Update: Debate Over Ethically-Challenged Hollywood Commissioner Peter Hernandez
Update: Just hours after the below piece was posted, Hollywood commission passed a new ethics law which forbids commissioners from doing business with the city. The vote was 4 to 2 with one abstention — Peter Hernandez.
Hernandez did not talk during the meeting.
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Ethically challenged Hollywood City Commissioner Peter Hernandez is at it again.
A few months ago Hernandez had the gall to bid and win a $78,645 sewage sludge-hauling contract with Hollywood, where he is a commissioner.
Then last week, Hernandez tried to kill a new ethics measure that would forbid commissioners like him from winning such a contract in the future.
Hernandez appears to have violated the city’s own law by arguing against the ethics proposal and then abstaining because of the conflict of interest.
When Mayor Peter Bober tried to point out that Hernandez should stay silent because he has a conflict, other commissioners ignored the mayor.
Peter Hernandez
Surprised?
You shouldn’t be.
This is Hollywood, where one commissioner Keith Wasserstrom already went to jail in 2007 for having ties to a company that won a city contract.
Apparently, commissioners learned nothing from Wasserman’s fall. They remain deaf, dumb and blind to conflicts.
Especially dumb. As in dense, brainless and just plain stupid.
Here is the sad details:
Bober proposed a tightening of the city’s ethics laws earlier this year after Hernandez was handed the sewage sludge-hauling contract by the very commission he sits on.
The mayor’s measure was debated last week.
Since the measure was clearly aimed at Hernandez, a two-year old city law seems to prohibit him from taking part in the debate.
City ordinance 2014-129 forbids any city commissioner from participating in a debate “in any manner” and then abstain because of a conflict of interest.
The relative portion of the law is below and it is clear.
Commissioners ignored that law.
Commissioners ignored that Hernandez, who had announced he was going to abstain, was apparently violating the law by taking part in the debate. They ignored it even after Bober pointed it out.
The ethics measure was tabled after a fervent plea from Hernandez and Commissioner Kevin Biederman to kill it.
This is a commission that can’t understand that awarding a sewage sludge-hauling contract to their colleague Hernandez doesn’t pass the smell test.
Hernandez and his most fervent defender Biederman argued last week that taxpayers are getting a break. They say that Hernandez got the hauling contract through a low bid and the price tag to the city was a good one.
That’s not the point.
Browardbeat.com received an unsolicited phone call from a Hernandez competitor. The competitor said that he didn’t bid on the Hollywood contract because it was clearly an inside deal.
“Who’s going to bid against a city commissioner?” he said.
That’s probably why there were only two bids, while cities like Davie have had much more competition for sludge removal. That’s probably why the second bid was suspiciously more than double Hernandez company’s bid, while Davie’s bids were all within thousand of dollars of each other
Bober’s measure would prevent future questionable arrangement like the one that Hernanez inked with the city. It would specifically forbid the city from doing business with a commissioner or his family.
Here is the relevant portion:
That’s a no-brainer in almost any government.
Not in Hollywood.
After all, this is a Commission that ignored a law last week that is already on their books. They allowed conflict-ridden Hernandez to debate the ethics measure and then abstain.
Hernandez is engaged in the worst type of double-dipping – receiving a Commission salary while also having a contract with the city.
Fortunately, Hernandez has two opponents in November – Timothy Burton and Maria Jackson.
But if the ethically flawed Hernandez gets re-elected, don’t be be shocked.
After all, this is Hollywood.
XXXXX
After this story was posted, investigative blogger/activist Chaz Stevens filed a complaint with the Broward Inspector General against Hernandez:
August 7, 2016
Broward Office of Inspector General
Broward County, FL
Timothy “Chaz” Stevens, Genius
PO Box 1123
Deerfield Beach, FL 33443
RE: Possible Violations of Florida Law by Hollywood City Commissioner Peter Hernandez
Dear Sir or Madam:
The purpose of this complaint is to highlight possible violations of Florida Statutes (FS 112.313) by Hollywood City Commissioner Peter Hernandez.
(3) DOING BUSINESS WITH ONE’S AGENCY.—No employee of an agency acting in his or her official capacity as a purchasing agent, or public officer acting in his or her official capacity, shall either directly or indirectly purchase, rent, or lease any realty, goods, or services for his or her own agency from any business entity of which the officer or employee or the officer’s or employee’s spouse or child is an officer, partner, director, or proprietor or in which such officer or employee or the officer’s or employee’s spouse or child, or any combination of them, has a material interest.
As I made you aware earlier, local media is reporting on various Hernandez shenanigans. To wit:
1. He directs city business to his company … aka he does business with his own agency.
2. The ethically bankrupt Hernandez tries to kill new ethics measures design to prevent winning future contracts.
3. Hernandez argues against the measure, than abstains.
4. He’s a douchebag.
Well, #4 is our reporting.
Therefore, please let this letter stand as my official complaint against Hernandez for possible violations of Florida Law 112.313.
Please fully investigate this matter and apply the appropriate sanctions.
Sincerely;
Timothy “Chaz” Stevens
September 7th, 2016 at 10:14 am
Isn’t Hollywood also the city where inspectors posed as homebuyers to gain access inside homes? SMH
September 7th, 2016 at 11:17 am
Peter Hernandez should be a shamed of himself as should the commission. It is outrageous that a Commissioner would abuse his office by bidding for business in the city he or she serves. And with Hernandez, no city staffer says no without fear of losing their jobs.
This is just like when he won the $2500 from the city for most improved home. He should not have entered that contest…..what staffer was going to vote against him?
Peter Hernandez is an ethically challenged bully. He needs to make a choice between serving the city and taking from the city.
September 7th, 2016 at 11:29 am
Buddy-
I see your background in writing for supermarket tabloids has been more impactful on you than your time at Ramparts. It is difficult to take you seriously when you couple inflammatory language with very light research. It is not just about superficial “smell tests”. It’s about facts. For example: Why did your mystery caller not bother to submit a bid, when it could have so easily been used as actual evidence, had he been refused? Other relevant facts are that Peter Hernandez has been doing this work for the city long before he was elected, and the pricing has remained consistent. I don’t think the taxpayers want to pay more for sludge removal once the contractor becomes a commissioner. It really saddens me that a journalist that once wrote for Ramparts now stoops so low as to practice this kind of drive-by posting. I believe you took a buy-out, not just because of “the future of journalism” but to avoid doing basic research and being fair.
September 7th, 2016 at 12:21 pm
State and county ethics laws which do apply to Hollywood are insufficient to address this concern? How are they insufficient?
September 7th, 2016 at 2:23 pm
Chaz, it’s September 7, not August. Put the bottle away. But thanks for filing the complaint. How audacious will this get before the state attorney’s office does something?
September 7th, 2016 at 2:46 pm
Hey Sean;
Tell your client to suck it up and hire an attorney.
Here comes the OIG.
September 7th, 2016 at 3:42 pm
>> How audacious will this get before the state attorney’s office does something?
You’ll have better luck getting Paris Hilton to go out on a date with you.
The SAO sucks. Plain and simple.
They’ve been investigating Jean Robb for 3 years … nothing happening.
I brought to them solid evidence the Dania Beach City Attorney was violating the Sunshine. They took a mulligan.
They ignored the felony charges drummed up against Sylvia Poitier.
Satz, Donnelly, and Ishoy are worthless at tits on a bull. Even saggy tits.
September 8th, 2016 at 8:58 am
“Hernandez and his most fervent defender Biederman” Biederman still have the pest control contract with the City of Hollywood?
September 11th, 2016 at 7:31 pm
Where was the City Attorney during the Board meeting when Hernandez was advocating? Where was the City Attorney’s Office during contract review regarding both sludge and pest control? What a mess!
September 13th, 2016 at 1:11 pm
1. I left Hollywood when they created the crappy overpriced tacky re-development of Young Circle which they sold as a way to get the homeless away from downtown
So they destroyed the colorful stores and affordable restaurants and now empty headed yuppies have lots of banks n overpriced restaurants.
But the voters all supported this. The destruction of afforable motels some in spaces still empty after over a decade? Great city planning!
Now the City Commission is exposed as corrupt. Really. – look at who they elected Election after Election with the exception of maybe Peter Bober and Suzanne Gunzenberger. Clowns and Lobbyists.
The Hernandez Case is one of a long list BUT THE VOTERS DONT CARE. DONT BLAME ANYONE BUT THE VOTERS.