Today’s bridge out to No Name Key

I’ve been ruminating on US Fish & Wildlife’s recent decision to roll over and play dead for the people who want electricity run out to No Name Key. Then they will want drinking water run out there. Then they will want  sewerage lines run out there. I’m having a really tough time understanding how our county government, more particularly, how our county commissioners will explain away the fact that our Comprehensive Plan discourages and our Land Development Regulations created pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan prohibit the extension of utilities to No Name Key and other areas in the Keys designated as a Coastal Barrier Resource.
 
Personally, I never was comfortable with our county commission taking a let’s wait and see what US Fish & Wildlife does approach, before deciding if they have to decide anything about No Name Key. But then, I never was comfortable with our county commission passing to the voters whether or not the county would keep Trauma Star. A felt the county commissioners should make that decision. I felt they, being county commissioners, knew the county government better than the voters. I felt the county commissioners had been elected to make the tough decisions. Well, perhaps I digress. Perhaps I need to get out my old lawyer hat and put it on top of my old head.
 
How do county commissioners just up and ignore the county’s own Comprehensive Plan and its Land Development Regulations without going through the public vetting and so forth an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan requires? I already can see the county commissioners being wooed in that direction by the same county staffers who schemed to woo them to ignore Key West altogether and approve the Wisteria Island development not having a clue what Key West was going to do. I already can hear the county commissioners being advised by county attorneys to roll over and play dead for the utility howlers on No Name Key, to save the county government from being sued for taking those howler’s property rights away from them. I also can hear county attorneys advising county commissioners, if they go against advice of counsel and don’t roll over, they can be sued individually by the utility howlers.
 
If I am on the county commission when that great train robbery comes up for consideration, I will say, ”Sue me. I’m not going to override our Comprehensive Plan and its Land Development Regulations and get myself sued by Last Stand and Alicia Putney. Nor am I going to get the county sued by them. In fact, I will sue the county government myself, if it tries to override its own Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations without going through all the steps required to do that.
 
Enter Amendment 4. Here’s what happens on No Name Key if 4 passes.
 
Assume the required change to the Comprehensive Plan is passed by the county commissioners. Assume the Department of Community Affairs then okays the Comp Plan change. Under Amendment 4, You the People then get to decide at the next general election whether the Comp Plan change flies or dies. If You the People decide the Comp Plan change dies, where’s the taking lawsuit against the county government? The county government can’t do a dang thing, because You the People stopped it. What, the No Name Key utility howlers sue You the People for not agreeing to the Comp Plan change? A real howl, huh? Don’t you just love Amendment 4?
 
I bet reading that 4-play sends shivers up and down the spines of the No Name Key public utility howlers, and I bet it don’t sit too terribly well with County Commissioners George Neugent and Heather Carruthers, either. I sort of suspect Commissioner Kim Wigington kinda likes 4. Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro won’t have anything to say about 4, as he was defeated in the August primary and his county commission days are over.
 
In that commission seat’s race you have one candidate, Mike Forester, who likes Amendment 4, which, if passed, will give You the People final say so over any Comprehensive Plan changes – translates to major development – in the Keys. If you think the ring leaders of the No Name Key utility howlers are not scheming ways to increase development on No Name Key, you need to turn in your voting card and go to the brain bank and get yourself one.
 
County Commissioner-Mayor Sylvia Murphy is devoted to Amendment 4; she loves it. Do you really think Sylvia would be wildly behind 4, if she believed the slams 4 is getting from the liars in the Realtor Associations, the Chambers of Commerce, the development legions and their lawyers and other talking heads, and in our own Benedict Arnold Growth Management department? Sylvia knows more about what’s up with our county government and Amendment 4 than aff of the aforementioned carpetbaggers and scallywags combined. 
 
Last below is an Amendment 4 atricle, which begins on page 10 of this week’s Key West the Newspaper. Also in that issue is yet another cheery front-page article on school board candidate Robin Smith-Martin. You can read all about that at this link: kwtn.com
  
Political advertisement, approved and paid for by me, the District 2 county commission candidate who can smell a developer and his/her entourage of liars and whores a league away.
 
Sloan Bashinsky
 
keysmyhome@hotmail.com
 
goodmorningfloridakeys.com

There is a “communication from beyond” post at this link today:  goodmorningkeywest.com

Also from Key West, AKA Habitat for Insanity,  is this below which was promised up above.

BOETTGER: Amendment 4: People Power

I believe passing Amendment 4 is the most important issue on next week’s ballot. It gives We the People control over runaway development and rapacious developers, who opposed it with millions of dollars in advertising campaigns full of outright lies.
 
County commission candidate Sloan Bashinsky has been the biggest local champion of of Amendment 4 since he first learned of it in 2006, and has followed it carefully ever since. “It started in Dade, Broward and Palm counties, as the result of runaway development greatly assisted by local elected officials in the developers’ pockets— mainland versions of our deposed Gang of Three on our county commission,” he says.
 
In a nutshell, Amendment 4 says any local comprehensive plan change approved by a local government has to go to referendum in the next general election. That is, be voted on by the people.

For a local example, the Wisteria Island development application required a county comprehensive plan change, since the island lay in the county and the application was for much greater density development than the county comprehensive plan allowed.
 
Suppose the City of Key West had agreed to provide the services that development needed. Suppose the County Commission then had approved the development. Suppose the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) then had signed off on it. If we already had Amendment 4, Wisteria would have had to be put to referendum at the next general county election.
 
The county voters could have overridden the Wisteria development, even though Key West had signed on and the County Commission and DCA had approved it.

Without Amendment 4, we won’t get to vote. Worse, our last line of defense in the past has been the DCA, which stopped the Safe Harbor megahotel- marina complex on Stock Island that was shoved through by the Gang of Three a few years ago. The DCA is slated to eventually be shut down. It almost was last year. It won’t protect us forever.
 
In the past year, only four comprehensive plan changes were transmitted from the County to DCA for approval. Four. Not hundreds, as the local Amendment 4 opposition claims. Opponents would have you believe we’ll hold a referendum every time someone wants to build a fence. No. It’s for the BIG stuff— comprehensive changes to land-use plans. The stuff that matters to us all, for our very way of life in a place like the Keys.
 
The opposition to Amendment 4 is realtors, Chambers of Commerce, developers, and county and city commissioners in thrall to the big-money projects. Support is from thosands of small donors of $100 or less, nine times as many people and five times as much money. But big donors give so much more in opposition that they can spend over four times as much overall, over $8 million in opposition to roughly $2 million in support.
 
“We have lots of small donors, but we’re never going to be able to compete with development interests on the money. That’s just a reality,” said Lesley Blackner, a West Palm Beach attorney and environmental activist who has led Florida Hometown Democracy (FHD) and contributed $848,000 in checks, loans and pro-bono work.
 
“These are the people who crashed our economy with overbuilding, and they want to maintain the status quo,” as quoted in the October 9 Sun-Sentinel.
 
So the opposition has spent over $8,000,000, including federal bail-out money, trying to defeat Amendment 4. First, they tied up Florida courts trying to keep it off the ballot. Why are they so opposed? Amendment 4:
 
• Is aimed as stopping future runaway development and future “Gangs of Three” throughout Florida.
• Will allow voters in Dade County, for example, to veto development of western Dade, where the aquifers are, which supply drinking water to that area and the Florida Keys.
• Will allow Keys voters, for example, to veto future attempts to densely develop Wisteria Island and other sensitive Keys areas that require comprehensive plan changes.
 
WARNING: Florida voters will not get another chance to pass 4. If it loses this time, it is not coming back. But voters instead will get to deal with future “Gangs of Three.” And, as I said earlier, DCA soon may cease to exist, due to future budget cutbacks in Tallahassee.
 
Our county mayor, Sylvia Murphy, is publicly in favor of Amendment 4. Candidate Bashinsky has lauded her as an influential and respected advocate for our way of life: “Wearing a ‘Yes on 4’ button at a candidate forum in the Key Largo library sideroom, she told me, yes, she is supporting Amendment 4 emotionally and financially and I could publish that.” Commissioner Murphy was unable to respond to my query by press time.
 
Locally, two County Commission candidates support 4: Mike Forster (District 4) and Sloan Bashinsky (District 2). Sloan said at candidate forums that Amendment 4 is the most important item on the November 2 ballot. I agree. I may be more personally involved in other electoral choices, but this is for the permanent future of our way of life. Boca Raton is great up where it is. This may be our last chance to keep it off of our Keys.

St. Jeanne d’ Arc

From time to time I mention The Résistance in my posts. The Résistance are people dedicated to preserving and improving the Keys and the way of life down here. The Résistance are people who heckle our local governments unceasing when they behave as if they have forgotten who they are and what they are supposed to do. The Résistance are your and my “last stand” amigos and amigas in the Keys. They do what they do because it is what they do. Last Stand comes to mind as an organization which itself is part of The Résistance. Yet when I speak of The Résistance, I speak not of organizations but of people. Some members of The Résistance show up regularly at county and city meetings. Others sometimes show up at government meetings, but mostly they work outside of public view. The Résistance is not a club, it is not an organization, it does not have a membership committee, it does not hold regular meetings, it does not have a membership list, it does not charge dues, it does not ask for donations. The Résistance is a state of being, a way of life. It is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
 
A well-known (to our county government) lower Keys female member of The Résistance asked me yesterday, what is it with George Neugent? Does he have trouble dealing with smart women? She meant by smart women, County Commissioner Kim Wigington, who has tried very hard to bring a higher ethical standard into our county government. Kim has met resistance to that effort from all four county commissioners, but George Neugent’s resistance, from what I have seen at county commission meetings, borders on and even crosses into irrationality and rude behavior. I had been scratching my head for months about George’s resistance to Kim’s efforts, which were in line with State Attorney Dennis Ward’s efforts, to bring ethics into our county government. Most poignant and recent, the late afternoon portion of the last county commission meeting.
 
I had wondered many times, why, after his experiences with successive Gangs of Three on the County Commission, George had not led the charge for ethics reform in our county government? Ethic laws and rules with teeth, which could be enforced locally. Why did George keep saying there are sufficient laws on the books in Tallahassee, state laws regulating elected officials and government employees, when he knew Tallahassee has demonstrated over and over again that it is a paper tiger; that it does not rigorously enforce its own laws against local governments, and, to the contrary, interprets its own laws in such ways that make Tallahassee look like the capitol of the bending of the rules cabal. The very opposite of The Résistance, the champion of business as usual – Tallahassee.

The résistance fighter said years ago, before my time in the Keys, George Neugent had taken out after a woman on the County Commission – her name now escapes me. This woman commissioner was smart, and George had made her life miserable. When later yesterday, I spoke with another well-known female résistance fighter, who lives down Key West way, and shared the question with her, “Does George Neugent have trouble with smart women?”, this woman also brought up how George had treated the woman county commissioner who was before my time in the Keys. Darn, I wish I could recall her name; I had never heard of her before yesterday.
 
I came away from it all still scratching my head. Even if George does have difficulty with smart women, which Kim Wigington and these two women I spoke with yesterday definitely are, it still does not satisfactorily explain to me why George has not led the charge to bring ethics reform into our county government. It looks to me as if that is a separate issue all together from any difficulty George may have with smart women. George bridled over State Attorney Dennis Ward’s attempts to convince the County Commission to tighten up the county’s ethics laws and rules of conduct. Laws and rules of conduct, such as a lobbyist registration ordinance. A conflict of interest ordinance. A ban on accepting gifts ordinance. A ban on working for the county government and having an outside business that does business with the county government.
 
Again, George Neugent is not alone on the County Commission, in resisting the county government having ethics laws with teeth, which can be enforced locally; which operate independently of business-as-usual Tallahassee. Only one county commissioner, Kim Wigington, has tried to bring ethics control and enforcement into our county government. The other four commissioners have resisted Kim fang and claw. I use resistance differently here. I use resistance here in the business-as-usual sense. Resistance to The Résistance. Resistance to our county having sensible ethics laws everybody working inside and outside of the county government has to abide by.
 
Having rode that horse into a white lather, here’s something from a female member of The Résistance, who attended the recent Key Largo candidate forum:

  
P.S. 
  

Continuing the saga in the school board race between Robin Smith-Martin and Barbara Bowers . . .
 
I learned yesterday that copies of the recent Key West the Newspaper article about Robin Smith-Martin were being placed on top of mail boxes in the Mile Marker 92 area and the flag on the mailbox was being raised, and at least one Robin Smith-Martin supporter, who works in the school system, was hopping mad about it. I can’t imagine why, when Robin himself put out this Press Release yesterday. I highlighted the part that caused me to wonder why one of Robin’s MM 92 supporters had a problem with the spreading around of the Key West the Newspaper article.
 
PRESS INFORMATION 
Robin Smith-Martin
Candidate for School Board District 1
(305) 890-6163
 
I extend thanks to all members of our local news media for
the thorough and fair coverage given my campaign for School
Board District 1. A few last minute questions have arisen
that I would like to address.
 
I have several business ventures in different stages of
development.
 
My primary business is the Computer Doctor, a Florida LLC
licensed by both the City of Key West and the County of
Monroe. I pay my taxes like a normal taxpayer with the IRS
and other taxing bodies. The Computer Doctor is a
successful business consulting firm that helps clients use
technology and management techniques to improve their
profitability. I will bring the same performance-based
management approach when serving on the School Board.
Another venture I have been asked about is the Progressive
Strategy Group, an LLC that is transitioning from North
Carolina to Florida, pending lease modification. I own my
home on Fogarty Avenue in Key West with my wife, Bethany—
who I married in South Carolina in 2001. We are raising
our two children and our dog in this home. Our house has a
mortgage with a line of credit that has never missed a
payment.
 
I believe open dialogue is the pathway to understanding,
progress, and peace. I’m proud of my education, my family,
and the life I have built here in the Florida Keys. We have
maintained a positive campaign, and I have and will
continue to make myself available to your questions at
anytime.
 
Warm Regards,
 
Robin Smith-Martin
 
I was thrilled to see Robin finally give the press kudos for their treatment of his campaign. After comparing Key West the Newspaper to the National Enquirer at Sunday’s night’s candidate forum on Key Largo, toward the end of that forum, under relentless pressure from the audience, Robin said the information in Key West the Nespapers article was accurate. Kudos to Robin for giving credit where credit is due. Kudos to whomever is putting out laminated copies of Key West the Newspapers article around MM 92.  

The other highlighted part of Robin’s press release also needs some touching up: We have maintained a positive campaign. The actual truth yet again is, Robin recently came out saying Barbara Bowers went negative in her campaign just before the election, when all she did was show how Robin had gone negative against her. Having been caught lying about that, Robin compounds the lie by yet again yesterday by saying he has maintained a positive campaign.
 
Most egregious, Robin attacked Barbara for not having had children. When I raised that with one of Robin’s supporters yesterday, the supporter said that was wrong for Robin to do and he had apologized to Barbara. Funny, I never saw a public apology to match Robin’s public attack that Barbara had never had children. I told the supporter only someone with a black heart would attack a woman in that way. I meant it.
 
Then I really upset the supporter. I said she already had voted for Robin and now was trying to justify having done so after learning Robin is not the fellow she had thought he was. I said this is why I don’t like early voting, because once you vote, you are stuck with it, no matter what later comes out about a candidate. The supporter was at the Key Largo forum last Sunday. She admitted to me yesterday that she had heard Robin say the information in Key West the Newspaper was accurate, maybe an hour after she had heard Robin compare Key West the Newspaper to the National Enquirer. The sad fact is, many voters don’t care what the facts are. They make up their minds and that’s the end of it.
 
Robin Smith-Martin clearly has many faces. If you only want to see one of his faces, you are entitled to do that. But at least be honest with yourself, if that’s the road you go down. Admit to yourself that you don’t care what the facts are. Admit to yourself that you don’t care that Robin not only does not tell the truth, he is is nowhere nearly as accomplished in finance and business as he has held himself out to be. He is still in diapers in both areas, and his financial debt load is far too great for his income, and that’s going to come home to roost.
 
Robin Smith-Martin is a lot like Randy Acevedo, only younger. He is not qualified to oversee our school system, the truth is not in him, and it’s hard as hell to drag the truth out of him. Key West the Newspaper proved it. But for the Key Largo forum, but for Key West the Newspaper being passed out ahead of time to the forum audience, we may never have gotten to really know Robin Smith-Martin. He may have slipped in totally under the radar like bait and switches all too often do.
 
I hope that is the end of my writing about Robin and his and Barbara Bower’s school board race. I need some comic relief, perhaps you feel you do also.
 
Gander today’s front page Key West Citizen (keysnews.com) article on Mike Reckwerdt, the Mayor of Islamorada, refusing to cooperate with the State Attorney’s Office in prosecuting Mike’s wife for aggravated assault and battery, about which I wrote a few times and dubbed Mike “The Pussy of Islamorada.” I did that because only a pussy would call the law on his wife after she socked him on the side of the head because she believed, and he knew it, that she had caught him having a conversation with his girlfriend.
 
Yep, wife socked hubby, cutting a gash on his head with a ring on her finger, and hubby bravely got out his cell phone and called the Sheriff Captain at the Islamorada Substation. So wife rammed hubby with the golf cart she had driven over there with, to see if he was with the woman she believed to be his girlfriend. Wife rammed hubby as he walked away from her with the woman wife believed to be his girlfriend. After deputies arrived, hubby filled out papers, an affidavit, describing the evil, unprovoked assault.
 
The Sheriff was put to time, trouble and expense. The State Attorney was put to time, trouble and expense. Now the Pussy won’t cooperate, according to the Citizen. Let us hope, if the Pussy continues not to cooperate, the court fines him for the costs he caused the Sheriff and State Attorney to incur. Let us also hope this is the Pussy’s last term in office. Let us further hope the Pussy’s wife has finally woken up and has gotten herself a mako shark divorce lawyer and is going for the jugular – the Pussy’s wallet. She will get the children in all events, because no way will this crybaby step up and be a man and a father to his own children.
 
There also is the wee matter of the Pussy having been caught with his alleged girlfriend, which, depending on how the divorce trial goes, just might influence the judge’s decision on the wallet and child custody. The Pussy refusing to cooperate with the prosecution was a pretty near dead give away that his wife had indeed caught him with his girlfriend. Having talked this all over with his lawyer, the Pussy doesn’t want his play thing dragged through the coals by wife’s defense attorney during a criminal prosecution, nor by the wife’s mako shark divorce lawyer in a divorce trial. Funny, isn’t it, how things we don’t want to circle back around, circle back around anyway and bite us in the ass?
 
Sloan Bashinsky
 
keysmyhome@hotmail.com
 
goodmorningfloridakeys.com
 
There is another kind of circle back around post today at his link: goodmorningkeywest.com. It continues where yesterday’s “God Damn America” – In Context” post at that link left off yesterday.

Fair play is what propelled me to pound School Board candidate Robin Smith-Martin yesterday and the day before. Later yesterday, I received from Dennis Reeves Coper a copy of an email from him to Robin, asking a number of pointed questions. Dennis is the Publisher of Key West the Newspaper, which pounded Robin in its weekly edition last Friday. The text of Dennis’ email to Robin follows my reply to Dennis next below. 
 
Morning, Dennis.
 
Must be something in the air.
 
Driving up to Big Pine Key this a.m. to have breakfast at Coco’s Kitchen, I noticed what sounded like Don Riggs interviewing Robin Smith-Martin on KONK 1500 AM in Key West. Definitely is was Robin, almost sure it was Don.
 
I came in the middle of the interview, and toward the end of that segment Don said something about how political races in the Keys can tend to get rough, and Robin laughed, said his opponent had gone that way against him in the last week or so before the election date, but he was staying positive. I could not believe my ears for a moment, then decided I could believe my ears.
 
I attended a heap of candidate forums, and I got to listen to Robin and Barbara Bowers talk plenty. Their campaigns were pretty straightforward, traditional. They spoke of themselves and the issues, and answered questions put to them.
 
Then a few weeks ago, at the Big Pine Key candidate forum, hosted by the Lower Keys Chamber, Barbara switched her approach dramatically when she led off by waving before the audience a slick color flyer featuring Robin Smith-Martin as the upstanding family man candidate with the finance expertise, compared to Barbara Bowers as the looney-looking bartender and writer candidate. A slick color flyer Robin had had made and was getting distributed.

Unequivocally, Robin attacked Barbara. Unequivocally, Robin intentionally left out of his portrayal of Barbara that she has a masters in education, has taught school, has serious achievements in business in major corporations. Unequivocally, Robin intentionally left out that he has never taught school, has no training in education, and (based on your and Rick Boettger’s sleuth work) apparently has no actual business experience in his field of study and what business experience he does have does not appear sparkling and he might not be paying his legal dues in the business license arena.

In sum, what I see unfolding is a picture of a young man who seems to have a great ability to paint himself pretty, beautiful even, while there is little to nothing behind it, and, worse, he is a habitual liar. Just what we need more of looking out after our children and teachers’ welfare, the taxpapers’ money and our community.
 
I now am convinced Robin Smith-Martin is a seriously disturbed man. He either has no conscience, or he has multiple personality disorder. I have had close dealings with both types and there is no way to get a good outcome with them.

Sloan Bashinsky

ROB:

I AM PLANNING A POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP COMMENTARY THIS COMING FRIDAY. IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU HAVE REFUSED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM RICK BOETTGER BECAUSE HE IS NOT A “REPORTER.” BUT I AM. AND SINCE YOU THINK THAT ACADEMIC DEGREES ARE IMPORTANT,  I HAVE A PHD IN MY FIELD– ,MASS COMMUNICATION. BUT YOUR POSITION BEGS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION: WHAT IF YOU ARE ELECTED, AND EVERYDAY CITIZENS AND VOTERS ASK YOU THESE KINDS OF QUESTIONS, WILL YOU STONEWALL THEM AS YOU HAVE STONEWALLED RICK?

ALSO, IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT KWTN’S LONGTIME POLICY OF ADVOCACY JOURNALISM, YOU HAVEN’T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION. WHY EVEN PUBLISH A
NEWSPAPER AT ALL IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

I JUST HAVE A COUPLE OF SIMPLE QUESTIONS.

YOU SAY THAT, IF ELECTED TO THE SCHOOL BOARD, YOU WILL BRING BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL EXPERTISE TO THE TABLE. YOU SAY THAT YOU DO THIS NOW FOR CLIENTS OF YOUR COMPANY–  PROGRESSIVE STRATEGY GROUP  (PSG).  BUT AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL, PSG DOES NOT SEEM TO EXIST AS A CORPORATE ENTITY. PSG WAS APPARENTLY INCORPORATED IN NORTH CAROLINA FOR AWHILE– UNTIL THE STATE DISSOLVED THAT CORPORATION BECAUSE YOU NEVER FILED AN ANNUAL REPORT.

IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING, HOWEVER, THAT YOU DID RECENTLY INCORPORATE SOME ENTITY WITH THE DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS IN TALLAHASSEE– “THE COMPUTER DOCTOR” OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

SIMPLE QUESTIONS 1 AND 2: WHAT KIND OF COMPANY IS “THE COMPUTER DOCTOR?” ARE YOU REPAIRING COMPUTERS OR SELLING SOFTWARE OR HELPING PEOPLE USE THEIR COMPUTERS, OR WHAT? ARE YOU DOING YOUR BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL CONSULTING THROUGH THAT COMPANY?

IT IS NOT AGAINST THE LAW TO OPERATE A COMPANY WITHOUT BEING INCORPORATED– BUT, AS YOU WELL KNOW, IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO OPERATE A
COMPANY IN KEY WEST WITHOUT HAVE BOTH A CITY AND A COUNTY OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE. AND THE LAST TIME WE ASKED THE LICENSING PEOPLE FOR THE CITY AND THE COUNTY, YOU DID NOT HAVE OCCUPATIONAL LICENSES.

SIMPLE QUESTIONS 3 AND 4: DO YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER HAD OCCUPATIONAL LICENSES HERE IN THE KEYS FOR EITHER PSG OR THE COMPUTER DOCTOR COMPANY? IF NOT, WHY NOT? HOW CAN YOU TELL THE VOTERS THAT YOU CAN BRING MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL EXPERTISE TO THE TABLE IF YOU ARE NOT OPERATING A BUSINESS LEGALLY IN KEY WEST?

OF COURSE, ONE REASON YOU MAY NOT HAVE OCCUPATIONAL LICENSES HERE IS BECAUSE YOU MAY NOT HAVE ANY CLIENTS TO ADVISE– IN WHICH CASE, YOU WOULD BE VIRTUALLY UNEMPLOYED. AND IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED, YOU CERTAINLY DON’T NEED OCCUPATIONAL LICENSES.

SIMPLE QUESTIONS 5 AND 6: DO YOU HAVE ANY CLIENTS AT ALL HERE WHO PAY YOU FOR BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL ADVICE? IF NOT, WHY ARE YOUR TELLING POTENTIAL VOTERS THAT YOU CAN BRING BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL EXPERTISE TO THE TABLE?

SIMPLE QUESTION 7; IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT, AT THE KEY LARGO, POLITICAL FORUM, YOU BASICALLY ADMITTED THAT OUR COMMENTARY LAST FRIDAY WAS ACCURATE. SO, OTHER THAN HAVING YOUR CLAIM TO FAME (AS AN BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL EXPERT) DEBUNKED, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH WHAT WE PUBLISHED?

WE DON’T GO INTO DEADLINE UNTIL WEDNESDAY MORNING. WHAT ARE YOUR ANSWERS TO MY SEVEN SIMPLE QUESTIONS?

THIS EMAIL WILL FORM THE BASIS FOR MY OPEN LETTER TO YOU ON FRIDAY.

Dennis’ email to Robin showed copies going to John Guera, Key West Citizen’s school writer, who covered all of the Acevedo drama for the Citizen, and Bill Becker, US 1 News Coordinator.
 
I have a copy of an email from John Guera to Rick Boettger saying he (John) will not be doing an article about Robin Smith-Martin based on Key West the Newspaper’s unearthings about Smith-Martin.
 
My understanding is, The Citizen owns/controls US 1 Radio. Bill Becker receives all of my posts, which included the text of Key West the Newspaper’s article about Smith-Martin. I believe Bill at least looks over what I send his way. So I am wondering if US 1 Radio will really air out this late hour upheaval affecting our school system still reeling from the trauma inflicted by the Acevedos, which US 1 Radio aired out till the cows came home. As did the Citizen.
 
I found myself saying to myself, After writing my reply to Dennis Cooper, it looks to me like Robin Smith-Martin has about the same credentials to be on our School Board, as Randy Acevedo had to be our Superintendent of Schools. And it looks to me like Robin Smith-Martin and Randy Acevedo have similar thinking and behavior patterns.
 
For example, Robin’s reply to my second pounding of him, yesterday, was to send me this lying campaign ad. I highlighted the lying.

Let’s Make Positive Changes to Our School Board

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
The lie is, Robin Smith-Martin started the negative campaigning, but he doesn’t tell that part because the truth isn’t in him.
 
Robin Martin-Smith has not challenged any information I have published about him, including his saying at the Key Largo forum that the information in Key West the Newspaper about him was correct.
 
You can bet the conch farm we have not heard the end of Robin Smith-Martin’s difficulties. When his “creative financing” finally comes home to roost on him and his young family, you can count on him attempting something else ”creative” to keep his ship-full-of-holes afloat, and you can count on reading all about it in Key West the Newspaper, even if the Citizen and US 1 Radio don’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. If you want someone with that kind of future on the School Board, then you also should re-hire Randy Acevedo as your School Board Superintendent.

Get real, folks. We don’t want any more boneheads, issue-duckers and prevaricators on the School Board. We still have three: Andy Griffiths, Duncan Matthewson and Debra Walker. Hopefully, Walker will be replaced by career educator Ron Martin. Hopefully, Steve Pibramsky’s empty seat will be filled by Barbara Bowers. Then John Dick, alias Superman, will enjoy a gang-of-three student, teacher and community lovers with super spines and true hearts, who can and will get done what needs to be done. Hopefully, when Griffiths and Matthewson’s seats come up again, we will get us a super gang of five competent, dedicated School Board members.
 
From Barbar Bower’s campaign website: bowersforschools.com 

Let’s talk about the issues that matter most to You.
Visit me on

Or, e-mail me at
barb@bowersforschools.com

I had only spoken a few words, at most, to Barbara before this campagin season began. I did not know who her friends were. I knew nothing about her. I endorsed her in a post before the August primary because she was the first candidate to bravely challenge the misguided, fanatical “college prep” goal of our school system. Barbara said we need to bring vocational training back into our schools. After she did that, all of the other candidates, some sooner than others, followed her lead. Robin Martin-Smith was the last candidate to do so, and espoused vocational training at a recent candidate forum much as if it was his own original idea. I remained silently on the sidelines until I saw and felt a great evil being perpetuated against Barbara Bowers and the people of the Keys by Robin Smith-Martin, whom I had liked until he showed his true colors. 
 
Contact me, Sloan Bashinsky, at  keysmyhome@hotmail.com.
 
goodmorningfloridakeys.com   

There is a very different kind of barn burner at this link today: goodmorningkeywest.com. A Sancho Panza-Don Quixote discourse on Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s post-911 “God Dann America” sermon, in context.

The School Board race between Barbara Bowers and Robin Smith-Martin provided the fireworks for last night’s candidate forum at the Key Largo Civic Center.
 
I arrived a little early and had a chance to speak briefly with Robin. Our conversation went something like . . .
 
I said I hoped he would answer in writing, point by point, what Key West the Newspaper had written about him. He said he would answer any questions I had about it. I said I would not remember all of his answers, I wanted it in his own words, in writing. It was important. Important for my readers?, he asked. Important for the voters, I replied. He said he didn’t think it was. I shook my head, said I would report he said that.
 
I already had sent yesterday’s School Board Considerations post to Pam Martin, the forum’s host and coordinator. She went right after the Key West the Newspaper article, and Robin told the audience he would be happy to answer any questions they had while he was at the forum, or they could call him. He provided his phone number. This was nearly verbatim the same answer given at a much earlier candidate forum at the Civic Center by an assistant State Attorney running for judge, after he was asked how many cases he had tried while he was at the State Attorney’s office? He had not tried many cases.
 
Bowers was emphatic that she is her own campaign manager, not Dennis Reeves Cooper, Publisher of Key West the Newspaper, as Smith-Martin had stated before Bower’s spoke. Bowers said she had taught school 7 years – yesterday I reported I thought she had taught 11 years. Her field was art education.
 
After all of the candidates in all of the races, including the Key Largo local races, had been “processed,” there were a few questions from the audience. Some of  the candidates had already left, but Bowers and Smith-Martin were still there. They received two more questions each, as I recall.
 
Bowers was grilled about her teaching experience, and where she seemed to drop the ball was on a question about the number of days/weeks she actually had taught in the Monroe County Schools. She restated the number of years she had substitute taught in the Keys, which was two years. This did not address the question, but simply restated a previous answer.
 
Pressed further about the Key West the Newspaper article, Smith-Martin said the authors had done a google search on him. Then, I wasn’t expecting it, he said the information in the article was correct.
 
Let’s back up and start over.
 
Here is what passed between Martin-Smith and me yesterday morning in emails. His part in italics.
 

Given your direct quotation from my Opponent’s campaign team, (KWTN), it makes sense for me to reply to your post today.

I can understand your voting for my opponent. You have no children in your daily life, you don’t know much about the schools or the district budget. You told me this at the BPK Forum. And this is okay, my opponent doesn’t have a grasp of the school’s budget either. And I imagine the Salty nature of my opponent is your greatest attraction. You and I, on-the-other-hand, simply don’t know each other very well.

In response to Dick Boettger’s rant in the Tabloid, let’s put a few things into perspective. First, Boettger is my opponent’s chief campaign strategist, has given significant contributions to her campaign, and I’ve heard my opponent has offered Boetgger a job on the School Audit Committee should she prevail.

Given Boettger’s extreme bias and personal agenda, I politely declined to answer his questions. In fact many of the Keys most prominent journalists, advised me not to respond, citing that Boettger is not a news reporter, but rather a tabloid gossip writer.

If only the story ended there . . . . Here comes the salt. As Dick Boettger and I exchanged polite emails, with my clearly explaining why I found it inappropriate to respond to his questioning, Boettger revealed that both he and his publisher, Dennis Cooper, have had separate intimate relationships with my opponent. (I guess they were separate. He didn’t clarify). Apparently, my opponent knows these cats in ways you and I never will.

The point is Dennis Cooper’s tabloid is an organ of my opponent’s campaign, and cannot be trusted.

Sloan, I am an honest, hard working family man. I am proud of my family, my education, and the life I have created, and I am looking forward to making positive changes to our schools.

I have absolutely nothing to hide. My life is an open book. I offer to answer any and all questions posed by you or your readers via phone or in person. I will not answer via email, and allow my words to be published out of context to serve the needs of my opponent and her trained cats.

My cell phone number is (305) 890-6163.

With just a week till election day, let’s remind people to vote with their heart, don’t believe everything you read–or at least take the time to consider the motivations of the writers–especially when in comes to the Blue Paper.

We need smart, honest, future-oriented leadership in this county.

The last thing our schools need is to give the Blue Paper a seat on the Board.

Happy Sunday,

Robin Smith-Martin, MBA
Candidate for School Board
Husband & Father
Boat Captain / Dive Master
36 year resident of the Keys
36 year resident of the Planet.
 
Sloan–

Some of your blog readers have already contacted me about your post. I forwarded them my recent comments to you.

Rob
 
[My note: I reproduced verbatim, without agreeing or disagreeing, the entire text, which had been sent to me by Rick Boettger, who had co-authored the Key West the Newspaper article with Dennis Reeves Cooper.]
 
Morning, Robin.
 
I endorsed Barbara before the primary election, and I stated why: she boldly came out in favor of returning vocational training to our high schools. I knew very little about her then, but I felt she had nailed what I have long felt is the most important issue facing educating children today. I doubt over one-half of children should be taught in the ”college prep” model being used today. I doubt over half of children who go to college are ready for it. I suppose about half of them go through and graduate from college. I devoted an entire post to that. Afterward, I saw Ron Martin pick up the vocational training banner. Then, at a recent forum I saw you did, too. But Barbara was the courageous one who went first in going against conventional thinking, and that is what got her my endorsement before the primary election. The rest of what I wrote personally today was in addition to what I had already decided about her. I have heard you, Barbara, and all the candidates in all the other races many times at candidate forums. I got a feel for all of the candidates and made up my mind about each of them in that way, unless I already knew them well enough to make up my mind, which I did with the state representative race – Saunders and McPherson.
 
I made no comment on the accuracy of the Key West the Newspaper article in my post today. I included it in the post because I felt the people on my email reading list, and those who go to my websites, who do not live in Key West or on Stock Island, and who do not have access to printed copies of that weekley newspaper, should be able to look at what that publication wrote about you. In my opinion, you made a very unwise decision not to respond to the co-authors of that article’s inquiries. Rick Boettger has written a regular column for Key West the Newspaper for years. I think he also has written some for the Citizen, but I’m not positive about that. Dennis Reeves Cooper, Publisher of Key West the Newspaper, has been in business a long time. He and I have had our own serious differences, but I have seen him cover stuff none of the other local presses would touch. I have seen him break news before the other presses. Key West the Newspaper has a pretty wide following in Key West and adjacent. It also has an online following, the scope of which is unknown to me.
 
I do not think I am telling you anything you don’t already know about Boettger, Cooper and Key West the Newspaper, and that causes me all the more to wonder what were you thinking when you did not respond to their inquires? Surely you didn’t think they were going to go away? That leaves me wondering, Robin, if you have a screw or two loose. However, your charges that Cooper and Boettger are buddies with Barbara Bowers is accurate, according to what Boettger told me. Your charges that they are intimate with Barbara leaves the question of what do you mean by intimate? If you mean they had sex with her, if that didn’t happen, you defamed all three of them, actionable in court. If you simply mean they are intimate friends, they are frank with each other about their lives, that’s something else and is not defamation. You need to clear that up, don’t you think? What did you mean when you said they are intimate? I say you also need to answer Cooper and Boettger’s questions, and the points they made in their article. Perhaps you will get a chance to do that at tonight’s candidate forum. You would if I was running it. I will foward a copy of this email correspondence to Pam Martin, who is the host of tonight’s forum, so she will have before her yours to me, and mine back to her. She already has what I posted earlier today.
 
Here below is what I could have published today, which I chose not to publish because I was advised by the angels to go just with my own personal assessment of the School Board candidates, and what was in Key West the Newspaper. I received this  below yesterday from Boettger, with whom I already was in dialogue, initiated by him. I sent all of it to maybe thirty people in the Keys yesterday, using the blind cc method, so none of them knew who else got it. Most of them live up the Keys from Key West, are politically active, and would not likely know what Key West the Newspaper had published.
 
I agree with Boettger in what he wrote down below. He waited far too long. This should have been aired out weeks, even months ago, with you having ample time to respond, and with the public having ample time to weigh both sides. Alas, it comes out now, on the eve of the election. Therefore, it has to be dealt with quickly, because the general public is entitled to transparency. I told Boettger that I wondered how much of your own money you had contributed to your campaign?
 
Sloan

 

To Citizen Editor, Larry Kahn, David Goodhue, Tom Oosterhoudt, John Guerra, Sean Kinney

From:	Richard Boettger (rd.boettger@gmail.com)
Sent:	Sat 10/23/10 3:00 PM
To:	Citizen Editor (ttuell@keysnews.com); Larry Kahn (lkahn@keynoter.com); David Goodhue (dgoodhue@keysreporter.com); Tom Oosterhoudt (ooster@bellsouth.net); John Guerra (jguerra@keysnews.com); Sean Kinney (skinney@keynoter.com)

Hotmail Active View

2 attachments (total 157.8 KB)

PSG warni…pdf

Download(59.1 KB)

PSG disso…pdf

Download(98.6 KB)

Download all as zip

 

Dear Editors and Reporters:

Robin Smith-Martin will not respond to the facts I reported about his professional claims because he says I am not a reporter and I am a supporter of his opponent.

I readily admit to both. But the facts are all on the public record, accessible to all, whichever side they are on.

You are all reporters and three of your papers have in fact endorsed him, so you should be better able to get his side of the story, to get him to explain how these findings allow him to claim business, managerial and financial expertise.

I am more sorry than any of you should be that these facts were not uncovered until so late in the election. This is more my fault than any of yours. I am a business and financial expert. I carefully inspected Barbara Bowers’ background before I chose to support her publicly, but I did not inspect Robin’s until he attacked her. I am now trying to make up for that omission. I have been very tardy in serving the public’s right to know and understand their candidates. I apologize to you all for not having uncovered these facts two months ago, and having sent you material then, before you made your endorsements. The fault is mine.

I have attached pdf’s of the two hardest-to-find public documents. Every other fact reported in the article has similar support, which I will be happy to supply links or pdf’s upon request.

After you get his reaction, I beg you to report whatever you find out to your readers.

Respectfully,

Rick Boettger, 305-294-8503

Robin Smith-Martin Exposed as Inept Businessman, Local Tax Scofflaw, and Irresponsible Investor

KWTN Team Report: published October 22, 2010 in Key West the Newspaper in slightly different form.

School Board candidate Robin Smith-Martin claims he will bring professional financial management expertise to the Board, based on his MBA and experience as a businessman and financial analyst.
But here’s his record:
• As a “businessman” five years out of his MBA program, he earns about as much money as a fast-food cashier.

• As a “businessman” he doesn’t file his corporate reports, pay city and county business taxes, or file his tangible taxes.

• As a “finance expert,” he took out a huge second mortgage of $200,000 in 2006, apparently to gamble in the stock market— and he has less than $45,000 left. In essence, he has risked his family home on a roll of the dice.

• On his financial disclosure form, required of all candidates, he claimed the family duplex is worth $550,000— perhaps its appraisal at top of market. But the County Appraiser values it under $300,000, and his fence-line neighbor has a home and lot twice as large as Smith-Martin’s on the market for only $320,000. The higher figure allows him to claim a net worth of over $134,000, but the true value puts him deeply in the red.
What we report are not mere “allegations.” They are FACTS available to all on the public record, facts that prove Robin’s claims to business and financial expertise are completely unfounded, if not outright fraudulent.

MORE DETAIL
Here’s what our background check of Robin Smith-Martin turned up— the real truth about a man who wants us to vote for him to manage a hundred million of our tax dollars and a thousand Monroe county employees.
He took two years in his mid-30s and borrowed over $40,000 to get an MBA he acts very proud of— but which has resulted in his earning a very modest $23,100 per year, according to his financial disclosure form. That’s about what he’d earn as a cashier at the local McDonald’s.
There is no dishonor in making a low salary. But earning fast-food wages five years out of an MBA program is an embarrassment to his university, not something he should boast about.
Yet, Smith-Martin, with a low income that includes no benefits, says his “businessman” status qualifies him for a public position with immense managerial responsibilities, most importantly, hiring our next Superintendent.
We found no evidence he has ever hired or managed a single soul. His company, “Progressive Strategy Group,” which he lists on his financial disclosure form as his main source of income, is just him. Alone.

We found out that Smith-Martin incorporated PSG in North Carolina in 2007— but never filed a single annual report. After formal warning, the State of North Carolina dissolved his corporation just last month.
After we asked him about this, he rushed to incorporate in Florida— the day after we asked why North Carolina dissolved him.
NO BUSINESS LICENSES.

He has never paid the city or county business tax for his main business, or filed a tangible tax report, all of which constitute violations of law. That means he either doesn’t know about these basic requirements or, worse, doesn’t care. More attention to detail would have uncovered Monique’s thefts years earlier. Although advertising his supposed business expertise, he has shown he can’t take care of the simplest details, while earning little in his prime earning years.

IRRESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
But at least he is making some money, however little it may be. As an investment adviser to his own family, we find he has made a number of irresponsible choices. He took out a $200,000 second mortgage on his family’s home for far above its value. It already had a first mortgage for its full worth.
We do not know exactly what he did with the extra $200,000, because he won’t say. But we can see from the public record what he did NOT do with it. He did not pay off the $41,000 student loan and $10,000 car loan he lists on his financial disclosure form. He did not invest in equipment for his business, which would show up on a tangible tax return. He did not further improve his home, which would show up on the Appraiser’s website.
All that’s left is personal expenses and his ostensibly “professional” investments. It is possible a member of his family had, say, extraordinary medical bills, but if so, he won’t say. What is sure is that he borrowed $200,000 and now has an investment portfolio worth less than $45,000, again according to his disclosure form.
And what may be most shocking is that his main holding, making up 62% of his savings, is a fund designed to let investors bet that inflation will rise. Because inflation has stayed low, this fund has collapsed. Buying funds like this is like going to Vegas and betting the future of the family home on “Red.” If he was as irresponsible as this with his own family’s money, what could we expect him to do with our tax dollars as a member of the School Board?
So Robin’s claim to financial and investment expertise is appalling, even worse than his low salary and scofflaw business habits. If he were to advise clients in his position (mid-life with a low-paying job and a wife and kids), to mortgage the family home to buy one of the riskiest bets in the financial markets, he could be sued, and would likely lose whatever professional licenses he might have.

We cannot have his kind of judgment guiding our children’s future.

Researched and written by Rick Boettger, Ph.D., (Business Administration, Berkeley) and Dennis Reeves Cooper, Ph.D.  Smith-Martin’s opponent in the race for the School Board, Barbara Bowers, did not participate and, in fact, asked us not to be negative. And that’s the way it would have been— until Smith-Martin sent out his “slime” mailing a couple of weeks ago. Our research and commentary are in response to that mailing. In an effort to tell both sides of the story, we communicated with Smith-Martin in writing, asking for answers to an array of questions. In response, he did not address a single one of our facts.

We also must acknowledge a legion of anonymous government employees serving in the following offices: the Supervisor of Elections; the Harvey Government Center; the City of Key West and Asheville Licensing Bureaus; the City of Key West Code Compliance; the Clerks of the Courts in Monroe and Buncombe Counties; the Monroe County Property Appraiser; and the Division of Corporations for the Departments of State for Florida and North Carolina. 

All were open and prompt in responding to our inquiries, because a primary part of their mission is to safeguard the public’s right to know the facts about our political candidates.  The laws creating these monitoring agencies were hard-won, and are expensive for us as a Democracy to enforce.  To our knowledge no one else has bothered to avail themselves of any of this information, even after we had brought our questions to their attention.

Below is the preceding article, explaining why the above research was performed. It is more obliquely related to Smith-Martin’s claims to expertise, calling into question his political judgment. It was written in my style as an opinion piece, but is based on facts.

Barb’s Class vs. Robin’s Slime

Below is School Board Candidate Barbara Bowers’ classy response to a sadly slimy attack on her by her opponent, Robin Smith-Martin. Barb explains it all herself, but let me expand upon her description of the photo of her that Robin sent to 10,000 voters, which she understates is “quite unflattering.” It’s a photo taken of her when she was talking enthusiastically at a forum, with her mouth open WIDE in the middle of a word.

You, go in the bathroom, right now, and look in the mirror at yourself with your mouth wide open and your eyebrows raised in enthusiasm. Freeze it. You look nuts. We all look nuts. Robin carefully selected a photo of his normally photogenic opponent to put on his postcard mailer that makes her look nuts. As one photo in a selection of her in various action poses, it’s eye-catching photography, and even appears on one of her own websites.

As the only photo chosen from a dozen publicly available, it’s SLIME. And Robin goes on from there. Let me use Barbara’s own words, for you well-read couch potatoes who don’t go to candidate forums, as she now speaks to voters across the Keys:

“I’m Barbara Bowers, the writer and bartender. That, according to my opponent, is what qualifies me for the school board seat in District 1. He recently sent out thousands of postcards that compared the two of us.”

At this point Barbara pulled out the political mailer to point to. “His nice, large photo is on the right and a teensy photo of me is here, but that’s okay because it’s quite unflattering.” As I said above, it makes her look like a crazy person. “In the next column he notes that he’s married and I’m not. He has children and I don’t. Then right here he says that he’s a businessman and I’m a writer and bartender.”

 “Of course, he forgot to mention that I’m a teacher with 11 years of classroom experience and a master’s degree in education. He also forgot that I have 20 years of business experience with major corporations like Medicine Shoppe International, where I was the advertising director. Or the regional vice president of a hospital corporation.”

 At this point, Barbara looked Robin straight in the eye. “Robin, I am really disappointed in you . . .” (she then turned back to audience) “. . . for demonstrating that you are willing to carry on the half truths and dirty politics that have been rampant in our school system.” 

“When you go to the polls, please send a message to my opponent that you will no longer tolerate underhanded, politics as usual by voting for me, Barbara Bowers—teacher and businesswoman, who also bartends and writes. In fact, I brought a copy of one of my books for each of you to take home. In it, the late-great Shel Silverstein is a character, and he once told me that you get to know a man by reading his stuff. By reading my stuff, you can get to know a woman, too: Barbara Bowers, teacher, businesswoman and writer who does her homework.”

“You will get 100 percent transparency from me; never half truths.”

Wow! How often does a political speech down here in our humble Keys make you want to stand up and cheer? I didn’t see it, but just reading it in print gave me chills. That kind of intelligence and backbone, on the foundation of her very real and extensive experience, is why I am so enthusiastically supporting her. Robin’s own top supporter, Steve Pribramsky, asked which of the candidates was tough enough to stand up and say, “Enough!” The answer, Steve, is Barbara.

Because of Robin’s unprovoked, shot-across-the-bow slime attack, I am now going to go forward with exposing his poor record in his self-advertised strengths, as a “business owner” with “expertise in finance.” Next week I will show you the facts behind my opinion that he is incompetent in business and a terrible, money-losing manager of his own family’s money. So please don’t vote early, and encourage your friends to wait a week, to judge for yourselves his record of excessive borrowing, missed legal filings, and bad investments.

Until now, Barbara begged all of her supporters NOT to criticize Robin, even as some of his supporters have been whispering nasty lies about her. She has not even wanted us to defend her against the lies, rejecting my own argument to fight back, especially frustrating to me since I had so much ammunition in defense.

Instead, Barbara sincerely wanted the campaign to be positive, with the candidates staying on the issues, discussing complex matters of substance, like choosing and hiring a new Superintendent. Remember, instead of 30,000 voters hiring our next Superintendent, it will be just the five Board members, based on August’s referendum that ended popular election of the post. Barbara wants to discuss the hiring, school food, vocational training, class size, reduced administrative salaries—things like that, which gravely matter. Apparently Robin preferred to be elected through slime, not taking her on over the issues.

Robin’s unprovoked attack was so inexcusable it forced me to act. I have spent dozens of hours on the internet, driving around to Robin’s business addresses, retrieving official documents, and interviewing people. I would not have done this, and discovered what I now know, had not Robin gone negative on Barb. And I am glad now that he did, for he forced me to find out what every voter absolutely must know about his actual record in his self-proclaimed strengths.

So sorry, Barb, I’m over-ruling your request. I feel it is my absolute duty as a voter myself and especially as a political writer to allow people to know what I have researched about this man who wants to slime his way to a powerful and important position. Everyone should know I am not even sending Barbara my research on Robin, as she doesn’t want to get distracted from her own focus on the issues. This is all on my own.

I’m doing my best to get Robin’s side of the story, without much help. I asked him very detailed questions about his businesses and financial filings, and he has not thus far answered a single one. He did answer about the source of the open-mouthed photo, because he indeed had an excellent source, as I noted above. Curiously, he did NOT answer my simple question about whether he and Bethany married in another state, or were domestic partners, like me and Cynthia, whom as you know I always refer to as my “wife,” because she is.

I only brought this up because in my research on Robin’s business and financial dealings I had not seen their marriage certificate pop up on the Clerk’s website, either here or in North Carolina. This would be so NOT news, except for Robin’s highlighting his family, especially on the mailer.

He did not answer this simple question. Why not? I can only think it would be so that I would erroneously write about it, and he’d grab a whole lot of “Gotcha!” on me. My own research found his mortgages to be in the name of himself and “his wife.” Then I found out from someone who knows him well that they got married in South Carolina. He had an easy answer to a straightforward question. One of some importance. He kept mum.

Why this is especially galling is that he had upbraided me for not interviewing him before my previous article on this race. I promptly had a long interview with him, witnessed by an old friend and main supporter of his whom I respect. In part because of the openness of that interview, I had not intended to go any further into his professional and financial background.

Instead, here I am doing scores of hours of research and writing on a very distasteful topic. Because, despite his lead in the last vote, he decided to go negative. Fortunately, people who read politics at all are used to fights, and many secretly must relish them, as they too often do decide elections. You guys are in luck here. Though I’d so like to be the happy guy, describing how wonderful everyone is, I keep running into locked cemetery gates, tens of millions of dollars of my tax money rat-holed by the county, and on and on, until I stop by remembering the long slow death of my Goddaughter, and just thank heaven that all of the rest of this is small potatoes.

Friends of Robin, please beg him to answer the very fair questions I’ve asked him, so his side of the story can inform my article next week. It will be in the front of the paper. It will be facts, and it will be news.

–
Rick

Sloan, Seeings how we know nothing about the ones who are running for the School Board, do you have any recommendations on who to vote for? J & S

Thanks for asking . . .
 
Ron Martin, Barbara Bowers - my choices
 
Martin’s incumbent opponent, Debra Walker, doesn’t feel right to me when I hear and watch her speak at candidate forums. She was slow to come on board when the Acevedo scandal broke into the light of day, she has been on the Board a long time.
 
Martin is a career high school teacher, decades in the Keys at that job, teaching, vice-principle and principle - he knows it from the teacher’s side. I have grown to like him, and he sees the need to get vocational training back into the schools because so many students are not going to go to college, or are not suited for it.
 
Bowers has a Masters in Education and has taught school 11 years, I think. She’s been away from that a while. She’s a travel writer, has published a book of some depth about people and cats she has known, is business woman and apparently has had considerable experience working as department head in big companies. She also tends bar somewhere in KW. She was the first candidate I heard speak to bringing vocational training back into our high schools. She is feisty. She is smart. I think she will provide a nice woman’s touch to an otherwise all-male board, if Martin defeats Walker, which I think he probably will do.
 
Bower’s opponent, Robin Smith-Martin, is young – 36, has a finance background and work history, he is from the Keys, attended KW high school. He has a nice wife and nice children. I like him, so far, but he attacked Bowers because she tends bar and has never had children. She showed in return that she has big fangs and claws, which I like to see on someone who is going to be entrusted with the welfare of our children. Think jaguar – Bowers. She writes well, based on what I have read in her book, and is a bit salty – in the book, which I also like. She is proper at candidate forums and when I run into her about town - can’t say the same for myself.
 
Sloan

KWTN Team Report

School Board candidate Robin Smith-Martin claims he will bring professional financial management expertise to the Board, based on his MBA and experience as a businessman and financial analyst.
But here’s his record:
• As a “businessman” five years out of his MBA program, he earns about as much money as a fast-food cashier.

• As a “businessman” he doesn’t file his corporate reports, pay city and county business taxes, or file his tangible taxes.
• As a “finance expert,” he took out a huge second mortgage of $200,000 in 2006, apparently to gamble in the stock market— and he has less than $45,000 left. In essence, he has risked his family home on a roll of the dice.
• On his financial disclosure form, required of all candidates, he claimed the family duplex is worth $550,000— perhaps its appraisal at top of market. But the County Appraiser values it under $300,000, and his fence-line neighbor has a home and lot twice as large as Smith-Martin’s on the market for only $320,000. The higher figure allows him to claim a net worth of over $134,000, but the true value puts him deeply in the red.
What we report are not mere “allegations.” They are FACTS available to all on the public record, facts that prove Robin’s claims to business and financial expertise are completely unfounded, if not outright fraudulent.
MORE DETAIL
Here’s what our background check of Robin Smith-Martin turned up— the real truth about a man who wants us to vote for him to manage a hundred million of our tax dollars and a thousand Monroe county employees.
He took two years in his mid-30s and borrowed over $40,000 to get an MBA he acts very proud of— but which has resulted in his earning a very modest $23,100 per year, according to his financial disclosure form. That’s about what he’d earn as a cashier at the local McDonald’s.
There is no dishonor in making a low salary. But earning fast-food wages five years out of an MBA program is an embarrassment to his university, not something he should boast about.
Yet, Smith-Martin, with a low income that includes no benefits, says his “businessman” status qualifies him for a public position with immense managerial responsibilities, most importantly, hiring our next Superintendent.
We found no evidence he has ever hired or managed a single soul. His company, “Progressive Strategy Group,” which he lists on his financial disclosure form as his main source of income, is just him. Alone.
We found out that Smith-Martin incorporated PSG in North Carolina in 2007— but never filed a single annual report. After formal warning, the State of North Carolina dissolved his corporation just last month.
After we asked him about this, he rushed to incorporate in Florida— the day after we asked why North Carolina dissolved him.
NO BUSINESS LICENSES.
He has never paid the city or county business tax for his main business, or filed a tangible tax report, all of which constitute violations of law. That means he either doesn’t know about these basic requirements or, worse, doesn’t care. More attention to detail would have uncovered Monique’s thefts years earlier. Although advertising his supposed business expertise, he has shown he can’t take care of the simplest details, while earning little in his prime earning years.

IRRESPONSIBLE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
But at least he is making some money, however little it may be. As an investment adviser to his own family, we find he has made a number of irresponsible choices. He took out a $200,000 second mortgage on his family’s home for far above its value. It already had a first mortgage for its full worth.
We do not know exactly what he did with the extra $200,000, because he won’t say. But we can see from the public record what he did NOT do with it. He did not pay off the $41,000 student loan and $10,000 car loan he lists on his financial disclosure form. He did not invest in equipment for his business, which would show up on a tangible tax return. He did not further improve his home, which would show up on the Appraiser’s website.
All that’s left is personal expenses and his ostensibly “professional” investments. It is possible a member of his family had, say, extraordinary medical bills, but if so, he won’t say. What is sure is that he borrowed $200,000 and now has an investment portfolio worth less than $45,000, again according to his disclosure form.
And what may be most shocking is that his main holding, making up 62% of his savings, is a fund designed to let investors bet that inflation will rise. Because inflation has stayed low, this fund has collapsed. Buying funds like this is like going to Vegas and betting the future of the family home on “Red.” If he was as irresponsible as this with his own family’s money, what could we expect him to do with our tax dollars as a member of the School Board?
So Robin’s claim to financial and investment expertise is appalling, even worse than his low salary and scofflaw business habits. If he were to advise clients in his position (mid-life with a low-paying job and a wife and kids), to mortgage the family home to buy one of the riskiest bets in the financial markets, he could be sued, and would likely lose whatever professional licenses he might have.
We cannot have his kind of judgment guiding our children’s future.
Researched and written by Rick Boettger, Ph.D., (Business Administration, Berkeley) and Dennis Reeves Cooper, Ph.D.  Smith-Martin’s opponent in the race for the School Board, Barbara Bowers, did not participate and, in fact, asked us not to be negative. And that’s the way it would have been— until Smith-Martin sent out his “slime” mailing a couple of weeks ago. Our research and commentary are in response to that mailing. In an effort to tell both sides of the story, we communicated with Smith-Martin in writing, asking for answers to an array of questions. In response, he did not address a single one of our facts.
We also must acknowledge a legion of anonymous government employees serving in the following offices: the Supervisor of Elections; the Harvey Government Center; the City of Key West and Asheville Licensing Bureaus; the City of Key West Code Compliance; the Clerks of the Courts in Monroe and Buncombe Counties; the Monroe County Property Appraiser; and the Division of Corporations for the Departments of State for Florida and North Carolina. 
All were open and prompt in responding to our inquiries, because a primary part of their mission is to safeguard the public’s right to know the facts about our political candidates.  The laws creating these monitoring agencies were hard-won, and are expensive for us as a Democracy to enforce.  To our knowledge not a single person from other Monroe County media, Hometown PAC, or Smith-Martin’s public supporters bothered to avail themselves of any of this information, even after we had brought our questions to their attention.

Public Service post

A reply to yesterday’s  Mule-Headed, Etc. from a Key West amigo:

I liked Sandra’s story.  Thanks for printing it. I am amazed at the amount of work you do.  The quantity and quality of intelligent, important (mixed with amusing whimsy) writing you do DAILY is Herculean–you really must be spurred on by Angels (thank God not Demons!).  And on top of that, the immense time commitment to run for office, on your own dime, not asking your friends for their time, but carrying the whole load yourself–and you do it not for personal glory, but to convey your intelligent messages, in fact at the constant risk of public and unfair criticism.  I am a little black cat compared to you as the regal lion, Sloan. Or, if you must, as the old mule! 

More like a jackass, me. Found this beauty below on yesterday’s Coconut Telegraph page of bigpinekey.com.
 
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[Amendment 4] On Oct. 18th, I tuned in to the candidate forum at the Marathon Government Center prepared to listen with full attention to the courageous individuals that have stepped forward to run for public office.  I have participated on the dais in the past, and have a visceral sense of what happens up there. The Marathon Chamber of Commerce and the Weekly Newspapers co-hosted the event.

State candidates, Morgan McPherson and Ron Saunders acquitted themselves well.  Candidates for County Commissioner, Sloan Bashinsky, Mike Forster, George Neugent, David Rice, and Don Vasil did the same.  There were cordial disagreements on some issues.  It was informative and entertaining. At this point in the proceedings, I decided residents would be well represented regardless of the Election Day results.

And then it happened.  There was a break while Marathon City Council candidates gathered at the dais, and Chamber of Commerce president, Ms. Kate Koler came to the podium to speak.  She said she would read a statement on behalf of the Chamber with regard to Amendment # 4, which is about adoptions of and amendments to local government comprehensive land use plans.

I had thought to use the break to take the dog out, but I reversed track immediately. Amendment # 4 is important, and I wanted to hear the pros and cons. The Chamber is against the Amendment and presented the case for a “No” vote.  I expected to hear a spokesman for the other side of the issue, but there was noone. 

During Ms. Koler’s remarks, County Candidate Bashinsky shouted his displeasure from the back of the room.  He supports Amendment # 4. His exact words were not audible to the TV audience, but I later learned they were angry and rude. The political statement and the candidate outburst changed the essence of the meeting from neutral to something else.

If I were a candidate in support of Amendment # 4, I would have been unhappy appearing at a forum used to promote a position opposed to my own, unless my view was presented too. Yes, the government center had been leased for this event, and yes, the lessees have certain rights to use it for their own purposes. But I was uncomfortable with a political ad, in the middle of a candidate forum, broadcast from a county building.

The City Council candidate Q & A followed, but it was a letdown after the fireworks.  Incumbents Ramsay, Snead, and Worthington spoke knowledgeably about government issues.  Ex-Planning Commission Chair Shaffer also handled the questions easily.  Perennial candidate Nelson did not do well, failing to give credible answers.

But my mind was no longer on it. I was thinking about what I had just seen and heard. The Chamber of Commerce and the Weekly Newspapers both work hard in Marathon. They speak with clear and fervent voices on behalf of business owners in the Middle Keys. They support the community in countless ways.

Chamber members have every right to ask their leadership to speak for them on issues.  It is up to the Chamber to choose venues for such messages, and this was not the right venue.  It angered at least one candidate, embarrassed the County, and made this citizen feel queasy.  It was bad politics.

 I happen to agree with the Chamber’s “Vote No” position on Amendment # 4. I hope this flap doesn’t hurt the effort to defeat it.  However, there needs to be an “equal time” opportunity for the other side. Take care of it quickly, please, so that this distraction is no longer news.   ~editor@marathonjournal.us

 
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My email reply to Marathon Journal, which has received email copies of all of my posts for years: 
 
Read your “editorial” on bigpinekey.com’s Coconut Telegraph page about the Marathon Chamber of Commerce’s attack on Amendment 4.
 
You could have reported ”the angry and rude remarks” that I shouted, if you had wanted to do it: “Sylvia Murphy, your county mayor, completely supports Amendment 4.” Everyone in the commission chamber heard it. You also could have contacted me to find out what I shouted.
 
You also could have reported, if you had really wanted to, my prior efforts with Don Bartus mostly, to let someone come in behind the Chamber for Amendment 4, and his stonewalling and saying it was the Chamber’s forum and they could do whatever they wanted to do. Then much the same thing from Daniel Samness, I think it was. Then I said my peace.
 
Putting all of that into your editorial might not have enhanced Larry Shaffer’s bid to get elected to the Marathon City Council, but at least you chastised the Chamber for not giving Amendment 4 equal time.
 
Do you think you would have written anything about what the Chamber did, if I had not done what I did? Would you have even given what the Chamber did a second thought, if I had not done what I did?
 
You could have written something truly great, but it might have killed Larry Shaffer’s chances of being elected.
 
Larry is your Publisher, isn’t he? The Marathon Journal is his press, isn’t it? 
 
Sloan Bashinsky

Also yesterday, as if the air was filled with a down pour of pig shit, I just happened to turn on KONK 1500 AM out of Key West, to hear a man say some years ago, developers in Dade County had tried to build a 6,000 unit community at the top of the 18-Mile Stretch. The Dade County government approved it, then came objections from water conservation organizations and agencies, and agencies that provide drinking water. The development then was denied, because it would have put enormous water usage pressure on the aquifers up there, from which the Keys and other areas of south Florida draw their drinking water.
 
Pressure on the south Florida aquifers was the same point I had made to Ezra Marcus on US 1 Radio (1401 FM) yesterday morning, as a reason for voting for Amendment 4.
 
The  fellow on 1500 FM then said, if we’d had Amendment 4 back then, we in the Keys could not have used it to block that Dade County development; only people in that county could have used Amendment 4 to block the development. Therefore, there was no reason for we in the Keys to vote Yes for Amendment 4.
 
With God as my witness, this man said that on the air. I knew immediately, he either suffered from serious brain damage and terminal stupidity, or he worked for a Chamber of Commerce, or some other outfit – a developer or real estate  firm - that opposes Amendment 4.
 
Having KONK AM in my cell phone directory, being parked in the Big Pine Key shopping center, I called the station. After several  attempts on their end, while I was on hold, they made the patch. The connection was terrible. But the host, whose name is Josh something, and I went forward anyway.
 
When I asked who had made the statements reported above?, Josh said he had made them. It was his opinion show.
 
I said there were things about Amendment 4 he apparently did not know, and I would like to share that for the listeners, so they could hear another side.
 
Josh started saying the same things I had heard him say on the air, which had caused me to call in to the station.
 
I said I had already heard that, I wanted to tell another side.
 
He said he decided what was told on his show.
 
No equal time?
 
No, he decided what was told on his show.
 
I said I’d still like to tell another side, so he let me proceed.
 
I said runaway development in Dade, Broward and Palm Counties had spawned Amendment 4. It was designed to allow Floridians to defeat the kind of development he had described that didn’t get put in at the top of the 18-mile stretch. 
 
Josh said people of the Keys could not use Amendment 4 to stop such developments on the mainland.
 
I said we’d have to rely on mainland people to stop such developments in their areas.
 
Josh said people of the Keys could not use Amendment 4 to stop such developments on the mainland.
 
I said we’d have to rely on mainland people  to stop such developments.
 
Was I talking to an idiot? Or to a developer?
 
I said the Mayor of Monroe County, Sylvia Murphy, is wildly in favor of Amendment 4; she has given the Sponsor money to help get it passed. She would not do that if she felt Amendment 4 was hurtful to the Keys.
 
Josh said that had nothing to do with what we were talking about.
 
I said Mayor Murphy knew more about development and Amendment 4 than he ever would know. 
 
I said if the City of Key West had approved the Wisteria Island development, and if the County Commission had then approved it, and then the Department of Community Affairs had also approved it, we the people of the Keys could have defeated that development, if we’d had Amendment 4.
 
Josh said but the City of Key West did not agree to the Wisteria development, so Amendment 4 would not have been in play.
 
I said I had only used that as an example of what Amendment 4 would mean to people of the Keys.
 
Josh again said the City of Key West did not go along with the Wisteria Development.
 
I said again, it was just and example, and he sounded like he worked for the Chamber of Commerce.
 
Josh said something I don’t remember, it was dismissive. I told him to go back to the Chamber. The interview ended.
 
I called Todd German and asked if he knew a Josh who had his own show at KONK AM? Todd said no. I described what had happened. Todd said Josh’s reasoning made no sense. I said it made sense if Josh was a Chamber member, or a developer or Realtor, and he was using a cleverly-designed argument to cause people to think he was sincere and they should not vote for Amendment 4. In which case, Josh’s reasoning made a great deal of sense. Oh, Todd said.
 
Todd gives just about everyone the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps that is okay for a banker, or the Chairman of Hometown! PAC, or a member of the Key West Citizen Editorial Board, a board member of a number of other organizations in Key West and nearby. But giving people the benefit of the doubt is not something you want in an elected official, or anyone carrying public responsibility. Public servants ever have to look for the dark side of whatever is brought to them. David Rice told me at the Finnegan’s Wake candidate forum night before last that I am able to see into things. It is true. I can do that, and I do it automatically. It’s instinctive, no thought required.
 
I saw immediately what the Marthon Chamber was up to at its forum last Monday night in the Marathon Governent Center, using the County’s television station to do the deed. I didn’t have all the gory details yet, but I knew immeidately that it was contrived, underhanded and immoral. Right away, I tried the politially-correct approach, and got nowhere. What else was left? I let them get away with it? Or I don’t let them get away with it? That was what was left. Four county commission candidates, and two state representative candidates, let them get away with it. I didn’t. They got praised by the Marathon Journal, I got criticized.
 
What kind of county commissoners do you want? Commissoners who don’t put up with evil-doing, or commissioners who do? Your choice.
 
Sloan Bashinsky
 
Political advertisement, approved and paid for by me, District 2 county commission candidate from the rude and angry moral minority.
 
keysmyhome@hotmail.com
 
goodmorningfloridakeys.com  goodmorningkeywest.com

compliments a Locust Fork, Alabama amgia

A reply to yesterday’s See Sloan Run from a dear amiga who finally got her divorce this week and now has returned to her maiden name: Sandy Riddle. What she sent is something of a riddle. You have known her as Sandy Downs. She ran for sheriff two years ago and I supported her campaign vigorously because I figured she would try to catch all of the bad people and put them away, even if they were important bad people, even if some of them were law enforcement officers.
 
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