It sure seems like car dealer Rick Case is getting special treatment from the BSO, but don't try to ask the sheriff about it. Sheriff Al Lamberti has refused to respond to questions about whether his department is doing special favors for a campaign contributor.
Looking for comment, the Pulp emailed and called Lamberti. When that didn't work, I posted a note on Lamberti's Facebook page seeking a comment. The sheriff finally responded, but not by answering the question. When
I asked if he'd like to respond to this story, he wrote:
"Yes.
This is my personal Facebook page and you are disrespecting my prior
posts that I do not mix personal with business. As for your question,
these contributions were among $800k or so that were made during a
countywide campaign. They aren't secret. Your reporting of erroneous
facts was not only disrespectful but outside the bounds of responsible
journalism. I expect a full retraction."
There are several
incorrect statements in that response. First off, the idea that the
sheriff doesn't mix work with his Facebook page. If he had previously
posted that he kept work off that page, I didn't see it in the months
we've been Facebook "friends." Besides, his profile photo is Lamberti in
a BSO uniform, replete with an official sheriff's office badge -- that
seems like he might be mixing work with Facebook.
Second, the
records were secret. Up until last week, they did not appear in the
official records on the Broward County Supervisor of Elections website.
That could have been something as simple as a computer glitch, but
either way, the records weren't available to anyone from the public who
wanted to see who donated to Lamberti's campaign. After the Pulp asked
about them last week, they finally appeared on the website on Friday. The records show that the Case family donated $4,000 to Lamberti's reelection campaign.
Third,
there's nothing erroneous about what appears to be special treatment
being given to Case. It began in 2009, when BSO purchased Smart cars from
a Case-owned dealership. The foreign-made microcars are more expensive
and less usable than cars that cost less; Lamberti refused then to
answer questions about whether he cut the deal as political payback to a
contributor.
Then in July, BSO launched an investigation into
whether a TSA screener had taken a $450 pen that Case had left behind at
airport security. The screener, Toussain Puddie, found it on top of a
filing cabinet and says he just pocketed what appeared to be a stray
pen. Case didn't call TSA to complain -- he called BSO. Deputies
launched a two-week investigation that ended with Puddie in handcuffs,
charged with grand theft.
Is that special treatment? Well, if someone
who hadn't donated to the sheriff's campaign had called BSO to complain
about a federal employee who supposedly pocketed a pen, think a
full-scale investigation would be conducted?
After Lamberti's
response to my post on his page seeking a comment, I wrote that we were
looking for him to weigh in on this story. I left my phone number and
explained that we'd run a retraction -- if he'd explain what was wrong
with our previous stories.
In response, Lamberti defriended me
and banned me from his page. That's right, not only will he not comment
but asking him to do so will get you shut out of his page. So the lesson is that if you need a favor from BSO, perhaps the way to do it is donating to Lamberti's campaign. If you'd like to question whether that's ethical, don't expect a response.
Follow The Pulp on Facebook and on Twitter: @ThePulpBPB. Follow Eric Barton on Twitter at @ericbarton and on Facebook.