Posted on 11/16/2002 6:27:42 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant violated state law and constitutional mandates while spending millions of dollars in tax money with few of the safeguards common in government agencies, a county audit revealed on Friday.
The mismanagement was on a scale that political observers say has seldom been seen in Florida. It also renewed questions raised after September's botched primary about whether Oliphant should be removed from office.
According to the scathing 50-page audit, Oliphant showered favored employees with double-digit raises and failed to hold political insiders accountable for meeting the terms of the contracts she awarded them. When she discovered her purchasing agent was buying goods from a family company in violation of state law, she moved the woman to a new job and gave her a 23 percent pay raise.
The audit concludes that Oliphant overspent her budget by almost $1 million in the last fiscal year because there were so few accounting procedures. A $603,429 state grant for voter outreach was so mismanaged
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
5.56mm
Conventional wisdom has Janet Reno sweeping the black vote, but two of Florida's three black members of Congress, all Democrats, are not hopping on the Reno bandwagon.
"Janet Reno can't win," said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Broward County, a Reno stronghold. "I told her that if she hadn't seen Waco burning enough, Bill Clinton kissing Monica enough, and Elian being snatched enough, then she should run for governor." He favors Bill McBride.
The Sun Sentinel adds this after the Sept. primary election:
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, said nothing Oliphant is accused of rises to the level of misdeeds he thinks were committed by former Secretary of State Katherine Harris in the 2000 election. He said Bush would face the wrath of black voters in the November election if he removes Oliphant.
"I dare the governor to remove her," Hastings said. "He'll create a firestorm that will eclipse the one he created in the One Florida plan. He'll need Katherine Harris to count the votes for him again."
Any comments from the mainstream newsmedia? How many lies from the left go unchecked by the press daily?
Buddy Nevins
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 26, 2002
Kathleen Weinstein is a paraplegic in a wheelchair who worked as a poll worker in Tamarac -- until Miriam Oliphant was elected.
Elections Supervisor Oliphant moved Weinstein out of Precinct 15J, where she had spent 15 years helping voters. It broke Weinstein's heart. Confined to a wheelchair since she was stricken with polio at age 5, she loved working at the polls.
"They told me that Mrs. Oliphant's mother had requested to work in that precinct, so I couldn't any longer," says Weinstein, 62.
Sure enough, Oliphant's mother, Hattie McKinzie, was assigned to the Mainlands 1 & 2 Clubhouse, earning $135 for the day. Weinstein, who lives on Social Security and could have used the money, was out of a job.
"I would have a very enjoyable day," recalls Weinstein, whose husband died four years ago. "My neighbors all wondered where I was after all these years."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-cpol26oct26.story
Broward School Board evicts 60 Boy Scout, Cub Scout troops over anti-gay policy
http://www.scoutingforall.org/aaic/broward1.shtml
"Oliphant was personable and conciliatory, a difference from the defensive and combative style she had shown after the September primary. She vowed to immediately correct problems pointed out in the audit and hinted that layoffs and pay cuts would have to take place to balance her budget."
Translation: she figured out that she's going to jail if she kept up that attitude -- but since she's a DemRAT and in Broward Cty, the "Nice Oliphant" routine might even work...
including the fact that the "unbiased press" doesn't mention that she's a democrat.
They say that every time.
Then why was she in that office? Affirmnative action? Crooked Democrat? Must be some other reason.
As others have said, there is no mention of party affiliation in this article. What was she - Green Party, Libertarian, Republican,....?Hmmm, I wonder what she was?
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