Tag: taxon: allpbc
Former WPB mayor Nancy Graham is coming back
Roughly 12 years after Nancy Graham left West Palm Beach, the city's first strong mayor in 20 years is moving back.
Graham, who is credited with bringing CityPlace, a strong mayor form of government and a revitalized downtown to West Palm Beach during her lengthy reign in the 1990s, was featured Monday on a panel to find ways to improve the traffic/pedestrian/development nightmare on Okeechobee Boulevard.
Not surprisingly, she criticized current city leaders. Graham, 70, said they haven't followed a master plan that was created under her leadership. It gave them a blueprint to avoid the chaos that now exists, she said.
"They don't have a cohesive vision anymore for what they want the city to be," she said outside the meeting at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. "They're doing things piecemeal."
Having moved to a small town in north Florida from California last year, she said she plans to move back to the city she loves. She said she has no plans to run for office. But, she indicated, she may work as a consultant.
After leaving the mayor's office, she headed the city's Downtown Development Authority for a year. She said she left to care for her ailing mother. But then-Mayor Lois Frankel, who appointed her to head the authority, said it was because she had become too cozy to the development giant, the Related Companies.
That relationship came back to haunt her again when she moved to San Diego, Calif. to head up its downtown development arm. In 2009, she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of failing to disclose her economic interests to Related Companies, which was vying for a $400 million public-private partnership.
An attorney, she said she taught law at a California school before moving back to Florida to be close to her son.
Author Jane MusgravePosted on May 22, 2017 May 22, 2017 Categories development, Lois Frankel, Palm Beach County, politics, TransportationTags City of West Palm Beach, news, newsfeed, Palm Beach County, pbpmobile, Politics, taxon: allpbc, West Palm BeachLeave a comment on Former WPB mayor Nancy Graham is coming back
Mast returns donation from businessman accused of bilking customers
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, is returning a $5,400 donation from a Florida businessman accused of bilking customers.
The Federal Trade Commission has accused Scott J. Cooper and his company, World Patent Marketing, of defrauding people in a marketing scam, Politico has reported. Cooper donated to a committee that supported Mast's campaign last year, the news site reported.
Mast had been listed as member of World Patent Marketing's advisory board, and the Miami-based company has used publicly available footage of him in a promotional video. The company issued a news release touting Mast's membership on its advisory board.
Mast spokesman Brad Stewart said the congressman "never served on the board and has no knowledge of the inner workings of this business."
Stewart also said Mast never conducted any business on behalf of the company, did not attend any meetings of the company and did not receive any compensation from the company.
Mast did not know about the news release when it was sent out, Stewart said, adding that "promotional materials using the congressman's image were taken from media that was publicly available on the internet."
Author Wayne WashingtonPosted on March 17, 2017 March 17, 2017 Categories 2016 campaigns, Brian Mast, campaign finance, National, newsfeed, Palm Beach County, politics, Republicans, U.S. HouseTags 2016 campaigns, Brian Mast, news, newsfeed, taxon: allpbc, taxon: northpbc, taxon: tcoastLeave a comment on Mast returns donation from businessman accused of bilking customers
Where's Rubio? Unknown group wants to know
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio
It's Wednesday afternoon. Do you know where one of your U.S. senators is?
Speaking Up for America – a group that doesn't appear to be registered as a corporation or a political committee in Florida or with the Federal Elections Commission – has paid for an advertisement in The Palm Beach Post describing U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio as "lost."
The ad has a picture of Rubio and a tongue-in-cheek description.
"He may respond to the title 'Senator Marco Rubio,' though his constituents have been unable to verify whether this is still the case as they have been unable to contact him in recent weeks," the ad reads. "Senator Rubio was recently re-elected to the United State Senate and may be found in Washington, D.C. Many of his concerned constituents have been trying to reach him by phone, email, fax, the Senate website, and the Postal Service about a variety of issues, but they have been unable to reach the Senator and have received no response to their communications."
The ad finishes with: "If found, please return Senator Rubio to his constituents by way of a Town Hall meeting or other suitable gathering in which the Senator demonstrates his accountability to his constituents by listening to and honestly addressing their concerns."
Rubio's office didn't take the swipe laying down.
"We have been fully accessible and responsive to constituents, including the two individuals likely hiding behind this anonymous ad," the senator's press secretary, Matt Wolking, wrote in an email to The Post. "Our Palm Beach office only has one employee and serves multiple counties, but he greets any protesters who show up and has already met with hundreds of these activists."
Wolking was just getting warmed up.
"This dishonest ad is part of a coordinated strategy of disruption revealed in an online activist manual, which instructs liberal protesters to carry out 'mass office calling' in which the group 'all agree[s] to call in on one specific issue that day,' he wrote. "They are further instructed that 'the next day or week, pick another issue, and call again on that.' Their goal is to flood offices with calls and emails, disrupt our ability to respond, then complain to the press that they aren't getting a response."
Author Wayne WashingtonPosted on February 22, 2017 February 22, 2017 Categories bnblogs, Congress, Marco Rubio, National, newsfeed, politics, U.S. SenateTags bnblogs, Marco Rubio, news, newsfeed, political attacks, taxon: allpbc, U.S. SenateLeave a comment on Where's Rubio? Unknown group wants to know
Nelson announces opposition to Trump's EPA pick
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has announced his opposition to President Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt.
Pruitt, Oklahoma's attorney general, shut down his office's environmental protection unit. Critics fear he will curtail the EPA's enforcement authority.
Nelson said he won't vote to confirm Pruitt because of his ties to the oil and gas industry, which has supported Pruitt's campaigns.
"Ever since I was a young congressman, I have been fighting to keep oil rigs off the coast of Florida," Nelson said. "And an EPA administrator with such close ties to the oil industry is deeply concerning for the people of Florida."
While Trump wants Pruitt to lead the EPA, one Florida congressman, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, has introduced legislation to terminate the agency.
Several members of Palm Beach County's congressional delegation have blasted that idea.
Author Wayne WashingtonPosted on February 16, 2017 Categories Bill Nelson, bnblogs, Cabinet, Donald Trump, environment, National, newsfeed, Palm Beach County, Trump Administration, U.S. SenateTags Bill Nelson, bnblogs, Donald Trump, environment, news, newsfeed, taxon: allpbcLeave a comment on Nelson announces opposition to Trump's EPA pick