As union reps work feverishly to prevent 200 jobs in the City of Pembroke Pines from being outsourced to a private firm, that firm has fallen under close scrutiny. Facility Contract Services, the St. Augustine-based company chosen to take over the task of providing city services ranging from auditing to zoning,…
A bill that would require women in Florida to pay for an ultrasound before getting an abortion will tell us much about whether Charlie Crist the Republican has had major philosophical shifts since he became Charlie Crist the independent.If he vetoes it, Marco Rubio will brand Crist a hypocrite and…
Mitch Ceasar, clown dictator of the Broward County Democratic Party, has lent his not-considerable wit to a column for today’s edition of the Huffington Post. Since your time is valuable (and mine is only slightly less valuable!), I will cut straight to his lounge-act punch lines. For optimal effect, you’ll…
An excerpt from Tom Ricks’ 2006 book Fiasco alleges that former U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen West — a candidate for Congress in Broward and Palm Beach — had to be told by a subordinate that the interrogation of an Iraqi detainee had gone too far.For background on that August…
The founder of the private firm set to receive a controversial, no-bid outsourcing contract in the City of Pembroke Pines has a long history of raking in millions of dollars in business from Broward’s second-largest city.St. Augustine-based Facility Contract Services LLC. was founded by Shawn Hiester, who once owned Capri…
Anybody who’s passed the corner of Federal Highway and Oakland Park Boulevard on a Saturday has seen the local tea partiers and their weekly demonstration. They started sometime right before the 2008 election and just never stopped.One Fort Lauderdale man named Robb (he asked that his last name not be…
A political bromance is brewing between Florida’s former governor and the mayor of New York City, leading the New York Post to speculate that Jeb Bush and Michael Bloomberg are plotting a political marriage of sorts, running for the White House in 2012.On one hand, it makes sense. Both Bush…
History will remember Jim Greer as one of the worst party officials in state history. But most of that will be due to the allegations that Greer stole from Republican donors. The pending felony case obscures a number of earlier episodes that should have been grounds for Greer’s resignation. Among…
Security was tight this weekend at Rush Limbaugh’s Palm Beach nuptials, where only good (heterosexual conservative) hard-working (plutocrat) Americans like Sean Hannity and Karl Rove were on the guestlist. An exception was made, however, for a gay man named Elton John with the condition that he play the piano, sing…
The Miss Florida USA program held a preliminary event in Hollywood over the weekend. And along with dozens of young women hoping to compete in the Donald Trump-owned Miss USA Pageant, there were a few dozen animal-rights activists outside the building, holding signs and yelling to the women as they…
There were no protesters standing outside the Puppy Palace in Hollywood this weekend. Most of the animals-rights activists who frequent the scene were telling the organizers of the Miss Florida USA that they shouldn’t support the fur industry.But a few days ago, there was another colorful scene in front of…
Don’t call David Brady a “moderate” Republican. No, he prefers “extreme conservative.” He’s just not quite as extreme as his opponent in the primary, Allen West. Few are.Brady has never been accused of torturing an Iraqi detainee. He doesn’t think it’s appropriate to make veiled threats to the Democrat incumbent,…
David Brady has been listed as a candidate for Congress in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District since August, and he qualified in April, but nobody’s paid any attention to him. Frankly, I just assumed he was the typical long-shot whack-job who gets a thrill from seeing his name on a ballot.Then…
She’s half Rush Limbaugh’s age, but don’t worry, she’s still plenty legal. He’s 59. And this weekend, the nation’s most notorious blowhard will marry Kathryn Rogers, 33, at his Palm Beach mansion in what he insisted should be a private, intimate ceremony. From an email he sent to Page2Live.com:”We try…
Say what you will about the questionable contracting of staffers at the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority; at least they have a sense of humor. Because surely they’re joking about demanding $300,000 from the city to cover the costs of filling records requests made by the forensic auditor reviewing the Housing…
It’s exciting — and a little scary — when you see a local wingnut become a national wingnut; but that’s exactly what we’ve witnessed this past year with Pamela Geller, an ultra-conservative anti-Muslim crusader who in the past has teamed up with like-minded South Floridians to promote hate-fest events like…
For three years, Pastor Mark Jones of the New Life Pentecostal Church in Greenacres has tolerated an unconventional neighbor. While his flock prays, employees on the other side of the duplex are giving HIV tests and passing out condoms and the morning-after pill.Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit group that’s best-known for…
Last week, an activist bent on reforming the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority resigned rather than face a special meeting called to remove him. This week, we’ve learned who was behind that effort.Tom Connick, the Deerfield Beach attorney who represents Pamela Davis, executive director of the city Housing Authority, said that…
This marriage was not built to last. Chaz Stevens had been the fiercest critic of the Deerfield Beach Housing Authority when in April he gained an appointment to its board. Since the moment he was sworn in, he was a marked man.Last week, when the agency learned that Stevens had…
If you noticed that the service at the Fort Lauderdale Blue Martini was really, really slow on Sunday, that’s probably because it was amateur hour behind the bar. YouTube celebrity and congressional candidate Allen West was mixing drinks as part of the bar’s Forgotten Soldiers Outreach event.That “Ron Klein on…
Michael Vick, quarterback and convicted dog fighter, is coming to South Florida. He’s the official celebrity host of a party tonight at MI-VI (pronounced m-i-six), a nightclub at Gulfstream in Hallandale Beach. And with the tenacious vitriol of a fighting dog, out come the protesters. The animal rights advocates, the…
Aww. Jeff Greene’s mom is adorable! And she’s just steamed by these “career politicians” who have the nerve to run for reelection against her sweet, rapacious son.But if we send Jeff to Washington, who will dry his mom’s dishes after he leaves? Seriously, I know this brand-new ad was designed…
