Showing posts with label Joe Gibbons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Gibbons. Show all posts

Monday, November 6, 2023

re Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office fighting a ruling on lobbying restrictions on Florida's elected officials: The cautionary tale of Steve Geller and Joe Gibbons track record makes a reasonable person realize we NEED even stronger and more meaningful ethics laws in the Sunshine State



re Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office fighting a ruling on lobbying restrictions on Florida's elected officials: The cautionary tale of Steve Geller and Joe Gibbons track record makes a reasonable person realize we NEED even stronger and more meaningful ethics laws in the Sunshine State 

As I have told most of you loyal readers of the blog via emails or in-person since before 2018 -some of you, in fact, SEVERAL TIMES!- I truly wish the Florida law mentioned last week in Florida Trend, below, had been a state law in effect back when: 

a.) Present-day Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller was a state senator, with a public office located at Hallandale Beach City Hall no less.
In theory if not practice, Geller was supposed to be representing the citizens and stakeholders of Hallandale Beach in the Florida state Senate in Tallahassee, yet at the time, was free to legally lobby AGAINST their interests -as well as those of HB's elected officials- on behalf of any of his lobbying clients, and,

b.) Joe Gibbons, the ex-Hallandale Beach City Commissioner and then-Florida state Representative -so, like Steve Geller above, in theory, representing the interests of citizens and small business owners of Hallandale Beach and West Park in the Florida House of Representatives in Tallahassee- yet, Gibbons was legally free to lobby AGAINST the interests of the city's residents, stakeholders and elected officials, on behalf of his other clients. And did.

Clients that Hallandale Beach citizens and stakeholders were completely unaware of, even if a particular project he was somehow financially involved in was being discussed on local TV newscasts or in the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun Sentinel, since unless his name is specifically mentioned, how would you know he was connected to it?
You wouldn't.

In one particular egregious case regarding Joe Gibbons WHILE he was a Florida state Representative, a case that I chronicled here on the blog MANY TIMES at the time, Gibbons was working FOR the interests of a large, well-heeled South Florida real estate development company involving a VERY UNPOPULAR development proposal on the beach. Specifically, one proposed for 2000 S. Ocean Drive.
What is now referred to as 2000 Ocean, below.





A proposed development that was opposed by both the city residents living closest to it, at the Parker Plaza condos, as well as the majority of the rest of the community.




The latter, a reflection of the fact that the city's elected officials, City Manager and CRA officials seemed even more intent than usual in bending over and rushing the project through with as little public engagement and input, and handicapping the public by NOT making PUBLIC INFORMATION available to me and them as soon as it was available.
(Yes, not only the common thread but actually the default position of Hallandale Beach elected officials and City Managers since I first returned to South Florida 20 years ago, after working and living in Washington, D.C. for roughly 15 years, often on behalf of some of the largest of Fortune 500 companies, and the nation's most influential law firms, PACs and lobbying groups.)

Typically for Broward County pols, where no interest looms larger than self-interest, Joe Gibbons did all of this while he was running against first-term incumbent Beam Furr for his Broward County Commission seat representing SE Broward County, including Hollywood. 
If you were a normal person, you'd think that the issue would have caused the South Florida news media to be all over it, given that it was happening while Gibbons was campaigning for public office again.
But you'd be wrong.

As I wrote about many times here on the blog, absolutely ZERO members of South Florida's press corps, print or TV or even NPR affiliate WLRN, were interested in asking any hard questions about that particular arrangement, despite the unethical optics of it, to say nothing of the huge amount Gibbons reportedly would have received if he had succeeded: $200,000 according to well-informed people involved in the process.

And the worst part of all, a FACT that I wrote about then on my blog and in emails to many of you, Gibbons NEVER even did the bare minimum the city's extant ethics and lobbying laws REQUIRED.

That is, Gibbons never filed the required lobbying docs at HB City Hall, as every other lobbyist is required to do, yet he had many conversations with City Commissioners and top city staffers at the time, including several with unethical Comm. Anthony Sanders, a man who later was forced out by Broward Inspector General John Scott because of Sanders steering nearly a million dollars in HB CRA funds to his family and friends, naturally, because the city was unwilling and unable to do even the most basic oversight of the millions of dollars in the city's CRA pot.
(For the record, the Miami Herald has STILL never reported in-print that he was forced to resign -or else!)

That Joe Gibbons, who lived in Jacksonville with his family while he was a state Representative, while claiming, falsely, to be a full-time bona fide Hallandale Beach resident, was a great believer of rules for you and me, but NOT for him. Surprise!

Even now we STILL don't know who the real priorities of Steve Geller and Joe Gibbons were when they were public officials in Tallahassee or Broward County: the public or their own financial interests?




---

NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Florida attorney general's office fights a ruling on a lobbying restriction
Jim Saunders | The News Service of Florida | 10/26/2023

Pointing to securing the “public trust,” Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has asked a federal appeals court to overturn a decision that blocked part of a 2018 state constitutional amendment imposing new restrictions
on lobbying.

U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom this summer issued a permanent injunction against a restriction on state and local officials lobbying other government bodies while in office. Bloom said the restriction violated First Amendment rights.

But in a 62-page brief filed Wednesday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers in Moody’s office disputed that the restriction is unconstitutional and said paid “lobbying by public officials threatens the integrity of and public confidence in democracy.”

Florida’s restriction alleviates the threat of financial quid pro quos and their appearance in a direct and material way,” the brief said. “It prevents elected and executive-level officers, who wield political influence, from taking, or appearing to take, dollars … for political favors … in derogation of public trust.”

The 2018 amendment, which was proposed by the state Constitution Revision Commission, sought to bar public officials from lobbying “for compensation on issues of policy, appropriations, or procurement before the federal government, the Legislature, any state government body or agency, or any political subdivision of this state, during his or her term of office.”

The remaining plaintiff in the case is Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia, after Bloom ruled that another plaintiff, South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez, did not have legal standing.

Garcia, a former state House member and senator, is executive vice president of New Century Partnership, a firm that provides lobbying and other services. Garcia said he turned down at least two clients who sought lobbying services for legislative appropriations in Tallahassee because of the restriction, according to Bloom’s ruling.

In the filing Wednesday, Moody’s office took issue with the injunction applying to officials across the state. The brief said that if Bloom’s ruling is upheld, it should apply only to Garcia.

“Because Garcia’s injury is limited to the fear of enforcement against him, the court could have afforded complete relief by enjoining the state defendants from enforcing the restriction against only him,” the brief said. “By enjoining the restriction as to all public officers in the state, the district court departed from traditional equitable practice.”

Bloom, who is based in South Florida, ruled that the 2018 constitutional amendment and a law that carried it out placed “content-based, overbroad restrictions on speech.”

“Contrary to defendants’ assertion, the in-office restrictions target speech based on the context of the speech and its content,” Bloom wrote.

But the state’s brief Wednesday said that “no matter the public office or the lobbied government entity making political decisions, Florida has a substantial interest in preventing officeholders from being (or appearing to be) bought and paid for in the political arena while holding public office in public trust.”

Bloom did not block another part of the voter-approved amendment that restricts former state and local officials from lobbying for six years after leaving office.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Where did Millions of Hallandale Beach CRA dollars go? Years later, HB taxpayers still want answers, and the #FL state legislators responsible for preventing a much-needed JLAC audit of the HB CRA at the time still DON'T want to publicly talk about it. Seems like déjà vu, no? Sobel, Braynon, Gibbons & Jones are no Profiles in Courage!

Where did Millions of Hallandale Beach CRA dollars go? Years later, HB taxpayers still want answers, and the #FL state legislators responsible for preventing a much-needed JLAC audit of the HB CRA at the time still DON'T want to publicly talk about it. Seems like déjà vu, no? Sobel, Braynon, Gibbons & Jones are no Profiles in Courage!
So now that in 2017 the Hallandale Beach City Commission has a 3-2 pro-reform majority on it, intent on undoing a lot of the serious damage that has been done to the city the past dozen years under Mayor Joy Cooper, you probably won't be too surprised to discover that quite a lot of people in Hallandale Beach, Broward County and South Florida are STILL very interested in finding out where all the millions of Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) dollars were going for years. 
Not surprisingly, that includes me and many of you readers of this blog.

And not just because it's Hallandale Beach, but the larger issue of municipal CRA performance in Florida and whether cities have successfuly thwarted the original intent of what the state legislature meant to do when they created the enabling legislation.

In fact, the Florida Bulldog's William "Bill" Gjebre has a new fact-filled article on that very subject today that I am only too happy to highly recommend to you, and link to below.

I've even included a few links and tweets re just some of the dozens of things I've written about the HB CRA over the past nearly-ten years this blog has been in existence to give any of you newcomers to the blog some much-needed context and nuance for understanding this newest call for some much-needed financial accountability.

Along with Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Keith London and a few of my friends who are fellow civic activists, like Csaba "Chuck" Kulin, I've been among the most-outspoken and VOCAL critics of the operation of the city's CRA program, with me particularly liking to engage with and call-out the pathetic reporting efforts of the local South Florida news media that so often ignored the scandal that was, literally, right in front of them.

But most could not be bothered because it was taking place in Hallandale Beach, not Pembroke Pines, Doral, Hialeah, Pinecrest, Palm Bay, Aventura or... 
Yes, that geographical discrimination that local reporters have been guilty of down here for so many years, where some stories are reported upon simply because of where they take place, not the core of the facts and the issues involved. :-(

More specifically, how and why under Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew, and a succession of City Managers, for so many years  the Hallandale Beach CRA was allowed to operate with nothing resembling the sort of basic financial accountability and oversight that you'd expect of an entity that spent millions of dollars -on the public's behalf.
With so very little tangible to show for that money that was supposed to address the problems the CRA is tasked with solving or fixing.




Florida Bulldog
New majority on Hallandale commission wants to know: Where did CRA millions go?By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org  
January 18, 2017 at 5:05 AM

The new majority on the Hallandale Beach City Commission will seek the first-ever forensic audit of all expenditures by its troubled Community Redevelopment Agency for the past five years, including finding out why $7.4 million had to be cut to balance the agency’s budget this fiscal year.

Current Vice Mayor Keith London and Commissioner Michele Lazarow had been frustrated in seeking such an audit by the previous commission majority headed by Mayor Joy Cooper.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.floridabulldog.org/2017/01/new-majority-on-hallandale-beach-commission-wants-to-know-where-did-money-go/



























Wednesday, December 3, 2014

#RealityCheck re #Ethics #Lobbying and #Transparency in the Sunshine State: My observations re Michael Van Sickler's spot-on article re lack of meaningful transparency in lobbying govt. in Florida - Former FL Attorney General Bill McCullom's contact with current FL Attorney General Pam Bondi's office raises questions about "special rules for special people"

My comments and observations are below this excellent article by Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau reporter Michael Van Sickler as it appeared over the weekend. 
- Michael Van Sickler at mvansickler@tampabay.com. Follow @mikevansickler.
http://www.tampabay.com/writers/michael-van-sickler/

It's one of the most-thorough stories on a topic of great importance to society, and me personally -how government and public policy are directly affected by third-party actors- that I've seen in quite some time in Florida.

I've added some links below that did not appear in the email about this subject that I sent out this afternoon to lots of concerned Florida residents, activists, pols and journos around the state, especially in Tallahassee and Broward County 







-----
Tampa Bay Times
Former attorney general's contact with Pam Bondi's office raises questions
By Michael Van Sickler 
November 29, 2014 


When the cruise line Royal Caribbean sought to amend a 1997 consumer protection agreement with the Florida Attorney General's office, it hired a lawyer familiar with the agency's inner workings.

Former Attorney General Bill McCollum called on the staff of his successor, Pam Bondi. Six months after the June 2013 meeting, Bondi's office granted McCollum's request. 

Royal Caribbean's advertised rates would no longer have to include fees for services, like baggage handling and loading cargo. The fees, which can inflate a trip's cost by more than $100, could be listed separately from the company's advertised rates. 

On at least two other occasions, McCollum met with Bondi's staff to discuss two more clients - NJOY, an e-cigarette company, and HealthFair, which sells health screenings from mobile clinics. 


Read the rest of the article at
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/former-attorney-generals-contact-with-pam-bondis-office-raises-questions/2208238

I guess Bill McCollum thinks he's former FL Senate Minority Leader and attorney/lobbyist Steve Geller, who for years was well-known for his penchant of down-lobbying City officials in Southeast Broward County, as well as Broward County employees/elected officials, people whom you'd think he was at least nominally supposed to be representing in Tallahassee, but whom it was often said he was largely indifferent or even hostile to if their interests were opposed to those of his many well-known and well-heeled clients.

But whenever Steve Geller was forced to answer question about the issue of whom he truly represents when he was wearing so many different hats, often at the same time -especially before and while he ran unsuccessfully for the Broward County Commission in 2010, losing in part because of lingering questions about his fidelity to common sense ethical norms, or even the fact that he did NOT actually reside in the Commission District he was running for- Steve Geller nonchalantly trotted-out the same lame and self-serving excuse that Bill McCollum has with respect to his numerous contacts with FL Attorney General Pam Bondi and her staff.

This issue of the public appearance of "special rules for special peopleis one that strongly resonates with residents, activists and Small Business owners throughout the Sunshine State regardless of ideology, political party, age, gender and geography. 
It resonates precisely because the evidence is clear that the problem is only getting worse, even as it goes largely unreported and unremarked upon in South Florida's news media when it does occur, with the result that far too often the public finds out the facts AFTER a decision was made.

It's a problem that I have seen firsthand on many occasions over the past eleven years where I live, Hallandale Beach, and is one that our state legislators in Tallahassee clearly need to tighten-up dramatically, with similar efforts initiated to create more meaningful AND enforceable rules about transparency and lobbying registration at County Govt. Centers and City Halls across the state.

Which is to say, often the sorts of less-scrutinized locales where lobbyists like former state Rep. Joe Gibbons are currently more than content to work in the shadows and be shown deference, and often DON'T register as a lobbyist with the appropriate govt. entity when a public policy issue is being decided by that govt. body, even when they have a client directly involved in the outcome -and they are the one directly trying to fashion a specific result for their client.

Yes, even when it's clear from both the spirit and letter of the present ethics and lobbying laws that individuals like Gibbons ought to be registered as a lobbyist, as happened this past year in Hallandale Beach, with a proposed condo bldg. project on the beach for the super-rich asking for approval from the Hallandale Beach City Commission.
A proposed building that was by any reasonable standard, completely incompatible for the area.

Many of you reading this email today know only from from past emails of mine that in their failure to properly cover it, the South Florida news media for months ignored the fact that the ultimate decision and recommendations reached by the HB City Commission on this matter created the very real possibility that lobbyist Joe Gibbons would net $200,000 if his client had gotten their way, as I wrote in blog posts earlier this past Spring, and will be revisiting soon.

But like many past and present legislator-lobbyists in Florida, or former state officials, Joe Gibbons likes to act like has special privileges that put him above the reach of the state, county and municipal laws that were originally created to ensure that the public at large knew precisely whom all the players in the public policy drama were -and knew that information BEFORE any decisions were reached.

Instead, though, by NOT following the reasonable rules that others must observe, Gibbons and his lobbyist friends put the onus of enforcement on local and county officials to force him to do something that he clearly doesn't want to do, practically daring them to follow and enforce the law.
So guess how that usually turns out for the public, who has a legitimate right to know who all the players at the table are?

And how do you think that turns out in Hallandale Beach with a City Attorney like V. Lynn Whitfield, who has stated at city meetings that it's NOT her job to enforce ethics laws and rules the city already has on the books?

*In case you forgot about Whitfield's way of resolving matters -by ignoring them- see the short video I made titled "Csaba Kulin re Hallandale Beach City Attorney Whitfield's comments re her role on ethics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpFnVOFA-I

Yes, you just have to think that Joe Gibbons and his lobbyist friends love City Attorneys like Whitfield with their counter-intuitive attitude that puts the public at a genuine disadvantage and effectively neuters the law.

As if the public isn't working at enough of a disadvantage, esp. regarding development issues, given this city's track record of trying to keep public info secret from residents and neighborhoods as long as possible, even on huge projects, witness the Diplomat RAC project with 5-8 25-story-plus condo towers proposed in a single-family neighborhood in NE HB that ultimately was voted down by the Broward County Commission months after it got passed by the HB City Commission days before Christmas in 2009.
The final plans were not made public by the city until 28 hours before the vote, which finally occurred near 2:43 a.m., as I wrote here at the time:

December 17, 2009 At 2:43 a.m., Hallandale Beach approves First Reading of controversial Diplomat Country Club LAC, 3-2
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/at-243-am-hallandale-beach-approves.html

Since Joe Gibbons is NOT an attorney, even though when he wasn't acting in his capacity as a state legislator, he worked as a lobbyist for a prominent law firm based in Tallahassee -despite his wife and kids living in Jacksonville for years while he claimed to be a permanent resident of Hallandale Beach, hundreds of miles away- Gibbons can't even use the sort eof xcuse offered by Geller.

By the way, since they get mentioned by name in the article above, in the late 1990's I did some consulting work for Dickstein Shapiro's office in Washington, D.C. on an important matter for them on behalf of Jacksonville-based CSX. 
Which we won.

Friday, August 1, 2014

It's a damn shame that FL House Rep. Joe Gibbons will now have to go to Tallahassee to do his job instead of... avoiding South Florida reporters armed with 'inconvenient facts; Florida redistricting meets Broward County Commission Seat 1 race


It's a damn shame that FL House Rep. Joe Gibbons will now have to go to Tallahassee to do his job instead of... avoiding South Florida reporters armed with 'inconvenient facts' in his continuing attempt to explain away his dreadful record of insignificance in Tallahassee, and longstanding track record of perpetually looking the other way at what was taking place in his supposed "home" of Hallandale Beach under the direction of his friend Mayor Joy Cooper, especially as it relates to the misuse of the city's CRA,with her directing ill-founded schemes that made it an ATM for her political cronies and pals.

When the concerned citizenry of HB publicly proclaimed its genuine desire in 2013 for JLAC to perform an independent audit that would investigate where all the millions in CRA dollars went over the recent past, with Joy Cooper deciding where the money went, as I've written here many times, what did Joe Gibbons do?Nada!

It's also a shame that as soon as the FL House does what they need to do in order to meet the judge's order, regardless of how long it actually takes, Gibbons will inevitably say that there's just "not enough time" left for a no-holds-barred debate with Beam Furr in the HB/Hollywood area, a debate the public wants 
PRIOR to the primary for the Broward County Comm. District 1 seat.

You don't have to be as prescient as me or as familiar with Gibbons' M.O to know that cold, hard facts are NOT and have never been Gibbons' best friends.
Instead, Gibbons will no doubt continue playing the role of elusive rabbit to Furr's measured, fact-based issues campaign that actually compares and contrasts their records.

As it happens, I will have a nice fact-filled blog post next week on the issue of ethics and Joe Gibbons, and as you can imagine, it will deal with his lack of them, even when dealing with the federal government.
Who lies to the feds about something that's so easy to check on? Guess!

It'll feature irrefutable facts and a back-story that you have never read or heard about before.
Yes, think of it as my primary campaign 'contribution.' :-)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Political futures of Joe Gibbons and Alexander Lewy are part of the subplot of Wednesday night's crucial vote re the future Quality of Life of Hallandale Beach as City Comm. considers approval of GPH Regency, LLC's incompatible condo project at 2000 S. Ocean Drive




The news last week that Hallandale Beach City Commisioner Alexander Lewy will resign effective in May -story below- really makes what will happen Wednesday night at the continuation of the City Commission's 9-hour April 2nd meeting re GPH Regency, LLC's incompatible project at S. Ocean Drive, flanked by the very large beach condominiums, The Hemispheres and Parker Plaza respectively, much more interesting.
(That was a new low -and record-length for a HBCC meeting.)

The reason is that so long as Lewy was a candidate, the threat of alienating all those very well-informed and highly-motivated Super Voters on the beach -esp. at The Parker Plaza and The Hemispheres- would've been politically unappealing for Lewy, even though he's got a consistent record of being reflexively pro-development.

Even to the point of refusing to postpone for a few weeks the vote on the Beachwalk project next to the Intracoastal Bridge in August of 2012 until the majority of the residents most directly-affected by it had returned from from their summer out-of-town, and could actually be in attendance and make their concerns known.

But Lewy wasn't interested in doing that, even though it would've been the right thing to do, given that the waterfront site had been empty for MANY YEARS, and was sold for a song.
How could waiting 4 more weeks possibly throw everything out-of-kilter?
It couldn't, of course, but like his colleagues, Lewy didn't care.
Instead of doing the right thing for a change, Lewy insisted the vote be held and voted for it while the nearby property owners whose lives would be most affected were left to simmer with their justified anger -out-of-town.

Now, without the abstract threat of thousands of affluent and well-informed voters on the beach withholding their votes from him in the upcoming August primary for the Florida House 100 seat if he were to cast a vote for that incompatible project before us now, Lewy is free to vote for the developer and not have to deal with the logical consequences of such a decision.


-----------
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Alex Lewy quits Hallandale Beach commission, drops out of state House race
By Anthony Man
Sun Sentinel
11:53 AM EDT, April 10, 2014
Original post | 10:40 a.m.
Updated | 11:47 a.m.
sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/broward-politics-blog/sfl-alex-lewy-quits-drops-out-20140410,0,3001497.story

Considering all the typing she was doing, this ought to be two full pages of play-by-play, with useful analysis and context of all the players and their motivations.
Reporter seems to have missed more of the meeting given pertinent facts that are missing.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Luxury condo wants to call Hallandale Beach home
By Susannah Bryan, Staff writer
10:18 p.m. EDT, April 2, 2014
Not Mission Accomplished:
Meeting of the Board of Directors 
September 18, 2013 

7:30 P.M. - The Plaza Room 

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Has FL House Rep. Joe Gibbons been secretly lobbying for approval of Gilbert Benhamou's (incompatible) 2000 S. Ocean Drive condo project on the beach that comes up for approval tonight? I'm told the answer is YES

The following is an email of mine that went out earlier this week to the Usual Suspects that comprise my grapevine throughout the Sunshine State of Florida.
It concerns some subjects that have been much-discussed here on the blog over the years: the nexus of the traditional linchpins of South Florida real estate development, lobbying and ethics.
I know, you're shocked -shocked!
Even more shocked that it involves our own erstwhile carpetbagger of a state rep, Joe Gibbons. 

Hallandale to vote on luxury condo tower planned for beach
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
April 1, 2014
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-04-01/news/fl-spa-to-condo-drama-hallandale-20140331_1_luxury-condo-tower-tallest-tower-proposed-tower
-----
As you read Integrity Florida's Dan Krassner's email below about more proof that Florida legislators cater to the powerful, ask yourself, what is State Rep. Joe Gibbons doing?

As we all know from first-hand experience with him, just has long been the case too with Hallandale Beach Comm. Alexander Lewy, Gibbons loves nothing so much as to propitiate on behalf of influential people 
who can help him later politically.
That's who they are.

So, is Joe Gibbons secretly lobbying people in and around HB City Hall to approve the 2000 S. Ocean Drive project -where the The Regency Health Spa is now- that comes up for approval tonight's 6:30 p.m. City Commission meeting?

13.  RESOLUTIONS/PUBLIC HEARING

A.     A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN (APPLICATION # 88-13-DB) FOR THE PROJECT KNOWN AS AND LOCATED AT  2000 SOUTH OCEAN DRIVE, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE V, SECTION 32-782 OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH CODE OF ORDINANCES, ZONING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, APPROVING THE ASSIGNMENT OF 32 RESIDENTIAL FLEXIBILITY UNITS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE III, DIVISION 2, SECTION 32-157 OF THE ZONING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR ALL OTHER PURPOSES. (STAFF: PLANNING AND ZONING MANAGER) (SEE BACKUP & BACKUP FOR ITEM #13.B. & #14.A.) (Staff ReportSupporting Docs)

ITEM #13.A. WILL BE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH ITEM #13.B. & #14.A.

B.     A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH AND GPH REGENCY, LLC., FOR THE PROJECT LOCATED AT 2000 SOUTH OCEAN BOULEVARD, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME FORM AS ATTACHED HERETO AS EXHIBIT 1; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (STAFF: PLANNING AND ZONING MANAGER) (SEE BACKUP & BACKUP FOR ITEMS #13.A. & #14.B.) (Supporting Docs)

ITEM #13.B. WILL NE HEARD IN CONJUNCTION WITH ITEM #13.A. & #14.A.

14.  RESOLUTIONS/CITY BUSINESS

A.     APPLICATION #143-13-FV, FOR A VARIANCE TO CHAPTER 8, ARTICLE III, FLOOD DAMAGE PREVENTION, SECTION 8-74, ADMINISTRATION, OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH CODE OF ORDINANCES, TO CONSTRUCT THE BUILDING PROPOSED AT 2000 SOUTH OCEAN DRIVE EASTWARD OF THE COASTAL CONSTRUCTION CONTROL LINE (CCCL).  (STAFF: PLANNING AND ZONING MANAGER) (SEE BACKUP & BACKUP FOR ITEM #13.A. & #13.B.) (Supporting Docs)

A well-informed person tells me that that is precisely the case.
Which calls to mind Recommendation #1 from the Krassner email below:
Apply uniform ethics rules for legislators and local officials.  If local officials are banned from legislative lobbying, then apply the same rules to legislators lobbying local officials.

If what I have been told is true, and I believe it is, shouldn't Joe Gibbons' name be appearing on the city's official lobbying list, and since that is his profession, he'd be well-acquainted with the rules, right?
Yes, it should be appearing there. 
But it's not.

Well, would you be surprised if I told you that the city's own Lobbying list -on its website- hasn't been updated since before Christmas, over three months ago?

That is to say, last updated prior to the developer's proposed Plat being rejected by the HB Planning & Zoning Advisory Board?
And before it was rejected yet again by the P& Z Board a few weeks ago, to the consternation of the developer and his crew of highly-paid professionals?

No, you wouldn't be surprised because I've written so many times previously over the years on my blog and via emails about how consistently inattentive the City of Hallandale Beach has long been to meeting and following the letter of Florida's Sunshine Laws, and actually making sure that all appropriate public 
information is transparent, ACCURATE and made public ASAP.
NOT updating that list for three months is none of those things.

But if it is NOT on the Lobbying list, and it isn't, shouldn't Joe Gibbons name at least be appearing on the city's official Visitor list then, since that covers interactions regardless of where they occur?

Yes, IF the letter and spirit of the law meant anything in this city.
IF this city was well-managed and there was a genuine fidelity to following laws among the powers-that-be at HB City Hall, elected and otherwise.
But here in Hallandale Beach, as I can personally vouch for, that is NOT the case.
The very city that continues to act like they were/are above the law by continuing to use the photos and images of mine they stole and have been using illegally for nearly four years, including on the front of the official city map, without my legal permission or paying me one cent, is proof positive of that.

It's time for the news media to start asking Joe Gibbons some hard questions about his stealthy lobbying style and the sorts of curious deals he has tried to strike for himself.
Maybe someone in the news media should ask the Board of Directors at the Parker Plaza condominium complex what sort of deal Gibbons had with them.

I've heard tell that Gibbons was so cocky that he was practically spending the keep-quiet money already before the developer decided that they couldn't afford the price Gibbons and the Parker Plaza folks wanted. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dan Krassner <dan@integrityfl.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:10 AM
Subject: Report: Energy industry exerts outsized political influence in Florida


Nonpartisan government watchdog group Integrity Florida released a research report titled  "Power Play: Political influence of Florida's top energy corporations".

Click here to read the report.
Click here to read the press release.

The findings conclude that, increasingly, the Florida Legislature sets its agenda and policy outcomes based on the needs of large political donors rather than the public interest.  In one recent example, the sitting state senate president openly explained his position on a public policy issue as supporting whatever one major campaign donor tells him to support.  A large Budweiser distributor contributed nearly $300,000 to political candidates and committees aligned with Senate President Don Gaetz and had the edge on its smaller craft beer industry competitors.

A similar pattern exists for the energy sector in Florida where the Florida Legislature maintains a traditional, regulated monopoly-utility model.  This report examines the political influence of the state's four largest electric utility companies: Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy (formerly Progress Energy), TECO Energy and Gulf Power.

These four corporations registered, on average, one lobbyist for every two state legislators each legislative session between 2007 and 2013.  For the last five election cycles, these electric utilities were among the largest donors to state-level campaigns in Florida.

In the same period of time, the policy wins for the four electric utilities included rate increases for customers, legislation that allows early cost recovery for nuclear facilities that have not been built, the defeat of a proposal that would have increased electric bill transparency and the removal of consumer-friendly state regulators who opposed two proposed rate hikes. 

Summary of Research Findings  
  1. Major campaign donations.  Electric utilities contributed more than $18 million to state-level candidates and party organizations between the 2004 and 2012 election cycles.
  2. Significant lobbying.  Lobbying spending by Florida's four largest electric utilities was more than $12 million between 2007 and 2013.
  3. Revolving door and cronyism.  Electric utilities have made a point of hiring former state regulators and have employed the firms of several sitting state legislators.
  4. Higher electric bills for consumers.  Floridians have faced higher electric utility bills from each of the four corporations examined in this study in recent years.
  5. Anti-consumer regulations.  The Florida Legislature and the Florida Public Service Commission routinely side with electric utilities rather than consumers. 
Summary of Policy Reform Recommendations  
  1. Apply uniform ethics rules for legislators and local officials.  If local officials are banned from legislative lobbying, then apply the same rules to legislators lobbying local officials.
  2. Put inspector general reports online.  Inspector general investigative reports and audits should be posted online by the Florida Public Service Commission and all state and local agencies.
  3. Put gift and client disclosures made by all state and local officials online.
  4. Require additional disclosure for political donations from government vendors and companies regulated by the Public Service Commission.
  5. Establish electric bill transparency.  Unbundle bills with detailed disclosure of rate components.
Sincerely,   



Dan Krassner
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Integrity Florida


Ben Wilcox
Research Director
Integrity Florida  

 
Integrity Florida is a nonpartisan research institute and government watchdog whose mission is to promote integrity in government and expose public corruption.  More information at www.integrityflorida.org
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Yes, YEARS after he should have, in what is an obvious ploy to somehow inoculate and ingratiate himself to voters in advance of the Broward County Commission race against former Hollywood City Commissioner Beam Furr next year, after so many years of Gibbons consistently insulting the intelligence of the concerned residents of south Broward County and being an invisible presence, esp. in Hallandale Beach.
And he compounds this by being, not incidentally, one of the least-effective legislators in the area, since Joe Gibbons is nothing if not the very picture of a knee-jerk politician.
Gibbons actually has the unmitigated gall and ego to think that his personal and political ambitions are more important in the larger scheme of things than the truth, which is that the citizens of this part of the county and state are entitled to be represented in government by someone who actually lives here -all-the-time- not less than eight months out of the year.
The citizens of this area deserve to be represented by someone who puts THEIR best-interests first, not his own! Joe Gibbons is the wrong man at the wrong time and he will NOT be missed after he loses next year. 
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Sun-Sentinel video: Joe Gibbons responds to residency accusations.

"I don't think it's right that I'm being kind of dogged like I have been by people who don't have my best interests at heart,'' said Gibbons.
You're right, I don't have YOUR best interests at heart, I have the community's.

The Southest Broward community that I live in whose residents you have lied to and mis-represented for so many years.

You, with your non-legislative job not in Broward or South Florida but up in Tallahassee working as a lobbyist for a powerful and influential law firm.

Color us unimpressed by you putting this community's best-interests LAST on your list of priorities for years, even while you drew a government paycheck purporting to represent us.

You may've fooled all the lazy and indifferent reporters and columnists in Tallahassee and South Florida who didn't care about FL legislators actually living where they are supposed to, like the Sun-Sentinel's Michael Mayo recently admitted in his own column, but we have been totally hip to your serial lies and intentional misrepresentation all along, Joe Gibbons.

So start making plans now to move up to Lakeland next summer and joining your dysfunctional family that has indulged your personal ego and overweening political ambition.
You and your serial lies and your weird dysfunctional family obviously need more quality time together to bond!
So, this community, the one you consistently put LAST, is going to give you the boot and give you the time to do just that!

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
County commission candidate — and his wife — say Broward is his home
Gibbons defends against residency questions
By Brittany Wallman, Sun Sentinel
August 25, 2013
He lives in Hallandale Beach. His wife spends most of her week in Lakeland. Their 4-year-old twins live their lives in Jacksonville. This is the family of Joe Gibbons.
The state representative and his wife spoke out this week, telling the Sun Sentinel that Gibbons spends most of his time in Broward County. Skepticism about where the 64-year-old lobbyist and Democrat hangs his hat has dogged him since he married a Jacksonville lawyer five years ago and the couple subsequently had twins.

Read the rest of the story of a pol coming to terms with his serial lies to his constituents at

A reminder: From things I've personally seen and observed, I believe that there's still yet another big shoe that will drop on Joe Gibbons this year.
If everything checks out as it seems to as of now, I hope to be one of the persons dropping that big shoe on him sometime before Christmas.
Christmas is the time for giving after all!