She’s in.

Kristin Jacobs

Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs will run for the northeast Broward congressional seat being abandoned by U. S. Rep. Allen West.

“I’m going to do it,” she told Browardbeat.com Friday. “I’m jumping in with both feet. It would be crazy not to try.”

Jacobs is entering a field that is fast becoming crowded.

Democrats include Former Florida House member and West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, who has been running almost a year and has more than $1 million.  Businessman Patrick Murphy is also campaigning. Jacobs’ fellow Democratic commissioner John Rodstrom is considering running, too.

On the Republican side, former state representative Adam Hasner is ending his U. S. Senate campaign to run for the Broward-Palm Beach County seat.

Jacobs said the campaign would be hard starting so far behind the two Democrats who are already in the race.  ”It’s nothing to sneeze at,” she said.

But as a pro-choice woman, she hopes to siphon away some of the Emily’s List money that has been flooding into the Frankel campaign.  Emily’s List is a national organization that supports pro-choice female candidates.

She already has good relations with the group.  It tried to get her to run for the seat earlier, and they had talked about her running in 2014 when her term on the Broward County Commission ends, she said.  Then West switched seats earlier this week.

Jacobs has a history of being an underdog. She won a come-from-behind victory against the better-funded incumbent Commissioner Sylvia Poitier to win a seat on the commission in 1998.

Not termed out until 2014, Jacobs said she will stay on the commission if she loses the congressional race.  She wants to complete the work she has started on various national and area environmental and sustainability boards, such as the National Ocean Council Governance Coordinating Committee.

“I’ve got work that I want to continue as long as I can,” she said.

Jacobs is the county commission’s environmental specialist, but has also been at the forefront of such solid Democratic issues as the living wage law, which sets the salary of county employees above the poverty line.  She has also been a major supporter of mass transit, serving as chair of the Tri-Rail governing board.

Expect an official campaign announcement from Jacobs sometime next week.

Here is an earlier story on Jacobs.

The hottest story on Wall Street is that Facebook will sell its stock publically for the first time.

Based on the projected price of $45-a-share, this five-year old company will have a total market value (capitalization) of $100 billion.

Every time I read about another one of these “too-good-to-be-true “investments, I am reminded of a book that I read decades ago about the history of speculation.  The title escapes me, but the lessons do not.

In 1637, it was tulip bulbs in Holland, and then it was the South Seas Bubble, followed by futures contracts on slaves and stocks in the 1920’s. I can add to that The Dotcom Bubble in the 1990’s and real estate bubble of this past decade and a hundred other get rich quick schemes.

It always the same psychology underpinned by two beliefs: 1. I am going to kick myself if I don’t get in on this, 2. “The Other Idiot Theory” which holds that no matter what I pay for this there is some other idiot that will pay me more.

There is nothing more than mob psychology that drives this.  And one day the mob wakes up and all is lost.

The investor lemmings will do the same with Facebook and they are far more likely to get wiped out than rich.

Facing Off

Compare Facebook to General Electric and you realize the absurdity of the unbridled faith in Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.

GE is 125-years old that has a capitalization (number of stock shares times price) of $124 billion.  It is the only surviving company from the original Dow Jones Industrials.  Last year it had over $10 billion in profits on $150 billion in sales. It makes its money in everything from NBC to jet engines to banking and a lot more.

Facebook is a one-trick-pony.  It had total revenue of $3.7 billion and estimated earnings of $1 billion. It has 3000 employees compared to GE’s 287,000

While Facebook worldwide list is growing, it is at the mercy of foreign countries that could restrict access to it with the flick of a switch. Facebook in a business where cutting edge leadership is about 24 months.

Facebook just as likely to be a fad that could go the way of its former competitor Myspace.  One thing is certain, unlike GE, it will not be around for 125 years.

Nevertheless, like the guy in Amsterdam who woke up realizing he had blown $20,000 on a tulip bulb, one-morning Wall Street investors could wake up with a financial hangover from this latest speculative collapse.

When all is said and done Zuckerberg and the guys at the top will cash out and walk away with billions.

The schnook on the street…not so much.

Note: With the assistance of my broker have successfully managed my own investments for the last forty years. I don’t own stock in any of the companies mentioned. And I certainly won’t be buying Facebook.

County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs is the second Broward politician who is considering running for the congressional seat being abandoned by U. S. Rep. Allen West, according to several sources.

Kristin Jacobs

Jacobs has expressed interest in running for the seat in the past.

A commissioner since 1998, Jacobs styles herself the voice of the environment on the usually pro-development commission.

Commissioner John Rodstrom is considering a run for the same congressional seat.  But Rodstrom is termed out this year, while Jacobs has two years left on her term.

The Miami Herald reports that Republican Adam Hasner is about to drop out of the U. S. Senate race to run for West’s congressional seat.

Jacobs has been repeatedly romanced by national Democrats, who have tried to prod her to run for Congress. She lives in Pompano Beach in West’s district.

An attractive woman, she would be a stark contrast in any primary debate to Patrick Murphy and  former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, other Democrats running.

(Frankel, an Old School progressive, reminds me of a Bella Abzug retread with her thick New York accent and her FDR-style politics.   However, while being attractive helps in broadcast situation, it is no guarantee of anything, especially of the candidate can’t cut it in other ways.  Remember Michelle Bachmann?

And before women start writing me saying I’m sexist, this goes for good looking men, too.  Many pundits believe the campaign of U. S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass, two years ago was aided by him being a former male model and Cosmo’s “America’s Sexiest Man.”)

Jacobs could not be reached this morning to confirm reports from several sources inside the Government Center.

Her departure could leave an open seat in Northeast Broward if she decides to resign. I’m not sure she could run for office full-time, hold the commission seat and keep a straight face. If she did resign, it would prompt a number of candidates to enter the race for that commission seat.

Does County Commissioner John Rodstrom dream of becoming Congressman John Rodstrom?

“It’s not the night to talk about it,” Rodstrom told me while at a Fort Lauderdale City Commission reelection campaign celebration for his wife, Charlotte Rodstrom.

But Democrat Rodstrom’s name immediately surfaced Tuesday after Republican U. S. Rep. Allen West said he was abandoning his seat to move north to a more friendly district.

West’s district is anchored on the south by a big piece of Fort Lauderdale, Rodstrom’s base for two decades.

House District 22, which stretches from Northeast Broward through Palm Beach County, already has two Democrats running in it – former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel and environmental firm executive Patrick Murphy.  They have already raised more than $3 million between them, which would make Rodstrom’s entrance into the race daunting.

“I’m familiar with the district. A couple of people have come to me about it,” Rodstrom said.  “I can’t give you an answer today.”

A personal aside:  I believe Rodstrom would make a great member of Congress.  He is smart and has a solid background in local government. He is a moderate who is well-grounded in finance, which is the country’s biggest issue.

He really has little to lose, since he is term limited from the county commission later this year. Too bad such a race would be so tough for the Broward veteran.

Meanwhile, talk continues to circulate about Charlotte Rodstrom running for John’s current commission seat.  She has a good, solid  record on the Fort Lauderdale commission.  She won a major victory Tuesday night, crushing her opponents with almost 80 percent of the vote.  She would make a very credible candidate.

The problem: Former County Commissioner Ken  Keechl is already running for the seat. Thus, Charlotte Rodstrom would be the second major Fort Lauderdale area Democrat in the race.

But 60 percent of the seat after redistricting is now south of State Road 84. It’s an area largely represented by the third Democrat about to jump into the race, state Rep. Evan Jenne of Dania Beach. He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaigns in that part of the district in the last few years.

Would Keechl and Charlotte Rodsrom divide the Fort Lauderdale vote, leaving Jenne the bulk of the rest?

And 2012 is just getting underway!

It’s time for Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick to leave politics.

Gary Resnick from campaign literature of his opponent

The reason?

His pathetic attempt to overturn the county’s ethics law in his city.  It’s on tomorrow’s ballot.

I think he is motivated by naked self interest:  He is a lawyer who told Mike Mayo in the Sun-Sentinel that he sometimes lobbies Broward cities.

Oh, he doesn’t call it lobbying.  He calls it representing a client in front of government. Using Resnick’s definition, there are almost no lobbyists since most are lawyers representing clients.

Regardless, Resnick would be forbidden to lobby in Broward under the new law.

Now I don’t want to cost anybody his livelihood.  So I’ve got a better idea for Resnick: Quit.

Resnick told Mayo that the new law would result in a lot of “very good, qualified elected officials” leaving.  I say if the reason they are leaving is they can’t lobby their buddies on other city commissions, good riddance.

Nobody needs ethics laws more than city officials.  It is always helpful to remember that State Attorney Mike Satz has prosecuted more city officials than County Commissioners and School Board member combined.

City Halls, which have largely been abandoned by the financially beleaguered media, are filled with special interest dealing.

Resnick engineered tomorrow’s referendum to throw out the ethics law in Wilton Manors.  Of course, the language of the ballot question is highly misleading and makes it look like voters are just ratifying the state’s ethics law.  No mention of replacing the county law with the weaker state law.

Isn’t the ballot language what we would expect from a lawyer who has a self interest in seeing the law tossed out?

The one who should be tossed out is Gary Resnick.

]]> http://www.browardbeat.com/toss-out-wilton-manors-mayor-gary-resnick-not-ethics-law/feed/ 14 http://www.browardbeat.com/democratic-candidate-seeks-appt-from-gov-scott-really/ http://www.browardbeat.com/democratic-candidate-seeks-appt-from-gov-scott-really/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:14:51 +0000 Buddy http://www.browardbeat.com/?p=14839 BY BUDDY NEVINS

A Browardbeat.com spy spotted Northeast Broward Democratic House candidate Barbra Stern going into the governor’s office in Tallahassee this week.

Barbra Stern

Wazzup?

Stern was there for a 10-minute interview with Gov. Rick Scott.  She applied for an appointment to the Florida Elections Commission and Scott wanted to talk to her.

Was this Democratic candidate really seeking an appointment from the Republican governor?  Or was Stern just jumping at the chance for face time with Scott?

Here is the sequence of events:

Stern filed her application for one of the six openings on the commission before deciding to run against incumbent Republican George Moraitis.  Once she started running, she never bothered to withdraw her application.

Now that she is running, she really can’t serve, according to the commission website. State law forbids a candidate for “any public office” from being appointed to the commission.

She seemed to indicate she used it as an opportunity to meet the governor, although she wouldn’t say that flatly.

“He was very polite,” Stern says. “He was very kind.  He has a real interest in younger people getting involved in politics.”

When asked if  some might call her hypocritical for running a campaign filled with anti-Republican rhetoric while seeking an appointment from one of the state’s GOP leaders, she said: “It’s a bi-partisan board.”

The nine-member board is appointed to four-year terms by the governor from three applicants each from the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and leaders of the minority party in the Legislature.

Is this a picture of lobbyist Judy Stern texting a Fort Lauderdale commissioner?

So says activist Art Seitz, who happens to be a photographer.

The texting by lobbyists to commissioners on the dais is a widespread practice in many city halls and at the county Government Center. It is a way to discuss an issue with the commissioner without anybody knowing it.

In this case, Seitz caught Stern texting a commissioner during a political debate.

I wasn’t there.  So I can’t verify these pictures. But Seitz has a pretty good track record.

You decide.

Not so fast, Frankllin.

Franklin Sands of Weston hoped he would walk into a countywide School Board seat when he was termed out of the Florida House later this year. His dream of not getting an opponent ended Tuesday.

School Board member Donna Korn, who was appointed last year to fill a vacancy in Northwest Broward, opened a campaign against Sands for the countywide seat.

Although the seat is non-partisan, Sands is expected to emphasize his role as Florida Democratic House leader during the campaign…surreptitiously.  He will also remind voters that Korn was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Sands, however, will have to counter charges that he is just looking for a job and health coverage because he must leave his legislative seat because of term limits. And his stepson, Alex Heckler, should be an issue since Heckler is a registered lobbyist at the School Board.

Heckler is registered to represent a vending company, while his partner is registered to lobby for a health care firm.

Korn, who is a moderate Republican,  will campaign as a new, fresh face in politics. She also has extensive education experience as a parent activist and now a School Board member.

Sorry Debbie.

President Barack Obama had little, if anything, to do with the expansion of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International.

But if you listened to the speech by U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, at the groundbreaking of the long-delayed project, you would believe that Obama had a key role in the project.

Obama is responsible for everything good in Debbie’s eyes, but none of the country’s problems. If the president were a little older, she would probably say he invented the planes that will be using the runway!

I can understand where Debbie is coming from.  She’s chair of the Democratic National Committee. She’s a leader of Obama’s hit squad for the upcoming election.

So I can excuse Debbie.

(Wasserman Schultz frankly gave lukewarm support to the project because of opposition from inside her district, i.e., Dania Beach.)

What about the rest of them?

Like the Florida Secretary of Transportation who praised the leadership of Gov. Rick Scott – Rick Scott, for God’s sake!   He wasn’t even in office when the project was approved. The only thing he had to do with Fort Lauderdale Airport is maybe he lands his private jet there.

Or U. S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who apparently discovered she represented part of Broward in enough time to show up. Wilson was there to take credit for something approved before she took office, too.

How about County Mayor John Rodstrom?  He drove the backhoe at the groundbreaking to turn the ceremonial first shovel dirt. That’s particularly ironic since Rodstrom voted against the project. 

Let’s get this straight:

Six county commissioners voted to approve the project. They took intense heat from bitter, vocal runway opponents who lived near the airport.

Of those, three remain on the commission – Kristin Jacobs, Ilene Lieberman and Stacy Ritter.  These commissioners are much maligned, but the airport runway expansion is something they truly helped accomplished.

Jacobs, Lieberman and Ritter are responsible for the $1 billion project and the 11,000 jobs it supposedly will create.

Rodstrom, Lois Wexler and Sue Gunzburger may have applauded the project today but they can’t rewrite history. Five years ago they voted against it.

First, have you heard about the public school teacher who wants to run for Circuit Court Judge and hold both jobs?

Second, how about the County Court Judge that also wants to be Governor?

Third, how about the State Attorney who is also in the State Senate.

Fourth, how about the Assistant State Attorney who also is in the Florida House?

Only the fourth is true. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are illegal.

They should all be illegal.

At the heart of our system of “checks and balances” is the tension between the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches. It requires them to question and challenge the actions of the other two.

Allowing members of one part of government to also serve in another branch of government defeats that concept.

I like Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs.

Long before Porth went to the Florida House, he held his present job as an Assistant States Attorney.  He was and is always fair.

Nevertheless, there is something profoundly wrong with an employee of the Executive branch having a vote on the laws and budgets that govern him.  That includes public school teachers and any other government worker that wants to join the Legislature.

Assistant States Attorney Sheila Alu is also a long-time member of the always-factionalized Sunrise City Council.

In the 70’s and 80’s, long before Alu worked for State Attorney Mike Satz, that city was perpetually under a corruption cloud. Satz repeatedly initiated failed prosecutions, including arresting two different mayors.  If a member of the city council back then also been in the prosecutor’s office, it would have put a cloud over all those events.

But they are not the only ones.  Former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom was some kind of phony $110,000-a-year professor for Northwest Florida State College when he was indicted for using his legislative position to improperly steering millions to a buddy using the school.

In 2008 Senate President Mike Haridopolos accepted $75,000 for a nine-month lecturer appointment at the University of Florida in the Political Science Department.  He taught one class and spent half the appointment period in legislative session. (Typical pay for adjuncts at a Florida college is closer to $2500 for a three credit course.)

But this was nothing new for our Senate President. From 2004 to 2008, he accepted $150,000 from Brevard Community College to write a book. The book was never published although it is now available on line for $9.95.

Let’s be clear, Sansom, Haridoplos and the schools were engaged in legalized kickback schemes. They got hired with inflated salaries with little or no work to funnel $$$$ back to the schools.  I say legalized because if they did it for private company they would go to jail.

At some point these folks don’t know whether they are wearing their legislative hat or employment hat.

All that crossdressing gets confusing.

Want to work for the government? Great!

Want to be an elected official in a State, county or local legislative body? Great!

Want to be in both? Not so great.