Why is this unfavorable story on Kendrick Meek missing from the Herald, Sun-Sentinel and local Miami TV newscasts?

So you remember my post here of last Monday,
titled, The nexus of South Florida taxpayer
dollars, sports teams and stadiums:
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross' checkbook,
with the ProPublica story I posted on pols using
sporting event tickets for fundraising purposes
-something I heard and saw for myself all the time
while living in the D.C. area for 15 years when the
Redskins won two Super Bowl titles in Joe Gibbs'
first term- and specifically, Congressmen and
Super Bowl tickets?

Well, there's news, and it's exactly what you
thought it'd be, not that any Miami-area
reporters were doing much actual reporting
or investigating during their Super Swoon
mode, when they were swallowing whole all
the PR nonsense they were being spoon-fed.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/nexus-of-taxpayer-dollars-sports-teams.html

Monday ProPublica had a follow-up story
to that article last week I posted and it touched
close to home, though you'd never know it judging
from the reaction of the somnambulant Miami
news media to this news about Kendrick Meek
But Alex Leary of the St. Petersburg Times
noticed.

------

Pro Publica
http://www.propublica.org/ion/reporting-network/item/congressional-fundraising-at-super-bowl-stays-out-of-the-limelight-208

Congressional Fundraising Stays Out of the Limelight at Super Bowl

by Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones,
ProPublica - February 8, 2010 4:27 pm EST

XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)" width="475">
The Indianapolis Colts take on the New Orleans Saints during Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Doug Benc/Getty Images)

Was it the two feet of snow that blanketed Washington during the days leading up to the Super Bowl? Or was it the unintended consequence of our Super Bowl Blitz [1], a two-week telephone survey that ProPublica conducted with the help of its readers, trying to find out which members of Congress would be attending this year’s big game?

In any case, at least two Super Bowl fundraising events scheduled by members of Congress were scrubbed at the last minute or moved to undisclosed locations. Invitations to those parties, which had been circulated two or more weeks before the game, promised Super Bowl tickets to contributors who gave either of the lawmakers $5,000.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., had coupled his offer with an invitation [2] to join him over Super Bowl weekend at the posh Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami. Among the activities planned for the weekend was a poolside luncheon. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., had promised contributors lunch at Joe’s Stone Crab, a popular South Beach eatery.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., did show up at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla., for his fundraiser [3] on Saturday afternoon. ABC News, which partnered with ProPublica in an effort to find out where the members of Congress got their Super Bowl tickets, also showed up at the hotel. But surprised Meek staffers quickly shut the door and asked the crew to leave.

The result was one of those delicate media moments that occur when politicians expecting privacy are confronted by a network news team hoping to film them. As the camera continued rolling in the hallway outside the event, Meek’s staffers peeled name tags off the lapels of the congressman’s departing guests. When Meek headed for his car, ABC’s news crew peppered him with questions about how he got the Super Bowl tickets he offered to partygoers who contributed $4,800. He didn’t have answers.

What we learned from this exercise is that even when the venue is America’s most public sports spectacle, politicians largely succeed in remaining invisible, especially when their activities include fundraising. It quickly became apparent that they feel they’re entitled to privacy when they’re accepting campaign money from contributors.

The Super Bowl is one of thousands of events each year where lobbyists and others with business before the federal government provide campaign contributions to lawmakers in an attempt to ingratiate themselves and gain access. Candidates for Congress raise $1 billion every two years, primarily through these types of private get-togethers.

The Super Bowl presents a special opportunity, because tickets to the game aren’t sold to the general public. A small number—1,000 this year—are sold to people who enter and win a lottery the league conducts. The rest are distributed at face value (either $800 or $1,000 this year) by the NFL and its 32 member teams as they see fit, under a shroud of secrecy.

Most fans are forced to get their tickets on Web sites like StubHub, where a ticket for the nosebleed seats sold for about $1,800. Yet lawmakers like Conyers, Meeks and Meek have no trouble getting tickets, not only for their personal use but also to exchange for contributions that are four or five times the face value of the tickets.

On Sunday, a Meek staffer said the campaign had bought about 10 tickets from the NFL at face value for the congressman and his contributors. However, it remains unclear where Conyers and Meeks got their tickets, how much they paid for them and how much they netted by using them in their fundraising activities.

“Any time politicians are getting something that’s not available to the average fan, I think the public has right to question that,” said Jordan Kobritz, an expert in sports marketing and ethics at Eastern New Mexico University. “I think it’s favoritism. I think it’s a way to raise money. I think it’s one reason why it’s so hard to displace an incumbent politician. They have access to these tickets. They can raise the funds that a challenger cannot raise.”

Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Steve Scalise, R-La., attended the Super Bowl, but it was unclear whether they held fundraisers. Their staffs did not reply to inquiries. Scalise told the New Orleans Times-Picayune he got his tickets from DirectTV, which carries NFL games. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., attended the game, reportedly with his two sons, but his staff could not say how he got his tickets.

The political festivities surrounding the Super Bowl have been more circumspect since 1995, when Congress imposed a $50 limit on the value of gifts that lawmakers could accept, lobbying experts say. The parties became even tamer in 2007, when Congress outlawed gifts of any value after the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

But while the restrictions tamped down the activities, they didn’t eliminate them. Access is one of the most powerful tools available to lobbyists, and campaign contributions remain one of the most reliable ways to get that access.

Three of the lawmakers who came to Miami had home state teams in the Super Bowl—Pence and Bayh of Indiana and Scalise of Louisiana. But they also all hold positions on committees that could make them potentially helpful to a range of industries, whether on regulatory, tax or spending matters.

Scalise is on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is vital to several major industries. Pence is the third-highest-ranking member of the House GOP leadership. Bayh sits on committees that oversee the banking, housing and energy industries.

New York Congressman Meeks sits on the Financial Services Committee, which is playing a crucial role in the nation’s rebound from the 2008 credit crisis.

Florida’s Meek, now in his fourth term, is important because he’s a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. And he has his eye on the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican George LeMieux.

Meek’s spokesman, Adam Sharon, said there is nothing wrong with a lawmaker’s buying tickets at face value from the NFL. “This is simply an opportunity for us to say thank you to our top supporters,” Sharon said. “There is no conflict of interest.”

But with the NFL’s activities increasingly monitored by agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and various congressional committees, some object to the league making tickets available to elected officials.

“This is something that I would see as being unethical” because the tickets aren’t available to average fans, said Kobritz, the sports ethics expert.

For years, the NFL has lobbied Congress for an exemption from the nation’s antitrust laws. That could boost the NFL’s revenue by giving it greater leverage in negotiations with broadcasters. It could also give the league an advantage in its dealings with vendors and players.

The NFL is already an $8 billion-a-year business thanks to revenue from selling broadcasting rights to the networks and DirectTV, ticket sales, stadium concessions and the sale of league apparel.

Frustrated in its efforts to get Congress to act on its antitrust agenda, the NFL is urging the Supreme Court to use a case now before it, American Needle Inc. vs. the NFL, to exempt the league from antitrust laws.

The NFL’s political action committee, Gridiron-PAC, raised more than $310,500 last year, much of it from team owners. It gave $244,500 to candidates, including $5,000 to Conyers, who as chairman of the Judiciary Committee is a point man for antitrust issues in the House.

Jonathan Godfrey, the Judiciary Committee’s communications director, twice told ProPublica that he would try to find out where Conyers’ leadership PAC got its Super Bowl tickets, how many it had and how much it paid for them. He said he would get back to us. He never did. When we spoke with Godfrey today, he still didn’t know if Conyers went to the Super Bowl or if he held a fundraiser.

The NFL also has been tight-lipped about ticket distribution.

“We make a very limited number of tickets available for purchase by request to a variety of people, including elected officials,” said Jeff Miller, the league’s in-house lobbyist in Washington. “Rep. Conyers did not request tickets from our office. If he obtained tickets, it would have been from another source.”

The NFL offered Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-La., tickets to the Super Bowl, but he turned them down in favor of an invitation to the watch the game with President Obama at the White House, according the Times-Picayune. The paper also reported that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, would attend the Super Bowl with tickets provided by the New Orleans Saints.

In Indianapolis, the Colts offered tickets to a broad array of public officials, including 32 legislators, four members of Congress and 26 city-county councilors, according to The Indianapolis Star.

At some point, depending on whether they file monthly, quarterly or semi-annually, anyone in Congress who used campaign or leadership PAC money to pay for their tickets will have to file a campaign finance report listing the expenditure. But it might be impossible to find. The line giving the reason for the expense is unlikely to say “to pay for Super Bowl tickets.” More likely, it will say something vague like “fundraising expense.”

******

The Super Bowl Blitz is part of a continuing effort here at ProPublica to try to reveal the circumstances surrounding campaign contributions and the very private exchanges that take place between lobbyists and members of Congress. If you missed out on the Blitz but want to get involved in similar events, sign up here [4] and we’ll notify you of our next project.

This story was a ProPublica/ABC News collaboration.
ABC News: Producers Vic Walter, Megan Chuchmach and Asa Eslocker
ProPublica: Marcus Stern, Sebastian Jones, Amanda Michel, Lisa Schwartz, Kitty Bennett, Scott Klein and Krista Kjellman Schmidt.

The following news organizations jumped aboard: American Public Media, California Watch, Crain’s New York Business, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Investigate West, MinnPost, New England Center for Investigative Reporting, Orange County Register, Raleigh Public Record, Sunlight Foundation’s Party Time, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, WHYY, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show.

We were assisted by individual reporters and editors at the following publications: Juliana Keeping, AnnArbor.com; Brent Gardner Smith, Aspen Daily News; Jake Torry, Columbus Dispatch; Laura Bischoff, Dayton Daily News; Malia Zimmerman, Hawaii Reporter; Warren Cooper, Hunterdon County Democrat; Kathleen McLaughlin, Indianapolis Business Journal; Lara Cooper, Noozhawk.com; Erin Siegal, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism; Michael Collins, Scripps Howard News Service; Thomas Blinkhorn, Valley News; Edward Marshall, WBBM TV, Chicago; WHRV radio, Nofolk, Va.; Brent Wistrom, Wichita Eagle; Charlie Foster, Youth Radio; Wendy Norris, WesternCitizen.

The following individuals made many calls: Michael Alcantar, Rahul Bali, Amy Biegelsen, Jim Brice, Al Cannistraro, M. Coyle, Casey Cunniff, Robert Davey, Debbie DiMaio, Tim Duda, Sandy Gonzalez, Sherrie Jossen, Neelima June, David Kagan, Hee Jin Kang, Memrie King, Trent Larson, Lionel Logan, Laura Marsan, Cathy McMullen, Robert Melder Sr., Jeff Mende, Ted Michel, Matt Muma, Krishna Murphy, Charles Normann, Michael Olsen, Arash Payan, Diana Perparos, Nicole Pilar, EJ Rotert, Nancy Sheldon, CoConnie Snyder, Jacquelin Sufak, Claire Taylor, Jane Leatherman Van Praag, Sharon Whatley, Paul Wilczynski, Jane Wylen, John Zavesky.

Write to Marcus Stern at Marcus.Stern@propublica.org [5].


St. Petersburg Times
The Buzz politics blog
Where did Meek get Super Bowl tickets?

Posted by Alex Leary at 04:57:37 PM
February 8, 2010

ABC news was in Miami to investigate political fundraisers built around the Super Bowl. Here is part of the report:

Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., did show up at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables for his fundraiser on Saturday afternoon. ABC News, which partnered with ProPublica in an effort to find out where the members of Congress got their Super Bowl tickets, also showed up at the hotel. But surprised Meek staffers quickly shut the door and asked the crew to leave.

Read the rest of the story and the reader comments at: http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/02/where-did-meek-get-super-bowl-tickets.html

--------------

Here's the Herald search I did on Kendrick Meek
and what the results were as of 12 Midnight Tuesday
morning.
Nothing about the fundraiser.

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When I first moved to D.C., before he was named
HUD Secretary, the Washington Post annually
wrote about Jack Kemp's fabulous GOP
Super Bowl parties, when he was still a Buffalo area
congressman. One of my female housemates in
Arlington was from his district and was from a
family that had worked campaigns for him from
the beginning of his political career. She was both
a Bills and ballet fanatic.
Kemp was a great guy, too, with a very friendly
and professional staff, which came in handy since
people from all over the country visiting D.C.
were ALWAYS walking into his office!

Kemp was someone that everyone on The Hill
liked, regardless of their position, because he
treated everyone with respect and didn't put
on airs, like many far-less well-known people
on the Hill did -and still do.
Even Dems I thought I really liked -until I
actually got the chance to see them up-close!

This nuanced and insightful David Broder
article on Kemp from last year, following his
death, is spot-on.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603318.html
Washington Post
The Life of His Party
By David S. Broder
May 7, 2009

On the very day last week that Jack Kemp, the former quarterback, congressman and 1996 vice presidential candidate, succumbed to cancer, other Republicans were honoring the example of his life by launching a search for new ideas and broader constituencies.

Eric Cantor, the young Virginian who may come closest to Kemp's level of intellectual ambition and political energy in the current Congress, played host at the first of a promised series of policy sessions, along with former governors Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.

Welcome as their enterprise is in a landscape notably barren of GOP ideas, they were a pale carbon copy of what Kemp provided an earlier generation of Republicans.

In the understandable nostalgia for Ronald Reagan, who restored Republicans to the White House and led the final, successful stages of the Cold War, it's been too easy to forget that for much of the 1970s and into the 1980s, it was the young Jack Kemp who fired up the grass roots on his weekend speaking forays and who gave a thoroughly beaten minority party the ammunition for its comeback -- even as he built cherished friendships across the aisle.

Kemp was, in my judgment and in the eyes of many other reporters, one of the most consequential and likable politicians of that era.

His signal contribution was proselytizing for supply-side economics, the belief that lowering marginal tax rates would spur economic growth, replenish revenue, overcome deficits and fuel a widely shared prosperity.

He made that the centerpiece of the Reagan economic program and -- as the ringleader of a talented group of backbenchers, including Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, Dave Stockman and Vin Weber -- challenged the Old Guard congressional leadership and set the stage for more than a decade of Republican ascendancy.

Those are the things for which the Republican Party owes Jack Kemp. As one who was never persuaded that Kemp was right in his economic theories, I came to value him for something more basic in human terms and far rarer among Republicans. As much as any public figure I have ever known, Kemp burned with a passion to make the American dream real for everyone -- without regard to race, religion or national origin.

A product of a middle-class California upbringing, a success as an athlete and therefore well-to-do, Kemp often said that he learned in the locker rooms of the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills that teamwork was colorblind.

He carried that belief into politics and was outspoken in denouncing those "country-club" Republicans who opposed affirmative action and supported restrictive immigration laws. That's why he was campaigning for John McCain in South Carolina the last time I saw him.

Kemp was nothing if not conservative, but he believed that if those principles were valid, they must be tested and applied, not only in gated suburbia but in the inner cities. In Congress, he co-sponsored "enterprise zones" legislation with African American and Hispanic Democrats. And as secretary of housing and urban development under the first President Bush, he drove the White House crazy, lobbying for programs to revive blighted areas that were no part of Bush's constituency.

In an early profile of Kemp, I compared him to Hubert Humphrey -- "long-winded, gregarious, super-energetic, overscheduled, optimistic, in love with ideas and people, ranging unconfined from issue to issue, an outsider who became part of the political establishment almost despite himself, a partisan battler who hates to hurt anyone's feelings." He sent me a note thanking me for finding similarities to the Democrats' happy warrior.

President Obama commends empathy, and Kemp had it in abundance. He and Bob Dole had quarreled bitterly about economic policy; Dole was never a supply-sider. But when Dole invited Kemp onto his ticket and made him his traveling companion, Kemp was moved by the simple courage Dole showed every day in coping with his grievous war wounds.

When I saw him in his hotel room at the San Diego convention, Kemp asked me, "What's the first thing I do when I make a speech?"

"You take off your jacket and roll up your sleeves," I said, having seen the ritual a hundred times.

"You know," he said, "Dole's wounds -- he can't even do that for himself." And Jack Kemp wept.

Some questions re Broward County Courthouse, Broward Ethics Committee, unsafe Broward Schools and Steve Geller's residency

Since I was already planning on heading down
to the Broward Govt HQ early Wednesday
morning for the next Ethics Commission meeting,
at 8 a.m., I was surprised over the weekend
in perusing the county's scheduled meetings page,
http://www.broward.org/Commission/Documents/sunmeet.pdf
to see that there's yet another County Commission
meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Morning agenda, 10 a.m.:
http://205.166.161.204/agenda_publish.cfm?mt=ALL&get_month=2&get_year=2010&dsp=ag&seq=166#ReturnTo0
Public comments agenda, which includes
humanitarian relief to Haiti, at 2 p.m.
http://205.166.161.204/agenda_publish.cfm?mt=ALL&get_month=2&get_year=2010&dsp=ag&seq=167#ReturnTo0

Since I wasn't able to make it up there in time
last Tuesday for the actual vote on the Courthouse
issue, I'm inclined to swing-up there tomorrow
to see if there's any residual effects, or any public
speakers want to get a few things off their chest,
now that this decision has had some time to sink in.

Anthony Man's blog post from Friday, below,
includes a link to the newest version of the proposed
ethics legislation, an issue which the Herald has
largely ignored, like it does so many other issues
in Broward County.

(Did you know that the person in charge of the
Broward's Herald bureau for most of last year
was rarely present in the the Broward office in
Pembroke Pines?
It's all-too-true, and was told to me by a frustrated
Herald employee in a position to know who keeps
me in-the-loop on what's going down at
Herald HQ at One Herald Plaza.
They've been losing a ton of money on that building
in The Pines, too.
And did you see the column yesterday about
improved local news coverage here?
http://www.miamiherald.com/video/index.html?media_id=10150879
Zero about Broward, a subject I will be writing
about here on the blog later this week.)

I think it's very curious given how much the
Sun-Sentinel has proven over the years that
it loves to quote him -even on issues that
he's not qualified to speak to, per se- that
in Scott Wyman's Friday blog post, after writing
that the proposed Ethics legislation would
"ban commissioners from moonlighting as lobbyists,"
Wyman doesn't drop Steve Geller's name and
mention what he happens to thinks about this idea.

(Or what fellow lobbyist and frequent
Sun-Sentinel quote-machine and Broward
Dem Chair Mitch Caesar thinks about it?
Is it that the South Florida media can't find
Caesar, or that they don't want to incur his
wrath by pressing him to answer questions
he'd find uncomfortable and not have their
phone calls returned?)

Many if not most of the Geller supporters I've
run into -none of whom are friends of mine,
it goes without saying- not only personally
think that Geller's main rationale for running
for Commissioner is to lobby Broward cities and
govt. entities on behalf of his law firm's clients
and make a lot of money, but also think that it's
NOT an ethical problem.

They don't even think it'd be unethical for him
to lobby cities and entities located in his own
district, here in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach,
HB being a city with a mayor in Joy Cooper
who publicly said at a 2008 City Commission
meeting that I was at, that she only wished
that Geller could've stayed State Senator
forever.

Hardly surprising that such a thoroughly
anti-democratic, disingenuous -and
thin-skinned- pol like Dan Gelber-supporter
Joy Cooper doesn't care for citizen-initiated
term limits.

But as most honest and observant people who've
followed things here know, Cooper has a huge ego
and sense of entitlement, which is why she had
no compunctions about telling City Manager
Mike Good to approve funds to build her a
brand new office at City Hall last January,
even though under the city's charter, the only
power she has is that of being presiding officer.
That's it -no vetoes, no nothing.

Joy Cooper is the same two-faced person
who has always said for public consumption,
especially when African-American
residents of NW HB were present,
that she was always FOR specific
geographical districts for HB commissioners.

Yet while I personally want to see it actually
become a reality, as is the case in Hollywood,
when the HB City Commission-appointed
Charter Review Commission actually brought
that proposal up to the City Commission a few
years ago, so that it could be voted upon and then,
if approved, placed on the ballot for citizens
to vote on one way or the other, Cooper & Co.
voted AGAINST it.
Shocker!

Yet despite that vote of her's, Cooper acts like
it never happened.
Typical.

Getting back to Geller supporters now, they think
he's entitled to lobby if elected and exploit the system,
having more than once actually used the phrase
'spoils system' in a way that you don't hear much
these days.
Well, at least they're honest about it, which is more
than can be said for Geller himself in all of this.

That leads me to ask, once again, when exactly is
Steve Geller of Cooper City going to comply with
the existing law and actually move into the
Broward Commission District seat he is running for,
and when is the sleep-walking South Florida
news media going to actually press him to state
a specific date when this is going to happen?
Don't hold your breath!

-----
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-schools-whistleblower-20100207,0,3403460.story

Fired school district official wins legal battle but doesn't get apology

Former inspections supervisor warned about building safety issues

By Megan O'Matz, Sun Sentinel

February 6, 2010

If the Broward School District had listened to Charlene Rebecca Blackwood instead of firing her, could some of its construction department problems have been solved a long time ago?

Some think so.

"She was a prophet. What do they do to a lot of prophets? Try and silence them," said community activist Charlotte Greenbarg, president of The Broward Coalition, a group of condo and homeowner associations.

The school district disagrees, calling Blackwood a bully to her co-workers and an ineffective leader — characterizations she vehemently denies.

"We didn't discipline her because she raised alarms about school construction. That's her job," said Eugene K. Pettis, an attorney representing the district in the case. "But… you don't treat your staff and behave in the ways she behaved."

In November, after a four-year legal battle, the School Board agreed to settle. It awarded Blackwood $217,500 in back pay and attorney fees, and its own legal fees totaled $145,000. The settlement comes during a severe budget crisis when the district has had to cut teachers, electives, supplies and renovations.

Blackwood, 68, wanted more from the board members than money.

"I feel like I have been owed an apology," she told them in an emotional appeal last month. She did not get one.

Her saga began more than a decade ago when, as a senior supervisor of building inspectors, she began complaining that new schools were opened despite "life safety" code violations. That contractors were allowed to walk away without fixing problems. And that leaky school roofs were being repaired improperly, leading to mold and mildew.

She warned that some schools that doubled as hurricane shelters had equipment on the roofs, such as air conditioners, that were not properly secured and posed a hazard in a storm. The district took steps to fix the problem, but Blackwood said it dismissed other issues, such as opening schools prematurely.

Today, years after they opened, scores of schools still are operating without documents showing they meet code.

"They didn't want an effective building department," Blackwood said in a recent interview. "They wanted to neutralize the inspectors so the contractors could not be interfered with in doing their construction. Whether it was bad or not, they didn't care."

Recent internal audits back up some of her concerns. They show inflated construction costs, overbillings, and millions of dollars wasted to fix mistakes in building designs. In September, School Board member Beverly Gallagher was indicted on charges of taking payoffs from undercover FBI agents to rig construction contracts.

Board member Stephanie Kraft said that while a lot of the issues Blackwood raised were legitimate, she was "overzealous" in her approach and alienated some co-workers, board members and key administrators.

"She didn't know how to pick her battles," Kraft said. "Everything to her was a mountain. Even the molehills were mountains. It's unfortunate because there was a lot of validity to some of the stuff she said. But because she made everything a big deal, you couldn't deal with her at all.''

Kraft acknowledged there is great urgency to open a new school on schedule. Otherwise the district has a "nightmare" of a problem housing students elsewhere.

At a hearing of a newly formed district ethics commission last month, speakers told the panel that school employees who are critical of district leaders or policies have been labeled disgruntled and retaliated against, creating fear among the ranks.

"The Blackwood case is indicative of that," Nick Sakhnovsky, chairman of a district facilities advisory council, said in an interview. "Anyone who has a contrary opinion should not immediately be shut down or vilified."

Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/1463793.html

Editorial
Build Broward courthouse right

February 5, 2010

Confronted by a public hostile to footing the bill for a new county courthouse, Broward Commissioners dithered but ultimately made the right call: To build anyway.

There's no arguing that the 50-year-old courthouse is in bad shape. Its many parts, three additions to the main structure, were built under lax codes and couldn't withstand a Category 2 hurricane. Mindful of the construction slump, commissioners knew they could get a good price on a new structure. However, the commission must ensure that the new building is strong, roomy enough to accommodate future growth and has a decidedly green -- as in eco-friendly -- tinge.

Voters reject tax

What made the decision so tough is that voters in 2006 rejected a tax increase to pay for a new courthouse. Broward voters, relatively friendly toward most capital-improvement bond issues, were fed up -- or else county officials did a poor job of convincing them of the need for a better facility.

Voters said, in essence: ``We elected you to lead, to be the deciders, so do it.'' Stuck between a genuine need for a new facility and taxpayers' reluctance to shell out more money for it, commissioners took responsibility.

The resulting deal won't raise property taxes, but that's based on a technicality. Taxpayers will soon pay off about $38 million in debt for libraries and parks, meaning county taxes would drop about 25 cents per $1,000 of taxable property. To pay off the debt for courthouse construction the county will assess taxpayers about five cents per $1,000 of taxable property at a time when property values are dropping. So taxes won't rise along with the new courthouse, but they won't drop as much as they could have, either.

Fill funding gap

Still, this was the most practical choice. The county has set aside $120 million for construction. It will use a legislatively mandated increase in court fees and federal stimulus money to help cover the $328 million price tag. That leaves a funding gap to be filled by the five-cent property-tax assessment.

The new courthouse's 20-story tower will be built on the west side of the current structure, adding parking, more courtrooms and offices for public defenders and prosecutors.

Now that the commission has stepped up, its next task is to ensure the county gets the best construction prices and that the new courthouse is built to outlast its predecessor.

Reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/1463793.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1


South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-courthouse-vote-20100205,0,1369524.story

Backlash against courthouse tax could hurt Broward commissioners
By Scott Wyman, Sun Sentinel
February 5, 2010

FORT LAUDERDALE

When Broward county commissioners decided last week to tax residents for a new courthouse, they risked the wrath of voters.

Critics warn that the backlash could cost at least some of them their jobs.

"I recognized the decision would be unpopular, but in a representative form of government, we have to do what we think is right," Commissioner Stacy Ritter said.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected the project in 2006. But the existing building has only deteriorated since.

Plumbing is so bad in the old wing of the courthouse that burst pipes have caused repeated floods. The elevators constantly break and are so antiquated that parts must be specially made.

Court workers are suing over health problems caused by pervasive mold. The electrical system is so maxed out that an employee once blew out a computer in the next office by plugging in a space heater.

Consulting engineers say the building might not survive a Category 2 hurricane.

Since the defeat at the ballot box more than three years ago, county officials reviewed and rejected options, including the renovation of the old wing or the purchase of an existing office building. They also investigated whether construction could be delayed.

The commission went with plans that cut the cost from $510 million to $328 million.

A 20-story tower will be built on land the county already owns on the downtown Fort Lauderdale court campus. The central wing will be demolished and turned into a plaza that connects the high-rise to the jail and newer court wings.

The tax increase to pay for it will cost the average homeowner $8 a year for the next 30 years. But the issue is not just the money. Some are incensed over the fact that commissioners decided to impose the tax without seeking voter approval.

"We may need a courthouse, but now is not the time," said Charlotte Greenbarg, president of the group of homeowner and condo associations known as the Broward Coalition. "We haven't hit bottom in this recession and people are hurting. Voters will be angry over the insensitivity that commissioners showed in their actions."

A task force of judges, lawyers and elected officials led the effort to explore alternatives.

Their review concluded renovating the old wing would be more costly. Not only would the interior have to be gutted and brought up to existing building codes, but the exterior walls are in such poor condition that they must be replaced.

Space would have to be leased for judicial offices and courtrooms during seven years of renovation work. The county would have to pay to renovate the leased space to accommodate court operations and meet security requirements.

The task force looked into other locations for the court building, such as the neighboring 110 Tower, but county officials decided the renovation work needed to ready an older building for court operations would be too extensive-–adding a heavy cost on top of the purchase price. They also said private buildings off the county's court campus would lack a direct link to the main jail that allows the easy movement of dangerous inmates.

Waiting also was considered unacceptable.

The county's point person on the court project, Pete Corwin, said a delay risks repeated prolong closures of the courthouse because of major maintenance problems. In recent years, the courthouse has shut down for days following some of the flooding caused by burst pipes. And there's no telling when a potentially devastating hurricane could hit the building.

Delaying a new courthouse also could increase costs, officials said. Federal assistance available through President Barack Obama's economic stimulus program is set to end this year, and interest rates and construction costs are low.

"The easier answer would be to push this off or to renovate, but those are not the right things to do," Mayor Ken Keechl said. "We have a constitutional obligation to provide space for the judiciary, and something needed to be done now."

But to Commissioner John Rodstrom, the concerns about a delay are exaggerated, contrived to ensure the result that influential judges and lawyers have long wanted. He cast one of the three votes against the courthouse.

"The fix was in," Rodstrom said. "I know there are problems and the courthouse is not in the best condition, but the time is problematic. It is time to hunker down and save money. There is an anti-tax sentiment out there, and we should listen to it."


Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog
Commission could lose influence on contracting, be banned from moonlighting

Posted by Scott Wyman
February 5, 2010 09:26 AM

A new ethics code being drafted for Broward County commissioners amid a growing corruption scandal will rein in their influence and require greater disclosure of their business dealings.

A task force assigned with writing a code of conduct agreed Thursday to ban commissioners from moonlighting as lobbyists and limit their control over what companies win county contracts. They’d have to disclose any contact with lobbyists on county business and their fundraising on behalf of charities and political campaigns.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/02/commission_could_lose_influenc.html


Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog
Satz wants new anti-corruption law

Posted by Anthony Man

February 5, 2010 06:34 AM

Amid a series of public corruption scandals that have so far hauled up eight Broward and Palm Beach county officials on charges, the top prosecutors in the two counties are joining forces to seek passage of a new law tightening the screws on dishonest politicians.

“It will fill a lot of loopholes and hopefully restore peoples’ confidence in what went wrong,” Broward State Attorney Mike Satz said Thursday.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/02/satz_wants_new_anticorruption_1.html

-----

http://www.broward.org/Commission/Documents/sunmeet.pdf

In compliance with Section 286.011, Florida Statutes, announcement is made of the following meetings for the week of February 7, 2010 through February 13, 2010.
This information will be posted in prominent locations at County facilities and on the County’s web page (www.broward.org/sunmeet.pdf).

If any person shall decide to appeal any decision made with respect to any matter considered at these proceedings, it shall be the responsibility of that person to ensure that a verbatim record is made including testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based.
If you require any auxiliary aids to communication, please call Public Communications Office at 954-357-6990 so that arrangements can be made in advance.


February 9, 2010 - Tuesday

9:30 a.m. Meeting of the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council, Outreach QI Network, 915 Middle River Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

10:00 a.m. Regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, Governmental Center Room 422, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

10:30 a.m. Meeting of Waste and Recycling Services, Resource Recovery Board, Technical Advisory Committee, Programs Subcommittee, Government Center West, Waste and Recycling Services 4th Floor Waste Wing Conference Room, 1 N. University Dr., Plantation, FL.

1:30 p.m. Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, Proclamation Announcements and Presentations, Governmental Center Room 422, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

2:00 p.m. Public Hearing of the Board of County Commissioners, Governmental Center Room 422, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

3:00 p.m. Meeting of the Broward Healthy Start Coalition, QI/QA Committee, Broward Healthy Start Coalition, #304, 6555 Powerline Rd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

5:30 p.m. Meeting of the Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Review current Broward County State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) 2008-2010 Local Housing Assistance Plan strategies and recommend new strategies or revisions to new 2011-2013 LHAP, Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Suite 201, 110 NE Third St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

February 10, 2010 - Wednesday

8:00 a.m. Meeting of the Ethics Commission, Governmental Center Room 430, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (The public is invited to attend but will only be allowed to ask questions/comment from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.)

9:00 a.m. Meeting of the Children’s Services Administration Section, Needs Assessment Committee, Governmental Center Annex Room A-370, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

9:00 a.m. Meeting of the Transportation Department, Review community bus 2010 interlocal agreements, Mass Transit Division Administration Bldg. #1, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 3201 W. Copans Rd., Pompano Beach, FL.

10:00 a.m. Meeting of the Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Coordinating Council; Forum to foster coordination between county and municipal governments in Broward County, with other public and private organizations, which plan for and respond to disasters and other emergencies; Emergency Operations Center, 201 NW 84th Ave., Plantation, FL.

10:30 a.m. Meeting of the Cultural Division, Broward Cultural Council, Public Art and Design Committee, Main Library, Bienes Conference Room on 6th Floor, 100 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

1:00 p.m. Meeting of the Aviation Department, RLI #R0729109R1, Professional Design Services for New South Runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to include full design of the New South Runway and preparation of the Design Criteria Package for Runway/Taxiway Structures; Post, Buckley, Schuh, and Jernigan, Inc.; Negotiations, Aviation Department Airport Development Conference Room, 100 Aviation Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

2:30 p.m. Meeting of the Enterprise Technology Services, Computronix Master Agreement, Negotiation, Governmental Center County Attorney Office 423, Conference Room No. 4, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

3:00 p.m. Meeting of Waste and Recycling Services; In lieu of scheduled Infrastructure Subcommittee meeting, a tour of the Reuter Recyling Facility will be held; 20701 Pembroke Road, Pembroke Pines, FL.

3:30 p.m. Meeting of the Office of Economic and Small Business Development, Broward County/Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward Economic Development Alliance, New Five Year Agreement for Economic Development Services, Negotiation, Governmental Center Room 430, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

5:30 p.m. Meeting of the Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Housing Finance Authority of Broward County, Suite 201, 110 NE 3rd St., Ft Lauderdale, FL.

6:30 p.m. Meeting of the Planning and Redevelopment Division, Broward County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Discuss issues regarding bicycles and pedestrians and advise Board of County Commissioners, Governmental Center Room 329F, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

February 11, 2010 - Thursday

8:30 p.m. Meeting of the Aviation Department, Contract #T308103CAF, Cost impact to comply with runway safety and phasing for airfield modifications, Central Florida Equipment Rentals, Negotiation, Aviation Department, 100 Aviation Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

9:00 a.m. Meeting of the Construction Management Division, RLI #200030904-0CM-01, New Courthouse – Optional Services to Consultant Services Contract, Spillis/Candela/Heery/Cartaya, Negotiations, Governmental Center Annex Room A-550, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

9:30 a.m. Meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization; Discuss prioritization of transportation projects, to ensure local transportation issues are addressed and funds are appropriately allocated; Governmental Center Room 422, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

9:30 a.m. Meeting of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tourist Development Council, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Suite 200, 100 E. Broward Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

9:30 a.m. Meeting of the Office of Public Communications, 2010 Census Complete Count Committee, Promotions Subcommittee, Ongoing planning, Governmental Center Room 302, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

10:00 a.m. Meeting of the Seaport Engineering and Construction Division, RLI #20050927-CPD-1, General Architectural Services at Port Everglades, Third Amendment to Agreement, Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Negotiations, Port Administration Bldg., Room 301, 1850 Eller Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

10:00 a.m. Meeting of Water and Wastewater Services, RLI #R0728501R1, Energy Performance at Water and Wastewater Services, Chevron Energy Solutions, Negotiations, WWS Administration Bldg. No. 1, Administration Board Room on 1st Floor, 2555 W. Copans Rd., Pompano Beach, FL.

11:00 a.m. Meeting of the Management and Efficiency Study Committee, Procurement Subcommittee, Governmental Center Annex Room A-460, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

11:00 a.m. Or immediately following the Fire Chief’s Provider meeting, Meeting of the Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services, First There First Care Conference Committee, Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services Conference Room, 5301 SW 31st Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

1:00 p.m. Meeting of the Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Inc.; System of Care Workgroup, System of Care Planning in Circuit 17, Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Conference Room 115, 915 Middle River Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

1:00 p.m. Meeting of the Purchasing Division, Reconvene Selection Committee, RLI #R0754608R1, Wind Mitigation, Governmental Center Room 430, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

2:00 p.m. Meeting of the Seaport Engineering and Construction Division, RLI #113098-RB, Berth No. 34 Consultant Services, Third Amendment to Agreement, CH2M Hill, Negotiations, Port Administration Bldg. Legal Conference Room on 5th Floor, 1850 Eller Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

3:00 p.m. Meeting of the Public Safety Coordinating Committee, Main Courthouse, Court Administration Conference Room, North Wing, 201 SE 6th St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

6:00 p.m. Meeting of the Cultural Division, Broward Cultural Council, Social Networking between Emerging Cultural Leaders and Broward Cultural Council, 9360 NW 18th Dr., Plantation, FL.

February 12, 2010 - Friday

8:00 a.m. Meeting of the Ethics Commission, Governmental Center Room 430, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL. (The public is invited to attend but will only be allowed to ask questions and/or comment from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.)

2:30 p.m. Meeting of the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council, Mental Health/Substance Abuse QI Network, 915 Middle River Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Latest on Broward School Board ethics, slow-moving Bob Butterworth Integrity Crew; Adios, Gottlieb & Murray!

Some of you may recall that back on January 28th, I sent out an email and then posted as a blog posting most of the following:
If you really want to spend some time chasing your tail,try going to the website of the Broward School system group I've been referring to here in emails and in blog posts as the
Three Amigos, a.k.a. the Commission on Education Excellence Through Integrity, Public Ethics and Transparency,
http://browardschoolsintegrity.org/


Using their own website, try to find the time, date and location of their next public meeting.
Go ahead.
Really, go ahead.
It's not there.


In fact, the only thing that has been added tothe website since it came online are links to news articles about the group.
And nothing since January 12th, the day after their first and only public meeting.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=2a16c099-dbad-4b75-8f0c-a64769278b58&src=front

To me, that sounds a lot more like a fan's celebrity website than an actual watchdog group's efforts to get the public engaged.
Time's a wastin'.

Well, today, February 7th, ten days later, guess what has changed?
Hardly anything!

They've now listed info about their next meeting on Feb. 22nd in Coconut Creek, having previously met on January 10th at Dillard.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=2a16c099-dbad-4b75-8f0c-a64769278b58&src=front

Really?
Six weeks in-between public meetings for a watchdog group that has a limited shelf-life to begin with?
And what about a public meeting in SE Broward?

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least five locales in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach that are more than capable of handling the number of taxpayers and parents who would attend such a meeting, with plenty of room for media.

In case you were wondering about my clever suggestion previously that the January 10th Butterworth & Company public meeting could've been and should've been televised
on the Broward School Board's own cable channel, BECON-TV, using the very TV cameras that Broward taxpayers have already paid for, I received a lot of email responses seconding
that motion.

Frankly, many people wondered why nobody else thought of it, including the highly-paid legal staff at the Broward School Board, much less, Butterworth himself, the former Attorney General of Florida.

Everyone who has contacted me so far on that issue also believes that all the future meetings of the so-called Integrity group be televised, recorded and replayed so that more people can see it for themselves.

(FYI: Turns out that BECON/Channel 63 is also available on DirecTV, unlike the County's cable channel, which as I found out this past week in investigating the Courthouse issue, is
unable -or unwilling?- to replay their own webcasts of Commission meetings on their own website, something the City of Hollywood has been doing for years. Hm-m-m...)

After I sent that email out ten days ago, I got very curious about what was more important than the School Board introducing taxpayers and parents to the three men that Supt. James Notter selected to clean things up.

For the record, here's what BECON-TV showed the night they could've taken a small step towards accountability and transparency by showing Butterworth & Company:
http://www.becon.tv/becon-tv-schedules

6:00 pm	Historic Hotels of America : Le P Avillon
6:30 pm	Broward School Beat : Episode 45
7:00 pm	Untold Stories : Barnstormers to Blue Angels
7:30 pm	Dateline Health Nsu : Public Health Dh#277

Early next week, I'm going to send an email to Supt. James Notter and the School Board Attorney directly asking them to put a fire under Butterworth & Company
and get them to actually put useful info on that Integrity website, and to fully explain why BECON-TV can't or shouldn't be televising future public Integrity meetings.

By the way, one good reason why you don't want to follow "Broward School Board" as a subject on Twitter is three and three-quarter pages of the same Tweet, hour-after-hour for about five days
http://twitter.com/search?q=%22Broward%20School%20Board%22

Not that http://twitter.com/browardschoolnw is of much use either.

The things you find out when you take a hard look at a very dysfunctional crew.


www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-pavarini-westglades-20100206,0,7655196.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
A costly lesson: Broward school district mistakenly pays out $290,000
Return money or be sued, builder told
By Megan O'Matz, Sun Sentinel
February 7, 2010

In the midst of a crushing budget crisis, the Broward school district mistakenly paid more than $290,000 to a Fort Lauderdale firm for a school classroom addition that it quickly scrapped. Now the district finds itself in the awkward position of asking for the money back.

If Pavarini Construction Co. refuses, the district could be headed for a costly legal battle. According to Pavarini President Gary W. Glenewinkel, the company is "in the process of reviewing our records and all data related to this issue."

The error upset the district's new head of construction, Thomas E. Lindner, who took over in early January after the former administrator retired.

"You can't rubber-stamp invoices, even if they're for $5," Lindner said. Asked if the district mistakenly paid other construction companies, he said he doesn't know but is going to find out.

"This is just one that I discovered," he said.

District auditors are now reviewing how the error occurred. Lindner said he will consider their findings and determine how to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The district's construction department has been under intense scrutiny after the September arrest of suspended School Board member Beverly Gallagher. She was snared in an FBI sting for allegedly taking bribes to rig construction contracts.

On April 21, the School Board agreed to hire Pavarini to handle the construction of a $6.7 million, 24-room addition to Westglades Middle School in Parkland.

The company stood to make $581,365 in management fees for the project's initial "pre-design" and "design" phases.

But declining enrollment and years of aggressive building left the district with thousands of empty seats. State officials ordered the district to halt its building spree. In August, the School Board voted to abandon the Westglades project along with scores of others.

But by then, Pavarini had already submitted an invoice seeking payment for $387,596. The invoice is dated April 25, only four days after the contract was awarded.

A project manager for the school district reduced the amount due to $290,683 — half of the $581,365 — and approved payment May 11, records show.

"Four or five people sign invoices like this," Lindner said, but only two have access to the full project file: the project manager and a reviewer in the Capital Budget Department.

The invoice shows that Pavarini had hired a Coral Gables architectural firm, Wolfberg Alvarez & Partners, to design the addition.

Lindner said Pavarini was not entitled to any money because the district never issued a "Notice to Proceed" — a document authorizing companies to begin work. Lindner said he did not know if Pavarini or the architect did any work on the project at all, but if they did without the formal notice "that's on their nickel … not our nickel."

In a letter dated Jan. 25, Lindner asked Pavarini to refund the money. "If they decide not to, then we'll litigate for it," he said.

The district sues architects and contractors for mistakes their firms make on projects, but it can take years to recover the money, if ever.

School Board chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb said she was unaware of the billing problem with Pavarini. "That's a lot of money," she said. "Apparently something fell through the cracks, and it seems it's a pretty expensive issue."

The payout left others scratching their heads as well.

"Why didn't school district employees check to make sure the project was going to be built before they cut a check of that size?" asked Nick Sakhnovsky, chairman of the school facilities task force. "Doesn't anyone review quarter-of-a-million-dollar checks?"

Reader comments at:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-pavarini-westglades-20100206,0,901512,comment-display-all.story


I'll leave it to you to decide whether or not it's a positive sign for oversight and accountability in the year 2010 that someone who, as Chair of the Broward School Board, like Jennifer
Gottlieb, is "unaware" of $290,000 mistakes, or even whether there are many more such ticking time-bombs out there, waiting to go off.

Personally, as you may surmise from my previous critical comments about them here, under no circumstances would I vote for the re-election of Jennifer Gottlieb or Ann Murray in November.

To me, they have consistently proven thru their own words and deeds that they are ineffective as representatives of the taxpayers and parents of this county, especially if you
live in SE Broward and don't like what you see from them.

In short, their good intentions have NOT translated into good results for children, parents or taxpayers.
They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

That simple fact should be more than enough to tell you that they ought to be replaced by people who are more curious, serious and capable of providing the necessary oversight and accountability for one of the largest school systems in the country.

An institution whose self-evident weaknesses and chronic inability to be truthful about its own actions actually repels many out-of-state businesses from relocating here.

In my opinion, Jennifer Gottlieb and Ann Murray have been given a free ride for quite some time.
Their free ride should end in November.

New film trailer for Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe & Cate Blanchett; Matthew Macfadyen & Keeley Hawes

Below, the TV commercial that'll be running during the
Super Bowl 44 telecast on Sunday.
Robin Hood opens nationally May 14th, 2010.

Starring: Russell Crowe as Robin Hood, Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, William Hurt as William Marshall, Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey, Mark Addy as Friar Tuck, Oscar Isaac as Prince John, Danny Huston as King Richard, Eileen Atkins as Eleanor of Aquitaine, with Max von Sydow.
Directed by Ridley Scott

http://www.robinhoodthemovie.com/

Below, the longer trailer I previously posted here.

Matthew Macfadyen, who plays The Sheriff of Nothingham in Robin Hood is an actor I've been following for quite a while, as he is almost always pitch-perfect in every role he plays.
He first came to my attention when he was so compelling as the brilliant but emotionally conflicted MI-5 agent Tom Quinn in TV's Spooks (MI-5), and then played Mr. Darcy in the terrific 2006 film production I loved of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, opposite the beautiful and beguiling Keira Knightley.



More recently he was fabulous as the lead of Arthur Clennam in the Andrew Davies adaption of the BBC-1 TV miniseries of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit, which was telecast here on PBS as part of Masterpiece Classic, which, in my opinion, may've been the single best thing on TV last year. It deserved to win the 2009 Emmy for Best Miniseries it garnered.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/littledorrit/index.html

The quality of every single episode was so amazing that I just hated when it came to an end on Sunday nights and I had to wait another week to see what happened.
I may've even loved it more than I did Cranford, which is saying something.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/cranford/index.html

Months later, I was somewhat surprised to discover how many people I knew who confessed to me that, while they don't "usually watch PBS," they got hooked on this production because it was so damn believable.

If you agree, be sure to watch writer Andrew Davies discuss the characters and his adaption of Dickens here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/littledorrit/slideshow.html

Next Masterpiece Classic program is Northanger Abbey,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/northangerabbey/index.html

As if being so good in top-rate TV shows and films wasn't enough to create envy, Matthew Macfadyen is also the husband of the fabulous actress Keeley Hawes, who was MI5 agent Zoe in Spooks and who more recently starred in BBC America's Ashes to Ashes.



Keeley, as a brunette, is exactly like the girl I married in a recurring dream I had when I was in high school in North Miami Beach, and life here in hum-drum South Florida was just too boring to contemplate when I wasn't involved with sports or politics.
In my dream, she and I lived in Essex but commuted to the City for our great jobs, me in advertising and her in film/TV.
In later dreams, we had a daughter that looked a bit like, well, Romola Garai -who just played Emma- but who sings more like Essex's own adorable Pixie Lott.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/index.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/watch.html


Thanks a Lott, Pixie: Students in her home town get a music lesson in the form of a free gig
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1248806/Thanks-Lott-Pixie-students-home-town-music-lesson-form-free-gig.html

Broward County Ethics Committee's Thursday night meeting

For those of you who have called or written me
and or otherwise complained at other public policy
venues or on blogs about the fact that the Broward
County Ethics Committee meetings thus far
have been held on weekday mornings, and that
you've been dying to tell them what you really
think the ethics rules ought to be, now's your
big chance.

The Ethics Committee will be meeting Thursday
from 5- 8:30 p.m. at the Broward Govt. Center
115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 430, Ft. Lauderdale.

Before you go, read this post at FloridaThinks.com
by Cheryl Forchilli, the chair of the Florida
Commission on Ethics, which I recently added
as a Google Alert.

This essay was Wednesday's post at a new public
policy website called FloridaThinks,
http://floridathinks.com/ which just started
last week.

http://floridathinks.com/florida-issues/florida-issues/ethics-watchdog-chair-beef-up-power-to-investigate-punish/

Also, if you missed my recent mentioning of it,
see Rob Wechsler's government ethics blog at
CityEthics.org, http://www.cityethics.org/
where he is Director of Research.

An excellent tool for following the latest
developments on this issue across the country.
http://www.cityethics.org/Blog-RobWechsler

Compare and contrast results of Broward Courthouse vote and New Trier HS building project being defeated by voters; Kudos for JAABLOG

Somewhat sheepish email I had to send out yesterday
afternoon, as I'd originally planned on being up in
Fort Lauderdale for the Commission vote:

February 2nd, 2010
12:45 p.m.

Just called up to Broward Govt. HQ before leaving
to attend and film the public comments portion
of the Broward County Commission meeting on
financing of a proposed Broward Courthouse.

Good thing I made that phone call because they
already voted this morning to approve it, 6-3,
with Commissioners Gunzburger, Rodstrom
and Wexler voting no.

P.S. Just checked JAABLOG before sending this.
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/
Good thing, too, as he's got more details!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 12:50 PM
The County Commission is building you a new courthouse!
http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2010/02/02/surprise-surprise.aspx#Comment

-----

Wednesday afternoon I wrote this:

Per the news below from Chicago's North Shore,
since I lived in Evanston and Wilmette, and had
lots of close friends at IU from New Trier,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Trier_High_School
I'm thoroughly aware of the educational/aspirational
mindset there, where the well-educated dual income
parents are VERY into the school, and the kids getting
anything and everything that'll help them.

Sometimes, to an unhealthy degree, since this is the
same school where lots of politically powerful/affluent
parents got their kids into U of I using that special
admission system the Tribune exposed last year.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/08/2-holdout-u-of-i-trustees-could-get-booted.html

Not that you ever read or heard about that education
scandal down here, of course.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_alumni_from_New_Trier_High_School

Listen to Trib reader Stu's simple logic and tell
me it doesn't sound exactly like something that could
be said of the latest Broward Courthouse fiasco,
when common economic sense fell by the way-side
yesterday:

"If the board were to have done long range capital improvement planning, they could could have gone to the voters with an incremental plan, doing one facility or section every few years. Instead the board appears to have this very large and over reaching apetite wanting everything now."

All too predictably, the Broward County Commission
chose to channel David Farragut at precisely the
wrong time as they collectively voted
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead..."

Since my email yesterday, I added something to
JAABLOG's excellent second commentary about
the Broward Courthouse vote, which I've pasted
at bottom.
There's lots of insight and good info from other
readers, too.

P.S. I'm lovin' it!
McDonald's brings frappes to Chicago area
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-mcdonalds-frappe-0202-,0,5632826.story


Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/new-trier-building-plan-looks-headed-for-defeat.html

New Trier high school building project defeated

By Jeff Long

February 2, 2010

A $174 million building project at New Trier high school appears headed for defeat. The margin was about 63 percent against the project and 37 percent with 97 percent of the vote counted.

Officials called the building project at the Winnetka high school vital to bring the North Shore campus into the 21st century and correct lingering problems, such as having a third of the property inaccessible to disabled students.

But residents opposed to the project said in the weeks leading up to the vote that its scope was too vast, and the price tag too much of a burden in today's economy.

Under the plan, a cafeteria built in 1912 would have been demolished, as would a gym that dates to 1928, a tech arts building constructed in 1931, and a music hall built in 1950. New construction would have included a cafeteria, library, fieldhouse, gym, and 41 classrooms.

Reader comments at:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/new-trier-building-plan-looks-headed-for-defeat.html#comments

-----------

JAABLOG
Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me ...
Posted by JAABLOG at 2/2/2010 9:29 PM

http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2010/02/02/fool-me-once-shame-on-you-fool-me-twice-shame-on-me-.aspx#Comment

Here's what I wrote there, part of which I posted
here on Monday:

First, some facts about Tuesday's vote on financing
a new Broward County Courthouse, a story that only
the Daily Business Review, JAABLOG and I wrote about.
Not asking for plaudits, just noting it for historical context.

For those courthouse denizens who animate this blog
with their constant contempt of Broward taxpayers thru
your comments here, who think that a new Broward
County Courthouse is very important, guess what?

The South Florida news media could hardly care less
about you. You barely register on their horizon.
You are insignificant.

In the days and weeks before the vote, the two daily
South Florida newspapers and the four network TV
stations sat on their hands and reported nothing
about this issue.

Neither the Herald or the Sun-Sentinel have
mentioned this subject in print or online since
last September, when a Guest Op-Ed purported
to have been written by Comm. Stacy Ritter was
published in the Sun-Sentinel.

Once again, on something very important,
South Florida's news media has shown they were
sleeping on the job, and let the people down.

Did you EVER see anything last year on TV about
the ties that the members of the Lieberman-led
Task Force had to the Broward legal establishment,
who desperately want a brand new pony?
Preferably, with a brand-new barn and a lifetime
supply of feed. On the taxpayer's dime.
Nope.
There never was one,

Watching the coverage Tuesday night at 11 p.m.,
actually thinking there'd be some interviews
-with somebody!- this point was drive home
all over again.

At 11:16 p.m. CBS-4's Antonio Mora did a 15-second
read without any visuals and said the vote happened
"last night," which as we know, is incorrect.
At 11:27 p.m., Local10's Laurie Jennings also did a
15-second read with archived visuals of yellow tape
and leaking ceilings.
There's the press coverage of your shiny new pony.

And why is it that so few usually well-informed
people actually know how poorly Lieberman
handled the rigged Task Force last year?
I wrote last year on my blog how she and the
county administrators didn't follow basic aspects
of the state's Sunshine Laws, and instead,
tried to fool the public by arranging for the agenda
and assorted relevant public docs for the last meeting,
which should've been online before the meeting,
to be placed online HOURS AFTER the last meeting
was already over.

Not that they actually had the final public meeting
listed online days before the meeting, since they didn't.

Lieberman was the one in charge -the Chair.
But the media didn't care -just like now.

Keep up the great work, JAABLOG!

While most of South Florida's media suffers from
Super Bowl Swoon, JAABLOG keeps it real!
Kudos!

Charlie Crist's Lead Labour's Lost: Rubio lead over Crist increases: 4, 8, 15, 23, 42

"Lost" Executive Producers/creators Damon Lindelof
and Carlton Cuse appear on Jimmy Kimmel Show
tonight.

Rasmussen Reports

Election 2010: Florida Republican Primary for Senate

Florida GOP Senate: Rubio 49%, Crist 37%

Monday, February 01, 2010

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio has now jumped to a 12-point lead over Governor Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Rubio leading Crist 49% to 37%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and 11% are undecided.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/florida/election_2010_florida_republican_primary_for_senate