County Commissioners Act Like Babies; Fight Over Where To Sit
BY BUDDY NEVINS
We’ve got a lot of problems in Broward County.
Taxes are too high. Insurance costs are through the roof. We’re in a recession. Government is laying off workers.
What was the big issue at the Broward County Commission on Tuesday?
Where two commissioners would sit.
Yup.
Like babies fighting over toys, Commissioners Lois Wexler and John Rodstrom threw fits when asked to move their seats by the new Mayor Stacy Ritter.
Ritter wanted Commissioners Ilene Lieberman and Ken Keechl sitting next to her. To accomplish this, she asked Wexler and Rodstrom to move.
Wexler in a loud voice in the commission office said she wouldn’t move.
This is the second incident like this for Wexler. She threw a tantrum once at the School Board over where she was sitting.
Rodstrom said he liked the light over his current seat and also refused to move.
Let’s put this in perspective.
Tens of thousands of Broward residents are worried about where they will sleep tonight, whether their homes will be foreclosed. Wexler and Rodstrom are worried about where they will sit.
Literally millions are without work in this country. Thousands laid off. And Wexler and Rodstrom are worried about where they sit on the dais.
These commissioners are cloistered in their taxpayer-paid office surrounded by taxpayer-paid aides to do the real work. Their lunch and dinner tabs are picked up by lobbyists. This squabble over seating proves they have no idea about the concerns of real people.
Not looking for an embarrassing public fight, Ritter backed off her request for now.
What is even more disgusting than the flap over seats?
The public praise Wexler and Rodstrom lavished on Judy Stern at today’s first meeting of the newly elected commission.
Stern is a lobbyist. She helped both Wexler and Rodstrom win re-election.
It is more telling than anything else that the commissioners felt it necessary to thank a lobbyist for their re-election.
Tomorrow she will be in their offices pushing a client.
It is a small club of insiders at the county commission.
No wonder a federal judge’s decision in the 1990s stated that Broward’s government was controlled by lobbyistslike Stern. Nothing has changed.
Wexler and Rodstrom should be more worried about the perception that a lobbyist controls their vote than where they sit.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Lobbyist controlled. Lobbyist bought. Dont some of them work as lobbyists. Isn’t Ritter’s husband a lobbyist?
November 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
buddy you have all but reported the death of judy yet now you claim she is a powerfull…i guess you didn’t clear this article by rothstein and the formans
November 18th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Wanah Wanah. I can’t sit in my seat. Wanah Wanah. I can’t sit where I want.
Get over it. $100,000 a year. Do something useful.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
This is HYSTERICAL!!! Absolutely ridiculous and stupid. County Commissioners acting like babies and spoiled brats about their seats and where they sit… Buddy, you hit the nose on the head with this one. Besides, this is the 2nd. time Wexler has thrown a hissy fit about her seat on the dais, the 1st. being on the School Board. She has to be seen in front of the people, why? OMG, does she have that much of an EGOTISTICAL MIND for Power and Control? Maybe she needs to be psychologically examined for defaults in the brain. I just can’t believe this really happened. Thanks Buddy for allowing us the pleasure of reading this and knowing what the lame idiots are doing, those who are running our COUNTY? It’s really a shame and so disgusting as well. OMG!!!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
What a bunch of babies. This is what runs our county! Wexler is nothing but a very scarastic SOB who wants it all for herself. She thinks she is better than anything that lives and breathes!
We got to remember these inmature spend happy SOBs come the next election. The folks of this fine county better start wisening up!
November 19th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Buddy, you captured exactly what went on–right there in front of the everyone. Wexler’s behavior was disgusting and showed her true colors. Ritter should tell her to go “sit” on stick, might brighten her attitude. She is one sick–witch.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Buddy,
I don’t understand this whole seat thing. What is the significance? Why does it matter where you sit at a government meeting? Isn’t a chair–a chair? I don’t get it?
FROM BUDDY: Ritter wants to sit next to the commissioners she feels closest to. Rodstrom and Wexler believe they have the right to pick what seats they sit in.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
And what exactly gives them that “right?” It is a law or a rule? And are some seats/chairs better than others? Or it is a position? Still really not clear.
Maybe they should run around in a circle with some music on and when it stops everyone sits where they are!
FROM BUDDY: Absolutely the best idea, Yolanda: Musical chairs for their seats. I can guarantee they will get international media coverage. I love it.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:22 am
This is so ridiculous these people should be so ashamed of acting like they are in kindergarten. Here again and I wish I knew how to get it start is Term Limits for ALL elected positions, if it good enough for president it should be for all other elected officials. Shame on you and I’ve ordered a box of binkies to be put on the dais for them to suck on.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Judy, Judy, Judy….she also needs term limits and needs to be run out of this County…..Retire the old broad. I loved the comment some days ago about her ass being able to be seen from outer space. Too funny.