HB CRA? After all, I'm only the Broward State's Attorney"

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/when-it-comes-to-public-integrity-its.html

and before that, in my November 6, 2012 blog post titled, "Satz does NOT rhyme with success: Vote NO on Miami Herald's sorry 2012 local and state election coverage: Proof? Their editorial board endorsed carpetbagger Joe Gibbons of Jacksonville and over-the-hill mediocrity Mike Satz BEFORE paper ever printed a single article about their races. Slipshod Herald editors then run thread-bare story about them AFTER the August Primary Early Voting period had started. As usual, too little too late at One Herald Plaza!" http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/satz-does-not-rhyme-with-success-vote.html

Speaking of "Despicable" as I was in yesterday's blog post about the sickening scandal involving the Metropolitan Police in London, and allegations that some members of the force there not only withheld evidence about the murder of an innocent teenage in 1993, but also orchestrated smears against his family, here's more proof, as if we needed  it, that truly  "Despicable" lives in Broward County, too.

So, how much damage can one man do to a single county in Florida in the year 2013? 
Well, when that man has been given a lot of power and discretion and his name is Mike Satz, the answer is considerable damage indeed. 
Damage that even the smartest among us can't even begin to completely know the full extent of right now, but will only come to learn about in the years to come. 
No doubt, after he inflicts even more damage on us by allowing the legions of corrupt and unethical people to continue to ply their trade.

When Mike Satz pricks us, by consistently failing to do his important job properly, of lacking the desire to enthusiastically go after dishonest cops, corrupt lobbyists and unethical elected officials and make public examples of them, and of failing to go after the hiding-in-plain sight corruption in all of its guises in THE most-corrupt county in Florida, especially in this small corrupt and poorly-run city, do we not bleed? 
Yes, we do.
Profusely.

Broward Bulldog
State drops burglary case against teen; Satz tolerates police misconduct, Finkelstein says again

By Dan Christensen,BrowardBulldog.org 

June 25, 2013 AT 6:30 AM

The Broward State Attorney’s Office has dropped a felony burglary charge against a 15-year-old boy who defense attorneys say was coerced by Fort Lauderdale Police into falsely confessing to a crime he did not commit.  

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein is making an issue of the case as “yet another instance of police misconduct” that Broward State Attorney Michael Satz has done nothing to correct.

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2013/06/state-drops-burglary-case-against-teen-misconduct-by-cops-tolerated-by-satz-says-finkelstein/

"Again."

Just like Satz did last week, last month and last year.

And it's true.

And the proof is not only all around us in this county, it is right here for you to read and imagine in your own mind:

Hittleman argued the boy had not been informed of his Miranda rights against self-incrimination, and that police repeatedly had threatened to call Child Protective Services to take away his sister’s two-year-old toddler if he “did not admit to committing the burglary.”

“If I admit it to you, you won’t take my sister’s baby, right?” the boy asked a detective, according to defense court filings.Hittleman’s conclusion:

“It is hard to conceive of circumstances more coercive than those presented here.”

Wow, as if all the negative things we've been told for years by well-informed people about the Fort Lauderdale Police Dept. hadn't jolted us enough, threatening to take little kids away to get confessions.
Despicable.

Yes, more than ever, Mike Satz not only seems to be Joy Cooper's secret weapon for staying

out of jail (and purgatory) for all the serious damage she's personally wrought upon this city and its citizens the past ten years, as he and his bungling staff have been perfectly oblivious to everything going on here, he also is the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. 
Year-after-year.

Not that you asked, but I will NEVER vote for anyone currently working at the Broward State's Attorney's office.

Period.

This curious photo of the mayor's son appeared in my blog post titled, Hallandale Beach's Midnight Vigilante is no Paul Revere! Caught in the act: Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper's son's Midnight Ride of campaign sign-stealing -on Election Day!; Anything goes now in HB -even political intimidation- as Broward IG & Broward SAO sleepwalk while laws & ethics are repeatedly laughed at by pols in power; @MayorCooper, #FDLE, @myfloridalegal, @fbi.gov

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/hallandale-beachs-midnight-vigilante-is.html

As for the above situation, if you're curious what happened afterwards, when the Office of the Broward Inspector General and the Broward State's Attorney's office were properly notified about this and many other curious things, like campaign signs for Joy Cooper, Anthony A. Sanders and Bill Julian on city-owned property, i.e. taxpayer property, as well as on church property, for weeks and months, all of which is illegal? 
Nothing.

And yes, in retrospect, I should've described it as "Election Eve," but you get the point nonetheless

Monday night's meeting in Hollywood on Amendment 4 and Florida Hometown Democracy

The Hollywood Council of Civic Associations will be hosting a meeting Monday night in Hollywood on what's new in Florida Hometown Democracy's efforts to get Amendment 4 passed this November, and finally put the larger community's interests on an even playing field
with well-heeled developers and their lawyer/lobbyists' contributions to elected officials who vote on their proposals.

The guest speaker will be Bett Willett, the South Florida Coordinator for Florida Hometown Democracy, and a woman who has been extremely helpful recently to Hallandale Beach and Hollywood residents in defeating the Westin Diplomat's incompatible proposal to build multiple 25-30 story condo towers near the Diplomat Country Club, in a town like Hallandale Beach that has more condos on the books than seems either logical or desirable.

And to this geographically-limited and poorly-run city they wanted to add over 800 more condos and cars on secondary roads that already lead to gridlocked roads that residents daily curse.

Not surprisingly, throughout the entire process, the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, the tinny echo chamber of HB City Hall -which gave them $50,000 this year as they have for years- strongly supported this effort, as their head honcho Patricia Genetti spoke in favor of the Diplomat's efforts at least five times at public meetings that I've personally witnessed.

At none of those public meetings did Genetti ever make any public disclosure about how much of that $50,000 of taxpayer funds went towards HER salary.

It won't surprise you to learn that the HBCoC currently opposes Amendement 4, just like their puppet-masters next door at Hallandale Beach City Hall.
Oh, and in case you didn't know, last year, HB City Hall gave them a free office in their taxpayer-funded complex.

Monday May 17th
7:00 p.m.
Fred Lippman Multi-Purpose Center, Main Auditorium,
2030 Polk Street, Hollywood, Florida 33021

Meanwhile...

Broward Bulldog.org
Ex-Supreme Court chief justice approves ballot petition, gets hired by firm allied with its sponsor
28 April 2010, 5:15 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org

Weeks after casting the deciding vote to approve a controversial ballot petition in December 2008, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Wells joined a law firm aligned with the petition’s sponsor.

The high court’s 4-3 ruling gave life to a push by developers and statewide business interests – led by the Florida Chamber of Commerce – to blunt a possible change in the state constitution to greatly expand citizen powers over local development.
Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.browardbulldog.org/?p=1181 and http://www.browardbulldog.org/?p=1199

For more information:
http://www.browardbulldog.org/
http://www.hccacentral.com/
http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/
http://floridahometowndemocracyamendment.blogspot.com/

Bett Willett's personal blog is called Blog by Bett
http://blogbybett.blogspot.com/-
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re 4/20/09 Miami Herald: Broward commissioners ask for help to stay out of jail

My comments follow the article.

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

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1007757.html

Miami Herald

April 20, 2009

Broward commissioners ask for help to stay out of jail

Broward County commissioners voted last week to invite South Florida's U.S. attorney, R. Alex Acosta,

to come to County Hall to instruct them about how to avoid being arrested on federal corruption charges.

Commissioners are jittery since federal corruption probes led to guilty pleas by three Palm Beach commissioners and two West Palm Beach city commissioners over the last three years.

''It's a very scary thing,'' said Commissioner John Rodstrom, who raised the issue.

The commissioners' workshop will examine whether the elected officials should prohibit themselves from soliciting contributions from lobbyists and others to benefit charities or the campaigns of political allies. The practice is commonplace but becomes problematic when those solicited later turn up at the county seeking contract approvals or other favors. Representatives from the United Way and other charities appeared Tuesday to implore commissioners to continue to help them raise money, saying the needy would otherwise suffer.

Commissioners were sympathetic, but they want guidance. They told County Attorney Jeffrey Newton to compile a list of everyone in the country who has been convicted and sentenced under the federal honest services statute. A workshop will be held within 60 days, Newton said.

-- DAN CHRISTENSEN

Reader comments at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1007757.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

__________________

April 20th, 2009

Headline of the year!

I've often told many of you all in the past, thru the occasional email and citation of some specific incident since I returned to South Florida five years ago from Arlington County, that politicians down here really

are MUCH more corrupt than other places, it's just that the sunshine and warm weather makes it seem somehow more mundane and innocuous, plus there's no Faulkner or Robert Penn Warren to tell the tale, or make the guilty seem even a tad sympathetic, if permanently flawed.

Seeking "guidance" from the U.S. Attorney won't be any help, esp. considering that it's the unscrupulous and unethical acts of their spouses that are actually a large part of the back story here, and the fact that the various Broward County Commissioners keep acting like they're continually "surprised" to discover what their own spouses have been doing to make a fast buck, was, in fact, illegal, unethical or just downright creepy, is but a symptom of the disease.

In the end, the problem is that they simply can't help themselves.

They are never truly remorseful, just sorry they got caught.

The truth is, many have been living beyond their means for so long because of their official position, of traveling with an entourage and legion of govt. flacks on the taxpayers' dime, all around the world and the country for often dubious reasons.

Likewise, their spouses having had access and entree to potential clients and patrons that they'd not have otherwise had, so the idea they might have to give that all up is very hard to accept.

Yet even with the economy here being so bad because it's so dominated by real estate and tourism, two areas that are so price-sensitive, they still resist common sense cuts and see the Obama stimulus as the Golden Fleece.

And the worst part is that other institutions in South Florida are just as unsavory if not worse, since this sort of unethical chicanery exists in the county school systems down here FAR beyond what would be acceptable in VA, MD, and yes, even D.C.

I say that as someone who knows most of the D.C. Schools' scandal stories of the past 25 years.

For a good example of what I'm talking about, see this excellent piece by Bob Norman from last Tuesday titled simply, School of Corruption: The Broward School Board awards a million dollars in work to an unlicensed company

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2009-04-16/news/the-broward-school-board-awards-a-million-dollars-in-work-to-an-unlicensed-company/#Comments

with this addition from yesterday,

Deputy School Superintendent Is "Appalled" By Employees

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/04/deputy_broward_school_board_superintendent_michael_garretson_memo_to_jim_notter.php

This in a school system, Broward County, that last Fall, thought nothing of simply using their govt.

website to run propaganda about the then-upcoming State Constitutional ballot questions in November.

Not just running incomplete and clearly misleading information that seriously mis-characterized the proponents' p.o.v., but NOT even displaying the ENTIRETY of the individual ballot questions, just selected excerpts, without acknowledging they were just excerpts, because if

parents/taxpayers read the whole thing, they'd likely be for it, based on their own experience

with the spending patterns and priorities of both the Broward County Commissioners and the Broward

County School system.

You see, the Broward County School Board wasn't content to just channel Chicken Little and cry on cue for the TV cameras, but actually used Broward taxpayer-funded govt. facilities, resources and personnel to make overtly political messages and place them on a website paid for and maintained by taxpayers.

Naturally, nothing happened to any of the people responsible for this because that's the political and ethical culture here.

They arrange to have their attorneys tell them what they want to hear and then the puppet says what the puppet-master wants to hear.

Or, if you prefer, His Master's Voice!

The dog keeps good rhythm, but isn't much of a watchdog!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Master's_Voice

That's the characteristic level of govt. accountability and scrutiny in the state's 4th-largest county, which is losing thousands of students and families every year just as much, if not more, for Quality of Life reasons as economic ones.

They're voting with their feet, and that's a sure vote of No Confidence.

Perhaps we're heading towards a TIME magazine redux...

PARADISE LOST? SOUTH FLORIDA

November 23, 1981