Hi, kids!

Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth!

The great author and chronicler of all things Florida, Carl Hiaasen, once said, “The Sunshine State is a paradise of scandals teeming with drifters, deadbeats and misfits drawn here by some dark primordial calling like demented trout.  And you’d be surprised how many of them decide to run for public office.”

 Damn, if he doesn’t hit the nail on the head, eh?

Last week marked the end of qualifying and the beginning of the 2018 election season, a time when political hopefuls – entrenched insider incumbents, well-meaning populists and wide-eyed naïfs, newbies and their political benefactors and strategists – will work hard to gain our trust – and our vote – in races and referendums of vital importance to our future here on the beleaguered Fun Coast and beyond.

For years, well-meaning people have attempted to politely persuade me to throw my hat in the ring and stand for various elective offices.  While I sincerely appreciate their confidence, I simply don’t have the stomach for it.

As I like to say, I’m a complainer – not a ‘doer.’

A cowardly critic – a chronic bitcher with a blog – a keyboard warrior – an inane muckraker with an axe to grind – and I have no desire for political power beyond expressing my opinions on the issues of the day, and, as Conrad said, “. . .using the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel – before all, to make you see – and, perhaps, provide that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.”

That, and nothing more.

In my experience, serious candidates for public office invariably have one thing in common – they share a real ‘fire in the belly,’ an overwhelming drive to compete in what has become a brutal blood sport and win at all costs.

That requires a level of personal commitment, grit and an old-fashioned work ethic that I simply don’t possess.

While there is plenty of time between now and the primary – or the general election in November – to get their message across, there is simply no time to waste – and that requires starting well before dawn and working feverishly until after dark, talking issues, pressing-the-flesh and getting their smiling visage in front of as many potential voters as possible.

Look, I don’t know much, but if you are running for public office this time around and your campaign isn’t issue-centric – you’re doing it wrong.

In the past, John Q. Public could give a damn about the challenges we face (that’s a big reason we’re in the shape we’re in) and oftentimes a smile and a shoeshine could win the day – but this year is different, I think.

While it’s still the ‘candidate’ they’re voting for – I believe it will be less about how the person chooses to present him or herself, and more about clearly defining unique solutions to the age-old problems we face here on the Fun Coast that will win votes this time around.

The folks I talk to are genuinely concerned about the direction our local governments are heading – specifically when it comes to unchecked development, a lack of effective revitalization efforts and the pox of insider influence – something many see shaping everything from our desperate transportation infrastructure needs to massive corporate giveaways and the growing lack of transparency in what should be the people’s business.

In short, anyone in the arena should be prepared with new, innovative answers with a strong focus on problem-solving initiatives – and a plan to pay for them – because it’s going to take both to get voters attention this fall.

Tired defenders of the status quo – or those who were given a chance to serve and squandered it – will be identified as the boat anchors they are.

The majority of candidates won’t receive the anointment and financial support of our High Panjandrum’s of Political Power – so the only option they have left is the grueling process of door-to-door, grassroots campaigning – house-to-house fighting to win over their neighbors and spread the good word of change.

That’s a damn difficult proposition – but it works.

In fact, absent a groaning war chest full of political I.O.U’s, it’s the only thing that can.

Candidates with tens-of-thousands of dollars funneled from the usual suspects – our uber-wealthy donor class and their various corporations, political action committees and shadowy entities – have the wherewithal to cover ground quickly through mass media campaigns – and the only antidote to that is shoe leather and perseverance.

That’s also a difficult proposition in the heat and humidity of a Florida summer.

But when the ‘nut-cutting’ hour comes this August, we’ll see who outworked who – and then our collective decisions will become infinitely more focused.

Until then, get used to receiving the glossy mailouts showing the various candidates sitting comfortably barefoot on the beach, surrounded by his/her family, all uniformly clad cap-à-pie in starched white shirts and comfortable jeans, with a rented Labrador or precocious grandchild carefully staged center frame.

After all, pictures make politics – and with enough money – even a dimwitted incumbent can carefully craft an image that will make the uniformed voter suspend reality and forget the candidates abysmal voting record, alienation, lies and manipulation for the past four years.

Fortunately, we are living in the age of ‘high-information’ voters – people who care enough about the important issues to seek out fresh perspectives and alternative opinions to support what they take in with their own eyes and ears.

Clearly, I’m not a political scientist by any means – but I receive calls from various political candidates this time of the year, soliciting my goofy opinions on the issues of the day as they work to cobble together a platform, and I’m happy to help when I can.

But if you want someone to fawn, flatter, pat you on the backside and massage your developing political ego – probably better to rub elbows with the Halifax Power Set – because I’m the last guy you want to reach out to.  Trust me.

Look, my take on the news of the day is no more insightful or prescient that anyone else’s (and that includes our uber-wealthy ‘power brokers’) but I’ve been around too long to be fooled by cheap trickery and imaging – and I refuse to be blinded by the sweet serenade of someone who’s in it for the wrong reasons – most of whom will quickly transform into everything they hated once elected to high office, just like the shitheads who came before.

But if you’re in the race of your life to try and make a real difference in the life of our community – to help restore confidence in our system of governance, ensure a level playing field and enhance social, educational, service and civic opportunities for every citizen – then you have my full support.

The positive takeaway is we have some impressive candidates in the mix this season – remarkable people from all walks of life on both sides of the County with a true vision for change.

We’ve got some of Carl’s misfits, too.

We’ll talk more about all of them in weeks to come.

In the meantime, I’ll be here – watching, waiting, and calling bullshit on any political candidate or two-bit operative who tries to pull the wool over our collective eyes and distract us from the grave issues that effect our lives and livelihoods with cheap political assholery.

This election is far too important for that.

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was.

Asshole:          Volusia County Council

Admittedly, I’m one to carry a grudge – I admit it.

One of my innumerable character flaws, I guess.

I’ve really tried to get past this – but it still bothers me – and this bears repeating:

Now that our preening elected representatives in DeLand have purged their spleen in a fit of political pique and exposed their vile hatred for anyone who challenges the status quo of an entrenched power structure – a political protection racket that showers select candidates with hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions in exchange for four-years of lockstep conformity and complete fealty to the Donor Class – they are pointing the finger of blame at their long-suffering constituents.

Did anyone expect anything different?

Despite the weak-minded denials of our doddering fool of a County Chairman, Ed Kelley – a perennial politician who hasn’t had an original thought since he accepted his first campaign contribution – it is clear to anyone paying attention that the majority of Volusia County Council members have developed a virulent case of psychological projection, a political defense mechanism that allows them to abdicate responsibility and attribute all the problems in their sole span of control to the “malarkey” of naysaying constituents.

It appears – with the exception of current political punching bag, Heather Post – council members have convinced themselves that the dismal political climate we find ourselves in is the result of angry social media posts and attempts by Sheriff Mike Chitwood to expose the broken and corrupt nature of this horrible system he inherited following the last election.

Look, you can’t have it both ways.

Our elected officials need to understand that you can completely ignore the needs, wants and concerns of your constituents, shut them out of the process, ignore their input and surprise them with off-the-agenda stunts designed to ramrod sketchy public policies and conceal murky intentions, then funnel millions in public funds to the private profit motives of a few powerful political insiders – but when the light of day finally exposes the machinations of this oligarchical system – you cannot simply blame the victim.

Our elected representatives on the dais of power would have us believe that if we continue to speak out and call attention to this farcical system we have suffered under – a bastardized process that has thwarted any substantive progress in Volusia County for years – then the continued exercise of our First Amendment rights will chase away any “good” county manager candidates, leaving us to select from the “Barney Fifes” of the current executive class.

I’ll take an honest Barney Fife over a shifty shitheel with a pedigree any day of the week.

No, despite what they would have us believe – this one is on them – not us.

For months, We, The People have been forced to stand by and witness this ugly exclusionary process play out – a constituency left totally voiceless, stymied by an internally controlled information black market – repeatedly and openly lied to, then told we were too stupid to appreciate the issues facing us in a weird form of political gaslighting.

In fact, if you look at the classic techniques used by tormentors to psychologically abuse and control their victims you might find some eerie similarities to our current situation:

It’s textbook.  And it’s wrong.

Fortunately, smart people with the insider knowledge and understanding of the how, what, when and why the wheel came off our collective cart at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center are beginning to echo the concerns of Sheriff Chitwood, Councilwoman Post and others with the guts to defend us from this abusive relationship that has ruined the public’s trust in their government.

In Sunday’s Daytona Beach News-Journal, former County Councilman Doug Daniels both confirmed our worst fears – and provided a cogent way forward as we collectively struggle to right the ship in the aftermath of one of the most disastrous periods in our history.

“Will Dinneen’s departure usher in an era of good government?  No.”

“The county’s power structure and its poorly drafted, antiquated charter will remain. When there are only a handful of big-money donors funding political campaigns, miracles will be in short supply, particularly now that the rich have come to display their power not by building public monuments, but by raiding taxpayer funds. We cannot change that, but we can change the charter to provide for an open, transparent government. We can watch them do it.”

Mr. Daniels rightly suggests that Volusia’s sacrosanct charter should be changed to ensure accountability, transparency and fiscal integrity through an independent internal auditor reporting directly to the council – and the people.

He also suggested that we replace this hodgepodge system of management by crisis with a 20-year strategic vision for Volusia County.

I couldn’t agree more.

He further suggests reorganizing the charter to provide a strong elected chairman, with a salary similar to circuit court judges – someone with the “real power” to effectively represent the interests of Volusia County in regional issues, like SunRail.

“With such reforms, you still might not like what the county government does, but at least you would know what it is doing. With an elected chairman, we would have someone who could represent us here and on a bigger stage, and someone we could hold accountable.”

In my view, change is on the breeze.

With a good crop of outstanding new candidates for public office working hard to gain our trust – and our vote – hope springs anew this election cycle.

Clearly, the big money candidates are getting nervous, and they should be.

The political pendulum is beginning its slow arc, hopefully returning power where it rightfully belongs – to We, The People, from which all political legitimacy originates.

So, let our ‘powers that be’ know exactly how you feel.

Let them know that we will not be told to shut up and sit-down by the likes of Old Ed Kelley, “Sleepy” Pat Patterson or any other self-serving politician who has clearly lost the moral authority to lead.

Asshole:          Volusia County School Board  

With Volusia County residents still reeling from wild revelations of gross mismanagement, open deception by senior officials, neglect of essential services and the stench of corruption that continues to slowly waft from the fetid swamp of county government – one would think that other taxing authorities and public entities would put greater emphasis on communication, ethical clarity and transparency.

Yeah, right.

In yet another startling disclosure out of DeLand, it seems the Volusia County Council wasn’t the only elective body claiming to have been treated like mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit – by senior staff on important matters of great public concern.

Last week, the Volusia County School Board – meeting in “special” session – approved a $2 million-dollar, five-year contract with Florida Hospital naming the healthcare provider the “exclusive student education and student wellness partner of the School Board for all purposes and on all levels.”

The agreement ends some 15-months of shadowy, back-alley negotiations by district officials that resulted in an 18-page agreement that gives Florida Hospital all the marketing exposure they could have dreamed for – including naming rights, sponsorship options, districtwide distribution of branded material, and graduate recruitment options, among other benefits.

In exchange, Florida Hospital will provide students a biannual speaker series, internships and a walk-thru of their facilities. . .

Wow.

In keeping with this new era of government secrecy, school officials apparently failed to even consider a competitive process by including Halifax Health – the district’s other long-time partner – who has provided essential counseling and therapeutic services to thousands of families through Halifax Behavioral Services, volunteer opportunities for students in health-related career academies, and, as the Daytona Beach News-Journal recently reported, “a long list of other benefits” for many years.

Why?  Because Halifax Health – a publicly funded hospital – didn’t approach the school district with the sponsorship idea first.

Say what?

That smells a lot like the typical chickenshit Volusia County Two-Step – a shifty means to avoid accountability once the light of day shines on their latest scheme.

Perhaps most disturbing – but not unexpected – is that we are being led to believe these secret negotiations with a single provider were withheld from our elected representatives on the Volusia County School Board until just days before they were asked to vote on the issue.

I find that frightening – and you should too.

In my view, it is high time our elected officials – regardless of their post – start investigating, identifying and terminating any senior administrator or staff member who knowingly and intentionally withholds material information from policymakers and the public.

Why, because it’s against the fucking law, that’s why.

When public funds are expended ostensibly in the public interest – we have a statutorial right to know how our money is being spent – or what we are giving away to our latest corporate “partner.”

Despite the incredibly weak excuse by School Board Attorney Ted Doran that private negotiations are common practice in the “corporate world” – Doran apparently fails to realize that he represents our School Board, not IBM – a responsibility that requires open, transparent and morally sound practices to maintain the public trust.

And don’t give me this self-congratulatory bullshit that the board’s “special” meeting was meant to be a “celebration of a historic accomplishment.”

My ass.

Nobody cured cancer here – you entered into a clever publicity agreement with a hospital system – nothing more.

The Volusia County school district needs to understand that they have a growing credibility problem with their core stakeholders – students, parents, teachers and those of us who pay the freight.

There is mounting suspicion that government secrecy smells a whole lot like corruption and mismanagement – and given what we have just experienced – our distrust and apprehension is well-founded.

Let’s put the blame squarely where it rightfully rests – with those who stood before us and promised to serve with our best interests at heart – our elected School Board officials who took an oath – and assured us they would work hard to develop open, honest and transparent policies and programs that improve educational opportunities for our children and compensate our teachers with a competitive salary and benefits package equal to their dedicated contribution to the future of our society.

Instead, we get more of the same – weird uncertainties born of a mysterious process that leaves us asking, “why?” – and the darker question, “Qui bono?”

Perhaps most disturbing, according to a recent News-Journal editorial, “The vote was unanimous, though two board members – Carl Persis and Ida Wright – questioned the need for secrecy,”  then ignored their best instincts and voted with the rest of these elitist assholes who clearly believe our right-to-know doesn’t matter as much as inking a lopsided deal.

Say what?

So, Persis and Wright knew what they were doing was wrong – and they did it anyway!

(The others did too, they were just smart enough not to admit it. . .)

Just once I would like to see an elected official stand-up for the interests of their constituents – act boldly in the spirit of our commitment to “Government in the Sunshine” and throw the brake when they suspect their colleagues are being prodded down the wrong path by an unaccountable staff.

Instead, we get more of this “tail wagging the dog” brand of public administration from Volusia County “leaders” – little more than backroom collusions followed by public policy by ambush at “special” meetings – a foul process that sours us on even positive outcomes by tainting the process.

Gentle readers, from stalled negotiations with the teacher’s union, to begging money from the cities in some weird double-taxation scheme to pay for a hastily thrown together “Guardian” program that will ask brave men and women to go in harms way to protect our children with programmatic funding still in doubt – to the heartbreak of consistently under-performing schools and nonsensical administrative policies – it is high time we take a closer look at the machinations of the Volusia County School Board, and the Secret Squirrels on its staff that sold us out and alienated a long-time partner, this election cycle.

If history repeats – and it always does – we may find way more than we bargained for when the truth finally comes to light.

With hundreds-of-millions of our tax dollars budgeted annually, Volusia County government entities desperately need an independent oversight authority and a strong fiscal responsibility ordinance that stops these pernicious “deals” that are quickly eroding our trust and depriving us of quality services and opportunities.

Now, there’s a Tallahassee mandate we could all rally behind.

Angel:             Bellaire Community Group

Those intrepid souls at the grassroots advocacy Bellaire Community Group recently completed a citizen satisfaction survey which produced some incredibly interesting results regarding how citizens perceive their government.

This is something our incumbent politicians and ‘powers that be’ should print, frame and refer to whenever they question why they lost the election this fall:

Do you think the Daytona Beach Government is interested in what residents have to say?

Yes                   19%

No                    65%

No Idea           16%

Do you think Volusia County Government is interested in what residents want?

Yes                   21%

No                    67%

No Idea           12%

Do you trust your City’s Government?

Yes                   15%

No                    66%

No Idea           19%

Do you trust your County’s Government?

Yes                   5%

No                    78%

No Idea           17%

What grade would you give City Manager Jim Chisholm?     C-

What grade would you give County Manager Jim Dineen?   D-

How effective is Daytona Beach’s Code Enforcement? Please indicate with a number from 1 to 10.  (Very Effective 1 – Not Effective at all 10):               7

Do you support beach driving?

Yes                   98%

No                    2%

Level of Transparency (1 Very transparent – 10 Not transparent at all):

Daytona Beach            7

County of Volusia        8

The term of office for Daytona Beach Commissioners is 4 years. Should this be changed to 2 years?

Yes                   64%

No                    36%

Will you recommend The Hard Rock to friends and family that will be coming to Daytona Beach?

Yes                   34%

No                    66%

Should County Manager Jim Dineen be fired?

Yes                   94%

No                    6%

Do you like living in Daytona Beach?

Yes                   95%

No                    5%

Do you support our County’s plan to raise taxes above rollback for the next 3-years so they can pay off the debt they incurred?

Yes                   10%

No                    90%

Do you vote?

Yes                   91%

No                    4%

Sometimes      5%

Have you ever had to call police or 911 because you were a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime?

Yes                   56%

No                    44%

Do you think the city has planned growth well enough to ensure that residents who live here now will continue to enjoy the quality of life?

Yes                   20%

No                    80%

Are you satisfied that the city is adequately improving infrastructure in our neighborhoods – roads, sidewalks, water, sewer, etc.

Yes                   28%

No                    72%

Do you think attending neighborhood and other resident meetings is a good way to stay informed and participate in the local government process?

Yes                   100%

No

(For more information, please go to www.bellairecommunitygroup.com – or better yet, attend one of their meetings sometime soon.  You’ll be glad you did.)

Asshole:          “Smart Growth” Advocates

Sorry, folks – I’m not buying it.

And neither should you.

Earlier this week, the Daytona Beach News-Journal presented what should have been a thought-provoking community townhall which posed the difficult question, “What does smart growth look like?”

The forum sounded compelling – so I tuned-in on social media and settled back to listen to the pros and cons of perhaps the most difficult problem to face Volusia County since quid pro quo corruption came into vogue.

Then, I saw that the board was bookended by Maryam Ghyabi – a transportation consultant and sister of the King of the Donor Class, mega-developer Mori Hossieni, and Prince John Albright – CEO of Consolidated Tomoka Land Company.

The only member of the panel with the people’s interest at heart was former Volusia County Council member and area environmentalist Pat Northey.

It looked like one of those “What doesn’t belong” games – where your choices are a Timber rattlesnake, a King cobra, and a potted plant.   

The fact is, Ms. Ghyabi, Prince John and their associates have accumulated massive fortunes – directly and indirectly – from the local real estate development game, where ‘growth management’ is defined as physically cramming as much density into a given parcel as possible – and damn the consequences to our natural resources, infrastructure or quality of life.

Look, when talk turns to drinking our own sewerage, there is no more “smart growth.”

At that point, any further stress on our aquifer becomes a very expensive exercise in shitting in our own nest – literally.

Besides, what the hell is there to talk about?

And who would listen if we did?

The Volusia County Council and other local governments have already approved massive residential and commercial development from Farmton to the Flagler County line – including the appropriation of some $15.8 million in public funds to extend Williamson Boulevard – the infamous “road to nowhere” – for the sole purpose of facilitating Mr. Hossieni’s 1,700 unit atrocity known as Woodhaven.

And the challenges faced by New Smyrna Beach – where residents have all but taken up pitchforks and flaming torches to get the attention of those they elected to represent their interests – are quickly ruining one of Florida’s last original beach communities.

Add to that the death of wetlands and recharge areas at Mosaic, Latitudes – and Geosam Capital’s brutal rape of the land west of New Smyrna – an outrage marked by forest fires and a dust bowl that rivals 1934 Oklahoma – and you get the idea that developers aren’t really interested in the environmental protestations of us long-suffering locals.

After all – like gopher tortoises, we’re little more than collateral damage – and they paid damn good money for the lockstep loyalty of sitting politicians with no qualms about permitting them to re-purpose every available acre of greenspace into zero-lot-line slices of the American Dream.

What are we going to do, complain?

Look, I may be a pessimistic asshole – but I’m suspicious whenever these shameless shills on the dais of power allow their political benefactors to slash, burn and clear-cut the land – churning old growth forests and wildlife habitats into environmental abattoirs right in front of our eyes to make way for ugly cracker box houses at a rate of one per month – then lean back at “listening sessions,” massage their chin contemplatively, and act like they’re interested in what those of us who have to sit in traffic, drink our own piss and deal with the fallout think about it.

For instance, after Granada Boulevard in Ormond Beach was turned into a moonscape to accommodate a WaWa and another tacky chicken wing drive-thru – now our incumbent city commissioners are falling all over themselves to hear the opinions of their constituents.

My ass.

Taking a page from New Smyrna Beach’s Coastal Community Resiliency initiative,  Ormond Beach city officials are banking on their oh-so cutely labeled “OB Life” series – designed to restore public trust in an intentionally broken system that whittled away at zoning and environmental regulations –  now that the horse is well out of the barn.

Bullshit.

It remains inconceivable to me that ostensibly bright public officials believe that We, The People cannot distinguish between substantive public input and a cheapjack political smokescreen designed to divert our attention while the bulldozers roar.

I don’t believe it because it’s not true – these whores know precisely what they’re doing.

I sincerely hope you recognize it too.

If you really believe that the City of Ormond Beach – or the County of Volusia – gives a flaming shit what you think – it’s time to think again.    

In my view, an immediate moratorium on new development and unchecked sprawl until the very real issues of transportation, infrastructure, impact fees, water and continuing environmental insults are resolved is the only “smart” answer to the very real predicament we face.

Frankly, its now or never.

It’s time we stop this asinine “make hay while the sun shines” development strategy that is ruining our quality of life while enriching the privileged few.

Don’t hold your breath.

The status quo is lucrative for all the right last names – and that, my friends, is all that matters in our local Halls of Power.

Angel:             MEAC Woman of the Year – Lyndsey Edwards

Earlier this month, Bethune-Cookman’s own Lyndsey Edwards was named the 2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Woman of the Year!

What an incredible personal honor – and a true source of pride for the City of Daytona Beach.

This prestigious award is presented annually by the MEAC Senior Woman Administrators to “celebrate the achievements of senior female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics, service and leadership.”

 According to B-CU Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis, “She is a young woman of high intellect and strong moral character.  We are blessed to have her in our program these past four years.  She not only impacted our program, but she poured herself into this university, as well as being a servant leader.  Her legacy will live on here, and we hope that other students will model her qualities.”

Congratulations, Ms. Edwards!  You’ve made us very proud!

 Quote of the Week:

“Our County Council members should be embarrassed by their performance.  They were surprised by the state’s requirements over the half-cent road tax. Surprised over the morgue issue. Surprised over the impact fee tax study. There needs to be an independent external audit to find out what other surprises are out there.”

–Pat and Chuck Gleichmann, Ormond-by-the-Sea, Letters to the Editor, “Drain the Volusia County Swamp,” June 26, 2018

The chorus for outside intervention is growing – but will anyone listen?

And Another Thing!

Am I the only one who saw this coming?

Remember way back in December when DeLand City Commissioner, Jeff Hunter, claimed the on-again-off-again boyfriend of a former “girlfriend” extorted some $20,000 from him?

It was clearly trouble on the half-shell – a political cautionary tale in the making.

Typically, whenever a guy my age shows up with a 24-year old sport model on his arm – something is, how shall I say this. . .“Awry.”

As the Robinson’s family robot was fond of saying – “That shit just doesn’t compute.”

According to reports, Commissioner Hunter is accused of serious drug-related felony crimes after allegedly providing prescription opioids to his unrequited love interest – some seven times.

He’s also accused by the court of public opinion of allowing the little head to think for the big head. . .

Apparently, Mr. Hunter wasn’t the brightest drug dealer ever minted as evidence developed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggests he left voicemails on his former girlfriend’s (and potential co-defendant in his extortion plot) cellphone discussing how many pills he had available.

That’s right.  Voicemail.

Did I mention Hunter met his “girlfriend” while she was doing the wax-on/wax-off thing at a DeLand area car wash?

I mean, this has all the elements of a good Jim Croce tune – or a bad Investigation Discovery special, right?

I don’t make this shit up folks, really.

Of course, Hunter’s attorney, Jason Harr, is vehemently denying any wrongdoing – claiming that the Commissioner, and his impressive 1970’s porn star horseshoe ‘Stache – are merely victims of a weird revenge scheme hatched by his former girlfriend following the arrest of her  boyfriend/suspected baby-daddy.

(Whew!  This is like one of those hyper-dramatic Spanish telenovelas – I need a program to keep up with the players. . .)

According to news reports, Hunter’s mouthpiece said the Commish went to police after he was scammed out of thousands of dollars by the conniving couple, adding, “He doesn’t want to be a victim. He wants to be an example,” Harr said. “He believes as a rising star in local politics, that he should be an example.”

Damn, I like that.  Lawyer Harr earned his keep on that soundbite alone.

Well done, sir.

Look, between us, Hunter may have fancied himself a “rising star” in local politics – but the truth is – a 40-watt bulb outshines most politicians in Volusia County.  Still it’s a damnable shame to see a promising career – and the good name of America’s Best Downtown – sacrificed on the altar of middle-age delusion.

As of this writing, Mr. Hunter is refusing to do the right thing and step down to protect his community and constituents from further embarrassment.

Now, we will see if Governor Rick Scott steps up and removes Commissioner Hunter from office until this love triangle, turned extortion plot, turned narcotics arrest can be sorted out by the courts.

Guess Carl Hiaasen knew what he was talking about. . .

Have a great weekend, kids!

 

 

 

 

 

They just don’t get it.

With the abrupt departure of beleaguered former County Manager Jim Dinneen, the same challenges remain – but with fresh opportunities for changing the culture and focus of Volusia County government.

Unfortunately, seizing breaks and developing a strategic vision isn’t the Volusia County Council’s forte.

Now that our preening elected representatives in DeLand have purged their spleen in a fit of political pique and exposed their vile hatred for anyone who challenges the status quo of an entrenched power structure – a political protection racket that showers select candidates with hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions in exchange for four-years of lockstep conformity and complete fealty to the Donor Class – they are pointing the finger of blame at their long-suffering constituents.

Did anyone expect anything different?

Despite the weak-minded denials of our doddering fool of a County Chairman, Ed Kelley – a perennial politician who hasn’t had an original thought since he accepted his first campaign contribution – it is clear to anyone paying attention that the majority of Volusia County Council members have developed a virulent case of psychological projection, a political defense mechanism that allows them to abdicate responsibility and attribute all the problems in their sole span of control to the “malarkey” of naysaying constituents.

It appears – with the exception of current political punching bag, Heather Post – council members have convinced themselves that the dismal political climate we find ourselves in is the result of angry social media posts and attempts by Sheriff Mike Chitwood to expose the broken and corrupt nature of this horrible system he inherited following the last election.

Look, you can’t have it both ways.

Our elected officials need to understand that you can completely ignore the needs, wants and concerns of your constituents, shut them out of the process, ignore their input and surprise them with off-the-agenda stunts designed to ramrod sketchy public policies and conceal murky intentions, then funnel millions in public funds to the private profit motives of a few powerful political insiders – but when the light of day finally exposes the machinations of this oligarchical system – you cannot simply blame the victim.

Those dullards we elected to represent our interests on the dais of power would have us believe that if we continue to speak out and call attention to this farcical system we have suffered under – a bastardized process that has thwarted any substantive progress in Volusia County for years – then the continued exercise of our First Amendment rights will chase away any “good” county manager candidates, leaving us to select from the “Barney Fifes” of the current executive class.

Bullshit.

No, despite what they would have us believe – this one is on them – not us.

For months, We, The People have been forced to stand by and witness this ugly exclusionary process play out – a constituency left totally voiceless, stymied by an internally controlled information black market – repeatedly and openly lied to, then told we were too stupid to appreciate the issues facing us in a weird form of political gaslighting.

In fact, if you look at the classic techniques used by tormentors to psychologically abuse and control their victims you might find some eerie similarities to our current situation:

Withholding:  Pretending not to understand or refusing to listen, “I don’t want to hear this again,” or “Your trying to confuse me.”

Countering:  Changing the subject or questioning the victim’s thoughts and opinions, “Is that another one of your crazy ideas?”  or “You’re imagining things.”

Trivializing:  Making the victim’s needs or feelings seem unimportant.  “You’re going to get angry over a little thing like that?”  or “You’re too sensitive.”

Forgetting/Denial:  Pretending to have forgotten the facts of what actually happened or denying promises made.  “I never said that!”  or “It’s all in your head.  You’re just ginning up stuff.” 

 It’s textbook.  And it’s wrong.

Fortunately, smart people with the insider knowledge and understanding of the how, what, when and why the wheel came off our collective cart at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center are beginning to echo the concerns of Sheriff Chitwood, Councilwoman Post and others with the guts to defend us from this abusive relationship that has ruined the public’s trust in their government.

In Sunday’s Daytona Beach News-Journal, former County Councilman Doug Daniels both confirmed our worst fears – and provided a cogent way forward as we collectively struggle to right the ship in the aftermath of one of the most disastrous periods in our history.

“Will Dinneen’s departure usher in an era of good government?  No.”

“The county’s power structure and its poorly drafted, antiquated charter will remain. When there are only a handful of big-money donors funding political campaigns, miracles will be in short supply, particularly now that the rich have come to display their power not by building public monuments, but by raiding taxpayer funds. We cannot change that, but we can change the charter to provide for an open, transparent government. We can watch them do it.”

 Mr. Daniels rightly suggests that Volusia’s sacrosanct charter should be changed to ensure accountability, transparency and fiscal integrity through an independent internal auditor reporting directly to the council – and the people.

He also suggested that we replace this hodgepodge system of management by crisis with a 20-year strategic vision for Volusia County.

I couldn’t agree more.

He further suggests reorganizing the charter to provide a strong elected chairman, with a salary similar to circuit court judges – someone with the “real power” to effectively represent the interests of Volusia County in regional issues, like SunRail.

“With such reforms, you still might not like what the county government does, but at least you would know what it is doing. With an elected chairman, we would have someone who could represent us here and on a bigger stage, and someone we could hold accountable.”

 In my view, change is on the breeze.

With a good crop of outstanding new candidates for public office working hard to gain our trust – and our vote – hope springs anew this election cycle.

Clearly, the big money candidates are getting nervous, and they should be.

The political pendulum is beginning its slow arc, hopefully returning power where it rightfully belongs – to We, The People, from which all political legitimacy originates.

So be loud.

Be proud.

And let our ‘powers that be’ know exactly how you feel at the ballot box.

We will not be told to shut up and sit-down by the likes of Old Ed Kelley, “Sleepy” Pat Patterson or any other self-serving politician who has clearly lost the moral authority to lead.      

 

  

 

 

Hi, kids!

And after souper gonnen they to ryse,

At ese wel, with hertes fresshe and glade,

To lyken hir, or that hir laughen made.

He song; she pleyde; he tolde tale of Wade.

But at the laste, as every thing hath ende,

She took hir leve, and nedes wolde wende.

–Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde

In the four short years since I retired from life and melted into the semi-reclusive internet troll I’ve become, I keep what’s left of my mind limber by trying to learn something new every day – turning my leisure years into something of a strange sabbatical where I attempt to gain enlightenment and see grace in the mundane things found in my cloistered environment.

Those who know me well are aware that I suffer from social anxiety – I’m awkward, naturally suspicious, and don’t make friends easily – so I impose on the company of a small handful of life-long confidants who understand and accept my quirks.

The result is that I spend an inordinate amount of time alone – lost in my own weak mind – reading, thinking, brooding and contemplating things that most “normal” people might find, well, boring.

Last week, I traveled to my ancestral home in the hills of East Tennessee and availed myself of a week in the quaint community of Jonesborough – the oldest town in the state – a place rich in history, culture, and good music – home to the International Storytelling Center.

Each evening I sat outside, sipped fine locally distilled whiskey, and studied the unique habits of Lampyridae – lightning bugs – small winged beetles of the order Coleopetera who use bioluminescence at twilight to attract mates and prey.

In the past few days, I’ve analyzed every scientific study I could find on one of God’s most captivating creatures – insects who spend most of their lives in the larval stage – and just two short months at the end of their lifespan in flight with their strobe-like butts illuminating the evening greenspace.

I’ve been fascinated by them since childhood – and it was a spectacular scene as hundreds rose from the earth, simultaneously, just at dusk – then disappeared in unison at some naturally predetermined time known only to them.

I was thrilled to see them come out each evening – and sad to see them go.

The English author Geoffrey Chaucer is credited with the idiom, “All good things must come to an end” – a reminder that all human experiences – good and bad – are temporary.

It can be used to express resigned acceptance, a term of regret or as a prophetic  warning – and it applies equally to all of us – even fireflies and county managers.

Many members of the loyal Barker’s View tribe have reached out this week and asked how it feels to have my opinions on the machinations of Volusia County government validated in a few short days – and I’ve tried to explain that there is no ‘victory’ in the departure of County Manager Jim Dinneen.

Every end signals a new beginning – just as when we pass away, somewhere in this big ol’ goofy world a newborn baby screams their way to life – and the whole circle begins anew.

Trust me when I say that the forced departure of a mediocre public administrator commanding over $300,000 in tax funded salary and benefits isn’t nearly that important in the great scheme of things – in fact, it is a necessary and beneficial part of the political evolution of Volusia County.

Our ‘powers that be’ will now fumble through the important task of selecting a new county manager – then our wealthy political insiders will begin beating that poor square peg into the round hole of an oligarchical system that will remain entrenched long after Mr. Dinneen is stewarding another community a thousand-miles away from this beleaguered place we call home.

I have always been fond of the quote, “Be humble in victory, gracious in defeat.”

It’s a good axiom to live by.

After all, sometimes winning is not so important as having participated in the debate of competing ideas that shape our collective future – an endeavor that can unite and ultimately strengthen our community bonds.

You won’t find anything more about Jim Dinneen on this blog after today – he’s someone else’s problem now – and I wish him well.

Godspeed, dude.

All things must come to an end.  This too shall pass.

Whatever.

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was.

Gentle readers, as we mark the end of this uber-weird period of our history, I’d like to dedicate today’s special Volusia-centric episode of Angels & Assholes to Sheriff Michael Chitwood for his personal dedication and professional perseverance – at great risk to his standing and reputation – as he worked valiantly to shine a very bright light on the sinister intrigues of a greed-crazed power structure that damn near sank us all.

Look, it’s not the Volusia County Five-Year Budget Forecast  – but it’s all I’ve got.

I covered some of this earlier in the week, but, believe me – it bears repeating:

Asshole:          The Volusia County Council

It’s been a hell of a week in the Halls of Power at the venerated Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center in DeLand – a stressful period for county employees, senior management and elected officials alike.

Periods of transition are never easy, and given the enormous power vested in government executives the sense of uncertainty and organizational anxiety that career civil servants feel during times of political upheaval can be almost paralyzing.

Some are worried about “what comes next?” – the ‘better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’ syndrome.  While others may be concerned that the ethical and procedural lapses that were accepted, even ensured their survival under the previous administration, will come back to haunt them when the sunlight finally filters in.

There is a primal form of Darwinism that takes hold in city halls and county offices during times like these – and trust me – there will be distinct winners and losers when the redistribution of referent power shakes out.

It hasn’t exactly been a picnic for us either, the long-suffering citizens of Volusia County, who have taken it on the chin of late – rocked by startling revelations of mismanagement, ineptitude and neglect of essential government services – still reeling from an open letter by emergency service unions which gave us a rare glimpse at just how dysfunctional things truly were under former County Manager Jim Dinneen’s administration, coupled with the bombshell that a $50,000 tax funded impact fee study was willfully withheld from policymakers and the public.

Unfortunately, rather than salve our fears and demonstrate the stability of leadership necessary to shepherd a worried constituency through a difficult and uncertain period – our elected officials on the Volusia County Council showed just how shallow the depth of their character truly is when they fell apart in a combined emotional meltdown on the dais last Tuesday.

Right before our eyes, we watched as those strong-willed personalities we elected to represent our interests dissolved into whimpering soup sandwiches – openly bawling over the death of a well-fortified pay-to-play system that fed them well during political campaigns – but ultimately cost them the faith and confidence of their constituents.

Then, a pack mentality formed – and they attacked us.

It was a shameful example of what happens when self-absorbed political elites don’t get exactly what they want – a petty hissy-fit at our expense – marked by vicious rhetoric and cutting personal attacks as they worked desperately to kill who they perceived to be the messenger.

At the risk of sounding cruel – racking sobs, rending of garments and gnashing of teeth by those in a position of leadership while mourning the messy departure of a grossly overpaid public executive – whose growing list of five-alarm fuck-ups became too flagrant to ignore – doesn’t engender public confidence.

In fact, it makes me question how these hyper-sensitive shitheads would react during an actual crisis?

Scary.

During over 31-years in public service, I don’t ever recall my senior leadership responding to a serious situation by throwing themselves in the floor and having a good cry.

I mean, the sight of our sitting County Chairman choking back tears like a hyper-emotional Jan Brady?

Surreal.

Perhaps more troubling than grown men and women turning on the waterworks over the hasty resignation of a besieged manager was the complete rewrite of history by our weak-minded politicians with an obvious selective memory.

When will these dullards come to the realization that nobody this side of the east bank of the St. John’s – or the planet Mars, for that matter – believes anything they say anymore? 

Or accept that the wee man “Sleepy” Pat Patterson dramatically vowed he would trust with his life to, concealed material information, then blatantly and repeatedly lied to them – and us – leaving our haughty elected officials looking like a passel of out-of-touch pillocks?

And all of these issues are somehow our fault?

My God. 

I mean, where did Councilwoman Billie Wheeler expect We, The People would turn for scraps of public information on the important issues of the day as she was decrying the witchery of Facebook?

The always arrogant Councilwoman Deb Denys has claimed strategic ignorance of key issues for months – should we have reached out to her for answers?

Perhaps the cosmic black hole that was the Dinneen administration’s communications strategy was our go-to source?

The hilarious scene of Little Jimmy running like a scalded dog as he avoided questions from WFTV reporter Mike Springer and his cameraman was like a bad Benny Hill sketch.

And they have the temerity to upbraid their constituents for seeking answers and voicing critical opinions on social media?

My ass.

Councilwoman Wheeler, Ms. Denys and the rest of these shameless sycophants should understand that when a citizenry senses a complete lack of candidness by their elected and appointed officials, they seek information where they can get it – and social media conveniently serves that role.

Instead of communicating with us openly and honestly, our “leadership” used their scheduled discussion period to verbally excoriate their constituents and horsewhip Councilwoman Heather Post – then openly accuse Sheriff Chitwood of ‘cyberbullying’ and other crimes against Mr. Dinneen.

Fucking hypocrites.

I have a personal rule – I never feel sorry for someone making over $300,000 a year in tax funded salary and benefits (especially in a county with a per capita income of just over $24,000) and I never squirt tears over the ouster of petty autocrat who treated his employees – and the municipalities – like toilet paper and overstayed his welcome by about a decade.

It’s just not worth the emotional capital.

And I certainly never get misty-eyed over politicians who stand for election – do and say everything and anything to win elevation to a position of power and influence – then feign that their feelings get bruised like a ripe peach whenever those pesky citizens who voted for them question why they refuse to represent their interests.

We’re not talking about some hayseed caucus in Hooterville here – these people are in the Big League now – and they have a sacred responsibility to steward hundred-of-millions of taxpayer dollars, ensure the quality of essential government services to some 500,000 people and provide oversight to a massive bureaucracy with a lot of moving parts.

Look, no one expects them to get it right all the time – but what we will not tolerate is this rampant quid pro quo corruption, abject mismanagement and the stench of lies.

We are sick of public policy by ambush – and the base political legerdemain of the type clumsily performed by the Volusia County Council when they shut the door on Councilwoman Post and deftly protected Dinneen’s astronomical severance package.

We are fed up with our County Attorney Dan “Cujo” Eckert – a snarling jackal when he’s suing the citizens of Volusia County with their own money, then transforms into Casper Milquetoast when it comes time to defend us – who refused to even consider the possibility of a “just cause” termination.

We are outraged by the wholesale giveaway of the traditions that have made our area a world-famous tourist destination for over a century to here-today-gone-tomorrow speculators.

We are afraid of the grave danger to our families posed by the deteriorating state of our emergency medical services, and other essential government services, that have been allowed to wither on the budgetary vine, while millions in economic incentives, half-price sales of public property to private interests, and other disgusting examples of corporate welfare are flaunted in our collective face.

But it was this hateful lecturing of their constituents – a vile, pointed and sustained rebuke of those they ostensibly represent – all while completely dismissing the reality of how we arrived at this point in history – that has sent shock waves through Volusia County.

Many friends and readers have told me that they cannot recall ever being attacked so viciously by sitting public officials in such a venomous and uncalled for display of political pique – and they are demanding a public apology – or their immediate resignation.

Chairman Kelley lost his composure and allowed a brutal, mean-spirited free-for-all to ensue – all while using the power of the gavel to angrily silence opposition.

That’s not leadership – it’s bullying.

We, The People were forced to sit quietly and absorb the verbal abuse hurled by our elected public servants – and that, my fellow citizens, is counter to our democratic principles.

Well, “sitting quietly” isn’t my way – and this aggression is unacceptable.

Look, I can give as good as I get – but the average citizen, real people who work hard, pay their taxes, raise their children and follow the rules – deserve better from those who ask us to elevate them to positions of high power and influence over our lives and livelihoods.

I call on the Volusia County Council to publicly apologize to their constituents for this unprovoked, self-indulgent attack – or step down from the Ivory Tower and allow true servant-leaders to right the ship and return honesty and transparency to OUR county government.

Angel:             Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood

A master woodcarver knows the importance of keeping his knives razor-sharp.

These craftsmen use the right tool at all times, gently coaxing the finely-honed blade through the material, allowing it to perform its intended purpose, while respecting its inherent duality – the ability to create great things – or destroy them.

I’ve found the same true of airplanes I have piloted.

An elegant, well-designed aircraft responds well to gentle control inputs – after all, they were meant to fly, and if given their head, the ship will gracefully lean into the wind and soar like a bird.  Conversely, they don’t respond well to coarse treatment or heavy-handed forces – balking, yawing and oscillating through the sky until they invariably try to hurt you.

In my view, Sheriff Mike Chitwood embodies many of these same attributes.

As a veteran law enforcement officer, his mind and hands have been trained for a very specific purpose – the protection of life and property in service to a cause greater than his own self-interests – and he has proven time and again that he does not suffer fools gladly.

If given the freedom and support to independently perform his vitally important role in the community – I believe he can achieve great things and address the problem of crime and victimization that have had such a debilitating effect on many areas of Volusia County.

However, if he is reined in by simple-minded bureaucrats – expect Sheriff Chitwood to push-back.  Hard.

Over the course of three-decades in public service, I’ve seen many “good cops” – the highest praise a law enforcement professional can receive from his peers – and Mike Chitwood is most definitely one of the best.

He also has an inherent penchant for self-promotion that rivals the best of P. T. Barnum, and is clearly more at home in front of a television camera than most of his peers – and that’s okay.

He recognizes it, embraces it, and uses the resulting notoriety to his advantage and ours.

Our sheriff has the work ethic of the Amish.

To say that Sheriff Chitwood is opinionated on the issues of the day is an understatement – and in keeping with his ‘no-bullshit’ style of plain-talk that resonates with supporters and rankles his critics – he is notoriously disapproving of chickenshit officials and nonsensical processes that, in his view, do not represent the best interests of the citizens he serves.

As I’ve previously written, love him or hate him, Sheriff Mike Chitwood tells it like he sees it.

For the first time in decades, the citizens of Volusia County have a fresh set of eyes inside the tattered carnival tent that passes for governance here on Florida’s beleaguered Fun Coast – and Sheriff Chitwood’s frequent reports of his observations of the dark side did not paint a pretty picture of the dictatorial oligarchy he found himself mired in following the election.

In March 2017, Sheriff Chitwood publicly expressed his growing concerns about County Manager Jim Dinneen, calling him a “lying sack of shit” and expressing his anger at not having been notified that Volusia planned to oppose a Florida Senate bill that would give our duly elected sheriff more autonomy.

At that time, the Sheriff succinctly detailed just a few of the ways his office was being intentionally hamstrung by our sacrosanct charter:

“Chitwood asked if corrections officers could simply serve warrants on people at the jail instead of pulling a deputy off patrol to come in and do it. The county said no, he said.

Chitwood wants to move his legal adviser from a different department on a floor below to the same floor as the sheriff. The county attorney said no, he said.

And when the county gives the go-ahead, Chitwood said it takes forever. An incentive program that would give deputies a day off if they find evidence in a burglary took more two months to process. “Why in God’s name is everything so hard?” he said.”

 And the Sheriff is the one painted as an unprofessional ogre?

My ass.

Chitwood was right – it was a cheap attempt by Dinneen, and others desperately clinging to power, to keep him out of the loop on an important issue that may ultimately remove our county’s chief law enforcement officer from the oppressive yoke of an omnipotent appointed official with total authority and zero political accountability.

Needless to say, it wasn’t a good start to this weird relationship that makes an elected official a direct report to an appointed one – but it made clear to anyone paying attention that Mike Chitwood was not going to go along to get along.

In a May 2018 column featured prominently in the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “County Manager has too much power, too little accountability” Sheriff Chitwood didn’t mince words in laying out the issues inherent to a hijacked Home Rule charter run amok.

The Sheriff’s incredibly insightful article began with perhaps the most chilling revelation I’ve ever heard from a sitting elected official.

“One of the first greetings I got when I was elected as your sheriff was a warning from our County Manager Jim Dinneen. The message was play nice or my time as sheriff would be brief.”

In most places, the shocking nature of that frightening disclosure by the county’s chief law enforcement executive would go through the organization – and the community – like an ice water enema.

In most places, this startling revelation would have been immediately investigated by those charged with maintaining public integrity in government as an early warning of institutionalized corruption.

But not here.

In retrospect, during this climacteric phase we had become desensitized to this brand of Machiavellian intimidation – where “playing nice” is dog-whistle politics for the lock-step conformity required of elected and appointed officials in this self-perpetuating system which places total control in the hands of one marionette.

In my view, this entire stinking mess was created by those who knew (or should have known) better – and they have no one but themselves to blame.

With the departure of their sainted fixer and facilitator, the majority of our elected officials – with the exception of their current political punching bag, Heather Post – took careful aim at perhaps the most popular elected representative in Central Florida – then punished our sheriff from the dais with despicable distortions and allegations of ‘cyber-bullying’ and unprofessional official conduct.

In my view, these stroppy dullards are about to get a taste of their own medicine when they learn that the game isn’t nearly as fun when the piñata hits back.

I can guarantee you Sheriff Chitwood won’t stand idle this election season – and I hope you won’t either.

In our democratic system of governance, the will of the people is the basis of all government authority.

When public officials and institutions lose the trust and consent of their constituents, we have a right and responsibility through the electoral process to replace elected officials who enact policies counter to our collective interests with servant-leaders who will restore honor and basic fairness to the process.

That includes our current crop of cowardly politicians in DeLand who repeatedly turned a deaf ear each time Sheriff Chitwood – and others – sounded the klaxon; valiantly attempting, time-and-again, to expose the depth of Mr. Dinneen’s abject incompetence and maladministration that ultimately brought us to this dangerously low period in Volusia County’s history.

I’m proud of you, Sheriff Chitwood.  We all are.

Quote of the Week:

“We have one of the most unprofessional sheriffs I’ve ever seen in my life. This has really put a black mark on Volusia County. The comments are as unprofessional as any I’ve ever seen.”

 –Councilman “Sleepy” Pat Patterson, during the Volusia County Council meeting of Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Psychologists define hysterical contagion as a strong copycat effect of imitative behavior based on the power of suggestion and word of mouth influence, because the symptoms often include those associated with clinical hysteria.

Look, I’m no headshrinker – but that sounds a whole lot like what I witnessed during the waning minutes of that political shitstorm on Tuesday afternoon.

They lost it.  Big time.

One common theme that emerged during Tuesday’s meeting was the council’s hand-wringing over the damage all of this ugliness has cause to the “image” of Volusia County – and what affect that might have on our ability to attract quality candidates to fill Mr. Dinneen’s very expensive shoes.

Trust me – it won’t be that difficult.

However, to put it in my own crude way – if one thing holds true with this godawful iteration of our Volusia County Council, it’s this: These buffoons could fuck-up a wet dream – but we are charter-bound to let them try and replace the most important position in Volusia County government. 

 Hey VCC, why not let someone else help with the heavy lifting, eh?

Please?

Earlier this week, The Daytona Beach News-Journal made the following excellent suggestion in an editorial entitled, “After Dinneen, an opportunity.”

“Conduct an open, public search, similar to how DeLand last year hired Police Chief Jason Umberger. The city posted on its website the resume of each finalist, along with their answers to 12 questions about their leadership style and other issues, and it hosted forums to introduce candidates to the community.

“The process was a model of transparency and civic engagement, and so far, appears to have produced a quality result.”

“If the county followed a similar path in hiring the next manager, it would address criticisms that the council and administration have become too insular and unresponsive to public concerns. Because it will take more than removing Jim Dinneen from the equation to restore balance.”

Now that our elected officials have had their temper-tantrum and a good cry, perhaps cooler heads can get down to the real business at hand – drop the power mongering and political posturing – and develop a well-crafted, transparent and objective criterion for selecting a new county manager.

A process that will include input from all stakeholders – including the long-suffering citizens who carry the water – not just the cabal of uber-wealthy political insiders whose undue influence on our democratic system ultimately created a greed-monster of biblical proportions – and irreparably damaged the public’s trust and confidence in their government.

And Another Thing!

“Now with County Manager Jim Dinneen’s sudden and immediate departure, Kelley, along with council members Pat Patterson and Joyce Cusack, lambaste Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s opinions and behavior, and Councilwoman Deborah Denys has reservations about the general public’s participation on social media, with Patterson calling the activism “malarkey.”  The sitting council best be reminded that they serve at the constituencies’ pleasure, and the intellectual smugness they have displayed will be remembered by the voters on Election Day.”

 –Christopher Durgin, DeLand, Daytona Beach News-Journal Letters to the Editor, ‘Banana Republic’, Friday, June 22, 2018

Wow.  Looks like a certain County Council I know needs to start playing nice in the public sandbox, eh?

Change is on the breeze, my friends.

That’s it for me – let’s all take a break and get some rest and relaxation this weekend, okay?

We’ve earned it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone still believes our elected representatives on the Volusia County Council have anything but utter distain for you and me – their long-suffering constituents – you should watch the council comments section at the bitter end of their June 16^th public meeting.

Over the top.

It was like watching the outbreak of some virulently contagious form of emotional dysregulation disorder wash over the chamber.

Following a meeting which saw County Manager Jim Dinneen pull off his latest escape –  with the political dexterity and deft manipulation of Harry Houdini – Mr. Dinneen clearly orchestrated a maneuver whereby he “asked” to vacate the contractual obligation of a six-month transition period – allowing him to saunter out of the building with a groaning wheelbarrow full of greenbacks on his way to his next “gig.”

The rest of us?  Well, we’re left holding the bag. . .

Get used to it – it’s not the first time a sketchy city/county manager slipped the noose and beat for the hills with a sack full of cash – and it won’t be the last.

In fact – lucrative severance packages are this mercenary professions stock-in-trade – and Jim Dinneen has already forgotten the name “Volusia County.”

You see, getting sentimentally attached to the rubes you fleece just muddies the water in his business.

But what happened next on the dais was truly disturbing – like watching some goofy community theater troupe botching an extemporaneous performance of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Look, I’ve been around the block a few times – but rarely have I seen this brand of overacted melodrama – it was Pomposity on Parade – marked by the hyper-emotional venting of our thin-skinned politicians during what transformed from a slightly uncomfortable public meeting into the exorcism segment of the Rite of Beatification for Saint James Dinneen.

It was an extraordinary example of a shamefully self-indulgent political pity party – a juvenile overreaction by a camarilla of self-centered egomaniacs acting out – and it was painful to watch.

At the risk of sounding cruel – open weeping, rending of garments and gnashing of teeth by those in a position of leadership mourning the loss of an appointed official with a long history of five-alarm fuck-ups – especially one who commanded over $300,000 in salary and benefits – doesn’t engender confidence.

Seriously, to see Old Ed weeping like a lachrymose grandmother over the death of an entrenched power structure doesn’t inspire confidence in his leadership – or emotional stability.

In fact, it makes me question how these hyper-sensitive blowhards would react during an actual crisis?

Scary.

From Billie Wheeler’s angry indictment of citizens exercising their sacred First Amendment right to voice  political dissension on social media – to “Sleepy” Pat Patterson using his one fleeting moment of lucidity to call Sheriff Mike Chitwood “the most unprofessional” he’d ever seen – to our doddering fool of a County Chair questioning the veracity of the grieving mother of a dead child who desperately tried to call attention to the serious issues at the Medical Examiner’s Office – it was repugnant.

Then the always arrogant Deb Denys spewed the stunner, “If anyone here thinks the next manager is going to walk on water, I need to launch you on the next rocket out of here!”

Really, Deb?

Hey, Deb – no one expects an omnibenevolent, supernatural deity in flowing robes at the helm – just a hardworking chief executive with the smarts and professional ethics to conduct the people’s business in a fair, transparent, inclusive and efficient manner that builds consensus and shows respect for the sanctity of the democratic process – and our hard-earned tax dollars.

Is that too much to ask?

Whatever.

More troubling was that the incessant rambling and fawning from the dais incorporated a complete rewrite of history by weak-minded politicians with an obvious selective memory.

After tidying up the Dineen ugliness – a performance that was clearly choreographed in advance – our “leadership” used their open discussion period, not to communicate and calm the fears of a worried constituency, but instead, they used it as another opportunity to horsewhip Councilwoman Heather Post – up to and including openly accusing her of ‘cyber-bullying’ and suggesting her condemnation of Mr. Dinneen’s maladministration was criminal.

Fucking hypocrites.

I have a personal rule – I never feel sorry for someone making over $250,000 a year.  It’s just not worth the emotional capital – and besides, I don’t think Little Jimmy is too worried about where his next meal is coming from.

And I certainly never feel sorry for politicians who stand for election – do and say everything and anything to win elevation to a position of power and influence – then feign that their feelings get bruised like a ripe peach whenever those pesky citizens who voted for them question why they refuse to represent their interests.

We’re not talking about some hayseed caucus in Hooterville here – these people are in the Big League now – and they have a sworn responsibility to steward hundred-of-millions of taxpayer dollars, ensure the quality of essential government services to some 500,000 people and provide oversight to a massive bureaucracy with a lot of moving parts.

No one expects them to get it right all the time – but what we will not tolerate is open corruption, abject mismanagement and the stench of lies.

Regardless, dry-up the waterworks and grow some bark.

As Harry S. Truman was fond of saying, “If you can’t take the heat, then get out of the kitchen.”

In my view, any politician worth his or her salt should understand that We, The People have a right and a responsibility to petition our government for the redress of grievances – and when our voices are ignored, and our concerns dismissed as they have been for months, then there will be calls for change.

Sometimes vehemently.

We have stood helplessly and witnessed a slow erosion of trust and public confidence in Volusia County government.

Institutions and processes we once thought were inviolate have been compromised by uber-wealthy opportunists who routinely access public funds for private profit motives with the full acquiescence – and encouragement – of those we elected to represent our interests.

Then, when mechanisms put in place by our supposedly sacrosanct Home Rule Charter to provide oversight and accountability of a county manager with overwhelming, almost autonomous power, are disabled or ignored – we have a right to be concerned – and to voice our frustration by the most expedient means possible.

Councilwoman Billie Wheeler should understand that thanks to social media, citizens now have the opportunity to identify others who are similarly situated – with the same values, fears and concerns – then join together to exchange ideas and discuss their collective vision for the future.

Those of us who use social media are neither always right, nor always wrong, but it is clear that technology is changing the way people take their news, form opinions and view their government.

Frankly, we’re a group of taxpayers that have collectively realized we’re all mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

As elected officials, the Volusia County Council should understand this growing frustration and embrace the real-time political thermometer that social media represents to savvy politicians – then use it to their advantage, and ours, as Heather Post has done.

Our own elected Rip Van Winkle “Sleepy” Pat Patterson wearily lamented from the dais today that friends often ask him “What’s changed?” – why is everyone so mean-spirited these days?

The answer is, everything has changed – and nothing has changed.

Just a different ass in the same leather wing-back chair – with the same controlling factors at play.

Unfortunately, those awkward dullards on the dais of power cannot seem to grasp that issues and opinions now move at the speed of the internet – and cheapjack political sleight-of-hand like we saw today no longer fools anyone.

Frankly, today marked the end of a sad chapter in a book full of political mistakes, malfeasance,  power-plays and tin-pot tyrants that have plagued the Fun Coast since our inception – and so long as Mr. Dinneen vacates our public administration building by close of business Friday – we can all rest comfortably knowing he’ll soon be someone else’s problem.

Unfortunately, the sins of Jim Dinneen were merely a symptom of a much deeper, much darker issue in Volusia County government.

It is time to fundamentally change this foul oligarchical system by electing servant-leaders who place service above self – and the needs and wants of their constituents above the private profit motives of the few.

That change begins at the ballot box.

 

 

Photo Credit:  The Daytona Beach News-Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article II, Section 8, Florida Constitution: “A public office is a public trust.”

For many, public service is a calling – a true willingness to serve others, a chance to work hard in a cause greater than ones own self-interests – and make their community, state or nation a better place.

For others, it is a means to an end.

A “gig” where you get to make the rules – and play with other people’s money with very little direct oversight – and employment protections the average citizen will never know.

Sometimes those in positions of power – with incredible influence over the lives and livelihoods of others – get confused.

When everyone laughs at their jokes, complements their tie, and agrees with them on decisions large and small – these “leaders” lose touch with reality and consider themselves invincible – blinded by that hubristic feeling of pompous omnipotence.

Add the external pressures of an enormous salary and benefits package – and near total political control over those elected to set public policy – and bad things happen.

It’s a problem as old as politics – and the ash heap of history is littered with the festering political carcasses of shitheels who couldn’t balance power with humility.

I see my role as an alternative blogger – a shit-stirring, pain in the ass critic who “points out where the strong man stumbled” and pokes fun at these haughty egomaniacs – as important to maintaining balance and accountability in a process that has neither.

Now that County Manager Jim Dinneen is on the ropes – many others are coming forward, shining a very bright light on a very dark and slippery period of our history here on Florida’s Fun Coast.

From public safety unions to Sheriff Mike Chitwood and Councilwoman Heather Post – to the average Joe and Jane Lunchpail on the street – every day more citizens are openly calling for the immediate removal of this greedy little shyster who has for a decade stood as a mean-spirited barricade to substantive progress – the very personification of a weird brand of quid pro quo corruption that has gone from the shadows to the norm in Volusia County.

Like the old Bedouin proverb teaches, “As the camel falls to its knees, more knives are drawn. . .”

A smart friend recently called and asked how it feels to have everything I’ve written in the past two-and-a-half years validated over the course of two-days?

The answer: It’s bittersweet.

Look, there is no ‘victory’ here – and even if County Manager Jim Dinneen is run out of town on a rail at today’s County Council meeting – he still walks with a quarter-million-dollars of our money stuffed in a greasy paper bag, thanks to a one-sided employment contract that was specifically written to ensure a soft landing when Dinneen’s sins against the public trust were inevitably exposed.

Some call it a “golden parachute” – but it’s more akin to good old-fashioned buggery – and the county attorney who swallowed an antiemetic and approved it should be placed in stocks and given the Bastinado treatment in front of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center.

If you haven’t read it – I urge everyone to take note – because We, The People will be entering into another employment agreement with yet another itinerant manager in coming months.

In a 2011 rewrite of the agreement – just days before the Florida Legislature limited severance packages for public officials to an amount no greater than 20-weeks salary – Mr. Dinneen was permitted to include onerous language which skirts the law and provides him with a prize package worth nearly $250,000 for some convoluted assistance in finding his replacement.

Now, County Attorney Dan Eckert – a recipient of public funds who continues to serve his master like the neutered lapdog he is (Dan’s a tiger when he’s suing the citizens of Volusia County, but yellow to the core when it comes time to protect them from a little man with a God complex) – is doing his level best to convince those dullards we elected to represent our interests that Dinneen – who has now been exposed as a weeping chancre on our system of governance – has a lead pipe cinch on his obscene severance package.

Fucking coward.

Something tells me this isn’t going to end well for Dan, his Machiavellian prince – or any elected official who continues to support this absurd, bullying farce that has destroyed the public’s trust and confidence in their government.

Like some maniacal Paul Revere on a drunken midnight ride, I’ve been screaming to anyone who would listen that Volusia County has, for the past decade, been hijacked by a cabal of cheapjack greed-heads who use our intentionally squirrely campaign finance laws to pour hundreds-of-thousands of dollars into the war chests of hand-select candidates as a means of maintaining direct access to the public trough.

Damn if I wasn’t right after all.

If you don’t believe me – simply take a stroll down memory lane and match the campaign contributions to the names, addresses and corporate entities – then see how our honorable council members voted when it came time for their sugar daddies to collect a return on investment.

I have a working theory that this bastardized “system” works, in part, because it is wholly facilitated by the ultimate authority under our holy and hallowed Home Rule Charter – County Manager Jim Dinneen.

In turn, the oligarchs who routinely use our tax dollars and public assets for personal profit motives provide Mr. Dinneen with a level of political protection not seen since the days of Gangland Chicago.

How?  By controlling the campaign funding spigot.

The true sin surrounding Jim Dinneen’s skullduggery is that some of those we have elected and appointed to positions of high public trust continue to defend the indefensible – even as physical and anecdotal evidence mounts that his actions may well represent a textbook case of official misconduct.

In my view, despite Dan Eckert’s spineless quibbling – I believe our elected officials have all the evidence they need to dismiss Mr. Dinneen’s hastily crafted resignation – then jettison his mendacious ass under the “just cause” provisions of the termination clause of his contract, which specifically prohibits a “violation of applicable state or County ethics provisions.”

In July 2015, the Volusia County Council – including current members Joyce Cusack, the always arrogant Deb Denys and The Very Reverend Dr. Fred Lowry – voted 6-0 to appropriate some $50,000 in public funds for a study of impact fees by Texas-based Duncan Associates (“Sleepy” Pat Patterson was strategically absent that day.)

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “But what members of the County Council, most of the public, and even those city leaders didn’t know is this: The county received a 52-page impact fee study two years ago that recommended fees almost three times higher in some categories and a change to a county ordinance the consultants deemed overly generous to developers.”

Shocking?  You bet your ass it is.

When the results of the study were received by Mr. Dinneen and his staff in September 2016, the expert’s findings weren’t what they wanted to hear – and they damn sure weren’t what area developers (who have turned our democratic process into little more than a livestock auction) wanted to hear.

So, a study conducted in the public interest, and paid for with public funds, was willfully and intentionally suppressed – never allowed to see the light-of-day – even as the county council struggled mightily with the impact fee issue both before, during and after the half-cent sales tax debacle was formally removed from the ballot due to mounting citizen concern that developers were not carrying their fair share of the load.

Turns out they weren’t.

In an asinine, and incredibly self-incriminating statement to News-Journal reporter Dustin Wyatt, the hapless Clay Ervin, Volusia County’s director of growth and resource management (?), claimed the report was a mere “draft.”

“Whenever you go out for public review, you want to make sure the documentation is accurate and reflects the intent and purpose.”

My ass.

What consultant with a shred of credibility sends a “draft” of their $50,000 findings – as if to say, “If you fellas don’t like these figures, I’m sure we can dig around the store room and find something you like better.” 

To add insult, just two-weeks ago, Dinneen, Ervin and Deputy County Manager George Recktenwald sat in stone silence like the Three Wise Monkeys as those hapless dupes on the  council voted to expend even more public funds with Duncan Associates.

That was the exact second their careers – and what little was left of their professional credibility – gave up the ghost.

I mean, if Duncan’s methodology was so “flawed” that senior staff dismissed their findings out-of-hand – and kept the study out of sight for two-years – then why in the hell would anyone in their right mind go back and pay them even more for a second bite at the apple?

So, what exactly was the “intent and purpose” of physically suppressing this study?

I have another working theory – and it doesn’t bode well for Little Jimmy’s severance:

In my view, Mr. Dinneen and others in senior management have used their public positions to secure an incredibly lucrative financial benefit for specific members of the development community – a group which, for years, has infused massive campaign contributions into the coffers of sitting public officials, then extracted millions of dollars as a return on that investment in infrastructure and incentives – like ensuring that impact fees remain at 2003 levels while the credits they earn for proportionate share agreements are based on current costs.

If true, that’s criminal – and Dan Eckert damn well knows it.

Florida State Statute 112.313 specifically states that it is a Misuse of Public Office when a public officer corruptly uses or attempts to use his or her official position – or perform his or her official duties – to secure a special privilege, benefit, or exemption for himself, herself or others.

Gentle readers, this smoking gun cannot simply be explained away by some mid-level bureaucrat with his hair on fire trying feverishly to save his pension.

Appropriating $50,000 in public funds for a study, conducted in the public interest, to educate our elected policy makers on impact fee upgrades – then maliciously hiding that important information from them as they dither and dawdle for answers before pissing good money after bad is base malfeasance and neglect of a public duty.

Clearly, Dinneen and his senior staff are ethically, morally and professionally compromised – and if those we pay to investigate public corruption will get off their collective ass – I suspect we may soon see just how deep this abject degeneracy goes.

Now, the finger of suspicion is rightfully pointing where it must ultimately – at those addle-brained assholes we elected to represent our interests on the dais of power – those who took an oath to protect the public trust and uphold the constitution of the State of Florida – then held us out to dry.

It is time our elected officials realize that reasonable people are rightfully questioning how they could not have known that this study existed – given that at least three sitting members voted to appropriate the tax dollars two-years ago – and, more importantly, why they are refusing to take definitive action to protect their constituents and excise this virulent and metastasizing cancer from the body politic now that they clearly know of the depth of the problem?

I believe there is a reckoning coming at the ballot box this fall – long overdue – as Volusia County Council incumbents learn that a public office truly is a public trust.

My favorite author and spiritual guide, the late great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, described himself as a “Roadman for the Lords of Karma” – I’ve tried to live in that same philosophical vein.

Here’s a prescient essay I wrote sometime back – as topical today – in these Uber-weird times – as it was then:

In 1814, the Austrian statesman Baron Johann Wessenberg said at the Congress of Vienna, “Nothing in the world is more haughty than a man of moderate capacity when once raised to power.”   

Ain’t that the damn truth?

Loyal readers of these screeds know that – in politics and life – I consider myself a realist, one who trusts that past actions are the only true predictor of future performance.  I also believe that “hope” is not a tactic – and all the good thoughts one can muster won’t fundamentally change the trajectory of a crisis.

It’s just one reason I don’t put much stock in the latest “Good Times are Here Again” corporate marketing schtick constantly being regurgitated on the Business page of our local newspaper for the benefit of those slaphappy Pollyanna’s over at the Regional Chamber of Commerce.

During a career spanning three-decades in law enforcement, I learned that only decisive and strategic intervention – skillfully executed – can positively change the course of a calamitous situation.

I believe the same holds true for a dysfunctional organization that has clearly lost its moral compass – and forgotten its true purpose.

In my view, we find ourselves locked in a true predicament here in Volusia County – a place of great beauty and potential, with wonderful recreational amenities and a wealth of civically active citizens committed to the betterment of their community – yet shackled to a bastardized form of local governance that no longer reflects the tenets of our democratic principles, nor works in the best interest of those it was formed to serve.

In most successful public and private organizations, positions of high responsibility have a corresponding level of accountability that balances power with oversight.  An accepted precept of leadership is that responsibility can be shared, accountability cannot.

The very concept requires that people in positions of supremacy are ultimately held answerable for their actions; for that which they do – or fail to do – in the conduct of their individual or collective responsibilities.

In our democratic system of governance, the will of the people is the basis of all government authority.

When government loses the trust and consent of the people, we have a right – through the power of the electoral process – to replace elected officials who enact policies counter to the interests of their constituents with servant/leaders who will restore honor and basic fairness to the process and ensure effective management.

But what happens when We, The People, no longer have a say in the political process – or the policies and taxation that control our lives and livelihoods?

What happens when a select few incredibly wealthy individuals insinuate their personal influence deep into the inner-workings of local, state and federal governments and institutions – everything from our university system, judicial appointments and the disposition of public assets – and have the ability to command massive “economic incentives” for select private projects?

In my view, when those in positions of high responsibility – both elected and appointed – are allowed to operate without any reasonable oversight, administrative constraints or professional ethics – when mismanagement, malfeasance and irresponsibility are protected by influential interests in a self-serving effort to preserve the status quo – it calls into question the legitimacy of the government entity.

In Volusia County, we find ourselves locked in an oligarchical system which has found an effective means of subverting our sacred political process, and subjugating the will of the people, by substituting a craven little autocrat with a raging Napoleonic complex, someone who is restrained by no legitimate civic authority beyond those wealthy political abettors who control public policy through the infusion of massive campaign contributions to hand-select candidates for seemingly benign local offices.

While Mr. Dinneen may not directly manipulate the figurative rods and strings that animate our elected marionettes on the dais of power – he does dress the stage, and personally directs the “L’Opera deî Pupi” the public sees – ensuring that the selfish needs of those with the ability to control the outcome of elections are consistently met and properly camouflaged by the affectations of government.

In fact, history shows that in Volusia County, the mere presence in council chambers of any one of those who the Daytona Beach News-Journal refer to as our “Rich & Powerful” – usually backed by a claque of toadies enlisted to give the appearance of faux-enthusiasm – is enough to physically direct public policy by controlling the outcome of pivotal votes by their elected chattel.

That’s frightening.

Last week, I listened to a radio interview with Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who – love him or hate him – is, in my view, the last vestige of independent thought and political courage in the squalid cesspit of quid pro quo corruption, ineptitude and strategic ignorance that is the Thomas C. Kelly Administrative Center.

During the discussion, Sheriff Chitwood intimated that when he was first elected by the people last November one of his first communications with His Royal Highness Prince Dinneen was a not-so-veiled threat that unless he “played nice in the sandbox,” he would not be re-elected.

The ominous inference being – that if he failed to go along-and-get along – the Sheriff’s path would be made dark and slippery, ending with a humiliating defeat orchestrated by bullies on the playground who understand the importance of lockstep conformity in Volusia County government.

If that statement doesn’t send a chill up your spine, nothing will.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is not democracy – and it is not a legitimate council/manager form of government, either.

It is base political repression.

In my view, the “sandbox” Little Jimmy euphemistically refers to has become a fetid litter box – a system soiled by those who shit on our governmental systems and processes as a means to a very lucrative end – and its high time we use the power of the ballot box to sift these turds out and reclaim a transparent and responsive government of the people, by the people and for the people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, kids!

Wow. What a week, eh?

So sorry we’re a day early AGAIN, but BV is on the road.

Today, Barker’s View comes to you from the beautiful Tri-Cities area of upper East Tennessee!

As many regular readers know, I was born a Hillbilly, among the mountains and deep river valleys of this gorgeous part of the country – an area that is both culturally and geographically a part of Appalachia.

Let’s face it, for years this area has desperately needed a better Public Relations firm.

Invariably, books, movies and media coverage of these hills involve tales of moonshiners, isolated barefoot ridge-runners and banjo pickin’ nephson’s with peak hats and flintlocks – always depicted as something between the Beverly Hillbillies and the director’s cut of ‘Deliverance’ – an intemperate, even violent people who don’t readily accept outsiders.

Look, Ned Beatty’s unfortunate experience aside, we get a bad rap up here, but trust me when I say that many communities in the region are doing things right – and it is quickly becoming a haven for Florida ex-pats fleeing the heat, humidity and abject corruption of the Sunshine State for a new start in the fresh mountain air.

We moved to Florida when I was about three-years old – but I spent summers here with my maternal grandparents and these mountains will always be very much a part of who I am.

My distant family moved over the mountain into Lee County, Virginia in the 1800’s following a protracted clan feud in Harlan, Kentucky that resulted in several deaths and lingering hostilities between the Smith and Cawood families.

I’m told partisan politics was at the root of it (of course it was.)

My family lineage is right out of Dogpatch.

In Virginia, my great-great-grandparents established a tobacco farm and homestead in the White Shoals area of the Powell River Valley near present day Rose Hill.

The family farm was located on rich bottomland at the end of a very rough wagon trail, still not a road really, constructed primarily of smooth grey flat river rocks.  The rutted path wound through the dense woods past the entrance to a system of karsts and caverns which were used to hide troops, provisions and cattle during the Civil War.

The land they settled was so inaccessible, so hidden away, that if it had not been for the advent of the Tennessee Valley Authority, I’m not sure my people would have ever been found.

I’m convinced that wars could have been fought, presidential administrations could change, depressions and recessions come and go, and my great grandparents would never have known until they hauled their barn-cured Burley tobacco to market and heard the news from other farmers at the auction.

I have a small, well-worn leather pouch that belonged to my great-grandfather, Creed Smith.

Inside is a crumbling quarter-sized dried fish scale – perhaps a good luck piece – a few coins, and a paper ledger. The old man and his mule would plow neighboring fields and he would record the cash transactions in the journal – sometimes he traded labor for eggs.

He always charged more for the mule than he did for himself.

Eventually, my grandparents packed up their young daughter – my mom – and carried her out of an old wooden cabin in the Southwest Virginia backwoods for work helping build the great hydroelectric dams at Norris and Fontana.

(My maternal great-grandfather died of tuberculosis in 1938 – and he and my great-grandmother were buried behind that old cabin.  A modern house has been built there now, and they rest under a green apple tree in the side yard.  Guess they don’t bother anybody, but it seems weird by today’s standards. . .)

When my grandmother got tired of traveling with the TVA, they ultimately settled in Kingsport, Tennessee, where I was born.

My grandparents are long-since gone, but we kept their small 1920’s mill worker house on a quiet street near the heart of one of the first professionally planned communities in the nation – a neighborhood that is quickly being “gentrified” by young professionals who are buying these older homes, modernizing them, then actually living there – all while keeping the very best qualities of the wonderful, maple-lined streetscapes.

The economic engine of the area is a large concentration of heavy industry, to include the headquarters of Eastman Chemical – a massive plant manufacturing advanced materials that covers well over 4-square miles and employees tens of thousands of people working around-the-clock.

Rarely will you go a day in modern life without coming in contact with something that contains a chemical or polymer made in Kingsport.

Other regional employers include BAE Systems/Holston Army Ammunition plant, a main supplier of explosive compounds to the Department of Defense, and Domtar, which produces specialty and technical paper for the printing and publishing industry.

I realize living in an area with a paper mill in your backyard isn’t for everyone – but the economic benefits cannot be denied.  I admit, there is a pervasive odor in the air from the various processes at work – but it smells like money to area residents.

The result is low taxes, high-paying jobs and many public parks and amenities provided almost exclusively by the parent companies of regional manufacturers – along with a plethora of shopping and entertainment venues, excellent healthcare and ample professional services.

It’s good to get away – and there is something about the mountains that allows us a different perspective and an opportunity to clear the head.  I hope you find the time to vacation with your families and friends this summer.

It’s important.

I’ll be back hip-deep in the fray next week – yapping at the heels of our ‘powers that be’ and trying hard to bring you a legitimate alternative opinion that, I hope, inspires you to explore the issues that effect our lives and livelihoods on Florida’s Fun Coast.

Until then, pack some Burley tobacco in my corncob pipe and pass the moonshine. . .

Well, it’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Asshole:          Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen

I’ve been thinking about County Manager Jim Dinneen’s recent announcement that he plans to retire in January.

Who gives their notice six-months in advance?

What chief executive willingly becomes an overnight lame duck – then holds up progress by warming a seat until January?

Reports say the formal letter of intent will come later today.

Look, I won’t kick a man when he’s down, but something doesn’t smell right here.

While we wait for the other shoe to drop, let’s have a look back at this weeks Tom-n-Jerry routine that shocked the conscience of many in Volusia County.

I spent most of my life working in a small police department, and by necessity, every officer wore a variety of hats.

One of mine was Public Information Officer – the liaison between the news we made and those who reported it.

I had no formal training on “information management” until much later in my career, but I learned early the importance of transparency and assisting hard working reporters get the information they needed to perform their vital work, often under difficult deadlines.

I had the pleasure of working with the incomparable veteran anchor and reporter Claire Metz, and soon-to-be-stars of tomorrow, like Fox News’ own Shepard Smith, Chicagoland’s Anita Padilla and the very talented Blaine Tolison – who now anchors the morning news for WSOC in Charlotte.

To my good fortune, I also had the opportunity to work with many of the News-Journal greats, like Kathy Kelly, Barry Gear and many other “old school” beat reporters who not only led and inspired future journalists, but excelled at their own desk as well.

I learned from former News-Journal reporter and current Daytona Beach Police PIO, Lyda Longa, that it was possible to develop a deep sense of trust with reporters – a relationship which allowed me to fill in the gaps on the who, what, when and why of a story in complete confidence – knowing that sensitive information would be held until the appropriate time.

And when I was wrong, or we screwed-up, they took me to task – like professionals should – because ensuring accountability, seeking the truth and exposing important community issues is the critical service the press performs in the public interest.

Many of these wonderful professionals have remained life-long friends – along with the intrepid photojournalists who capture the very essence of a story in film and photographs – and I will forever remain in their debt for teaching me the right way to perform this important role.

Perhaps that’s why I was so sickened by the disturbing footage of County Manager Jim Dinneen, Volusia’s chief executive who commands over $300,000 annually in public salary and benefits – as he slithered – like a broke-back snake – away from WFTV reporter Mike Springer earlier this week.

Mr. Dinneen has been gutlessly avoiding Springer’s probative questions on the debacle at the District 7 Medical Examiner’s Officer for well-over a month – and when finally cornered at the haughty Knights of the Roundtable of Elected Officials meeting at Daytona “International” Airport on Tuesday – he turned-tail and skedaddled like a greasy roach caught in the light.

It was embarrassing – not a “good look” as they say in the business.

It amounted to cowardice under fire by our top public official and a stark reminder of all that’s wrong with Volusia County government.

The worm is beginning to turn, Dinneen is bailing (apparently) but his coterie of do-nothing middle-managers, and those elected officials who have done everything in their power to protect the status quo remain.

In a recent article entitled, “New ME eager to end ‘bad luck,’ The Daytona Beach News-Journal recently reported on Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s concerns regarding Dinneen’s “shady” process for hiring Dr. Jon Thogmartin to serve as interim medical examiner after Dr. Sara Zydowicz blew the whistle on years of budgetary neglect, overcrowding and substandard facilities which compromised the integrity of this vital public service.

Just as they did for Dr. Z – now, it appears our ‘powers that be’ have set their sights on discrediting Sheriff Chitwood and marginalizing his efforts to shine a very bright light on the machinations of a county government run wild – a clearly concerted effort to protect the one who facilitates access to the public spigot at all costs.

No one disputes the fact that Dr. Thogmartin is a highly qualified pathologist with a positive track record of correcting administrative and operational issues in offices statewide.

But neither can anyone deny that the manner in which Thogmartin was brought onboard – immediately after his out-of-hand dismissal of the issues brought by Dr. Zydowicz and complete exoneration of Jim Dinneen – followed by his near instantaneous confirmation by the Volusia County Council without so much as a written contract in place – smells a lot like payback.

It also may have violated the spirit of established purchasing and procurement policies, among other things.

But who cares, right?  The rules are different here. . .

When Sheriff Chitwood publicly questioned the timing of Dr. Thogmartin’s hiring – and provided documentary evidence showing the chronology was different than what Dinneen described to the County Council – he was set upon by Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the Florida Medical Examiner’s Association, who called the Sheriff’s criticism “counter-productive.”

“Nobody is going to want to come to an office that is in constant turmoil, that has stakeholders throwing constant barbs on social media,” said Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the commission. “This is not part of what a search should be for a professional. We are not talking about a dog catcher; we are talking about a pathologist and there’s only about 400 in the country.”

Look, I don’t care if pathologists are scarce as hen’s teeth – with $780,000 of the people’s money at stake – we have a right to expect a proper vetting, to include unfettered questioning by our elected representatives – before a rush to hire.

We also have a right to know how we arrived at this goat rodeo in the first place – and who dropped the ball.

Call me skittish, but this isn’t the first time Jim Dinneen has created a pseudo-emergency to facilitate a very expensive solution – a point that seemed evident by our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley’s, near pathological stonewalling of Councilwoman Heather Post’s sincere efforts to get at the truth – and hold Dinneen publicly accountable for this debacle.

Another thing that raised more questions than answers was Dr. Nelson’s interminable defense of Mr. Dinneen, “There’s nothing nefarious here,” Nelson said. “He (Thogmartin) spent all day at the morgue, watched people conduct autopsies and was looking at policies at the morgue and procedures. On the way out of the door, he talks to the county manager and told him that this isn’t as bad as everyone says it is.”

 All day?  Really?

If I understand this, Dr. Thogmartin was able to determine that Dr. Z’s allegations – and those of the National Association of Medical Examiners who yanked the office’s professional accreditation in 2015, issues which were confirmed in correspondence from former ME Dr. Marie Herrmann, or the horror story brought by the grieving family of a dead child whose misidentified body lay in the morgue for days – are all complete falsehoods or the maniacal ravings of an inexperienced chief – in just one day? 

Then, in lock step support of the one common denominator in all of these fiascos – Councilman “Sleepy” Pat Patterson – sounding for all the world like Rip Van Winkle in an Ambien stupor  – piled on Dr. Zydowicz, further minimizing her very real concerns with the asinine remark, “A lot of this has been ginned up that I think is undeserved.”

But WHY? 

Why would a professional – a trained physician in perhaps the most in-demand segment of her field – jeopardize a hard-earned professional reputation by “ginning up” serious allegations of administrative negligence and mismanagement at the morgue she was responsible for?

Why? 

Why would Sheriff Chitwood – a politically accountable elected official and highly respected law enforcement professional with a pristine reputation – suddenly transform into the Boy Who Cried Wolf?

Why?

And why would Dr. Stephen Nelson viciously turn on his colleague, Dr. Z – then question the motives of Volusia County’s chief law enforcement officer as he openly calls bullshit on a clearly compromised process – one that reeks of remuneration for a favorable evaluation?

(Even if that isn’t the case – one simply cannot dismiss the appearance of it.) 

Why would Mr. Dinneen lope like a scalded ape away from the glare of a news camera – doing his level best to dodge questions on this issue from the working press if he has nothing to hide – then announce his retirement six-months in advance?

Why?

In my view, the cowardly method of self-preservation used to openly destroy the good reputation of Dr. Zydowicz is certainly more prohibitive to attracting quality candidates than a duly elected sheriff attempting to protect, serve and educate his long-suffering constituents.

After all, what professional in his or her right mind would take a job knowing that if they bring serious concerns regarding this essential medicolegal service to the attention of elected officials – or the state’s regulatory commission – they face the very real possibility of personal and professional destruction?

I’m asking, dammit.  Because none of this makes sense.

Given all that has occurred – and the stench of lies and corruption that continues to ooze out of the impenetrable information lock-down in DeLand – perhaps it is time for State Attorney R. J. Larizza to join Sheriff Chitwood, District 1 candidate Jeff Brower and the chorus of other concerned citizens calling for an independent investigation of these serious issues by an outside law enforcement authority.

What we are witnessing is not normal.

It is not legitimate.

It bears no semblance to good governance.

It is wrong.

Mr. Dinneen is a big part of the problem – but others bear responsibility as well – and it is time for answers.

Asshole:          City of Daytona Beach Leisure Services

Like many of you, I recently saw a disturbing report – also produced by the intrepid Mike Springer of WFTV’s Daytona Bureau – who reported that picnic tables, pavilions and fishing piers at various public parks in the city have been literally chained off – and some  benches removed all together – ostensibly to keep them “clean” for those with the $300.00+ required to rent the tax funded amenities.

Clearly, the measure is designed to keep homeless out of the parks – something city officials won’t say publicly.

City officials should understand that there is a swirling undercurrent of distrust surrounding the publicly subsidized Brown & Brown headquarters which will soon be built on Beach Street – a project that includes gifting the nearby park and public amenities east of the campus to Mr. Brown – something we are told will allow J. Hyatt to make “improvements” for his employees and the general public.

In my view, the idea of cordoning off public recreation facilities as a stop-gap measure to control the homeless population in Downtrodden Downtown ultimately penalizes the long-suffering residents of Daytona Beach – the very people who paid for these features in the first place.

In keeping with the old-timey Fun Coast tradition of piss poor public communications, the City of Daytona Beach takes draconian action to control concentrations of vagrants in recreation areas – yet fails to educate the general public on why these measures are necessary – and when they will be repealed.

Nobody is saying it isn’t necessary – just give us the lowdown!

When you couple that with the fact the Daytona Beach City Commission has done everything humanly possible to discourage participation in public meetings short of barbed wire – one gets the idea that city government marches to the beat of its own drummer – and citizen input is limited to paying exorbitant taxes and staying out of sight and out of mind.

Unfortunately, this tactic only perpetuates the ‘Us vs. Them’ mentality that many see at City Hall.

I’m not sure current sitting officials understand just how dire this pervasive feeling of disenfranchisement and exclusion is in the neighborhoods.  In fact, this shocking lack of substantive information exchange, and public policy by ambush that seems all the rage in local government, ranks at the top of reader complaints I receive here at Barker’s View HQ.

Something tells me we are going to see a distinct change in the composition of the Daytona Beach City Commission – an infusion of accessible and responsive new blood who understand the importance of listening to the needs, wants and suggestions of a constituency concerned about their dwindling quality of life and lack of sway in matters important to the health and future of Daytona Beach.

It’s a simple fix – city officials should tell the unvarnished truth as they know it – and We the People will respect that.

I promise.

 Angel:             Sons of the Beach

One of the things I enjoy most about moderating this political opinion forum is the opportunity to interact with smart, civic-minded people on topics that are important to the life of our community.

On Saturday morning I had the immense pleasure of standing tall with the grassroots activists of Sons of the Beach – Florida’s premiere beach access advocacy – as we peacefully protested the wholesale theft of our century-old heritage of beach driving behind the Hard Rock Hotel.

With Old Glory waving proudly on our beachhead, I thought to myself how typically, and unapologetically  American this gathering truly was.

It was invigorating – joining with patriotic citizens who are mad as hell and clearly aren’t going to take it anymore – and the experience left me with a lingering sense of community pride through participation in a cause of great consequence to the social and economic viability of our hometown.

And, we had some laughs along the way, enjoying the fun and relaxation that only a day at the beach with friends can bring.

According to our inspired president, Paul Zimmerman, additional SOB protests are planned behind the Hard Rock in weeks to come.  I encourage everyone who cares about our tradition of beach driving – and those amenities that make the Halifax area a unique tourist and entertainment destination – to join us in this worthwhile cause.

It is time the much-maligned taxpaying residents of Volusia County stand up to this aggressive attack on our right to beach access.  Let’s let our elected and appointed officials know we will not stand idle as they turn the strand into a cheap bartering chip for here-today-gone-tomorrow speculative developers.

Folks, this is important.

If you haven’t already, I encourage everyone to become a member of Sons of the Beach and join the fight today.

Simply log-on to www.sonsofthebeach.org and sign-up – it’s free – however, donations are welcome through the website, or at any of the frequent fundraisers held at fun local venues throughout the year.

Remember: Beach driving IS beach access – and its high time our elected representatives in DeLand know that there is some shit we won’t eat!

Asshole:          Volusia County Council

In my view, the County Attorney’s Office has become an exclusive law firm with one very finicky client and an unlimited supply of cash.

And trust me – the customer served isn’t you and me.

Regardless of the issue, when County Manager Jim Dinneen perceives a threat to the status quo – from an initiative to give citizens a vote on beach management issues – to a measure which would return constitutional sovereignty to our elected sheriff – he draws County Attorney Dan Eckert like a weapon.

If you don’t believe me – just ask the beleaguered residents of Daytona Beach Shores about what awaits anyone who dares raise their head and defy Mr. Dinneen’s omnipotent monarchy in DeLand.

Now, with the usual acquiescence of the Volusia County Council, “Cujo” Eckert and his team of rabid jackals have filed a lawsuit challenging a November ballot measure that would permit elected county officials – like the sheriff, property appraiser and clerk of the court – to serve as politically accountable constitutional officers, you know, like the people intended when they cast their vote.

Under Volusia County’s gilded home rule charter – these duly elected representatives are relegated to little more than department heads – because that’s how the “system” controls them – and if it costs you and I thousands of dollars to fight every infinitesimal aspect of this legislation – so be it.

Last week, Mr. Eckert told the County Council, “The question is, is it fairly presented to the voters?  I don’t think it is.  I think the rights of county voters are being affected without them being fairly informed.”

Bullshit.

Hey, Dan – is this anything like the time Volusia County unleashed the dogs of war to challenge the grassroots efforts of Let Volusia Vote – who, despite gathering the signatures required to lawfully place an amendment before voters that would empower citizens in matters of beach access – was met with a crushing lawsuit that you initiated to block the right of county voters to be heard?

Or, perhaps its similar to the time you spent untold thousands in taxpayer funds to contest the standing of Sons of the Beach as they worked to protect the rights of citizens and prevent further giveaways of our heritage of beach driving to speculative shitheels with a profit motive?

Remember?

Maybe it’s like when Sheriff Chitwood respectfully asked that the county attorney assigned to his agency be moved to new office space to increase efficiency and his request was denied out-of-hand?

Trust me – this lawsuit has absolutely nothing to do with the rights of county voters and everything to do with protecting the existing miserable state of affairs – and preserving the enormous power currently wielded by Mr. Dinneen – from any outside threat.

In addition to this recent lawsuit – now county officials are telling flashlight-under-the-chin scary stories that any modification of our current charter will result in a $10-million cost to taxpayers.

My ass.    

We haven’t had so much as a superficial accounting as to how returning autonomy to Sheriff Mike Chitwood will cost us millions – but that’s their story, and By God, they’re sticking to it.

Since taking office, Sheriff Chitwood has spoken vehemently against the internal sluggishness and inherent dishonesty of an entrenched system that places too much control of essential government services in the hands of one ethically compromised little man – an appointed manager, completely immune from political accountability, and subject to even less oversight from those we elect to provide balance.

In fact, as recent events have shown, the tail has been wagging the dog in DeLand for so long, our elected representatives have forgotten that the manager serves at their pleasure – not the other way around.

Frankly, when Old Ed Kelley and his “colleagues” sat with a thumb wedged in their collective ass like slack-jawed milksops while Mr. Dinneen openly barked and snarled at Councilwoman Heather Post as she attempted to hold him accountable for the raging debacle at what’s left of our medical examiners office – perhaps the most embarrassing display of insubordination to oversight authority I’ve ever witnessed – I knew immediately who was running the show.

And more important, so did the County Council.

One simply does not strike the King and his Court without serious ramifications.

Never in the history of Volusia County government has an appointed official been permitted to lord this level of unchecked power over the elected body – and that’s a dangerous proposition, given the massive political influence exerted by a few uber-wealthy insiders who remain in total control of Mr. Dinneen – and what passes for governance.

It is also why Sheriff Chitwood deserves the sovereignty to perform his vital service to the citizens of Volusia County with complete independence from this bastardized oligarchy, an absolutely compromised system that places the “what’s in it for me” question over the needs of the people every time.

What have we learned from all this drama?:

Never have so many paid so dearly to protect one wee man with a raging Napoleon complex.

Quote of the Week:

“I don’t think what other counties necessarily do would be something that would set the tone for Volusia County to follow.  I don’t think the state should be handing out unfunded mandates and then expecting the counties to try to find a way to fund it, especially this late.”

–County Council Chairman and Brain-Addled Meatball Ed Kelley, as quoted in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Volusia County an outlier by not splitting costs for school resource deputies,” June 11, 2018

The problem is, Ed Kelley doesn’t “think” at all.

He’s a rubber-stamp in a JC Penny sport coat.

Best practices in governance be damned.

Responsible cost-sharing?  Fuhgeddaboudit. . .

Tried and true solutions don’t “set the tone for Volusia County” – indeed, they never have – its why we find ourselves trapped in this festering outhouse of blight, dilapidation and ravenous spending.

In fact, the mere thought of developing an educated opinion – or a vision for taking us from where we are to where we need to be – is anathema to this greedy plunderbund that values lock-step conformity over ingenuity and free-thought – or, God forbid – the honest and open debate of public policy.

With the Volusia County School Board trying desperately to scratch together funding to adequately protect our children and grandchildren from the escalating threat of school violence – and comply with the requirements of state law – our doddering fool of a County Chair would rather make empty gestures to show his displeasure with unfunded mandates – rather than get down to the important business of securing our schools.

I find that repugnant – and indicative of the way serious issues are turned into political footballs by these spineless assholes.

In the interest of transparency, based upon my past training, experience and sense of duty, I have answered Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s call to service and have asked to be considered for the recently approved ‘School Guardian’ program, an initiative that will place armed protectors in elementary schools throughout Volusia County.

I have questions – everyone does – after all, this is like walking on mars, no one has ever done it before.

However, cooperative funding and responsible cost-sharing between Volusia County and the School Board is, in my view, just common sense.

Anyone want to bet a donut how long it would take J. Hyatt Brown, Mori Hosseini or any member of the France family to wheedle a paltry $2 million out of county coffers to offset overhead on a private project?

For once, do the job we hired you for, Mr. Kelley – with millions in reserve funds – you and those other dullards on the dais of power could easily find a way to fund this incredibly important public safety initiative for years and still be able to grease the palms of your campaign contributors.

My God.  Get your head out of your wrinkled ass – lives are in the balance.    

Mr. Kelley, I’ve learned not to depend on you for anything – but vulnerable children are – and the consequences of  grandstanding and inaction are far too great for your cheap brand of political gamesmanship right now.

And Another Thing!

I hope you will join with Sons of the Beach for a fundraiser this Sunday, June 17^th, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, at Sunsetters Riverfront Bar & Grill, 115 Main Street, Daytona Beach!

In addition to fun raffles and live music, you can get all your SOB swag – t-shirts, signs, koozies and more – just in time for trips to the beach this summer!

The Sons of the Beach legal team will be on hand with up-dates on pending lawsuits designed to hold our elected and appointed officials accountable (what a novel idea?) and preserve our heritage of beach access for generations to come.

It’s a great afternoon – a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends and get involved in the life of your community.  I encourage every member of the Barker’s View tribe to join with fellow civic-minded friends and neighbors this Sunday!

You’ll be glad you did.

Thanks for reading, y’all!

Have a great weekend!

Before you read this, I need a favor.

Bop over to https://tinyurl.com/y7hup4gg and watch as the intrepid investigative reporter Mike Springer of WFTV’s Daytona Beach Bureau and his photojournalist work valiantly to corral our wily County Manager and seek answers to growing questions surrounding the cover-up of serious issues at Volusia’s District 7 Medical Examiners Office.

Wow.  Just, “Wow.”

The German’s have a word –  Fremdschämen – to describe vicarious embarrassment, that weird second-hand feeling you get when someone should feel a deep sense of shame, yet they seem completely unaware of just how humiliating their behavior truly is – so, you experience intense embarrassment for them.

They also have a term – Schadenfreude – which translates roughly to “the pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others,” the cruel sense of pleasure, joy or self-satisfaction that comes from witnessing the failures or utter humiliation of others.

But what does one call the exhilaration of experiencing both Fremdschämen and Schadenfreude simultaneously?

May God help me, but the sight of Jim Dinneen – Volusia County’s omnipotent chief executive who currently commands over $300,000 annually in public salary and benefits – fleeing the working press like a boss rat leaving a burning garbage scow was priceless.

After I watched the clip about, oh, a thousand times, my mood changed – I went from peels of maniacal laughter to racking sobs.  I felt like one of those poor victims of that rare neurological disorder from the television commercial where symptoms alternate from uncontrollable laughter to an inappropriate crying jag.

When I finally gained my composure long enough to think critically about what I – and thousands of other Volusia County residents – had just witnessed in Mr. Springer’s outstanding reportage, I became angry; overcome by a crushing sense of disgust as I realized we have finally reached the nadir of this shitstorm that passes for governance here on Florida’s Fun Coast.

In this short clip, we see an all-powerful government executive who has arrogantly refused to answer a reporter’s legitimate questions regarding the myriad debacles, blunders and good Old Fashioned organizational mismanagement that has marked the waning days of the Dinneen administration, finally being brought to justice before the Court of Public Opinion at the monthly meeting of the haughty Knights of the Roundtable of Elected Officials meeting at Daytona “International” Airport yesterday.

Little Jimmy was trapped like a rabid rodent – scurrying about in perhaps the best chase scene captured on film since the French Connection – before squawking a warning, turning on his heel, and beating a cowardly escape by ducking into an “Authorized Personnel Only” area.

In my view, the best part of this tragicomedy was the slack jawed look on the faces of area mayors and city managers who stood, mortified, watching the uncomfortable scene unfold with their collective buttocks clenched so tight they later passed diamonds.

He ran like a scalded dog. . .

(Sorry, my transient pseudobulbar affect is acting up again – I can’t help myself – too damn funny. . .  Get a grip, Barker.)   

In reality, this vignette was an unfortunate reminder for the long-suffering citizens of Volusia County who have been robbed of the respect, trust and confidence they have the right to have in their government and the essential services it exists to provide.

For years, We the People, have been forced to stand by and watch as this rudderless ship of fools drifted ever closer to the rocks – all while the Dinneen administration and those spineless dullards we elected to represent our interests on the dais of power in DeLand – turned away from the real needs of their constituents and focused sole attention and public assets on the wants of uber-wealthy oligarchs who lurk in this shadow-world that churns our hard-earned tax dollars into private profits.

All while vital public services and county-owned facilities were allowed to rot from the inside out.

It has been a frustrating journey for anyone who cares about good governance and the best traditions of our representative democracy – and our foul path is littered with the good reputations of dedicated professionals like Dr. Sara Zydowicz, who cared enough to voice her very real concerns of budgetary neglect and substandard facilities to the Florida State Medical Examiner’s Commission – only to be publicly mauled by our complicit elected officials.

Given what we know now – supported by real physical evidence exposing Mr. Dinneen’s damnable lies and manipulation as uncovered by good people like Sheriff Chitwood, WFTV’s Mike Springer and others – there is simply no way our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, and his debased “colleagues” on the Volusia County Council can accept this stonewalling and craven self-protection by a highly compensated executive.

Now the onus is on them.

Willful blindness – the act of intentionally keeping oneself unaware of facts that would make them complicit in this continuing sham by those we elected to protect our interests – is no longer acceptable.

It never was.

Given this unbelievable snippet of film, which, unfortunately, is not the first time Mr. Dinneen has run like the lily-livered simp he is from the bright light of a news camera – is indicative of all that is wrong in county government – a dark place where honestly and transparency have been replaced by a siege mentality that values lock-step conformity over ingenuity and free-thought – and secretiveness over the open and honest debate of ideas in the public interest.

As the great Hunter S. Thompson said, “In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”

You can run, but you cannot hide, Mr. Dinneen.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not legitimate.

This is not right.

This bears absolutely no resemblance to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.   

Clearly our elected officials either cannot – or will not – act in the public interest and terminate the reign of this tin-pot autocrat who has besmirched the reputation of our county and shit on the guiding ethics and principles of his profession all while dodging personal and professional accountability.

Now, it is time for outside intervention.

I join with Sheriff Mike Chitwood, District 1 candidate Jeff Brower and the growing chorus of other concerned citizens who are calling for outside intervention – an independent investigation of this repugnant sham that is ruining Volusia County.

I hope everyone this post reaches will do the same.

This cannot stand.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the great passions of my life is aviation.

While other kids were interested in baseball cards and comic book heroes – I grew up, looking up – scanning the skies for airplanes and dreaming of the thrill and freedom of flight.

I remember as a young boy, sitting at the dining room table in my parent’s home, with a cut-down broom for a control stick and an open Encyclopedia Britannica – reading about aerodynamics and chair flying to exotic places in my imaginary Grumman Albatross.

One of the first books I ever read was Wind, Sand and Stars by the incomparable “winged poet,” Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  It kindled in me a love of flight and the sense of adventure that only rising from the earth, defying gravity, and returning when and where you want can bring.

It is written that flying changes your vantage point, literally and metaphorically.  As Amelia Earhart said, “You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.”

It is also incredibly unforgiving of errors in judgement.

While training for my commercial pilot’s license, and later the certificated flight instructor rating, I learned many interesting things that have carried over into my personal life, like the process of analytical thinking – the discipline to use a systematic mental process to determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances.

It is what pilots call “aeronautical decision-making.”

While many systems exist, the one I learned in flight school is the DECIDE model – Detect, Estimate, Choose, Identify, Do and Evaluate.

Detection of a problem begins with recognizing that a change has occurred, first perceived by the senses – perhaps no more than a “feeling” that something isn’t right – then using experience, training, skill and insight to identify the nature and severity of the issue.

When a problem has been properly identified, the pilot must evaluate the need to react to it and determine what, if any, actions are required to resolve the situation in the time available – then assess the risks and choose the best course of action by identifying solutions that will lead to a successful outcome.

Then, do something – perform the most suitable action – and evaluate the decision to see if it was correct.

Sometimes the pilot has the time, altitude and airspeed to think analytically and work through a problem – and sometimes this decision-making process must come almost instinctively to affect a desirable outcome.

Proper decision-making is important because it defines our options for the next choice we make – good decisions give us greater options later, while bad choices limit alternatives – and, with practice, analytical thinking becomes second nature.

For months I have brooded about how Volusia County government arrived at this dismal place in our history – a time marked by a complete dearth of ethical leadership and fiscal stewardship by our elected and appointed officials.

We are trapped in a repugnant system that exists solely to transmit tax dollars to the private profit motives of uber-wealthy political insiders through a well-orchestrated scheme cloaked as “economic development incentives” – a shadowy process that serves only those who can “pay to play” in the form of hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions to hand-select candidates for local public offices.

Perhaps it’s my intellectual limitations – I’m not the brightest bulb in the box, really – but I’ll be damned if I can come up with a logical explanation for how this happens.

However, I’m pretty sure I have a handle on why it happens.

Almost daily, we open the newspaper and read yet another horrible story of mismanagement, negligence and ineptitude in county government that continues to baffle anyone who understands the relationship between responsibility and accountability – the onus that comes when one accepts huge sums of public funds in salary and benefits – and is given extraordinary latitude and power to manage the affairs of government in the public interest.

Look, I understand mistakes – the human factor.

I’ve made a million of them.

Given my experience, I also understand that most people can forgive honest errors – but what they will never excuse is an abject refusal to learn from mistakes.

This is different.

From the unfolding debacle at the medical examiner’s office, unchecked sexual harassment and hostile workplace issues in the Beach Safety Department, unaddressed growth management and infrastructure needs, to the expanding life-or-death crisis in our county’s emergency medical transport system – we see real problems that are invariably dismissed by our elected officials as the ravings of naysayers, misguided stoolpigeons or some mean-spirited social media critic with an axe to grind.

On Saturday, we saw the beginning of something I find chilling – and dangerous to the legitimacy and processes of our system of governance.

In an article entitled, “New ME eager to end ‘bad luck,’ The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s questioning of County Manager Jim Dinneen’s “shady” process for hiring Dr. Jon Thogmartin to serve as interim medical examiner after Dr. Sara Zydowicz blew the whistle on years of budgetary neglect, overcrowding and substandard facilities which compromised the integrity of this vital public service.

Just as they did for Dr. Z – now, it appears our ‘powers that be’ have set their sights on discrediting Sheriff Chitwood and marginalizing his efforts to shine a very bright light on the machinations on a county government run wild – a clearly concerted and truly disturbing effort to protect the one who facilitates access to the public spigot at all costs.

No one disputes the fact that Dr. Thogmartin is a highly qualified pathologist with a positive track record of correcting administrative and operational issues in offices statewide.

But neither can anyone dispute the fact that the manner in which Thogmartin was brought on-board as interim ME – immediately after his out-of-hand dismissal of the issues brought by Dr. Zydowicz and complete exoneration of Jim Dinneen – followed by his near instantaneous confirmation by the Volusia County Council without so much as a written contract in place – smells a lot like payback.

When Sheriff Chitwood publicly questioned the timing of Dr. Thogmartin’s hiring – and provided documentary evidence showing that it could not have happened in the manner Dinneen described to the county council – he was set upon by Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the Florida Medical Examiner’s Association, who called the Sheriff’s criticism “counter-productive.”

“Nobody is going to want to come to an office that is in constant turmoil, that has stakeholders throwing constant barbs on social media,” said Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the commission. “This is not part of what a search should be for a professional. We are not talking about a dog catcher; we are talking about a pathologist and there’s only about 400 in the country.”

 Look, I don’t care if pathologists are scarce as hen’s teeth – with $780,000 of the people’s money at stake – we have a right to expect a proper vetting, to include in-depth questioning by our elected representatives – before a rush to hire.

Call me apprehensive, but this isn’t the first time Jim Dinneen has created a pseudo-emergency to facilitate a very expensive solution. . .

 In his interminable defense of Mr. Dinneen, Dr. Nelson droned on, “There’s nothing nefarious here,” Nelson said. “He (Thogmartin) spent all day at the morgue, watched people conduct autopsies and was looking at policies at the morgue and procedures. On the way out of the door, he talks to the county manager and told him that this isn’t as bad as everyone says it is.”

All day?  Really?

If I understand this, Dr. Thogmartin was able to determine that Dr. Z’s allegations – and those of the National Association of Medical Examiner’s who yanked the office’s professional accreditation in 2015, issues which were confirmed in correspondence from former ME Dr. Marie Herrmann, or the horror story brought by the family of a dead child whose misidentified body lay in the morgue for days – are complete falsehoods; the maniacal ravings of an inexperienced chief in just one day? 

Then, in lock step support of the one common denominator in all of these debacles – our own Rip Van Winkle of local politics, “Sleepy” Pat Patterson – sounding for all the world like he just awoke from another long nap – piled on Dr. Zydowicz, further ostracizing her concerns with the asinine remark, “A lot of this has been ginned up that I think is undeserved.”

But WHY? 

Why would a professional – a trained physician in perhaps the most in-demand segment of her field – jeopardize a hard-earned professional reputation and standing in the medical community by fabricating or “ginning up” serious allegations of administrative negligence and mismanagement at the morgue she was responsible for?

Why?

Why would Sheriff Chitwood – a politically accountable elected official and highly respected law enforcement professional with a pristine reputation – suddenly transform into the Boy Who Cried Wolf?  

Why?

And why would Dr. Stephen Nelson viciously turn on a colleague – then question the motives of Volusia County’s chief law enforcement officer as he openly calls bullshit on a clearly compromised process – one that reeks of remuneration for a favorable evaluation?

Even if that isn’t the case – one simply cannot dismiss the optics of it.

In my view, the craven method of self-preservation that Jim Dinneen and his cronies on the dais of power used to openly destroy the good reputation of Dr. Zydowicz is certainly more prohibitive to attracting quality candidates than a duly elected sheriff attempting to protect, serve and educate his long-suffering constituents.

After all, what professional in his or her right mind would take a job knowing that if they bring serious concerns regarding this essential medicolegal service to the attention of elected officials – or the state’s regulatory commission – they face the very real possibility of personal and professional destruction?

I’m asking.  Because none of this makes sense.

Given all that has occurred – and the stench of lies and corruption that continue to ooze out of the impenetrable information lock-down in DeLand – perhaps it is time for State Attorney R. J. Larizza to join Sheriff Chitwood’s call for an independent investigation of these serious and growing issues by an outside law enforcement authority.

Anyone with the ability to think critically can see that what we are witnessing is not normal.

It is not legitimate.

It bears no semblance to good governance.

It is wrong.

The time has come for someone – anyone – with a sworn responsibility to protect the public’s trust and interests to step up and put an end to this deepening crisis of leadership and conscience.

Remember when I said that good decision making gives us more and better options down the line?

I hope you will use that knowledge to our collective advantage in the voting booth this fall.