State Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, up for re-election in 2014, calls attention to an award she received from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The 24/7 internet newspaper wanted to honor her with a special award of its own on Thanksgiving, but she declined in the wake of news coverage less than favorable to others in her party at the municipal and Volusia county levels.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Bravo State Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, on your Facebook announcement of your prestigious award from MADD, but let's not forget the first responders who put their lives on the line around the clock -- the state troopers and cops, paramedics and firefighters -- when it comes to dealing with drunken driving.
However, as "your" press release statement says so awkwardly below your over-sized photo, you are honored for your "leadership for working against drunk driving in the legislature."
Perhaps it should have been written clearer as to not give the impression you were fighting to curb DUI offenders in the Statehouse.
But this does give us an opening to point out an honor we wanted to bestow upon Hukill, who we endorsed in the 2012 election for State Senate District 8 over fellow candidate Frank Bruno, D-Ponce Inlet. It was to be a a special announced on Thanksgiving. But obviously, her party loyalty takes precedence.
For our loyal readers around the world and those checking us out for the first time, here's the exchange:
At left, Dorothy Hukill is shown on her Facebook page in a photo op for the Republican Party at an unidentified location in this shot taken by one of her interns.Epilogue: Hukill says she is not actively campaigning and too busy to accept an award from a media outlet that provided her with a blog. "Hukill's House" that ran monthly for four years in the internet newspaper and it's original name, NSBNews.net.
And as we switched last year to our registered trademark name and brand, we hosted and moderated what turned out to be a lively and contentious public candidate debate in front of 250 people at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach between Hukill and her Democratic opponent, then-County Chair Frank Bruno in the waning weeks of the hotly contested race. The Daytona Beach News-Journal held an earlier debate between the two before the Tiger Bay Club with its editor, Pat Rice serving as moderator, but it was invitation-only with no recording devices and no audience participation.
And when it mattered most to Hukill, her only local media endorsement came from Headline Surfer® while the Orlando Sentinel endorsed Bruno. The News-Journal didn't hand out endorsements in the election under the dictates of the new chamber-friendly ownership of the Halifax Media Group headed by Michael Redding.
Headline Surfer® was admittedly a little taken back by Hukill's crassness, especially since Hukill has has all the time in the world for Facebook, posting self-promotional press releases with oversized photos, mugging it up with County Councilwoman Deb Denys at a chamber function in New Smyrna Beach and another chamber function in DeLand with the governor. And on and on. But alas, this is what these politicians do.
The reality here is Hukill is providing payback to an award-winning media outlet that won't blindly promote her party's skewed agenda and their questionable activities at the county and municipal levels; daring in fact, to question the destruction of a high school textbook (Rick Sarmiento, Lake County-based "Patriot" for Volusia County Republican for Volusia County GOP Chair Tony Ledbetter) that contains a chapter on history of Islam.
Then-State Sen. Rep. Dorothy Hukill's blog in Headline Surfer and its previously-named NSBNews.net, shown here at left, was a staple for four years and discontinued by Hukill after she won the State Senate dist. 8 election in November, over Democrat Frank Bruno, then-Volusia County's departing county chair.
The reality here is Hukill is providing payback to an award-winning media outlet that won't blindly promote her party's skewed agenda and their questionable activities at the county and municipal levels; daring in fact, to question the destruction of a high school textbook (Rick Sarmiento, Lake County-based "Patriot" for Volusia County Republican for Volusia County GOP Chair Tony Ledbetter) that contains a chapter on history of Islam.
At far left, State Sen. Dorothy Hukill and Orange City Mayor Tom Laputka chit chat for a photo op with Gov. Rick Scott in this Oct. 18, shot at a DeLand Chamber of Commerce event on Oct. 18. (photo credit / Meredyth Hope Hall / Hukill Facebook page). In the inset photo taken by one of her staffers, Hukill is shown in this Nov. 8 Facebook posting, at the private Tiger Bay political club in Daytona, posing with Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, also a Republican. And There's Hukill's other GOP friend, County Councilwoman, Deb Denys, who got her colleagues in a 4-3 vote in September to have Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority Chair Palmer Wilson removed, the day after she had a huge fundraiser (at the Hampton Inn run by another SVAA board member, Tony Stagni, the hotel's general manager that she has oversight over) with a bunch of chamber insiders opening their wallets for her re-election in 2014.
This, in exchange for Denys getting rid of Wilson, who refused to dole out bed tax monies for events that were subsidizing alcohol-fueled street parties for the bars, and for eliminating gratuitous funding of the chamber itself.
Headline Surfer photos / At far left, Palmer Wilson confronts the County Council after a 4-3 vote led by Council member Josh Wagner of Daytona led to his ouster in early August from the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority. One of Wilson's staunchest supporters was Councilwoman Deb Denys of New Smyrna Beach. After Wilson's appearance, the council voted 7-0 to restore Wilson to the SVAA. He was then re-appointed as chair by his SVAA colleagues. Then six weeks later, the council did an about face, this time led by Deb Denys, who demanded his ouster, saying in part, 'We need to finish this.' What she didn't tell her colleagues was the night before, she had a fundraiser where she generated more than $10,000, most of it from chamber insiders and others who wanted Wilson gone because he was not as liberal in doling out money for street parties and the chamber itself in New Smyrna, in the wake of a scandal involving former SVAA Director Nicole Carni. Denys claimed Wilson strong-armed his fellow SVAA members into naming him chair, an allegation not supported by the audio minutes of the meeting, which most of the council members never bothered to listen to. Wilson s shown at an August SVAA meeting before his first ouster.And Wilson's leadership was strong in the wake of the scandal involving former SVAA director, Nicole Carni, fired two years ago amid allegations of over-paying herself and a subsequent investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conveniently stalled to this day.
Denys was able to rid the SVAA just six weeks after she ripped colleague Joshua Wagner, a Democrat, for doing the same thing to Wilson. But after Wilson showed up at the council to defend himself, Wagner had a change of heart, as did Denys.
Then came the big night for Denys at the Hampton Inn. With $11,000-plus securely in her campaign account, Denys suddenly had a change of heart for her dear friend, Mr. Wilson, imploring her council colleagues, "We've got to finish this."
She made all kinds of accusations about strong-arming tactics by Wilson to reclaim his chairmanship, never mind that it was a majority vote by his own SVAA colleagues) and the audio recordings of the SVAA meetings don't support Denys' accusations, which most of the council members never bothered to listen to.
State Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, is shown in this Nov. 15 Facebook photo seated between County Councilwoman Pat Northey, D-Deltona (red jacket) and County Councilwoman Deb Denys at a Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce function in New Smyrna Beach. The photo was posted on Denys' Facebook page and copied to Hukill's.This is the same Denys who erupted with "We got to the Yes!" earlier this year when County Manager Jim Dinneen caved in to the demands of the Volusia Council of Governments' behind-the-scenes lobbying led by its chair, New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, in staving off more restrictive guidelines for county approval of Community Redevelopment Agencies.
Barringer has approved upwards of $2 million in CRA funding, primarily for bars and restaurants in and around Flagler Avenue and alcohol-fueled street parties over the past five years.
At the Cinco de Mayo festival earlier this year, a Port Orange woman partying in a bar on Flagler was killed when she lost control of her SUV on the South Causeway and was thrown through the windshield in a rollover with the vehicle landing on top of her. The Medical Examiner's Office determined she was three times the legal limit for intoxication and had cocaine in her system.
Then there's Barringer himself, the Republican mayor from New Smyrna Beach with the multiple state ethics charges pending against him, hosting Denys' second fundraiser at his So Napa Grille earlier this week, a year after he did the same thing for Democrat Jim Hathaway, the former longtime city commissioner he endorsed over his own party's nominee Denys.
Barringer and City Manager Pam Brangaccio then found themselves in hot water with the fist of multiple ethics allegations, beginning with the "private retirement party" for Hathaway with a city credit card used to pick up the tab. The Florida Commission on Ethics investigations against the mayor and city manager are ongoing.
And Barringer and Brangaccio could find themselves muddied in yet another ethics complaint revolving around a $70,000 re-written retirement for then-Police Chief Ronald Pagano that saw no advance public notice 13 months ago after the city manager was apprised that more than 940 items were missing from the police evidence room and garages under Pagano's watch, including $8,000 in cash, handguns, ammo, narcotics, jewelry, electronics and even automobiles The city kept the affair under wraps for five months before releasing a press release as Headline Surfer® began inquiring. A new police chief was hired in George Markert from upstate New York last Spring before the scandal broke.
Fast-forwarding to more recent situations, is a cap off the Ledbetter-led fight with the Volusia County School Board over its allowance of a textbook for high school sophomores titled, "World History," that contains a 32-page section on Islam, he and other Republican-Fundamentalist Republicans close to him oppose.
At left, Volusia County Republican Party Chairman Tony Ledbetter leads a crusade of fundamentalist Christian Republicans in a fight with the Volusia County School Board over a world history textbook that has a chapter devoted to Islam, but has said nothing about a recent KKK flyer drop in a black neighborhood in New Smyrna Beach.
Ledbetter held a planning meeting five days before Tuesday's school board meeting, informing Headline Surfer®
in advance media would have to wait outside for participants. So we didn't go, but the Daytona Beach News-Journal was allowed unfettered access.
Ledbetter then accused me personally of being a "Democrat" for daring to question the actions leading up to the event, including Sarmiento's antics. As publisher of Headline Surfer, I am a registered as an NPA.
How soon Ledbetter forgets that Headline Surfer® endorsed his party's presidential ticket of Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan. However, we did not endorse his party's three big council candidates who won -- County Chair Jason Davis, Deland-area's Pat Patterson or New Smyrna Beach-area's Denys.
Davis and Patterson voted with the Democratic majority in endorsing County Manager Jim Dinneen's budget plan for the new fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Denys voted against it, but she didn't recommend a single cent of the $11 million suggested by Ledbetter and company.
During that second and final public hearing on the budget, Davis, in particular, got a tongue-lashing from Republicans, the worst coming from Port Orange City Council gadfly Ted Noftall, who finished a distant third among three candidates in last summer's primary and out of the runoff.
Davis said he learned a valuable lesson after the tongue-lashing he received, pointing out that he recognizes he's inexperienced, but he did work with the heads of other taxing districts to see that the overall county millage rate did not go up, even if spending in the council-controlled general fund did.
Davis said that after his election, the party elders abandoned him, then swooped in nine months later thinking he'd blindly go along with them. And they have continued giving him the cold shoulder since that final budget hearing.
"I'm not a career politician and I voted for what I thought was best," Davis told Headline Surfer, adding, his party's leaders showed their true colors. Davis said he believes Denys sold out Wilson for her own political benefit.
Headline Surfer photos / Republican New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, a member of the exclusive all-white, all-male Anglers Club, established in 1913, during the height of the Jim Crow era in the Deep South, has avoided media scrutiny as to why he's not spoken out on the Ku Klux Klan's flyer-recruitment drop in the black Westside neighborhood, whores residents prior to 1970, were forced to attend their own segregated schools. In the decade or so before that, blacks there and throughout Volusia County were not allowed to frequent the public beaches in New Smyrna, Daytona or Ormond. Instead, they were relegated to Bethune Beach, south of the New Smyrna Beach city limits, an area now lined by million-dollar homes and open to the public at large. Barringer and his fellow Anglers enjoy the riches of prime waterfront acreage on the Intracoastal Waterway, including a clubhouse and 46 mini yacht-sized boat slips and docking. The Anglers pay a collective $25 a year for the rights to the municipal property worth millions. Barringer also has multiple state ethics charges pending.The newest stain on the Republicans is the lack of response, sensitivity or even empathy for the black community in historically segregated "Westside" where the Ku Klux Klan dumped half a dozen recruitment flyers in the front lawns of residents who live near the Allen Chapel AME Church led by Pastor Lorenzo Laws, who confirmed the Justice Department is investigating it as a hate crime, even though the New Smyrna Beach police dismissed it as an unfortunate reality of free speech, but not hate.
The lack of outcry begs the question: Is Denys providing cover for her new-found ally and friend, Mayor Barringer. After all, it's easy to understand why he'd stay away from the media spotlight in this case. He's a member of the all-white, all-male Anglers Club, established in 1913. The Anglers enjoy a longstanding sweetheart deal with the city of New Smyrna Beach for exclusive rights to prime waterfront acreage on the Intracoastal Waterway, which includes a clubhouse and 46 mini yacht-sized boat slips.
Ledbetter, too, has ignored the KKK issue, though he did put out a flyer of his own leading up to Tuesday's school board meeting and Denys' party later that night at Barringer's restaurant urging GOPers to attend her fundraiser and donate. So while Ledbetter extolls the virtues of foreign terrorism by Muslim Jihadists, he, too is silent on the longstanding domestic terrorists in the murderous Klan.
Headline Surfer® understands Hukill's polite dissing of a prestigious award, but she, too, is a politician, and in this case, partisan blood is thicker than water. Perhaps, we'll offer the award to another deserving official working hard in Tallahassee.
Even Hukill is silent on the KKK, having been in the district to attend a chamber social function with Denys, but then again, she's probably say she's focused on working hard in Tallahassee and that's not within her duties even as she represents these very same Westside residents. So why bother?
That the media has to flush these politicians out who waste taxpayer money on assistants to write self-promotional press releases and see their name in the paper, speaks volumes as to the buzz phrase these same politicians use come campaign season that they claim they are "fighting for you." As you can see by the chamber social cocktail hour with Hukill and Denys and other references above, there isn't much in the way of that now is there?
Editor's Note: After Headline Surfer® pointed out to Hukill in a private message on Facebook that her press release announcement made it sound like she won an award from MADD for working to curb drunkenness in the Legislature, she revised her post as shown here late Wednesday. And gone, too, was her gigantic head shot.