Tidbits: Activist Wins Big At Poker
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Activist Jacquelyn Scott may have regretted losing her 2012 Fort Lauderdale city campaign to Commissioner Romney Rogers.
The upside was it gave her more time to hone her poker skills.
Last weekend, those skills paid off. Scott won $153,876 for a First Place finish in the World Series of Poker Ladies No-Limit Holdem Championship in Las Vegas.
Having learned to play poker online roughly a decade ago, Scott had a $10,000 buy-in to the tournament.
A former nurse who is now a well-known Realtor, Scott has been a Fort Lauderdale civic activist for over a generation.
I knew her when she was a practicing nurse during my early days as a police reporter. I spent more time with her later as a leader of the Fort Lauderdale civic associations when we both hung around Bar Amici, a now-defunct East Las Olas lounge popular with politicos in the 1990s.
She currently is on the Board of Directors of the organization seeking to preserve the Shippey House.
Shippey is one of Broward’s rare historical homes, an original (circa 1914-18) Dade County Pine structure, according to the organization’s website. The home was the residence of Judge Fred B. Shippey, Broward County’s second judge.
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Child abuse awareness advocate Lauren Book — or as I like to call her state Sen.-All-But-Elected Lauren Book — just got a fawning national write-up in the latest issue of Newsweek, dated July 3.
A victim of child abuse, Book is the head of Lauren’s Kids, a child abuse awareness organization. She is also the daughter of über lobbyist Ron Book, arguably the single most influential lobbyist in Florida.
The article here is a sickeningly detailed description of exactly what Lauren endured during years of abuse. Reading it takes a strong stomach.
Newsweek mentions that usually tough and restrained Ron Book “still cries” when he talks about his daughter experience. That’s something I can verify since Ron Book broke down during a breakfast with me a few years ago when he began discussing Lauren.
Ms. Book, 30, has her eyes on the state Senate seat that is now held by outgoing state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood. Sobel is term limited in 2016.
With a political committee stuffed with a half million or so dollars from her father’s clients, Ms. Book appears to be a shoo-in.
Ron and Lauren Book. Note the ever-present cell phone in lobbyist Ron’s hand (from Newsweek)
June 29th, 2015 at 4:55 pm
Half a million bucks from the clients of her father the wealthy lobbyist?!? She certainly isn’t getting my vote.
June 30th, 2015 at 9:28 am
I think its great what she is doing. keep up the good work. I am all for you- congrats on the money from the State. Also kudos to your Dad for helping me you. Call me I can’t get you justice as to what happened to you , but I can show you how to get even. Put all that behind you(as I have done) and excel in making a difference and helping other people(victims). Always remember you are a survivor. Ps. help me save the bears and the coyotes w/ your father’s connections there is no stopin us……