Curiouser and Curiouser. Actually not at all surprising and and indicator of just how much "interesting" goings on there are in Florida politics, with these headliners all finding their origin in good old Jacksonville. A taste of GOB political mindset at it's best. Keep in mind peeps, it doesn't all end here. Standby.
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Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has resigned.
The resignation comes two days after Florida Law Enforcement officers interviewed Carroll about her involvement with Allied Veterans of the World, a non-profit that operates internet cafes in Florida.
Officials from Allied Veterans and Nelson Cuba, the president of the Jacksonville Florida Order of Police, were arrested on racketeering charges after an investigation by the IRS and Secret Service.
Carroll gave her resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott Monday. It gives no details about the decision, but in a statement, Adam Hollingsworth, Scott’s chief-of-staff, said fallout from the Allied Veterans investigation spurred the resignation.
“Lt. Gov. Carroll resigned in an effort to keep her former affiliation with the company from distracting from the administration’s important work on behalf of Florida Families,†said Adam Hollingsworth, Scott’s chief-of-staff.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/2013-03-13/story/florida-lt-gov-jennifer-carroll-resigns#ixzz2NQvpn2Ap
http://jacksonville.com/news/2013-03-13/story/florida-lt-gov-jennifer-carroll-resigns
I wonder if these people spent some of this cash on republican senate and governors race...
They did indeed.
Well I have to make the point Bridge Troll often makes. Lots of good Republican citizens crossed party lines to try and keep these crooks out of office but we Democrats can couldn't be bothered to show up at the midterm elections. So I blame my own party for Voldemort and Bellatrix.
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While “consulting†for them, and as a member of the Florida House, Jennifer Carroll filed a bill to legalize “internet cafes,†which is what Allied Veterans runs, but the rest of the state seems to think these internet cafes are “gambling� We do not understand that at all. But sure. But everyone was all CONFLICT OF INTEREST GO TO JAIL, and (here is where it gets stupid), she claimed the bill she introduced
was filed by a staffer without her knowledge.
Also she accidentally falsified some documents (BY ACCIDENT) to grift a program for Jacksonville-based minority-owned companies (BECAUSE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION...
http://wonkette.com/506086/pretty-much-nations-only-black-lady-republican-official-resigns-for-being-the-griftiest
It is my expectation that we will see State Attorney Angela Corey distance herself from one of her top supporters which is Nelson Cuba. Funny how things turn out when it comes to rubbing shoulders in the nefarious world of politics.
She is quick to blame subordinates for stuff that happens. Poor thing - I've always thought that while appearing smart, she really doesn't have a clue.
http://www.tallahassee.com/viewart/20130313/CAPITOLNEWS/303130028/Carroll-resigns-Lt-Gov-amid-gambling-probe
I pray that this scandal is just the beginning the demise of the good ol boy network.
AlliedVetsoftheWorld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6opsj3Q_Bo This video starts six seconds in.
We have more than one type of GOB network in Jacksonville and Florida. There is a dual of sorts. lol Kind of reminds me of dueling banjos!
Quote from: If_I_Loved_you on March 13, 2013, 12:46:53 PM
AlliedVetsoftheWorld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6opsj3Q_Bo This video starts six seconds in.
This is tantamount to an advertisement by Jennifer Carroll, Lt. Governor for Allied Veterans in that the locations one may visit to send the message is in fact one of the "Internet Cafe's." Ethics? Use the Veterans and the office of Lt. Governor to push a product. Nice, very nice.
Quote from: stephendare on March 13, 2013, 12:28:20 PM
http://www.youtube.com/v/B9DXJ8uxug8
Carroll, a married mother of three, became the brunt of late-night talk show hosts when she defended herself against the allegations, telling a Tampa Bay area TV station that black women who look like her "don't engage in relationships like that." She later apologized for the remarks, which implied that black lesbians are not attractive. http://www.tallahassee.com/viewart/20130313/CAPITOLNEWS/303130028/Carroll-resigns-Lt-Gov-amid-gambling-probe
Quote from: Cheshire Cat on March 13, 2013, 01:02:49 PM
Quote from: If_I_Loved_you on March 13, 2013, 12:46:53 PM
AlliedVetsoftheWorld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6opsj3Q_Bo This video starts six seconds in.
This is tantamount to an advertisement by Jennifer Carrol, Lt. Governor for Allied Veterans in that the locations one may visit to send the message is in fact one of the "Internet Cafe's." Ethics? Use the Veterans and the office of Lt. Governor to push a product. Nice, very nice.
I look forward to this "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is hosting a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday that will include Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney Bobby O’Neill, U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the Jacksonville, Seminole and Volusia sheriff's offices to address the investigation, those arrested and the charges they face."
Quote from: If_I_Loved_you on March 13, 2013, 01:38:40 PM
Quote from: Cheshire Cat on March 13, 2013, 01:02:49 PM
Quote from: If_I_Loved_you on March 13, 2013, 12:46:53 PM
AlliedVetsoftheWorld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6opsj3Q_Bo This video starts six seconds in.
This is tantamount to an advertisement by Jennifer Carrol, Lt. Governor for Allied Veterans in that the locations one may visit to send the message is in fact one of the "Internet Cafe's." Ethics? Use the Veterans and the office of Lt. Governor to push a product. Nice, very nice.
I look forward to this "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is hosting a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday that will include Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney Bobby O’Neill, U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the Jacksonville, Seminole and Volusia sheriff's offices to address the investigation, those arrested and the charges they face."
This is going to be interesting.
Governor Scott is supposed to be making a statement about the resignation of Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll shortly. I will be interested to hear his spin on this as officials involved in the investigation and arrests of 57 people so far have said they are looking at other elected officials and would not comment on Carroll's status.
Scott speaks:
Basically he said that Jennifer Carroll was a consultant for Allied Veterans while also serving in the House of Representatives in 2009 and 2010. Wow, talk about walking an "ethics" tightrope.
Scott said he had no further comment other than to say she did the right thing for Florida by resigning. That perhaps is one of the only statements made by this man that I can support. If only he would follow her lead.
Quote from: Cheshire Cat on March 13, 2013, 04:01:52 PM
Scott speaks:
Basically he said that Jennifer Carroll was a consultant for Allied Veterans while also serving in the House of Representatives in 2009 and 2010. Wow, talk about walking an "ethics" tightrope.
Scott said he had no further comment other than to say she did the right thing for Florida by resigning. That perhaps is one of the only statements made by this man that I can support. If only he would follow her lead.
Lets not forget Scott's past "In 1987, at age 34, he co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation with two business partners; this merged with Hospital Corporation of America in 1989 to form Columbia/HCA and eventually became the largest private for-profit health care company in the U.S. He resigned as Chief Executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997 amid a controversy over the company's business and Medicare billing practices; the company ultimately admitted to fourteen felonies and agreed to pay the federal government over $600 million; Scott was not implicated.[4][5][6][7][8] Scott later became a venture capitalist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott
Scott himself has a lot of stink on him through his business deals and I for one am amazed that he has managed to continue without prosecution for his many questionable dealings. 14 Felonies in relation to public monies and no jail time for those at the top. The most we can hope for is that the people of Florida smarten up with regard to who this man is and give him a pink slip via the next round of elections.
Quote from: Cheshire Cat on March 13, 2013, 04:17:16 PM
Scott himself has a lot of stink on him through his business deals and I for one am amazed that he has managed to continue without prosecution for his many questionable dealings. 14 Felonies in relation to public monies and no jail time for those at the top. The most we can hope for is that the people of Florida smarten up with regard to who this man is and give him a pink slip via the next round of elections.
Amen!
Updated article from T.U.
QuoteInternational Internet Technologies has given $492,493 in campaign contributions since 2009. Because Allied is a non-profit, it can’t contribute to political campaigns.
A firm Carroll owned, 3N & JC, did consulting work for Allied Veterans, and she starred in a commercial for the nonprofit in 2010.
In 2009, Carroll had to file a second-round of financial disclosure reforms after not claiming income from Allied Veterans. On the amended forms, she said the group was a "major source of income" from 3N & JC, but did not list a specific amount. State law does not require a filer to disclose exact amounts of net income from a source if it's below $1,000.
It's the same way Carroll reported income from Allied Veterans on her 2010 financial disclosure forms.
In addition, as a member of the House, Carroll filed legislation that would have formally legalized the industry, which currently falls into a gray area in state law. Internet cafes operate under Florida’s sweepstakes laws, but opponents deem them illegal gambling
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/2013-03-13/story/florida-lt-gov-jennifer-carroll-resigns-after-being-questioned-about-allied#ixzz2NSCXWs4e
http://jacksonville.com/news/2013-03-13/story/florida-lt-gov-jennifer-carroll-resigns-after-being-questioned-about-allied
The Rick Scott campaign also received campaign funding from Allied Veterans. Scott would only say that he has ordered the money given to charity's.
From TU: Matt has been busy.
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The complaint said that Carroll tried to interfere with FDLE inspector John Hamilton’s investigation by writing him a letter of recommendation.
It was filed by Carletha Cole, a former Carroll aide arrested in 2011 for allegedly giving a secret recording of a conversation she had with John Konkus, Carroll’s chief of staff, to the Times-Union.
She made similar allegations in documents filed in Tallahassee court.
As part of that ongoing legal battle, Cole said that Carroll had an inappropriate relationship with another female staffer and Konkus regularly recorded conversations in the office. Prior to that, Cole told the Times-Union that Carroll’s office was “like a juvenile school.†In the 2011 interview, she told the newspaper she was reaching out to try to shed light on the problem.
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2013-03-13/ethics-complaint-against-jennifer-carroll-tossed-days-she
Gov. Rick Scott: No Lt. Gov. Appointment Until May
By: Dave Heller | Posted: March 14, 2013 3:55 AM
Gov. Rick Scott met with reporters Wednesday afternoon, as expected, formalizing the announcement of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's resignation. He said he is very disappointed, but he calls Carroll's decision right for the state and for her family.
The big news in the story at that hour was his pronouncement that he will not choose another lieutenant governor until the legislative session ends May 3.
“It’s very disappointing to have to bring this news to you. My focus, as you know, is getting our state back to work. That’s what I want to focus on. That’s what I’m going to go back to focusing on.
“I have asked Let’s Get to Work and Rick Scott for Governor to immediately identify any contributions from Allied Veterans or the affiliated companies named in the investigation. I want funds from these groups to be immediately given to charity. We have zero tolerance for this kind of criminal activity. Period. No tolerance.â€
Scott also said he will work with the Legislature on the question of whether all Internet cafes should be shut down in Florida as a result of the gambling investigation.
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/gov-rick-scott-no-lt-governor-appointment-until-may
Quote from: stephendare on March 13, 2013, 12:46:48 PM
Quote from: urbaknight on March 13, 2013, 12:43:07 PM
I pray that this scandal is just the beginning the demise of the good ol boy network.
save them.
The good ole boys are too patrician to get into bed with the network involved in this one. In fact, looking at whose involved, this has every possibility of the good ole boys taking out some worrisome competition.
I don't think this is the beginning of the end for the good ol boy network, but I don't think they'll make it out unscathed, either. Allied had their share of contacts in that network. When the local ordinances were being looked into in 2010, Former Mayor Jake Godbold was one of their paid lobbyists and I remember the debates to keep these facilities from being banned or more heavily controlled in the county. I attended a CPAC meeting and heard him present his argument for Allied and how good and saintly they were. Mr. Godbold threw out so many of the GOB hard sells it was amazing. By the end of the meeting though, it was clear that if you put all of the hard lobbying aside, and stripped away the mom and apple pie speech, he couldn't (and they wouldn't) answer basic questions about charity-related principles, like what their ratio of gross revenues was compared to their charitable contributions. Now we know why.
Well, Jennifer is no longer the Lt. Governor and has lost the protection of that office so she must testify about the "tape recording" debacle. That old saying about what goes around comes around seems to apply here.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A Florida judge has said that former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll must provide information in a case against an ex-employee charged with illegally releasing taped conversations in the Lieutenant Governor's office.
Circuit Judge Frank Sheffield said Thursday that Carroll is "subject to deposition the same as anybody else" now that she has resigned. Carroll stepped down Tuesday in the wake of an investigation into a multistate gambling operation that netted nearly 60 arrests.
Carroll provided public relations services to the company before being elected. Carletha Cole was arrested in 2011 and accused of giving a reporter a surreptitiously recorded conversation between Cole and Carroll's chief of staff. She was fired the next year.
Informative read from the N.Y Times this weekend:
Quote As a lawmaker, too, Ms. Carroll was tripped up by ethical lapses or oversights: she received a master’s degree from an online diploma mill; in 2010, she introduced a bill to legalize sweepstakes cafes, despite her work for Allied, later saying an aide had filed the bill without her knowledge; and she overstated her net worth in 2005 by $200 million, eventually amending it to show that her assets totaled $2 million.
Last year, a former staff member, who is facing criminal charges, suggested that Ms. Carroll was having an affair with a woman who was her aide. Ms. Carroll, who has been married for 30 years, offended lesbians by saying, “Black women who look like me don’t have relationships like that.†She later apologized, but critics said it was a major stumble.
“There were red flags in Carroll’s political career dating back more than 10 years ago,†said Dan Krassner, the executive director of the independent ethics watchdog group Integrity Florida.
Other critics said she could be viewed as egotistical.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/jennifer-carroll-resignation-preceded-by-tensions-with-rick-scott.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Today the Governor of Florida signed a bill outlawing the slot type machines used in the Allied Veteran's Internet scheme. In interviews on News4Jax this evening it was speculated that the quick action in Tallahassee was spurred by embarrassment over former Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll's connection to Allied Veterans. She was asked by the Governors office to resign after questions about her involvement were made by investigators in the gambling scheme. Just a few days back Carroll had done an exclusive interview with News 4 during which she expressed her surprised over the gambling scheme and the request for her resignation. She was contrite in declaring that she was not that involved with the group. However a commercial for the organization done by Carroll shows a definite involvement but what was not discussed during that interview was later shared by the TU. Which is the whopping 70k Carroll ticked off in payments from Allied to the tune of $6,000.00 a month. One has to ask, how does a passing association earn one $6,000.00 a month? There was also that little incident where she "forgot" to declare some of these earnings. Carroll claims she has been inundated with job offers and hinted to further political aspirations. What any of that might be, she did not say. Funny how some old hands in Florida politics think that whatever they do, they will not be held accountable by authorities and voters.
From TU
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When I read an Associated Press story about an interview with Jennifer Carroll last week, one detail jumped out.
It was in the fifth paragraph, after she described resigning as lieutenant governor as the Allied Veterans of the World scandal began to unfold.
Carroll wanted to make clear she did nothing wrong. She said she was paid $6,000 a month to do public relations work for Allied Veterans and had nothing to do with the alleged gambling.
Here’s why that jumped out: She did something she didn’t do in the past. She said how much she was paid by Allied Veterans. And that detail â€" $6,000 a month plus expenses for one year â€" raised a $72,000 question:
Why wasn’t this in the “full and public disclosure of financial interests†forms she filed while in the Florida House and running for lieutenant governor? And how does she explain what was in those forms?
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2013-04-07/full-disclosure-jennifer-carroll-amends-2010-financial