You hear a lot about the Broward School Board "machine" on the Pulp, but you probably wonder what it really is. Well, below I've compiled an incomplete list of the parts of the machine.
It is all the contributors who gave to Stephanie Kraft's campaign on May 18, 2006, during her last election. Most of the companies and individuals are tied to lobbyist Neil Sterling, who held a fundraiser for Kraft that day. The $450 from his wife, Cyd, was an in-kind contribution to pay for the food for the event. Not all those contributions are necessarily tied to Sterling or his fundraiser, but the great majority of them surely are.
Understand that Sterling threw fundraisers like this for just about every School Board member, filling up their coffers with cash to help win elections. The board in turn has voted to give his clients hundreds of millions in projects. It's said that Sterling's fee is 1 percent of the total contract cost, which would equal a hefty sum, good for many more political contributions than he would ever need to make.
The list comes after the jump (with a few notes added in parentheses). After that, I've also added a memo from School Board Member Ann Murray to Superintendent James Notter calling for a moratorium on all Qualification Selection Committee business -- which is essentially the vehicle that gets pumps the money through the machine. Murray calls the QSEC process "broken." Ain't it the truth (see the Gallagher criminal complaint for backup). Kick up the soundtrack below and take a gander.
