Good Riddance Joe Eggelletion
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Some feel sorry for the likes of Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, who is heading off to prison after destroying his long political career.
I’m not one of them.
Joe Eggelletion: Heading To The Big House
Eggelletion deserved the two-and-a-half years he is got and more. He is one of the most flagrantly dishonest individuals I ever met.
Eggelletion apologized to the public today on WFTL-850 Radio’s Joyce Kaufman show. He was sorry about getting caught in a Bahamian money laundering conspiracy.
Joyce Kaufman in a publicity photo
His apology was good entertainment, but little else.
Was he sincere? I doubt it. No public official lied to my face or in news conferences I attended more consistantly than Joe Eggelletion.
“Its unfortunate my career had to come to an end for one mistake, Eggelletion told Kaufman.
Only one mistake? Make that only one he got punished for….so far.
Kaufman mentioned that that she knew “all the great things Eggelletion had done for this community. Great things?
Here are a sample of stories I wrote about Eggelletion in just his first five years on the commission. If I was energetic, I could find a lot more:
- 1. 2/15/01: Eggelletion votes for a $215 million no-bid contract for a stevedore company at Port Everglades. The firm’s lobbyist was Judy Stern, who helped Eggelletion get elected.
- 5/8/01: Eggelletion is a major force behind buying land for a county park. The developer bought the land in the morning and sold it to the county in the afternoon for a $5.5 million profit.
- 3/8/02: Eggelletion was asked to repay thousands billed to a county credit card after the Sun-Sentinel questioned charges for golf games, video rentals, bar bills and a $658 leather Bally briefcase. He publicly apologized.
- 3/22/02: School system investigates misuse of sick pay by Eggelletion. No charges were filed.
- 1/12/05: Eggelletion conceded to the Sun-Sentinel that he fathered a child with a woman other than his wife. The woman claimed Eggelletion slept with him while she was a high school student.
- 1/14/05: Eggelletion was fined $2,500 for breaking ethics laws. He voted on a contract for Waste Management while being paid by the firm as a lobbyist.
This doesn’t include the charge he currently faces from the State Attorney that he took money from a developer to pay for his golf course membership.
When Eggelletion’s name came up over the years, every other commissioner would smile. “We knew he was a crook, says one.
I didn’t cover Eggelletion when he was in the state House or on the Lauderdale Lakes commission.but I’ve heard stories. I know a lobbyist who says the client refused a request from Eggelletion for a payoff in Lauderdale Lakes.
Worst of all, Eggelletion slept with one of his students while he was a teacher — before he ever got into politics.
The leopard doesn’t change its spots. This leopard finally got caught and put behinds bars, in a cage.
In my opinion, he belongs there.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
If this was Joe Doe, a regular non-elected citizen, in his 20’s, banging a teenager, few would even notice. If he took a few payoffs from contractors at his private job, hey, everybody does that. Free golf? Let’s tee off.
But it wasn’t Joe Doe that did that, it was Joe E, Commissioner Joe E. That makes a big difference.
That difference doesn’t make Joe Doe’s behavior any less corrupt, even if nobody calls doing all that corruption, and it is. It just means that elected officials are expected to live up to higher standards. Can’t do that? Don’t run for office.
But if you do, and if you are elected, then you cannot be the kind that takes bribes. Or that sells votes. Or that even comes close to it looking that way. For damn sure you can’t be plugging your teenage students and getting them pregnant.
We’ve lost touch somehow with the basics. When people elevate you into elected positions of authority, when they give you their power and trust you to use it on their behalf, you owe them much better behavior than what goes over as just OK for the average citizen. And for sure you owe it to them not to break the law.
Joe knew all of this and he failed to do it anyway. His sentence does not undo his wrongs. The harm is done and no sentence can do that. All that his sentence can do is punish him. But it can also serve as a warning to all the other elected officials. This is what happens to you when you forget what is expected.
Joe E. betrayed a trust that he swore to never break. He took an oath. Instead he did to the people what he did to that student so many years ago. Whatever good he might have done, none of that matters anymore. His wrongs outweigh his good deeds. In his story we see the anatomy of disgrace.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Adios Joe!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsaTElBljOE
March 14th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Say It Ain’t So Joe:
If he had been Joe Doe he would’ve gotten much, much more than 2 1/2 years.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:56 am
…and he deserves a lot more than 2 1/2 years!
March 14th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Not true. If this was Joe Doe it’s highly likely that any of these matters would have registered on law enforcement’s puny radar screen. FBI stings are rare and costly and reserved for targets that make public relations impact.
I find it humorous to hear people talk about the culture of corruption in our society, and aim that concern only at government, as if the amount of corruption the private sector which overwhelmingly outweighs the misdeeds going in government, didn’t cost the average citizen much more. It does. The rape we constantly take in gas pricing, insurance premiums, the added cost to goods and services linked to what corporate buyer had to be greased, the overcharging we contend with in the health industry, with the cost of prescription drugs, all of that costs the people much more than what goes on in government.
We are justified in fighting any war on corruption at government because doing that is just and appropriate. But let’s not forget that most government scandals involve someone in the private sector cashing in. That’s where the big corruption exists. The lens on corruption needs to open much wider if we want to get rid of the “culture” of corruption.
I say put them all away, not just the corrupt politicians but also the executive types that bait those officials into doing wrong so that they can both profit at our expense.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I meant “highly unlikely”
March 14th, 2010 at 9:12 am
Everytime an elected official goes down for accepting bribes or soliciting something for something of value, the other party involved should go down too. For example, what is happening with the Pirtle guys who were involved in the bid rig that happened in the committee where Gallagher was using her influence to secure work? They should be indicted too. Since they were not indicted, does that mean they are federal witnesses or are they just off the hook because the feds are concentrating on electeds?