State Demo Party Slaps Down Local Leader
BY BUDDY NEVINS
The Florida Democratic Party has stopped one of the local party’s leaders from forming a new club.
The outspoken attorney Randy Fleischer tried to start a Democratic club in Davie. But he failed to file an application with the county party and get the proper state and local approvals, according to a letter from the state party’s Executive Director Scott Arceneaux.
Broward’s party is under the firm control of Fleischer’s nemesis Mitch Ceasar.
Ceasar and Fleischer are long-time rivals. Perhaps in the spirit of keeping your enemies close, Ceasar named Fleischer a party Area Leader for portions of South Broward.
Fleischer is one of the most spirited of the super-liberals, i.e. progressives, in the party organization.
Looking at his bio on the party website, I notice we have a connection from years ago. The bio states:
“Randy’s first politic memories are of the Hippies, Yippies and Zippies camped out at Flamingo Park during the 1972 Democratic Convention.”
I was in the same Miami Beach park at the same time covering the so-called “non-delegates” for a nationwide newspaper syndicate.
Fleischer is one of the most enthusiastic local Democratic leaders. If he can’t have his own club, the Ds must find a place for him. It is fervent campaigners like Fleischer that will make the difference in November.
Here is the letter from the state party to Fleischer (click to enlarge):
April 1st, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Randy is the Blue version of Tom Lauder of Red Broward except he would rather play victim than create a forum to promote D’s.
Randy has always been about promoting Randy. If Mitch said the sky was blue Randy would scream until he was red in the face that it was not and anyone who believed were nothing more than dumb sheep.
In Randy’s world it is Randy’s view or you are stupid. It is always personal if you disagree with him.
Randy’s problem is that he thinks he has created some cool outider “hippie” like character for himself when in reality he is nothing more than a professional victim.
Randy is not dumb. I have no doubt that he knew and blew off the rules about getting approval. Let me guess, he will now claim that he is, as usual, he is a victim of Mith and those who dont see things as Randy tells us to see them.
Sadly this article gave Randy the spotlight to cry victim again.
FROM BUDDY:
The letter went to literally dozens of people and was redistributed to dozens more. He could have cried victim anyway if he was going to do so.
April 1st, 2012 at 7:57 pm
@ Please — Identify yourself! What is your problem! I have heard from Randy on many, many issues and have gotten out and did what I could to help the Democratic candidates get elected. If the Democratic Party has a problem with Randy, then I have a problem with the Democratic Party in Broward and in Florida.
Do not know who you are but I have never heard or seen any information that Randy has cried “victim” —
When I seen Mitch Cesar and the local Democratic Party endorse losers, deadbeats and who knows what else and then try to surpress what Randy is trying to do — get the voters out and involved — and the Democratic Party slaps him down — Shame on you and yours.
Where were you all in the last governor’s election!
I do not know about the letter that went out to “dozens” of people and then some — we were ready to step up and get the ball rolling! I am still ready! Cesar and “Please” get out of my way!!
April 1st, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Randy was not named an Area Leader, he was elected by the people in his area. Mitch had nothing to do with it.
FROM BUDDY: As party leader, Ceasar could have found a way to block it — either by cutting the number of party leaders or doing something to ride Fleischer out of the executive committee. He has the vast majority of the executive committee, which runs the party, as his supporters.
April 1st, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Buddy, you are assuming that Mitch’s top priority is winning in November – what a joke!
Mitch’s top priority is keeping Mitch in power. Mitch’s second priority is eliminating anything and everything that might possibly serve to check and balance Mitch. Winning elections would be, at best, Mitch’s third priority.
All of the rules exist only to serve Mitch. He gets to appoint all the “judges” (his cronies) so that there can never be any independent check & balance and all of the judgements will go exactly the way he wants them to. He also appoints the Executive Director, who cannot even lift a paper clip without calling Mitch and getting his advance approval. All county party actions involve Mitch coming up with exactly what will happen, and then possibly getting that rubber-stamped by the spineless and toothless Management Committee. There is little to nothing in the way of either transparency or actual democracy, unless you happen to like Vladimir Putin’s grossly perverted definition of democracy!
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/content/printVersion/140744/
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/content/printVersion/873007/
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/05/mitch_ceasar_up_to_old_tricks.php
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/mitch_ceasar_broward_democratic_chairman.php
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/mitch_ceasar_lobbying_contracts.php
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/10/part_iii_chairman_ceasars_hand.php
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/10/broward_democratic_chairman_mitch_ceasar.php
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/11/democratic_chair_karen_thurman_ceasar.php
FROM BUDDY:
Just because the New Times wrote it, doesn’t make it true. Read today’s New York Times about the New Times and their parent company, Village Voice. They have their own problems.
Look at it this way. If we go by your thesis–I’m not saying I believe in your thesis–Mr. Ceasar would do much better personally under a Democratic administration in Washington. It benefits him personally. So yes, he is dedicated to Democrats winning in the Fall..
April 1st, 2012 at 10:11 pm
You said it Dorothy Tee!
April 1st, 2012 at 10:42 pm
You only have to look at the hundreds of precinct committee people who were elected to the DEC in 2008 who are no longer involved in it’s activities, to understand how frustrated good Democrats are with the inept leadership that is Mitch Ceasar.
“In Mitch’s World” hits the nail on the head. The ONLY thing Mitch is concerned with is keeping his power. And as long as the FDP allows him to get away with this, at the expense of turning out the vote of the Democratic majority in Broward County, Florida will continue to be a Democratic wasteland.
April 2nd, 2012 at 10:19 am
Good grief! Fleischer in charge of another Democratic club? He and his sidekick (take a guess) damn near destroyed the Pine Island Ridge Dem club seven years ago.
April 2nd, 2012 at 12:03 pm
That Randy Fleischer, one of the few Broward Democrats that isn’t afraid to do the hard work of grassroots organizing, is whom the FDP chooses to focus its ire, should paint a clear picture to the outside observer of that organization’s current relevance and why Florida Democrats are in the position we are now.
April 2nd, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Mitch Ceasar and Randy Fleishman are just two jokes of the Broward DEC
April 2nd, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Randy Fleischer is a true “feet on the street” Democrat. AND Donny is correct, Randy was elected Area Leader!
Mitch Ceasar is a true “feet on the desk” Democrat who likes to accept credit for hard work and victories in Broward County for which he does NOT deserve!
Stan IS correct, Mitch is only concerned with keeping his power.
Believe me Buddy, many, many Broward County Democrats are working diligently for President OBama to be re-elected in spite
of Mitch’s power!
Thank you!
April 2nd, 2012 at 6:06 pm
A few quick points:
1. Buddy, did you examine whether Randy attempted to go through the appropriate process and Mitch wouldn’t support the new club exclusively because of Randy’s involvement?
2. If all of those articles about Mitch are not true, why didn’t he bring a defamation law suit? He’s a public persona, so the standard is slightly higher, but it’s about his business so damages are per se. Village Voice has deep enough pockets to make it worthwhile for Moskowitz or someone to file suit for Mitch.
@Privacy_Shades
April 3rd, 2012 at 12:36 am
The articles cited by “In Mitch’s World” were all written by investigative reporter Bob Norman, who Local10 describes as “one of South Florida’s most respected journalists”. Bob Norman won the “The Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism Awards/Atlanta SPJ” in both 2009 and 2011 (the timeframe corresponding to those articles), and that is in addition to his 40+ other journalism awards.
Bob Norman is the investigative reporter whose meticulous reporting brought down Scott Rothstein, Al Capellini, and Joe Eggelletion, among many others.
Buddy, what basis could you have for doubting Bob Norman’s reports on Mitch Ceasar?
FROM BUDDY:
I look at everything with a critical eye. I don’t doubt Bob Norman’s reporting. Read some of the reports carefully. They are no doubt accurate reports of what they are — critics of Mitch Ceasar sounding off.
Mitch Ceasar is a lobbyist. That’s true. Everybody on the executive committee knows that. He still has won re-election by more than 80 percent, maybe 90 percent.
His critics tried to topple him a few years ago. Those forces against him included the unions and former U. S. Rep. Peter Deutsch. They failed miserably. The Democrats get what they voted for, which is Mitch Ceasar.
Ceasar may not win General Elections, but he can win the one that is important to him — Democratic Chairman. Despite reams of bad publicity about him.
Let me correct one thing: Bob Norman is no more responsible for bringing Scott Rothstein “down”, as you wrote, then he is for bringing Joe Eggelletion down. In the first case, Rothstein’s scam fell apart and he ran to Morocco. In the second case, Eggelletion was caught for money laundering in an FBI sting and pleaded guilty.
I’m not sure, but I think Chaz Stevens had a great deal to do with Capellini.
Norman has done great reporting on all three politicians. But he is not the Masked Avenger cleaning up Broward County. He is a reporter. Just a reporter — many times good and sometimes way off base like everybody.
I’m happy for him and his new gig at Channel 10. I told him this myself. However, Norman is just one of many good reporters locally and nationally.
April 3rd, 2012 at 6:17 am
There are independent groups working to get out the vote and totally ignoring the DEC. That is because all of the members of this group left the DEC when they were totally disgusted by the lack of action and support of corruption.
If Mitch and company worked in 2010 we would not be dealing with Rick Scott. Broward could have sealed that bargain, but the inaction and ineptitude of the DEC killed it. They are a total waste and the state is going along with them now because Rod Smith does not want to rock any boats for his Gubernatorial run. Unfortunately it is about individual power and politics and not about getting Democrats elected. The DEC does nothing to help that. Randy gets out there and walks precincts, puts together voter turnout groups and helped elect Judy Paul and Brian Caletka in Davie. This scares the hell out of Mitch. The DEC was not involved in the Davie election (or any others around the county)
April 3rd, 2012 at 11:55 am
Buddy, you are right on about Bob Norman. He repeats his wife’s stories and then concludes something absurd.
The New Times sells skin. Read the NY Times. By extension Norman is a pimp.
April 3rd, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Buddy, do you really think that Ceasar won honestly in a free and fair election?
——————-
Chairman Ceasar and the Dirty Election
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/10/broward_democratic_chairman_mitch_ceasar.
FROM BUDDY:
I wasn’t there so I can’t say whether it was honest and fair. Just remember that this report is based on the word of Ceasar critics. Where is Peter Deutsch on this?
My understanding is that all the formal complaints went nowhere.
April 3rd, 2012 at 5:16 pm
First of all, these aren’t just ordinary words from critics – these are sworn affidavits. “An affidavit is a type of verified statement or showing, or in other words, it contains a verification, meaning it is under oath or penalty of perjury, and this serves as evidence to its veracity and is required for court proceedings.”
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/10/broward_democratic_chairman_mitch_ceasar.php
“Coffman, the former executive director working directly under Ceasar and Glasser, says the election was clearly fixed. In a sworn affidavit, she described rule-breaking by Ceasar at a number of levels:
— Ceasar hoarded information, keeping important election-related deadlines and election meeting information from going out to DEC members.
— As Ceasar tried to stack the precincts with friends and cronies, state Democratic official Milli Smith informed Coffman that 20 to 30 of the committee members submitted wrong information to the Supervisor of Elections. Some didn’t live in the precincts they represented, some weren’t members of the Democratic Party at all, and some were even Republicans. She said Ceasar told her he would “take care of it.”
— In November 2008, about a month before the DEC election, Ceasar gave Coffman a list of DEC members whom he wanted “purged” from the “roster” because they were “ineligible.” Coffman said she then learned that several of those Ceasar wanted gone were eligible. “I reported each discrepancy to Chair Ceasar, showing the evidence presented to me,” Coffman wrote in the affidavit. “Chair Ceasar [said] that I was to keep them off because the State had made their ruling on the matter.” This is a recurring Catch-22 that Ceasar uses: He claims the state party is responsible while state party officials claim it is Ceasar’s jurisdiction. […]
— On December 6, 2008, the day before the election, Ceasar entered party headquarters while Coffman, Glasser, and several volunteers unknown to Coffman were getting ballots ready. Ceasar then came into the room and demanded that no ballots would be given to the purged members. Glasser disagreed, and a “disagreement with shouting ensued between Mitch and Diane Glasser.” Glasser assured Ceasar that none of the ballots would actually be counted, but she wanted to give them out to prevent “scenes.” Ceasar agreed. Interestingly, Glasser also ordered Coffman to produce 60 sets of extra ballots above and beyond the ballots produced for eligible voters. “I attended the election the next day and never saw what happened to these extra ballots and no extras were returned to the DEC office,” Coffman wrote in the affidavit.
– On the day after the election, Coffman received a call from Peter Deutsch’s assistant, Robin Rorapaugh, asking to review the ballots. Coffman called Ceasar, who told her the ballots were probably in the trunk of Diane Glasser’s car. Coffman then called Glasser, who didn’t return the call. Then she received a call from Milli Smith of the Florida Democratic Party. “She instructed me to say that on Sunday night after the election that I saw Rhett Bullard from the Florida Democratic Party put the ballots in 3 boxes, seal them then hand them to me and that I mailed them out Fed Ex on Monday Morning,” Coffman wrote. “I responded by asking, ‘Are you asking me to lie?’ She answered, ‘Never mind,’ and then hung up.”
Understand this is just one affidavit filed regarding the election’s irregularities. There were others. […] “…[many] good Democrats were [unfairly] removed from the Broward DEC rolls who Ceasar and Glasser suspected would vote for their opponents… We have pictures of people involved in stuffing the ballot box, including a picture of one of their supporters with four sets of ballots in his hand during the election.” […]”
——————————-
In what free and fair election does one candidate unilaterally control the vote-counting process? Josef Stalin famously observed: “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.” From the comments to “Chairman Ceasar and the Dirty Election”:
“Mitch announced that henceforth all Democratic Party ballot counting would be in a sealed room with no one admitted other than his hand picked vote counters and the candidate’s themselves (previously party officers could be present to observe the vote counting)”
“Mitch brought armed police to the voting area to remove observers during an open ballot on public property. I objected because if there were 6 people counting votes at the table and only 2 vote counters per table it’s a waste of time – it’s like watching a shell game – 1 observer per side can’t possibly watch six counters! the armed police were brought in to intimidate us – when we asked him to show us the rules – or quote them he couldn’t”
Other comments in the article “Chairman Ceasar and the Dirty Election” explain why these sworn affidavits and formal complaints to the FDP went nowhere…
“… they are the organizer’s of their own election, and when a grievance is filed against them at the next tier up – the Florida Democratic Party – the head of the Judicial Committee, Chairwoman Karen Thurman, is in Mitch and Diane’s pocket because she is running 2-3 weeks later and needs their heavily weighted votes to maintain her seat (did anyone mention the fact that she is also a lobbyist?). …”
“Ceasar and Glasser then voted for Karen Thurman, a lobbyist, to retain her position as Florida State Democratic Chairwoman. Browards votes count more than other counties as we have the highest % of dems, which guaranteed Thurmans victory. Thurman then covered for Ceasar/Glasser in their hearings about the December election because if their elections were found to be fraudulent so too would hers.”
April 4th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Its a shame this blog lost its way and message. Randy Fleischer works hard for the Democratic Party, won his seat on management fairly, gives a good report every month at the management meetings and is a true Democrat. Actually, Mitch Ceaser has been getting along well with Randy and complimenting his work. Mitch told management and the DEC members how important the election of Judy Paul was and asked for their help to assist Randy. Randy is unhappy about a club in his area and should have simply added members to take over the club. Randy knows the by-laws better than anyone on the management team. It’s that simple. In this case Randy made a mistake, Mitch was doing his job and Randy needs to read and follow the by laws. He should start his new club by following the rules of the Party.
April 4th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
The truth is that Ceasar does not want what is best for the party, only what is best for Ceasar. The current Davie Cooper City Democratic club has done nothing for candidates in years. I attended the March 1st meeting and there was no mention of the Davie town elections taking place March 13th. I filed a grievance against the DCCDM March 2nd because they failed to send out meeting notices of its club election, failed to open nominations from the floor the night of the election and do nothing to recruit new members or help democratic candidates.
Ceasar does not want a stong club in Davie if it is not blindly following him and Diane Glasser. They only help themselves and consider themselves public masters rather than public servants.
In reviewing the packet I received from the DEC to charter a club, it requires bylaws, loyalthy oaths signed by all club officers and a minimu of 25 members, with only 25% or less of the members being members of other clubs. There is no way to charter a club unless you have meetings, pass bylaws and elect officers. Ceasars stated objection is that I cannot have a public meeting announciing it a as a Democratic club without being chartered. There are no rules anyone has cited to substantiate that hypocritical and inconsistent proposition. Therefore, in response to the letter that everyone was emailed, except me, I got the letter by US mail on Monday, I have changed the meeting announcement to show TEAM BROWARD or the DAVIE DEMOCRACY CLUB to continue to move forward. Anyone with an brain would agree it is better for the party to have a strong club in Davie than to have a club that does nothing. We will meet at the Flashback diner Thursday at 6″15, judicial candidates are invited to speak as are all Democratic elected officials and candidates. We will pass bylaws, nominate members for officer positions and at the meeting we will elect officers and then apply for the charter!!!!
April 4th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
The Florida Democratic Party stopped Randy from forming the club the same way that the FDP revoked the charter of the Tamarac Democratic Club. MITCH CEASAR sent an e-mail, or a letter, to the FDP requesting that the Davie Club be denied…then, Mitch says, “I didn’t do it. The Florida Democratic Party did it.” Randy Fleisher is a true Democrat,and he works to elect Democrats, get Democrats registered, and get them to the polls. He walks the walk!!! Sworn Affidavits has some comments which appear to be taken directly from the file regarding Mitch’s, (just like W’s), election. There were photos, showing Mitch’s cronies with handfuls of ballots. Carol Coffman testified that Diane Glasser took ballots home with her…PRIOR to the election.
The election was a farce. Buddy, you need to look at the file.
April 4th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Randy — you are Dandy!
April 4th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Someone (Patti?) should send Buddy a complete copy of the file on Mitch’s election – or, better yet, scan and post all of those documents on the Internet and then publish the URL here – then everyone could see every detail of that “election” 🙂
FROM BUDDY:
Why are you fighting about an election years ago? Mitch faces a re-election in December, I believe. Why don’t you organize and beat him? Run candidates to beat his committee members. Get working now. It really doesn’t matter what happened in the past because you can’t change anything. You can change the future.
April 4th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
But with that kind of election, no one but Mitch will be able to win. It will be another crooked election unless the state gets involved and they won’t because Rod Smith is walking all sides of the tightrope. With a crooked election, the only winner is the guy in control so why bother.
April 4th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
The only answer is to do what Randy is doing and form a shadow DEC with all the amazing activists that will no longer go near Mitch and company…and there are lots, and they all work hard to get out the vote. If they don’t use the word Democrat then Mitch has no control.