Shamed School Board Member Wants To Run Broward’s Elections

 

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

Jennifer Gottlieb, the former Broward School Board member who resigned nine years ago under a cloud of criticism, filed on Thursday to run for Broward Supervisor of Elections.

Gottlieb appeared to be one of the targets of a 2011 Grand Jury report blasting the Board at roughly the same time she resigned.

Jurors criticized the Board for funneling work to friends,  approving unnecessary building contracts and helping friends  children enroll in preferred schools. Among many other failures.

Gottlieb’s son attended the Montessori School, which jurors called “a boondoggle”.

And then there was this little scandal, as highlighted here in the Tampa Bay Times: 

“Gottlieb, who transformed serving on a school board into the Body Heat of education, wound up as the femme fatale of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into high finance hanky-panky.

The report noted that while she was serving as a School Board member, Gottlieb took up with Citigroup executive Richard Patterson, who was pitching to win some bond business with the School Board.”

The paper called Gottlieb “the Barbarella of the Three Rs”.

She was never charged with wrong doing stemming from her affair with the Citigroup executive.

 

 

 

Jennifer Gottlieb files for office

 

 

With the kind of public record, Gottlieb sounds like somebody with great judgement. Just the perfect candidate to run Broward elections.

So says the usual group of political flunkies that surfaces during any campaign. In this case the flunkies are State Senator Gary Farmer, State Representative Evan Jenne, State Representative Michael Gottlieb, Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr, Hollywood Commissioner Kevin Biederman, and Broward School Board Members Robin Bartleman and Ann Murray. They endorsed her, Gottlieb’s news release states.

Just what we need is a Election chief beholden to a collection of politicians. You can guess what will happen if any of them are involved in a close recount.

Another point is that Gottlieb never ran anything as a School Board member. She was one of nine Board members setting policy and forbidden by law from taking a management role. Its stepping over that line is exactly what the Grand Jury criticized her of doing.

Working behind the scenes in Gottlieb’s campaign, I am told, is political consultant Barbara Miller. The sources say that Miller, the aging grande dame of Broward politics, helped put Gottlieb’s candidacy together. If true I would bet part of Miller’s motivation was to block former Democratic leader Mitch Ceasar, who is also running for supervisor..

Ceasar and Miller have been oil-and-water for years. Miller repeatedly tried to topple Ceasar while he led the county Democrats. 

Gottlieb joins five other Democrats in the race: Ruth Carter-Lynch, Ceasar, Chad Klitzman, Timothy Lonergan and Joe Scott. 

Her news release states that “Gottlieb is a lifelong Broward resident and graduate of Nova Southeastern University.  She is also a lifelong Democrat, active in numerous Democratic Clubs and serves as At-Large Member of the Broward Democratic Executive Committee. Gottlieb is a proven community advocate that’s dedicated her life to improving the lives of the people of Broward County. She served on the Broward County Charter Review Commission; member of the League of Women Voters and the National Council of Jewish Women; Chair of the State Instructional Materials Committee, K-12 Reading Adoption; and the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of Broward County.”

Not a word about her leaving the School Board or her questionable former personal life. 

 



20 Responses to “Shamed School Board Member Wants To Run Broward’s Elections”

  1. Broward Voter says:

    You sure nailed this one Buddy! Good take.
    How does someone who has laid down with the likes of Jeremy “Tiny Hands” Ring, Gary “The Cheater” Farmer, Baldwin and Patterson-the Citigroup “Bond Villains“ …. when does it end? To let her back into a position of power after she lost the people’s trust? Pulease!

  2. Reali tea says:

    Miller is the ultimate has been who hasn’t won a race (real or vengeance) since her condo commandos died last century. A bitter old bitty.

  3. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    Oh I have such good news clips, lot of them from Buddy’s blog, telling the story of her lying, cheating, using taxpayer dollars to play with her boyfriends who did business with the district. Using taxpayer time to email him while she was on the dais. She and Barbara Miller made sure the Montessori school got built so her kids would have that special place to go along with most of the non-minorities who attended at the time. I saw Miller at the opening. Can’t wait to go to my files!

  4. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    Judge’s wife ‘had affairs with two Citigroup bankers who did business with school board where she was a member’
    Issue came to light following Grand Jury investigation into corruption
    In interviews one of the Citigroup bankers broke down in tears
    Bankers were bidding for contracts worth millions in public bonds
    Jennifer Gottlieb will not be indicted because there is no law forbidding voting on public matters that involve intimate friends
    By PHIL VINTER Daily Mail.com

    PUBLISHED: 09:13 EDT, 19 September 2012 | UPDATED: 13:29 EDT, 29 September 2013

    A judge’s wife compromised her position on a county school board by having affairs with two high-ranking bankers who were bidding for lucrative contracts, it was revealed today.

    Jennifer Gottlieb resigned last year from her role as a Broward County School Board member after a pair of Citigroup bankers who did business with the school admitted to investigators that they had affairs with her.

    According to Local 10, investigative reports reveal that Rick Patterson, of Tampa, and Michael Baldwin, of Orlando, financed millions in public bonds to build schools.

    Jennifer Gottlieb resigned last year from her role as a Broward County School board member after having affairs with Citigroup bankersRick Patterson

    Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators said ‘Gottlieb at no time reported her relationship with [the Citigroup bankers] to the board and continued to cast votes on matters concerning [Citigroup] that came before the board.’

    The issue came to light following a Grand Jury investigation into corruption on the school board.

    Grand Jury witness Pete Brewer said: ‘I think it’s a very bad issue of conflict of interest. She is evidently dating the guy and she’s voting on his contracts, which is wrong.’

    During interviews with investigators one of the Citigroup bankers broke down in tears, saying he and Gottlieb were ‘in love like high school kids’ and had been a romantic item for three years.

    Robert Jarvis, an ethics professor at Nova Southeastern University, said: ‘You shake your head and you go, ‘What were they thinking? In what universe could they have thought this was appropriate behavior?’

    Reports suggest Gottlieb, who is married to a Broward County Judge, intentionally kept her affairs secret from the school by using pre-paid phones to make calls to her lovers and using personal email addresses.

    During interviews with investigators one of the Citigroup bankers broke down in tears, saying he and Mrs Gottlieb were ‘in love like high school kids’

    During interviews with investigators one of the Citigroup bankers broke down in tears, saying he and Mrs Gottlieb were ‘in love like high school kids’

    Mr Jarvis said because Gottlieb had actively taken the decision to ‘conceal and defraud the public the issue was a criminal, not an ethical matter.

    However, neither the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or the grand jury took the decision to indict Gottlieb because there is not a law forbidding voting on public matters that involve intimate friends.

    Gottlieb is alleged to have conducted covert trips to the airport, had secret meetings with the men and spent days in local hotel rooms.

    According to Local 10, reports indicate that Gottlieb knew that what she was doing was wrong.

    Following the revelations her husband filed for divorce in June this year.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2205534/Judge-s-wife-affairs-Citigroup-bankers-did-business-school-board-member.html#ixzz55WmKWdEK

  5. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    Jeremy Ring and his wife had 4 children. He left them.

    Sen. Jeremy Ring, Jennifer Gottlieb “important in each other’s lives”

    November 20, 2012|By Brittany Wallman, Sun-Sentinel

    Former Broward School Board Member Jennifer Gottlieb and Sen. Jeremy Ring were seen publicly together today, on the floor of the Legislature in Tallahassee, at the swearing-in together.

    The two had been rumored to be an item for months now. Asked if the two are in a relationship, Ring said, “We’re important to each other, in each other’s lives.”

    He didn’t want to get into the details about where they met or how long they’ve been important to one another. But he said they don’t live together.

    Here in Broward County, her ex, Ken Gottlieb, was at the swearing in for Broward County Commission, officiating for new County Commissioner Tim Ryan. Click here to see him.
    The Gottliebs are in the midst of a divorce.

    Ring and his wife are getting divorced as well.

    “I’m very far into my divorce proceedings,” Ring said. “We’ve been separated for well over a year.”

  6. A reader says:

    Let’s put the brakes on this idea. Broward County has suffered through at least two people who “worked” for the School Board and moved into the SOE office: Miriam Oliphant in the 1990’s and Brenda Snipes in the 2000’s.
    Miriam was a School Board member then a failed guidance counselor who eventually worked as a substitute teacher. Brenda was a school administrator. Both Miriam and Brenda were abysmal failures failures at making sure elections were run smoothly.
    Let’s not let history repeat itself by electing a questionable School Board member to the position of SOE.

  7. KitKat86 says:

    old news get a life

  8. Good citizen says:

    An interesting future story would be the expenditures from the Broward mayor considering he has Opponent.

  9. Give Me a Break says:

    This is a blow to Ceasar. Great news for Klitzman, a fresh face with a demonstrated interest in the job.

  10. Maris A says:

    BrowardDem4Life
    SHAME ON YOU for attacking a woman running for higher office… We need more females like Jennifer who are willing to step up for our community in the face of haters.

  11. Count LF Chodkiewicz Chudzikiewicz says:

    Frankly this candidacy id a joke on bad taste

  12. Count LF Chodkiewicz Chudzikiewicz says:

    Where are the bright honest hardworking educated candidates?

  13. A reader says:

    Count:
    Methinks you just answered your own question. The bright, honest, hardworking, educated candidates are working. Some of them are working in Broward, many of those who fit that description have moved to other states or countries.
    Broward County, a challenge in which to live and work for residents who care about it.

  14. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    #10: We need more females like Jennifer? Maybe you do. The children of the men she had affairs with don’t think so. The wives whose husbands slept with her don’t think so. And now her own children are old enough to understand what she is. That is a tragedy they did not deserve.

  15. Chaz Stevens, Doubter says:

    >> This is a blow to Ceasar. Great news for Klitzman, a fresh face with a demonstrated interest in the job.

    It will be his first one!

  16. right wing says:

    perfect fit for broward county.the more things change the more they stay the same.

  17. Are we done with it yet? says:

    Brazen. Wherever you find a back room deal in this town you will find Barbara Miller or Judy Stern. I would really like to hear from the public officials who have endorsed Gottlieb why we should feel confident that she won’t be rigging the vote for her friends. They aren’t even trying to hide it anymore. Good old boy corruption often wears a dress in this town. She should lose and then everyone who endorsed her should follow as it could not be more made more clear what your agenda is.

  18. Knows For Sure says:

    Miriam Oliphant 2.0

  19. James Armstrong says:

    Sure understand that folks can have differing opinions ref candidates. What Jen Gottlieb may have experienced in her private life is simply not important to her ability to handle this important position. Now my opinion….I worked with her closely when she was the Chair Person of the School Board. She is professional, competent, and dedicated. She has my vote to finally clean up this public Broward embarrassing managed position

  20. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    @19: It wasn’t private. She used the taxpayers’ money to play with her boyfriends. While she was on the dais, communicating with them, among other transgressions.. Your comments show clearly what’s wrong with Broward.