UPDATE: This comment by a reader says it all:
rump - I think the real horror that needs to be looked into is why PDs who work their butts off (and there are LOTS of them, besides what some of your readers think) haven't gotten raises. This when most of them are carrying ungodly amounts of student loans and live in the 3rd most expensive city in the US!
UPDATE: BLOCKBUSTER INDICTMENT! A Former Federal and State Prosecutor in New Jersey, and now a prominent criminal defense attorney- Paul Bergrin-has been indicted in federal court on 14 counts of obstruction of justice, witness tampering, murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The charges arise out of accusations that Bergrin orchestrated the murder of witnesses in two cases. High profile NYC defense attorney Gerald Shargel is defending Bergrin. The NY Times article is here.
We are still wondering about our questions in re: the 16 PD "Straw attorneys" whose position was budgeted by the Legislature, and whose salaries were paid by us tax payers, but who otherwise don't exist. Is what the PD's office did legal? Do other state offices do this? Is this why there's only one person at the clerk's office whenever we need a file?
And here's a new one- while we were in the shower the other day we started, as is our wont, to do some math. 16 positions- assume on the low side an average starting salary of $30,000.00 per year, that's ..hmm...carry the two....ummm...$480,000.00 Brummers!!! That's an awful lot of hay to give to the top horses in the barn.
And (because we take long showers) we also thought of this: Is this the first time BHB has done this? We all know that no matter how bad the evidence is against out client, we all like to say "they've never done this before. It was a one time, stupid thing to do."
So has the PD's office been taking money for "straw lawyers" for years? And who got that money?
You see, without the Susannah Nesmiths and now the Vanessa Blums of the world (Markus reported Tuesday that the Sun Sentinel canned Blum for budget reasons) who else is there to ask these questions and "follow the money"?
We'd much rather see Ms. Nesmith or Ms. Blum meeting with a strange and mysterious figure cloaked in a Macintosh and obscured by the shadows of a late night in the Jackson Medical Garage across from the PDs office. "What is going on over there"? we imagine them saying, fog swirling in the background.
"Follow the money" would be the whispered reply. The glow of a cigarette breaking the dark and gloomy midnight hour.
The problem is that at the rate we're going, this story will be assigned to the obit copy clerk, as there are no real reporters left in Miami to "follow the money" flowing through the strangely silent offices of Carlos Martinez and company.
SILENT CHARLIE DAY FOUR.
Rumpole, forget all this - did you hear that the 1st, I say the 1st police department in Miami to begin carrying assault rifles is SWEETWATER POLICE!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIs there a more corrupt bullying thug department in the United States? Get ready for the "I thought he was carrying," 20 bullets to the chest oops.
Rumpole--$30,000? Last I heard the PDs started at $42,000 a year. Using that number times 16, the total "phantom salary" amount is, at a minimum, $672,000, and is probably a little higher. Even assuming BHB spent 10 to 15 grand on danishes and other assorted patries and treats for certain bigwigs, that's still a lot of money to account for.
ReplyDeleteGiven that your average APD hasn't received a raise in three years, as Ricky Ricardo would say, BHB has some 'splainin to do.
FYI - the SAO has over 100
ReplyDelete"straw" attorneys. That is how any agency can afford to pay someone more than $40,000.
Say Rumpole, why don't you start an over/under on when Silent Charlie will respond, in any medium, to the accusations? Everybody that wants to bet, costs them $5, half of the proceeds goes to the winner, half goes to hire some more PDs.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to forget almost 500k in
ReplyDeleteUS currency. David Ovalle where are you? This is a disgrace.
They have pro bono lawyers representing indigent clients they claim they can't help themselves. They have big firms working pro bono for them before the appeals courts. They have enough money to pay Bennett Brummer a 40K
consulting fee. They have enough money to let Weed retire (DROP) and then come back at full salary
(130K per year).
AND YES they have enough money to dole out close to 500k in raises
and bonuses. BUT THEY DON'T HAVE
THE RESOURCES TO REPRESENT OUR
POOR CLIENTS.
I know what all those 5th floor PD's are wondering now with all
ReplyDeleteof this emphasis on Carlos the Silent -
Either Denaro, Barzee, Pettus,
Overman, Dunham, Britt, Richardson or Rundlet must be Rumpole.
No way Jose - those fools don't even come close to Rumpole's league.
I guess this just isn't going away Mr. Silent.
Hey I don't know where you live, but the Metro-Dade cops at MIA have been carrying assualt rifles or about a year.
ReplyDeleteCan I nominate the Florida Supreme Court for your judicial wall of shame? Since the beginning of April the court has issued two opinions in lawyer discipline cases, two opinions in death penalty post-conviction cases, five summary opinions in "tag" cases, and one opinion correcting punctuation errors in jury instructions.
ReplyDeleteThat's it! Four substantive opinions in seven weeks. Are things really that slow in Tallahassee? Doesn't the court have any other cases to decide?
Relax ol Rumpy, the only reason there's no heat on BHB and Carlos is because they're Democrats. If they were Republicans, the Herald woulda already had this shit on page 1.
ReplyDeleteWhat a scary thought it would be if Miami Beach cops started carrying assault rifles. Talk about a group of thugs
ReplyDeleteThis story has legs and will be covered by the media, if true
ReplyDeleterump - I think the real horror that needs to be looked into is why PDs who work their butts off (and there are LOTS of them, besides what some of your readers think) haven't gotten raises. This when most of them are carrying ungodly amounts of student loans and live in the 3rd most expensive city in the US!
ReplyDeleteWho's Rory Stein?
ReplyDeleteAll of the police agencies in this town should have semi-automatic rifles.
Someone go make a public records request over at the PD's office for the salary list, already.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the article the Herald did a few months ago when Miami-Dade Transit got the new half penny tax. Instead of using it for things like, oh I dont know....transit, they gave a bunch of raises to everyone in the place.
Maybe some of the Dade ASAs and APD should go drive Metro buses and get a raise.
Sweetwater gets assault rifles. Cool.
ReplyDeleteNow instead of the last line of every Sweetwater a-form reading "Defendant resisted with violence to my person and was taken to Ward D," it can read "Defendant resisted with violence to my person and I discharged my service rifle 27 times. Defendant taken to Medical Examiner's Office."
El Burrito makes sure his cops have the latest equipment to protect the citizenry of Sweetwater from every kind of criminal and predator.
ReplyDeleteSince when, I say again, does Carlos Martinez have to respond to this blog?
ReplyDeleteWhy all the hate? Did the PD do something to old rumpy that we need to know about?
Listen, people, Carlos is a good guy and we all know it.
The PD and SAO for years have done all kinds of creative math to keep people. They used county money awhile back to hire PD's and SA's who were not officially on the books and did not get health insurance etc.
Would his royal highness, Mr. Rumpy get off the back of Carlos and focus on the real bad guys, the cheap bastards in the Republican legislature.
7:52
ReplyDeleteCarlos might well be a good guy. That is not the issue. And those "bad republicans" are looking good pretty good the next time Carlos asks them for money. And for that, Carlos has lost a lot of cred. And that aint good....
7:52--I agree that Carlos is a good guy (although I do not know him well) and it appears as though much of this mess occurred under Bennett "Sleepy B" Brummer.
ReplyDeleteBut Carlos is the captain of the PDO ship now, and he has some explanations to provide. If he plans to change this policy--and take away Rory's danishes--all he has to do is announce it.
L&L associate-ouch!
ReplyDelete7:52 is warren schwartz
ReplyDeleteNot going to re-explain "hot" vs. "courthouse hot."
ReplyDeleteThe L&L associate is Andrea Cunill. Yes, she is very attractive, but she's also one hell of an attorney.
ReplyDelete