Another crazy day following shadowy leads on the political backstreets of Broward Town.
Here's something interesting that a reader was kind enough to send me: Have you ever heard of a PAC called the "The Ritter Committee for Florida's Future"? Yes, it's that Ritter, the one who missed the budget meeting and is apparently up in Tallahassee with her daughter at Florida State University. The one named Stacy.
The committee was a short-lived entity formed by Ritter's husband, lobbyist Russell Klenet, back in 2008 out of his Fort Lauderdale office. Why it was created I have no idea, but it lasted only long enough to get one contribution, other than a hundred bucks from Klenet himself. That was a $1,000 check from one of the Pulp's favorite subjects.
Inside, see who gave the grand. Also after the jump comes the story of a photo that first appeared on the Pulp going viral. The guy in the picture's name rhymes with "Codger Bone." Wow, that really sounds wrong. Just click it (there's bonus material too).
OK, the supplier of the thousand dollars is none other than Broward County Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar, a fellow I've been writing about a bit lately. It doesn't look like Ceasar's thousand dollars was spent, judging from the expenditures. Hell, it might still be sitting in a United Bank account.
And of course, I was talking about Roger Stone, the famed political dirty trickster. I put up a couple of what they call racy photos of Stone a while back of his frolicking at a gay pride parade in New York. The photos should have come as no surprise, since Stone is a known swinger and has never been held up as a model of morality.
Well, he's not strategizing for New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, who made some unfortunate comments about gays and called the parade "disgusting." Nice guy, Paladino. Anyway the New York Post noticed Stone's parade photos on the blog and said: "Hypocrisy!"
Now the damned thing is going ballistic. It was even on The View today. Check this out:
Makes for a good sound byte, but it's really a nonstory. Stone is a character who takes part in hundreds of campaigns. Hell, he got his start with Richard Nixon. What's next: "Paladino Tied to Watergate Via Strategist"? It's a joke -- but again, at least it's a funny one.
UPDATED: Stone sent this to me last night:
I was the first person to denounce Paladino's remarks !
- I worked on the gay Marriage bill when it was up in NY--
-I worked onFormer Senate Majority Leader Bruno's statement to all Senate Rs urging them to vote yes
- I have worked against the Florida Gay marriage ban when we narrowly failed-- ask Ron Gunzburger
- I have written on Stonezone in favor of marriage equality
http://www.stonezone.com/article.php?id=157
- I told the Daily Beast and the Advocate that I strongly disagreed with Paladino's remarks-- this week
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/10/11/Kristin_Davis_Denounces_Paladino_Remarks/
Yeah I marched with KRISTIN DAVIS in the Gay Pride Parade. Proud of it.
I'm a libertarian Republican. I support Marriage Equality.
-- A well-known crime writer flew out from Hollywood to attend Debra Villegas' sentencing on Friday. Here's a photo I snapped outside the federal courthouse with the Flip. Let's see who can identify her first. Hint: She wrote a very nice blurb for my little book Florida Pulp Nonfiction a few years ago.
