Broward Mayor Ken Keechl on ethics:
"We need to bring back trust, and that's what we're doing with this ethics ordinance. ... It's substantive. It's not something we put out there to placate you all."
It's substantive, all right ... with at least one big loophole that Keechl wasted no time in exploiting.
Less than two months after the new ethics law was passed, he used a technicality to avoid disclosing names of big-money donors to his charitable "Mayor's Gala" — where the prime contributor/attendees are wealthy folks who do business with the County. The lobbyist-packed Gala occurred in the middle of Keechl's tough reelection fight. See the graphics for more!
— Cal 10/28/10
Keechl didn't have to report any of these donors, thanks to the loophole he exploited ...
When a public official bans press coverage of a public event, something is very, very wrong.
And so it was when Broward Mayor Ken Keechl told the Sun-Sentinel's Brittany Wallman that SHE COULD NOT DO INTERVIEWS OR TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS at his "Mayor's Gala" earlier this month. Incredibly, the official sponsor — the United Way — went along with the ridiculous press restrictions! Why? The event is full of lobbyists schmoozing with politicians. What does Keechl have to hide???????????
Any elected official who finds it necessary to cripple the press at his public events should be an elected official no more!
— Cal 10/26/10
Non-profits — in this case United Way — are not supposed to be bolstering the fortunes of one candidate over the other.
According to the IRS, charities "cannot ... become involved in any other activities that may be beneficial or detrimental to any candidate. .... The organization could lose its tax-exempt status and it could be subject to an excise tax on the amount of money spent on that activity." That's pretty darned clear. [See http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=122887,00.html ]
More on the IRS rules: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-29982.html
See Brittany's "Fly on the Wallman Cam" video of Keechl talking about how "we need to bring back trust." It's the first few minutes of this video.
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Cal Deal
1317 SE 2nd Ave.
Fort Lauderdale 33316(954) 295-3726
Always do right. This will gratify some people
and astonish the rest.
— Mark Twain
