Broward Coalition is pushing back against Broward municipal officials & cronies efforts to enact looser ethics laws for themselves

Over the weekend my friend Charlotte Greenbarg, President of the Broward Coalition, sent out a pointed email to civic and community activists all over Broward County giving them the latest head's up regarding a recent series of moves by Broward municipal officials -and their deep-pocketed cronies at local law firms, consulting firms and lobbying shops- to bypass the strict ethics rules that the Broward County Commission FINALLY voted for, and instead, enshrine a separate series of ethics laws for Broward municipal elected officials and city employees that amount to nothing less than Swiss cheese.

In light of the overwhelming referendum vote by Broward voters in November of 2008 to instruct the commission to do what they did -or else- we simply aren't going to stand for it.

I, personally, along with lots of people I know here will publicly call out those who attempt to lead that revanchist effort, starting with the Broward League of Cities, an anti-democratic, pro-bureaucracy non-profit group that wields far too much power in this county.

If you didn't know, the new President of the Broward League of Cities is anti-democratic Cooper City mayor Debby Eisinger, whom as I've noted here many times in the past, as a member of the county's Charter Review Comm. in 2008, voted AGAINST allowing Broward County citizens from voting in the November 2008 general election on whether they wanted to have an elected county-wide mayor, one voted upon directly by the voters instead of continuing the failed and ridiculous template in Broward of the title of 'mayor' being given to one of the nine elected County Commissioners by a vote among themselves.

The League's last complete (Action) Minutes for their Board of Directors was Sept. 2nd, 2010

http://www.browardleague.org/legislative/minutes-of-meetings/board-of-directors-meetings/ and for the Education Comm., was also nine months ago,

http://www.browardleague.org/legislative/minutes-of-meetings/education-committee/

Hmm.. has anything of interest happened with the Broward School Board the past nine months?

Oh, that's right, the statewide grand jury bemoaned the fact that they did not have the power to actually abolish the Broward School Board due to its longstanding lack of leadership, lack of accountability and general culture of corruption.

LOL!

Since municipal taxpayers actually pay for the dues their cities pay the League, IF as they claim, they're all about educating the public, why won't they join the 21st Century and maintain accurate, transparent and TIMELY information on their public website?
Just wondering.

----------

Pressure's being put on the Commission to allow "ethics lite" for the cities. We need to do a full court press to tell the Commission to hold the cities to the same standards as the County is and the VOTERS approved. EMAIL THE COMMISSION NOW!

The League of Cities doesn’t like the strong ethics requirements that an overwhelming majority of Broward voters approved. One commissioner actually said that he couldn’t even accept a bottle of water. That’s right. That’s exactly what we meant when we voted to approve the requirements. Don’t ask, don’t take.

Follow the admirable example of Oakland Park Mayor Suzanne Boisvenue, who wants no part of what I’m going to label “ethics lite.”

Get on with it, County Commissioners, and accept it, municipal elected officials. We’ve had quite enough of the fun and games that have gone on far too long in Broward County.

One of our members, Orval Pintuff, expressed our position so well. This is what he wrote:

“Dear Madam Mayor and fellow County Commissioners:

There should be no tweaking for allowing a current city commissioner/politician to work as a lobbyist for issues that may come before the commission or their city government. If these elected officials believe that their lobbying would be more profitable then they need to move on and let someone else get on with the job of running the city government.

If they must resign to pursue a better income, so be it. There is too much potential and tendency to help a bill or law to pass for the benefit of a favored son or friend.

If accepting a bottle of water or soda at a fund raiser or implied political/business event, would appear as conduct unbecoming, then bring your own drinks. This goes for the offer of a lunch or dinner from a person who may or does business with the city or county government. If you cannot afford the lunch ticket, don't go.

There is no excuse for not saying no to a lunch or dinner offer, as well as tickets to a concert or sporting events.

It is time for our elected leaders to lead and quit using their positions for self-adulation. It is time to make honest men and women of our elected leaders and give them an ethics code to work by.

I find it disgusting that we really have to tell someone what is ethical and what is not. There is always the adage "When in Doubt, Don't Do It."

These elected city and county jobs do not always pay a lot, but there are other options, get another job.

It is time to stand up and be counted, please don't wait any longer to get this law started.

Thank you

Orval Pintuff

Margate FL”

Member Broward Coalition

The Broward Coalition has been in the forefront of reform for years. It’s part of our mission; to work for the best interests of our members on the local, state and national levels.

We sat through the Ethics Commission meetings, gave our input, encouraged the members to stand strong for strong ethics, and advocated for a “yes” vote.

We’ve come too far to be betrayed by timidity or political connections, and we’re urging our County Commissioners to get it done now.

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

http://www.browardcoalition.org/

Mike Good: Not just fourth in a four-way race in Cooper City -a very bad fourth!

Cooper City's New City Commission 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY05mwBG9R4

Not pictured above, former Hallandale Beach City manager Mike Good.

Not just fourth in a four-way race in Cooper City -a very bad fourth!

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/FL/Broward/22350/39516/en/summary.html#

CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT ONE COOPER CITY (Vote For 1)

16 of 16 Precincts Reporting

		Percent	Votes
John Sims		39.30%	3,251
Gary Laufenberg		33.36%	2,760
Melissa Mears Megna		22.74%	1,881
D. Mike Good		4.61%	381
			8,273

As one civic activist I know commented in response after I'd shared this bit of news Wednesday morning in an email, "And that's a GOOD thing!"

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2010/09/mike_good_cooper_city_commission_candidate_john_sims.php

To keep up on all things pro-reform Cooper City, which is currently the minority position on the City Commission led by misanthropic mayor Debby Eisinger, see http://coopercitycivicgroup.blogspot.com/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHSChLzO9FU

More on the longstanding unethical maelstrom that is Debby Eisinger, out in western Broward County, far from the beach, home of the Cooper City Cowboys.

Eisinger, thru her bellicose words and often unethical behavior, is the poster child for all the ills that have taken over the state of FL in the past 10-15 years: a thin-skinned, anti-democratic elected official with both an edifice complex and a love of un-checked development, and a yen for the higher taxes that her ego demands in order to satisfy her govt. castle built upon sand.

In case you forgot about those problems, I refer you back to
Behind Florida's Exodus: Rising Taxes, Political Ineptitude
By Tim Padgett / Miami Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1919916,00.html

As I've recounted here more than a few times, when Eisinger was on the Broward County Charter Review Comm. in 2008, she voted against allowing Broward citizens to decide for themselves, in the November election, whether they wanted to have an elected county-wide mayor, instead of the preposterous current system wherein Broward county commissioners appoint one of themselves mayor for a year, with ZERO accountability to voters.

Bob Norman's recent New Times posts on Eisinger's mendacity are devastating:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Debby+Eisinger%22&x=16&y=15

Especially this one from Sept. 23rd, Dirty Politics Shame City, Defame Candidate http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/cooper_city_background_checks.php
Be sure to read the Sept. 23 post below from David Nall, the City Commission candidate that was caught up in Mayor Eisinger's latest twisted and illegal City Hall gambit, and labeled a "criminal" by Cooper City City Hall.

He wasn't.
http://coopercitycivicgroup.blogspot.com/


City Apologizes For Calling Candidate Criminal
Channel 4 video at: http://cbs4.com/local/cooper.city.candidate.2.1931461.html

In case you haven't already heard about it or seen it for yourself, see the video about Cooper City at: http://www.youtube.com/user/browardperson and this explanation
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/09/cooper_city_mayor_miffed_over.html

----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/28/1897384/apology-comes-too-late-for-candidate.html

Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, 10.28.10
COOPER CITY
Apology comes too late for candidate Candidate for Cooper City's District 2 commission race says city's apology ``too late.''

BY SERGIO BONILLA
Special to The Miami Herald

David Nall just wanted to represent his city.

But after Nall, 43, filled out paperwork to run for commissioner, Cooper City hired an independent company to do a background check.

The result: Nall had been arrested for credit card fraud more than two decades ago.

Problem is, the report was wrong.

The city has since apologized and put a correction on its website, but Nall said it's too late for his campaign.

"The damage is already done,'' Nall said.

This is the first Cooper City election that requires background checks on candidates formayor and City Commission. All candidates had to sign paperwork consenting to background checks, Cooper City Attorney David Wolpin said.

The city hired IntelliCorp, based in Beachwood, Ohio. The report was submitted back to the city Sept. 13. IntelliCorp said it obtained the incorrect records from the Florida Department of Corrections.

After Nall notified IntelliCorp of the error, the company asked the corrections department to reinvestigate his record.

According to IntelliCorp, the corrections department confirmed its original findings.

However, a background check produced by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed Nall to have a clean record.

But the incorrect background check fell into the hands of his opponent for the City Commission District 2 seat. And now, Nall said, he feels the city has betrayed him.

"It was a malicious attempt to hurt my character,'' said Nall, the financial controller of GSD Contracting and a Little League coach for the Cooper City Optimist Club.

Several days after the report came back, Nall said, his opponent and her supporters were seen canvassing the gated community of Embassy Lakes with a copy of the background check in hand.

His opponent, Lisa Mallozzi, the incumbent, calls that a "flat-out lie.''

Before running for commissioner, each candidate signs a statement of ethical practices. One of the stipulations reads:

"I will neither use nor permit the use of malicious untruths or innuendos about an opponent's personal life, nor will I make or condone unfounded accusations discrediting an opponent's credibility.''

Nall said he felt that this rule was violated by Mallozzi.

Nall was irritated and embarrassed but it wasn't until his daughter found out about the accusation that he felt angry.

He was in the kitchen discussing the matter with his wife when their 10-year-old daughter asked, ``Daddy, you've been arrested? You're a criminal?''

"Now, it's affecting my kids,'' Nall said.

"You guys can attack me in anyway, but leave my family out of politics.''

In order to prevent another Nall situation in the future, Mallozzi said the agency should have to contact the candidates before releasing any information.

The recommendation has gone before the Cooper City Commission, but has not passed.

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

Dwight Stephenson for Broward County Commission

Tried to submit this as a comment to the Sun-Sentinel's
Broward Politics blog relative to Scott Wyman's Friday
post about Art Kennedy applying for consideration for
the now open seat on the morally bankrupt Broward
County Commission.

But since the newspaper has yet to fix the longstanding
bugs that for at least a year have caused reader comments
to frequently be rejected because of the paper's half-assed
software, it was bounced back and rejected.

Probably for the best anyway, since there are so many
politically and socially maladjusted people who comment
there whose grip on reality is tenuous at best.

You know, the people who don't know anyone who ever
voted for Reagan either of the times he won in a landslide?

Here's that post and some associated material:
Fort Lauderdale pastor applies for Eggelletion seat
Posted by Scott Wyman on September 25, 2009 03:54 PM

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/09/fort_lauderdale_pastor_applies.html
-----------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The day after corruption arrests: Eggelletion's office open -

By Scott Wyman, Tonya Alanez and Robert Nolin

September 24, 2009
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/miramar/sfl-broward-corruption-bn092309,0,7088546.story
-----------
Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
September 24, 2009
Broward arrests sends strong message
-THE ISSUE: Broward officials arrested on corruption charges.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-broward-corruption-m092409sbsep24,0,1092553.story
--------

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Michael Mayo
From powerful to pathetic in one fell swoop

September 23, 2009

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-corruption-mayocol-b092309,0,7490931.column
----------
Biography of Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls/USAttorney.html
----------
Bob Norman
Hall of Fame Dolphin Dwight Stephenson's Firm Dragged Into Federal Probe
September 25, 2009
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/09/miami_dolphin_dwight_stephenson.php
----------


As anyone who has ever met him can tell you,
Dwight Stephenson is a person of great personal
and moral integrity, and is blessed with great
enthusiasm and a can-do spirit.
http://www.dstephenson.com/

Like so many of us here, he desperately wants this
area of Florida to be SO MUCH better than the
mediocre morass of myopic incompetency and
situational ethics that it currently is with the present
occupants, since that's not good for anyone and
repels dynamic businesses and people from
relocating here.

If you don't believe me, just contact The Broward
Workshop and ask the folks there.
http://www.browardworkshop.com/

Broward County's well-known reputation for
corruption and pay-for-play government makes
it uninviting for savvy companies that have the
sort of well-paying management jobs this area
desperately needs more of down here for all
sorts of reasons, not least, the brain power to
take over so many of the atrophying and chronically
under-performing extant civic groups that are
little more than cults of personality.

Dwight Stephenson is precisely the sort of person]
that Broward's beleaguered citizens, regardless of race,
class or ethnicity, could rally behind and have faith in,
because his myriad decisions, even when you might
disagree with them, would always be based on facts
and what was best for the WHOLE COMMUNITY,
not just the lawyer/lobbyist/fixer crowd that so
dominates the pay-for-play Broward County
Commission.

In many so-called 'progressive' communities
across the country, even in places much smaller
than Broward County, he's someone who'd already
have a much-higher political profile and perhaps
already be in office somewhere.
(Since May of 2007, he's been a member of
the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission.)

But like so many Broward citizens who have
something to contribute but who are utterly
aghast at what they see and read on a daily basis,
he's resisted getting more involved because of
the longstanding taint of corruption and incompetency
that is so high on Andrews Avenue and the various
political dens across the county that Bob Norman
at his Daily Pulp blog and the myriad Sun-Sentinel
reporters at the Broward Politics blog regularly
connect-the-dots on.

I would heartily endorse Dwight Stephenson
for the Broward County Commission.

IF a voter referendum passed that allowed
Broward citizens to vote for a County Mayor
instead of the self-serving, self-selecting format
favored by the current County Commission
-who in the recent past selected representatives
for the Charter Review Commission who
were AGAINST the idea of voters even
getting the chance to vote last November
on that issue themselves, like anti-democratic
Miramar mayor Lori C. Moseley and
Cooper City mayor Debby Eisinger-
I'd vote for Dwight Stephenson for County Mayor.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman:
Keep up the great work and MORE investigations,
PLEASE!