Update: City Commissioner Defends Allen West
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Tea Party darling Allen West’s defense attorney in his battle over the election results is an Oakland Park commissioner.
Lawyer Shari McCartney was a Young Democratic leader in the 1990s who since has flipped to the Republican Party. McCartney, who was elected in 2011, is also openly gay.
Shari McCartney talks to media about West
McCartney is surely qualified for the job. In 2000 after becoming a Republican, she represented the GOP position in the 2000 recount.
She is a strange match for super conservative West, however, who embraces the very same social Neanderthals that would send McCartney back into the closet.
“She is a lawyer representing a paying client. She doesn’t deserve to be criticized for this. Bad companies or serial killers deserve representation. Not to equate in anyway this situation with those (type of) clients, but everybody deserve representation,” Tripp Scott’s managing partner and McCartney’s boss Ed Pozzuoli said. “You can disagree with him (West) politically but that is not the moral equivalency of whether to provide representation.”
I agree with Pozzuoli. That doesn’t mean all voters will. For instance, some voters won’t back a judicial candidate who had defended folks accused of crimes.
But is West a real conservative?
Would a real conservative cause government to waste thousands over a frivolous legal fight?
Apparently West has such a massive ego, stoked by Tea Party mouthbreathers and fawning flunkies in the conservative media, that he can’t conceive of actually losing.
To me and many others, West is a cry baby: “Give me back my congressional seat. Wouaaaaaaaaaaaa”.
I guess it was no surprise that Pozzuoli, arguably Broward’s most prominent Republican, has a different view.
“I would think that everybody would want an accurate count of the vote…We have real questions about St. Lucie County. Why when they recounted the early votes in St. Lucie did the votes for both candidates go down?” he said.
Now there is talk about West dragging the legal action out for months!
How many schoolbooks could be purchased from the tax dollars being wasted on this ridiculous legal maneuvering? How many overtime hours for police would it buy?
McCartney, a partner at the downtown Fort Lauderdale Republican firm of Tripp Scott, is walking on thin ice here.
The last race
Oakland Park has almost 14,000 Democrats compared to 5,000 Republicans and roughly 5,700 independents. Gay activists are influential in city elections.
McCartney told me during her campaign last year that she had support from conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.
West is nowhere to be found on her 2011 campaign Facebook page. However, prominently featured is a picture of her and state Sen. Chris Smith, the Senate Democratic Leader:
Perhaps she is hoping her constituents don’t care about her law clients or will forget by the time of her re-election in a year…if she runs again.
In the meantime, West shows no evidence of giving up. And she has a client for the foreseeable future.
November 13th, 2012 at 8:53 am
Even Charules Mason had defenders. Who is this woman who is expousing such cra p ? The world is full of such male contents.
November 13th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Hey, she has got to make a living. Allen West is a horrible human being and was a horrible congressman. That said, she is a lawyer and makes money by taking on clients. It is not for us to judge her on whom she represents in her private sector capacity. If she started spewing Allen West-isms from the Oakland Park dias or at city sponsored events, that is another thing.
Stone Cold’s bottom line: NOT AN ISSUE, and that is because Stone Cold says so!
November 13th, 2012 at 9:55 am
Where is the story about the Coral Springs Mayor promoting weed at his last meeting? Watch that meeting for fun and ideas of what not to say as an elected official!
It’s at the end of the meeting on Nov. 7th is his farewell (and good riddance!) speech. Enjoy
http://coralsprings.org/MediaCenter/commission2012.cfm
November 13th, 2012 at 10:08 am
Although I wouldn’t take on Allen West as a client, I don’t believe an attorney should be attacked for who he or she represents.
November 13th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Pozzuoli is right that Mr. West deserves a lawyer. That doesn’t mean I have to support her.
West is a poison in Washington. His intemperate language and refusal to compromise is an example of why Congress does not work. The country would be better off without him in Congress and I can’t vote for someone who is working to keep him there.
November 13th, 2012 at 11:37 am
What a great transfer of wealth from makers to takers. Tea Party money being used to support that gay lifestyle. She has 2 million to bill .
Who knew Obama had such power?
That Mooslim really is behind the fall of the West.
November 13th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Mr. Pozzuoli made some nice Motherhood, Apple Pie and The Flag comments. No one will argue about the right to legal representation.
If you look at Mr. Pozzuoli’s firm’s political clients, the only ones who deserve representation are Republicans. Tripp Scott represents only Republicans to further the Republican agenda in these types of cases. He would never represent a Democrat in an election suit against a Republican. I believe Tripp Scott represented the Legislature to get the Fair Districting Amendment overturned. Mr. Pozzuoli’ and his firm are highly partisan individuals who use the courts to attempt to win what they can’t at the ballot box. There is nothing illegal about that and any reader should consider it when they read Mr. Pozzuoli’s comments.
November 13th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Ed is speaking like a law firm managing partner. He is responsible for the firm’s income.
November 13th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I once knew a guy who was at one time the best trial advocate south Florida ever saw. There were certain types of cases he would not touch with a 10 foot pool. He believed that everybody was entitled to be represented. Just not by him. But then again, he was a sole practitioner and could make those calls for himself.
I suspect that the local law enforcement will end up having to physically remove Mr. West and his belongings from that Port St. Lucie office. I’m serious.
November 13th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
I have a much bigger problem with Perry Thurston representing the kid who burned Michael Brewer in Deerfield. Luckily the jury saw past Thurston (not easy to do) and found his client guilty.
November 13th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Ms. McCartney has the right to represent whomever she wants, but the issue is that as well as being an attorney she is an ELECTED CITY OFFICIAL, a OP commish who is suppose to represent the entire community. The appropriate step would have been for her to accuse herself from this case as it does bring to light conflict of interest issues. The voters of OP will remember this as a choice she made and therefore must accept the fallout which will come from it.
November 13th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Tripp Scott is also representing Walmart in the backdoor/secret sale of the Kmart property on OP BLVD and 6th Ave to Walmart. Funny how none of the citizens knew about this sale or the support of it by some elected OP officials. The deal was done before the public had any chance to provide input, and Ms. McCartney is one of the partners at the firm which is again representing a republican right wing company. I see a pattern here
November 13th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Your ability to report even handedly is remarkable. Great objectivity there Buddy.
November 13th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
It’s a lawyer’s highest calling to represent an unpopular cause. Period.
November 13th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
I am disappointed that reference was made to Shari’s sexuality. Really, what difference does it make? And how is it relevant for other than prurient interest?
FROM BUDDY:
It is relevant because Allen West has many positions that would not be supported by many of the gays who live in Oakland Park.
He was against the ending of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military. He says anti-gay workplace discrimination never happens, so law against it are unnecessary. He said that being gay was like choosing a flavor of ice cream and that someone can overcome being gay. Need I go on…..
November 13th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Irrelevant Buddy. A lawyer can be a Christian and still represent an anti Christian athiest. Is the story that he is being represented by someone who lives a lifestyle that he doesn’t support or is the story about West’s money sapping legal fight over the election results? I thiought it was the latter.
November 13th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
@JW
“The appropriate step would have been for her to accuse herself from this case as it does bring to light conflict of interest issues. ”
Accuse herself????Perhaps. But “recuse” herself as wellmight be your argument.
November 13th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
The St Lucie Supervisor Of Elections admitted that the voting rate was 140%. That means at least 40% fraud and most likely 50% fraud. Who would not contest the election if half the votes were fraudulent?
FROM BUDDY:
I have no idea what the term “voting rate” means.
Roughly 175,550 voters were eligible to vote in the West/Murphy race in St. Lucie County and roughly 118,240 voted, according to state and county stats.
November 13th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
What was it 138% of registered voters voted in St. Lucie? I would want a recount too.
FROM BUDDY:
No, 138 percent of registered voters is not the turnout in St. Lucie County.
Roughly 175,550 voters were eligible to vote in the West/Murphy race in St. Lucie County and roughly 118,240 voted, according to state and county stats.
November 13th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Kudos to attorneys w/backbone et al to take on any Client.
To Allen West, he was originally supporting a farm bill/corp. agriculture bill for more humane conditions for all animals pre-slaughter. Then, he capitulated. Pressure from lobbyists. so I am delighted he lost to murphy, who may or may nor support quasi-humane pre-slaughter conditions for animals.
to close there are plenty of land deals, land swaps, etc. etc. going on under the very noses of homeowners, taxpayers and voters. start paying attention folks (how many know how to look up an agenda at their city hall?). and if not stop whining when a walmart takes over a desirable location from looser KMart.
November 14th, 2012 at 8:26 am
I think the ideal outcome is that she gets every dime from West who becomes more crazy. West then tries to “convert” her to heterosexuality and she sues him. He claims a liberal gay conspiracy run by the Communist Party and the Gay Mafia to silence him run by Obama.
After listening to Steve Kane and Brian Craig this morning tell us that Obama is running a giant conspiracy to destroy American Generals, that scenario sounds pretty reasonable to me.
November 14th, 2012 at 10:16 am
The Gay Mafia.
Now that’s a musical with some potential.
November 14th, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Dear Buddy, you suck.
November 15th, 2012 at 6:45 am
In the official St Lucie results, there is some confusion:
http://www.slcelections.com/Pdf%20Docs/2012%20General/rescan/GEMS%20SOVC%20REPORT.pdf
Buddy, the stats you are referring to are on page 20, your 175K vs 118K numbers. What is confusing are the figures on page 1 and 2 where it shows consistent overages with a final turnout of 140.92%. What is that all about? If you understand this, please explain it to us, because I don’t understand it.
November 15th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
To Buddy and others personally attacking McCartney with comments like Buddy’s, “She is a strange match for super conservative West, however, who embraces the very same social Neanderthals that would send McCartney back into the closet,”. … Your true hateful, colorful bigotry is being exposed by your own words.
November 15th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Come on Mr.West pack it up..
November 16th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
It is not a lawyers calling to represent an unpopular cause. Many unpopular causes are flat out wrong. That’s why they’re unpopular. It’s a lawyers calling to represent a client or a cause they believe in.
November 16th, 2012 at 10:25 pm
Well, well, well. What does the Murphy camp have to fear in insuring the early votes are tabulated correctly that they vow to go to court to stop the recounting?
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/st-lucie-county-canvassing-board-orders-retabulation-of-20k-more-early-votes-in-allen-west-race/
November 21st, 2012 at 10:07 am
Allen is not going away…There are bigger and better things in line for him. The truth will come out about all the voter fraud…Buncha racist haters on this blog. Staying true to the history of the democratic party I suppose.