Update on the VERY interesting thread on NextDoor re "A Bright Future For Hollywood PAC" that supports Josh Levy against my friend, Catherine "Cat" Uden

Tuesday October 21st, 2024

3:00 p.m.

Below, an update on the VERY interesting thread on NextDoor re "A Bright Future For Hollywood PAC" that supports Josh Levy's re-election against my friend, Catherine "Cat" Uden. 

But first...

Join #CatUden’s Canvassing Crew on Saturday Oct. 26th for a fun night @ Hollyweird Festival, Dwtn #HollywoodFL! 

Costume theme is... cats! 

Meet @ 7:30 PM, Anniversary Park, N. 20th Ave. & Hollywood Blvd., then we'll walk the festival @ 8 PM. 

Bring a reusable bottle of water!

Just to be clear, I was NOT involved in any way in putting this very interesting thread at bottom of post -on the VERY frustrating Next Door app!- by Hollywood resident Steve Schneider together.

Actually, I don't think I've ever met him or spoken to him, though I could be wrong, of course.

I did have a slightly similar thought a few weeks ago about doing a deep-dive via my blog regarding who was behind the campaign PAC that Josh Levy & Co. have created for his mayoral campaign.

And any future campaigns as well, since Beam Furr's County Commission seat becomes vacant in November 2026.

Frankly, I think one of the most-unasked public questions of the past 18 months is IF Josh Levy won for a third and final time, would he run for Beam's seat in 2 years? There seems to have been no discussion of it at the so-called candidate forum from a few weeks ago.

While some of you may've indeed thought about this already, or, perhaps even wandered up to him at some point after a Civic Association meeting he was at and asked him this important question directly, thus far, IF you have, you haven't shared that info -and his answer- with me. So far!

Just saying...

Also, I'd actually planned on posting something next week along the lines of a database on all the campaign contributions in Hollywood from 2012, 2016, 2020 and this year, with totals by campaign, contributor and industry.

As many of you already know, the latter is very often a fudge, since for years, as an example, the state's #1 lobbyist, Ron Book, who repped Hallandale Beach for years even as he had other clients whose interests were contrary to HB's, had his daughter Lauren also make political contributions around the state once she turned 18.

That was done using his Aventura office as her "home," since Aventura was usually listed on the filed docs I pored through years ago, not one in Broward, despite nearly all the local TV and print reporters insisting that the Books lived in Broward.

I'd originally checked them thinking that I wanted to have the information stored up so that at some point, IF those docs might... disappear -you know, by accident!- the way that "inconvenient" govt. docs often do, I'd be fine and have the information to be able to use going forward.

I don't care how much you love politics, using a child as a separate political campaign contribution conduit was always an ethical stretch.

Even if you end up hiring her to work at your lobbying shop, and she follows her father into the lobbying trade, and thus gets a leg-up for her later runs for political office.

Yes, years and years of her father and her saying and doing things that lead to LOTS of the state's savviest, well-connected and deep-pocketed people and organizations owing her favors, even as she is having them giving her non-profit LOTS of taxpayer money, including a very nice salary for a non-profit named after herself. 

In case you forgot about that situation, well-described here at a once-favorite website of mine, the Florida Bulldog, which has become so biased the past few years...

New Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book has conflict of interest as Republicans quietly shower taxpayer millions on her charity  
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2021/05/new-senate-democratic-leader-lauren-book-conflict-of-interest/

But things being the way they are here in South Florida, the local news media has largely ignored the issue of Lauren Book's precocious political contributions for years, and treated that particular parenting behavior of her father's -to get more $ to his faves- as NORMAL, which is why you now can't find any stories online with complete information about Lauren Books' political contributions since she turned 18 years old, just 22 years ago.

Dave

David Bruce Smith

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Instagram: @hbbtruth https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215

https://nextdoor.com/p/TNf9zJsxW__5?post=364584837&utm_source=email&is=tpe&section=cta&mar=true&ct=ndx5V-iK-lpf0FYVVr6q4P_Bx01tlamAxgAN0PjydlRpmsd4mNFsRG-lqRagRHin&ec=OWKiQRDj9vEHAYwTV6YMARldwuFdgGkeefhwfGYAE0s%3D&mobile_deeplink_data=eyJhY3Rpb24iOiAidmlld19wb3N0IiwgInBvc3QiOiAzNjQ1ODQ4Mzd9&link_source_user_id=30408374

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

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

Folks, she's NOT on your side. EVER! 

She's on HER side. Period! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

her public behavior on the public dime.

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

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

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

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

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

@Florida_Bulldog

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

Dave 

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

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

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

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

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

Complete lack of concern shown by Eleanor Sobel, Joe Gibbons and Shevrin Jones for their Hallandale Beach constituents re wasted HB CRA $$$ is galling -and is noticed by LOTS of voters and reporters; Have HB's state legislators said or done a single thing re the Hallandale Beach CRA scandal, or done anything to help get a thorough audit of it by the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Comm., so that HB residents can finally get the long-overdue financial accountability that HB Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew of Lewy & Sanders have fought? So far, the answer is a big fat NO

My short and to-the-point email of Monday to the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in Tallahassee, jlac@leg.state.fl.us
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Directory=committees/joint/Jcla/&File=index_css.html&Tab=committees
regarding a matter of great public concern in the city I live in.

Monday August 19th, 2013

12:30 p.m.

To Whom It May Concern:

As of this morning, has the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee received 

any correspondence from the following state legislators formally requesting that JLAC 

perform an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA: Sen. Eleanor Sobel, Rep.  Joe Gibbons

and Rep. Shevrin Jones?

Living here, and being very involved in the effort to get your Committee to do one so that

citizens of this community can finally get the financial answers that we have long been

denied, I can tell you that there are no media reports of any of the three of them doing so,

thus far, so I just want to get confirmation of that fact.

Thank you for your assistance!

-----

For those of you who don't know, state Rep. Shervin Jones represents the part of Hallandale Beach west of the FEC Railroad tracks and Dixie Highway.
In my opinion, he is also a career-politician-in-training just like like Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Alexander Lewy, and obviously I mean that as a big warning sign for anyone who cares about common sense and actually solving problems, instead of relying on tried, tired and unproven ideas that come from liberal orthodoxy.

Jones has recently been brought up short by his caviar dreams and his West Park reality, the reality that gave him a gerrymandered seat for all practical purposes. But in a state like Florida with term limits, even a gerrymandered seat promising no competitive races doesn't seem as fun a sinecure as it once did, even for an African-American pol who had no real experience of any kind, yet drew no opposition when he first ran, in part because his father is the mayor of the city he's from.
That gives you an idea of what the district is like -not a lot of civic discourse.
More like a herd mentality.

The Honorable @RepSJones101 taking notes at the @AlexLewy event in #HallandaleBeach. #team101 pic.twitter.com/4ktw0juBs7
— Nick Steffens (@Nick_Steffens) June 24, 2013

Anyway, Jones, of FL House 101, who is supporting Lewy in his effort to replace term-limited Gibbons in the FL House District 100 seat in 2014, and Gibbons in his efforts to defeat former Hollywood City Commissioner Beam Furr in the 2014 race to replace term-limited Broward County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger -who endorsed Furr many months ago- is under investigation by the Broward State's Attorney office for his curious spending habits.
Or is it his expensive eating habits so very far from home?  

Broward State Rep. living large on his campaign money http://t.co/oXuKYX3ePo
— Buddy Nevins (@Buddynevins) August 2, 2013

Broward Beat
State Rep. Likes To Eat On Lobbyist’s Dime
By Buddy Nevins
August 2, 2013

State Rep. Shevrin Jones likes to eat….well…on his campaign’s dime.

He’s basically found a way for lobbyists like Ron Book, who donated $1,000, to pay for his meals.

Jones has spent roughly $2,000 of the $9,350 he raised from lobbyists on “meetings” and “campaign meetings” in various restaurants. Lobbyists were the only ones giving to his campaign.

Jones has no opponent.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments at
http://www.browardbeat.com/state-rep-likes-to-eat-on-lobbyists-dime/

State Attorney launches probe into state rep's campaign spending on meals. http://t.co/XehiRtydZg
— Buddy Nevins (@Buddynevins) August 12, 2013

Broward Beat
State Atty Investigates State Rep’s Campaign
By Buddy Nevins
August 12, 2013

The Broward State Attorney’s Office is investigating state Rep. Shevrin Jones’ campaign expenses, a well-placed courthouse source said.

The source said a Browardbeat.com post triggered the investigation into Jones’ spending at restaurants in addition to a campaign loan repayment.

Read the rest of the post and reader comments at
http://www.browardbeat.com/state-atty-investigates-state-reps-campaign/

And not for the first time... a Miami Herald reader reveals more insight in their comments about the news than the Herald reporter does in their reporting of a news story; re Miami-Dade lobbying fees

And not for the first time... a Miami Herald reader reveals more insight in their comments about the news than the Herald reporter does in their reporting of a news story; Miami-Dade's lobbying fees

A well-informed and observant Miami Herald reader states what radio industry icon Paul Harvey used to famously call "the rest of the story" in his syndicated show, via the comments section of Monday's article about Miami-Dade's tortured handling of its lobbying fees. 

Again.

The reader states factual connections with devastating aplomb: " Becker & Poliakoff also employs Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Carlos Gimenez Jr, and George Burgess."

As someone has no doubt said a few times before, though never in my family, "Eureka!"

Which is to say, 

a.) Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, the former Miami-Dade County Commissioner and current FL State Senator for District 36, who replaced one brother, Alex, currently a lawyer/lobbyist and former State Senate Majority Leader, and another brother, Renier, who's currently on the Miami-Dade School Board.

b.) Carlos Gimenez Jr., the son of Miami-Dade County's current Mayor, and, 

c.) George Burgess, the former Miami-Dade County Manager who resigned in March, after his job was overwhelmingly eliminated "with prejudice" by county voters in August of 2010, presaging the delicious and much-deserved recall of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez earlier this year.

It's helpful context alright, especially for those of us who have followed how the M-D lobbying process/charade has been abused over the years so that commissioners could make sure that their pals kept getting their cut of the American Dream, Miami-style (crony capitalism), which to cite but one example, where Comm. Sally Heyman kept Carrie Meek on the reservation regardless of her actual use, or the fact that her team was not one of the lowest bidders, but useful context of the sort that for the past few years has routinely NOT appeared in Herald articles, and Laura Brannigan's article is no exception.

(No serious follower of Miami-Dade politics and government that I know ever asks what a particular decision, vote or legislative bait-and-switch means on its face without first mentally scrolling thru his head the family trees of the county commission -and their assorted unofficial "families"- and then thinking about which members of la familia works for which one of the companies, firms or parties involved. 
Yes, just like in a banana republic, that's just the fundamental default question you have to ask.)

Just like the Herald NEVER mentioned in the days and weeks leading up to this decision that the subject would be taking place, much less, when the vote would be taking place.

Just keep the readers in the dark:THAT'S the Herald's local coverage policy -always after the fact.

And sometimes, NOT even then.

As it happens, the Miami-Dade County vote described took place last Monday, Dec. 19th.

http://www.miamidade.gov/govaction/matter.asp?matter=112580&file=true&yearFolder=Y2011

Correct, it has taken the Herald exactly one week to report upon this vote in Miami, not in Timbuktu, in Mali, where a past housemate of mine in Arlington county served in the Peace Corps, and explained to me many times how difficult it was to communicate with the outside world from the village that she lived in.

Should a professionally-run news organization, esp. one that still claims to have a degree of relevancy and currency in the South Florida market have the same problem reporting from Miami in the last days of the year 2011?

I don't think so. 

For more on this point, see my post of November 27, 2010 about the use of technology, wherein I draw a comparison between the ability of a great song performed at a Paramore concert last year in Stockholm -at the bottom of this post- to be uploaded to YouTube and be seen by me thousands of miles away within hours, and the Miami Herald's myopic Pony Express-style of news reporting, where they constantly miss what's current because of their conscious decisions made by editors and management, leaving readers who want fresh news in the lurch.

How a video of Paramore in Stockholm and Razorlight at the Cuckoo Club, London proves the Miami Herald is moving too damn slow in its news coverage., Iceberg dead ahead!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-video-of-paramore-in-stockholm.html

That the powers-that-be at One Herald Plaza chose to print this story about lobbying and the commission vote that decided it -at least temporarily- so long after-the-fact, and on the day after Christmas, instead of in Sunday's paper, their largest circulation day, well, to me, that's a very curious conscious choice indeed.

Yes, more Pony Express-style news coverage from the Miami Herald, but it doesn't end there.

Also as it happens, Monday marked 13 days since the Broward County Commission voted on redistricting and approved new district maps, and the Herald has STILL NOT printed anything in the newspaper or posted anything online about it.

Even though it directly affects roughly 40-45% of their readers.

Seriously, is it really asking too much of a local daily newspaper to actually report news within 24 or 48 hours?

For more on los hermanos Diaz de la Portilla, see also: http://www.ccfj.net/CCFJDeLaPortilla.htm

-----

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/25/2561802/miami-dade-commission-aims-to.html

Miami Herald 

Miami-Dade Commission aims to cut lobbying tab, ends up paying $50,000 more 

By Martha Brannigan

Posted December 25, 2011

Facing a tight budget, Miami-Dade commissioners launched plans this fall to ink new contracts with Tallahassee lobbying firms. Their goal: to slash spending. 

The two firms that had the business offered to reduce their prices, but the county rebuffed them.It was a costly decision. When commissioners doled out four lobbying agreements last week totaling $450,000, they wound up spending $50,000 more than the reduced price offered by the two incumbents.

After 90 minutes of debate and five failed motions, the vote was 10-3 — with Commission Chairman Joe Martinez voting against an initiative that he had spearheaded.

Also voting “no’’ on Dec. 19 were Commissioners Lynda Bell and Xavier Suarez, who argued for reduced spending.

“Nobody wants to cut out one of their friends,’’ Martinez said wearily from the dais. “Why doesn’t someone make a motion to defer and put us out of our misery?’’ 

In an interview afterward, Martinez added: “It was my item, but it didn’t turn out the way I expected. That’s why I voted against it.’’

Under the deal, sponsored by Commissioner Barbara Jordan, a team of lobbyists led by the two incumbent firms — Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell P.A. — were kept on, but were scaled back each to $170,000 a year from $225,000. Erased, too, was $50,000 for special projects, or “work orders.’’ 

Two additional firms — Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson and Ballard Partners Inc. — also were awarded contracts for $55,000 a year each. Akerman already does federal lobbying for the county. Book subcontracts with the Pittman Law Group. Rutledge subcontracts with Becker & Poliakoff, Dutko Worldwide LLC, and Gomez Barker Associates Inc. The one-year contracts come with annual options to renew for three years.

Besides the lobbying team, the county has its own government affairs staff and assistant county attorney Jess McCarty doing work in the state capital.

Brian Ballard said his firm won’t be doing work for the county on the casino issue. Ballard represents Genting Group, the Malaysian gambling giant that is pushing for legislation to permit destination resort casino gambling in the county, a pivotal issue now before the legislature. 

Akerman partner Mike Abrams said in an email that his firm has represented a Genting affiliate, Bayfront 2011 Property, “in several real estate matters,’’ but has “not been contacted or engaged to lobby on behalf of Genting or any of its affiliates with the state government at any level, including the legislature.’’

The commission’s money-saving effort began a week into the county’s new lean budget for fiscal 2011-12. “The ominous specter of layoffs threatens employee morale and the county’s ability to deliver services to our residents,’’ Martinez said in an Oct. 7 letter to Mayor Carlos Gimenez, adding that to “drastically reduce’’ costs it would be necessary to advertise for lobbying firms through a competitive selection process. 

In a bid to hang onto the lucrative and prestigious county work and to head off a competitive search, honchos at Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell offered on Oct. 24 to cut their annual contracts to $200,000 each, from $225,000. The firms took reductions in 2009 and 2010 as well. 

But commissioners brushed aside the offer, pushing forward with a selection process and giving themselves the broadest latitude in handpicking the new team. “I thought we could get it down to $350,000 or $300,000 [in total],’’ Martinez said. 

The commission named the selection committee members, and rather than have the committee rank firms with numerical scores, asked simply for a list of firms meeting the basic qualifications. 

At the commission meeting, Bell recommended spending a total of $300,000 for three firms. But the measure died for lack of support, as did four other ideas.

Some commissioners fretted that changing lobbyists with the legislative session set to begin next month was ill-timed. Others said cutting spending at a time when Tallahassee is facing its own severe budget constraints was ill-advised. 

“This is a very tough year in Tallahassee,’’ said Commissioner Jose “Pepe’’ Diaz. “It’s a chaotic situation, plus there is redistricting,’’ he added, referring to the drawing of new political boundaries. 

Finally, Jordan successfully proposed the $450,000 deal, divided among all four firms that had applied. 

“If this was really about saving money, when you add it up, it cost $50,000 more than the two firms agreed to reduce their fees to,’’ said Commissioner Sally Heyman, who voted for the measure but was unhappy with it. She said by being on the prevailing side she is in a position to bring the issue up for reconsideration. 

“I question whether we need lobbyists in Tallahassee at all,’’ Suarez said afterward.

The commission plans to take up the issue of reducing payments to the county’s Washington lobbyists next year.


MIAMI-DADE LOBBYING 

Incumbent lobbyists in Tallahassee: Ron L. Book P.A. and Rutledge, Ecenia & Purnell P.A. Book subcontracts with Pittman Law Group. Rutledge subcontracts with Becker & Poliakoff; Dutko Worldwide LLC; and Gomez Barker Associates. Additional firms receiving state lobbying contracts: Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson and Ballard Partners Inc.

-----

Paramore - Misguided Ghosts - (Acoustic) LIVE at Fryshuset, Stockholm, Sweden, November 30, 2009, http://youtu.be/O9OuNtlXiGA

Touché! "Dear Lois" adroitly zeroes-in on Lois Wexler's defense of lobbyist Ron Book and blindsides her something silly over her pal, Judy Stern

Touché! "Dear Lois" adroitly zeroes-in on Lois Wexler's defense of Ron Book and blindsides her something silly over Judy Stern

For weeks, I've been sitting on an already-written blog post after engaging in some candid conversations with Broward County community activists and elected officials throughout the county that have taken me to places that are NOT usually part of my routine.
But live and learn...

The subject of these conversations was the very curious (and disturbing) public stance towards effective enforcement of strengthened ethics laws and standards in Broward County by someone that, until two years ago, I had generally assumed was one of the more dutiful and well-grounded public servants in South Florida.

And who is this mysterious person at the center of this discussion? Broward County District 5 Commissioner Lois Wexler.
http://www.broward.org/Commission/District5/Pages/Default.aspx

A woman that Daily Pulp blogger Bob Norman painted to a 'T' in an October 2, 2008 post titled Billed for Bull, Broward County Commissioners want you to pay for their pet projects, writing in part:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2008-10-02/news/billed-for-bull-broward-county-commissioners-want-you-to-pay-for-their-pet-projects/

The fun part was listening to county Mayor Lois Wexler defend the money drain. Wexler has slowly transformed herself into a human version of spackling paste, helping to hold together the commission's longstanding culture of waste and mismanagement.

For whatever reason -boredom, tenure, general antsiness- the formerly-astute Wexler increasingly seems tone-deaf to things that once upon a time...
Well, let's just say that I'm far from the only person in this county with 20/15 vision who's noticed the slide towards the slippery side of the slope.

I will have that post here on the blog in the not-too-distant future -Operation Mentos- but until then, I wanted to share with you all the delicious and spot-on lacerating wit of Dear Lois, who has quite properly put Wexler back in her place today on the Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog in a way that just causes me to simply step back and admire it from a distance.
I salute you.

Game, set, match, "Dear Lois."

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics
Broward's Wexler defends lobbyist Ron Book
By Brittany Wallman
January 14, 2011 03:35 PM

As Broward County commissioners weigh what to do about a prominent lobbyist who represents the county and the county's political foe on a huge issue, one person who came to the lobbyist's defense is County Commissioner Lois Wexler.

At issue is lobbyist Ron Book's work for the county and for the Miami Dolphins.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/01/browards_wexler_defends_lobbyi.html#comments

See also:
Mentions of lobbyist Judy Stern in the BrowardPalmBeach NewTimes
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Judy+Stern%22&x=10&y=10
and of lobbyist Ron Book:
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/search/index?keywords=%22Ron+Book%22&x=0&y=0

Are you sure you don't have a Mentos?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdTe9AuqoT8



The Coke Zero & Mentos Rocket Car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-hXcRtbj1Y

http://www.youtube.com/user/EepyBird

Guess what disgraced know-it-all pol came out from under his rock to sound off on Arizona shooting, in his typically condescending way? Larry Smith

Just when you think the myopic drive-by analysis of last week's shooting in Arizona can't get any worse... 'out from under a bubbling crude" comes disgraced former South Florida congressman Larry Smith, a longtime bête noire of mine and the well-deserved object of ridicule among most of the savvy Floridians I knew in Washington, D.C. for the 15 years I lived there, on and off of Capitol Hill.

Do I even have to ask you to guess which local print reporter propped-up a rock to get the opinion of someone convicted of betraying the public's trust?
Exactly.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward Politics blog
Former congressman says heated rhetoric must be tamed By Anthony Man
January 10, 2011 01:59 PM
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/01/former_congressman_says_heated.html

My favorite -NOT- part of the above blog post? This insipid nonsense by Smith:

Watching television on Sunday, “I was cheering [Dupnik.] He’s a guy who’s got guts. He’s not attacking the symptoms. He’s telling you what the solution is.”

Oh, right, the partisan sheriff is the hero, even though he's already admitted on Fox News that he has no proof of anything he's said thus far. In most places, even most parts of Florida, THAT would be called reckless, but in Larry Smith's world, that's stand-up and holler.
No wonder Dupnik's in law enforcement with a mind like that!

And did you notice what's NOT mentioned in the Broward Politics blog post?

More recently from my perspective in Hallandale Beach, Larry Smith was dumped as a Tallahassee lobbyist for the City of Hallandale Beach, in part for not being very forthcoming or accessible with information in a timely fashion.

Then-HB Commissioner Bill Julian literally begged his colleagues on the City Commission to give Smith some scraps after tossing him aside.
It was quite an embarrassing spectacle!

One I watched with great amusement.
I especially liked the part where Smith acted like he didn't know why he lost the account.
LOL!

Those of you who are pals of this shape-shifting character Smith, don't even bother to waste your time and energy sending me comments about this miscreant, as they will never see the light of day on this blog.

To me, Larry Smith has proven to be the very bad guy I always suspected he was -even before he got caught!

In the minds of many well-informed people I knew in Washington, he'd have kept doing what he was doing if he hadn't been convicted of "tax evasion and lying to election officials about the use of campaign funds to pay gambling debts."

Some of those people include his former staffers, the real people I felt sorry for after the scandal broke.
They had no idea they worked for a crook.

Oh sure, you can argue that if not for him getting prosecuted, South Florida would've been spared the indignity of ever having Peter Deutsch represent part of Broward in Washington, and maybe his golden-haired staffer Debbie Wasserman-Schultz would've had a less public role in society.

Who knows, maybe even one where she actually had to compete on an even playing field instead of from one of the most-gerrymandered congressional districts in Florida, which quite un-necessarily cuts this small city of under three square-miles in half, just so she can get all the residents east of U.S.-1, plus dipping down into Aventura; which really ought to be part of what was the Carrie Meek/Kendrick Meek/Frederica Wilson experiment in democracy with a small "d."

Meanwhile, HB residents who actually live closer to Pembroke Pines are represented by a congressional district based in Liberty City, Overtown and Opa-locka -while Aventura is represented by someone from Pembroke Pines- which is to say, poorly represented, even if it hadn't been the Meek inheritance.

After all, how many times did you ever see Frederica Wilson in Hallandale Beach at a public event before the late August primary?
That's actually a rhetorical question, since nobody I know among the well-informed EVER saw her.
Just her yard signs.

Personally, to me, forcing the obsequious and full-of-himself Peter Deutsch on D.C. was crime enough, though perhaps not an indictable one, as Deutsch did nothing to improve Broward's reputation on Capitol Hill in D.C. for small-minded, myopic devotees for all things reflexively anti-Castro, pro-Israel and pro-well-to-do retirees living upon the generosity of heir grand-children's taxes.
Yes, the home of the worst possible use of the pejorative, 'Condo commandos.'

As I've mentioned here before, Deutsch blew everyone's mind when he hired a college student to be his number one staffer, overseeing all the others.
Not a college grad graduate, mind you, an actual college student.


If you haven't read my prior post on him, you probably wonder what causes my animus towards Larry Smith.

Well, here it is, nice-and-simple: in my opinion, he cost American military personnel their lives because of his over-weaning ego and smugness by refusing to do the right thing when it was necessary.

And I was right there in the congressional room when it all happened, less than three feet from the State Department's representatives, who begged him and others to show some vision and leadership.
Larry Smith wasn't up to the task!

So how do you you like that for an answer?

The particulars of the bill of indictment regarding my animus towards Larry Smith are described pretty well in this mid-May 2010 email re Ron Book I sent out to some very interested parties throughout South Florida and the rest of the state.
Rather than write something new, I'll just go with this:

A few weeks ago, Ron Book's contract was NOT renewed by the City of Hallandale Beach -during the Florida Legislature's annual session no less!

That it was done in a very unprofessional way is par for the course in this very poorly-managed ocean-side city, but to do so during the Legislature's session only proves how truly myopic HB City Hall is.

I was already planning on writing about this subject later this week, but since you have sort of pre-empted me a bit, I will give you a few details.

Book's firm was hired by the city to replace former city lobbyist Larry Smith, the former South Broward congressman, a man I came to loathe after watching him in action up close for years while I lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and was spending LOTS of quality time on Capitol Hill.

(I was even there in the Rayburn Building on a fateful day during the reign of Bush 41, where during a long and torturous Foreign Affairs mark-up, Larry Smith voted against the State Dept.'s plan to sell certain missiles to Kuwait, because State and the Pentagon were afraid that Iraq would invade.

Well, we all know how that ended up, but what you and most South Floridians don't know -because nobody in South Florida's news media ever reported it- was that Larry Smith said that he was against the plan it because he knew the missiles would be used against -wait for it- Israel. Really.

So Smith and a couple of other super pro-Israel members of the Foreign Affairs Comm. -back when Dante Fascell was Chairman- voted it down.

FYI: The photo of Dante Fascell at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Fascell is the very painting of him that hangs in the House Foreign Affairs Comm. Chambers.

I used to think about Larry Smith's foolish vote every time I heard about an American casualty during the First Gulf War, which since I lived in Arlington County, meant that I knew lots of people affected by that war.)

A few months ago, Book's firm was planning on sending some pertinent docs down to the city, but when they called, the person on the other end of the phone at HB City Hall said something along the lines of, "Uhh... don't you guys already know?"

Book's firm found out after the fact that WEEKS earlier, the city had decided they were history. Why? That's a very good question.

Perhaps someone in South Florida's professional news media might some day think to ask Mayor Joy Cooper that question, especially now that they know.

I'll have more details on my blog soon, including the name of the person who had to tell Ron Book that he and his firm had been canned during THE most important time of the year in Tallahassee, but had never even been given the courtesy of a personal phone call to get the news.

That's just a snapshot of everyday life in Hallandale Beach under the Joy Cooper and Mike Good regime.

-----

Seriously, how much better-written is this nuanced Herald article below by Paul Anderson than a contemporary version of the same congressional redistricting fight would be by Patricia Mazzei? It's not even close.

When this article was written in 1982, when I was still at IU, the State of Florida had 15 House seats in Congress, with my having grown-up in the 1970's in North Miami Beach, part of the 13th, represented by William Lehman. It was one of the two most-Democratic-leaning seats in the entire country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Florida,_2010
The state now has 25 House seats and will have a total of 27 for the 2012 congressional elections as a result of the most recent federal census.
-----

Miami Herald

INCUMBENTS DEFEND REDISTRICTING DEAL

By Paul Anderson, Herald Staff Writer
May 30, 1982

In the end, Tom Gustafson was all alone.

For months, Gustafson, the boyish-looking state representative from Fort Lauderdale, had been counted among the leaders of the state House. His opinion was a key element as Broward's new legislative and congressional districts were proposed.

But his House colleagues on the conference committee negotiating the lines of the state's 19 congressional districts had cut a deal with the Senate without Gustafson's approval.

As he angrily described it later: "They gave up Broward for the rest of the state. And we'll have to live with it for the next 10 years."

Gustafson contends that the compromise district ignores the needs of Broward residents and panders to the political interests of incumbent U.S. Reps. E. Clay Shaw, the Fort Lauderdale Republican, and Dan Mica, the West Palm Beach Democrat.

Among other problems, Gustafson complained, the district lines split nine cities, including Coconut Creek, Dania, Hacienda Village, Hollywood, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise and Tamarac.

Gustafson tried to make amendments. The committee, meeting in Tallahassee just over a week ago, voted them down time and again.

Gustafson said he didn't know until later that people chuckled at him and made sarcastic comments about his attempts. He insisted it didn't matter. "I was doing what I believe was right," he said.

Right or not, Gustafson simply didn't realize what he was up against.

A series of interviews indicates that Broward's new congressional districts are the product of a three-way deal between incumbents Mica and Shaw, plus Democrat Alan Becker, a hopeful in the new South Broward seat.

Becker and Shaw worked together although they opposed each other in the 1980 general election for Shaw's existing District 12 seat.

During negotiations, Shaw had the support of his longtime friend, state Sen. Jim Scott (R., Fort Lauderdale), chairman of the Broward legislative delegation and minority leader of the Senate.

Becker got Sen. Jack Gordon (D., Miami Beach) working on his side, mainly so that any proposed changes in Broward would not affect the districts of incumbent Dade Congressmen Dante Fascell, William Lehman and Claude Pepper, all Democrats.

With the consent of all involved, a Coral Gables attorney named Mark Deutsch, a good friend of Becker's, drew Broward's final district lines.

It's somewhat ironic that Gustafson disputed Deutsch's work in the end. Earlier this year, Gustafson hired Deutsch to help
draw proposals for new state House and Senate districts.

Gustafson paid Deutsch $1,500 out of his own pocket, he said, "because he's the best numbers man around ... But I only used his House and Senate maps. The congressional ones were obviously gerrymandered."

Deutsch won't trade charges with Gustafson for the record. He'll only discuss the details of the districts as he drew them and the House and Senate eventually approved them:

* District 14, with Mica as the incumbent, is shared with southern Palm Beach County. In Broward, it includes the cities of Coral Springs, Margate and Parkland; North Lauderdale and Tamarac west of Florida's Turnpike; Coconut Creek west of Lyons Road and north of Sample Road; and Lauderhill and Sunrise north of the Middle River Canal.

That section of Broward is marginally Democratic but considered safe for Mica, who tends to vote conservatively. There was a deliberate effort to move at least two major bastions of liberalism, Century Village in Deerfield Beach and Wynmoor Village in Coconut Creek, into Shaw's district, where they'll be swallowed and won't give Mica trouble with a more liberal primary opponent.

* District 15, with Shaw as the incumbent, is the only district fully within Broward. It contains the cities of Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Lauderdale Lakes, Lighthouse Point, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Sea Ranch Lakes, Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors; the easterly portions of Coconut Creek, Hacienda Village, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale and Tamarac; Sunrise east of University Drive; Dania and Hollywood north of the Dania Cut-Off Canal, and about a third of Plantation. Conservative district

The district is slightly more Democratic than Republican by party registration, but it is considered generally conservative and an easy one for Shaw to keep.

It also was deliberately drawn to include Port Everglades and three of Broward's four airports -- Pompano, Executive and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International -- because Shaw serves on the House Public Works and Transportation Committee.

Gustafson pointed out that the southern boundary also conveniently picked up Shaw's Dania Farm Nursery, a wholesale operation where Shaw has a family home that he uses while visiting the district.

* District 16, which has no incumbent, is shared with about 140,000 residents of northwest Dade County. In Broward, it includes the cities of Cooper City, Davie, Hallandale , Miramar, Pembroke Park and Pembroke Pines; Hollywood and Dania south of the Dania Cut-Off Canal; and Plantation and Sunrise west of University Drive and south of the Middle River Canal.

The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. Deutsch said it has fewer blacks than any other congressional district in the state -- less than 5 per cent -- and has the second highest concentration of Jewish voters.

Each district, following the mandate created by the 1980 census, contains slightly more than 512,000 people.

Shaw's role

Shaw, who had an aide in Tallahassee to represent him during the final hectic hours of negotiations, described his role as "providing encouragement where it was needed."

He dismissed Gustafson's arguments as "silly fights" and said he was "very pleased with the results of the process."

Shaw added: "Broward was, I think, shortchanged in that we have the population to justify almost two complete congressional districts ... But given the set of circumstances that we had to share the South Broward district with nearly 150,000 people from Dade, I think the Legislature did a terrific job."

If nothing else, Shaw and others -- including state Rep. Larry Smith (D., Hollywood), who is running against Becker -- are glad the House and Senate were able to settle the districts after five months of bickering.

By law, if the Legislature hadn't been able to draw the congressional districts, the task would have fallen to the court system and political considerations would have disappeared.

Broward's lines, which had been one of the chief obstacles in the state, no longer were an issue after a meeting early that Friday afternoon in Scott's office in the Senate Office Building. Gordon and Shaw's aide met with Scott while Deutsch waited outside -- anxious until he saw smiles as they emerged from a conference room.

Smith and his closest allies, including state Sen. Ken Jenne (D., Hollywood), signed off on the Becker-Mica-Shaw plan later when they became convinced that it was the only way to get a map out of the Legislature. Original lines Smith had pushed for Gustafson's original lines for the South Broward district, which basically used State Road 84 as the main northern boundary. The key, to Smith, was that both Becker and announced-Republican challenger Maurice Berkowitz live north of State Road 84 in Plantation.

Deutsch's plan moved the boundary.

Jenne said he was called in by House leaders to speak to the different factions after the conference committee approved its compromise map that afternoon and, once he saw it and talked to the major players, became convinced there was little that could be done.

"I told Larry that he should be satisfied. 'You can still win the district, and you want a map, so let it go,' I said," Jenne recalled.

Jenne disagrees with Gustafson's argument that Democrats gave Shaw an easy district.

The compromise "gives Democrats five out of six Gold Coast congressmen for certain, and I think that's a pretty good arrangement," he said. "And I think that we can win the 15th -Shaw's new district- with a strong enough candidate."

Two Democrats, Clerk of Courts Robert Lockwood and former U.S. Rep. Edward Stack, have said they will challenge Shaw this fall, but neither are particularly pleased with the way the 15th District looks.

Probably the most pleased with the whole arrangement is Becker, who kicked off his campaign in his tailor-made district in a big way last week.

Taking advantage of the makeup of his district, he sent out 20,000 letters with a strong pro-Isreal message soliciting funds from active Jewish voters.

It includes a letter of endorsement from former U.S. Sen. Richard Stone and a pamphlet that shows pictures of Becker on a recent trip to Israel.-

------

Twenty-eight years later... there's exactly ONE competitive congressional district in all of South Florida, the one that Allen West won, which is why the House reps are largely on automatic-pilot, and don't really care what you think, esp. DWS, which makes it easy for her to be away from the district so much, working on enhancing her party position elsewhere in the country, doing fundraising and glad-handing favors for other Dem incumbents.

Until the two constitutional amendments passed in November, the House members knew that it was their seat indefinitely unless something queer happened.
Now it has.