Sources: Wasserman-Rubin Broke
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Former County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin is running out of money.
That’s what sources who know her tell me.
Sources say the former county commission is desperate to scrape together money to pay for her legal fees, her huge overhead from her former lifestyle and her health insurance bills.
Unable to sell her sprawling Southwest Ranches house, she is now seeking to lease it. The asking rent is $4,000-a-month, according to a real estate office.
By quitting the county commission, she lost her $90,000-plus salary and the benefits which helped pay for her health insurance. Her husband, land planner and sometimes-broker Richard Rubin, has had a hard time during the real estate recession.
Health coverage is the most important item on Wasserman-Rubin’s financial agenda because she is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
While I personally like Wasserman-Rubin, I don’t condone anything she is accused of doing.
I do believe these charges against her stemming from incidents she paid a fine for in 2007, in the words of Mike Mayo, “seem staler than decade-old bread.
State Attorney Mike Satz could have charged her years ago. The evidence was all there and much of it had been printed in the media.
But years ago a statewide prosecutor was not looking into corruption here, threatening to upstage Satz. Years ago, the feds were not concentrating on Broward political wrongdoing. Years ago the courthouse blog JAAblog was not calling for Satz’s scalp.
So Satz became a born-again corruption fighter. Wasserman-Rubin had the misfortune of being low-hanging fruit for the prosecutors to pick off.
Don’t get me wrong. Better late than never. Wasserman-Rubin is charged with enriching herself at the public trough. If guilty, she deserves to be made an example.
When is Satz going to pick the fruit higher on the tree?
What about the School Board, a cesspool of corruption? What about the alleged payoffs by steering professional fees to office holders? What about the lobbying naked influence peddling by office holders?
More is coming, sources say.
Lobbyists have been wearing wires, I’m told. Will we soon be hearing the results of those recordings?
I won’t be happy until the web of corruption is ripped from the Government Center, School Board headquarters and the city halls across Broward.
I find it hard to feel sorry for Wasserman-Rubin’s financial condition. She, along with her husband Rubin, pulled down $100,000s-a-year and apparently saved little of it for a rainy day.
It’s now raining.
XXXXX
The Real Estate Listing For Wasserman-Rubin’s home:
Country Estate with 4 bedroom & 3 baths. Complete with 1000 sq.ft. guest quarters. Oversized bedrooms and very large kitchen with island.
Description
Enjoy this one-of-a-kind 1 acre estate w/private 1000 sq.ft. hurricane/safe room guest/in-law quarters,lush landscape that includes butterfly gardens & a 500sq.ft. covered atrium that is perfect for outdoor entertainment & enjoyment.Special features include the wrap-a-around porch,a very large kitchen with a cooking island & double ovens,all oversized bedrooms,remodeled bathrooms, & new roof & A/C units.This is truly a place to call your home in the country while having all the luxuries of city life.
July 8th, 2010 at 7:02 am
Oh boo fucking who….
July 8th, 2010 at 7:33 am
You can use all the “Yeah, but she brought in on herself” rationalizations you want (and yes, she DID bring most of it on herself), but I wouldn’t wish these circumstances on anyone, let alone gloat about it.
However the legal and financial ends of it work out, I wish Ms. Wasserman-Ruben luck and hope the health issues are managed as well as possible.
July 8th, 2010 at 8:07 am
You are right, Buddy.
She was symbolic of the corruption, but not the worst offender. Other commissioners and especially those at the school board have corrupted the entire system. For instance, unnecessary schools were built to enrich political contributors.
July 8th, 2010 at 8:45 am
She is a wonderful woman who climed up the ladder with finess and graciousness. She never met a stranger….she entered the U.S. on the Mariel boat lift many years ago and did so much more than most people born in the U.S. achieve, she is innocent until proven guilty, her husband should be the one behind bars!!!!!
July 8th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Someone should investigate the PBA and the corrupt way they do their endorsements. Commissioner Angelo Castillo was head and shoulders above the other candidates and deserved the PBA endorsement. Because he supported Scott Israel for Sheriff in 2008, the PBA did not endorse him. Neil Vaughn was the hatchett man. Vaughn, Pat Hanrahan and Jeff Marano should be investigated. I know many PBA members and the membership supported Castillo over the others.
Castillo is the candidate with the moral convictions to right the ship that has been solied by the corruption of Wassermen-Rubin.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:12 am
@Beth…
I applaud your ability to be consistently wrong on every issue you muddle over… That takes serious effort and talent.
July 8th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Aww poor Angelo and his campaign consultant, but not anymore campaign consultant, but I will still take checks from that political consultant Judy Stern are crying foul because Angelo didn’t get the PBA endorsement.
Angelo, did it occur to you that you may have not have received the endorsement because you were pushing for city workers to be fired and the services they did be privatized?
This is the whining BS, Angelo, Judy Stern and Scott Israel did when Israel didn’t get the PBA endorsement in 2008. They claim there was collusion and that the membership wanted someone other than who the union endorsed.
Let me guess why Angelo was supposedly head and shoulders above the rest…because the rest were black?
July 8th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Iwas saddened to see Diana in BSO lock-up PJs.
But delighted that no one is above the law or given special treatment.
As for her serving serious jailtime-Diana’s malady will get her a halfway house at the most or perhaps a GPS anklet if enough MDs and politicos get the violins out!
July 9th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Dear Friends:
I’ve been elected to serve Pembroke Pines three times. Each time the PBA has endorsed me including this past February when my city was still in negotiations with the police union. That is because I have years of mutual cooperation and strong support with the PBA. No decision they make in a given campaign will change that. I respect the PBA and they respect me. That’s why I’ve consistently earned the support of their members. Nothing about that is not going to change.
I’m satisfied that I was truthful, thoughtful and responsible in my responses to their questions. I won’t say things I don’t believe or promise things I can’t deliver just to get an endorsement.
Would it have been nice to have their endorsement in this race? Sure. Do I have regret how I answered their questions? No. They asked the questions that were important to them. I gave them answers that I thought were fair and responsible. There are no hard feelings toward them or anyone. I understand.
Regards,
Angelo
July 9th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Judy Stern is telling everyone that Angelo lost the PBA endorsement because he backed Israel. It is bullshit. Angelo got the PBA endorsement in February, which was after the sheriff’s race.
Angelo didn’t get the endorsement because he backs privatization, which would take jobs from county employees and give them to private businesses, many of them who hired Stern to lobby. Stern is running Angelo’s campaign and then she will get her payoff after the election, if God Forbid he gets elected. This is the REAL STORY.
July 9th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
“which would take jobs from county employees and give them to private businesses”
This is the most assinine comment I have ever heard. The jobs will be filled by employees regardless if they work for the county or some contractor. The difference is that if they don’t perform their job while working for the contractor, then they can be replaced. If you have them as a county employee and they slack, the taxpayers are SOL.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I live in Miramar. Sharief lies in every campaign and goes negative. She lies and then plays the race card. She pays that gang of hers to prop her up but Miramar is not fooled. We see she only cares about promoting herself.
Nobody privatizes the police. That is a stupid comment. More likely the union wants to raise taxes so they can get bigger pensions. He probably said no and Sharief said yes like she raised taxes in Miramar. Pines is more considerate. Angelo has my vote.
July 9th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
To Beth The Bounty Hunter:
I agree with you. Diana is a wonderful person, a lady. She has always been very kind, generous, and helpful. She is a refined woman; truly one-of-a-kind. She’s hard-working and has done more for Broward than many others I know. I’m aching deeply over what has taken place and I truly hope she will come out of this victoriously. However, my sources tell me that Diana arrived in the US under Operation Peter Pan in the early 60’s, not in 1980 Mariel boatlift.
FROM BUDDY: I don’t know if she came in Operation Pedro Pan, but she definitely came to the U. S. long before the Mariel boatlift.
Her official biograph states she came to the U. S. in 1960 and became a U. S. citizen in 1970.
July 11th, 2010 at 9:46 am
I stand corrected, I’m really not up on Cuban immigration.