Thin-skinned Tamarac Commissioners Elberg Mike Gelin and Marlon Bolton will pay $50,000 to a Dale Holness supporter to track down the identity of the whistleblower who provided a city memorandum to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. On April 16, 2021 Lisa Huriash reported, “City commissioners recently allocated themselves a pot of money for local travel, without needing receipts to document where they went. Now a new proposal would pay for their full health care coverage, education, retirement and office furniture, according to a draft memo obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.” Since its publication, Gelin and Bolton have dominated commission meetings with angry attacks on the reporter, the newspaper and the possible source of the memo. Not satisfied with just wasting taxpayers’ time, Gelin and Bolton want to waste taxpayers dollars too.

The agenda for the May 12, 2021 Tamarac City Commission meeting includes a retainer agreement with the Kim Vaughn Lerner law firm of Fort Lauderdale. Interim City Attorney Hans Ottinot contacted the firm about conducting an investigation into the person(s) who gave the embarrassing memo to the Sun-Sentinel. Ottinot stated the City of Tamarac will pay up to $50,000 for the investigation. While Gelin and Bolton have not hid their desire to unmask the whistleblower, Ottinot tries to hide the true nature of the investigation.

In a draft resolution, Ottinot calls the whistleblower hunt a “name clearing investigation.” Ottinot states the lawyers will interview elected officials as well as city staff. The Kim Vaughn Lerner lawyers will be able to use the IT staff to “review emails, phone records and electronic devices etc., to determine who requested the items listed in the draft memorandum, who directed the release of the memorandum, who released the memorandum, how they were released and were City protocols followed in all instances.”

And who better to head up this blatant political witch hunt than a big supporter of Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness.

PEOPLE OF PRINCIPLE

Last year, REDBROWARD exposed Dale Holness’ role in the mysterious “People of Principle” Super PAC which supported Alcee Hastings and other candidates of Caribbean heritage. Federal campaign records show Holness’ longtime campaign marketing guru Omar Smith is tied to the “People Over Principle PAC.” These same records show the committee has failed report any money contributions or expenditures as required by law. Federal records show People of Principle PAC has never reported its financial information. The FEC sent “failure to file” notices on August 15, 2019, February 19, 2020 and May 1, 2020 to the committee.

Federal records show Elberg Mike Gelin and his Gelin Benefits Group gave $2,000 to the People of Principle PAC. These same records show a $5,000 contribution from Robert CL Vaughn P.A.

Last week, REDBROWARD revealed Hans Ottinot listed Dale Holness as a professional reference on his application to be the permanent Tamarac city attorney.

Must be a coincidence that Ottinot, a strong ally of Gelin and Bolton, who has the endorsement of Dale Holness, would select a staunch supporter of Holness to head up an investigation into the perceived enemies of Gelin and Bolton, right?

The Sun-Sentinel just called the Governor a “dictator” for signing bills into law.

What will they say about a $50K witch hunt into their reporter and her sources orchestrated by Dale Holness and his allies?