Political Lobbyists

Trick-Or-Treat On K Street

Littlejohn's Lobbying Firm Has More Family Ties With Department of Environmental Protection

See also "DEP Brass Jeff Littlejohn's Parents Own Lobbying Firm With Questionable Clientele" and "EPA Wants to Know if Herschel Vinyard Lied on His Resume"Earlier this week, we told you how Jeff Littlejohn, deputy secretary of regulatory programs at the Department of Environmental Protection, is the ... More >>

DEP Brass Jeff Littlejohn's Parents Own Lobbying Firm With Questionable Clientele

See also "DEP Getting Weaker Under Rick Scott" and "EPA Wants to Know if Herschel Vinyard Lied on His Resume"The number-two man at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the son of lobbyists who represent clients with huge environmental stakes in Florida.Jeff Littlejohn, deputy secret ... More >>

Following the Money Part 2: Juvie Prison Operator Has Ten Tallahassee Lobbyists

Ever wonder why Florida has outsourced the care of hundreds of troubled kids to private companies? Yesterday, we reported that prison operator Youth Services International donated $88,000 to Florida politicians in the past five years. The Sarasota company's donations have greased the wheels for roug ... More >>

Rubio Chief of Staff Still Receiving Cash From Former Lobbying Firm

Cesar Conda, Sen. Marco Rubio's chief of staff, received  $50,000 to $100,000 from the lobbying firm he used to work for, according to an investigation by campaign finance website Republic Report.Though Conda left the firm before taking the job at the head of Rubio's office, Rubio spokesman Ale ... More >>

Merick Lewin Says He Was Not Paid for 411-PAIN Lobbying

Facebook.com​Being a pro bono lobbyist sounds a little like being a volunteer stockbroker, but Merick Lewin says it's true. The Republican state House candidate from Davie contends he did lobbying work for his uncle's company,the 1-800-411-PAIN Referral Service, but wasn't paid for it. Y ... More >>

Are You a Lobbyist? Maybe, According to New Broward County Ethics Ordinance

​A town council member in Southwest Ranches has refused to talk to his constituents about town matters, citing a new ethics ordinance that was approved last Tuesday night by the Broward County Commission.Bill Di Scipio, a Southwest Ranches resident, had been trying to set up a meeting with council ... More >>

Embattled Stacy Ritter Back on the Fundraiser Trail

Cal Deal Wild Art: Sheriff Al Lamberti at a pill mill protest Friday at the Galleria in Fort Lauderdale. Also pictured: Broward Commissioners Chip LaMarca (left of Lamberti) and Kristin Jacobs (far right). Thanks to Cal Deal for the photo. ​Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter may be in t ... More >>

"Miss Gottlieb, YOU Are the Distraction"

We all knew that Broward Commissioner Ilene Lieberman -- once perhaps the most powerful woman in the county -- disappeared for a few months, missing commission meeting after commission meeting without explanation.  After weeks of questions, Lieberman claimed her AWOL status was due to a he ... More >>

"A Rodeo of Phonies and Pimps"

A fine Monday-morning quote comes from Carl Hiaasen: "I once referred to a past Legislature as a festival of whores, which in retrospect was a vile insult to the world's oldest profession. Today's lackluster assemblage in Tallahassee is possibly the worst in modern times, and cannot fairly be ... More >>

Vice Mayor's Brother Hits Up Lobbyists For Biz

Cal Deal Wild art: Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler with a friend (is that Judy Stern behind that mask?). And no, Seiler has nothing to do with the following blog post.​So what do you do when your brother is elected to the city commission? Why you go to political events -- like a meeting of the B ... More >>

The Lobbyists Who Keep PIP Insurance Fraud in the Headlines

Facebook.comPIP reform is a never-ending fight.​Auto insurance fraud has been in the news a lot lately. Last month, the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald published lengthy stories about the fraudsters who stage fake car accidents and the lawyers who earn hefty fees fighting  insurance compani ... More >>

Questionable Developer Mark Siffin Wants to Build a Times Square in Miami

Hospital Commissioner Making Noise About Physician Contracts That Skip Past Committee

Clarence McKee​The Broward Health board has a new maverick. Clarence McKee was first to express reservations to the public hospital district's proposal to lease its assets to a nonprofit. And now McKee wants to reverse a trend whereby contracts for physicians, lobbyists and other professional serv ... More >>

Florida Ethics Czar Asks for Leniency for Corrupt School Board Member

Sun-Sentinel This shot by Mike Stocker should have won a Pulitzer.​The top ethics official in Florida penned a letter asking a federal judge to show leniency for former Broward County Board Member Beverly Gallagher, who has pleaded guilty to bribery and other federal charges that ... More >>

Reform Event: Tea Party, Libertarians, and Greens Get in Bed Together

When it comes to electoral reform, you're the boss.​ Cast your mind back to your seventh-grade Civics class, when Mrs. Brown drew that sprawling chart on the blackboard detailing the branches of government. That's when you first found out you had something like a moral duty, as a citizen of this g ... More >>

Reporter Turned Congressional Aide for Broward Congresswoman Reverses Field Again

Former Politico reporter Jonathan Allen heard all the predictable "liberal media" howls late this past year after he left to join a committee for West Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. All that grief only to leave the Wasserman Schultz office after a mere 40 days -- and go back to jour ... More >>

Butterworth Looking for "Root Cause" of School Board Corruption: Maybe It's the Media?

At about the 2:40 mark of this Sun-Sentinel video, you'll hear Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler complain about the lack of positive media coverage of the Broward County School Board. Then former Attorney General Bob Butterworth plays editor, questioning why the dailies didn't give more coverage to ... More >>

Inside the Arrest of Broward School Board's Beverly Gallagher

Con Man's Lobbying Dream Team Included Will McKinley

With his fraudulent viatical company Mutual Benefits coming under fire from state regulators, convicted felon Joel Steinger decided he needed to buy the influence of the state legislature. To do that he first purchased the people who had their ears -- the lobbyists. McKinley: A Man For Sale ... More >>

DeGroot Picks Apart Ron Book, Lobby Racket

The legislative session, marking the real advent of springtime in Florida, begins in Tallahassee this week. And the busiest bees working the capital are the lobbyists, who are buzzing about, putting their noses in everything they can, spreading their demon seed far and wide.  If you d ... More >>

Lobbyists a Wedge Issue in Hollywood

O'Sheehan voted to restrict lobbying in Hollywood.Maybe Hollywood Commissioner Beam Furr is right that an ordinance to ban private commissioner meetings with lobbyists is "unconstitutional." But it's still a shrewd move by Mayor Peter Bober and Commissioner Heidi O'Sheehan to champion the legislatio ... More >>

Mutual Benefits may have collapsed, but the fallout for South Florida politicians is still coming.

Hollywood Has Been Swallowed By Benevolent Bizarro World

By now, almost nothing can shock us about Hollywood (Florida) news. Not a dead body turning up in a Federal Highway hotel. Been there. Not a dirty cop, nor a public official hit with criminal indictment. Been there and there. Nothing would have shocked us...except this. And this.Yep, it's good news. ... More >>

Judy Stern: All Clear For Profits

Lady of the House

She's got three kids, 650,000 constituents, and millions of watching eyes. Debbie Wasserman Schultz can't keep them all happy.

Animal Farm

At the Broward County School Board, the chickens cry foul

Terrible Trio

The Wasserstrom conviction should have at least a few pols shaking in fear — but, hey, this is Broward

Family Ties

Broward Commission, lobbyists ooze coziness

Marital Law

Does Stacy Ritter's lobbyist husband swing her vote?

Say No To Notter

Deck the Halls With Waste and Folly

Just don't ask too many questions about a sweetheart trash contract in Florida's most complacent city

Deck the Halls With Waste and Folly

Just don't ask too many questions about a sweetheart trash contract in Florida's most complacent city

DeGroot Gives Thanks

A Politician Weeps

Confronted with evidence of influence peddling, a school board member tearfully claims she'll quit her job.

Terrible Twosome

Vice Mayor Eggelletion's golfing and business buddy stands to profit from county land deal

Cheating for Dollars

It's easy if you're a county commissioner who's also a hired gun. Just pocket the money and deny everything.

Tailpipe

Show Me the Moolah

Another Lobbyist Who Wasn't There

A Miami developer used undue influence to win a $100 million job to build a new downtown for Lauderdale Lakes

Lobbyist- Lovin' Lori

How cash-fueled politics and a grudge could cause another election fiasco

The GOP's Brain

Fear good. Facts bad. Frank Luntz reveals the Republican way.

Mayor Mintz

A Hollywood insider plans war on City Hall

Best Friends

Broward County Commissioner Lori Parrish and her lobbyists

A Double Whammy

Two top execs at the gaming company that Boulis built have deep ties to the Christian right

Feud For Thought

Real estate squabble puts Broward school board member in a snit

Undercurrents

Bob Norman sends the Broward County School Board bureaucrats scurrying

A Lesson in Conflict of Interest

Meet Ron Greenstein, lobbyist. Or Ron Greenstein, state representative.

Undercurrents

Raising Kane

How Jim Kane transformed himself from a special-interest lobbyist into a lobbyist who's also Florida's best-known political pollster

Undercurrents