Bob Norman is not a man to gloat, so we're doing it for him. During his 13 years as a writer at this periodical (four as feature writer, nine as a columnist, five of those nine as the Daily Pulp blogger), he has had a rash of successes -- especially if you count sending corrupt public officials to jail as success.
It is with mixed emotions that we announce Bob is leaving New Times to become a television news reporter at Channel 10 (WPLG-TV). There, we're sure he will continue to hound politicians, catch con men, and keep a close eye on how your tax dollars are spent. Except he'll be doing it in some sort of Anchorman getup instead of jeans and a tropical shirt.
In the great journalistic tradition of afflicting the comfortable, Bob's
reporting has sent many a greedy politician to jail and annoyed a fair
share of others. He has scooped up more fancy awards than we have time
to count and has even written a book, Florida Pulp Nonfiction. (You
should buy it.)
Thanks, Bob, for all your years of muckraking. What can we say besides
we're looking forward to catching your (passably) handsome mug on the
tube, and you'll always have an honorary seat at the bar.
Readers, we hope you'll continue following us as Norman's departure
leaves a (giant) space for our other reporters to shine. Keep your eyes
right here.
Without further ado, here are a few of Bob's most notable story lines. We swear, you couldn't make this stuff up.
September 11
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Norman
reported on chronic failures of the federal Immigration and
Naturalization Services department. Mistakes made here in South Florida
led to Mohamed Atta's being allowed into the U.S. -- to subsequently live in
Broward County and train at Florida flight schools -- when he should
have been deported. For that reporting, Tom Brokaw presented Norman with
a prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2002.
Pompano Water
Norman's reporting revealed how city officials involved with a $25
million water treatment plant endangered the populace by ignoring
problems with the city water supply, then tried to cover up their
wrongdoings. By the time it was over, the city's director of public works and chief scientist were fired.
Keith Wasserstrom
After Hollywood commissioner Keith Wasserstrom eagerly touted the
Schwing Bioset wastewater treatment company on the dais, Norman
interviewed and asked him some very direct questions, including, "Are you
going to personally profit in this deal?" Wasserstrom answered them
truthfully, basically supplying Norman a convoluted "yes," admitting
that he was going to lobby for the company in other municipalities. That
column led to a state investigation, felony charges, and a jury
conviction for Wasserstrom. It was the first time a jury had convicted a
politician in Broward County in more than three decades.
Southwest Ranches and Diana Wasserman-Rubin
Of all the rocks Norman has turned over in Broward County, one of the
worst nests of corruption he found was in an unlikely place: little
Southwest Ranches. It was there that an entire cast of profiteers were
gaming the town for millions, including then Broward County Mayor Diana
Wasserman-Rubin's husband, Richard Rubin. During the course of his
investigation, Norman discovered that Wasserman-Rubin had voted on
grants written by her husband that led to tens of thousands of dollars
in bonuses paid to him by the tiny town. That conflict of interest led
to a state ethics conviction and, just last year, to criminal charges
filed against Wasserman-Rubin. She awaits trial, while her husband
recently pleaded guilty to a federal tax evasion charge -- another
offshoot of the New Times investigation.
Al Cappellini
When Norman began investigating Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Cappellini's
curious habit of going to men's room whenever certain legislation came
up for a vote, he uncovered a whole lot more -- namely, that Capellini had conflicts of interest galore. Following up on one of Norman's
reports, the State Attorney's Office charged Cappellini with felony
corruption counts. Capellini, who was suspended by the governor and
awaits trial, still maintains it was only "nature calling."
Ana Gardiner
Ana Gardiner was Broward County's chief criminal judge presiding over a
gruesome murder trial. Howard Scheinberg was the prosecutor trying to
put the accused man in jail. Despite the fact that the defendant's
future hung in the balance, Gardiner and Scheinberg were carrying on
what investigators would later call a "close personal relationship,"
exchanging 471 texts and 949 phone calls in 155 days. The investigaton
was prompted only after Bob Norman broke the story wide open.
Eventually, the defendant got a new trial, Scheinberg resigned from the
State Attorney's office, and Gardiner resigned from the bench to escape
getting slapped with official charges.
Judge Larry Seidlin
Judge Larry became a nationally known personality (and laughingstock)
when he started shedding tears while presiding over a case relating to bombshell Anna Nicole Smith after she died at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Shortly afterward, Norman broke the news that, at home, Seidlin was
soaking a wealthy elderly neighbor for tens of thousands of dollars,
signing over land to him and even funding his daughter's private school
tuition. Eventually, the woman's family filed a lawsuit against Seidlin.
Seidlin hasn't gotten the Judge Judy-style TV show he'd been angling
for, though he's promoting a show called Psychic Court right now.
Scott Rothstein
Before flashy attorney Scott Rothstein was unveiled as orchestrator of a
$1.4 billion Ponzi sceme, he had built a huge law firm and thrown millions
of dollars around like nickels. But a full year before his scam was
exposed, Norman sensed that the emperor might not be wearing any clothes
and wrote his prescient "House of Cards" column that all but predicted
the coming calamity. After that, Norman remained a thorn in Rothstein's
side, prompting the attorney to threaten to destroy Norman and his
family. When the moment of reckoning arrived and Rothstein sensed that
his phony life was about to crumble, he fled to Morocco in a
spectacular meltdown. Bob broke the news in a midnight posting. He owned
the story -- one of the most captivating sagas in Broward history that
tainted a wide range of law enforcement officers and power players --
posting daily revelations as details unfolded in soap-opera fashion over
nearly a year. Rothstein ended up with a 50-year sentence, and his
investors are still trying to claw back their money.
Broward County School Board
For years, Norman was a virtual one-man band when it came to uncovering
political wrongdoing in Broward. Then the feds stepped in and began a
sting operation that would bring down two of Norman's regular targets --
County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion and School Board member Beverly
Gallagher. Norman, with the help of excellent sources, then set his
sights on the Broward County School Board, exposing the fact that
hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted by the board as it rushed
to give unnecessary contracts to the school builders and lobbyists who
financed and ran their campaigns. Much of his work was basically
reprinted recently in the scathing grand jury report on Broward County schools that led to the resignation of Supt. Jim Notter. Before that,
Norman broke the story that School Board member Stephanie Kraft's husband, Mitch, was secretly on the payroll of lobbyist Neil Sterling at
the same time Kraft was steering a $1.7 health insurance contract to
Vista Health, one of Sterling's clients. He also learned that Mitch
Kraft was on the payroll of Tamarac developers Bruce and Shawn Chait at
the time she was pushing the board to reduce a mitigation fee for the
Chaits by $500,000. Kraft currently awaits criminal charges on the
latter case.
