DBR TO THE RESCUE

The Daily Business Review has a good story and great defense of JAABlog (Broward Blog) author Bill Gelin. The title links to the story.

Referring to Carlos Llorente, who purports to run some fly-by-night cabal called "The Broward County Bar Association", the DBR had this to say:

So, it’s no surprise that Gelin or his blog are targets.

But to try to intimidate and silence the blog reeks of Orwellian desperation. It’s what one might expect in countries where repressive regimes have taken draconian steps to stop the flow of information over the Web and through social media about their abuses and corruption. (Rumpole can't help but note- "countries.....or Broward County.)

It’s a good thing Llorente doesn’t have any real power and can do little more than call a secret meeting. Even if the Bar committee makes a finding, the Broward County Bar Association has no authority to regulate lawyers.

Llorente, a proponent of a new courthouse, apparently isn’t happy enough with the victory in securing funding for a new $328 million courthouse without a public vote — despite Gelin railing against it before the Broward County Commission and making his case online.

It looks like the real problem is that Llorente and other targets of JAABlog don’t like the spotlight. It’s classic “kill the messenger” thinking.

They don’t like that Gelin and his blog have empowered more Broward lawyers to speak their minds without fear of retribution and worse yet, challenge sitting judges. Once a taboo career-ender, it’s now spreading in Broward like the flu in an elementary school classroom.

And we close with this bit of news about the Dade County Jail, because we are, after all, a Dade-Centric blog: Inmates at our homey jail have found a way to charge phone calls to unsuspecting Dade residents, including one unnamed female federal judge. The Herald has the story here.