Eleanor Sobel, Broward pol who wanted -and got- Hollywood taxpayers to pay $30k for her new FL State Senate office in 2009 now asks FL legislature for audit of Hollywood!

Pol who wanted -and got- City of Hollywood taxpayers to pay $30k for her new FL State Senate office in 2009 now asks FL legislature for audit of Hollywood!

Oh, "that's Rich."

No, that's just Eleanor Sobel being Eleanor Sobel!

What brings this to mind is this blog post today by Steve Bousquet of the St. Petersburg Times:

Legislature OKs audit of city of Hollywood

TALLAHASSEE -- The Legislature on Monday approved a request by Sen. Eleanor Sobel to step in and audit the city of Hollywood's shaky finances. Sobel appeared at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in the Capitol to ask for the audit, citing the city's declaration of a state of "financial urgency," a recent 11 percent property tax increase, lucrative pension and health benefits for city employees and overly optimistic revenue projections.

Read the rest of the post at

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/10/state-approves-audit-of-city-of-hollywood-.html

Plus, at the time, April of 2009, Sobel's name was already STILL on the same building across from Hollywood City Hall -where Rep. Elaine Schwartz's office was/is also located- from when Sobel had used it as her temporary pit-stop of a Broward School Board office when she pretended to care about kids for a few months while waiting for Steve Geller to be term-limited out of the state senate.

I was at the Hollywood City Commission meeting when this self-serving effort got pushed thru -even updating my photos before going inside- and Balance Sheet Blog co-editor Sara Case was the only member of the public with the integrity to publicly say that Hollywood taxpayer funds should NOT be used in this manner, esp. for a woman who could well afford to pay for it herself, or, even rent one of the dozens of empty storefronts in Downtown Hollywood.

I thought Sara was particularly good in zeroing-in on the problems in her comments that day before the City Commission.

I have to admit, though, I was somewhat confounded that Mayor Peter Bober, having brought up some spot-on reasons that I hadn't even thought of to justify voting against it straightaway, or, continue it to the near future, along with some modifications to it and some added clarity on the ethical and financial issues, then voted FOR it.

I found that confusing on his part and some arguments by Comm. Richard Blattner, and I don't think I was alone in the Chambers in that sentiment.

Until it was mentioned at that meeting, in passing, I didn't know anything about Hollywood taxpayers also having spent $20,000 in 2006 on improvements to Rep. Schwartz's office.

Sara's point in her then-editorial about the real answer to the problem being that they leave their government cocoon and rent a downtown storefront is, of course, something that was completely lost on the woman from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, this was a done-deal from the word "go," and it passed despite the gaping holes in logic and questions about propriety and extraneous spending.

R-2009-072 - Resolution - A Resolution Of The City Commission Of The City Of Hollywood, Florida, Authorizing The Appropriate City Officials To Execute The Attached Agreement Between State Senator Eleanor Sobel, State Representative Elaine Schwartz And The City Of Hollywood For Lease Of City Office Space And To Reallocate Funds For The Renovations For New Offices For Senator Sobel In The Old Library Building. PASSED

Good to know that Sen. Sobel is trying to re-pay the PBA members' past help by expressing her new-found concern with extraneous government costs.

But where were those concerns of hers before when it involved her? MIA.

The photos above, all taken by me on September 20th, with the first showing the offices of Rep. Schwartz and Sen. Sobel and the second showing part of the view when you walk out of their office, looking west, at Hollywood City Hall.

In the next few days, once I find those old photos, I'll add them here for an Eleanor Sobel office compare-and-contrast.

Some contemporaneous articles about this story are:

a.)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Politics blog

Sen. Sobel to taxpayers: Spend $30k cleaning rat-infested space for my office

Posted by Brittany Wallman at 10:57 AM

By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Staff Writer

State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, wants new office digs in Hollywood, and it will cost city taxpayers about $30,000 for starters.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/04/sen_sobel_to_taxpayers_spend_3.html

b.)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hollywood to rent office to state Sen. Sobel

By Ihosvani Rodriguez

6:12 PM EDT, April 1, 2009

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/hollywood/sfl-sobel-office-b040209,0,4633755.story

Reader comments at:

http://www.topix.net/forum/city/fort-lauderdale-fl/T7MBKTSCTPCC6IQBT

-----

Balance Sheet Blog is at http://balancesheetblog.wordpress.com/

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/

Sorry, discerning news consumers in FL aren't buying the self-pity being sold by Tallahassee-based media re Gov. Rick Scott, the anti (Charlie) Crist

I've been waiting a bit to drop this post of mine just to see if there was any more secondary coverage of this story about new Florida governor Rick Scott and the expectations, assumptions and presumptions of the Tallahassee-based media that covers the Florida legislature, the governor's office and what passes for Junior Varsity political intrigue and machinations.

I figured I'd give it about a week and a week has come and gone, so here we are.

Excerpt from my email of January 31st titled SunshineStateNews.com: Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero

Below, a variation of the story that received prominent coverage last week in the Miami Herald and the St. Pete Times and several other places around the state, all to little practical effect

You remember, the story about the last-minute dinner at the Governor's Mansion, where the person chosen to be the 'pool reporter' had other plans and said nyet, throwing 'journalism' into a tailspin?

Meanwhile, no matter how many facts and photos I use to persuade South Florida print or TV reporters to express any curiosity at all about a public building in Hallandale Beach -just steps from the beach- that has only been open three times to the public in what will be 42 months on Thursday, and for which hundreds of thousands of Hallandale Beach taxpayer dollars has been spent, and no doubt, wasted, reporters just yawn.

With one exception, Stefan Kamph Hallandale Beach's North Beach Facility Might Finally Open, After Four Years
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/01/hallandale_beach_north_beach_opening.php

That, after all this incompetency, the the city manger here has pledged to keep it closed to the taxpayers of this city is the ultimate insult, but to local reporters, they just roll their eyes at this news, one more fact they could care less about.

It's a story which if it happened in Coral Gables or Miami Beach would've been on the front page of the Herald's very loosely-edited State & Local section, perhaps with some critical comments later in the editorial page asking with mock dismay, who elected the unelected City Manger, Mark Antonio, to keep a public building closed to the public?

But because it's not located in those cities, it wasn't the predicate to a zinging editorial that lowered-the-boom on Antonio and HB City Hall.

It's the news story that never happened, the one that so perfectly illustrates the dilemma for Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers -caught between the longstanding incompetency and anti-democratic nature of HB City Hall officials, pols and their cronies, and a press corps that doesn't even pretend to be curious.

But now, I'm supposed to care about a meal at the governor's mansion, featuring some people I've never heard of?
No sale.

-------

Miami Herald
Scott's media limits upset journalists
By Michelle Morgante Associated Press
January 20, 2011

TALLAHASSEE- Journalists who cover Florida's capital complained to industry leaders Tuesday that the new administration of Gov. Rick Scott is skirting free-press traditions and attempting to control their work by limiting access to events and being slow to provide public records.

Speaking to the board of the Florida Society of News Editors, nine Tallahassee correspondents said Scott's team is imposing an unprecedented level of control over access to Scott and to events that previously would have been considered open. The governor's office also has tried to "cherry-pick'' reporters to provide pooled reports to the rest of the press corps, instead of allowing the journalists to choose.

Bob Rathgeber, senior staff writer for The News-Press of Fort Myers, said Scott, a former healthcare executive, apparently wants to continue operating as if he were still in the private sector, not public office.

"He doesn't care whether we have complaints or not,'' Rathgeber said. "He's from the private sector and he's a private guy.''

The journalists pointed to several examples, including a post-inauguration reception held on the scenic 22nd floor of the state Capitol, where Scott's staff restricted access to a select few.

The event was in a public building and the entire state Legislature had been invited, noted Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald. "That, on its surface, struck me as a public meeting. . . . There's no reason they should be shutting the public out.''

But Klas and others, including an AP reporter, were booted out. The reporters said Scott's staff said a pooled report would be provided and argued that the journalists had accepted the arrangement. She and the other reporters speaking Tuesday said they'd never accepted such a deal. Pool reports typically are only agreed to when space is unavoidably limited, such as aboard an airplane, and the selection of the journalist is made by the participating media groups.

A voice message and an e-mail seeking reaction Tuesday from Scott's communications director, Brian Burgess, were not immediately answered.

The reporters also pointed to an incident last week, when Scott and several lawmakers gathered at the governor's mansion for a dinner. Scott's staff made no announcement about the dinner but, upon deciding the press should be alerted, quickly sought a reporter to provide a pooled report.

Dave Royse, executive editor of the News Service of Florida, said he was invited to be the pool reporter although the dinner was nearly over. He could not accept, but offered a reporter from his staff in his place. When that reporter was rejected, Royse said he declined to participate for ethical reasons.

The party being covered "can't pick and choose the reporter,'' he said. The correspondents said they would consider creating terms for pooled reports, such as an ordered list of reporters to be called on. But Paul Flemming, state editor for Gannett's Florida bureau, cautioned against encouraging greater use of pools: "I think it's dangerous to go down a pool path at all.''

Jim Baltzelle, FSNE president and Florida chief of bureau for The Associated Press, said the incidents raised concern about the freedom of the press. He said FSNE would consider how to formally respond.

Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee bureau chief for the Orlando Sentinel, said he's been given very little access to the governor because during Scott's campaign, his staff considered the newspaper "hostile.'' He said his only recourse has been to make several requests for public records. But the administration, he said, has been slow to respond and, in one case, said it would charge him $400 for printing by an outsourced provider even though Deslatte said the information is available electronically.

There are currently 51 reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/19/2022456/scotts-media-limits-upset-journalists.html

A more realistic view of what transpired -or didn't- with some well-chosen sarcasm, was expressed elsewhere.

SunshineStateNews.com
Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero

By Nancy Smith
Posted: January 31, 2011 3:55 AM

Thank God we found out Thursday night that the governor and his guests "dined on mesquite grilled swordfish, corn macque choux, and Florida strawberry shortcake."

Or did they?

Can the people of Florida be absolutely sure? What if diners were really inside that mansion chowing down on roast beef, spinach casserole and English trifle?

How might that have torpedoed the ship of state?

Read the rest of this spot-on post at:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/governor-rick-scott-hero-press-corps-zero


See also:
http://www.flgov.com/
http://www.flgov.com/news-releases/
http://www.myflorida.com/

How Jennifer Carroll proves the political history of Florida isn't quite what it used to be -and neither are the news media's memories, either

To the blog readers who were kind enough to email me and ask -perhaps tongue in cheek- if I noticed that "Correction" in the Miami Herald on Friday, I did.
Actually, I noticed the mistake in the original article on Thursday, below.

-----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/02/1803901/scotts-likely-no-2-navy-vet.html

Miami Herald
Rick Scott's likely No. 2: Navy vet
A Republican victory in November in the governor's race could produce Florida's first black lieutenant governor. Jennifer Carroll is likely to be Rick Scott's running mate

By Steve Bousquet, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

September 2, 2010

Rick Scott's running mate on the Republican ticket for governor is expected to be state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, a U.S. Navy veteran and mother of three who, if elected, would be Florida's first black lieutenant governor.

Scott will unveil his pick Thursday in a campaign fly-around beginning in Jacksonville, a major hub of Republican voters near Carroll's home in Fleming Island.

In choosing Carroll, Scott, himself a Navy veteran, would get a woman with a distinctive personal story who could neutralize the gender appeal of his Democratic opponent, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink:

• In a state where one in every seven voters is black -- and nearly all are Democrats -- Carroll is a black Republican.

• As a native of Trinidad, Carroll is an immigrant who could help soften Scott's hard-line image on an issue that cuts both ways in a state with a large immigrant population.

• She packs a celebrity punch: Her son, Nolan II, is a rookie cornerback and kick returner for the Miami Dolphins, drafted out of the University of Maryland.

"She's an immigrant and she worked her way up and she did everything through hard work. That's very similar to Rick's background. There's a lot of similarities between the two of them,'' said Jen Baker, Scott's campaign spokesman.

Carroll, 51, made Gov. Charlie Crist's short list of possible running mates in 2006, and she was among those listed as possible successors to Mel Martinez, who resigned his U.S. Senate seat last year.

Scott's camp is aggressive in challenging what it considers off-base speculation on political blogs. When blogs named Carroll as his pick Wednesday, the campaign raised no objection.

Lieutenant governors in Florida share one common trait: obscurity. The office did not exist before 1968 and it is unique in that no job description for it exists in state law.

Strategists agree that the selection of a running mate is largely a media fixation that matters little to rank-and-file voters, unless the choice backfires.

"The first rule of a lieutenant governor candidate is to not get in trouble,'' said GOP strategist and lobbyist J.M. ``Mac'' Stipanovich. "As a candidate for governor your choice of a lieutenant governor does little for you, but this one is intriguing.''

'A GREAT MESH'

Leslie Dougher, county GOP chairwoman in Carroll's home of Clay County, praised the choice as "far-reaching.''

"It would be a great mesh,'' Dougher said. "Mr. Scott is from South Florida and Jennifer is from North Florida.''

Sink's running mate is Rod Smith, 60, a former state senator and elected state attorney from Alachua County who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006.

"I don't have time to speculate, really,'' Sink said in Miami Wednesday. ``I'm just waiting to see what his announcement is.''

BACKGROUND

Carroll moved to Florida in 1986. She and her husband, Nolan, have three children.

She became the first black Republican woman elected to the Legislature in a special election in 2003.

She retired after 20 years in the Navy, where she rose to the rank of lieutenant commander aviation maintenance officer.

She has a bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico and a master's degree in business administration from St. Leo University in Pasco County.

Her official legislative biography notes that she is a life member of both the NAACP and the National Rifle Association.

Her record is not free of blemishes, however.

Six years ago, after news reports that she listed a degree from an online ``diploma mill,'' Kensington University in California, she dropped the reference from her official resume.

"This causes me great concern,'' Carroll told the Florida Times-Union in 2004. ``It's a lot of time, effort and money poured into a university I thought was a viable program.''

Last spring, Carroll filed a bill regulating certain electronic sweepstakes games. The Times-Union reported that Carroll confirmed that her public relations firm, 3 N. and J.C. Corp., represented Allied Veterans of the World Inc., a veterans' group that sought to legalize the slot-like machines.

Carroll quickly withdrew the bill (HB 1185) and said a staff member filed the legislation without her approval.

Carroll does not have a distinguished record as a lawmaker, but has compiled a solidly pro-business voting record and was unchallenged in a bid for a fourth term this fall.

At a campaign stop in Jacksonville on Tuesday, Scott told WOKV radio he had ``pretty much'' made up his mind but would not stoke speculation about his choice.

"This person's going to do a wonderful job,'' Scott said. ``Whoever it's going to be, you guys will all be proud of.''

Carroll would not be the first black woman to run for the state's No. 2 post.

In 1978, Claude Kirk, a former Republican governor seeking a comeback as a Democrat, chose Mary Singleton as his running mate, but the Kirk-Singleton ticket fared poorly.

Times/Herald staff writer John Frank and Miami Herald staff writer Beth Reinhard contributed to this report.

-----

The case of the missing adjective.

excerpted from:
Miami Herald
Corrections

September 3, 2010

In a story Thursday on Page 1B about Republican Rick Scott's selection of Jennifer Carroll as his running mate, it incorrectly noted that she was the first black female elected to the state Legislature.
Gwen Sawyer Cherry, a Democrat from Miami, was the first African American woman ever to serve in the Legislature. She was elected in 1970.

-----

Carroll is the first Black female Republican elected to the State House, which is why I highlighted Republican in red in the original since it wasn't there, but added online after the edition went to print.

Hmm-m-m... Gwen Cherry was also the first Black woman to practice law in Dade County, a not insignificant fact. See: http://www.gscbwla.org/cherry.htm

Obviously, I'm long past believing that all the employee cuts at the Herald are starting to have their logical negative results for their dwindling number of readers, in that they have lost people who actually know which facts are important and which are not, and can say something
when words in an article are flat-out wrong -or missing.

It will come as no surprise to most of you readers who come here often that in my opinion, the reporters in this community who don't know anything about the political history of this area or why things are the way they are, greatly out-number the ones who do.

This Thursday article is a preview of the future of South Florida media, something I notice nearly every time Miami TV reporters show up at Hollywood City Commission meetings and seem to know nothing -or next-to-nothing- about what is on the meeting agenda and what its implications might be.
So many are strangely incurious.

I don't expect them to be experts, but... well, let's just say that the amount of time some of them need to be talked to by the city's official spokesperson Raelin Story -who is always professional and accommodating- seems to be increasing, based on what I observe.
I'm sure she notices who does their homework and is prepared, and who doesn't and isn't.
I know I do.


Jennifer Carroll's web page at the Florida House of Representatives website:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/SEctions/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4331&SessionId=42

Campaign website: http://www.scottcarrollforflorida.com/

For more on her talented son...

Miami Herald

DOLPHINS
CB Carroll embraces discipline

By David J. Neal

May 5, 2010

Here's how you know Dolphins rookie cornerback Nolan Carroll didn't grow up acting foolish, or at least didn't do so twice: he's the son of a former Navy lieutenant commander who retired after 20 years with some medals, including an "expert pistol medal."

And that was Mom, state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, the first female black Republican state representative. Dad, Nolan Carroll Sr., was an Air Force senior master sergeant.

"Ever since I came out of my mom, it was, 'yes, sir,' 'no, sir,' 'yes, ma'am,' be on time, do this, do that when I say so," said Carroll, a fifth-round draft pick. "Up to now, and I'm 23 years old, I still say, 'yes, sir,' 'no, sir.' They expect me to say it. There was very strict discipline in my house. They were also cool. They weren't always telling me what to do. They treated me like I was a grown man, as well.'

Now, Carroll is a grown man out of the Jacksonville area with an exemplary off-the-field makeup. If not for the broken leg that aborted Carroll's senior season at Maryland after two games, NFL coaches wouldn't have been in favor of drafting him, but rather adopting him.

"When you talk with the young man, he's just an impressive guy; he really is," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "The first time I ever met him, I was really impressed with the way he came off. Never mind how he presented himself from a football standpoint, but he had all the other things that are important to us, too."

Such as a willingness to do exactly what he is told.

"The coaches are like my parents," Carroll said. "Same thing. I do what they tell me to do. I don't back talk."

And if he disagrees with a coaching decree?

"I look down and think, 'They know what's best for me, so I'm just going to listen to what they tell me to do,' " he said.

That's one reason Carroll tries to avoid even minor violations such as breaking curfew -- he figures rules were made for a reason. Also, he's used to being in situations where any bad behavior can reflect on others.

"If my friends wanted to go and do something and I thought it was bad, I wouldn't do it," he said. "I'd stay in the house just to make sure. I didn't want to give [his mother] a bad name.

"Same with this," he continued, looking past reporters to the Dolphins' logo facing the Davie practice fields. "I treat this like a family. I treat the Miami Dolphins like it's my mom, it's my family. I don't ever want to give them a bad name."

Now, if he can play nickel cornerback without embarrassing them on the field, he might have a job.

The Dolphins believe they have found their future outside cornerbacks in 2009 rookies Sean Smith and Vontae Davis. Will Allen, who turns 32 in August with nine seasons of mileage, will be back in that competition for starting spots this year after recovering from a season-ending knee injury. But for how long? Also, the Dolphins released last year's nickel cornerback, Nate Jones.

With three-wide receiver sets becoming the norm, it's a position defenses want settled.

"One of the things that I think I want to try to do with Nolan right away is to just get him in a position where he's going to be able to get himself settled down and play because he has missed so much time," Sparano said. "I think that we are going to kind of let him get his feet set at corner right now and then take a look at some of the players that we have in there and then worry about whether we get him inside."

Carroll, who ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash at Maryland's pro day, played against slot receivers during his sophomore season in 2007. That was his first at cornerback after spending his freshman year as a wide receiver.

"[The Dolphins] like that I'm tough and aggressive," Carroll said "I need to work just getting used to the position some more. I've only been playing it a year and a half if you don't count my senior year that I missed."

Steve Bousquet and Josh Hafenbrack on Sayfie Review's Power Play re Charlie Crist veto of S.B. 6 and how it changes dynamic of U.S. Senate race in FL

Sayfie Review's Power Play, April 16, 2010.
Guests: Steve Bousquet of the St. Petersburg Times and Josh Hafenbrack of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
These are two of my favorite political reporters in Florida because they both understand and explain clearly the policy and process side of government.
And are straight-shooters.

Plus, Steve still remembers the names, events and personalities of what South Florida politics and government were like in the 1970's and '80's.
Just like me.



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

Perennial defender of the unethical and the slipshod: Joe Gibbons. Call him a serial apologist and be done with it!

My pithy comments about my embarrassing
State Representative, Joe Gibbons, follow the article.

St. Petersburg Times
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/psc-ethics-reforms-sail-through-senate-bog-down-in-house/1077245#
Ethics bill for PSC stalls in House By Mary Ellen Klas and Steve Bousquet,
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — A bill aimed at tightening the ethics rules at the Public Service Commission flew through the Florida Senate Wednesday and then became snagged by a House committee, which raised red flags about some parts of the measure.

With no debate, the Senate passed the bill aimed at ending improper communications between commissioners or senior staff members and the utilities the agency regulates.

The vote was 39-1 with Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, the lone no vote.

Senate President Jeff Atwater applauded the measure's sponsor, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, for championing the issue. The Senate made the issue a top priority by approving the bill on the second day of session.

The bill would ban private conversations between commissioners or their staff aides and anyone with a pending rate case. Last year, PSC staff members and commissioners communicated through text and BlackBerry messages with Florida Power & Light representatives as they were awaiting PSC rulings on several issues. A PSC lobbyist also attended a Kentucky Derby party last May hosted by a Florida Power & Light executive.

Fasano called the episodes "egregious violations of the public trust."

The measure doesn't prohibit all communication between commissioners and staffers with utility officials. Instead, it requires that any conversations that take place must be written down and posted within 72 hours.

The bill also requires commissioners to apply the same ethical standards as judges when ruling on a rate case, and it would ban senior staffers and commissioners from leaving the agency and going to work for a utility company within four years.

Minutes after the Senate vote, the House Energy and Utilities Policy Committee debated but did not vote on the companion bill by Rep. John Legg, R-New Port Richey, as well as two other PSC-related bills.

Several House Democrats led the opposition to the four-year employment ban in Legg's bill. The ban would not affect current PSC members or staffers but would apply only to anyone hired after July 1.

"We're going to run people out of the industry or run people out of state," said Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach. "By making it four years, we make the industry less attractive."

Legg argued that when commissioners or key staff members cross over and work for utilities they once regulated, it smacks of "consumer exploitation."

Another PSC-related bill by Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to make commission seats elected positions rather than appointed. State law now requires a nominating council to recommend candidates to the governor, who selects from that list to choose appointees to the five-member commission.

The measure would also ban candidates from accepting campaign contributions from regulated utilities. Florida had an elected PSC until the 1970s.

Also Wednesday, the rate case was back in the news as the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee overruled the PSC's order to force FPL and Progress Energy of St. Petersburg to disclose employee salary and benefits packages as part of their rate case requests. FPL's rate case ended with the company getting $75 million of the $1.3 billion it requested. Progress got none of its $500 million increase.


See also, Sansom wants Rep. Joe Gibbons off panel, from
The Buzz politics blog of Feb. 15, 2010
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/02/sansom-wants-rep-joe-gibbons-off-panel.html

Way to bring attention to yourself, Gibbons!
Another sad and pathetic example of the Hallandale Beach ethical taint,
writ large, as yet another Akerman Senterfitt consultant shows his
version of thinking 'big picture' -creating jobs for pals, cronies and
prospective clients.

For me, this recalls so many exasperating Hallandale Beach City
Commission meetings I've attended in the past where, rather than
do what was right, Gibbons continually tried everyone's patience
and credulity by trying to simultaneously appear both publicly
above-the-fray, yet also a savvy insider and wheeler-dealer,
the latter role of which he was eminently laughable in.

(Not unlike present-day HB Commissioner Anthony A. Sanders'
recent attempts to appear savvy and demanding with the Westin
Diplomat Resort & Spa over their preposterous LAC proposal
rubber-stamped and wink-winked by the HB City Commission.)

In Gibbons' particular case, his two-faced strategy was never more
obvious or absurd than in his long-winded attempts at HB City
Commission meetings to gain concessions or some small handfuls
of sugar from Magna Entertainment's Gulfstream Park
Race Track & Casino.

Instead, all Gibbons accomplished was looking like a two-faced
pol who argues not over matters of principle, but rather over price
-Where's something for me and mine?

Honestly, why do ethical issues continue to be such a serial problem
for my State Representative, Joe Gibbons?

Per my blog post here on Saturday, February 27th,
Missing voices in Broward County's ethics debate are ignored
by South Florida news media. It's our old media friend:
Mr. Lack of Curiosity!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/missing-voices-in-broward-countys.html
discussing last month's very important Broward Legislative Delegation
meeting at the downtown Fort Lauderdale campus of FAU/BCC
on Las Olas to discuss State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff's common sense
ethics proposal for an IG for Broward County, Gibbons, just like
State Sen. Chris Smith and State Rep. Perry Thurston III,
were no Profiles in Courage, though Gibbons at least voted for it
in the end, unlike the other two, though doing himself no favors with
his comments or attitude.

Plus, Gibbons has always been perceived as an apologist for
Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper and city manager
Mike Good serial incompetence and has consistently looked
the other way when unethical and anti-democratic things
happened either right in front of him, or in his district,
as continues to this very day.

Seriously, when was the last time Gibbons publicly spoke-out
against what everyone paying serious attention knows has been
taking place at Hallandale Beach City Hall for years?

The answer is that Joe Gibbons NEVER has.
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4400&SessionId=64

Whether coming or going, as a Hallandale Beach City Commissioner
or State Representative, Joe Gibbons has never ever been a
Profile in Courage.

He is imminently replaceable in the State Legislature, even if he doesn't
quite have the good sense to realize it.
Fine -all the better.

If a candidate with integrity and smarts ran directly at Joe Gibbons
and his dismal track record, I'd vote for them in a heart-beat and
so would most of the well-informed people I know and respect in
Southeast Broward County.
Just saying...