Who Played The Latest Dirty Trick?

BY BUDDY NEVINS

Robocalls are at it again.

The calls hit Broward on Wednesday inviting telephone owners to a Broward Sheriff’s Office community event on Saturday  at the Pride Center in Wilton Manors.

Featuring Sheriff Al Lamberti’s voice, the calls weren’t strictly political and didn’t mention the upcoming election.

But the fact that the calls originated from a phone of the Democratic Executive Committee and publicized an event for a Republican sheriff makes this a dirty trick.

Was this Lamberti?

Or could this be a weird dirty trick worthy of a spy novel, where it looks like Lamberti is responsible but it is really being done by Democrat Scott Israel to smear the incumbent sheriff? If you think that’s implausible, tell the callers to Browardbeat.com who insisted that is how the robo call went down.

“That’s ridiculous. How would we ever get Al Lamberti’s voice to use and why would we publicize one more of his shameless self-promotions?” said Amy Rose, Israel’s campaign manager.

Whoever was responsible, the calls disrupted preparations for the election at Democratic headquarters for hours on Wednesday.

Angry Democrats flooded the party with complaints.  When he heard about the call, Democratic boss Mitch  Caesar ran to the office and spent the afternoon answering calls.

“It was not from us,” Ceasar said. “It was obviously a dirty trick. I don’t know who was behind, but its real slime.  Welcome to politics in South Florida.”

Either somebody illegally grabbed control of the Democrat’s number or a dirty trickster infiltrated the party organization and used the phone without permission.

Whatever happened, it wasn’t kosher.

The call is here.

Below is the caller ID, which a reader sent in and which I also received at my home.



20 Responses to “Who Played The Latest Dirty Trick?”

  1. Watching the race says:

    Is it a coincidence that this week Israel gets money and then the robocalls start?

    Who is always doing robo-calls and blaming others?

    Is this really what we want for Sheriff?

  2. Pines Voter says:

    Democrats are on the Al Lamberti payroll to help him get elected. Some have taken loyalty oaths to support only Democrats like Ron Mills and Adele Berger. Now we see they are traitors to their those oaths. Mitch Cesar does nothing to remove them for violating their oaths. So what is the point of taking an oath if you are a Democrat?

    That is how sickening this campaign of Lamberti’s has gotten. He is forced to buy people off but I do not believe it will work this time. This time people know how corrupt BSO has become and will want a change despite the hacks on the take.

  3. Just Saying says:

    It was clearly Lamberti who did these calls. Unless you want to credit Scott Israel with being so brilliant a machiavellian mastermind that he tricked Lamberti into recording that self-serving Lamberti message “just for kicks, Al, can you say it into my cell phone” … with the plan to then get his buddy Ron Mills to spoof the caller IDs in a way to benefit Lamberti in the calls … just so he can claim Scott Israel set him up when the thing blows up in Lamberti’s face.

    But, hey, if that is actually true I will definitely be voting for Israel as he’s so much more brilliant than that doofus Lamberti.

  4. Heavy D says:

    Sounds illegal I am sure the current Sheriff will get to the bottom of it.

  5. Tim Ross says:

    Robocalls always spoof the number of the person who sends them because they are usually dialed by the server of the robocall provider. Theoretically you could program the number of the White House or the RNC to appear on the caller ID for a robocall. The issue is that it is illegal to do so in Florida if you are not the White House or the RNC. Legal robocalls will show the name and the number of the person or organization calling you on your caller ID. So only people who received this call can file an affidavit complaint with the Broward State Attorney’s Office which we have posted along with directions on the Dolphin Democrats Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/dolphiindmes/10151202535239383/. People who say they know who did it really don’t know. No one can say that with any degree of accuracy until the Broward State Attorney’s office subpoenas the records from the phone company and makes the findings of its investigation public, unless they themselves had a hand in setting up the call.

  6. Marty Kiar says:

    Buddy,

    I hope all is well with you. The practice of “spoofing” i.e. changing the number and name on the caller id to try to deceive is a disgraceful practice. A few years ago, I and Senator Dave Aronberg passed a law outlawing the practice of spoofing in Florida. The law was passed unanimously by the House and Senate and signed into law by then Governor Crist. Unfortunately, folks sued under the law and a Federal Court ruled the law to be unconstitutional. Unfortunately, since the law was ruled unconstitutional, “spoofing” is not illegal, but I believe it is unethical and immoral and folks who engage in spoofing should be ashamed of themselves. I hope whoever was responsible for the above mentioned “spoof” will refrain from doing any more “spoofing” in the future as trying to decieve our residents is just plain wrong and unfair.

  7. AdamGood says:

    Russ DiPerna was bragging about this the other night at the NAACP event.

  8. Just Saying says:

    Don’t know if it is “unconstitutional” for calls placed entirely to/from Florida. Doesn’t implicate interstate commerce.

  9. Independent says:

    Sorry it is just to coincidental that this happens just when Israel gets in all this money. Also, for some reason it happens in every Israel election the same way.

    Beside Lamberti has done a fine job and I see no reason not to vote for him again. If he was so bad, it wouldn’t be just at election time that these attacks should be coming.

    I already voted, so it won’t make a difference to me, but if I bet, it would be Israel, or someone supporting him, doing it.

  10. voter says:

    c’mon guys. just vote. we don’t have to be influenced. just do your homework and vote for one or the other. or you can skip that line.

  11. Red Coward says:

    If you pay me a few bucks, I can spoof any number.

    The candidates that pay me can have this done on top of other services like diverting attention away from their weak credentials by creating funny memes using their rival’s photos.

  12. Rosalind D'Angelo says:

    This smells like Al Lamberti. Considering his record as Sheriff this kind of trick follows suit.

  13. Dirty Trick or Stupid Mistake says:

    Ron Mills and Michael Albetta have been using this same number for their Robo-Calls for years.

    Also, I got this call, and it came from 954-831-8900 on Thursday. It was the same message from Al Lamberti, and it was clearly Al Lamberti recording the message.

    There’s no trick here, just the sad fact that two unscrupulous Gay Democrats think they can make more money by re-electing a homophobic Republican sheriff.

  14. vague vince says:

    I VOTED:

    Lamberti for Sheriff!

    Scott Israel for Pooper Scooper!

  15. More Dirty Candidates -- This time Bob Nichols says:

    So local blogger has posted copies of Facebook private messages and details of Nichols bad boy conduct.

    http://www.myactsofsedition.com/2012/10/25/as-my-buddy-mike-rowe-says-now-get-ready-to-get-dirty/

    Oops Bob, if these FB posts being plastered all over the web are true, maybe slandering the woman online and accusing her of mental instability while you’re chatting her up about kissing her “south of the equator” isn’t such a good idea.

    Wonder how your Republican-Cavalry Chapel-Tea Party friends will look at this, along with you representing crooked Dem. pols. pro bono (or is what you do Bro Bono, or is it Pro Boner, or Bro Boner).

    You make Anthony Weiner look like an Amateur.

  16. christine says:

    Yeah 1 guess who the ORCA blogger was……

  17. Real Deal says:

    The way to clean up campaigning is public financing of campaigns where rules can be imposed fairly, proper enforcement can take place, and limits on spending can occur.

    The law says you cannot tell private people what they can do with their money. However the law does not prohibit rules limiting what money candidates can accept or what rules they must follow when running for office.

    You can all argue about dirty campaigning until your faces turn blue. When we get serious about solving the problem public campaign finance rules will be available to provide those solutions. Until then please enjoy your wallow in the mud of the politics you insist on having.

    Have a nice day.

  18. MPR says:

    I suspect this was just another low tactic by two very unethical boys. I did a little research and uncovered a lot of connects to both of them. Dolphin Democrats should rethink any connection to these two. See http://mprhodes.com/blog/archives/800

  19. Lamberti is garbage says:

    If it is dirty….it is Dirty Lamberti. I can’t wait until he goes to jail.

  20. Angelina Fox says:

    Wait, there’s more. Al Lamberti’s human resources manager is being investigated for embezzling over $2 Million of taxpayer money! OMFG! Is Lamberti that corrupt or is he that clueless as to have his own people steal from right under his nose? Lamberti’s got to go! Check it out.