Showing posts with label Culture Of Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture Of Corruption. Show all posts

Friday, October 29, 2021

Fraud and Phony in Florida

The editorial Board of one of Florida's top newspapers is criticizing Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as a  "fraud" and a "phony" for his horrific handling of the Sunshine State's 
COVID crisis. HERE

Monday, August 30, 2021

Florida's Culture Of Corruption

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for apposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor's company has invested millions of dollars. more

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Hillsborough County Culture Of Corruption

Those 4 people in that video 
are corrupt. here
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How did they get elected? 
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In Hillsborough County there are.....
320,571 Democrats
242,649 Other
And only 261,822 Republicans
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What Happened?

Friday, October 27, 2017

Ken Hagan's Culture Of Corruption

Special interests war chest
Oover $400K dollars
Review of donors to his campaign
  • Stuart Sternberg, Rays owner
  • Strategic Property Partnership, Vinik
  • Amalie Arena
  • Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinik
  • Tampa Bay Storm, Vinik
  • Yankee Global Enterprises
  • Robert Dupuy- attorney in NY firm Foley and Lardner, recently was president and COO of Major League Baseball
  • Latvala's Florida Leadership PAC
Those donations are just the tip of the iceberg of Hagan's special interests donor war chest. After 16 years of being a county commissioner and being term limited out of his county seat next year, Hagan thinks he is entitled to 8 more years. Hagan is leap frogging back to a District 2 seat he has already held.
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Since the county charter was enacted 34 years ago, no one else has ever done what Hagan is arrogantly and selfishly doing - violating the spirit of the county term limits in the county charter by abusing a loophole.....souce

Monday, July 24, 2017

Florida 's Culture Of Corruption: Charter-Schools

Richard Corcoran

Manny Diaz
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Legislators who profit from the charter-school industry in private life and have been actively involved in pushing — and successfully passing — legislation to fund for-profit private schools at the expense of public education. here

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Tampa Bay's Culture Of Corruption

Many of the politicians who decide how many tax dollars will go to benefit Tampa Bay’s professional sports franchises are also accepting free tickets to those teams’ games.   Tributes also include beer, wine, liquor, and a number of casual food items such as burgers and Cuban sandwiches.  Occasionally, crab cakes and sushi may be added. And access to politically-influential business leaders is always on the menu. 
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Just re-elected Florida GOP Sandy Murman received three luxury box tickets to the 2016 Outback Bowl for her husband.
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Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, is a frequent guest of local sports teams.
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Florida GOP State Senator Tom Lee, who is not allowed to accept any gift worth more than $25 as a state legislator, received a pair of suite tickets to the Feb. 2016 Monster Jam at Raymond James Stadium.
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Florida GOP Al Higginbotham – 2014 Bollywood Emmys  held at 
Raymond James Stadium.
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Charlie Gerdes – 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball, St. Pete
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Friday, November 11, 2016

Trump Is Right The Elections Are Rigged

Clinton Won!
VOTES
Trump
59,793,532
Clinton
60,082,112
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Sign the petition: Abolish the Electoral College. here

Monday, July 11, 2016

Florida INC. Slave Wages: Pam Bondi

Florida Has Not Held an Employer Responsible for Violating the Minimum Wage Since 2011

Blame Pam Bondi, the state’s Trump-loving attorney general. here

Monday, November 16, 2015

Florida's Culture Of Corruption: Big Sugar and Corporate Welfare

For decades, the sugar subsidy has been lambasted as the worst form of corporate welfare. Big Sugar's perks amount to legalized corruption of the campaign finance system. In Florida, Big Sugar money influence is so great that the industry acts in the state capitol 
as a shadow government. 
What Big Sugar wants, it gets. 
These days, a solid GOP majority in the state legislature, 
Gov. Rick Scott, and Adam Putnam 
-- the agriculture secretary aiming to replace Marco Rubio in the US Senate -- are so deep in Big Sugar's pocket, you can't even see them. Not that Floridians are looking. here

Friday, October 9, 2015

Florida Inc: Rick Scott

 Florida GOP State Sen. Jack Latvala said Wednesday that Gov. Rick Scott’s lengthy veto list last June was driven by politics and individual lobbyists and members who supported specific projects, not public policy. He said he saw few differences when comparing things like estimated return on investment from projects that were vetoed and those that made the final budget. “Mainly, the differences were in who supported those projects and who lobbied for those projects,” he said. here

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Tampa's Pay To Play Culture

Beth Leytham is the owner of a successful public relations firm in Tampa but provides much more than just public relations advice. Local and national companies alike have retained her services to influence 
Tampa Bay-area politicians.
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Here is how it works:

The "Go Hillsborough” project
 The Leytham Group, whose only full-time employee is Leytham, secured a $187,500 share of the deal. It was approved by the county commission, including several members to whom Leytham provides free advice or services. What this blog has been posting about this scam. here

Another example,
Records show Buckhorn and his staff kept Leytham close to his political dealings as well as his official city business. In July Buckhorn passed on an opportunity to strike a better deal on the city’s red light camera contract. The camera vendor, American Traffic Solutions, is a client of Leytham. Soon thereafter, the company poured $10,000 into the mayor’s campaign coffer.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Hillsborough County Beware - Jim Norman Is Back

The strong conservative 
says, he will file to run for a seat on the County Commission where he was a player for nearly two decades.
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Some of Mr. Norman's Highlights
Joined the vote to ban county government from even acknowledging gay pride events. He said no to health benefits for unmarried couples including same-sex partners.
"I see this as (leading) to gay marriage next," Norman said in 2004. "This is not going to be San Francisco east."
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He angered black leaders with a proclamation honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
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 He blasted Obamacare as "a socialism takeover."
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He hung out in Vegas with lobbyist who appeared frequently before the commission.
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A developer-friendly commissioner he was owned by Ralph Hughes owner of the Cast-Crete precast concrete business in Seffner. He pushed hard to rename the county's prestigious award for residents who show moral courage in standing up to government for his friend and benefactor.
"I found very quickly that Ralph expected something back from me if I was going to be one of his chosen candidates," Rose Ferlita
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"Payola"
La Gaceta
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"He won his race but did not fare well in public opinion. Public office is a public trust.Obviously, that didn't sink in to Jim Norman." 
Jan Platt
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"He's been carrying the water for developers for all his 18 years on the commission. He's as much responsible for the condition Hillsborough County is in today — the transportation, the sprawl mess we're in." 
Pat Kemp
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"Spare us. This clown is one of the reasons Hillsborough County moved backwards for years. Deny him the right to ever serve in public office again. Please." Susan Smith

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Hillsborough County Fuck Fest: "Go Hillsborough" Focus Groups

  • Voters between the ages of 18-29 were automatically eliminated.
  • Taxpayers who did not vote in last year's gubernatorial election didn't get to participate in the focus groups were which conducted last November.
  • Consultants only talked to Republicans without any registered Democrats, but only conservative members of the GOP who always vote in Republican primary elections were included in the Republican group.
  • Those who labelled themselves as moderate or liberal Republicans were not invited to the GOP focus group.
  • Participants in the focus groups were chosen from Carrollwood, Westchase, Town and Country and Brandon which means which means South Tampa, West Tampa, Central Tampa, Temple Terrace, East Tampa, Plant City, South Shore, South County and Sun City were excluded from having their voices heard in the focus groups.
  • The participants were each given $75 to take part in the focus groups and among the major takeaways are , there is no sense of crisis in transportation; rail is not seen as a viable alternative; the bus system has a major image and usage problem. here
"Good luck with that," That’s what one Tribune columnist said about Commissioner Hagan talking about a balanced transportation referendum for more options.

 We spent $1.25 million on this!
Go Hillsborough was all a sham
check this out
Hillsborough County Commissioners don't waste our time. No rail? No new taxes!

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Florida GOP Corruption In 4 Cool Visuals

How the Florida GOP’s gerrymander went too far. here

Florida GOP voters don't forget we got your back!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Hillsborough County GOP Corruption

The Fox Guarding the Hen House
"The one essential advantage Dougherty had for the EPC gig was an intensive lobbying campaign on her behalf by influential business and development interests. In the real world, if powerful business and development types were aggressively pushing for their choice to lead an agency charged with protecting the environment from business and development concerns, one might well conclude such naked special interest arm-twisting would be a disqualifying factor. In Hillsborough County, such wheeling and dealing leads to a coronation."

Daniel Ruth on Janet Dougherty's new Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission gig. here

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Florida GOP Approves More Corporate Welfare

$400 million in corporate welfare to special interest groups and targeted industries. Taxes would be slashed for boat and yacht repairs, jet fuel for aviation schools and gun club memberships 
among them. 

Florida GOP Jack Latvala of Clearwater, defended the tax cuts on boat repairs. 

They did give us some scraps, cut our cell phone bills by about $20, give back-to-school shoppers 10 days of sales tax free shopping, and lower textbook prices for 
college students.


"Please turn your dead brains back to the "on" position and start thinking critically about what the Legislature is doing. They give you $20 in your left pocket while stealing $100 from your right pocket by forcing you to subsidize their lobbyist friends." Susan Smith

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Hillsborough County GOP Corruption

The wage theft ordinance
(Miami-Dade model)
pitched by Hillsborough County Commissioner 
Kevin Beckner was pushed aside by the five Republican members of the Hillsborough County Commission in favor of a watered down version that might cost the county more in the long run. They seem to favor an ordinance in Palm Beach County that sends $125,000 in public money to a local legal aid society to handle wage theft complaints. here

The Palm Beach model happens to be the one favored by the Florida Retail Federation, which lobbies on behalf of retailers and contacted
Hillsborough Commission Chair 
Sandy Murman 
before the debate over Beckner’s proposal.

"The vote against adopting the Miami-Dade model seems more grounded in appearances and in appeasing a powerful lobby." Tampa Tribune

Friday, December 12, 2014

Call Kathy Castor

202.225.3376
Republicans are trying to sneak two devastating provisions into the big spending bill that would harm everyday Americans. The worst would put taxpayers on the hook for risky Wall Street gambling. Another would increase tenfold what millionaires and billionaires can give to political parties.

Call Ms. Castor today. These provisions must come out of the bill. Report your call here

Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Sunshine State Bans Solar Energy

Florida 
right-wing 
state regulators
launched an attack against solar energy , when they approved proposals to slash the state's energy efficiency goals by over 90 percent and terminate solar rebate programs 
by the end of 2015. here

Monday, December 1, 2014

Liberals Rule In DC

A group of congressional liberals teamed up with President Obama to kill tax cut deal that would have given hundreds of billions of dollars to the wealthy and corporations. here