Is Chip LaMarca Lying? You Decide
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca says he won’t meet with lobbyists. He repeated this yarn this week on Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg’s Channel 10 show last Sunday.
“I made a policy that we don’t meet with lobbyists,” LaMarca told the Sun-Sentinel three years ago.
LaMarca’s argument that he doesn’t meet with lobbyists needs to be challenged. It’s a meaningless construct designed to fool the public. It’s a selective half truth.
Maybe he doesn’t meet with the George Platts and Bernie Friedmans of Broward. But he meets with plenty of folks seeking to sway his vote so that they can enrich themselves.
You can decide whether a half truth is a lie.
Chip LaMarca: Says he doesn’t Meet With Lobbyists
LaMarca’s day is filled with meeting of individuals trying to influence his vote. It’s in the county’s visitor log, which lists individuals that enter a commissioner’s office.
They may not be paid lobbyists. But many want LaMarca to throw county business their way.
Is there a difference?
These folks fit the definition of a lobbyist in Webster’s dictionary: “People seeking to influence politicians or public officials on a particular issue”
LaMarca says there is a big difference between meeting with lobbyists and with the people who “actually own the businesses, employ the people and build things in Broward. I don’t need an intermediary.”
He said Bernie Friedman approached him recently at the airport and he waved him away. “I’ll meet with his clients, not Bernie,” he says.
LaMarca’s alleged prohibition on meeting with lobbyists doesn’t prevent him from appearing on a lobbyist’s webcast. Or prevent him from taking lobbyists’ money.
LaMarca is friendly with Ed Pozzouli. Both are former chairs of the Broward Republican Party.
Pozzouli’s day job is managing partner of the law firm Tripp Scott, which has a very active lobbying practice. Pozzouli has a webcast for Tripp Scott and LaMarca has been a guest on the show.
Here is LaMarca on Pozzouli’s webcast.
LaMarca’s definition of not meeting with lobbyists doesn’t include a prohibition of taking their money.
Pozzouli donated $500 and the law firm he managed donated at least another $1,000 to LaMarca’s re-election. The other attorneys in the firm kicked in thousands more, such as name partners Norman Tripp ($500) and Jim Scott ($500), the former state Senate president.
I guess LaMarca’s would argue that Pozzouli and the Tripp Scott firm are not lobbyists.
They are just donors….like so many others contributing to his campaign who do business with the county.
“If they want to write a check, I’ll take it,” LaMarca says. “That doesn’t mean I have to talk to them.”
But does his ban on talking to lobbyists really matter when he still takes their money?
Here are two random pages from the County Commission visitor’s log for LaMarca. The complete log can be found here. It is clear that LaMarca meets regularly with individuals seeking to sway his vote on issues, i.e., lobbyists:
| Visitor | Topic | District | Person Visiting | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Doug EagonPrincipal/Employer:StilesClient: | Meeting -Other – provide specific detailLand Use Amendment in Plantation | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Jay WhitePrincipal/Employer:AetnaClient: | Meeting-RLI/RFP/BidEmployee Benefits | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Randy McLaughlinPrincipal/Employer:Northeast High SchoolClient:Randa N Flinn(954) 494-4866Northeast High School700 N.E. 56 StreetOakland Park Florida33334 | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailDiscuss Northeast High School PASS Grant, Business Partnerships, and Community Partnerships | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| David M KiddPrincipal/Employer:U.S. CommunitiesClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailCooperative Purchasing | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Keith PoliakoffPrincipal/Employer:Arnstein & Lehr LLP Client: | Meeting -Other – provide specific detailAnnexation issue adjacent to Southwest Ranches. | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Richard G RovirosaPrincipal/Employer:Port Everglades Terminal LLCClient: | Meeting-Agenda ItemAgenda Item:406/24/2014 | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| julia andrewsPrincipal/Employer:Coral Springs Museum of ArtClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailVeterans Program | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bryan KnicelyPrincipal/Employer:Coral Springs Museum of ArtClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailDisucss new Veterans program with Commissioner as FYI | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| mario cartayaPrincipal/Employer:cartaya and associatesClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detaildiscuss typical rfp scoring methodology | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Darryl L WrightPrincipal/Employer:Vitam VivaClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailSocial | 4 | Chip LaMarca | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lee GottliebPrincipal/Employer:Youthn Environmental AllianceClient:Doug D Young(954) 232-1956South Florida Audubon Society10871 W. Clairmont CircleTamarac Florida33321-5806 | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailCoastal Resielance PACE | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/22/201403:59 PM | |
| Joy KramerPrincipal/Employer:The Urban Group, Inc.Client:Howard Steinholz(954) 522-6226The Urban Group1424 .S.Andrews avefort lauderdael Florida33316Adrian GonzalezAdrian Gonzalez& Assoicate2040 Polk StreetHollywood Florida33020 | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailSales Assistance | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/22/201403:29 PM | |
| Joe CarrollPrincipal/Employer:THCClient:Renya Eurek(770) 623-0520THC1755 North Brown RdLawrenceville Florida30043 | Meeting-RLI/RFP/BidSales Asst. | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/22/201402:50 PM | |
| Sheryl DickeyPrincipal/Employer:Client: | Meeting-RLI/RFP/BidSales Assistance | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/22/201403:00 PM | |
| Leigh LasleyPrincipal/Employer:WD Schock CoClient: | Meeting-RLI/RFP/BidSales Assistance | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/22/201401:40 PM | |
| Rory BabichPrincipal/Employer:SS&EClient: | Meeting-Other – provide specific detailGeneral Update | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/16/201409:05 AM | |
| Mike GearyPrincipal/Employer:Pirtle ConstructionClient:Joe Giunta(407) 856-2400Hensel Phelps6557 Hazeltine National DriveSuite OneOrlando Florida32822 | Meeting-RLI/RFP/BidAirport | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/16/201409:30 AM | |
| Dodie Keith LazowickPrincipal/Employer:Keith and AssociatesClient: | Meeting -Agenda ItemAgenda Item:9709/09/2014 | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 09/08/201410:15 AM | |
| Frank OrtisPrincipal/Employer:City of Pembroke PinesClient: | Meeting -Other – provide specific detailDate and time is approximate for phone call. Topic: Pembroke Pines annexation | 4 | Chip LaMarca | 08/27/201405:00 PM | |
| Doug MannPrincipal/Employer:CB&I Coastal Planning & Engineering Client:Vice Mayor Javier Garcia, Town of Hillsboro BeachChad Grecsek, City of Deerfield Beach | Meeting -Other – provide specific detailCity of Deerfield Beach and Hillsboro Beach beach issues |
September 30th, 2014 at 1:34 pm
There should be a disclosure on that webcast because all it is a re-election advertisement for LaMarca.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:39 pm
Chip also said his company, the LaMarca Lego Workx, a firm that employees 50 people…
Err…. 3 people…
Err… 1 person working out of his in-foreclosure house…
That company, the company that made Chip a “great American success story.”
Well that company was never going to take a gov’t contract.
No shit dude. That would be against the law.
And luckily for you, as you seem to be ethically challenged… lucky for you LaMarca Lego Workx does shit for business. So no worries there.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:43 pm
How does he get away with not paying a mortgage for 4 years? Anyone else would be out on their ass. His excuse for non payment contends he is making sure he pays his employees. But if he doesn’t have a real or viable business that is registered with the State or the County how does this excuse hold water? Why is no one investigating this? Who is he doing favors for to allow him to stay in his home for so long and does it not equate to a gift by the bank? Does it not violate ethics ordinance?
This guy is a phony and no one cares cause he is happy to do whatever the business community tells him to do.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:45 pm
Ban Chaz Stevens from this blog. He is only using your good name to promote himself. His long, rambling promotions of Chaz Stevens are boring. ZZZZZZZZ.
September 30th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
@3
Actually, Chip will get votes purely based on the fact he’s an (R) … Republican or retard … your choice.
Voting party lines, something that always rang shallow to me, I mean why wouldn’t you want the best person in office?
Chip represents business interests? This is the same guy that…his current company is a joke… What business saavy does this twit have?
September 30th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
He meets with Jim scott too
More important lets talk about the money chip received from mike moskowitz clients metropica and sheltair. Why? Because lobbyist moskowitz is also representing the Wells Fargo bank who is suing LaMarca for foreclosure. Almost a year ago chips foreclosure lawyers ask for mediation yet they never complied with the court order. Moskowitz has sat on the file for 2 years doing nothing to foreclose on chips house, Do you think the average broward citizen would get a break like that? Allowing chip to stay in his house presumably for years without making a payment and avoiding embarrassment if he lost the house sure was very nice of Mr. Moskowitz.
September 30th, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Chip LaMarca meets with lobbyists all the time. If they didn’t have access to him they wouldn’t be giving money to him.
September 30th, 2014 at 6:54 pm
I think we should credit Chip Lamarca with being honest to admit that he is afraid of Bernie Friedman and his persuasive powers.
Hey, Chip, allow me to quote the late Senator Russell Long (Dem.La.):
“If you can’t take a man’s money, drink his booze, screw his wife and the next morning vote against him, you don’t belong here.”
FROM BUDDY:
As I’ve written before, the quote is from former California Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh.
September 30th, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Visitor: Keith Poliakoff
Principal/Employer:Arnstein & Lehr LLP Topic: Annexation issue adjacent to Southwest Ranches.
This particular visitor is the Town Attorney for Southwest Ranches. In fact, the topic of “lawyers” purporting to do legal work but actually lobbying politicians instead has very recently come up on BrowardBeat in connection with Mitch Ceasar, who was hired to do “legal work” for Southwest Ranches – by visiting the offices of County Commissioners, of course – hired personally by the very same Keith Poliakoff! And guess what Ceasar was talking to the County Commissioners about? Yep, the very same topic: Annexation issue adjacent to Southwest Ranches. And here’s how Buddy accurately describes that situation: “Ceasar is lobbying.”
http://www.browardbeat.com/brow-demos-plan-biggest-grass-roots-effort-in-years-for-crist/#comment-1512034
In fact, “town attorney Keith Poliakoff directly hired Ceasar as an attorney. He denied that Ceasar was a lobbyist and said his work was strictly legal in nature.” And no doubt Mr. Poliakoff’s visit to
attorneyparalegaljudgePOLITICIAN Chip Lamarca was “strictly legal in nature” too?!?http://www.local10.com/news/southwest-ranches-quietly-hires-democratic-party-leader-in-fight-against-pembroke-pines/28036840
Coconut Creek residents, if you think you have it bad living next to the Mount Trashmore landfill, just be glad you don’t have to inhale the putrid moral stench that permeates ethically challenged Southwest Ranches!! No species of pond scum is nasty enough to be comparable to that terrible town!
September 30th, 2014 at 7:35 pm
Hey Buddy:
Did Ahearn hand deliver the above or did he mail it to you?
Sure smells of our fine friend.
Also, regarding Mr. Stevens. He needs to constantly blog on here for validation. If he sees that he put his name up on the blog and we read it, he then feels important (Psych. 101).
September 30th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
@Going to sleep.
Perhaps you were one of the few folks that did not happen to catch my efforts on The Daily Show … not once, but twice.
Did you also miss Fox News, The Colbert Report? WashPo, HuffPo, Daily Caller, Daily Mail UK, and a raft of other media outlets.
No slight to Buddy’s blog, but I don’t need the BrowardBeat to promote me.
I’m pretty fucking famous dude.
October 1st, 2014 at 6:08 am
I think this is a stretch. When I think of a lobbyist, I think of “paid lobbyist.” If I walked up to Chip (or any elected official) and asked him to lower my taxes, does that make me a lobbyist? Where do we draw the line? He is elected to represent the voices of his constituents, is he not?
October 1st, 2014 at 7:40 am
I don’t see what’s wrong with people who live and work in Broward County meeting with their elected representatives to discuss issues of concern. Isn’t that the way a representative democracy is supposed to work?
Whether it is a corporate lawyer seeking approval for a new development or a homeowner who opposes placing a fire station next door to his residence, everyone should have an equal opportunity to meet with those who have the final responsibility to decide the issue.
In truth, elected officials need public input in order to consider all sides of an issue — the more information, the better.
And as long as there is reasonable transparency, let the meetings continue.
As far as a candidate accepting a campaign donation from people who do business with the county (or city) — there is are two remedies: publicizing the donor lists, and changing the law.
October 1st, 2014 at 9:21 am
To borrow a little from Twain, not wise for Team Chip to be critical Buddy and Chaz, while they don’t buy ink by the barrel, the do have the admin passwords for their blogs.
October 1st, 2014 at 12:10 pm
Floridan yiu are right in all counts.
Why LaMarca gets criticized is because scorns all lobbyists as if they are scumbags and refuses like some god almighty of allowing them their right of free spech to talk to him.
While he is doing the above he seeks an exemption from the ethics rules to become a lobbyist for a company Replika where Chip would have been used to solicit BSO as well know their budget is set by LaMarca and other commissioners.
Coupled with what buddy wrote there lies the priblem, chip wants it all ways.
Hence that is the problem
October 1st, 2014 at 4:05 pm
Chip promised to spend money on beach renourishment. He took the money and gave it to the Panthers. Maybe they had a lobbyist he didn’t meet with.
October 1st, 2014 at 4:23 pm
>> Coupled with what buddy wrote there lies the priblem, chip wants it all ways.
October 1st, 2014 at 8:13 pm
To sum up the thread in one word: YES
October 1st, 2014 at 10:30 pm
One of the Panthers lobbyists is the guy who heads the firm, representing th bank that is suing chip for foreclosure. Why have a discussion, my guess is not having the bank take depositions, or moving for a summary judgment of foreclosure, keeping him in his McMansion in LHP not paying any money. If that was the quid pro quo it would have worked well for all parties.
October 3rd, 2014 at 1:27 pm
Why are t you posting the comments that are in support of Chip? Not the first time you’ve done this Mr Nevins- you did it on the Broward health post too because I responded there and that never got printed either. In the past, it always appeared as if you posted all comments- good, bad and indifferent. Very disappointed.
FROM BUDDY:
I have no idea what you are writing about.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Team Chip again showing their intelligence now spreading lies about the guy who runs the blog. Obviously Team Chip never read the Dale Carnegie book on How to Win Friends and Influence People. I guess they are still reading and following the book, Dale Holness on Ethics
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:16 pm
>> Disturbing says:
Just get back from LoDo?
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:56 pm
Chip has no support, but for the tea party.
October 3rd, 2014 at 5:14 pm
Are we not discussing that Jay Spechler, the husband of Young at Art’s CEO Mindy Shrago, is the mediator in Lamarca’s foreclosure case? How many millions of taxpayer dollars did Chip just approve to bail out that Sunrise based museum? Is this a case of quid pro quo?
Panthers Area and Now Young at Art. Maybe Chip is confused and thinks he is representing District 1. All while the beach falls into the ocean. I won’t be voting for him to represent District 4.
October 4th, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Artsy, the Young at Art vote was a unanimous one, and clearly if Chip’s yes vote was to win favor with a mediator his foreclosure would have been settled by now. Actually if I were Chip I’d be suspecting that it is being purposely dragged out so Keechl could attempt to use it against him during the campaign.
Chip is not lying if he is not meeting with paid lobbyists. I remember last year when this very blog talked about his fundraising at that point, and even said that “LaMarca needs to step up his fund raising so that he is not out-raised by Keechl in the third quarter report due in early September. Lagging behind in fund raising could be disastrous to an incumbent like LaMarca.” – So now that he is accepting campaign donations you expect him not to? Who in their right mind would turn down their donations??
http://www.browardbeat.com/chip-lamarcas-mediocre-fund-raising/
I am waiting for someone- anyone- to stop trying to tell me what is wrong with LaMarca (and thinking people can’t decipher the difference between the updating of the county owned BB&T center and lending money to the Panthers) and tell me why I should vote for Keechl? Because other than being responsible for the deaths of 54 dogs while he was commissioner with his insane draconian dangerous dog law, I can’t remember anything significant that he did when he had the job.
For those of you who are actually buying into the BS that the bloggers with no lives are putting into cyberspace I suggest you watch these 2 videos which dispel the 2 myths that Keechl is trying to perpetuate- that LaMarca took his eye off the beach re-nourishment project (this one is dated back to 2013)- http://youtu.be/bD8SBhWvJVQ and for those of you who may have been confused as to where the money went at the BB&T center- http://youtu.be/bD8SBhWvJVQ
October 5th, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Win, Chip win. Big turn-out for him @ the CBA Thursday night. comm.lamarca has done a great job on the beach. His concerns,effort w/ the beach renourishment has been outstanding. He is the better canidate. You can say what you want about him, but you don’t see Chip having a campaign office in his home giving his spouse over 3g a month(w/ your money folks-we buying the poppers to for Teddy). Also nail Keechl on Mutual benefits. Keechl was in on it. Bring this out Chip and you’ll be sitting right back @ that dais….
October 5th, 2014 at 6:01 pm
Dog Laws? I mean politics has really gone to the dogs!
I don’t know where the line is between private or personal business and what should be used to guide someone’s vote.
I used to live in this District, frankly the Republican Representatie and Commissioner LaMarca never “came around” while, when former Commissioner Keechl was in office you would see him on Sundays and at meetings.
I know a lot of people think the issue of his partner caused a lot of negative thinking about former Commissioner Kneechl during his last race, but Commissioner LaMarca’s non forecloseure by a bank politically active with a lobbyist handling it appears to be much, much, much worse than the questionable election budget from Commissioner Kneechl’s lsst campaign.
And, frankly, the low rent, classless Tea Party Loonies at Oakland Park and North Federal Highway should be represented by an openly gay County commissioner. They should be ticketed just for their slovenly dress.