Amy Sherman's Herald post re Gunzburger v. Geller; Ron Book tries to snag HB

What follows is an email that I sent Miami Herald reporter Amy Sherman Tuesday evening about something she wrote that day, in anticipation of Wednesday morning's Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting.
Much of it will no doubt ring familar to those of you who try to make a habit out of coming here from time to time when you can, while for others, some of the following information may no doubt prove]
to be quite surprising or even troubling.

I'll have a full report on Wednesday's meeting about lobbying on Thursday.
__________________________________________
To: Amy Sherman <asherman@herald.com>,
cc: Michael Putney <mputney@local10.com>,
Terry Sheridan <Terry.Sheridan@incisivemedia.com>,
Steve Bousquet <bousquet@sptimes.com>,
Adam Smith <adam@sptimes.com>,
William March <wmarch@tampatrib.com>,
Aaron Deslatte <adeslatte@orlandosentinel.com>,
Breanne Gilpatrick <bgilpatrick@miamiherald.com>,
Beth Reinhard <breinhard@herald.com>,
Marc Caputo <mcaputo@miamiherald.com>,
Mary Ellen Klas <meklas@miamiherald.com>,
Jennifer Liberto <jliberto@sptimes.com>


Tuesday December 2nd, 2008

Dear Ms. Sherman:

Regarding your Herald post yesterday about former State Senator Steve Geller and his effort to be elected to the Broward County Commission in 2010.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/793947.html

A few weeks ago in another matter involving Geller, I sent part of the the email below to some of your colleagues in South Florida news rooms, print and electronic, as well as some savvy Tallahassee-based reporters, some of whom are also getting this addendum.

In retrospect, I see that I should've double-checked my list of names and made sure to include you as well, so consider this email an attempt to correct that unintended oversight.
----------------------------------------------------------
Call me old-fashioned but I'd really love to see some stories in the not-too-distant future about what's going on with the investigations surrounding the two people who have died needlessly on Millennium property while Steve Geller has been their attorney, lobbyist and schmoozer-in-chief: Albert Avenhaim and Myron Kafka.
http://millennium-group.blogspot.com/2007/02/blog-post.html

Maybe finally see a story about Brian Bethell, the person who murdered Albert Avenhaim in Hallandale Beach in 2006, in a string of at least three separate murders across Broward County that were THE lead story for quite some time -and then nothing.
As of a few weeks ago, the Broward Court website says that Bethell will have a competency hearing the week before Christmas.
(Obviously, that will be delayed even farther because of the broken water main problem at the Broward County Courthouse.)
---------------------------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 6, 2008,

FORT LAUDERDALE
Family of man killed in elevator files lawsuit,
The family of an elderly man who died trapped between an elevator door and its security gate has filed a wrongful-death suit against several businesses involved in the gate's installation and maintenance, an attorney said Wednesday.
Among those named in the Feb. 13 suit are Associates in Internal Medicine, 2500 Hallandale Beach LLC and Millennium Real Estate Holdings.
Myron Kafka , 81, died in the Millennium Plaza, at 2500 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., in July.
He stepped off the elevator on a Saturday, the elevator door shut and the gate kept him trapped until the following Monday, July 23, said attorney Rick Ellsley, who represents Kafka's daughter. ----------------------------------------
There hasn't been a single story in the Herald that mentions Bethell since January 7th?
January 7th of 2007.
And that was just a few sentences.
And the Sun-Sentinel? Try November 12, 2006.
Nice follow-up!

That's a record rightly deserving of derision, one to be tossed onto the bonfire when discussing the current deficiencies of South Florida's local news coverage, newsprint division as proof of how local reporters and editors, print and TV, have been sleeping on the job when it comes to following-up on these particular stories.

Millennium and their various partners have some rather grandiose plans to transform that property into a huge office and condo complex a block from the Intracoastal.
And who's leading that effort?
Well, none other than garrulous Steve Geller, someone I'm very open about regarding as a cancer on Broward County's political system and public policy arena, as my blogs make clear.

Yes, the very same Steve Geller that has for so long kept his govt. "hat" at HB City Hall.
I know that Steve Geller represents Millennium's interests because I was at public meeting Millennium was required to hold in Dec. of 2006 at HB's Cultural Center behind their City Hall.

I got there early, expecting some fireworks because of the predictable concerns about the project further exacerbating the already bad neighborhood traffic-flow on HBB -heading towards the beach- the out-of-proportion size of the plan, etc., and sat at the table next to where a Miami Herald reporter was seated.

Just moments after I got there and had grabbed a donut and some coffee, and returned to the table I had all to myself, in walked Geller and his retinue with trademark showy boisterousness, with him not waiting even two beats before continuing on a harangue disparaging then-Gov.-Elect Charlie Crist in tones that would've been loud enough for everyone in the room to hear if the room had been half-full, say, 150-200 people.
As it was, counting his Millennium crew and the interested public, there were no more than 25 people in that room, so his voice was bouncing off the walls.

To be so self-absorbed as to publicly belittle Crist in front of people -and a reporter- before he'd even taken the oath of office, showed me the side of Geller I'd often read and heard about, but never actually seen in person for myself.
But I recognized the type, since I'd had dealings with Rahm Emanuel in Washington at the DCCC, before he was anybody of note, and he already had that insufferable attitude and condescending ego thing down pat that later served him so well at The White House.

(Among his many other tasks was playing the role of errand boy, where he'd walk the three blocks to the NYT's DC Bureau on Eye Street, and relay messages to and from Times columnists Maureen Dowd and William Safire, plus myriad editors, who became bosom pals and Emanuel boosters, which is obvious from all sorts of evidence if you know where to look and whom to ask, positive coverage being the most obvious.
I will tell you that I still have a photo of him at Maureen's (first) book party on Capitol Hill, where, typically, like Geller, he's holding court like he's in The Arabian Nights.

I used to witness it all the time because I swung by the Times just about every day, plus, my reporter/editor friends there who were well aware of my disdain for Emanuel, proved to be great first-hand sources for sightings of him.
Not that I was alone on an island in Washington in my disdain for him and his "fixer" culture of cronyism, inspired in large part by Tony Coelho, which is always part of the problem and NEVER part of the solution.)

Geller's whole shtick was so over-the-top as to be farcical, and I debated whether I should dispense with the pleasantries and simply drop my knowledge on Geller and his client, in front of the reporter and public before the public presentation was over.
Ask them why the lighting around that property has been SO BAD for SO MANY YEARS that anyone who knows the property knew the parking lot was a DISASTER just waiting to happen.
In the end, I simply didn't trust the reporter to properly report the facts, synthesize the narrative and connect all the dots, so I kept my mouth shut.

Given my interests and background, I've been to hundreds of these sorts of meetings over the years, both in the D.C. area and South Florida, but still, listening to the sheer obfuscation and mis-direction coming out of Geller's mouth, his Pooh-poohing of the patently obvious traffic problems, as if a magic wand had been waved over them, rendering them invisible, well, it was all I could do to not ask him straight out if he and his business pals even recognized the name of the murdered Albert Avenhaim -and then go on offense.

A few months later I witnessed Geller wearing the attorney/lobbyist hat he loves, the one where he gets paid to alternately persuade/schmooze/ply city officials -also his constituents- to grant favors to or accept the plans of his myriad corporate clients who pay him so handsomely.

In this particular case, it was Geller playing hardball at a Hallandale Beach City Commission hearing, where he bullied and hectored HB residents in the neighborhood who had the temerity to oppose his client, DOMUS, and their plan to build a 19-story bldg. on a U.S.-1 site that's half of what HB's own rules require, and therefore, needed a variance.
That's why developers pay him the big bucks!

If ever actually completed, according to some, it would be the tallest building on U.S.-1 in Broward south of downtown FTL.
But, as had already become routine by then, the Herald never sent a reporter to the HB commission meeting, so never knew about any of this.

You and others might want to see the videotape of that particular meeting sometime, as it's quite instructional in how Geller tries to bulldoze those who attempt to get in his way, even when they are entitled to be represented and have the floor.
Geller actually tried to prevent a person who owns property next to his client's from being able to speak, even though that person ought to have more right to be heard on the issue than anyone else.
It was quite a circus!

Well, months later, their variance in hand, the DOMUS site on U.S.-1 has been FOR SALE for MONTHS.

It's a shame that South Florida's media didn't write about Geller's recent over-the-top performance at a Hallandale Beach City Commission meeting where he was honored with the key to the city, such as it is.
For folks like me who, quite correctly, view Geller and his ilk as part of the problem and not part of any possible solution, it was CLASSIC Steve Geller, full of feints, mis-direction and nonsense masquerading as sincerity and statesmanship.

The only thing that was more galling than Geller's grandstanding move of passing out Geller-branded campaign tchotchkes, flotsam and jetsam to the City Commission as part of a Clearance Sale -which the Commissioners rather predictably played with like infants, while Geller's colleagues snapped photos of the whole sorry spectacle!- was the performance of HB Mayor for Life Joy Cooper.

Cooper constantly interrupted herself to decry the voter-mandated term-limits laws that would "deprive" her of Steve Geller's continuing presence -or in my opinion, 'reign of error'- in Tallahassee.
Right, the sort of evil genius who authors an Amendment regarding real estate and foreigners and then later admits, "The problem with passing it is the way it's worded. I'm afraid people will get confused."

Perfect!!!

Though it's not high on my list, per se, before the New Years football bowl games get here, I plan on putting Geller's recent over-the-top performance at City Hall on the internet for anyone and everyone to see.
It's like the film of the Hindenburg crash: upsetting and compelling all at the same time.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2380118142773657669&hl=en
If nothing else, it surely deserves a wider audience than the handful of people who've seen it to date.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
excerpt from Miami Daily Business Review,
April 20, 2007
Opposition to beachfront complex mounts
By Terry Sheridan:

[Pompano Beach City Commissioner Kay] McGinn is irate about Geller's role and
calls his representation of Ocean Land "deplorable."
"It's my opinion that state representatives should not represent developers who are
putting up massive projects," she said.
Geller, a land-use attorney with the Hollywood firm Geller Geller Fisher & Garfinkel,
said McGinn is entitled to her opinion, "as wrong and uninformed as it may be. ...
I'm a part-time legislator. Developers are legal in this state, and so is representing them."

http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/347482.html
Miami Herald
No lobbying ban for Broward commissioners
By Breanne Gilpatrick
Secember 17, 2007

Potential Broward county commissioners who lobby other local governments won't need to worry about giving up their side jobs, after the county's Charter Review Commission rejected a proposed referendum to ban the practice.
The ballot measure, which died in a 10-7 vote, would have prevented commissioners from lobbying Broward's School Board, cities and hospital districts on behalf of a private client, but not for the county itself.
County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger urged the government reform panel to approve the
proposed ban on Wednesday.
''If I'm selling widgets and I go to the city of Hallandale Beach to sell widgets on behalf of my client,'' Gunzburger said, "I think I have a lot more influence because at one point Mayor [Joy] Cooper might want to come to the County Commission.''
Supporters also pointed out that county commissioners making $92,000 a year probably don't need to moonlight.
But opponents said they didn't want to exclude potential commission candidates.
''We need to look at how we might affect someone's profession and how we might prohibit
a certain profession from participating in the process,'' said Charter Review Commission member Hazelle Rogers, who is also a Lauderdale Lakes city commissioner.

Reader comments to Gilpatrick's article is at:
http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=24424.13&nav=messages&webtag=kr-miamitm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
So, when exactly will South Florida media come clean about all the rumors that Geller's supporters and cronies are spreading throughout Broward that Comm. Sue Gunzburger will either retire or resign for "health reasons," rather than risk the predictable mean-spirited and expensive campaign that Geller and his allies promise to break the bank for, if necessary?
(As if your post yesterday didn't underline that point.)

If a blogger like myself has already heard them repeated more than a few times around the county at different events and venues, including the recent SFRTA Broward County workshop in Dania Beach -though to be fair, I think I do get around more than most local bloggers- and knows them to be false, surely full-time reporters have heard them, too.
And knows exactly who's spreading them, too!

Really, it's time to start seeing some actual names in print, so everything's out in the open.

And what's new with my bête noire Geller's CCE, Floridians for a Stronger Tomorrow? http://www.floridiansforchange.org/
Has the Mardi Gras Casino given it any more since their $30k 13 months ago?
And in the Birds-of-a-Feather Dept., not much of a shocker that Larry Smith has tossed him some loot, too.

Speaking of the disgraced former Hollywood Congressman, whom I used to cringe when watching while at the dozens and dozens of House Foreign Affairs Comm. hearings I used to be at all the time, who also used to be Hallandale Beach's lobbyist, Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at Hallandale Beach City Hall, lobbyist Ron Book will attempt to add the City of Hallandale Beach to his long laundry list of lobbying clients, for $50k.
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2007/09/could-one-lobbyist-be-this-good-by.html

But some of us in HB aren't real crazy about the idea of either being represented by
a.) someone who doesn't want to have to follow the ethical rules that everyone has to abide by, or
b.) find ourselves at the very bottom of his long To-Do list, especially given that as long as Joy Cooper is mayor, more than ought to be true, the city's position will likely be adverse to many of his longstanding, higher-paying clients, including our neighbors.
What does he do then?
Exactly my point!

At that point, HB will likely becomes nothing but excess baggage for him to be tossed out the window to lighten the load.
Since that's so utterly predictable now, why go through the charade of thinking that city taxpayers are getting a good deal with Book, just for having our names on some list of his?
That's typical shortsighted HB City Hall thinking!

And in case you didn't know it, get a load of the city's memo on this matter.
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2008-12-03/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202008-12-03.htm

Interesting to me that the agenda itself on the city's joke of a website doesn't mention the specific amounts at issue, which are $50k and $20k:
D. Pursuant to Chapter 23-105, Hallandale Beach Code of Ordinances, Request Authorization to Award RFQ# FY2008-2009-001, State Lobbyist and State Funding Proposal to Ronald L. Book, P.A. and Corcoran & Associates, Inc. If approved, Authorize the City Manager to Conclude Contract Negotiations and Renew the Contracts in the Best Interest of the City.
(Staff: Manager of Intergovernmental Relations) (see backup)
BP #007/09 (Staff Report)

My favorite part of the memo is this telling sentence:
"...Although the City continues to require a Democrat oriented lobbyist as
its primary representative, it would be in the best interest of the City to retain
a Republican representative as well...

"Required?"

That's just a small part of why they're The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight.

Frankly, I think that it's positively inconceivable that the HB City Commission would be asked by the City Manager's Office to vote at Wednesday's City Commission meeting on a contract for lobbyists without ALL the Commissioners having formally met the principals involved who will be performing the services, yet that's the current reality.

It's also contrary to common sense to have the Commissioners vote on that without having been provided a list -made public- of all their other clients, so that when push comes to shove, HB taxpayers know in advance that they are paying for someone whose first interest is them, NOT a more influential, longstanding or higher-paying client.

As a HB taxpayer and concerned citizen, the person who will actually be paying for these services, that seems like the very least we can expect from the Commissioners who are supposed to represent us.

Plus, well, to be honest, he's not exactly the person who lives up to the letter and spirit of "full disclosure" is he?
No, to the contrary, he actually went to court to prevent laws from being enforced, to circimvent the public from gaining information about him and his clients.
That attitude doesn't seem like the letter and spirit of transparency to me.

As for Corcoran and Associates, they represent Mardi Gras Racetrack & Gaming Center. In fact, on their own website, http://www.corcoranfirm.com/testimonials.aspx they have a lengthy list of clients who sang their praises, one of whom is that HB concern on Pembroke Road, on the border of Hollywood.

"No one delivers like Corcoran and Associates! I had an extremely controversial issue before the Legislature and the pure class, finesse and professionalism of Corcoran & Associates helped bring the issue to a successful close."
Dan Adkins, Vice President Hollywood Greyhound Track

That would be the same Dan Adkins of Mardi Gras Casino who last year consciously and continually REFUSED to cooperate with the consulting firm hired by the City of Hallandale Beach City Commission to develop a new city Master Plan.
This lack of cooperation was mentioned a few times by the consultants at the public unveiling of the plan at the HB Cultural Center, as well as subsequent quadrant meetings throughout the city, as a real handicap to them in accurately completing their project as quickly as possible.

I mention this because some people in the area, especially those at HB City Hall who have less than an arm's-length relationship with him and the facility, seem to have completely forgotten this simple fact.
I haven't.

Since he and the company are very involved in many activities within the city and make contributions to groups in the city that have very close relationships to people at HB City Hall, Mr. Adkins has never publicly accounted for his noteworthy non-cooperation in one of the most important planning tools the city has.

So with Corcoran and Associates, just as with Ron Book, will a lobbyist hired by the city of HB have a primary loyalty to the city, or another client?
I'll bet I can guess the answer to that.