Updated Sunday 5/3/09 • Email
Corrections
Sunlight cross appears on Fort Lauderdale Church
See it happen in a photo animation. Click here.
Residents oppose bright parking lot lights in Poinciana Park
In City Commissioner Christine Teel's campaign finance report for July through September 2008, only four donors are listed (below). ALL of them are out-of-towners. All of them gave the max ... $250. And ALL of them appear to have ties to FPL!
In Cindi Hutchinson's collapsed mayoral campaign during the same period, even more contributors with apparent FPL ties were found — eight in all.
WHY ARE THESE DONATIONS BEING MADE??? According to Bunney Brenneman, chair of the city's Utility Advisory Committee, in October FPL's 30-year franchise agreement with the city will expire. The agreement gives FPL the right to sell power to city residents and sets the terms. Could this be why people who live two counties away are so interested in Fort Lauderdale politics? According to Brenneman, if the city chooses not to extend the agreement it could buy FPL's infrastructure and sell the power itself after hooking up to the national grid. It could also sell power to other cities. “This franchise agreement term ending poses a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the City of Fort Lauderdale and its residents to consider their wants and needs – as well as the costs – for the future in terms of power,” Brenneman said.
TO SEE DOCUMENTATION of the apparent connections between nine contributors and FPL, click here.
The campaign finance reports of the candidates for mayor and city commission can be found here.
"City Hall will be a far less nervous place. ... He could have run a more open government, a nicer government, a government that inspired confidence instead of suspicion." SOUND FAMILIAR?
Read the article's string of criticism here. • EMAIL YOUR THOUGHTS ON GRETSAS HERE
SEE & HEAR the candidates on the Sentinel's YouTube page
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By CAL DEAL
A freebie newspaper's attack on mayoral candidate Jack Seiler leaves readers stuffed to the gills with innuendo and starved and panting for hard facts. The Fort Lauderdale City News attack article is topped by this headline:
The City News attack clearly seems designed to further the campaign of Seiler opponent Earl Rynerson, whose candidacy has received favored placement at the top of the paper's front pages. Even in the Seiler attack article Rynerson is singled out for favorable mention. It praises Rynerson for being "strongly connected to the city" — but fails to mention that Rynerson didn't bother to vote in recent city elections. The Seiler attack article also touts Rynerson's "popular business" but fails to mention that three of the paper's last four back covers have been full-page ads for that business. (See graphic at right.) Seiler grew up in Fort Lauderdale and lived in Wilton Manors for years. In 2008 — after being term-limited out of the Legislature — he decided to run for mayor of Fort Lauderdale. He was required to move back into the city to meet the six-month residency requirement. He had a temporary residence, then moved with his family to a "permanent" $2,255,000 residence on NE 37th Court (which he does not own) in May. If you search the Sentinel's political blog for "Seiler residency," you'll find that Brittany Wallman has regularly reported on Seiler's Fort Lauderdale living accomodations. CITY NEWS ATTACKS Here's a look at the claims made by the City News regarding three addresses associated with Seiler: 350 East Las Olas Blvd. ... CITY NEWS CLAIM: The paper says Seiler lists 350 East Las Olas Blvd. "as his official residence" in his July and October campaign finance reports. "Jack Seiler says he lives here," the paper says flatly. REALITY CHECK: Seiler makes no such claim. The instructions for the campaign finance form do not require that the address be the candidate's residence. The address can even be a Post Office Box. A little checking determines that the address belongs to Seiler's campaign treasurer, whose signature appears at the bottom of the page. He is Ray Rodriguez, CPA. 1515 NE 17th Way, Fort Lauderdale ... CITY NEWS CLAIM: City News says ominously of this address: "Here's where Seiler's true residence gets messy and perhaps illegal." Perhaps illegal???? Seiler used this address in his April campaign finance report. The paper notes it's a "small house" and states -- in rather unusual English -- "If Seiler actually lived here with his family of six, he would do so with three other adults who also live there." REALITY CHECK: The City News is using bad English and multiple tenses to imply that, because another family of three is now living there, Seiler himself never "actually" lived there. Seiler told the Sun-Sentinel's Wallman in April that he was renting the house and sleeping there. Seiler says he moved out after finding a home on NE 37th Court. That was in May. Also in May, according to corporate records, this home became the official address of "registered agent" Fred V. Salter and his business. City News offers no facts to support the intimation that Seiler never lived there. 2849 NE 37 Ct, Fort Lauderdale ... CITY NEWS CLAIM: The paper says Seiler and his family "appear to be living here and are seen coming and going." That phrasing adds an air of illegality — as if they are under surveillance or hiding something. The article notes the home is owned by someone else and asks, "Is the house homesteaded?" as if there's something improper going on. REALITY CHECK: The Sentinel reported July 1 that the Seilers have been living in this home since well before the July 10 residency deadline. You'd never know that by reading the City News, however. If the writer had bothered to consult the property appraiser's records, he would know that the home is not homesteaded. Seiler says he is renting.
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Continued from left column VOTER FRAUD? NOT EVEN CLOSE! CITY NEWS CLAIM: The paper says Seiler "claims this [17th Way] residence for his official voter registration. Is this voter fraud?" The article notes that falsifying public records "is a first degree misdemeanor" and says it's a third-degree felony "for candidates to falsely swear that they qualify to hold office." All very serious-sounding stuff. REALITY CHECK: City News' references to the law are nothing but a smokescreen. Those laws have nothing to do with Seiler's situation. A simple phone call to Broward's Supervisor of Elections office determined there is NO DEADLINE for changing the address on your voter registration after you move. That doesn't matter, however, because Seiler says he updated his voter registration address MONTHS AGO, and voted at the Coral Ridge Mall last November. He even has a witness — a Sun-Sentinel reporter who talked to him there and quoted him in a story the next day. Seiler is a former State Representative whose district included much of Fort Lauderdale. The Sun-Sentinel gave Seiler a top rating -- 4-1/2 stars -- in its 2006 Legislative Report Card. No Broward legislator scored higher. More on Seiler's ties to Fort Lauderdale. After redistricting, Seiler's legislative district (in blue) included the section of Fort Lauderdale from Broward Boulevard north, and from Federal Highway west.
Written without the prior knowledge, consent, encouragement, or input of any candidate, or anyone associated with any campaign.
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The
article tries to make it appear that Seiler [photo] is up to some
funny business regarding how he's complied with city residency requirements
so he can run for mayor.
Email Comments • Email Corrections
Cal Deal
1317 SE 2nd Ave.
Fort Lauderdale 33316
(954) 295-3726
As long as the world shall last
there will be wrongs,
and if no man objected and no man rebelled,
those wrongs would last forever.
— Clarence Darrow
Always do right. This will gratify some
people
and astonish the rest.
— Mark Twain