Bullsugar primary candidate questionnaire and endorsements ... by gimleteye

The advocacy group Bullsugar has tapped into public focus on the massive pollution of Florida's rivers, bays, estuaries and Everglades as a result of mismanagement of the state's water infrastructure, primarily to benefit Big Sugar.

Repetitive toxic algae blooms are triggering enormous damage to the state's prestige, to its tourism-related and fishing industries and to public health. Cyanobacteria is linked to severe health risks including neurological disease like Alzheimer's. USA Today reports: "Eighty-six percent of Floridians are concerned about the toxic algae blooms plaguing the state’s east and west coasts, according to a university poll released Wednesday. Among the 800 registered voters polled July 20-21, 53 percent said they are "very concerned" and 33 percent said they are "somewhat concerned," the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative said in a news release."

Bullsugar's endorsements come as primary season approaches. Notably, for the Democratic primary in the governor's race, Bullsugar favors four out of five candidates who affirmatively responded to the Bullsugar questionnaire.

Candidates were asked to respond to five questions including one on Big Sugar money campaign contributions.

Bullsugar favors Congressman Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary for governor. In the polls, DeSantis leads a well-funded (Sugar) campaign of Ag. Secretary Adam Putnam.

In the non-partisan District 8 county commission race, Bullsugar endorsed Daniella Levine Cava.

On the Democratic side, in Miami-Dade County, Bullsugar endorsed:

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Congressional District 26
Matt Haggman in Congressional District 27
Julian Santos, Florida Senate District 36
Jason Pizzo, Florida Senate District 38
Ross Hancock, Florida House District 105
Joseph Dotie, Florida House District 108
Ryan Torrens, Attorney General
David Walker, Agriculture Commissioner

For the Republican primary:
Denise Grimsely, Agriculture Commissioner
Michael Ohevzion, Congressional District 27
Ronda Rebman-Lopez, Florida House District 115

Blunders by the Toxic Trio: Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, and Matt Caldwell created this Florida water crisis ... by gimleteye

Inconveniently for Florida's Toxic Trio: Rick Scott -- running for the US Senate against incumbent Bill Nelson, for Adam Putnam -- the Ag Secretary running to succeed Scott as governor, and for Caldwell -- a state representative aiming for Putnam's job as Ag Secretary -- Florida's weather is conspiring against claims they deserve your vote. They don't.

The immediate crisis -- far from the first -- is the reappearance of highly toxic cyanobacteria in algae blooming in the diseased heart of Florida: Lake Okeechobee. Both Florida's rivers -- the St. Lucie and the Caloosahatchee -- carry water out of the lake towards a million residents and tourism businesses on the east and west coast of the southern half of the state. It happened in 2013 then again in 2016 and now.

The water has to go somewhere, when rain levels cause the lake to rise, and the US Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District release those billions of gallons of toxic water downstream. The water could be treated and cleansed if it was allowed to filter through wetlands sufficient in space and volume, south of the Lake. Those lands belong to some of the wealthiest welfare recipients in the US Farm program: Big Sugar. And every year Big Sugar takes its winnings from the electeds and spends millions to ensure that the state legislature, executive mansion, Congress and even the presidency is locked and loaded to shoot down any serious effort to share the adversity caused by Florida's manufactured water crisis.

Florida Gov. Scott, Ag. Secretary Putnam and legislators like Matt Caldwell had the answer in the palm of their hands, and they let it slip away. Now they want your vote.

Taxpayers could be on the road to salvation, but the toxic trio closed the road and built an exit ramp to more wastefulness and more environmental harm and more threats to public health and safety. They did this is three ways.

First, Scott and his co-conspirators killed the deal to buy US Sugar lands because it was opposed by its sometimes competitor, the Florida Crystals/Fanjul family empire. Second, Caldwell, Putnam and Scott created a new law that extended lease terms without competitive bidding on at least 23,000 acres of public lands to sugar farmers. Those lands could have been deployed to cleansing the cyanobacteria-laced waters, but the toxic trio bent to Big Sugar's will. Third, the toxic trio endorsed a new law that prohibits the state from eminent domain in the Everglades Agricultural Area while, at the same time, funds a multi-billion dollar reservoir that even the US Army Corps of Engineers doubts will work or be cost effective.

The bottom line is that billions of taxpayer dollars and years of civic efforts have been squandered while governmental processes slowly grind toward common sense: more water storage lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area. From the Now Or Neverglades Movement to the nation's premier science review agency, the National Academies of Sciences, the eventual solution to taxpayer and property owners woes is clear: buy the land that is necessary to fix Florida's water crisis.

Anyone paying attention knows that Big Sugar is at the heart of Florida's water crisis. The industry excels at muddying the waters, pointing fingers in every direction, but cyanobacteria doesn't lie. It is lifted into air we breathe and is linked to severe and incurable neurological diseases like Alzheimer's.

Remember the Toxic Trio when you go to the polls in November: Scott, Putnam and Caldwell do not deserve your votes.


The next step is simple: Fund Everglades restoration
BY DON JODREY
donjodrey2@gmail.com
July 23, 2018 06:30 PM
Finally, on July 25, after 18 months of silence, the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is scheduled to convene in Washington, D.C., to discuss next steps for Everglades restoration. As Floridians know, the intergovernmental restoration effort is the world’s largest infrastructure project that will, when complete, bring economic and environmental benefits for a vast region that ranks 13th in the nation in population and economic output.

The congressionally chartered Task Force, co-chaired by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the state of Florida, fosters the necessary collaboration needed to line up funding, engineering capability and science to get restoration done. The Task Force meeting could not come at a more important time. Several issues require immediate attention.

Does Stephen Cody Play Fair? By Geniusofdespair

Stephen Cody has an ethics complaint against South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard.

Stephen Cody was hired by someone when we were examining ballots for the Lynda Bell/Gene Flinn election -- I was there and he was watching us. As I watched him looking over our shoulders, I thought "scum." After he had his license suspended as a lawyer by the Supreme Court, I made peace with Natacha Seijas's lawyer/friend Stephen Cody - even friending him on Facebook when he posted cute pictures of his granddaughter Olivia.  Those days are long over.

Cody doesn't play fair. He can be vindictive. He ain't no friend of mine.  I unfriended him in February, when he was attacking Phil Stoddard. He had Valerie Newman do a robocall for his PAC. Everyone knows that Valerie is a known enemy of Stoddard  and has been accused of questionable activity in that regard.

My last words to Cody as I unfriended him:

I doubt you care as much about feminism as you do at helping your pals at FPL.

 I really think that Cody,  in a corner of his clouded brain,  thinks he is being a good guy, but I am apt to believe he is just a hired gun. He has used this tactic before, in Miami Lakes for instance. I just do not like someone who plays by his murky rules and I don't like anyone lecturing me on what kind of a Me-Too survivor I should be. Sorry Steve, ethics rules are not in effect. No response needed by you. And since when does Ethics do anything anyway? This case is a no winner for them. The Mayor asked Council. That should have ended it. And, does Steve Cody have standing if he is not a lobbyist?

Did this make Stephen Cody a bottom feeder?

You are a bully still, trying to explain it away as you hide your supporters behind a 501-C4's.  I wrote this in 2012 about him:

The big question always comes down to: Who is paying Stephen Cody? He doesn't appear to do work when he isn't paid. He charged Natacha Seijas and her PAC's a small fortune over the years. He has had a shadow client before like he has in Miami Lakes. He tried to get Eugene Flinn thrown out of the District 8 County Commission race. Who paid him for that? No one knows.

We have an example of the importance that Cody puts on getting paid in a recent (4/13/2011) Florida Bar "Admonishment" where he was fined about $2,000 for minor misconduct. In the complaint, even though he had a $5,000 retainer, he did not answer calls from his client so she stopped paying 2 installments due. In return, he says for NON-PAYMENT, Cody then failed to send his client correspondence advising his client of the status of the appeal. In Cody's signed admission he stated:

"Respondent (him)  failed  to  send  written  correspondence  to Vazquez advising her of the status of the appeal and/or his failure to file the appeal due to her nonpayment."

 So why is Stephen Cody in Miami Lakes snapping photos and passing out 15 pages of stuff, most of it dismissed ethics complaints (deemed frivolous), at a meeting in Miami Lakes?  Kevin Morejon, a 20 year resident said he wanted to know.

Kevin said he went to the meeting held by Mayor Pizzi with 75  to 100 of his neighbors.

Pizzi was having the Town Meeting at the Royal Oaks Park Community Center  on January 17th at 7:00 pm. The topics were public safety, park and lake issues for homeowners in Miami Lakes. The town of Miami Lakes is a very long way from Cody's Palmetto Bay office. When people arrived, they were confronted by Stephen Cody, and some workers he brought with him, according to Kevin Morejon. He said Cody and his crew confronted everyone going into the meeting and passed out a  bunch of pages with an unflattering photo of Mayor Pizzi stapled on the front.  According to Pizzi the content of the pages were an old ethics report of false allegations against him. He said the multiple page flyer cut off the portion of the report that said that these were allegations from years ago and that they were all dismissed.

Morejon said that he didn't know who the group were crashing the meeting, until he heard an employee call the man in the blue shirt Mr. Cody. He said they were disturbing the residents and they were unprofessional. Morejon said "I thought it was wrong that they gave under-age kids the stapled papers.  Mr. Cody was taking numerous photographs too. I thought he was a photographer at first. My guess is he took 25 to 30 snapshots. It was very disruptive." Apparently for a time he was blocking the view of  Mayor Pizzi as he was talking, filming or snapping photos.

Morejon said, after I revealed Cody was an attorney: "Now you tell me he is an attorney. If he is a lawyer, I am surprised he was doing that.  Some residents left because they were scared." Then I said to Kevin: "What would you think if I told you that he was Natacha Seijas' lawyer?"  He said: "I would freak out. Why would she stoop to his level if she sent him? She might as well have been there herself giving out the papers." He said a lot of people ripped up the papers in front of Cody.

I also spoke to Mary Collins, of Miami Lakes who, like Morejon, wanted to know why Cody was in Miami Lakes. She said, "Why is Cody so interested in Miami Lakes he doesn't even live here?" Good question. If I had, to guess, this is who I think is paying Cody.  I told Mary that he was once Natacha Seijas's attorney. She said: "I didn't realize he was her lawyer but I did not sign that recall petition."

How dirty is Miami real estate? A LOT DIRTIER than you think ... by gimleteye

It is time for reflection, after a long run as a Miami-Dade taxpayer. When I moved from the Keys to Miami in 1992, I embraced the challenge of calling attention to the importance of preserving open space and farmland as a buffer between the intensely developed areas of Florida’s most populous county and the fragile beauty of the Everglades. Previously, I spent nearly four years as an advocate for Monroe County marine resource issues and had become involved for the first time in my life in local county politics, part of a successful effort to run out of office a majority who had proudly called themselves, “The Concrete Coalition”.

In Miami-Dade I discovered two planning tools critical to protecting the downstream economy and environment in the Keys; 1) the Urban Development Boundary embraced by the county but under constant pressure by developers and the supply chain of special interests and 2) state law mandating comprehensive land use plans by every one of Florida’s counties.

“All growth is good” propelled Miami into the 20th century, but by the end of the century it was evident that a new model needed adjustments. These two planning tools were intended as a rationale framework to bring together competing interests. The problem, of course, is that the competition between civic values and private property owners is not fair. One of the ways failure manifests is through the unregulated influence of corporate law that encourages property owners and speculators to hide their identity through invisibility shields like limited liability corporations.

Every issue of concern to Miami Dade taxpayers — traffic congestion, overburdened schools, fire and police protection — manifests through county politics. And as we know, too well, county politics are extraordinarily influenced by deep pocketed donors who now, thanks to the Citizens United decision by the Bush Supreme Court, give unlimited amounts of money to support causes and candidates.

Today, there is attention on the decision by Mayor Gimenez and the majority of the county commission to support the extension of a major state highway, SR 836, into the southwest corner of Miami-Dade; exactly the geographic area that absorbed my interest after moving to Miami two and a half decades ago. It is as true today as it was then: it is impossible to know who one is negotiating with, when one’s opponent can shield his or her identity through a limited liability corporation, or, LLC.

Eye On Miami is virtually the only space in the media universe where this and related issues have been investigated.

We have mapped to the extent possible, with freely donated time and energy, the LLC’s behind the push that absorbs so much of the elected officials' attention. Sometimes the identities are well known — lobbyists, for instance, who are required to identify themselves. But those are just the tips of the icebergs.

A very small group of land speculators, who are extraordinarily wealthy through the growth of suburban sprawl, dominate the outcomes that put such huge costs on the backs of taxpayers. They’ve figured out the playbook to persuade voters that their cause is noble: ie. “jobs” and that opponents are “elitists”and worse.

If voters knew their names and could make the linkages, it would be a start to a level playing field. At least, then, there would be some “sunshine” to illuminate a path for voters. That’s why, in 2016, I was so excited to learn about an Obama Treasury Department initiative to require the disclosure of LLC ownership in property transactions, as a test case in a few areas of the nation. Miami-Dade was an obvious place to start. I wrote at the time, this was “the best story of 2016”. Attention was being paid.

The Herald's recent report, "How dirty is Miami real estate? Secret home deals dried up when feds started watching", is a book-end to the federal effort to find out who is behind the biggest land deals in South Florida. It turns out that as soon as the speculators found out the feds were watching, they stopped using LLC's..

LLC transactions declined by 95% during the study period. The breathtaking number answers the question, “How dirty is Miami real estate?” The answer: Very.

The land flippers and speculators who stand to benefit from Mayor Gimenez’ SR 836 jihad don’t want to be identified, but we know they exert profound influence.

The take-away is as true today as it was those long years ago: VOTE. If you care about Miami-Dade, your taxes, and your quality of life; vote for candidates who aren’t stuck on the suburban sprawl merry-go-round because they are tethered to campaign cash from special interests whose identities are shielded by corporate law.