Fiscal Rangers

Lake County, FL Republican Party passes resolution Censure of David & Mark Jordan

In June, 2024, Lake County, FL Tax Collector and his brother Mark Jordan, committed an underhanded dirty trick to fool incumbent and 2024 re-election candidate Lake County Property Appraiser Carey Baker into thinking he had no opponent, and at the last minute filed Mark Jordan for the position while Carey had filed as a write-in, thinking he had no opponent. This post includes the details and an approved resolution by the Lake County, FL Republican Party calling for Mark Jordan to drop from the race. In my opinion, David Jordan, who had no opponent, should also drop from his race and let the Governor appoint a new Tax Collector. Read more →

Texas Election Integrity voters combine efforts, plan big TX Legislators full day briefing on Jan. 24

Conservative Texas vlogger Debbie Georgatos of AmericaCanWeTalk.com had a great video segment on Rumble on Jan. 12, 2023, explaining a growing TexasFirst.org movement to uncover and document election integrity issues and get legislative changes to improve election integrity. Read about the event and get the links here. Read more →

Two Lake County, FL Election Hob Nobs hold election straw polls this week in Clermont & Leesburg

Tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 8th, 2022 and on Tuesday, Aug. 9th, there are two election "Hob Nobs" run by local Chambers of Commerce to let the public meet and greet all local election candidates and to vote for them in a straw poll that is administered by the Lake County Supv. of Elections. We provide details and encourage Lake County, FL voters to attend and "vote" in a straw poll to support their favored candidates. Read more →

Florida US House Dist. 11 Candidate Laura Loomer is having an open house in Leesburg

Laura Loomer, candidate for the Florida US Congressional Dist. 11 (mosly Lake County and nearby county areas) is having an open house in Leesburg, Tue. July 26. Read the details and flyer here! Read more →

Florida 2020 voter registration database analysis shows questionable fluctuations. Did ERIC Cause it?

2020 Florida voter registration analysis and questionable fluctuations in different party registration volumes are shown in this 10-minute video of the Florida statewide voter registration database. Also, could there be a pattern of fake registrations? Speculation is that Florida's membership in "ERIC" may be the reason. Go to the Rumble channel to see the 10 minute video. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

We interview Tom Vail about apparent manipulation of Florida Voter Registrations and Vote Counts

We interviewed Tom Vail, a vote integrity activist in Lake County, FL about evidence uncovered from analysis of Florida's 2020 elections vote dtabase (15-million voters) and suspicious trends found in voter registration data as well as mysterious appearance of Democrat and NPA registrations to match Republican counts. Then there was the database analysis showing ALL Florida addressses where more than 10 voters were registered, with some having 9000 or more registered voters to a single adddress. FAKE???? Read more →

Updated! Tavares City Council denied a proposed SIXTY FOOT HIGH apartment building at HWY 19 & Lane Park Cutoff

The City of Tavares, FL is planning to approve (maybe) a (A) government warehouse development that would be removed from the Tavares property tax rolls, and (B) a humongous SIXTY FOOT HIGH 165 unit apartment complex that will generate almost 1000 road trips a day when the Highway 19 is at 98% of road "volume capacity". BOTH projects would MODIFY the existing zoning and density standards for the area along Highway 19. Read more →

Tell your Tavares, FL City Council members to allow citizen input at FIRST Readings of Planning & Zoning items

The City Council of Tavares, FL does not allow citizens to provide public input on "First Readings" of agenda items on Planning & Zoning or other issues, thus they cannot provide input until the next meeting and the FINAL "Second Reading". No other city in Lake County has this restriction, so citizens should demand that public input be accepted at First Readings. Read more →

Texas Pediatrician rants about dangers of masks, Covid vaccines and lack of health improvement discussions - Debbie Georgatos show

Click HERE to see a Debbie Georgatos video interview on America Can We Talk of a 25-year Pediatrician, Dr. Angelina Farella, describing the DANGERS of masks, DANGERS of Covid vaccines and asking hard questions ike "why isn't anyone preaching good practices to BUILD immune systems, or good health to reduce OBESITY which is the main contributor to serious Covid Cases?" Debbie Georgatos is a well-known conservative vlogger in Texas who interviews many working professionals like doctors about the REAL FACTS related to issues like masks, Covid, election fraud, etc. Her main website is: https://americacanwetalk.org/. You will not support masks at all, or vaccines or the Biden regime's Covid rules after watching this America Can We Talk interview held by Debbie Georgatos on Sept. 15, 2021. https://rumble.com/vmmsft-dr.-angelina-farella-acwt-interview-9.15.21.html This is one of many sources I have gathered for my "Masks are dangerous.." webpage at: https://www.fiscalrangers.com/masks-are-dangerous-and-here-is-why.html By Vance Jochim - published Sept 17, 2021 Fiscalrangers.com [email protected] === Read more →

Why Tavares, FL Taxpayers Don't get all the details on City Council decisions

The City of Tavares, Florida's City Council met yesterday, April 7, 2021. We describe how they are leaving important details related to Council decisions out of the online agenda packet, and they need to provide that online in the future. This is one of several Tavares practices that result in lower transparency than other Lake County, FL cities. Read more →

Masks Don't WORK in my opinion - This video explains a medical doctor's research

America's Frontline Doctors is composed of experienced medical doctors and researchers who provide FACTS about why masks are not safe and can be harmful. They oppose the Federal and Fauci recommendations to wear masks. Watch their video describing many sources of research which are eye-opening. You won't want to wear masks after watching this video. Read more →

REDUCE YOUR Lake County, FL Property Taxes by 50% by buying property in a low tax Lake County city

Buyers of residential, rental or commercial property in Lake County, FL can SAVE 50% on property taxes if they pick the right, low millage rate city in Lake County. This article describes the 2020 millage rates for all 14 cities plus the unincorporated Lake County areas so you can decide to buy in a LOW or HIGH property tax location. Read more →

Lady Lake FL Town Commissioners cut trash runs to only 1, hear PACE financing program, discuss drones and building heights

The Town Commissioners of Lady Lake, FL had two meetings on Oct. 19, 2020 and FiscalRangers.com wrote an overview and made a video of the meeting. Read more →

Lake County, FL Board to have final millage and budget hearing tomorrow, Sept. 29, 2020

The Lake County, FL Board is having the final State required meeting to approve millage rates and budgets which will result in higher property taxes due to higher valuations. We provide the meeting details and discuss the issue. Read more →

How Lake County, FL elected officials are flimflamming property taxpayers

A commentary in the Orlando Sentinel blasted most local City Councils and the County Board for trying to say they reduced property tax millage rates, but since they did not reduce them to the rollback rate, total actual taxes will go up significantly once those officials vote in September to NOT approve rollback rates. Confusing? Yes, so read my article and the linked commentary by Lauren Ritchie. Read more →

Don't Vote Early - Wait Until You See who mails out nasty mailers, then choose

Lake County Voters should delay their voting in the Lake County primary elections until closer to the final voting day. They need to do that to see if anyone sends out negative mailer hit pieces that may see unethical or inaccurate before finally deciding who to vote for. We point out two candidate races where negative mailers have already been mailed out, and who in our opinion "might" be advising them. Read more →

Doug Shields is running for Lake County, FL County Commission and here is our video.

This introductory video of Doug Shields, candidate for the Lake County, FL County Commission, District 1 was made at the Lake County Republican Party HQ on July 31, 2020 during their periodic "Coffee with the Republican Candidates" event. Mr. Shields is running against incumbent Tim Sullivan, and he has mailed out controversial mailers attacking Sullivan that Sullivan has rejected as being inaccurate. Candidate Sullivan has issued a rebuttal HERE. We don't like hit piece mailers so you need to see the rebuttal also. Doug's official candidate website is: https://shieldsforlake.com/ His Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Shieldsforlake/ Campaign email: [email protected] Look for other Lake County, FL area election candidate videos on this FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube channel. Additionally, you can find news on the elections and other Lake County government agency watchdog issues on our FiscalRangers.com blog and on our FiscalRangersLakeCounty Facebook Group. Video by Lake County, FL Fiscal Watchdog blogger Vance Jochim of FiscalRangers.com. The short link to this video is: https://youtu.be/_IfGLfNquOY Length of video is: 29 minutes Read more →

Liberty County, FL Supt. of Elections suspended by FL Gov. Ron DeSantis due to $40k fraud

The FL Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended an elected Supt. of Elections in tiny Liberty County, FL (near Tallahassee) for an alleged $40 in fraud (not voter or election fraud) AND Google search has suppressed finding any articles or news about it if you use their search engine. But, Bing found many recent articles. See my updates also. Read more →

Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell asks that voters monitor LOCAL elections as much as National elections

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell encouraged taxpayers to attend local city council and other local agency meetings to monitor what they are doing, and also monitor who are the best candidates for their local government agencies. Here are my additional ideas for reform of City Councils and policies. Read more →

Florida Government Misanagement Results in Excessive $7+million CEO income for taxpayer funded non-profit after contract abuse found

A small non-profit that received Florida taxpayer funds, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV), refused to disclose spending documents for over a year. Then it was found they paid REALLY excessive income to the CEO, leading to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initiating reforms and requiring reviews and oversights over ALL non-profits receiving Florida taxpayer funding. Read more →

The new Lake County 2019/2020 Property Tax TRIM Notices are Out - and you need to analyze them

The 2019-20 Lake County, FL property tax TRIM notices are out. We provide an example and some analysis, and tips how to analyze YOUR rates to understand if hidden increases are included. Read more →

Update #2: Tavares, FL City Council meeting on Aug. 21, 2019 & "Primitive Camping" in a City Park?

The Tavares, FL City Council may approve "primitive camping" in a city park at an August, 21, 2019 City Council meeting that some believe will attract homeless people. Other negative issues are also discussed. Read more →

Tavares, FL property owners should attend this budget workshop, or open your wallet for higher taxes

Tavares, FL residents need to read this about pending millage rate tax hikes at a City Council workshop on July 24, 2019 at 4pm. These issues of escalating taxes are affecting ALL city and county residents in Lake County and the rest of Florida. If you don't act now, then hold out your wallet for tax day. Read more →

Two Jacksonville City Council members were indicted last year for fraud, and local officials should ensure they don't do the same.

This is just a friendly reminder from our Watchdog keyboard that Lake County, FL and other elected officials need to ensure they make ethical and objective decisions, and don't practice favoritism, bribery, etc. Read more →

Will Eustis, FL become Lake County, FL's first Sanctuary City? Left leaning City Council members could do it!

Tavares, FL Oct. 26, 2018 A shorter version of this opinion commentary by Vance Jochim was also posted on CityGrader.com. Updated Oct. 27, 2018 with more facts. The opinions in this commentary are all my own, based upon observations at meetings and my research. Will Eustis, FL, controlled by liberal or RINO (Republican in Name Only) City Council members, become the first Sanctuary City in Lake County, FL? As an active Republican and fiscal watchdog blogger in Lake County, FL, I rate this City a C due to the Democrat or liberal sympathizers on the City Council. I live in nearby Tavares and the contrast of "vision" is quite strong. The City staff are quite competent, and the historic ambiance is great, but the elected leaders with a liberal bias are not helpful. I am a watchdog blogger in Lake County, and have been monitoring Eustis politics for years. They keep electing liberal or do nothing Council members under the cover of "non-partisan" elections, leading to disputes with residents. Under the right circumstances, they could become Lake County's first Sanctuary City. City Elections for City Council candidates are now in progress for the Nov. 6, 2018 elections. The positions are... Read more →

Updated: Eustis, FL City Council overpaid for historic building, sell it for much less to Mayor's friends

The Mayor of the City of Eustis, FL pushed through a $250,000 city purchase of a historic building and adjacent lot appraised at $175,000 and over paid $75,000 for the buys. Then the city will keep the lot valued at $35,000 and sell the building for $160,000 to friends of the Mayor without advertising for any other buyers at the sweetheart price. AND, the city will finance the $160,000 (plus imputed interest of $27,000) sale of the building over five years and only require $500 down and no credit checks or due diligence to ensure ability to pay the taxpayer funded mortgage. This is small town cronyism at it's best. Read more →

Reputable Watchdog Group Report says "Florida Finances Slide Further into the Red" with a "C" Grade and shows Deceitful Practice of not funding $9-billion in Retiree Health Insurance Benefits.

The credible watchdog group Truth in Accounting just published their ratings of different state fiscal management ratings and Florida got a C. One deceitful practice used by Florida is to promise government employees big health insurance benefits, currently totaling over $9-billion, but NOT FUNDING it at all. Thus future taxpayers will inherit the bill for these unfunded benefits. Read more →

How do 17,000 US Conservatives Educate US House & Senate members to vote on Conservative Issues?

Karen Jaroch, Florida Regional Coordinator, speaking about the Heritage Action organization, which is a community action spinoff of think tank Heritage Foundation. Read more →

Evil and corrupt Clintons theft of Haitian Earthquake aid funds described here by Dinesh D'Souza

Hillary and Bill Clinton siphoned off billions in aid dollars meant to help Haiti after a disastrous earthquake. This article really tells you what they did. Read more →

FBI Announces Damning Evidence of Hillary use of unsecure email servers, but no recommendation for prosecution

July 5, 2016 The FBI Director James Comey just announced their findings in an investigation of Hillary's use of a private email server. As a person who worked within the US Embassy Baghdad in 2004-2006, and saw where a military man was arrested who copied a SINGLE classified document to an unsecure email and file system used by the reconstruction program, I find the FBI decision not to recommend a prosecution to be ludicrous. I used that reconstruction server, and it was shut down for a week while the investigation took place in the Embassy. Comey cited damning evidence such as examples of 7 "Secret" email chains on the server, but their info goes to the Justice department "for action" with no recommendation for prosecution. Gee, that is the Justice Dept where the head just met secretly with Bill Clinton. Democrats should be ashamed of Hillary and her cavalier attitude to national security. The FBI said they could not prove hostile nations accessed her email, but she used unsecure Blackberries in foreign countries, ignoring security issues. She should be in Gitmo for 10 years for her actions. See the 5-minute press conference on C-SPAN here. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Will Eustis residents demand an objective process for selecting a new Commissioner, or not?

Tavares, FL Wednesday, Jun 8, 2016 The opinions in this posting are by Vance Jochim and no other source. These are simulated applicants for the Eustis City Commission, not the real people. Will the Eustis City Council select a clown, a relative or a competent person to fill a City Commission vacancy tomorrow, Thursday, June 9th, when they meet at 5:30 pm? Send a link to this post to any Eustis resident you think would be interested. Eustis, FL City Commissioner Bill Brett resigned recently and will the current City Commissioners cook the books to select another insider like they did last year? We tell you all about it, explain tomorrow's Eustis City Council meeting, plus little known facts about the questionable past of one of last year's nominee's. Maybe Eustis residents like insiders and relatives controlling the City, but they need to know what is going on because the local papers won't tell them this. What will happen when applicants for Brett's position are interviewed and a "winner" is selected, led by Mayor Michael Holland? We think the process might be rigged like last time. You can get the June 9 meeting agenda HERE which only lists the selection... Read more →

Florida's Enterprise Florida Head bypasses procurement rules for favored vendor

Lax procurement rules were used to avoid competitive bidding for a speechwriter used by the head of Florida's economic development agency, Enterprise Florida. Read more →

BAD US Senator Harry Reid blocks Federal Inspector General Transparency Bill S.579

April 10, 2016 Tavares, FL BAD Democrat Sen. Harry Reid even has a poster about how bad he is.. BAD Senator Harry Reid (D), the US Senate minority leader, has been blocking a bill, S.579, to allow Federal Inspector Generals to access all records and employees of Federal Agencies in IG inspections and audits. This is the same Senator involved in bad land deals in Nevada and who blocked many Senate bills from being voted on. Due to Reid's efforts to block S.579, the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), named Reid as "Porker of the Month". As a former Internal Audit manager in Fortune 500 firms, and an anti-corruption manager in Iraq, I fully believe that Inspector Generals should have full independence and have full access to all records and employees of the agency under their jurisdiction. Reid's actions are a flagrant disregard for proper transparency needed over government activities. But GOOD Sen. Chuck Grassley has still been pushing the bill, S.579, that would mandate transparency and openess for IG activities, even with Reid blocking the bill for 5 months. So a Las Vegas newspaper wrote a story about it on Mar. 27, and here is a 15... Read more →

Oregon Federal Landgrab over years leads to 150 militia taking over Oregon Wildlife Refuge Building

January 3, 2016 Tavares, FL Property Rights Issue - Another Feds landgrab - This is happening right now in a remote Oregon area, and the mainstream media may not be telling you the story. Neither print newspaper that service Lake County, FL told you about this growing Federal overreach issue in Oregon, but 150 militia folks have taken over a Federal Wildlife Refuge building to protest the arrest and imprisonment of two property owners. Read all the BEST details here - the amazing history of how the Federal government forced out or impoverished many ranchers and now they are fighting back. The Clive Bundy family, who stood up to the Feds attempt to seize land in Nevada are there and this seems to be another property rights issue. Read the details here from conservative sources, not the main stream media. Here is the NBC News video on this. Here is the Washington Post article. Watch for more news on this. Will this be another Waco tragedy led by Obama? Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

How to Use Common Law Grand Juries to Investigate Government Officials

Who knew there is a method defined in the US Constitution and descended from the the British Magna Carta on how citizen activists can convene a Common Law Grand Jury (CLGJ) to investigate local Governent corruption. A well known conservative talk show host and author, Jason W. Hoyt, visited Lake County, FL recently and explained how to setup a CLGJ. Read more →

Florida Gets a D- and is ranked 30th in National State Integrity Investigation Report

Florida ranked a D- in a new, national study comparing all states in 13 "integrity" or accountability categories. A well known national watchdog, Center for Public Integrity ( http://www.publicintegrity.org/ ), published their annual "State Integrity Investigation" report comparing how each state ranks in 13 categories related to transparency, oversight and accountability. A partner, www.GlobalIntegrity.org was also involved in the report development. Florida, like MOST states, ranked near the bottom with a D- and only three states had higher C or B rankings. Based on points, Florida "achieved" a 61, and was 30th out of all 50 states (or 57 states if you are Obama). Read more →

City of Opa-locka, FL suffers from Corruption Scandal, fails to pay phone & other bills

Tavares, FL Nov. 5, 2015 A corruption scandal in the city of Opa-locka, FL has caused the city to run out of cash and they aren't paying their bills. "The city even stopped paying life insurance premiums for its workers. You know it's bad when their phone service is shut off for not paying the bills. I will write more later, but here is an initial story on it: Miami Herald On brink of financial collapse, Opa-locka seeks state help For Opa-locka government leaders, the signs of financial distress came abruptly last month: The phone service to City Hall was shut off. Then came the complaints: The city owed thousands in rent payments for police satellite offices and $100,000 to a contractor who walked off the job while restoring the historic City Hall. The city even stopped paying life insurance premiums for its workers. Just two weeks after a corruption scandal embroiled Opa-locka's leaders, the city is faced with another grim development: Opa-locka is edging toward financial collapse. http://www.miamiherald.com/…/miami-gar…/article43040772.html vj Read more →

Small Town California Newspaper gets Pulitzer for Investigation Series on Local School District Corruption

A California school district with only four schools and 6600 students suffered huge fiscal losses due to cronyism and corruption and overpayment of salaries. The local paper published a 10-part investigative series and won a Pulitzer. One of the lessons is the corruption that can occur when contracting firms support elected school board members to get huge school bond issues totaling $200-million and related projects approved. Additionally, the District Superindant was paid $663,000 in salaries, benefits and perks, which was much higher than the Superintendant of the much larger Los Angeles School District. Read more →

"America in Decline" speech by Frank de Varona - Obama is a Marxist, Muslim, etc

Feb. 10, 2015 Lake County, FL This post courtesy of Jer Broadhurst includes notes and link to a speaker video of Frank de Varona on "America in Decline" vj Recap of "America in Decline" Presentation and LInk to video by Jer Broadhurst ======================================================== Frank de Varona presented “America in Decline” on Friday, January 23, 2015. He was sponsored by the Royal Highlands Republican Club. A YouTube video of that presentation is on the Royal Highlands Republican Club YouTube Channel at: http://youtu.be/Mz-dAsIZi5k The Highlights of Frank’s Presentation: 1. President Barack Hussein Obama is a Marxist 2. President Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim 3. Obama Administration Switched Sides on War on Terror Details of the above highlights are at:: http://goo.gl/lRfAvk You may not believe that the above topics are true. If so, that is because the mainstream media never vetted President Obama and they have been protecting him since he was elected. How much do you really know about Obama? The details in the above document are facts that cannot be disputed. "Obama Administration Switched Sides on War on Terror" is documented in the "Citizens Commission on Benghazi" document, which indicates that the Obama administration provided weapons to jihadist militias affiliated... Read more →

FiscalFiasco: Michigan wastes $12-million on commuter railcar leases and doesn't use them

Feb. 3, 2015 Tavares, FL Another fine government fiscal fiasco in Michigan wasting over $12-million in taxpayer funds. It seems that the State of Michigan leased a bunch of OLD railcars for a local commuter rail project, but it isn't ready, so the cars sit idle while piling up over $1-million per year in lease payments. Only government (in Michigan) could be that stupid and wasteful of taxpayer funds. It seems that Michigan requires 10% of a Transportation fund be spent on commuter rail, so they blew it on the commuter railcar leases when the railroad line was not usable. "The Michigan Department of Transportation started leasing the cars in 2010 for two commuter rail passenger services proposed between Detroit and Ann Arbor, and Howell and Ann Arbor. But nearly five years later, none of the cars has logged a single commuter passenger mile. There still is no funding and no operator for either proposed commuter service, required environmental studies are not complete, and in the case of the Detroit-Ann Arbor service, even the tracks won't be ready for another two years." "The roughly $11.4 million spent as of Dec. 31 was mostly paid from Michigan's $300-million Comprehensive Transportation Fund,... Read more →

How Environmentalists Abuse Private Property Rights and Get Funding via Backroom Legal Settlements

Tavares, FL - Dec. 28, 2013 Environmentalists have been abusing private property rights for years by enacting laws like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that requires the Federal Government to enforce ludicrous regulations to "protect endangered species". Then they use a method called "sue and settle" to SUE the Federal Government because the restrictive laws are not being implemented in various locations. That is how they force the Feds to settle in backroom deals to get more funding for their causes. It also is why you hear periodically where a Federal government agency, like the Fish & Wildlife Service, slams the door on some poor property owner so he can't use the land or sell it due to the existence of some endangered lizard. Liberals use the ESA just to halt development This article is a very clear description from a US Senator of this abusive practice. Read it and understand what could happen to you if you own land that the environmentalists don't want developed. Always remember that liberals and environmentalists are behind this fund raising scam. Most of the articles below explain that many lawsuits are filed so environmentalist attorneys win, but little is done by them or... Read more →

Shocking Details of Obamacare Website Failure Disclosed in Today's Congressional Hearings

Tavares, FL - Oct. 24, 2013 Note: This version contains updates and my rough notes not shown on other posted versions on Facebook, etc. I am watching CSPAN.org and the Congressional hearing about the Obamacare website failure. It is really clear that the Federal Dept., CMS , was project manager and screwed it all up by bad testing of "end to end" data flow. As a former information systems auditor, they dropped the ball. They also only allowed the last two weeks to test the system "end to end" by following data through all the different vendor and provider systems, when "months" were needed per vendors. They also made last minute changes which then could cause security failures since security tests had been done before the changes, thus any changes could let external hacking to go on. CMS also waited until two weeks before roll out to change the system so NOW the applicant had to supply personal info and register just to shop choices and prices, when Obama earlier promised they could compare choices without doing so. This was called "anonymous shopping", which was turned off. Testimony from CGI indicated it could be turned on if project manager CMS... Read more →

List of Lake County Officials Delinquent in Filing Ethics Disclosure Forms

Tavares, FL - Lake County, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 UPDATED to today, Sept. 4th -see UPDATE section at the bottom of this document from Integrity Florida regarding Lake's late filers. This information was sent out by email yesterday to some local officials: Below is a link to a list of numerous Lake County officials who will soon face fines for not submitting required financial statements. Lake County I received this notice below from a local officer of the North Lake Tea Party. He received it from IntegrityFlorida, which apparently tracked people in public positions who have not filed required annual Financial Disclosure statements that were due July 1, 2012. I have not verified the accuracy of this list or how CURRENT it is (the memo below says as of August 29), and most of the names are city officials or in other smaller districts or agencies. I did not see any major elected officials from the County or School District on the list. Since today (Sept. 3) is a holiday, I can’t contact the Elections Superintendent to determine if her office is even involved in ensuring compliance, since the reports are due tomorrow. I know, that as a... Read more →

An Open Letter to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Failure to Fight Foreclosure Fraud & Corruption

Update: Jul. 30, 2011 - Pam Bondi issued a statement on this issue HERE, but I found it to still be vague and not definitive on why two experienced foreclosure fraud investigators were fired earlier. Original Article: Tavares, FL - Jul 24, 2011 - As Attorney General for the State of Florida, I am disappointed in your apparent lack of interest in fighting Foreclosure fraud or corruption in Florida as evidenced by two issues: - The article below from Scott Maxwell describing the unjustified firing of two top foreclosure fraud investigators without any solid explanation. - The referenced Florida Grand Jury report issued by your office just before New Year's 2010 in an apparent attempt to avoid questions on the report, and your lack of action in "marketing" the recommendations to the Florida legislators. Below is a link to Scott Maxwell’s recent disturbing column in the Orlando Sentinel’s office about how Pam Bondi fired the two investigators who reported all the recent foreclosure fraud in Florida. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-scott-maxwell-ousted-investigators20110720,0,660118.column And, here is another op ed piece at "firedoglake.com on the same issue. Additionally, we corresponded before about the Grand Jury report on Corruption being issued by Pam Bondi’s office just before New... Read more →

Dick Morris: Inflation is Coming, and I Agree Obama & Democrats Should be Blamed

The Federal government now borrows $40-BILLION per week to pay interest on all the debt they have approved. When someone says there is a $13-TRILLION or so deficit, that means the Feds have sold debt and agreed to pay interest to GET all that money. OR, they PRINTED new money which increases the money supply, which causes inflation. Obama and the Democrats have done both. And, as interest goes up, I am betting much of the debt has cost of living escalators, so interest due to China and other buyers of US bonds and debt instruments will rise as interest rates rise. I lived through the last great inflation bubble when President Jimmy Carter ran up costs and implemented all those liberal programs that run up inflation. That was when I thought I had a GOOD DEAL buying a house at 9.5% interest rates, and then the rates went up to almost 20% due to inflation. Recently, I have watched Obama implementing many inflation causing practices, including "printing money", and excessive borrowing money to fund all his social programs. Now, inflation is starting to hit us, not only due to unrest in oil producing countries, but subsidizing food crops like... Read more →

Florida Grand Jury Report issued on "Public Corruption" - Will Governor Scott Implement It?

Note: A Florida state wide Grand Jury established by Charlie Crist just issued their "First Interim Report" on "A Study of Public Corruption in Florida and Recommended Solutions". A number of case histories in the report are related to corruption committed by County officials in various Florida Counties. I am posting a link to the full report here and a short news article, and will add my comments HERE later. Note: The full 127 page grand jury report is HERE. vj ================================================================= Will corruption grand jury bring charges, change or just hot air? Interim report reads as a plaintive cry of frustration January 05, 2011|Michael Mayo, Sun Sentinel Columnist When a grand jury issues a report instead of indictments, it can be seen as running a white towel up the flagpole. For nearly a year, a Fort Lauderdale-based grand jury has looked into statewide public corruption. So far, the only tangible result is a 124-page "interim report" released during the holiday lull. Reading it is a depressing reminder why few arrests might follow, even if Gov. Rick Scott extends the term for another six months beyond February. The report is informative, filled with concrete proposals to toughen penalties, close loopholes... Read more →

A FiscalRangers.com Perspective on the BP Oil Spill

Point 1: Never forget all oil drilling is to meet the oil demands of US and other country consumers and our demand pushes them to take risks to fill our demand for oil. Point 2: Never forget that "BP" is a BRITISH firm, not American, and they have a terrible drilling safety record, compared to other oil firms. I will discuss that later. Point 3: Never forget that BP and other firms were drilling in risky, high depth locations because US Democrats, liberals and environmentalists refused to let them drill in safer, lower depth locations near shorelines like is done near Santa Barbara & Long Beach, California, and they have also reduced oil firm ability to drill onshore, which is even safer. There have been hardly any ONSHORE drilling catastrophes, so it is much safer. Background: In the 1980's, I lived in Southern California and worked as one of 10 Internal Audit group Directors at ARCO (Atlantic Richfield), a very well managed oil company with a headquarters in Los Angeles, plus operations near New Orleans and the Alaskan Pipeline. I traveled to an offshore oil rig near New Orleans, Coal operations in Denver, the Alaska pipeline in Alaska ( including... Read more →

Are You Angry at the Florida Sunrail Boondoggle - then read this

Florida isn't the only State with railroad boondoggles. I lived in Southern California where they spent billions on commuter trains that are extremely costly. It would have been cheaper to give each rider a new car. And Florida taxpayers are mad at legislators for passing the $600-million plus railroad boondoggle called SunRail, although there are even more rail projects around the state to reward the firms who paid lobbyists to bribe legislators to get approvals. So, here is a link to a story about a similar railroad boondoggle in Fairfax County, Virginia that is further along. This is a website to fight the rail plan, and the link is to an article analyzing all the hidden and unknown costs. When will we elect politicians who do not accept campaign bribes to pass such projects? vj Read more →

Florida Legislators from Broward County to Create County Inspector General

Another Florida County is considering establishment of a County Inspector General. This is the first time I have read where it seems the County State Legislators are moving to set it up. We posted earlier about one in Palm Beach County, but that was initiated by local voters (and probably made into law by the County legislators). Inspector Generals are usually setup to investigate reports of wrong doing, and may or may not also act as operational auditors to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness or economy of operations. All Florida government agencies DO get financial audits, but that really is the routine CPA type of audit to ensure the annual financial report is correct and accurate. Such audits do not evaluate efficiencies or cost controls like many corporations do. As we have mentioned before, the oversight here in Lake County is fragmented and restricted because the County Auditor only works for the Court Clerk, and cannot initiate audits of the County Board operations or other Constitutional Officers without "negotiating" with the County Manager and getting approval of audit topics and timelines. In contrast, other states have elected County Auditor-Controllers who not only independently process accounting transactions, but also audit County wide departments... Read more →

Why is the Lake County County Commission & Chairman Welton Cadwell Afraid of Public Input & Transparency???

The Lake County Commission needs to drastically change their resistance to allowing public input at meetings. For three years, I have been going to School Board meetings and workshops, and then started going to the separate County Commission Board meetings or watching them on TV for the last two years. This next paragraph is an extract from the County Commission website describing weekly meeting formats and "encouraging" public input, but then saying it might not always be allowed: "The Lake County Board of County Commissioners meetings may consist of several components, including work sessions, discussion agenda items (departmental business), consent agenda items and public hearings. Lake County residents are encouraged to attend the meetings and to speak at public hearings. The Board normally meets in regular sessions the first, third and fourth Tuesday of each month. Special meetings and/or work sessions may be called as necessary. While public comments may not be taken at these work sessions, the public is invited to attend." One major difference between the School Board and the County Boards is their approach to transparency, or allowing the public to speak and publishing info for the public to review. For instance, the School Board allows public... Read more →