What’s with numerous members of the South Florida Democratic delegation living outside the districts they were elected to represent, in flagrant disregard for the constitutional requirements of holding such office?
Over the past many weeks, Local 10 reporter Bob Norman has been checking in on where legislators and county commissioners say they live — and where they are actually spending their days and nights. The following is based on his reports and those by Media trackers.
Add State Sen. Maria Sachs as the most recent culprit of residency shiftiness — claiming to live in a 740 square-foot condo in Fort Lauderdale with the complicity of her friend, landlord and lobbyist Judy Stern, when in fact her son Marcello lives there so that she may continue to reside in her $1.5 million estate in Boca Raton, well outside of her district.
Surveillance tapes from private investigators only corroborate what is already known: Sachs is using the condo to flout the constitution. No wonder she won’t answer questions about where she lives; or why her son refused to answer the door when Norman paid a visit, insisting that his mother was inside but then going silent.
To Republican State Sen. Jack Latvala, Ethics Committee Chairman, this isn’t small potatoes.
“I’m inquiring on a constitutional issue, a requirement that legislators live in the district that they serve,” said Latvala. But Sachs is just one of many such offenders to pursue, and her story seems banal compared to that of others — such as House Minority Leader Perry Thurston.
Thurston claims to live with a convicted felon in a small, rundown Lauderhill home, rather than with his wife and family in their longtime two-story home in an upscale Plantation neighborhood. Thurston won’t admit the discrepancy, even when caught by Norman leaving his Plantation home one morning.
“Are you supposed to be living here, Perry? Can I talk with you a second?” asked Norman.
“Nah,” replied Thurston.
“You’re not in your district,” said Norman.
“I am,” said Thurston, who then shut the door on Norman.
But Thurston’s would-be Lauderhill neighbors readily share he doesn’t really live there — and some aren’t so happy about it.
“If you’re going to represent the area, live in it,” said Suzanne Leary, who lives in Lauderdale Lakes. “It’s like live here and deal with what we’re dealing with.”
Or, at least, don’t put up a fight when the Broward County Property Appraiser removes the homestead property exemption on your Plantation home, right? Not Thurston. The BCPA took him at his word about living elsewhere, and acted accordingly.
That wasn’t cool for Thurston, who probably enjoyed having it both ways. That’s when Florida Elections Commissioner Barbara Stern, daughter of Thurston’s political consultant Judy Stern (same Judy Stern, as featured with Sachs above), sent an email top BCPA officials questioning their removal of homestead tax exemptions for Thurston, along with other clients of her lobbyist mother.
Writing from the email account of her private legal practice, Barbara Stern asked for all correspondence, memos, witness statements, and legal authority relied upon pertaining to their investigations of Thurston, as well as State Rep. Joe Gibbons. Somehow Barbara still maintains that she is uninvolved in her mother’s business — and used that claim in order to be confirmed into her appointed post by the Florida Senate, despite concern over such potential conflicts of interest.
Gibbons, who represents Hallandale Beach, appears to live in Jacksonville with his wife and family while renting out a small condo in his House district. He plans to run for a seat on the Broward County Commission in 2014.
Then there’s State Rep. Jared Moskowitz who won a seat in a Coral Springs district and did so by renting an apartment a few miles away from his Parkland Golf and Country Club estate, where his wife continues to live. And as it turns out — so does he.
Norman called him, too, and Moskowitz insisted that he lives in the apartment saying, “I woke up there this morning.” But when Local 10 visited the apartment that same day, it was clear from the date on an envelope stuffed in the door crack that the door had not been opened for days. Moskowitz stuck to his story despite the inconsistency; and also — like Thurston — had failed to relinquish his homestead exemption on his true residence.
Rep. Hazelle Rogers the same. She rents a condo in her district, a few miles from where she actually lives. Rogers didn’t offer a comment to Local 10.
Likewise, Democratic Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness claims to live in a run-down housing unit in Lauderhill with furniture and boxes stacked to the ceiling, a realtor’s locked box on the door knob, and a refrigerator that isn’t plugged in.
And earlier this week, longtime Democratic Dania Beach Commissioner Patricia Flurry resigned when evidence surfaced that she was living in Fort Lauderdale.
“This is rampant within the South Florida community,” said Former North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns.
Thurston is considering a run for Attorney General in 2014. At least that’s a statewide office, in which he could safely “move back home”.
