Category: Issues
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Independent special districts: Where lobbyists ride free and the public is in the dark
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Nearly 1,000 special-purpose governments across Florida that raise and spend billions of dollars in public funds every year do not require lobbyists who appear before them to register, pay fees or disclose any information about themselves or their clients. -
Oakland Park commissioners likely to decide soon on controversial psychiatric hospital
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
UPDATE: Jan. 16 — Shot down unanimously by Oakland Park’s planning and zoning board on Monday, a Delray Beach drug rehab operator’s controversial plan to develop a 300-bed psychiatric hospital on the site of the old North Ridge Medical Center is expected to go before the city commission soon for a final decision. -
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Broward Health commissioner upgrades unpaid post to well-paid lobbyist for hospital district
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
When Clarence V. McKee quit his commissioner’s seat on the governing board of Broward Health in January, records show he urged his colleagues to keep an eye on consulting contracts doled out by the tax supported public health care system. But less than a month later and without any public discussion by his former colleagues, McKee upgraded his unpaid position to a lobbying contract worth $65,000. -
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The nation’s state supreme court judges reveal scant financial information
By Reity O’Brien, Kytja Weir and Chris Young
Center for Public Integrity
Last December, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by a couple who had accused financial giant Wells Fargo & Co. of predatory lending. One justice, who owned stock in the bank, recused himself from the case. But Justice Kathryn Werdegar, who owned as much as $1 million of Wells Fargo stock, participated — and shouldn’t have. -
Leisure parks chain looks to buy Miami Seaquarium, South Florida’s iconic attraction
By John Dorschner
BrowardBulldog.org
The owner of South Florida’s iconic tourist attraction, the Miami Seaquarium, has had “discussions” about selling to a California-based subsidiary of a Spanish parks operator, but said no final deal has been struck. -
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The ‘lobbyist’ is dead; Long live the ‘government relations professional’
By Dave Levinthal
Center for Public Integrity
The lobbyist, like Philip Morris, ValuJet and the World Wrestling Federation before him, died today. He was 150 years old, give or take a decade, the victim of relentless pejorativation and transmogrification. Naysayers who believed he too often abused the right to petition his government for a redress of grievances hastened his demise.
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