Exclusive: Sheriff’s Supporters Launch Political Committee For 2016 Re-Election
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Sheriff Scott Israel must be doing a good job.
That’s what two long-time Republican fundraisers must believe. They jumped from the GOP to be among the first contributors to Israel’s 2016 re-election
Deep-pocketed auto sales tycoon Rick Case and real estate/development mogul Ron Bergeron were hosts of a quiet, low-key fundraiser at Bergeron’s sprawling 60-acre plus Weston ranch earlier this month.
Bergeron’s ranch usually hosts politicians like Gov. Rick Scott, Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam and the Broward Republican Party. Case generally supports a straight Republican ticket, too.
Both were key fundraisers and long-time supporters of former Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti. They were among the first contributors to Lamberti’s 2010 campaign against then-challenger Israel.
Lamberti’s first contribution disclosure form contains donations from eight businesses owned by Case, four members of the Case family and four businesses owned by Bergeron for a total of $8,000. The two businessmen bundled thousands of additional dollars for Lamberti during the campaign.
It is a tribute to Israel’s political skills and the job he is doing that these two stalwarts of the GOP were host of the sheriff’s first fundraiser. After all, Israel is arguably the most visible local Democratic office holder in Broward.
The Israel fundraiser was for a group called Citizens for Effective Law Enforcement, a registered federal 527 organization with a mailing address in Tallahassee. It will be a pro-Israel vehicle used during the sheriff’s 2016 re-election.
Attendees included the Sheriff, Broward Sheriff’s Office General Counsel and political strategist Ron Gunzburger, Chief of Staff Lisa Castillo, and former Aerosmith rock musician Richie Supa.
Todd Wilder, who served as BSO Chief of Staff under former Sheriff Ken Jenne and is a Tallahassee-based campaign consultant, was also there. Wilder is now aiding BSO with legislative strategy, and the agency credits him with helping BSO secure $1.5 million in additional funding for child protective investigations last year.
Supa, a very vocal supporter of Israel, acted as the emcee at the gathering.
Browardbeat.com was told that every speaker at the party had glowing praise for Israel.
The small party in Bergeron’s western-themed saloon raised “in the low six-figures,” according to a source involved with the 527.
Israel was asked if he controls the 527 group.
With a smile, the sheriff responded: “They support effective law enforcement, and so do I. Of course I would be honored if they decide to be supportive of my efforts in 2016.”
The early fundraiser shows the sheriff is very serious about his reelection.
Although he has no personal campaign committee yet, state and federal law permit this kind of “soft money” fundraising by a 527. Unlike federal candidates, state and local candidates are allowed to “coordinate” activities with 527 committees like Citizens for Effective Law Enforcement.
No doubt the idea among Team Israel is to build up a large campaign treasury plus widespread support early to deter any serious challenger.
This week’s crime statistics should help.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement report that violent crime fell 13% in BSO cities in 2013, and overall crime dropped 8.1% at the same time. The BSO numbers are significantly better than the statewide numbers, which showed a much lower drop in crime rates.
Those crime stats are probably more important than anything else to voters.
With those stats and the turnout at Israel’s first fundraiser, there appears to be bi-partisan agreement that the sheriff is doing a good job.
April 25th, 2014 at 3:28 pm
After that crook Lamberti, Israel is a breath of fresh air. Just look at the two arrested today from the Lamberti era. Israel is making all the right moves and has convinced me that he will go down as one of the best sheriff’s we ever had. I just wish he would take over Hollywood and clean it up.
April 25th, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Did I forget to mention that Bob Norman is a big fat peeping Tom loser asshole?
April 25th, 2014 at 6:19 pm
Don’t be surprised to see $25k go to each Beam Furr, Mark Bogen, Barbra Sharief and Ken Keechl.
These guys will give again later, they all know the Sheriff will be screwed if Dale Holness and Judy Stern control the County Commission. Between them the have Ryan, Wexler a
April 25th, 2014 at 6:58 pm
@#2 Give it a break Andrew Miller.We are sick of your half truths, innuendos and propaganda. Stop being Israel`s shill.
April 25th, 2014 at 8:54 pm
It was a Republican fundraiser which Israel is and always has been. Israel is taking so much heat from Perareia. Perareia orchestrated Case and Berger on as a front. CASE AND Perareia host a Mitt Romney fundraiser too. What does that tell you. Why hasn’t Israel endorsed NAN Rich yet???
April 25th, 2014 at 10:03 pm
ISRAEL MAY GET RE-ELECTED
THEN AGAIN, MAYBE HE WILL NOT
LETS SEE WHO ELSE STEPS UP TO RUN
IN THE MEANTIME THE 19TH AND 20TH ACCOMPLICES (BSO JERKS) OF ROTHSTEIN WERE FIRED TODAY
FEDS ARE GETTING IT DONE
April 25th, 2014 at 11:00 pm
Oh just because Sheriff Israel has favorable crime stats, incumbency, and the biggest donors to Republican candidates lining up behind him doesn’t mean that Al Lamberti can’t run again.
FROM BUDDY:
The next election is a long way off. Anything could happen before then. Sure Lamberti can run again. But his prospects in 2016 would be far worse than his prospects in 2012. He would not be an incumbent, he lost some of his key supporters and he is still a Republican in a heavily Democratic county.
Lamberti has again been widely rumored to be considering a switch and becoming a Democrat. Too late. The time to do that would have been before the last election. The Democrats already have a sheriff now — Scott Israel. Unless Israel stumbles, nobody is going to successfully challenge him in a Democratic primary.
April 25th, 2014 at 11:02 pm
Sheriff Israel will take money from anybody. In 2008 he took $180,000.00 from Scott Rothstein for his campaign. Another convicted felon like Jenne, Cacciatore, Big Dawg and more he associates with….Disgracegul. The Donors will become public once the report is filed. You know Sleeze Gun berger,Angelo and Lisa Castillo, Diperna and Wilder will be all out protecting their cash from taxpayers. Vote no to Israel in 2016.
April 26th, 2014 at 2:14 am
Wow, Al Lamberti must be fuming! That’s hilarious! What great friends he made in his years in office that 10 minutes after he’s gone, they’re hosting events for the new guy. There was poor Al, walking down the street in Tallahassee all by himself the other day. When you’re not king, nobody cares about you anymore, and that goes double when you’ve treated everyone like shit on your way up.
April 26th, 2014 at 2:30 am
Bob Norman drove all the way practically to Naples so he could get video of a few people turning on to private property to attend a party! There was no secret, the invite was posted on facebook the day before!!!
It really is unbelievable how Bob Norman’s vendetta towards Israel has led to such unnecessary invasions of so many people’s lives. I wonder how Bob or Brittany would feel if angry readers began confronting them at personal functions?! People are allowed to attend functions in their spare time, and Ron and Ali are very well known for the many, many charitable as well as political functions they’ve hosted. Since that event, they’ve probably had at least half a dozen well attended functions at the very same venue.
Bob Norman may think he’s some Superman jedi knight, but really he’s like an addict who hasn’t yet admitted to having a problem.
FROM BUDDY:
You are right that the event was not a secret. Much of the Broward political world knew about it before it was held. The invitations were widely circulated.
April 26th, 2014 at 7:31 am
A BSO lieutenant David Bejamin served as Al Lamberti’s right hand man. Nobody is closer to the Sheriff than his executive officer and that’s the job David Benjamin held.
Benjamin and a detective under his direction named Poole were just indicted by the FBI for helping felon Scott Rothstein in a variety of ways including making false arrests at Rothstein’s behest and helping the ponzi schemer load cash and jewelry onto Rothstein’s chartered getaway plane to Morocco.
Within hours of the indictment current Sheriff Scott Israel fired both of them.
Think about the crimes that the FBI charged them with. Consider the close level of intimacy with Rothstein required for those conspiracy charges to evolve.
If they did that for Rothstein you can bet they did much more. You can also bet it will all surface in weeks to come as both try all they can to save themselves from longer prison sentences.
I have several question to ask.
First, how is it possible that Al Lamberti didn’t know anything what his right hand man was or other staff were doing to help Scott Rothstein?
How is that even remotely possible? And if he did know, as I suspect then the Sheriff himself approved of those actions. How else could any of this have taken place?
Al Lamberti is a very scared man right now. He knew this day was coming but expected to be Sheriff long enough to protect himself from any prosecution. Didn’t happen and now he’s exposed.
Benjamin and Poole will sing to save their skins. Then we will see how deep this rat hole goes.
The FBI briefed Scott Israel about the Rothstein case days after he became the new sheriff. Sheriff Israel’s first action was to suspended both employees. Possibly he wanted to fire them but both are represented by unions.
Al Lamberti knew everything the FBI knew about the Rothstein case. Why didn’t he suspend these two crooked cops? Why did it take Scott Israel to defend the honor of BSO by suspending these two deputies?
That’s the second question to ask Lamberti.
Third, why didn’t Bob Norman ask these questions? For the same reasons he’s tried to bash Scott Israel for beating Al Lamberti.
Al Lamberti promised Norman’s wife Sun Sentinel reporter Brittany Wallman a job as chief spokesperson had Lamberti been re-elected. With these reporters in his back pocket Lamberti was free to do whatever he wanted to cover up his Rothstein involvement. The Normans provided him with that cover which explains their man crush on Lamberti leading up to the election.
And David Benjamin knows all of these things and much more. His testimony will be very entertaining.
Last question. What did Rothstein stooge Charlie Crist know about all this? In Broward, it was Charlie, Al and Rothstein running all kinds of things together. This too will surface ecven as Charlie tries to become governor again to use the power of that office to sanitize his involvement. Crist too is probably having sleepness nights now that Benjamin and Poole were collared.
How much of this is true? What else has taken place? Benjamin and Poole will let us all know very soon. The Rothstein case is only now starting to get interesting.
April 26th, 2014 at 8:16 am
When I watched the 6pm news in channel 10 last night they ran an ad for gov scott get to work Eco commercial a against Crist. Apparently they had no problem with the Eco that paid them
April 26th, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Buddy…
I’ve been told Boca billionaire Robert Pereira attended Rob Bergeron’s 527 fundraiser.
Pereira, who doesn’t do business with BSO or Broward County, raised and gave close to $1M for ECOS (in 2012) to help Scott Israel.
My source, who was in attendance the Bergeron’s shindig tells me “[Pereira] says he will raise $2M between now and 2016.”
April 26th, 2014 at 3:01 pm
@11
Like the next sensible wo/man, I’ve got no love lost for Bob Norman.
But don’t make shit up about his wife.
To wit: “Al Lamberti promised Norman’s wife Sun Sentinel reporter Brittany Wallman a job”
Patently not true.
April 26th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
Robert Pereira is the one who only charged Scott Israel 1500 dollars for a week cruise with him and his family and charges everyone else 350 thousand so another crooked deal by Israel
April 26th, 2014 at 10:01 pm
If the 527 money is so Dirty as Norman says then Channel 10 will surely not take any of the millions in 527 advertising in the upcoming elections. Or else they are extreme hypocrites. More for Channels 4, 6 and 7.
Norman painted your a$$es in a big time corner Channel 10. You will be reminded of that report often during the campaign
April 27th, 2014 at 8:40 am
@ behind these scenes
You got it right.
April 27th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Ok so these people above mentioned are pouring boo-koo money into Sheriff israel’ campaign. They just want to bids ,contracts etc. Mickey Mouse could be Sheriff ,w the same boo-koo money pouring in. Sheriff Israel has more to worry about then money coming into his accounts. How about Lt.Benajamin, and poole being arrested for helping Scott Rothstein and his get away to Morrocco, including putting duffle bags full of money onto the private plane. Money from the investment victims who that money really belonged to in duffle bags escorted by these two. Its more than 500g ,who are they kidding. Dig, dig, dig deeper sun-sentinel reporter paula Mcmahon . Spill the beans Benajamin, you know God damn well where all the money is besides that 500g. And to the feds offering him five(5) yrs in the can. Are you serious? Put another zero in front of that five and you will see how fast Benajamin and Poole spill the beans. I have been on this for quite some time. I did a citizens presentation on this “bs” yrs ago. Chief adderly could recite the delegation. What ‘s up Franklin? Why do I get the feeling you know more to this story than you are reciteing. I know, I know his trump, “I was cleared by FDLE. I was cleared by the FBI” Fine where’s the money honey? I am telling you its more than 500g. Question Rothstein again guys(feds). He is covering up. They had this young woman staying @ the ‘Sea Club” going back here(remember) and they were all foolin around w/ this tramp. She had a Boston Terrier. She stated to me she was going to where- Morrocco. Find the tramp , you find the money. Or at the very least you have a very good lead. Stuart rosefeldt you are a pig and the gals that blew you($) are telling me you had a very small penis(how fitting-you pig). Oh yeah they had this little whore house @ 350 Las oLas. We are not done yet. Feds question this police Chief. Chief adderley is smoother than butter, to cool , for school. Huh? I ain’t buying it Frank… Where’s the money?????
April 27th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
“Stuart”
or should I say propagater of a 527?
Obviously you are one of the corrupt ones. You don’t think Norman cleared all this with his bosses ahead of time? See,everyone’s not as corrupt as you are…
April 27th, 2014 at 5:38 pm
Nobody likes PAC money but it’s a political fact of life. Bob Norman’s station rakes in millions in PAC funded political ads every year and no doubt some of that money makes it into Norman’s own paycheck.
But he thinks he still has the right to call PAC money is dirty and take pot shots at people liked by PAC’s and committees.
Tell you what Bob, when you swear off the teat then we’ll listen to your weak complaints about the cow. Hypocrite. The whole thing is so childish. Norman is quite the boob these days.
April 27th, 2014 at 8:45 pm
The money is nice but is not everything. Israel was out raised in the primary and general election. The event was out together by pereira who could not be a front man because him and Israel got caught red handed. Israel will need every Pennie next election just to defend himself from all the negative attack ads that are coming his way based on his own actions. Different election in 2016. Mr I have a pristine record showed how flawed his decisions and records really is. Israel always has trouble raising money and he will again. Anybody can get Eco money…
April 28th, 2014 at 10:54 am
Stuart, you are so right. What about the millions of advertising dollars to channel 10 that Rick Case spends. If I were Case, I would ban channel 10 from my advertising vendors list.
Channel 10 – you lost my business.
April 28th, 2014 at 11:43 am
As Buddy stated, and I agree…
Who watches the evening news? It’s a way older demographic. The very same demographic that’s found shouting at TV sets.
In my houses, we’ve pulled the cable boxes, preferring content to be delivered via the Internet (Hulu, etc).
April 28th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
I hopes youz guys is havin fun back home in Broward where i used to be known as da boss. I’m up here with a whole buncha’ interesting folks and things is good. Hey I hear dad rat bastard creep Bob Norman was peeping into some pregnant lady’s house looking for a story. He’s lucky I’m eight feet under cause if I was there, the story would be jerk off news reporter gets a beatin’ from an old guy wearing cowboy boots and a Jewish pinky ring. I’m tellin ya, I’d kick his punk behind from one end of Broward to the other if he pulled that on one of mine. Just sayin. Well I gots to get back to this poker game I’m having with John Lomelo but let me just make this very clear. Youz guys got no business taking dad kinda shit from some punk reporter and that’s all I gotz to say on that subject.
April 29th, 2014 at 10:19 pm
YOUR houses, Chaz? You mean your parents’ home. You know, with that same bedroom you had in Jr. High.