More news re Florida elected officials living outside their districts & residency requirements: disingenuous South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board FINALLY writes about this ethical issue that it, editor Rosemary Goudreau and her editorial page writers have completely ignored for YEARS, inc. the case of Joe Gibbons and his strange family living situation; FL Senate Ethics chairman Jack Latvala won't be deterred and wants cold hard facts about pols who intentionally broke state laws
My comments are after this very curious and years over-due editorial.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Editorial Board
Resolve question on where politicians must sleep
July 21, 2013
Since becoming the state senator for a newly drawn district covering parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties last year, Sen. Maria Sachs has accomplished quite a bit.
She helped secure $82 million for Broward College, up from $71 million the previous year. She helped land $1.5 million for the new medical school at Florida Atlantic University. And she helped pass the ban on texting while driving, with plans to try to toughen the law next year.
There's just one thing Sachs hasn't done. She hasn't moved — full-time — into her new district. Rather, she continues to reside mostly at her long-time Boca Raton home, just across the road from the new district she now represents.
Read the rest of the editorial at:
So what was NOT mentioned at all above by South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau and her South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board?
The same one that has NEVER written one word about the Hallandale Beach CRA scandal, either before or after the Broward Inspector General started their investigation and their damning report calling-out the city's serial "gross mismanagement"?
1.) why the Sun-Sentinel's Editorial Board, collectively and individually, as well as their so-called news reporters, has ignored the self-evident residency requirements violations known by many people in Broward for YEARS, and even worse, has seemingly gone out of its way to NOT mention it, perhaps because of ideological reasons.
That's especially the case with Senior Editorial Writer Douglas C. Lyons who has written only glowing and positive things about Joe Gibbons and Perry Thurston., two of the six FL legislators with a Broward connection whose living arrangements seem to be less than kosher and keeping with the spirit of the Florida Constitution.
Try to find anything with Lyons name on it that mentions the ethical questions involving them or the others.
No, seriously, try to find one.
There's not a single one.
But there is one from 2010 about Lyons suggesting that Gibbons become head of the FL Democratic Party
This one:
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
WHY NOT JOE GIBBONS AS CHAIR OF FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY?
Posted by Doug Lyons on November 10, 2010 09:18 AM
He may not appreciate me using his name as a trial balloon, but here goes ...
I believe the Florida Democratic Party needs a shot of new blood. So I'm throwing out a name to replace the current party chair, Karen Thurman, since everyone else is. My choice would be state Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach.
Gibbons brings badly needed energy, something the state's demoralized and darn near moribund political party needs desperately. He can also raise money, something he's done during his brief stint as chair of the state's Legislative Black Caucus.
Gibbons' business background -- made his mark in sales -- should help in that stead, whether he's talking to potential funders in South Florida or along the I-4 corridor. Gibbon's had experience at fundraising. He's raised money for Alex Sink's losing bid for governor and as former chair of the state's Legislative Black Caucus, he brought money to the group it hadn't seen before.
Gibbon's got enough legislative cred, having served on some of the House's major committees and having worked with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
He'd also help the party with its "base" problem with African American voters. Not only would he be a fresh face, but he has the smarts to help pick and groom candidates to actually appeal to all elements of the party's constituents.
For the record, Gibbons is supporting Thurman, someone he has worked well with in recent years. Should Thurman decide to leave her post, the party should consider Gibbons as its point man.
Joe Gibbons and his campaign staff could hardly have written it better themselves.
I know this because I've heard the same curious questions about Gibbons for years that everyone else in Hallandale Beach and southeast Broward has, the reasonable questions that never seem to get good logical answers from him in public.
Still, I'm hardly unique in that respect, just someone who pays close attention to what's going on, and someone with a blog where I can raise questions publicly and give voice to others who are very curious about things that don't add up or pass the smell test.
It's hard to ignore the fact that someone who claims to live in Broward County fulltime actually has as their non-legislative job, one not down here, but actually up in Tallahassee.
It's also hard to ignore the fact that his wife and her job and their kids, until recently moving to Lakeland, lived in Jacksonville, NOT in South Florida with him.
I know because I've followed the issue for years because of my suspicions about Gibbons'
integrity and have repeatedly gone thru the paper's digital archives actually looking for examples of them mentioning it that I may've somehow missed.
They ignored it as a serious issue until just a few months ago.
So, tell me, how is it that despite all the years this pathetic and rather self-serving charade has been going on, Doug Lyons and Rosemary Goudreau and the Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board NEVER noticed it or mentioned it in print?
Until today.
That independent research I've done over the years is why I know that -Teaser Alert for a future blog post- per my previous comments on the blog and these emails about so much of the South Florida press corps' sleepwalking, despite all the grumbling the Sun-Sentinel and their Editorial Board and some of its columnists have done re Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, in 2006, the first full year it was in effect, the Sun-Sentinel only mentioned it in a news article or column... ONCE.
Really.
Not 20 times not a dozen times, not even a half-dozen times.
They mentioned it a grad total of once -on December 10th, 2006, the 50th week of the year,
Yes, that's really quite a testimony to their public concern!
2.) Also, not mentioned above in today's editorial is the residency requirement scandal dogging Broward County Comm. Dale Holness, whose ethical situation is just as egregious as the five state legislators.
To many Broward voters, especially the ones who are represented by him, the ethical cloud over Holness is actually more in-your-face to the public and voters, since he's easier to monitor if Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz and his Public Corruption unit were actually so inclined.
But they aren't inclined to actually investigate, are they?
Where have you seen any mention of Satz's name and office in any of the recent reporting or public discussion on any of this?
Where's CBS4 News and NBC-6 News and & 7 News and the Miami Herald in any of this?
They're ALL missing-in-action, just like the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board has been all these years, sitting on the sidelines while hundreds of thousands of Broward voters got the shaft.
3.) What is also, curiously, NOT mentioned above in the editorial, but important nonetheless for the most obvious reasons, though known to you if you received my prior email about this subject?
Oh, that's right, Sen. Jack Latvala is the Chairman of the Senate Ethics &Elections Comm.
How does the newspaper's Editorial Board NOT mention that at all?
Well, now maybe you can sense how truly myopic the paper's management and editors have been and are.
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Links re residency requirements or Joe Gibbons' living situation
JULY 18, 2013
How is Broward County Democratic Party chair Mitch Caesar NOT like a Mother Bear? Unlike this video of a Mother Bear at Brooks Falls in Alaska protecting her young cubs, Caesar has NOT been seen publicly trying to save his six Dem legislators who may be (illegally) living outside the districts they're supposed to represent, and who may well get prosecuted for violating the FL Constitution: Joe Gibbons, Dale Holness, Jared Moskowitz. Hazelle Rogers, Maria Sachs, Perry Thurston; What was the greater societal good that Caesar thought was accomplished by them drawing a salary for a job that they may NOT have been legally qualified for?
JULY 12, 2013
More from Local10's Bob Norrman on the epidemic in Broward County of elected officials living outside districts they represent, contrary to the FL Constitution; FL state Senator Jack Latvala, Chair of Senate's Ethics & Elections Comm., will NOT tolerate this blatant corruption and wants investigations launched into these illegal actions right now!; And let's not forget FL state Rep. Joe Gibbons' strange views on raising a family -putting an elective office ABOVE living full-time with your own kids!
JULY 5, 2013
More on Broward County politicians' residency ruse: Is intentionally violating & evading the Florida Constitution 'the new normal' for ethical standards in the Sunshine State? Latest facts & chronology regarding at least 5 Florida legislators from Broward -and one Broward Commissioner- who DON'T live full-time in the districts they were elected to represent
JULY 2, 2013
Is Kristin Jacobs poised to become 'the last straw' and the cynical face for voters of the ever-expanding Broward candidate residency scandal? Yet MORE residency problems in Broward County per Media Tracker Florida: Jacobs wants to run for FL House 96 while living in House 93, even while convincing evidence suggests that at least 5 current members of the Broward Legislative Delegation may be knowingly breaking state law, practically daring Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz & Co. to actually do something; Videos by Local10 investigative reporter Bob Norman show he's NOT afraid to go after South Florida's unethical pols and ask the hard questions
MAY 29, 2013
Unexpected good news for supporters of Beam Furr's candidacy -look at all the "Usual Suspects" of Broward endorsing feckless, ineffectual, business-as-usual Joe Gibbons for County Commission. Gibbons, the pol who STILL can't answer basic questions about his real job, where he lives and why his life is SO VERY complicated, with a straight face. His job, his wife and his kids are ALL located elsewhere, so are the only things keeping him in Broward his own ego and ambition? How did such a mediocre pol get such lofty ideas about himself? Now THERE'S a question!; same as for Alexander Lewy now that you mention it
May 5, 2013
Calling all Carpetbaggers! Repeat after me, "Requirements, what residency requirements?" Carpetbaggers in South Florida have it easy compared to their cousins in Calif. due to the lack of serious reporters here, but in both places, carpetbagging and ethnic identity politics often go hand-in-hand; LA Times: "Does this man live in San Gabriel or not? A residency challenge prompts council members to hold their own hearing -with sworn witnesses- to decide if the No. 2 vote-getter should be seated"; Is that a preview of things to come in North Miami Beach, where a Miramar resident named Dargenson is running for NMB City Commission, and thinks she'll win -largely because she's Haitian-American?
JUNE 17, 2012
Today, on Father's Day, where are FL Rep. Joseph "Joe" Gibbons' children celebrating with him? Likely up in the Jacksonville area where they all live, NOT in Broward County where he pretends he lives full-time
March 9, 2012
2012 Florida Legislature to end on Friday without EVER examining carpetbagger Joe Gibbons' faux residency -he's NOT a permanent Broward County resident anymore.
APRIL 21, 2011
Elaine de Valle's Political Cortadito blog channels Sherlock Holmes and catches the crook red-handed: FL Rep. Frank Artiles. Blogger 1, Lying Pol 0
