City Manager Survives the Night in Deerfield

Well, it had all the makings of a political hit. The special meeting. The late-arriving addendum to the agenda. Deerfield Beach City Manager Mike Mahaney had two commissioners who support him, two who did not. Then a swing vote in Vice Mayor Sylivia Ferguson (formerly Poitier), who some said was…

Florida GOP Leads a Lamb to Slaughter

You’re right about one thing, Joyce Kaufman: The mainstream media are not likely to take the congressional candidacy of Dennis Lamb seriously. Here’s my best effort: Dennis Lamb? Seriously?This Hollywood man — who either has no political experience or simply forgot to mention it on his new website — is…

Will Deerfield Beach City Manager Get Axed Tonight?

Mike Mahaney, the Deerfield Beach city manager who has been straddling a political fault line since the March 10 municipal election, is in danger of being fired at tonight’s special meeting of the Deerfield Beach City Commission, according to a source.There’s no mention of Mahaney on the agenda released in…

Crist Reaction to New Times Best Pool: I Want to Go to There

One of the best parts of being Florida governor is access to a jet with which to indulge your most sudden, insatiable geographical impulses.For example, New Times’ eagerly anticipated Best Of Broward/Palm Beach issue hit this website on June 11. (Memorize that date — we’ll get back to it.) The…

Re: Stolen Elections and What Iran Can Learn From South Florida

Iran’s Foreign Ministry is trying to lure the U.S. into a bigger role in that nation’s tempestuous election aftermath by accusing Americans of egging on protests that sparked violence this weekend. [Spokesman Hassan] Qashqavi drew comparisons to American election results. “No one encouraged the American people to stage a riot”…

Obama’s Listening Tour Comes to Broward Monday

Sure, President Obama’s ears are big, but he’s got a helluva lot of people competing for their attention. If you have a message you hope will make its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., your best bet may be to attend Monday’s “Listening Tour” stop in Plantation.  The prez himself won’t…

Leading GOP Senator: Rubio’s the “Favorite”

Sen. Jim DeMint from South Carolina is one of the most conservative members of Congress, but it’s still something of a coup that he endorsed the most conservative contender in Florida’s Senate race, Marco Rubio.That’s because in doing so, DeMint is defying the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed Charlie…

Hospital District Emails Reveal Lawyer’s Bid to Save His Job

Judging by Marc Goldstone’s email inbox, the week of May 11 began like any other. That was a Monday, and the general counsel for the North Broward Hospital District exchanged emails with CEO Frank Nask about attending a health care convention the first week of June. But by Tuesday May…

In Deerfield Beach, a Ninja Strikes

Last night the Deerfield Beach City Commission conducted a seminar on how not to deal with a buzzing gadfly. Chaz Stevens was deprived his chance to address the commission (by video), he inspired his nemesis Vice Mayor Sylvia Poitier to climb down from the dais to address the commission as…

Wasting Away in Hallandale

As Hallandale Beach inches closer to cutting a big check to build its own wastewater treatment plant, Commissioner Keith London asks that his objections be duly noted in the historical record. For starters, London objects to a $150,000 study that tells the commission what it already knows: that the plant…

Deerfield Beach Commission Braces for “Crazy Train”

On the agenda for tonight’s meeting of the Deerfield Beach City Commission, under the heading “Written Requests,” there looms an ominous entry: Chaz Stevens will address the city’s elected leaders on “myriad topics.” Among the myriad topics posted recently on Stevens’ blog, Acts of Sedition, there’s a densely technical critique…

In Iran, the Courage of Muslim Moderates

I hope the people behind the April 27 Free Speech Summit in Boca Raton were watching this weekend’s protests in Tehran. Being free with speech in that Iranian city means risking a police baton to the chops, or worse. These were Muslims — thousands upon thousands of them — bravely…

Were Hospital Attorneys Fired for Sake of Cover-Up?

For the past month, the North Broward Hospital District has been wrestling with two seemingly unrelated scandals: the corruption investigation of Commissioner Joseph Cobo and the sudden firing of the district’s general counsel, Marc Goldstone, and his lieutenant, Joe Truhe.But it seems inevitable that these two stories will merge. The…

Ritter Speaks! (Out of Both Sides of Mouth)

It’s strange to be astonished at the news that this county’s mayor actually gave an interview, but so it goes in Broward. Stacy Ritter has been refusing interviews with reporters for much of 2009, in vain hopes that she can keep her associations with con man Joel Steinger out of…

Martinez Bowled Over by Sotomayor

Republicans like Newt Gingrich are pretty sure that Sonia Sotomayor is racist against white men, but just to make sure, the U.S. Senate’s only Hispanic Republican, Mel Martinez, went in for a closer look. As you can see in the video above, the Florida senator exchanged some awkward Spanish with…

Florida AG’s Race: Hot ‘Nuff for Ya?

You’ll have to pardon Florida’s Democratic voters if they’re not as eager about the attorney general’s race as Dan Gelber is. The state senator from Miami Beach announced his candidacy for attorney general yesterday. It followed the announced candidacy of another up-and-coming Democrat, Dave Aronberg, the state senator from Greenacres…

Senate Contender Wears Magic Jersey, Can’t Play Defense

On the right, that’s Corrine Brown, the Democratic congresswoman from Jacksonville considering a bid for U.S. Senate against Kendrick Meek. Here at Juice, we’re worried she’s going to realize it’s an absurd idea, then disappear again. So for now, we’re going to bask in her relevance. Above, a funny video…

World-Renowned Poll Cruncher Awed by Crist’s Popularity

No true political wonk goes 24 hours without checking fivethirtyeight.com, except maybe the people in Congressman Kendrick Meek’s senatorial campaign, because seriously, campaigns run on hope.Last week, the site’s wunderkind blogger, Nate Silver, devised a new metric (always with the metrics, this one) for analyzing a governor’s popularity. Silver took…

U.S. Attorney Candidates to Be Known Next Week

Despite what you might have read in recent blog reports, it looks like we won’t get any official word on the candidates to be the region’s top prosecutor till next week. So say a couple of sources in the loop on this process.Here’s a document that lays out the rules…