Throwing the Book at Broward County Schools
Remember my suggestion earlier this week, to keep an eye on the Broward County Schools construction scandal?
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Seems the South Florida school system was "...ripped off to the tune of more than three-quarters of a million dollars by two contractors that performed unnecessary work or submitted inflated bills for repairs made to portable classrooms damaged by Hurricane Wilma."
Well, Bob Norman over at The Daily Pulp has had his eyes all over this story for some time.
Allow me to direct Froggers his way for in depth coverage on both the situation and the entire cast of characters, including Florida's most involved lobbyist, Ron Book.
Snuggle up to your laptop and get ready for a great read.
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Auditor to AshBritt hurricane firm: Give School Board Back the $765,000 You Ripped Off!
(June 30, 2009)
Deputy School Superintendent Is "Appalled" By Employees
(April 19, 2009)
The Broward School Board awards a million dollars in work to an unlicensed company
(April 14, 2009)
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It turns out that C&B, which is short for Crochet & Borel, was very busy in Broward during the weeks after Wilma. And the real drama for the company came not at the courthouse but at the Broward County School Board building across the street, where C&B received a million dollars for roofing work it never should have done.
A couple of weeks after the devastating storm hit, School Board records reveal, Deputy Superintendent Michael Garretson authorized the work after a meeting with C&B representatives and their well-known lobbyist.
The rushed nature of the award — there were no bids and no contract — might be forgiven because of the destruction wrought by Wilma. The problem was that C&B was neither prequalified as a contractor for the board nor licensed or insured to do any roofing work in Florida.
In other words, the entire job fell outside the law. But that didn't stop C&B from trying to charge the district at least twice for the services, according to board records.
Some might call that gouging. The School Board, which has a long history of corruption in its construction department, calls it business as usual.
"I've never seen it this bad," one official in the School Board construction department told me when I asked about the C&B case. "The construction department has become a shell game, if you ask me. It's not what you do around here; it's who you know. And that's the only reason they went with C&B, because somebody knew somebody."
C&B's "somebody" was big-time lobbyist Ron Book, who is definitely a good man to have on your side when you're looking to snare some taxpayers' money. Perhaps the most influential lobbyist in South Florida, Book represented the company in the meeting with Garretson, construction contracts director Denis Hermann, and project manager Joe DeLillo.
Labels: Broward County Schools, Ron Book
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... more than three-quarters of a million dollars??????
C&B's "somebody" was big-time lobbyist Ron Book, who is definitely a good man to have on your side when you're looking to snare some taxpayers' money.
... more than three-quarters of a million dollars??????
I think the above words from today's story speak for themselves.
Things that make you REALLY GO HMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
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Get rid of the politicians and the lobyists go too. Click on my name above!
I just hope that this does not go the same way the rest of the pay to play at tax payer's expence and just gets swept under the rug or drug out so long that it disapears from view.
Don't forget that Book said in another instance that he doesn't like "no bid" contracts.
http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=umoja-village-burned
Good one, Avendora. Allow me to clean up that link a bit and cite from your reference. Book--as chair of the Homeless Trust--is quite the "Pick and Chooser" when it comes to who really qualifies for assistance.
Umoja Village gets burned again!
Max Rameau
Published Aug 2, 2007
MIAMI, Florida -- Less than one week after voting 4-0 to support the conveyance of land to the Umoja Village residents, city of Miami officials completely reversed themselves after a wealthy, high-powered lobbyist unilaterally killed the entire deal. The political settlement won by Take Back the Land was scrapped as those with the real power vetoed the vote and maintained the status quo, to the benefit of those in power and at the expense of the black community.
The Umoja Village Shantytown stood for just over six months -- directly feeding and housing people and challenging the notion that developers should control land in the black community -- before it burned in a tragic fire on April 26, 2007. After the fire, the city offered the land to the residents and organizers of Umoja, in order to build supportive housing, a deal ultimately accepted by Take Back the Land. The city was embarrassed and hostile towards the Umoja Village. However, overwhelming community support and attention forced officials to deal with the crisis.
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Ron Book, one of the most powerful lobbyists in the state of Florida and operating as the chair of the Homeless Trust, employed his lobbying skills to kill the deal. He not only registered his opposition to city and county officials, but he intimidated the development partner, who depends on Trust for their funding. Equally as significant, he used his position as the chair of the Trust to threaten the funding. With the project funding gone (valued at up to $20 million), the development partner ready to bail, and elected officials on notice, the deal was effectively dead the very next day. Book's justification for his stance was that no public land should be conveyed to an organization without a bid process, and that the Homeless Trust does not financially support no-bid deals, even when legal and transparent and even when the Trust does not own the land in question.
The obvious question arose: has Ron Book or the Homeless Trust ever supported a no-bid deal? With Book -- who has multiple clients and a controversial professional record -- finding instances of his support for numerous no-bid contracts was easy. In February 2006, an apartment building located at 6000 NW 12th Avenue, just seven blocks from the Umoja Village site, was conveyed to New Horizons for use as supportive housing for free by the city of Miami in a no-bid process. In that virtually identical situation, the Trust supported the deal and continues to fund the project today. Not surprisingly, in addition to being the chair of the Homeless Trust, which directly funds New Horizons and others, Ron Book is also a paid lobbyist for New Horizons. He was paid no less than $40,000 by the non-profit organization in 2006, while making decisions about their contracts. This information was brought to the Miami Herald, the local paper of record, along with citations and public records proving the allegation. While a reporter supposedly worked on the story for at least four days, the story was never published.
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Click on the above link to read more.
why oh why has the IRS not stepped in and fined this moron for lobbying with a 5013c????
Thank you for the clarification Sunny. We have to be CORRECT with our findings. Backlash sucks!