Was it worth it, Cindi? Former Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Cindi Hutchinson not only wins the the award for selling out her seat the cheapest — a toilet, really? — but also for the worst mug shot in a procession of public official mug shots. Look at that face. It’s the face of denial and…
Cindi Hutchinson, who won an upset bid in 2000 to become a Fort Lauderdale city commissioner and then rose to the position of CEO of the Riverwalk Trust, turned herself in today at the Broward County Jail on corruption charges. The Broward Sheriff’s Office released a mug shot of a…
Sharon Athanasiou really likes pit bulls. And she really hates Michael Vick. Last year, when it was announced that Vick would host a party at a nightclub in South Florida, Athanasiou and her friends mobilized dozens of animal-rights activists to write letters and march in protest. (Vick ended up not…
The plan to privatize a portion of Riviera Beach’s public marina refuses to die. Voters tried to kill it last November. They passed a referendum against a deal to lease the marina to a megayacht company. It was a victory for the little guys, those who wanted to save a…
Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti and Michael Albetta, head of the influential Dolphin Democrats, always seemed an odd couple. Despite their party differences, Albetta, who has played a big role in Broward’s gay political circles for years, campaigned tirelessly for Lamberti during his race in 2008, introducing him to countless Democrats and touting him everywhere he went as a superb…
Letter sent to Rep. Allen West of Florida’s 22nd District. Awaiting response. Col. West:Greetings. My name is Brandon K. Thorp, and I covered the last month of your campaign for New Times. As you know, I think that you are a disingenuous and bloodthirsty man and that you have more…
Despite the moral panic that surrounds nudism and three bizarre cases of police tasering naked people recently in South Florida, nudists continue to fight to make the region their home. Naturist David Armstrong is lobbying the city to make Delray Beach clothing-optional, armed with a petition of 45,000 signatures from…
After spending more than a year and a half in the slammer, former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty probably misses those nights at luxury cottages in Key West that caused her to trade her power suits for a jumpsuit. A Palm Beach Post interview with McCarty at the women’s…
We’ve been spouting our concerns about our new governor, Rick Scott, since long before he was elected. The man was behind a giant Medicare fraud case. But it just goes to prove that even when you’re scheming to bilk money from unsuspecting citizens, Floridians will come to the rescue and…
Just like the city that she governs, we’ve had a love-hate relationship with West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel. In the past ten years, we’ve called her the best local politician, labeled her Frankelstein, and blamed her for the death of a neighborhood. Truth is, she’s an enigma — a…
Last week, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told us she was in the room when Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes. Last night on MSNBC, she said Giffords has been making exciting improvements, including, at one point, somehow giving her husband a neck massage. This weekend, the usually pointed congresswoman took to…
The Constitution dictates that in addition to being a citizen and a U.S. resident for at least 14 years, a presidential candidate must be at least 35 years old. Calling the last requirement “age discrimination,” 27-year-old South Floridian Ryan Lipner is plowing forward with his quest for the presidency, and…
In a recent Facebook note to constituents, Congressman Allen West wrote, “I do not believe in fear-mongering leadership. No one follows an individual who panics or instills fear in tough situations.”Yet the Republican who represents a large swath of eastern Broward and Palm Beach counties spent his first week in…
Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter had her regularly scheduled “Coffee with Stacy” on Wednesday and I commend her for that. After the horror on Saturday that occurred at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ “Congress on your Corner” event, I think it’s great that Ritter is carrying on in that tradition. Ritter…
Sarah “echo” Steiner will be holding a press conference next Saturday to announce her upcoming wedding. She hasn’t picked a groom yet, but she’s hoping a month-long, exhaustive search will help her find the perfect suitor.Her ideal candidate will aim to do no harm, have lots of employees, and be…
A 7-year-old autistic boy was reported missing in Springfield, Georgia, in April 2005. So who did the sheriff’s office contact? A service that you most likely have never heard of but that is based in Fort Lauderdale and alerts thousands of people in minutes that a child is missing. The…
When Jared Lee Loughner shot Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords through the head and murdered six other people outright, it really was because he was “insane” and “deranged,” as Bob Norman put it in his heartfelt open letter to Joyce Kaufman. Loughner’s most coherent political position is an ill-defined anti-Semitism. He…
Political extremism, loose-cannon comments, and politicians who vaguely or directly imply violence in their rhetoric have occupied airwaves for some time, and finally, the media are calling out the geyser of intolerance for indirectly causing yesterday’s Tucson, Arizona, shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 11 others, a bloodbath that left six dead…
State Rep. Ari Porth agreed to speak this weekend at a convention of the Islamic Society of North America in Fort Lauderdale. But Porth bailed out yesterday, canceling his speech. Why? Because of pressure from a local extremist named Joe Kaufman put pressure on him, who told him that ISNA was linked to terrorists. The ISNA,…
You may not expect much drama and controversy out of a Coral Springs/Parkland Democratic Club meeting, but you got some last night. The night was meant for Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, who gave a very successful speech, but the drama arrived in the form of Sheriff Al Lamberti and…
What do the people in charge of your property taxes do in their free time? One Broward property appraiser likes to tweet right-wing talking points, including his love for Allen West and Ronald Reagan.Juice reader Seth Platt noticed that some of Deputy Property Appraiser Bob Wolfe’s tweets were appearing during…
So Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman won’t say why she’s gone AWOL from commission meetings, telling the Sun-Sentinel (the WofP, actually) that she is “dealing with some personal matters, and I’m not at liberty to discuss them at the moment.” Not at liberty? That implies that someone has forbidden her to…
