Florida's new senator is facing scrutiny for dealings

Source: Miami Herald

Amid charges of political cronyism and claims he was picked to be the governor's proxy in Washington, there is renewed scrutiny of LeMieux's dealings and those of his law firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart, on multiple fronts:

o The law firm, chaired by LeMieux, helped foreign workers get visas last fall to help build a high-rise hotel and condos in Miami, depriving dozens of Florida workers of jobs at a time of rising unemployment. CBS4 News in Miami first reported the law firm's efforts, which included persuading the U.S. State Department that the Mexican workers had special skills that Americans didn't. In a statement, the firm said LeMieux had no involvement in any immigration matters.

o While serving as Crist's chief of staff in 2007, LeMieux helped secretly negotiate a lucrative gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court as unconstitutional, and has triggered a debate over the expansion of gambling in Florida. LeMieux recently helped negotiate a second compact that the Legislature will consider this fall. He has said the compact will contribute more money to Florida schools and will limit future expansion of gambling.

o Two weeks before LeMieux left Crist's office, Gunster Yoakley landed a $500,000 contract representing the state Department of Transportation on two matters. DOT general counsel Alexis Yarbrough, who signed the contract on Dec. 20, 2007, is the wife of Shane Strum, a deputy chief of staff who reported to LeMieux when he worked for Crist. LeMieux said he played no role in his firm's hiring; DOT has said the firm has special expertise in arcane railroad law. The firm did work for DOT before LeMieux returned there.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1219296.html

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As the late Senator Edward Kennedy boomed, "WHEN DOES THE GREED STOP?"

WHEN DOES THE GREED STOP?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/02/jim-greer-florida-gop-cha_n_275287.html

The Orlando Weekly's Bloggytown is reporting today that a rather generic letter, sent to school principals across the United States by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, has caused one local GOP official to completely lose his mind. Duncan's letter previewed a national address that President Barack Obama planned to give on "the importance of education." Somehow, Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer managed to take away that this meant "taxpayer dollars" would be used to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda." O-kay! . . .

And with that, Greer was off and running, penning a letter of his own! An insane one!

As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.

While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda. The address scheduled for September 8, 2009, does not allow for healthy debate on the President's agenda, but rather obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President's initiatives or be ostracized by their teachers and classmates.

Yeah, must be the same guy. Here's Charlie Crist explaining that because he doesn't know what Obama intends to say, he "can't pass judgment" on whether Greer went overboard in ranting about "indoctrination" and a "socialist agenda." (http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/09/crist-presser-redux.html)

fortitude to march on Tallahassee...

Wish I could leave this vile sewage dump of a state.

Stuck away in the corner away from most the state.

moved down here while I was in law school and I decided I did want to practice down here and live here. I am a diehard Democrat, but wasn't politically engaged until a couple years ago and the cronyism and corrupt status of Florida's politics is astounding. I went to law school in Cambridge, MA, and so it is QUITE a change down here - not only that it is so red (especially in my area, on the gulf coast) but that it is just so corrupt. Disgusting. Of course though, I wil never move - unless I move and will no longer be a lawyer - because I am never taking another bar exam again!!

a complete waste of space. It's bad enough that the spineless hack Nelson has a D after his name.

Charlie Crist has got to be the strangest of political animals. He stands for nothing other than his own ambition. I hope he does not become a Senator.

With the level of criminal cronyism and incompetence in this state, the people of Florida can't catch a break.

According to Daniel Hopsicker, it was the Mafia's criminal genius accountant Meyer Lansky who first got the Seminole set up in gambling in 1979 when he was spending his golden years hunkered down in Florida. (http://www.madcowprod.com/02072006.html)

Some sources say the mob is still running the Seminole's casinos, not the tribe itself. See, for example, http://www.sptimes.com/News2/seminolegambling/daytwo/regulators.html and http://www.sptimes.com/News/070101/State/Seminole_backer_s_rol.shtml and http://www.sptimes.com/News2/seminolegambling/dayone/players.html

And for whatever it's worth, Scott Reed -- a notorious astroturfer also known as John McCain's gambling buddy -- ran a front group to oppose slot machines at race tracks which was probably funded by the Seminoles, who didn't want the competition.

Not a good set of associates to have on your resume.

Charlie Crist and his gambling pals... maybe his best buddy whom he just named as our new US Senator can serve Charlie even more effectively from Washington for the next 16 months until Charlie can take that US Senate seat for himself.


Jack Abramoff: John McCain’s other Lobbyist problem..., May 19, 2008


This state is steeped in filthy corruption. And surprise, surprise, the main ingredient is always right-wing Republicans; lying, grasping, swindling, stealing. Always stealing.


Florida's government is diseased.



Now, it is very clear why we miss Senator Bob Graham so much.

in politics, law, business or otherwise. Everybody down here either has their hands out or in someone else's back pocket.

Too bad. :evilgrin: