Response to the 'Salem Trial'...

It is unfortunate that my colleagues have spent their time seeking to prevent me from the  exercising  my 1st amendment rights. My comments are reflective of my views of  the continued highly questionable activities of this commission. I have been elected  by the voters in Cooper City three consecutive times, because  they have come to rely upon me to speak the truth no matter what the consequences may be. Whether it offends some or not, the truth must come first. I fully stand by my comments...

Cooper City Resident Speaks Out About Mayor's Corruption!

Brian:

I look forward to reading your analysis. Hey! You didn't speak to any local activists!  

Our mayor is going too far. Greg Ross seems to be the one aggressively pushing this Resolution. While I understand his concern about the letter Sims sent to the Judge, the breadth of the proposed Resolution is very disturbing. There are very serious allegations set out yet there is no clear procedure about submitting any sort of evidence backing up the allegations. The word "illegal" is even used. Is the plan by Ross to go in, the city attorney reads the resolution, someone moves to vote on the resolution, and after a member's second they proceed to vote? Commission members do not have to speak. They can vote on this w/o any real discussion. This has all the makings of a drumbeat court martial to be followed by an execution.  

Our mayor is supposed to be an experienced Florida attorney. Someone who appears before local state courts in civil and criminal matters. Yet none of the rules or procedures related to this "special meeting" seem clear. It is not even clear why Mayor Ross felt the urgent need to bring forward such a highly unusual matter.  

I wrote the mayor for information on the planned procedures & received no response. The Resolution has the appearance of a not very well thought out tantrum. Yet, because due process, notice, minutes, etc., seem to be of only marginal interest to many of those in Cooper City government, it looks like the plan is to just barrel ahead. Why not? That's the way things are done in Cooper City.  

There is a background to all of this going way back. Back to Greg Ross before he was mayor coming into meetings to criticize Sims. Back to about the very first thing Ross did when elected mayor- when he pushed an expedited agenda item to de facto censure Sims for a Sims Facebook posting criticizing Obama. Ross got away with that, his city attorney saying and doing nothing. The latter saying nothing despite a written city policy seeming to direct "hands off" on a commission member's off the dais political speech. The city got away with it in a well-established local procedure. Anything troublesome, anything possibly an impediment? Just ignore it.  And so it has gone since that first Ross move in 12/2012.  

In the last two months the majority of the commission under Ross' leadership have, in my view, taken steps towards ripping up the City's Charter. They are making changes that affect the City's most important appointive board w/o allowing residents to vote on those changes in a referendum. It has been outrageous and insulting, and it has been backed at every step by the day to day city attorney.  It is clearly the case the majority of the commission wants to exercise control over the city's Charter Review Board, and nothing is going to stop that. Even when legal opinions and analysis had no references or citations to legal authority, it did not matter. Even when a commission member made inaccurate assertions about receiving a "second opinion" from the AG on a vital question, it did not matter. Even when it meant setting aside or ignoring well-established precedent, it did not matter.  

The local political situation is that nothing gets in the way of our commission's majority. They are increasingly authoritarian and as indicated by this new Resolution, completely out of control. They are far too free from any effective oversight, and their insensitivity to the will of the people is clearly reaching critical mass.  

In my opinion Sims' perception is the city has no respect for any law or rules that impede its desires. Sims obviously believes the day to day city attorney is a mere "yes man" for whatever the majority (his paymasters) orders him to do. That is what John Sims believes. I am not defending Sims' letter. But in my opinion Commissioner Sims' actions and intent can only be understood and analyzed within the context of why he so distrusts the day to day city attorney and the majority of his colleagues. 

Sent from Skip Klauber's I phone  

Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir, la soif te passera

The First Amendment and Freedom of Speech is not perfect...

The First Amendment and Freedom of Speech is not perfect. It allows truths to be told and it allows lies to run rampant. It does not have the ability, in and of itself, to determine what is correct and what is incorrect. Rather, this imperfect amendment, with no safeguards as to veracity, allows the listener to make their own decision, allows the teller to put his foot in his mouth and allows those with various opinions to have various takes of what was said and what they heard. Anything short of this imperfect amendment would show just how perfect this amendment is. - Jamie Benjamin

Cooper City Mayor Greg Ross Censures Commissioner for exposing Fraud & Corruption

@CooperCityGOV Mayor & commissioners censure commissioner for telling the truth! Corruption rules in #CooperCityFL and so does lies, deceit, fraud and political corruption (In my humble opinion)
READ The Letter to the Judge regarding lies and a FRAUD ON THE COURT by Cooper City Attorney and Mayor ('ambulance chaser'/defense attorney Greg Ross) regarding the MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CLASS ACTION lawsuit that Mayor Greg Ross touted as "FRIVOLOUS"...another lie to the constituency (Yes, the 4th DCA approved the class) Now the citizens of #CooperCity will pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars for the FRAUD and LIES by #JamesCurran, #GregRoss#, #LisaMallozzi, #JeffGreen...and #DavidWolpin

Sunshine week was rainy in Cooper City

Sunshine week was rainy in Cooper City

The week of March 11^th was Sunshine Week. Such has not been the case as of late in Cooper City. Sunshine Week is observed annually throughout the US to point out that the public's business must be open to the public and that Government, must be open to public inspection. It is a national 'open government' initiative spearheaded by the majority of Americans to raise the awareness and educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive secrecy.
 

It coincides with the birthday of James Madison, a Founding Father of our country known for his emphasis on the checks and balances in government and his advocacy of open government, a view that I continue to strongly support. Open government and transparency are essential to maintaining our freedoms from repression by government as well as free speech. As such, political discourse and full expression of opinion is a necessary and vital element for a healthy society to survive.



The words describing open government and transparency are words that may well be ignored. These words are being propagated yet ignored deep down in the bowels of the bureaucracy of government administrations. Given my experience and based on mine and other's observations, I have concluded and am disappointed to report that transparency and open government, along with freedom of speech, are not being put into practice in our city as required. We saw this in the recent State Attorney’s criminal investigation in Cooper City regarding secretly held meetings and again just last month regarding lack of notice to the public for Planning and Zoning Board meetings.



The Privacy and Freedom of Information Acts, along with constitutional amendments regarding Free Speech and Free Expression, are not meant to limit the flow of information and communication between the government and its electorate, but quite the opposite. The disregard by government of the clear language of the law is disheartening. It is quite appropriate that during Sunshine Week, although already passed, I bring out the turbulence that our local city government has created in abeyance of our Constitution and Sunshine laws.



I have placed on the agenda, an initiative to demand full, open and vast public notice of any and all ‘non-shade’ meetings in Cooper City.  I am not referring to just the bare minimal legal requirements. We will see if my colleagues on the commission support your rights, or protect the established methods that smacks of a complete and arrogant disregard for our public duty, our Oath of Office and our collective consciousness when it comes to fully informing the public.

 

During Sunshine Week, hundreds of truly dedicated elected representatives who understand the great and vast importance of this issue, media organizations, publishers, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and other participants, engage in public discussion on the importance of open government throughout many coffee shops, gatherings with family and friends, news programs, featured articles and hundreds of opinion columns, Web pages and blogs, editorials, cartoons, public service advertising, public seminars and forums.

As such, I implore you to do what you can to demand open government, improve open government and transparency, to communicate more effectively with your local elected officials and provide a full range of commentary not just on political issues, but on your everyday issues. Only the future will show who will step up to the mandates of open government in Cooper City.