Father, forgive Rick Pitino, for he has sinned
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
We can now throw college coach Rick Pitino on the scrap heap of public figures undone by a sex scandal.
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Obama picks Alabama “country doctor” Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General
President Obama today unveiled Dr. Regina Benjamin today as his choice for Surgeon General.
A rural Alabama family physician, Benjamin made some headlines rebuilding her nonprofit Gulf Coast medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Obama said during the news conference announcing the pick, “For all the tremendous obstacles that she has overcome, Regina Benjamin also represents what’s best about health care in America, doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients.”
Benjamin calls the job a physician’s dream. “I cannot change my family’s past,” she said. “I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation’s health care and our nation’s health. I want to be sure that no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system.”
Read more about Benjamin below the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
Book Review: George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire
Abusive, cruel, philanthropist, loyal, disloyal, good samaritan, phony, vengeful, manipulative, vindictive, delusional, a guy with a heart of gold, a real giver, financial deadbeat, bully, kind-hearted… Tampa Bay’s most famous resident, George Steinbrenner, has probably been called all these things and more at one time or another, but rarely have so many conflicting characterizations appeared in the space of one book.
Now they have — in George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built The Yankee Empire, the laugh-out-loud biography by St. Petersburg author Peter Golenbock. Read the rest of this entry »
A final video tribute to Billy Mays
OK, enough with the tragedy of TV’s most annoying yet lovable pitchman.
Billy Mays at the Mickey D’s drive-thru …
h/t to Watch This Now
Preliminary results in Billy Mays autopsy set to come at noon news conference
Reporters are gathering at the Hillsborough Medical Examiner’s Office for a noon newser at which a preliminary report into the death of famed TV pitchman Billy Mays is set to be released. We’ll pass along coverage on Twitter (follow @poho) and over at the Daily Loaf blog.
Phyllis Busansky’s funeral draws nearly 1,000 mourners, including Gov. Charlie Crist
Call it Phyllis Math: a gathering of Phyllis Busansky’s “five closest friends” numbered nearly 1,000 at her funeral at Temple Schaarai Zedek in Tampa on this dark, rainy Friday morning. It was a running joke throughout the tributes to the late Hillsborough County supervisor of elections, how Busansky had told so many people that they were one of her three or five or seven closest friends.
For some, that would be duplicitous; Busansky, however, meant it and was close friends with just about everybody she met, forging an instant connection, building communities and circles of influence, her longtime friend Jeannie McGuire told the gathered mourners. McGuire had one of my favorite lines of the funeral, talking about Busansky’s sense of fashion as not quite classic but “classic — plus dramatic.”
There were more laughs than tears.
Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto, who long held a valued spot on Busansky’s speed dial and in heart, called his politician-friend “a tornado with hair.” Busansky’s daughter, Rebecca, read a 2005 e-mail that came to Busansky’s husband, Sheldon, from a woman that Phyllis had helped in the 1960s get into a college. The woman was hoping that Sheldon was related to Phyllis so he could pass along her thanks.
Most touching was the remembrance of her son, Alex, who said he was happy to have had 47 years with his mother. “I am my mother’s son,” he told the crowd, which flowed over into a separate room and outside, where monitors were set up. “If you’ve met her, you’ve met me.”
The room was full of politicians and elected officials, from Mayor Pam Iorio to the county commission, city council and constitutional officers — including Gov. Charlie Crist. Even the man that Busansky vanquished in the 2008 elections, former Elections Chief Buddy Johnson, attended, making for an uncomfortable moment when Rabbi Richard Birnholz said he had endorsed Phyllis in that election because it was the community’s only hope to clean up a hopelessly bungled office. Johnson later shook hands with people in the parking lot.
For progressives, it was a trip down memory lane, a viewing of some of the people who helped Tampa and Hillsborough County make great strides during an eight-year period, from 1988 to 1996, when social conservatives began their destructive takeover of county government and the rise of suburban development gave them the numbers to consistently beat urban progressives at the ballot box. Busansky’s quarterbacking of the county’s landmark indigent health care program, part fiscal sense-part social justice, that was a highlight of that era.
A roundup of the media coverage after the jump:
(photos courtesy of Stehlik Photography) Read the rest of this entry »
The Mark Sanford files: Hiking up the skirt
By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor
He was supposedly hiking — getting away from it all, clearing his head. Read the rest of this entry »
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford: He’s missing, errr, he’s hiking, err, he’s cruising, err, he’s fucking
Love this story. Just love this story.
Soon-to-be-former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford first came up missing, then his staff explained that he was hiking alone on the Appalachian Trail, then earlier today came word she was cruising off the coast of Argentina. Now, the truth.
Yes, it’s another woman.
From CNN:
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday, amid speculation over his whereabouts for the last several days, that he has been engaged in an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.
“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” Sanford told a news conference in Columbia, the state capital. “I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina.”
His voice choking at times, Sanford apologized to his wife and four sons, his staff and supporters, and said he would resign immediately as head of the Republican Governors Association. The affair was discovered five months ago, Sanford said.
Watch the video of his admission from a live news conference after the jump:
Reaction on the news of Phyllis Busansky’s passing
From Congresswoman Kathy Castor:
Phyllis will be well remembered in our hearts for her brave leadership, for her open, gregarious style and for her ability to fix problems that were tough to tackle. Her legacy as the primary author of the Hillsborough County Health Care Plan lives on every day in the improved health of our neighbors and our community. She was truly passionate about making sure those who least could afford medical services had an advocate on their side. She already was showing that passion as Supervisor of Elections, working to guarantee that voters’ rights were protected in Hillsborough County. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. She will be sorely missed.
From Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio:
I am shocked by the death of Phyllis. How sad that death claimed her just as she was embarking on a new challenge that she loved very much. The public needed her and this was her calling. I had the pleasure of serving with Phyllis on the County Commission and her passion for helping those who needed help the most was something I always admired. This is a great loss to both her family and to our community.
Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky found dead in St. Augustine
Phyllis Busansky was a friend of mine, and I worked on her various political efforts, including her stint as the director of welfare reform in Florida, so it is with great sadness I pass along news of her death today, from ABC Action News:
Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky has been found dead in her hotel room in St. Augustine, according to Pam Iorio.
Ms. Busansky was supposed to be participating in a conference in St. Augustine. When she didn’t show, coworkers came looking for her, and found her dead in her hotel room.
Foul play is not suspected.
I spoke with a mutual friend who mentioned that Phyllis had a health problem earlier this year in which she was hospitalized but that they thought it was simply hyperventilation. Busansky did battle lung cancer in 2007 but told friends she was cleared of the disease after surgery.
The St. Petersburg Times weighs in with this info:
She was 72 and had battled lung cancer. She died in her sleep, said Sigrid Tidmore, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections office.
“Honestly, this is all I know,” Tidmore said.
Tidmore was with Busansky last night, before she went to sleep about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. She said Busansky was not complaining of any pain. When Busansky didn’t respond to phone calls this morning after not showing up to today’s conference meetings, hotel security went to check on her and found her dead, Tidmore said.
(Busansky’s office says she was 73, but the Times says records show she was 72.)
Tidmore went on to say that everyone connected to Busansky was in shock, that she was very vibrant and had lots of plans for the office. I can attest; I ran into Phyllis two weeks ago in Bamboozle in downtown Tampa and she was her usual exuberant self, eliciting a promise from me that I would pay a call on her to hear about her innovations at the office in a few weeks, after she was done traveling.
Busansky was a mainstay of local Democratic politics for the past two decades, after winning a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission in the late 1980s as part of a reform effort that brought progressives to that board.
Under state law, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will appoint a successor until voters choose a new supervisor in the 2010 elections.
UPDATE: This statement just in from the Supervisor of Elections Office:
Tampa Tribune: Conservative power broker Ralph Hughes died owing millions in taxes to IRS
Elaine Silvestrini over at the Tampa Tribune has a great story to go with all the Brian Blair news today: One of Blair’s benefactors, the late Ralph Hughes, a top Money Man and power broker in Hillsborough County politics and business, died owing millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service.
From her story:
The agency has filed a claim with Hughes’ family trust seeking more than $69 million in unpaid income and business taxes and interest for the years 2003 to 2007.
Hughes’ beneficiaries – his widow and two of his three children – are contesting the IRS claim, arguing Hughes paid millions in taxes.
After Hughes died at age 77 on June 27, 2008, Hillsborough County commissioners voted to rename the county’s Moral Courage Award for him. The decision was controversial, with detractors accusing commissioners of repaying their benefactor and injecting politics into what was supposed to be a nonpartisan award.
Plagiarizing principal tells Springstead High valedictorian to rewrite speech
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor, “feminist mother of twins” and political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field
If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be a lot like Jem Lugo, a bright and funny senior at Springstead High School in Hernando County. As valedictorian, she was tasked with writing a speech to deliver at her school’s graduation ceremony.
I’ve been to several commencement exercises and the speeches given by the smartest kids in class are usually devoid of humor and almost always ignored by the audience. After five years in education and countless ceremonies, not one speech stands out.
Jem is a bright girl. She’s heading to Harvard, after all. She researched speeches online and found they were boring and uninspiring. So she decided to be different.
For my readers, the story is a familiar one.
Hulk Hogan to judge: I don’t want reporters at my depositions, bruthah!
Tampa Bay’s leading freaky celeb Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, has asked the judge in case brought against him and his family (including fellow reality-semi-star wife Linda Bollea who is trying to divorce him) by the family of accident victim John Graziano to ban us stinkin’ news media types from sitting in on the wonderfully delicious depositions in the case.
The Times reports:
The motion, filed last week in civil court, claims that allowing news media or the public into the proceedings could damage the family’s right to a fair trial and create “annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.”
Terry Bollea, who wrestled under the name Hulk Hogan, and his family are facing a multimillion dollar civil suit from the August 2007 car crash that severely injured Graziano, a family friend. Graziano was a passenger in a sports car driven by Terry and Linda Bollea’s son, Nick Bollea.
Summer Guide 2009: St. Pete Councilman Wengay Newton’s summer vacation
He’s got plans this summer for vacation with his family, but the most interesting thing about speaking with St. Petersburg City Councilman Wengay Newton for our CL Summer Guide 2009 was hearing him talk about the old days, growing up in a large family that didn’t have a lot of financial resources (translation: money):
“It was eight of us with a single mom, so there wasn’t a lot of vacationing. We’d go to Busch Gardens … one or two of us, then we would come back and tell the rest how it was.”
Watch the full video of Newton and his summer vacation plans/memories after the jump.
[Video] Summer Guide 2009: St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker’s vacation plans
As part of our upcoming Summer Guide issue (on newsstands throughout Tampa Bay on Wednesday), we asked a lot of people in Tampa Bay about their vacation plans and memories. I’m going to run the political vacation videos here on PoHo, starting with St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, who said:
I go to a place that’s kind of like a summer camp for families (in North Carolina). Every night they have either square dancing or some sort of music or karaoke in the big pavilion. For me, the cell phones don’t work, and I like that.
See the full video of Baker talking about how he rolls on vacation after the jump.
Maureen Dowd calls Dick Cheney the ‘new rogue diva of doom’
Has anyone else noticed that Dick Cheney just won’t go away? Maureen Dowd of The New York Times has. Her take on Cheney as the new “Rogue Diva of Doom” after the jump.
A Chamberlain High School reunion, but join us anyway, it’s for a good cause
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Tummy aches and waves of nausea, that was always my reaction to any reminder of Chamberlain High School and the time I spent there over twenty years ago. Although my memories are mostly positive and my closest friendships formed in its halls, I’d moved on and put those big hair years behind me.
Then something strange happened.
After two decades away from the nonsense, nostalgia started to creep in. Whether we’re talking about the music (New Order kicked ass) or movies (who didn’t relate to one of the characters in The Breakfast Club?), my friends and I eventually started to forget the bad and focus on the good instead.
It also doesn’t hurt to run into the prom king at Publix, his hairline almost completely receded and working on his fourth marriage. He’s more humble and friendlier, too. We laugh about Mrs. Barnes, a favorite teacher long since retired, and share mutual memories.
Suddenly, high school wasn’t so bad.
Then tragedy strikes and you realize you have a lot more in common with these people than you ever realized.
A Mother’s Day story: A century ago on the Lower East Side
By Jack Levine
PoHo contributor
Levine is the founder of the 4Generations Institute and a pioneer in children’s issues in Florida.
Let’s consider a bit of “Mother’s Wisdom” and remember what’s best for children and families as we celebrate this special day.
Traditionally a day when we honor our mothers – in person, by phone, with a card or flowers, over a meal, or, as for me, in memory – Mother’s Day also provides us an opportunity for reflection. There are few more emotional bonds than that of a mother and child. And while we know that difficult circumstances, negative behaviors, or other problems do arise between parents and children, we’ve all had the need for the nurturing love of a mother – natural, foster, or adoptive.
Twitter-jecture: With Legislative session over (almost), when does Crist announce and for what?
The 2009 Legislative Session passed the 60-day mark on Friday, extended for one more week. The only thing left to do is pass the budget, with tobacco taxes and the Seminole Gaming compact — and the revenue they generate — included.
And so, the next thing for Florida politicos to discuss: Will Governor Charlie Crist run for re-election or for the United States Senate? And when?
So today on Twitter, there is a new #cristcountdown discussion.
What do you think? Post your tweet on Twitter:
RT @StateOfSunshine @jaketapper @markknoller #cristcoundown | Date and office
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, text message, or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using text messages may incur phone service provider fees.
The Devil’s Advocate with Bill Keller, Vol. 3: Gays and Hate Crimes
By Eric Snider
cross-posted from The Daily Loaf
“The whole purpose of the law is to stifle speech against people who speak against the deviant [gay] lifestyle.” —Bill Keller
The first and second installments of The Devi’s Advocate with Bill Keller drew lots of traffic and comments. Welcome to our third Q&A. I’ll be playing the role of Devil’s Advocate.
One of our most controversial religious figures, Pinellas-based Bill Keller is known for his incendiary rhetoric and unbending view of Bible-based morality. He believes homosexuality is an abomination, abortion is murder and … you can pretty much guess the rest. Click here for a bit more detail on Keller’s ministry.
Today’s Topic: The U.S. Congress is in the process of expanding Hate Crimes laws to include “sexual orientation,” “gender” and “gender identity” to federally protected classes that already include race, religion, color or national origin. Bill Keller doesn’t like this at all.
The Devil’s Advocate: By opposing the addition of gender identity to the existing hate crimes bill, does that mean you’re OK with crimes against gays?
Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch says more about GOP than it does Obama’s 100 days
The first 100 days of the president’s administration is usually used as a report card to judge its success or gauge where it might be for the rest of its term. However, the closing of President Obama’s honeymoon may not even be the news headline as reports of Arlen Specter switching parties overshadows the president. This completely arbitrary 100th-day-mark might underscore more the status of the Republican Party than anything else.
Watch Arlen Specter’s statement after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Where are the Tampa Tribune’s most interesting 1B columnists? Across the bay at the Times [Video]
In my two decades in Tampa Bay, there have been three dominant Metro columnists at the Tampa Tribune: Steve Otto, Howard Troxler and Dan Ruth (who was on 1B for a while before being moved inside the A section and god knows where else).
So it is an indication of the Trib’s decline that two of those three now work for the rival St. Petersburg Times. And here is a weekly video segment with Ruth and Troxler discussing the ideas of the day, and it is surprisingly good (for two old print guys sitting in front of a camera, that is).
Taxi Tim is hot on the trail of Bigfoot in Hillsborough County – seriously
Tim Fasano has consistently been one of the most fascinating bloggers writing in Tampa Bay, from his details of life as a hack to the death of loved ones to his sideline career as a tasteful nudes photographer.
But now the blogger behind Tampa Taxi Shots has topped himself with a post detailing his growing belief that WE ARE NOT ALONE!!
Serious. Are you open minded to the prospect of an advance life form previously unknown that my be living in North America and has found its way into Florida? There is a body of evidence that is now supporting this theory.
Michael Crichton.in his novel Congo speculated on what would be the circumstances of man encountering a previously unknown intelligent primate that may have branched off of our evolutionary tree. I am not talking about the movie which was loosely based on the novel, but his book which was more interesting.
The research I have done is leading me to this conclusion that there is more out there then what we know. In the North East part of Hillsborough County I have found “Forest Anomalies” that the team Bigfoot Research Field Investigators have found throughout the country. It is beleived that these structures are territorial markers used by Sasquatch to mark or show a pathway thru the forest.
Check out his photo evidence at Tampa Taxi Shots.
Michael Prozer is latest Tampa Bay ‘celeb’ – for 15 minutes
The nets are blowing up about “Tampa Bay native” Michael Prozer, described as an online millionaire and in search of a hook-up on Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker show.
One look at his pic shows you why he needs the help. Keee-rist, that haircut is awful.
See the pic here.
Oh, and he may not really be a Tampa Bay celeb, either. I can’t find a residence for him in Tampa Bay. His company was headquartered down in upscale Wellington in Palm Beach County, with a “regional sales office” here in Tampa. Still looking for a residence for him with no luck in FLA public records so far.
Hulk Hogan: I could have killed wife Linda like OJ
Tampa Bay’s favorite freak, wrestler-turned-reality TV star Hulk Hogan, gives an enlightening interviewing in the latest Rolling Stone, and the NY Post has a preview that is getting heavy viral rotation. Hogan says he understands the anger that drives somebody to pull an OJ and murder their spouse in discussing his pending divorce action and breakup with wife, Linda Bollea:
“I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like OJ, cutting everybody’s throat,” he told the magazine. “You live half a mile from the 20,000-square-foot home you can’t go to anymore, you’re driving through downtown Clearwater and see a 19-year-old boy driving your Escalade, and you know that a 19-year-old boy is sleeping in your bed, with your wife . . . I totally understand OJ. I get it.”
Not hard to understand from a man who, as I documented four years ago, falsely accused his mother’s caretaker of ripping her off, putting the man into jail until charges were dropped.
Hillsborough commission aide Rich Reidy enters House race against Brian Blair
I’ll put the disclosure right up front: I worked with Rich Reidy in my political consulting firm before returning to journalism in 2004. Today, Reidy (who is an aide to Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan) announced he will run for the Florida House in District 47, a seat that could see him match up against former HIllsborough Commissioner Brian Blair.
If you recall, Reidy was surprised late last year when Blair let slip that he would seek the seat, since Reidy thought he had Blair’s blessing (if not, at least, tacit understanding). Republican Tom Aderhold has also submitted preliminary campaign papers to start campaigning for this seat as well. Blair has discussed the race and is believed to have interviewed a campaign consultant but has not publicly announced or filed his campaign paperwork yet.
The full text of Reidy’s announcement after the jump.
Kevin Burns: Can a little-known gay South Florida mayor be our next U.S. senator?
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.
This is the story of a little-known South Florida mayor, a progressive anti-automatic weapons kinda politician with little name recognition and labeled with the tag “the gay candidate” in his quest to be the next U.S. senator from Florida. His name is Kevin Burns. More about him after we set the rest of the field.
Charlie Christ’s decision to wait until the end of the legislative session before declaring his political future has frozen most Republicans with fanciful ambitions of higher office through the first part of 2009.
But with three weeks to go before the popular chief executive announces whether he’ll run for re-election or opt to set his sights on Mel Martinez’s seat in Washington, some members of the GOP last week realized they can’t wait any longer.
LGBT good news, bad news: Vermont, Iraq, Susan Stanton
By David Warner, CL Editor/ PoHo contributor
Sometimes the headlines can make your LGBT head spin. Take the front page of today’s New York Times print edition, where there were two major stories about gay issues, both above the fold. The good news: the Vermont state legislature’s override of Gov. Jim Douglas’ gay marriage veto. The bad: Openly gay Iraqis are being murdered with the tacit and sometimes overt approval of police and families.
Locally, there was good news for Susan Stanton. Fired in 2007 from her position as Largo City Manager after announcing, as Steve Stanton, that she would be undergoing a change of gender, she has finally found another city manager position after two years of searching all over the country — and she found it in Florida, no less. And meanwhile, here at Creative Loafing, Eric Snider’s Devil’s Advocate feature right here on The Daily Loaf is treating us to the enlightened views of evangelist Bill “I don’t hate gays, they just disgust me” [my paraphrase] Keller, and even better (or worse), the comments of his supporters.
On SiriusOutQ, the LGBT satellite radio station I only recently discovered and can now not live without, the news roundups each hour offer the same head-spinning mix. One day you hear the news that national “pro-family” groups plan to combat the Day of Silence — the anti-bullying initiative famously criticized by Brian Blair — by keeping kids home that day if their school is observing it. And then you hear that, for the first time, gay and lesbian parents are being invited to the White House Easter Egg roll.
It’s a contradictory, confusing, exhilarating time to be gay. We’re welcomed, we’re condemned, we’re cheered, we’re murdered. The progress we have made cannot be denied, but the reminders are there every day that the haters refuse to be denied either. Stay vigilant.
Life photos: The aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination
Life has some powerful photographs from its unpublished archives today of the aftermath in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. One shows his supporters gathering in his motel room in grief after the shooting; another more controversial shot shows the brother of the Lorraine’s owner cleaning up MLK’s blood from the second-floor landing where the civil rights leader was targeted by assassin James Earl Ray.
Blago, you’ve been indicted on 16 felony corruption charges. What are you going to do now?
If you’re former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, you’re going to Disney World. Or at least that is where Blago and family were reported to be in Orlando when his indictment was announced in Chicago.
From the NYT:
Rod R. Blagojevich, this state’s ousted governor, was charged on Thursday with 16 felony counts, among them racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and extortion conspiracy in a wide-ranging scheme to deprive residents of “honest government,” prosecutors said, including trying to leverage his authority to pick someone to fill President Obama’s former Senate seat.
Five of his closest advisers, including his brother, Robert, a top fundraiser, and two former chiefs of staff, were also charged in the 19-count indictment.
Prosecutors said Mr. Blagojevich used numerous elements of his state work – including appointing people to state boards, investing state money and signing legislation – as a way to seek money, campaign contributions and jobs for himself and others.
One of those indicted with Blago was his brother, Robert, a distinguished alum of the University of Tampa and a commencement speaker in recent years. Here’s my story on the Blago-Tampa connection from earlier this year.
Who’s getting deposed in former Congressman Tim Mahoney’s divorce case?
We all ‘memba Tim Mahoney, the Democrat who won a GOP seat down in the Stuart-West Palm Beach area when Mark Foley got caught having e-mail sex with male congressional pages? How Mahoney himself was dethroned after news of two extramarital affairs broke?
Well, his soon-to-be ex-wife Terry has him tied up in court trying to extract a pound or two of justice. According to Palm Beach Post celeb blogger Jose Lambiet, depositions are coming up later this month and ought to be oodles of voyeuristic fun:
Court papers show they include: Mistress No. 1, former Mahoney aide Tricia Allen, the one he agreed to pay a total of $227,000 to shut her up about their affair; Mistress No. 2, Martin County engineering department employee Kim Roden, whom he took on skiing vacations in the Canadian Rockies; a former Tim Mahoney employee, Alejandro Munoz; Leonard Sokolow, a Broward County lawyer and accountant who was one of Tim Mahoney’s business partners in vFinance, a venture capital company; West Palm Beach lawyer Jack Goldberger, who once repped billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; Gary Isaacs, another local lawyer who represented Mahoney as the sex scandal broke last year; and forensic accountant Michael Kridel. Tim Mahoney, too, will be grilled.
Video: Tax Day Tea Party planned for Tampa; 5,000-10,000 expected to attend
FreedomWorks Foundation is putting together a Tea Party of Tampa’s own, for April 15, after a similar protest of the bailout and government spending drew 4,000 in Orlando. I’ve talked with one politico who plans on being there and he said he was told to expect 5,000-10,000 people at the twin rallies at noon and 5 p.m. in downtown Tampa’s Gaslight Park.
Here’s the details from FreedomWorks, plus a Tea Party video after the jump:
Audio: Octomom fires Angels, calls 911 on attorney Gloria Allred
Oh, that wacky Nadya Suleman. On the day she brought home two of her litter of eight last week, she called 911, not to report that she couldn’t get her Chicken McNuggets, but to have Angels in Waiting attorney and pain-in-the-ass mediahawg Gloria Allred bounced from her house. Today comes the news she has fired Angels in Waiting, the nonprofit group of nurses that was helping the clearly crazy Octomom.
TMZ has audio of the 911 call here. Octomom calls 911 on Gloria Allred
And here’s Catherine Durkin Robinson’s recent piece for PoHo on the issues of multiple births and IVF.
An introduction to our new deist, international guest blogger
By Alexandra Koutsogiannopoulos
PoHo Contributor
Alex is the program director for the United Nations Association-USA’s Tampa Bay Chapter and will be an occasional guest on the Political Whore podcast.
I thought that my first post on here should be an introduction to me: who I am, where I came from and why you should give a damn….!
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. First generation Greek-American, both of my parents immigrated to the United States individually: my father came here after completing medical school in Greece and my mother came here when she was still in elementary school when her parents came here to start a new life.
I stayed in Ohio only for four years before my parents loaded up the Toyota and drove down to Florida where all the other relatives had moved to. Greek families tend to move in herds…like wildebeests…and when one of them finds a new spot to “graze” the rest of the herd follows. We ended up in Orlando, in a community which was all cow pasture and roads going nowhere: Hunter’s Creek. In the past 6 years or so the area has boomed into a huge Westchase-eque type area.
Charles Manson at 74
Hey, which among us is getting any younger?
