Tag Archives: President Barack Obama

Congressman Hastings Paid Broward Elections Atty For 2012 Democrat GOTV Efforts

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Broward SOE lawyer Burnadette Norris-Weeks

Broward SOE lawyer Burnadette Norris-Weeks

Federal campaign records show Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) paid a company owned by Burnadette Norris-Weeks,the Broward Supervisor Of Elections Office Attorney, for her role in 2012 Democrat Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts. On October 12, 2012, Hastings’ campaign made a $2,000 “GOTV Contribution” to Avenue Executive of Fort Lauderdale. State of Florida records show Burnadette Norris-Weeks has been the managing member of the Avenue of the Arts Executive Suites, LLC since 2010.

Last month, REDBROWARD exposed Norris-Weeks’ role in Congressman Hastings “non-partisan” scheme to boost African-American turnout for the 2012 Presidential election. Hastings teamed up with Rev. Al Sharpton, convicted Commissioner Joe Eggelletion and other Democrats for a get out the vote (GOTV) program dubbed “Operation: Big Vote.” Plans included a Sharpton rally in Pompano Beach and a “Souls To The Polls” march to early voting locations.

Federal campaign financial records show Alcee Hastings’ campaign gave $15,365 to Operation: Big Vote between September and November 2012.

According to Hastings and Operation: Big Vote leaders, the biggest event was the “Step Up To The Polls” march organized by Norris-Weeks and her Avenue Executive partner, Kathy Eggleston. Is this video produced by Hastings, he says Norris-Weeks is “spearheading” this GOTV event.

REDBROWARD reported how Congressman Hastings and a former South Florida Sun-Sentinel senior editorial writer touted Norris-Weeks’ 2012 rally.

In an October 2012 Westside Gazette article, Hastings wrote, “I tried to get a current list of all of the African American organizations in Broward County.  Nobody, I mean nobody, is working from a list that has all the names and leaders of every organization in Broward. That’s ridiculous people.”

Hastings continued, “Enter Step Up to the Polls, the brainchild of Burnadette Norris-Weeks and her law partner.  They have pulled together what I believe will be the most effective effort of an African American led effort this election season.  I am following their leadership, and I encourage you to do the same.”

One week later, Sun-Sentinel Editorial Writer Douglas Lyons praised Norris Weeks’ work to get President Obama re-elected. Lyons wrote, “Even better, other black professionals and organizations have organized similar efforts. Take today’s early morning “Steps to the Polls,” a march from downtown Fort Lauderdale to one of the early voting polling sites at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center…spearheaded by prominent attorney Burnadette Norris Weeks, is just one of several last-minute attempts to rally the faithful to take advantage of early voting and tip the scales of a razor-thin race in Florida to the president’s advantage.”

Operation: Big Vote and Step Up To The Polls claimed to be non-partisan movements, but Lyons clearly was not buying their claims. Lyons’ wife was the tresurer for Norris-Weeks’ political committee known as “The Right Group.”

Congressman Hastings financial support for Norris-Weeks’ Avenue Executive continued with a $500 “sponsorship donation” in 2013 and a $500 “donation” in 2014.

Once again, Dr. Brenda Snipes needs to answer questions regarding her private contract attorney’s role in partisan politics and elections.

Did Operation: Big Vote utilize resources, data or staff for the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office?

Was Dr. Snipes aware her lawyer was conducting a march on the final day of early voting in 2012?

Did Dr. Snipes attend the “Step Up To The Polls” rally?

Did anyone else sponsor the “Step Up To The Polls” rally? An October 18, 2012 Westside Gazette story said, “For sponsorship, opportunities and more information contact Burnadette Norris-Weeks at (954) 768-9770 or send an e-mail to reservations@avenueexecutive.com.”

Broward voters deserve answers.

Burnadette Norris-Weeks marches with Alcee Hastings

Burnadette Norris-Weeks marches with Alcee Hastings

 

President Obama and Billionaire Socialite Using Everglades To Support Florida Democrats

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On right, Paul Tudor Jones parties with Charlie Crist, center, and musician Sting

On right, Paul Tudor Jones parties with Charlie Crist, center, and musician Sting

President Barack Obama’s Earth Day visit to the Everglades is the latest ploy to use the river of grass to support Florida Democrats. White House officials admit President Obama is making his first visit to the Everglades for political reasons. “This is an effort to raise this debate,” Josh Earnest, the president’s press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday evening. “Those Republicans that choose to deny the reality of climate change, they do that to the detriment of the people they are elected to represent.” While the move may be intended to create debate in Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio’s home state, prominent liberals have been using the Florida Everglades as a political weapon for years.

Paul Tudor Jones, the Connecticut billionaire behind the Everglades Foundation, funds a wide array of liberal politicians. When he’s not attending Palm Beach social events with his buddy Jimmy Buffett, Jones serves as one of the driving forces behind the proposed deal to buy land owned by US Sugar. In 2008, Jones held a fundraiser for Mr. Obama at his Greenwich, Connecticut estate.

As a part-time Florida resident, Jones makes hefty contributions to Florida Democrats.

Since 2008, Jones contributed nearly $15,000 to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He gave another $15,000 to help get Senator Bill Nelson re-elected to office. Jones gave generously to Congressman Alcee Hastings and Ron Klein.

On April 9th, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), “effectively canned a 2010 deal to buy 46,800 acres of U.S. Sugar land that it once considered critical to restoring the Everglades and coastal estuaries.” Jones and his allies hoped to force the Florida Legislature to finalize the land grab. The SFWMD board preferred Florida Governor Rick Scott’s Everglades Restoration Plan. The plan would spend $5 billion over the next twenty years.

“If we can get $5 billion in state dollars and match that with $5 billion in federal dollars and have $10 billion, to me that is the big huge goal we have to go after right now,” said SFWMD board chairman Dan O’Keefe.

Now, another group tied to Paul Tudor Jones is urging President Obama to support the US Sugar land deal.

According to the influential SaintPetersblog website, Mary Barley of the Everglades Trust told supporters about the importance of Obama’s Earth Day visit. “Florida has a contract with U.S. Sugar Corporation to buy land that would save the Everglades,” Barley wrote. “But if our legislature does not act by May 1, we could lose this natural treasure. That’s why the president’s visit and attention are so vital.”

State records show The Everglades Trust non-profit corporation is operated by allies of Paul Tudor Jones. Mary Barley uses the same Islamorada address as George Barley, a founding member of The Everglades Foundation.

Last week, The Sunshine State News wrote how nearly twenty years ago, investigative reporters Bob Malloy and Will Bourne detailed “how money and political influence contributed to the demise of water quality and the seagrass/coral reef ecosystems of Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.”

According the Sunshine State News story, Malloy and Bourne claimed George Barley bought into “bad science promulgated by Joseph Zieman, a University of Virginia seagrass biologist, and his colleague, Ron Jones of Miami’s Florida International University; Tudor Jones bankrolled the development of their wrong conclusions. Meanwhile, water quality in Florida Bay and the upper Keys worsened because of it.”

Malloy and Bourne concluded that politics and money had harmed Florida’s environment. “What began for us as an investigation of bad science, of a flawed hypothesis that seemed to acquire supernatural powers, evolved into an examination of power, money and big-business environmentalism in South Florida. As environmentalists, it rapidly soured us on the philosophy and tactics that have moved to the forefront of the battle to save our natural treasures. It became a case study in ethical disintegration.”

Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg is another director of the Everglades Trust. A recent Palm Beach Post editorial called Eikenberg, the former chief of staff for Governor Charlie Crist, “the driving force behind efforts to convince the district to spend more than $400 million on the land.”  He said, “Florida’s leaders have a duty to buy strategic land needed for storage to protect the interests of thousands of homeowners.”

In 2010, Paul Tudor Jones gave $9,200 to Charlie Crist’s ill-fated US Senate campaign against Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.