Update: Two News Releases Outlining Charges Against Diana Wasserman-Rubin
July 6, 2010
Broward State Attorney’s Office charges County Commissioner
The Broward State Attorney’s Office has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin on seven counts of Unlawful Compensation for improperly advocating for, and benefiting from, numerous government grants written by her husband Richard Rubin on behalf of the Town of Southwest Ranches.
According to the arrest affidavit, Commissioner Wasserman-Rubin:
- voted six times to approve and fund grants written by her husband for the Town of Southwest Ranches to purchase three parcels of land for parks;
- voted twice to approve and fund a grant written by her husband to purchase land for another Southwest Ranches park;
- voted twice to approve and fund a grant written by her husband to purchase a piece of property called Southwest Meadows Sanctuary;
- twice had county staff put Southwest Ranches grant applications written by her husband on the county commission agenda;
- voted three times to approve and fund a Southwest Ranches grant application written by her husband to purchase Rural Passive Park;
- voted in favor of a grant application written by her husband for Southwest Ranches to purchase an easement to preserve Silk Oak Farms.
Investigators found that Richard Rubin received three $15,000 bonuses for his work on successful grants that were supported by his wife.
The arrest warrant, signed by Broward Circuit Judge Michael A. Usan on Friday, was filed Tuesday afternoon. The commissioner’s attorney, Bruce Udolf, agreed that the commissioner would surrender at the Broward County Jail on Tuesday. Judge Usan set the total bond at $24,500.
Count 1, as well as Counts 6 and 7, are third-degree felonies because those alleged offenses occurred before 2003, when the Legislature changed the Unlawful Compensation statute from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony. Counts 2 through 5, for alleged acts that occurred after 2003, are second-degree felonies.
A second-degree felony carries a maximum 15 year sentence and/or a $10,000 fine, while a third-degree felony carries a maximum 5 year sentence and/or a $5,000 fine.
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Ron Ishoy / Communications manager / Broward State Attorney’s Office / (954) 831-7910
July 6, 2010
Broward State Attorney’s Office obtains arrest warrant for County Commissioner
The Broward State Attorney’s Office has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin.
The warrant lists seven counts of Unlawful Compensation for improperly advocating for, and benefiting from, numerous government grants written by her husband, Richard Rubin, on behalf of the Town of Southwest Ranches.
The arrest warrant, signed by Broward Circuit Judge Michael A. Usan, was filed with the Broward Clerk of Courts Tuesday afternoon. Judge Usan set the total bond at $24,500.
Three of the seven counts are third-degree felonies and four of the seven counts are second-degree felonies. A second-degree felony carries a maximum 15 year sentence and/or a $10,000 fine, while a third-degree felony carries a maximum 5 year sentence and/or a $5,000 fine.
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Ron Ishoy / communications manager / Broward State Attorney’s Office / (954) 831-7910
July 6th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Unbelievable what has been going on in our county.
July 6th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Buddy,
I know you have followed my posts and appreciate that. I just want to be sure that you, but moreover, your readers understand that this is and will continue to be an unprecedented cleansing of the system. Unfortunately, some unseemly characters will be left standing. However, the community needs help, guidance and resolve in pursuing ethics reform. Simply put, the era of “career politician” must end. So too must the spin that an elected official needs at least 12 years to make a difference. On the contrary, more good could be done by 3 politicians with 4 year terms each by dissecting the illogical structures erected by the machine for the machine.
This has been a long time coming and I have zero sympathy for those who have contributed to the problem…and that has been many. I’d name the good ones but that would only incite those who would love to say this is a political endorsement or an agenda of sorts.
Let the hammer fall…
FROM BUDDY: Amen.
July 6th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Another commissioner arrested…. Interesting how this sounds like another commissioner being investigated.
Commissioner – advocating for / benefitting from her husband – crappy benches ……
sounds like Sue Gunzburger….
July 6th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Sue, are you following this story.
Your fellow commissioner Wasserman-
Rubin was arrested for improperly advocating for and benefiting financially from her husband while a county commissioner. Does that sound familiar? I don’t know how you could possibly think it was legal or ethical for your husband’s business to be awarded county contracts while you sat on the commission. You benefited financially from these contracts!
FROM BUDDY: Wasserman-Rubin voted for the grants which directly benefitted her husband.
Gunzburger abstained from voting and declared her conflict.
Big difference.
July 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
What is amazing is that after a gazillion years in office, Mike Satz has had only two public corruption cases: Gunzburger’s, which fell through within hours and this one. Amazing.
July 6th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
GB you forgot Keith Wasserstrom and Al Capellini.
July 6th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
@ Chaz
You are correct. I overlooked the municipal guys. I know Capellini was close to you, so you would definitely remember that one, no?
July 7th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Buddy, I totally disagree with you on this one. I do not think that what Gunzberger and Wasserman Rubin did was a big difference. The only big difference that I see was in the amount of money that each commissioner benefited from. According to what I have read, Sue benefited financially significantly more than Wasserman Rubin did.Sue’s husbands contracts were multi-million dollar contracts. Who cares if Sue did not vote, all of Sue’s fellow commissioners (crooked cronies) knew that it was her husbands business and that a vote for BTW would benefit Sue financially. I’m sure in return she voted on things that benefited her fellow commissioners financially. The bottom line is they both benefited financially from their husbands business dealings while on the commission. They both were definitely unethical. It is for law enforcement to decide if what Sue did was criminal. Obviously, they have decided what Wasserman Rubin did was criminal.
FROM BUDDY: The difference legally is a big one.
Wasserman-Rubin voted on grants for Southwest Ranches and her husband was paid a bonus for delivering those grant.
Gunzurger never voted on anything for her husband.
Legally, that’s a big difference.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:22 am
Watch out taxpayers because Angello Castillo wants to be the replacement for Wasserman-Rubin.
Castillo is a tool of lobbyist Judy Stern. His wife works for Stern. He will vote everything Stern wants and we will again have a morally bankrupt commissioner representing Pembroke Pines.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Jenny, I totally agree with you….Im sure if you take an up close and personal at EVERY person inpublic office you will see a trail of corruption either large or small.
July 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am
G.B. also forgot the prosecution of Coconut Creek Commissioner Ron Dearing.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Buddy, Do you think the difference ethically is a big one? All of the commissioners knew that was Sue’s husbands business they were voting for. She still benefited financially. It is unethical no matter how you slice it!
July 7th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Hey Buddy,
“The county staff changed the bid specifications to allow co- mingled plastic. This gave BTW a significant advantageâ€
Did Gunzburger also abstain from the vote to change the bid specs? If she didn’t, wouldn’t that be doing indirectly what Wasserman-Rubin did directly?
July 7th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Didn’t GUNZBURGER push/vote for $$ for the parks, who in turn were purchasing the BTW products? Didn’t those depts know better than NOT to accept BTW products? Didn’t she tell people her husbands recycled product was better? Isn’t that lobbying in favor of herself and BTW? And what about their sales guy “pushy reminders” (veiled threats) to county staff about GUNZBURGER being the owner of BTW? If this is not illegal…it should be. Commissioners are voted into office to service the county NOT themselves. HOW CAN THIS BE LEGAL?
July 7th, 2010 at 9:32 am
“Ripe One” is obviously a Barbara Sharief puppet. We’ve all been warned about her campaign style of trying to slime opponents. Not one word of her comment is true. Miramar knows her dirty tricks and Pembroke Pines knows that Angelo is a stand up guy who sells out to nobody.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Buddy.. Do you realize that had Jim Holmes spilled his guts like the feds wanted him to, he would have been released much earlier, probably still be practicing law again and most of these folks would have been prosecuted long ago.? Maybe that’s why a certain individual who is no longer with us never stopped believing in him.
FROM BUDDY: I knew Jim Holmes, the former judge. Holmes was from a different era and I’m not sure he knew much about what is going on today.
July 7th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
What about all those who are connected to these career politicians? Those being groomed like Angelo Castillo from Pines. It’s no secret that he’s connected to Wasserman-Rubin. And why hasn’t people like Judy Stern and others been investigated.
I agree with Score Keeper’s post: this has been a long time coming & it’s time that we cleaned up the entire system.
July 7th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“Need Ethics Reform” — yet another post from a (the same?) Sharief shill.
I wholeheartedly agree with “Sharief Puppet.” I live in Pines and know Angelo as an excellent commissioner who busts his cojones for his constituents. We should be so lucky to have him on the County Commission.
I only know Sharief as a hack who will do anything and say anything to get elected.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Since the Barbara Shareif camp have so much to say! I can’r wait to someone bust her ass to find out the amount of money that she is taking from her company to fund her campaign! I have also heard from nurses who have worked for her, that she is nasty!
Barbara, I can’t wait to see the orange jump suit on you next!
Besides, you have not done SHIT in in our city, and now you are up and leaving??? At least Mr. Castillo spent time in his seat! And the poor kid, Jones, whose running, well, don’t know much about him, but I guess he’s done something right to come this far!
July 7th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Miramar Res: “I have also heard from nurses who have worked for her, that she is nasty!”
What is this, junior high school?
July 8th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Buddy. I knew Holmes too. Holmes was from a different era, but he was well connected and he knew where all the bodies were. More than once, feds took him from his cell in Texas to a conference room and told him that if he told them how Broward gets run, he “Would be Back in Ft. Lauderdale tonight.” He told them to go F themselves. Something he had a habit of doing. That’s why the feds gave him such a hard time. They knew that he had the goods, but wasn’t saying anything, and it frustrated them. Had he given feds what they wanted, this town would have been cleaned-up a long time ago. He even told me about some of his conversations with you.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Did Gunzburger also abstain from the vote to change the bid specs? If she didn’t, wouldn’t that be doing indirectly what Wasserman-Rubin did directly?
Gunzburger was uninvolved in changing any bid specs. It never came before the full commission and as Buddy reported long ago in the Sentinel staff said Sue never spoke with any of them about anything.
August 22nd, 2014 at 1:37 am
Karma is “Bulls Eye”. Corruption may carry you for a little while, Then it drags you through the mud. Honesty will never fail you.
August 22nd, 2014 at 1:47 am
The law says abstain from voting, Sue Gunzburger did! What the other commissioners did or not do is your speculation. Legally Gunzburger did what the law said she had to do. There seems to be a precedent here. Commit an act of corruption and then claim reduction of forgiveness of punishment due to some newly diagnosed illness. The other commissioner was not sentence according to the crime committed. So did she still received the $4,000 + monthly. Good racket running for elective office.