Incompetence, Nepotism Rots even Appearance of Democracy

Battle for Power, Loss of credibility 

Florida in Focus

Quality Counts

The notion that some people have to work “much harder” or be “far better” in skill and/or education to achieve a position that others may achieve with far less skill, education or work is not an offense, and might well be an inspiring  challenge to me.

What I find deeply offensive is an unqualified person acceding to a job or position and in that position displaying laziness, incompetence, boorishness, an inability for honest self-appraisal, an arrogance that is disrespectful and dismissive of veteran experience, earned professionalism, sound advice. Such character flaws (usually accompanied by corruption and nepotism) have far-reaching consequences that harm public structures, processes, institutions, professional practice, public service, and the body politic.

D

eep South Florida, though not alone, is in focus and deep trouble. Its chronic electoral personnel problems are the nation’s problem.

Forerunning “misplaced ballots, misspent tax dollars, cronyism and intense racial polarization.”

Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant (2001-2003)

Investigations Revelations

She brought her key people, displaced and ignored talented and experienced staff; ignorant of pertinent laws, made stupid decisions

A reign of “total, unmitigated disaster”

Spending money “like drunken sailors,” they leave vital election tasks undone and

Lavish spending on salaries of incompetent cronies leave $921,000 over budget

2

002 Leading into Primary Election 

5,000 new machines @ $17 million yet

she and “her crew ignored veteran employees’ pleas to begin work early on such vital election tasks as recruiting and training poll workers”

Primary Eve

30 precincts projected to open late because precinct captains failed to pick up essential election materials, including voter registration lists

 Primary Day

25 precincts open late, many no-show poll workers, malfunctioning machines

100s of uncounted absentee ballots later found under mounds of unopened mail

County Commission Budget debate performance

Unable to “answer even the most rudimentary questions about her own budget proposals” or compute simple arithmetic

Even supporters “embarrassed by her shaky grasp of issues — and literacy — during commission hearings

Office Report (draft and final) littered with “misspellings and (unintelligible) verbiage”

S

uccessor with graduate degree but lacking in pertinent qualifications

Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Calhoun Snipes (2003 - )

2004 general election

1000s of absentee ballots lost in Broward County

Fair Elections International repeatedly requests permission to observe Broward County (among other states) elections; and is ignored by Broward

2012

1,000 (close to) uncounted ballots discovered a week after the election

2016 primary election

Debbie Wasserman Schultz ousted as Democratic National Committee chair “over allegations of rigging Democratic presidential primary process to favor” one candidate over another

Wassermann Schultz is declared the winner of the Florida primary election, later winner in the general election to retain a seat in the U.S. Congress

September 1, 2017, while a questionable ballots case is in litigation, 

Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes signs “an order authorizing destruction of 688 boxes containing the ballots in question”

November 6, 2017, the court discovers the ballots in question had been destroyed two months earlier Judge rules Snipes “had illegally destroyed the ballots” and awards plaintiff attorney’s fees.

 

2018 leading into Primary elections “a public polling location” is relocated to “a gated community” which demands voter indentifying documents for entry.

2

018 November 6, 2018 General Elections: gubernatorial, U.S. Senate 

Despite Florida State Law requiring “county election departments” to release “within 30 minutes of poll closings” the total number of ballots counted, elections department in several days after primary election day

Rule requiring the Election Department “to post the current tallies every 45 minutes after the polls close” also noncompliance

Judge orders deadline and “disclosure of the number of ballots cast” in the November 6 midterm elections, “broken down by absentee, early, and Election Day votes, as well as the number of ballots still to be counted”—Snipes in noncompliance.

If he's your brother (uncle, daughter, sister, etc.), it is likely he is not suited for this job. 

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his kind of incompetence, corruption, violation of state laws governing electoral systems and procedures is a large part of the reason (second only to campaign finance, big money's buying and selling of public office) that potential voters have lost faith in the “democratic” process; and more generally in public officials and all levels of the institution of government in the United States. 

Loss of credibility and citizens’ loss of faith in vital institutions are critical domestic issues (international impressions aside) for least two reasons: the compounded loss

further weakens public office and the quality or accepted substandard caliber of public service; and 

lays bare the ultimate undoing of any semblance of people-participatory democracy in the United States.

Sources

Wikipedia Miriam Oliphant was the Supervisor of Elections for Broward County, Florida (January 2001-November 2003) “was suspended by Governor Jeb Bush for ‘… grave neglect, mismanagement and incompetence.’” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Oliphant

City Link Magazine “Jackass of the year” Art Levine January 7, 2004 http://www.citylinkmagazine.com/archives/123103coverstory.html

Sun-Sentinel “Elections panel drops all charges, potential fines against Broward’s Miriam Oliphant” Linda Kleindienst February 16 2007,

http://www.sun-sentinel.com:80/news/local/southflorida/sfl-216miriamoliphant,0,885818.story

Wikipedia Brenda Snipes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Snipes

The Hill “Federal judge calls Florida the ‘laughing stock of the world’” Aris Folley November 15, 2018 https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/416961-federal-judge-calls-florida-the-laughing-stock-of-the-world

Sun-Sentinel “Broward (County) counts more than 30,000 ballots by hand in hotly contested Senate race between Scott, Nelson: Manual recounts are underway in Florida for the U.S. Senate race and the state agriculture commissioner race. Election workers are reviewing ballots in which vote-counting machines identified that a voter did not make a choice in a race or voted for more than one candidate. The manual recounts of ballots will carry on this weekend. On Saturday, Broward will review 22,092 ballots by hand in the state agriculture commissioner race between Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell.” November 16, 2018

 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-manual-recount-friday-20181116-story.html

Florida Sun-Sentinel “Broward blows deadline by 2 minutes; Palm Beach machines go on the fritz; state nixes new results” Larry Barszewski, Rafael Olmeda, Lois K. Solomon and Skyler Swisher November 15, 2018 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-broward-palm-first-recount-20181115-story.html

Florida Sun-Sentinel “Florida election recount 2018: Results are in” Dan Sweeney, Skyler Swisher, Anthony Man, Larry Barszewski, Lois K. Solomon, Gray Rohrer, Steven Lemongello and Mark Skoneki November 15, 2018 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/sfl-florida-election-recount-live-updates-20181115-htmlstory.html

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-manual-recount-friday-20181116-story.html

Wikipedia Susan Bucher, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (January 6, 2009 - )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Bucher

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