FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'
Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Fort Lauderdale to use “poor people’s money” to subsidize transit for affluent?
By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org
OCTOBER 20, 2015 AT 5:41 AM
Fort Lauderdale’s recent approval of a no-bid contract to update the plan for the troubled Northwest-Progresso-Flagler Heights Community Redevelopment Agency has raised concerns about a lack of public input amid a rush to add projects not in the current plan at the expense of community needs.
Scott Strawbridge, who serves on the CRA’s 14-member advisory board, has called for outside review of the agency after he and his colleagues were informed that City Manager Lee Feldman signed a $24,500 contract with a private firm in August to amend the current CRA plan, last updated in 2001.
More on the Mary Ellen Klaas Syndrome and its negative effect on Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald readers: Fact-checking the Tallahassee bureau reporter, due to her sheer lack of curiosity and fairness about facts and context, is a full-time job; Her calling John Couriel a "sleeper" a month before FL Senate 35 race against Gwen Margolis is proof of how little attention she pays to what's going on, and her editors' sleepwalking ways
In a state that is, literally, drowning in them, Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Mary Ellen Klaas is consistently one of the best (and therefore among the worst) examples of a print reporter who reveals so much more than they think about their own views and notions about public policy, simply by the patterns that emerge by the facts they choose NOT to include, by whom she chooses NOT to interview or quote, and by what she conveniently forgets to mention to readers or remind them of. More often than should be the case in a state this large -the fourth largest in the country I remind you- and whose capital is so poorly misunderstood by the great majority of its own citizens, so many of whom have NEVER been to Tallahassee... It's the closest thing we have in the Southeast United States to the Hermit Kingdom of North Korea. Is there any state in the United States with a larger percentage of its full-time residents who have NEVER been to its state capital than Florida's? Having grown-up in South Florida after being born in San Antonio and living for a few years in Memphis before my family moved here when I was seven, this odd-yet-true fact about the people who live in this state has always been my reality and one of the reasons I believe this state has always been so much less than what it ought to be. Look at how it's laid out, like it's still 1845. In the same way that all those years of my being at Indiana University in Bloomington showed me that Indianapolis was the most perfectly-centered state capital in the country, because it was almost impossible to ever find anyone who'd lived in the state for more than a year who not only hadn't been there, but who also knew where a lot of places were located, like good restaurants, good parks and good people-watching spots.. It's their particular reality like this dubious fact is ours and here's why I bring this up. For those of you reading this far from South Florida who don't ever think about it, the Florida state capital is actually at roughly the same longitude as Cincinnati, Ohio and is actually farther west in the country than Detroit in the Midwest I take it for granted but... Well, getting back to Klaas, an example of the sort of thing I've written about in emails to friends, acquaintances and others "in the loop" in the past because her articles are so consistently and objectively ridiculous, both the first time you read them and in retrospect months or years later. I would say that, conservatively, I have probably written about her in similar emails about 25 times in the past 5 years. But I seldom mentioned them here. -----
Margolis is outraised by surprise newcomer in Senate race
A Republican newcomer is hoping his moderate message will unseat venerable state Sen. GwenMargolis in a newly drawn Miami district.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
October 8, 2012
In what may be the sleeper legislative campaign of the season, Sen. GwenMargolis, the veteran Democrat from Miami, is getting a run for her money — literally — from Miami Beach lawyer John Couriel in the newly drawn coastal district.
Margolis has loaned herself $160,000 to win re-election to Senate District 35, which stretches from Golden Beach to Homestead. But she is being out-raised and, thus far, outspent by Republican newcomer, John Couriel, a Miami Beach lawyer.
Couriel, 34, has collected $213,830 in campaign contributions to Margolis’ $174,093 and has won the endorsements of former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. A Harvard-educated lawyer, Couriel quit his job as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami to run for the seat and vows to out-campaign Margolis, 78, a former state Senate president who was first elected to the state House in 1974.
“I’m hustling. I’ve never done this before but I’m not going to be out-worked,’’ Couriel said Monday during a break from walking door-to-door in Pinecrest.
Couriel has the trappings of broad Republican support, from the endorsements of party icons Rubio and Bush to a political committee running attack ads against his opponent. But there is one notable absence: his race is not among the must-watch contests receiving cash infusions from the Senate Majority, the political committees controlled by incoming Senate leader Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
At a meeting with reporters last week, Gaetz singled out the races that could produce upsets and Couriel v. Margolis wasn’t among them.
“Sen. Gaetz and I are friends,’’ Margolis said Monday, noting that the Niceville Republican lived for years in her Miami Shores district and supported her.
Couriel says he is undaunted that he’s not getting more attention from Senate leadership. “I am assuming I need to do this on my own,’’ he said.
He said he’s running because he believes voters want a change. “The purpose of public office is not to honor someone by electing them to office. We elect someone to work for us and I’m running because I think I could do a better job.”
The district trends Democratic, with nearly 60 percent voting for Obama in 2008 and Alex Sink in 2010. But Democrats do not comprise a majority of the district — 45 percent are registered Democrat, compared to 28 percent registered as no party affiliated and 27 percent registered Republican.
Couriel believes he can reach independents and crossover voters with his moderate Republican message. He ticks off the statistics in previous races to make his case.
"Rick Scott doesn’t do well here,’’ Couriel said, but Republican Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater barely lost the district in 2010 and Rubio beat Democrat Kendrick Meek in the U.S. Senate race. "That tells me that many Democrats are soft.’’
Margolis has been a fixture in Miami Dade politics for decades, and Couriel must not only introduce himself to voters but bring down Margolis’ image in the process, an expensive task in the long coastal district.
“To effectively run an aggressive campaign against Sen. Margolis is going to take a lot of money,’’ said Christian Ulvert, a Margolis advisor and Democratic consultant.
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Here's the real kicker, which I described last Wednesday in yet another email to the same people who received a link to the first article above.
I swear, I'm not making this up.
On Tuesday the Miami Herald endorsed a candidate for the Florida state Senate, John Couriel -a Miami native, Harvard Law School grad and currently an Assistant U.S. Attorney for Miami- whose first name they never mention -or anything else about him in their endorsement as it appears online!
More evidence of the very low state the Herald has fallen to before our eyes. In this article from last week, the first time the Herald mentioned John Courielsince he announced he was running, their reporter, rather ironically considering their poor coverage of local news and politics, chose to start the article thusly: "In what may be the sleeper legislative campaign of the season..."
Actually, it seems more like the reporter, Mary Ellen Klaas, is the one who is playing Rip Van Winkle, since she reported last week that four weeks before the election, a first-time candidate has out-raised and out-spent aforty-year career politician with very high name recognition, and who was formerly the President of the Florida State Senate and after that, a Miami-Dade Commissioner.
(Margolis is someone whom I met a lot while growing-up in NMB and being very involved in county Dem politics and campaigns, including at functions in North Miami circa mid-1970's that my mother attended when I was Junior High age.
She's the very same woman who, while I was living and working for 15 years in Washington, D.C., before it was finally built decades after it was needed, strongly considering making the William Lehman Causeway Bridge, that connects Aventura to Sunny Isles, a toll bridge, unless she got her way on something involving tax revenues!
Imagine traffic on glacial U.S.-1/Biscayne Blvd. now next to Aventura Mall if there was a toll road next door -actually worse than it is now if possible, which IS very hard to imagine, given how many times I've felt like I was going to run out of gas (and patience) while creeping along one block at a time in the afternoon. You remember, don't you Aventura, Sunny Isles and Hallandale Beach? Imagine if she had had her way!)
The new district is so enormous and obtuse that on the north it goes from west of the Florida Turnpike in Hollywood, down to an area in Miami-Dade County where I lived in the early 1980's when back from IU for the summer, many miles south of downtown Miami, back before they were calling itPinecrest. Plus, that district as currently drawn also includes Key Biscayne!
See for yourself: http://maps.flsenate.gov/de1/map.html?plan=fl2002_sen&district=35 Key Biscayne?That's f-ing preposterous!!!Hollywood to Key Biscayne? Why? Why do you think -so that Hispanics can vote for Hispanics, Blacks can vote for blacks and Jews can... and some reporter somewhere in the future can opine about why it's hard to find someone with voter wide appeal in South Florida who is not a demagogue.
In South Florida politics, outside of municipal races, you don't need to be smart, savvy, hard-working, conciliatory or even have good ideas that can make it possible for you to get positive things done, you simply need to be one of three favored ethnic demographics -that's it!
So given Couriel'snot-insignificant accomplishment, why did Klaas and the newspapers NEVER write anything about him and his efforts all year, before last week?
A public flogging of a mendacious judge that's well-deserved -St. Pete Times editorial: Arrogant 'Taj Mahal' judge deserves no leniency
Even in Florida, where so many aspects of basic public administration, logical checks-and-balances, separation of powers, transparency, public accountability and public records requests are actively fought by the elected officials and the judiciary -and their crony pals and lobbyists who made it all happen for them- eventually, the last shoe falls.
And this time, it's falling with a thud loud enough to be heard across the Sunshine State, in large part thanks to the tireless efforts of reporter Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times to connect-the-dots on a story that many others in Florida's news media avoided like a hot potato.
Yes, you mix powerful people with a sense of entitlement, old-fashioned notions of prestige, towering arrogance and abuse of the public's trust, and then throw taxpayers funding of it to solve the problem into the picture and you have a combustible end product that could explode before anything is built.
That's something to keep in mind now in Broward County, where judges, lawyers and the local legal and business establishment, plus their contractor friends and elected officials, all wanted a new County courthouse downtown despite the fact that the public does NOT.
So much so that the Broward County Commission refused to even allow the public to vote on the issue as a referendum.
Below is the editorial I had in an email I sent out yesterday to folks around the state, one that could hardly be more spot-on. Not that you would know about it at all based on how skant coverage this story has been on Miami-area TV newscasts.
It's the logical follow-up to my last post on this subject, from January 9th, titled, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater: 'Taj Mahal' courthouse in Tallahassee 'far worse' than a pricey building. And the judges behind it WON'T talk!
Paul Hawkes is the arrogant, duplicitous judge on Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee who put construction of a lavish $50 million courthouse for himself and his fellow judges before judicial ethics or integrity. Now, as he answers for his actions before Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission, Hawkes should forfeit his job. Any sanction short of Hawkes' removal from the bench would be too lenient in light of the stain he has left on the judiciary.
The formal charges brought in May against Hawkes by a JQC investigative panel describe a man whose ambition has run amok. Allegations include that he blatantly abused his authority to secure money and amenities for the new building, bullied state employees, ordered the destruction of an entire file cabinet of public documents, suggested a furniture vendor underwrite a trip, and even directed a court employee to help his son with legal work.
Concerns over Hawkes' conduct came to light through reporting by St. Petersburg Times senior correspondent Lucy Morgan, who first detailed the outsized role Hawkes played in getting the posh courthouse built even as the grip of a tightening recession meant courts around the state were losing personnel.
It would be a violation of public trust if Hawkes were able to keep his job through a negotiated settlement. Secret negotiations to avoid a trial are under way between lawyers for the JQC and Hawkes. One proposed settlement has already been rejected by the JQC panel, suggesting that Hawkes is looking to get off too easily. If there is no agreement, a trial is likely to begin early next year.
But Hawkes deserves no leniency in return for expediency. He refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing and deflects blame. First, Hawkes provided inaccurate accounts of his actions when testifying in January before a Senate committee. Then, in his formal response to the charges, he pointed a finger of complicity at his fellow appellate court judges, as if they were as much to blame for the ostentatious courthouse. These are not the actions of someone repentant or reformed.
Ultimately the sanctions Hawkes faces will be determined by the Florida Supreme Court, which will review any JQC recommendation but has the final word. Chief Justice Charles Canady, unhappy with Hawkes' conduct and its poor reflection on the judiciary, told Hawkes to resign as chief judge. That same impulse, to protect the integrity of the courts, should inform any settlement deal and require Hawkes' removal from the bench.
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GoogleStreet Viewof the 1st District Court of Appeal Courthouse at 2000 Drayton Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32399.
Above, Ellyn Bogdanoff, Florida State Senator (R-25) speaks to James A. "Jim" Scott, former Broward County Commissioner -and Chairman of the TrippScott law firm of Fort Lauderdale- on her expectations for the 2011 legislative session in Tallahassee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAt4yJKsbVw Ellyn Bogdanoff was elected to the forty-member Florida State Senate last year from Senate District 25, which starts to the south in Fort Lauderdale -which she represented for six years in the Florida House- and goes north into Palm Beach County. It was formerly represented by current State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, a former banking executive.
Ellyn Bogdanoff for Senate 2010 commercialhttp://vimeo.com/15167627
Other videos of her talking about issues at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5oH8LUsgk4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPr0SOaKl7k
Bogdanff was mentioned frequently here on the blog last year for her very hard work to bring meaningful and responsive ethics legislation to government to Broward County, both at the county and municipal level, via an independent Inspector General, something that a lot of people talked about it, but that few actually did anything meaningful about. Citations of Ellyn Bogdanoff here at HBB: http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Bogdanoff%22 Bogdanoff was also mentioned in many posts here about ethics where I couldn't quite fit her rntire name into the "tags" category, but she's there!
But Bogdanoff, along with Democratic State Rep. Ari Porth, did most of the heavy-lifting in Broward County and Tallahassee to try to make it a reality, against the efforts of many Broward County Democrats serving in Tallahassee.
Many, apparently, see their pals in local City Halls as both political and financial allies, and to return the favor, weren't about to make it easier for Broward County citizens to get the overdue justice they deserve and drop a dime on the legislator's pals if they weren't actually following the letter and spirit of this state's laws. They don't call it the 'culture of corruption' for nothing.
To watch some of the dis-interested and oblivious Broward Dems debate this issue in person last year, as I did, you'd think that Ethics was NOT a legitimate concern of either African-Americans or liberals or retirees or... anyone they knew or got campaign checks from.Nope, just Broward do-gooders like me and Charlotte Greenbarg and Sara Case and Patti Lynn...
From my perspective in the room last year, some state legislators, like Perry Thurston, Chris Smith and Dan Gelber, only seemed to make matters worse by their wasting time at the Broward Legislative Delegation meeting to score cheap political points and bark at Broward State's Attorney Michael Satz, rather than showing a genuine concern to help stop the rampant corruption and abuse of Sunshine Laws at Broward's thirty-something city halls, where my own city of Hallandale Beach has been among the worst offenders during the ten-year reign of Mayor Joy Cooper. But then you already know that last point, don't you? The incredibly feeble attendance of the South Florida press at the meeting, a sign of the times in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, only seemed to empower this sort of dysfunctional behavior, as the Dem legislators talked and talked until... what do you know, there was less time for the public to speak than was thought. Among those who didn't get to speak -me.
Ellyn Bogdanoff is very smart, friendly and personally charming and as I said earlier, a very hard-worker. That she also greatly resembles a particularly dear friend of mine from IU, who was about the best judge of people I knew, and a great personal sounding-board for me, meant that I was already inclined to like her to begin with, even before I knew what she was doing to make tougher ethics legislation here not just a priority, but a reality. She is also not someone to let other people screw with her just because she is so engaging, as the Miami Herald article from last year, below, makes clear.That's a quality I like and look for since I really hate both bullies and those who use parochial cronyism to thwart the great societal good. (Needless to say, yet another reason why I constantly oppose the depredations of the Joy Cooper Rubber Stamp Crew at HB City Hall.) That's especially the case when Bogdanoff was fighting for MUCH STRONGER ethics against someone who just wants a pork project to sail thru.
Now some of these qualities and her reluctance to let others dictate the success of bills she feels are important rub some people the wrong way, and while I don't agree with her on everything, of course, Bogdanoff is a person of enormous personal character.
I mean she fought for ethics here, the most politically-corrupt county in the entire state, where there was almost a brazenness among some pols before they were caught and convicted, so unlike some places in the country, this was not exactly every legislator's idea of a fun assignment. But she did it anyway -and made a tangible positive difference. And not that you asked, but I'd replace bland and ineffective U.S. Senator Bill Nelson with Ellyn Bogdanoff in a heartbeat. Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/02/1608918/rep-ellyn-bogdanoff-a-formidable.html Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff a formidable opponent By Christina Silva and Robert SamuelsHerald/Times Tallahassee Bureau May 2, 2010
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, nicknamed the "Angel of Death'' in the Florida House, has been a bill-slayer for six years, but she wasn't about to let legislation important to her die without a fight.
Convinced that Rep. Janet Long had persuaded the Senate to hold one of her bills hostage, Bogdanoff stormed into Long's office and delivered a tongue-lashing in front of a knot of lawmakers. Long, a Democrat from Seminole, filed a complaint with the speaker's office that claimed Bogdanoff had made "threats of harm and retaliation.''
Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said she was just doing her job.
"Here's the thing: I am who I am,'' Bogdanoff said. "And I've been extremely successful because of who I am. I get along with most people and I have a lot of friends. And, once in a while, you come across people that maybe lack self-confidence and are intimidated by you based on their own character and makeup, and I can't help that.''
The recent scuffle illustrates the occasional alpha-dog politics used to advance legislation behind both closed and open doors within the Florida Capitol, where decorum and regimen usually rule.
TAX BREAKS
In the House, Bogdanoff successfully negotiated more than $218 million in tax breaks and economic incentives designed to stimulate the Florida economy. She interrupted floor debate to denounce any potential amendments to her sweeping condo relief bill, agitating some in her delegation. The bill passed.
Meanwhile, to the surprise of many, she announced she had killed a bill that would have banned texting while driving, calling the legislation "intellectually dishonest.'' Senate Republicans unsuccessfully urged the House to rise against Bogdanoff and pass the bill.
"She can move mountains in Tallahassee,'' said Rep. Ari Porth, a Democrat from Coral Springs who counts Bogdanoff as an ally.
The fight with Long grew from Bogdanoff's refusal to schedule Long's bill to change the governance structure of the Pinellas Park Water Management District Authority. Bogdanoff said it was too controversial.
That prompted Long's cosponsor in the Senate, Seminole Republican Dennis Jones, to stall Bogdanoff's bill that sought to establish a Broward County inspector general. It was a top priority for Broward lawmakers who asked Bogdanoff to carry the bill because of her influence.
Bogdanoff said Long made their exchange seem more confrontational than it was and defended her actions: "To have political retribution on a bill that is extremely important to my community, that is also being cosponsored by two Democrats, is patently unfair.''
A former political consultant with long ties to the Republican Party, Bogdanoff quickly rose through the ranks after she was elected to the House by 12 votes in 2004 to finish the term of Rep. Connie Mack IV, who resigned to run for Congress.
She served as the majority whip from 2006 to 2008, where she rallied votes for Republican causes under former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
The moniker "Angel of Death'' was originally a joke, she said.
"Speaker Rubio was up there and said, 'You know it's a good day in the Florida Legislature when you haven't been visited by Ellyn Bogdanoff, better known as the `Angel of Death,' '' Bogdanoff recalled.
Bogdanoff remains a formidable opponent. She chairs the Finance and Tax Council and sits in the front row of the House, where she shares a jar of Jelly Bellys with her seatmate, Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, the House's lieutenant speaker.
NSU LAW SCHOOL
The mother of three children, Bogdanoff graduated from Nova Southeastern University's law school when she was 43. Colleagues on both sides of the aisle call her smart, tenacious and sharp-tongued. They disagree, however, on whether those are admirable qualities.
"There are many times when she has reached across the aisle to work with Democrats and overall she has been very fair,'' said Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie. ``I have nothing negative to say about her.''
Minority Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, said his relationship with Bogdanoff has been tense since she vowed to kill a local earmark he pitched if he didn't withdraw his call for a recorded vote on a stem-cell measure. They were freshmen lawmakers at the time.
FEATHERS RUFFLED
"I told her I was the worst person in the world that she should be trying to threaten because I just didn't give a damn,'' Sands said. "I guess that says you always have to stand up to a bully; otherwise, they own you.''
Bogdanoff could soon be ruffling new feathers. She is running for the seat being vacated by Senate President Jeff Atwater, a North Palm Beach Republican running for chief financial officer. She has the support of incoming President Mike Haridopolos, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Sen. John McCain, whom she backed in the 2008 presidential election.
She said some people inflame her temper for "entertainment.''
"They start pushing my buttons and watch me go,'' she said. "Even [House Budget Chief] David Rivera said one time, 'I love to watch people push your buttons, because you bite every time.' And that's what I have to stop. . . . I take the bait. Every time.''
FL State Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff's official Member page: http://www.flsenate.gov/senators/s25
----- Below, a discussion on issues Ellyn Bogdanoff had last year -when she was still in the Florida House- with Ed Pozzuoli, President of TrippScott:
Sometimes, all your faithful blogger needs to do to bring something important or worthwhile to your attention is to get out of the way ASAP so you can read it yourself, since there's hardly anything I can add to the original story that could make it any clearer. As is so often true in those cases, it involves Florida or South Florida politics and government, and what a complete fiasco something was, is or is becoming.
This is such a time as Scott Powers of theOrlando Sentinel shows how Florida's public campaign-finance laws, intended to create a more level playing-field, doesn't, if ever, work as planned. So why keep it? Do you keep a compass that refuses to actually point in the right direction? I don't.
I was always against public-financing of statewide political candidates in principle, even before I read this eye-opening piece on Tuesday night. After reading it and thinking about the financial implications of continuing the system into the future, I'm even more convinced that it's a well-intentioned bad idea.
Especially now that we all have some idea how much taxpayer money went down the drain. Or, should I say, provided employment for political consultants and advertising revenue for TV station owners. I see why THEY would like it and want to keep the system intact, I'm not nearly as sure why we as taxpayers should continue something so manifestly broken and unworkable.
Orlando Sentinel Central Florida Political Pulse blog
Campaign finance leftovers: taxpayers contributed $5.8 million Posted by scottpowers on January, 18 2011 9:22 AM
How much did taxpayers contribute to all those nasty campaign ads heading into last fall’s election?
Try $5.8 million, and counting.The latest available reports from the Division of Elections show Florida taxpayers spent more than $5.8 million to bolster the campaigns of 10 candidates for statewide office last year, giving public dollars to individuals who arguably didn’t need the money but took it anyway.
Read the rest of the post at: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/01/campaign-finance-leftovers-taxpayers-contributed-5-8-million.html
The parent Orlando Sentinel article was: Candidates collected $5.8 million in public money By Scott Powers, Orlando Sentinel 10:54 p.m. EST, January 17, 2011 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-state-public-finance-20110116,0,6550241.story
Back in October, TheSunshineStateNews did this interview with then-CFO candidate Jeff Atwater on the subject of the 'Taj Mahal' Courthouse in Tallahassee, who asked why Alex Sink, then the Florida CFO and Democratic nominee for governor, didn't raise red flags about its costs and instead just signed the checks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x16WC96yqqg
See also:http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSunshineStateNews
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Following-up on her excellent reporting of three weeks ago on the new First District Court of Appeals Courthouse in Tallahassee -Florida's state capital for those of you reading this post overseas- which I commented upon here in a December 19th post I titled, with mock humor, Lucy Morgan in St. Pete Times: Why can't anyone remember how a $50-million courthouse now called the 'Taj Mahal' stayed off the radar and got okayed? http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/lucy-morgan-in-st-pete-times-why-cant.htmlon Saturday, Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times actually outdid her earlier piece.
She gave readers and observers of all things political in Florida, the shady and the legit, a real bracing wake-up call by giving us a knowing description of what's what in the new Home Sweet Home for the elite judicial set.About the only thing missing are duvets, a private wine cellar and Swedish au pairs to help their kids after school with homework, otherwise, it's all there.
Atwater: Taj Mahal courthouse 'far worse' than a pricey building
By Lucy Morgan, Times Senior Correspondent In Print: Saturday, January 8, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — State auditors are questioning more than $1 million in bills submitted for the new $50 million courthouse built by the 1st District Court of Appeal.
"This is one of the great embarrassments for Florida government,'' new Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said of the building derided as Florida's Taj Mahal. "The audacity and arrogance that was displayed in doing this and their continuing effort to hide the ball has been a complete disservice to hardworking Floridians who deserve better from public officials.''
The day after Atwater was sworn into office this week, he was briefed by auditors who now work for him. He said he will personally inspect every outstanding bill and will allow no payment until he can determine what was purchased. His auditors are continuing an investigation that started under former CFO Alex Sink.
"I now believe it is far worse than just an expensive building,'' Atwater said.
Some of Atwater's questions surround apparent attempts by the court to buy big screen television sets and furnishings for the courthouse with the proceeds of a $33.5 million bond issue that taxpayers will repay over the next 30 years.
"I cannot imagine financing equipment for 30 years that will depreciate over the next three to five years,'' Atwater said.
A former Senate president, Atwater said he has completely lost confidence in the Department of Management Services, the state agency responsible for overseeing construction of the courthouse. Officials at DMS signed off on the questionable purchases the judges requested.
"I do not believe they (DMS) have been straight with the people of Florida, certainly not with our department,'' he said. "They have been disguising what they were trying to get us to sign off on — and I have only been here a day.''
In October the CFO's scathing audit of the project accused the judges of illegally taking control of planning and construction away from DMS and laid much of the blame on the lobbying of 1st DCA Judges Paul M. Hawkes and Brad Thomas.
Auditors are now questioning a number of bills submitted by DMS for Peter R. Brown Construction Co. and Black Box Network Services, the company providing telecommunications equipment to the court. Black Box billed the state $693,450 for services and electronics equipment but has yet to collect $571,105 due to questions raised by auditors.
A $113,450 bill approved by DMS Nov. 29 lists a series of change orders for Black Box installations with charges for "labor'' without details. One of the items listed as labor is for $58,699.01. That is exactly the amount listed on a Sept. 7 bill for 14 TV sets and a $17,364 "restocking fee'' for the return of 16 60-inch TVs.
The St. Petersburg Times obtained the September bill in a records request from DMS, but officials in Atwater's office say they have never seen the September bill and believe the more recent bill that listed the TVs as "labor'' was an attempt to hide what had been purchased.
When the Times asked for bills DMS paid for electronics or furnishings, DMS initially denied any such payments had been made. But when pressed to provide bills submitted by Black Box, the agency produced a copy of the September bill.
The judges originally planned to put a 60-inch flat screen in each of 16 judges' chambers but apparently returned the televisions after the Times reported in August on the courthouse's many luxuries. Auditors are also questioning the legality of the restocking fee Black Box requested.
Auditors say they can't immediately determine how many televisions the court is attempting to buy. They sent an inspector out to count after getting a bill for nine. The inspector found the nine sets, plus two more still in boxes. The court was paying $5,978 for each 60-inch television, $2,273 for 47-inch televisions and $3,325 for 52-inch televisions, far more than the price of similar-sized TVs at major electronic stores.
Internal memos indicate auditors could not determine what was being purchased in one December bill for $145,000. When they asked for additional documentation they discovered that $41,000 of the total was for the nine TVs.
Officials at DMS did not respond to detailed requests for comment on Friday.
First DCA marshal Stephen Nevels says the court has 27 televisions in the new building: nine 60-inch monitors; two 52-inch; seven 46-inch; three 42-inch; two 40-inch; and four 17-inch. Nevels said the court has not seen any of the bills that have been handled by DMS.
Atwater is trying to unravel other questionable expenditures. One involves the purchase of art for the new building, and vendors that DMS and the court authorized to provide services that exceed the $100,000 limit on art that state law says can be purchased for a new building.
One of those vendors is Signature Art Gallery, owned by Mary Maida, wife of Tallahassee lawyer Tom Maida. The gallery agreed to frame 400 historical photos in the new building at a cost of more than $357,000, money that was to be paid by construction manager Peter R. Brown. In addition the court has agreed to pay $72,000 for original paintings by seven Florida artists.
The framed photographs include scenes from the 32 counties in Florida's northern district: greased pig contests, tobacco farms, lighthouses, cotton pickers, Tarzan at Wakulla Springs and other historic scenes.
Auditors have refused to approve payment of the bill because it exceeds the $100,000 limit. Some at the court have argued that the photos are not art and should not be included in the amount state law allows for art when a new building is built.
The situation leaves Mrs. Maida, owner of a small gallery in northeast Tallahassee, with a huge unpaid bill. Her husband, a lawyer at Foley & Lardner, has written to lawyers in Atwater's office asking for copies of all records relating to the art.
He has not filed a lawsuit. "I hope we don't have to,'' Tom Maida said when asked about the debt. "We certainly believe she is entitled to be paid by the state.''
It will be up to Atwater to decide. He's trying to determine what the state should do where a vendor has entered into a contract in good faith expecting to be paid for work — but that work violates state law.
Meanwhile Hawkes, chief judge during much of the construction project, and other officials involved in the project have been asked to appear before a Senate budget committee Wednesday to answer questions about the new courthouse. Thomas, the other judge who helped lobby for the project, also was invited. On Friday he notified the committee he will not appear.
"He had no problem coming to lobby for a $50 million courthouse, but now he can't come back to answer questions,'' said committee Chairman Mike Fasano.
Thomas did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
Lawmakers approved the money for the project and passed a $33.5 million bond issue that was tucked into an unrelated transportation bill on the last day of the 2007 legislative session. They say they had no idea the judges planned to build such an elaborate building.
The 110,000-square-foot building houses the 1st District's 114 employees. Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady is working on plans to remodel part of the building to accommodate 50 to 60 state court administrative employees, who could move out of rented quarters and save the state about $300,000 a year.
Atwater said he cannot allow the problems with the new building to go unaddressed. "There are people at DMS who tried to stop this, at least tried to bring a level of thoughtful scrutiny to it and it may have cost them their jobs,'' he said.
So, three weeks later. the lap of luxury in Tallahassee paid for by Florida taxpayers begins to get described in detail...
I can only imagine what a proposed new Broward County Courthouse -forced down the throats of protesting taxpayers- would be like with all the prima donna judges in this area.
That proposed County courthouse, adamantly opposed by the vast majority of Broward County's citizen taxpayers, but popular with the small clique of downtown Fort Lauderdale's business, legal and lobbying community, for reason that should be obvious, is an explosive subject I've written about many times, even while the Miami Herald has been positively obsequious and sycophantic in their news coverage, practically serving as a stenographer for the proponents of the plan.
Last year, Ritter created her own hand-picked "Broward County Courthouse Task Force" and installed her friend and fellow courthouse backer, Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, as the chairwoman.
Not surprisingly, the task force just came back with exactly what Ritter and Lieberman wanted: a recommendation to build a new courthouse without asking the permission of the public. The task force report also includes a convoluted half-baked plan to pay for it.
And Ritter and Lieberman are real cocky about it too, treating it all as a done deal. But you have to understand that Lieberman might have more than altruistic motives to rush this project forward. In 2005, she and lawyer husband Stuart Michelson, who serves as the Sunrise city attorney, bought an office suite close to the courthouse (at 800 SE Third Avenue) for $1.35 million.
Wow!
I've discussed here how the so-called 'Courthouse Task Force' was intentionally stacked with supporters of the plan, not well-respected, open-minded community reps with no personal or professional conflicts. No, that would have been too easy!
Instead, people selected for it had personal agendas from the beginning, and some even stood to profit from it in a manner that would not be ethically or legally acceptable with a similar proposal for any other building in this county.
In fact, the task force DIDN'T even follow the county's own rules and provide public information about their public meetings prior to them taking place, as the last meeting's agenda and related information were NOT posted to the county's website until many hours AFTER it was over.
Oversight or intentional?
In my letter to Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry complaining about these violations, I made the case for intentional by simply reciting the known facts, which were overwhelming. And in case you forgot, the chair of that Broward County Courthouse Task Force, appointed by the Broward County Commission itself, was none other than Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, a woman who owns property near the proposed site in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Really.
Here are HBB links to past posts of mine on her ethics as well as this subject:
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that's how things are DONE in Broward County, Florida, U.S.A. in the early years of the 21st century. In broad daylight.
The mind literally reels at the excess just waiting for Broward taxpayers if a new county courthouse is built in the location favored by the powerful few and well-connected, who are mostly Secret Santas for each other, even if they don't personally celebrate Christmas.
What are friends for?
IF there ever is a brand-new courthouse in Broward, it needs to be on/near or adjacent to U.S.-1 so that a futureFEC rail line commuter train station is close-by, and logic and reason actually enter the public planning conversation for a change. http://www.sfeccstudy.com/ If you aren't going to consciously locate venues that attract lots of foot traffic, like stadiums, arenas, shopping malls, govt. buildings like county courthouses or county HQ, near safe and well-designed mass transportation hubs to cut down on the number of vehicles on the roads,and create some positive business synergy and efficiency -and make everyone's life simpler while saving money on parking fees- what's the point in pretending there's any kind of logical, well thought- out County/regional transportation policy?
I don't know about you, but personally, I'm tired of pretending that myopic mediocrity in South Florida government planning is satisfactory.
