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Slow day so I thought I'd share a picture for you taken by NT photographer Colby Katz. It's Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini at a recent city hall meeting. The gentleman in the blue shirt with outstetched hand at right is your peaceable Pulp host. I wonder why Cap doesn't seem happy to see me. It may have something to do with the line of questioning.

To be fair, the mayor was very gracious about it. Must have been the setting. Probably would have been a whole lot different if I'd met him in a back room with his buds at Club Cinema.

Well hell, since I'm already doing a little belly button balleyhooing, I might as well share with you a note and photo (at right) I received from Ron Gunzburger, the Politics1 honcho, right-hand man of Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, and son of county commish Sue. If you don't know about Gunzburger, he's a veritable workaholic -- and needs to be since he's full timing it for Parrish and running his gigantic Web site. And yet he still manages to be a voracious reader, chewing up political tracts and histories of all kinds.

And it seems my name popped up in one of the books he was reading. Only it wasn't me. "Bob Norman" was a code name used in a Soviet espionage deal about 70 years ago (you can barely make it out on the page there). Let Gunzburger tell it to you:

This comes from the book The Haunted Wood (Weinstein & Vassiliev, Random House, 1999). It's the history of Soviet espionage in the US during the Stalin era. "Bob Norman" was not a Soviet agent, but was used as part of a password phrase so that Soviet secret agent Martha Dodd (daughter of the US Ambassador to Germany) would be able to recognize her new handler in the US. The info in this passage comes from formerly classified NKVD/KGB files made available to Western scholars during the Yeltsin era (i.e., before Putin started reimposing an authoritarian rule in Russia). A double agent exposed Dodd in the mid-1950s, she fled to sanctuary behind the Iron Curtain in the mid-1950s, was convicted in absentia in the US of espionage in 1957, and died in exile in Prague in 1990. Nearly everything I read is non-fiction -- and these days I'm alternating on any given day between The Haunted Wood (Soviet espionage); 1491: New Revelations of America Before Columbus (did you know the largest city in the world, population-wise, around 500 AD was Calakmul in Mexico? It's right near the Guatemalan border -- I visited it two years ago, still around 90% unexcavated, very few tourists, just fascinating. See: http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~dhixson/calakmul/calakmul.html ); Mao: The Unknown Story (a great new biography by Chang & Halliday); and Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values (interested book by Canadian pollster Michael Adams). I haven't come across any mentions of Bob Norman in the other ones, but I'll let you know if I see it.

Back to The Haunted Wood ... Did you know a US Congressman in the 1930s was a paid Soviet spy (but the Soviets still thought of him as so greedy his spy codename in reports was the Russian word for CROOK)? It's like a LeCarre novel only better -- because these stories are all true. Being a student of Soviet history is entirely irrelevant these days (just look at Sovietologist historian Condi Rice and see how well it served to guide her) -- but makes for interesting reading (particularly the Stalin, Khrushchev and Gorbachev/Yeltsin era).

Remember Sylvia Poitier? She's the one who was voted off the Broward County Commission after creating an untoward relationship (financially) with reviled mega-developer Michael Swerdlow.

You might remember that she had her political Lazarus moment by getting elected to the Deerfield Beach city commission.

Well, she's running into trouble again in Deerfield, this time for her loyalty to the terrible twosome in that little piece of heaven, namely suspended City Manager Larry Deetjen and Mayor Al Capellini.

When Deetjen was suspended by the commission on June 6 for making racist remarks to a Palm Beach International Airport parking employee, Poitier was the only commissioner (other than Capellini) to support the manager. And she happened to be the only black commissioner on the dais.

Now this might have come from some deep principle. Perhaps she knew something the rest of us didn't know or she had a high-minded reason for not voting against Deetjen.

Nah.

It was just another blatant example of political cowardice. Poitier cut and ran from the debate. Here's what she said during the meeting, directly from the official tape from the city clerk:

As long as my name is not called, I'm going to be very quiet and crazy. ... I don't get in all fights, but if you all want to fight about it then I can fight about it. Because I said, don't call my name. I am not going to get involved in this. I am black. And I am black as the night's that are black. There is nothing oreo about me nor white about me. ... Don't use me to suspend or fire the city manager. Just leave me out of it. Whatever you all do is fine, but don't call my name. Don't call my name because I don't want it to be attached to this alleged or proven statement. However you have it is fine. Just do what you have to do ... but don't put me in this one.

So why was she so "quiet and crazy"? Well Sun-Sentinel reporter Susannah Bryan gave us an idea in a story last week. Basically, Bryan reports how Poitier used her position as commissioner to help steer $100,000 to a firm run by her daughter and another relative. Read the story, which was buried in the newspaper and disguised under a misleadingly dull headline. Kenneth Nairn of the Broward Times followed with his own version.

The theory: Poitier forged an unholy deal with Deetjen and now is bound to him as he and Capellini make their final descent through the nine rings of hell. Should make for an interesting ride.

So I got an e-mail from a P.R. firm in Boca Raton called TransMedia Group. The subject line: "Mayor Al Capellini Speaks Out!"

That's right, Mayor Al has hired a P.R. firm to rebut negative press, including coverage of his use of a city supervisor to coerce a city lifeguard to go on a date with him and, most recently, my report on his conflicts of interest. Here's a link to the complete press release.

On the lifeguard affair, Capellini is quoted:

"One incident that made headlines was my having dinner one night with a single female who at the time was a city worker. Big deal! This is a news story? But from all the innuendo that opponents crammed into the story, you'd think I'd broken the law. 'Thou Shalt not have dinner with a single, adult woman.' One of my friends jokingly said I should handle it like President Clinton and announce: 'I did not have dinner with that woman!

A thorough investigation, however, conducted by the City Attorney into Capellini's relationship with the then-city worker found nothing wrong.

"Yet somehow that doesn't get the same media attention," he said. " I can almost hear the reporter saying: 'Ah shucks . . . nothing dirty there. But we'll keep prying.' That's how ridiculous this recent spate of negative stories about myself and our City Manager has become," he said.

In fact, the internal city review found that the city's deputy recreation director Jack Disher acted inappropriately when he pressured the lifeguard to date Capellini. Read Sentinel beat reporter Susannah Bryan's article . And, if Disher acted inappropriately, then what about the mayor, who pressured Disher to set the lifeguard up on the unwanted date?

As for my article this week about his unseemly relationship with architect Bill Gall0, Capellini and his P.R. flacks go on the offensive:

A voluminous article stretching over six pages in the New Times newspaper on June 1, implied some shenanigans were going on between myself and Mr. Gallo who occasionally represents clients before the Deerfield Beach City Commission.

"Yes, I admit to having business relationships with architects. Occasionally I may even have dinner with them. I'm an engineer by profession and engineers and architects work together. Hello? But any time Mr. Gallo brought a matter before the City Commission, I made it a point to declare a conflict and not vote. New Times says I have a 'convenient bladder' as I always excuse myself when Gallo brings a matter before the
commission. I call it just Mother Nature calling. By the way, the incident to which the New Times article was referring was just a tabling of the issue, not even an approval or disapproval."

In fact, I've found several instances where Mother Nature has called Capellini away from city votes in a patently illegal fashion. But I'm not going to get in a tit-for-tat on this thing. I just wonder how much this press release cost and if the mayor is going to try to bill the city.

Ever heard of the Deerfield Observer? It's a so-called "community newspaper" -- you know, one of those local Chamber of Commerce rags. Some Deerfield locals have been cheering a pending personnel change at the newspaper that was announced on Friday: The resignation of long-time Managing Editor Judy Wilson. Why? Because Wilson was a cheerleader for (over)development forces and a devout defender of embattled City Manager Larry Deetjen and the heavily conflicted Deerfield mayor, Al Capellini.

Here's her resignation letter:

June 2, 2006

Hi Everyone;

After considerable thought, I have decided to seek new opportunities and new challenges and so will be leaving as managing editor of the Observer the end of June.

Working with the business community to create this fine publication has been a wonderful experience, but the goal has been accomplished.

May everyone stay healthy and happy and enjoy success.

Regards.

Judy Wilson

I don't know why Wilson resigned, but don't expect the Observer to change. If possible, it could get worse. The owner and publisher is a businessman and Republican opportunist named J. David Eller. You may remember him as the Jeb Bush partner involved in a scandalous sale of water pumps to Nigeria. Read about him and his company, MWI, in this St. Pete Times article. Bush-El -- it may be the scariest sounding company in the history of the world. This from a 2002 St. Pete Times report by Sydney P. Freedberg:

A contractor for the district for decades, MWI has been dogged in recent years by negative publicity about a 1992 deal to sell pumps to Nigeria with the help of a $74-million loan from a U.S. export agency.

As Eller's partner in a marketing firm called Bush-El, Bush twice traveled to Nigeria to promote MWI's pumps. He says he refused any commission in the Nigerian deal because of the appearance of a conflict of interest: The money was a federal loan and his father was in the White House.

In June 1999, former MWI employees revealed to the press that the FBI was investigating how the company handled the U.S. loan in the Nigerian deal.

Last month, the Justice Department filed a civil complaint against MWI and Eller, saying they improperly funneled one third of the $74-million to a Nigerian agent as commission money. In turn, the complaint says, the agent and other company officials paid Nigerian government officials who then bought MWI pumps.

The federal complaint also says that Eller twice flew suitcases of cash to offshore tax havens to hide his assets.

MWI has denied wrongdoing and called the allegations against Eller false and "shameful."

The complaint does not mention Bush. Asked if Bush and Eller are still close friends, the governor's spokeswoman replied, "Not relevant."

This is the guy who runs the Fourth Estate in Deerfield Beach -- and you wondered how it became one of the most incestuous and corrupt towns in South Florida?

In an apparent game of one-upmanship, Miami City Commissioner Johnny Winton has outdone Deerfield Beach City Manager Larry Deetjen in airport tirades. The Miami Herald's David Ovalle and Michael Vasquez do a bang-up job on deadline of telling us about Winton's apparently drunken scuffle with cops last night at Miami International Airport. According to police, the 5-foot-5 Winton knocked down drinks at an airport bar before becoming "abusive" while standing in line for a flight. When police arrived, he told them who he damn well was before telling them to go fuck themselves. During the ensuing struggle, he struck one officer with his right shoulder and kicked another in the balls before he fell against a wall.

Vegas is now laying odds on what will happen next in Florida: An alligator attacking another human, or a politico attacking another airport cop.

In other crime news, the killer of Michael Sortal was put away for 32 years. We just wish Kevin Hoffman would have gotten more time for the brutal murder in Sortal's Wilton Manors apartment. And the Pulp is glad that Nick Sortal, a reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, at least got some justice for his brother. The Miami Herald's Sara Olkon (who outdid the Sentinel in today's coverage) tells us that Nick Sortal credits Fort Lauderdale police Detective John Curcio with making the difference.

Doesn't surprise me, since Curcio, who goes by the nickname "Mongo," is a truly great -- and dogged, can't forget dogged -- investigator who was instrumental in uncovering the truth about serial killer Eddie Lee Mosley, who happens to be the scariest m-fer in South Florida history. Curcio's work, which flew in the face of bad BSO detectives and terrible prosecutors and judges, led to the freeing of Jerry Townsend, who was falsely convicted of rapes that Mosley committed. Way to go Mongo.

In light of Deerfield Beach City Manager Larry Deetjen's racist blowup at the Palm Beach County Airport, I feel it is incumbent upon the Pulp to allow Deetjen a full airing of his defense. It comes in the form of a memo he wrote to Deerfield Beach City Attorney Andy Maurodis five days after he was accused of getting into the face of a black parking cop and yelling racist statements at him (like "Your people never get better jobs because of the way you act!"). It should make your B.S. meters go berserk. Below is the brunt of his memo (with footnotes!):

On Saturday, March 18, 2006, my wife and I took my 88 year-old mother-in-law, Catherine Russell, to the airport to fly home to Massachusetts .... My mother is elderly, frail, hard of hearing, and uses a wheelchair[1]. We parked curbside at the airport to unload her bags, help her into her wheelchair, and check her in curbside. We have done this in the past with no problems. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, we encountered some unexpected difficulties getting her expeditiously checked in curbside. PES Cruz then approached me abut my parked car. I explained the situation to PES Cruz, who not only told me that I could continue parking curbside in order to make sure my wheelchair-bound, elderly mother-in-law was finally checked in and given an escort to her terminal, he even offered to help[2]. Minutes later PES Kirby approached my car. PES Kirby was utterly indifferent to the needs of my wheelchair-bound, elderly mother-in-law. Without any care at all for the situation or for what PES Cruz had already given me permission to do, PES Kirby instructed me to move my car and thereby leave my mother-in-law behind and unattended at this busy airport sidewalk[3]. When I refused to do so[4], he threatened me, including by writing a parking ticket, by calling additional officers to the scene in a bald attempt to intimidate me, and by at one point threatening to put a "boot up my ass."[5] I took exception to his bureaucratic attitude, his utter indifference[6], his threats, and to the fact that he chose to ticket me for something that Cruz had explicitly told me I could do. I may have told him that I intended to fight the ticket. In the few words that we exchanged, however, I never once made any of the racially biased statements falsely attributed to me in Captain Burke's report[7].

Although I was given a $10.00 parking ticket as a result of this affair, you will note that the ticket makes no mention of any alleged racially biased statements, or even any perceived rudeness on my part[8]. ...

... It it unclear to me how PES Kirby can "make a formal complaint" against me when I am not his supervisor or even his fellow employee. I was just a private citizen dropping my mother-in-law off at the airport on a Saturday morning. I would like, however, to "make a formal complaint" as a citizen and an airport customer against PES Kirby for his conduct toward me and my mother-in-law on Saturday. In particular, I would like to "make a formal complaint" against PES Kirby for his discrimination against and insensitivity to the disabled and the elderly. Please advise me how I can go about making such a complaint[9] .

________________________
1. Deetjen plays the cripple card all over the place in the one-and-a-half page memo. He uses the phrase "wheelchair-bound elderly mother-in-law," or some version of it four more times (some have been deleted here for space).

2. Cruz specifically denied that he allowed Deetjen to park illegally for any period of time.

3. Here, Deetjen is totally misleading Maurodis and everybody else who reads this. What the city manager doesn't mention is that his wife, Lynn, was with his mother-in-law at all times. According to Cruz, the entire squabble occurred while Lynn was wheeling her mother to the terminal. Deetjen wanted to wait in the illegal spot until they returned. Cruz explicitly states that he told Deetjen he had to move his car.

4. Deetjen here admits that he believes he's above the law, or at least above the officer in charge of parking at the airport.

5. This sentence has the stink of untruth all over it. For one, writing a ticket isn't a threat. It's a routine police action. Secondly, Kirby telling Deetjen he was going to call for back-up only indicates that it was Deetjen was doing the intimidating. Boot up the ass? Nice touch.

6. Bureaucratic attitude and indifference? What was he, a menace to society with a badge or a haughty desk clerk?

7. Kirby and Cruz both reported the racist statements — and their version was accepted as truth by upper PBSO brass and the BSO, which conducted its own review of the investigation upon Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini's request.

8. Since when would an officer scrawl anything about racist comments on a parking ticket?

9. Not obnoxious at all. Not one bit.

Occasionally the Pulp busts some news. This is one of those times. I just received a copy of police reports concerning an argument at the Palm Beach County Airport last month. It involved Deerfield Beach City Manager Larry Deetjen and a black Palm Beach Sheriff's Office parking cop.

It, uh, doesn't reflect very well on Deetjen.

According to the PBSO records, Deetjen took his wheelchair-bound mother-in-law to the airport on March 18 for a flight to Massachusetts. He stopped his city-issued black Crown Vic on the curbside by the terminal and helped his mother-in-law inside. A PBSO "parking enforcement specialist" (or PES) named Jose Cruz told him he was in violation but allowed Deetjen's wife, Lynn, to take his mother-in-law inside the terminal. "I advised [Deetjen] that he could not leave the vehicle parked at the curb," Cruz wrote of Deetjen. "... I assumed that he was intending to leave the terminal."

According to police, he didn't. That's when PES Ed Kirby, who is black, told Deetjen he would have to move. According to both Cruz and Kirby, the city manager became agitated and said he wasn't moving.

Kirby began writing him a ticket, infuriating Deetjen, who got out of the car and into Kirby's face.

"The driver was was standing in Kirby's face, pointing and stating loudly, 'This is why your people stay where you are and never go beyond where you are!'" Cruz wrote.

According to a later report done by Captain A.S. Burke, Kirby reported that Deetjen also said, "Your people can never get better jobs because of the way you act ... if you worked for me, I would have you fired in a New York minute. This is exactly why your people never get ahead."

When Kirby gave him the $10 ticket, Deetjen yelled "Fuck you!" at him, according to Burke's report.

Cruz, Kirby, and higher-ranking PBSO officers all believed that Deetjen's comments were racist. A few days later, Kirby filed a complaint at the city against Deetjen and Mayor Al Capellini requested that BSO investigate. In a written memo, Deetjen denied making racist statements and claimed that Kirby had threatened to "put a boot up my ass."

BSO, however, didn't buy it. On May 1, Lt. Col. Danny Wright concluded that what Deetjen had done showed "cleared bias and reflects negatively on Mr. Deetjen as a person."

You'll hear more about this, I'm sure.

For your reading pleasure, I offer a memo written by the human resources director of Deerfield Beach regarding Mayor Al Capellini's misguided attempts at romance (with a city lifeguard 22 years younger than he). A citizen muckraker e-mailed it to me (some of you reporters might be able to guess who). Anyway, you've read about it, now you can read it. Have a great weekend. (Also, The Pulp hears there is big news brewing at the Sentinel regarding Buddy Nevins. Make sure to read his column Saturday. It may be his last.)

TO: The File FROM: Marva J. Gordon, Director of Human Resources DATE: Feb 6, 2006 SUBJECT: Jennifer Carpenter Incident On February 6, 2006, Carla DeLuiz, Grants Administrator, and I met with Jennifer Carpenter, Water Safety Instructor Programmer. Jennifer said an incident had occurred recently and she had kept it a secret for awhile until she decided to discuss it with Carla because she couldn't keep it any longer. Jennifer related the incident as having begun on September 19, 2005, after the dedication of the new swimming pool. She said that Jack Disher, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Department, closed the door and said that he wanted to speak to her about something personal and she was not to discuss it with anyone. There was nothing strange about his remarks since she had always confided in lack Disher. He had even ordered some golf clubs for her husband, Paul, who was a professional golfer. Jack had always been kind to her and she trusted him. Jack proceeded to ask her when she would allow him to set her up with a date. This date was to be with Al Capellini, the Mayor, who was asking about Jennifer. Jennifer said she told Jack that the Mayor was not her type and she perceived him as being gross. Jack's response was that the Mayor had a lot of money even if he was not good looking. Jennifer said that she had to think about this proposal. She felt it was crazy to even consider it but she was flattered although she did not understand the request. Months passed and very often after lack's initial proposal, he kept after her to go out with the Mayor. Jack said, "you can do it for me." On January 3, 2006, after returning from the holiday vacation, she saw Jack and he asked about her husband, Paul and also reminded her about the Mayor. Jennifer said at that point since she was separated from her husband, she consented to have coffee with the Mayor. Jack called the Mayor while Jennifer was still in his office to let him know that she would go out with him. Within the hour, the Mayor called Jennifer. He asked her out in a respectful manner and said they would just go out and have fun. On Friday, January 13, 2006, Jennifer went out with the Mayor and he spent a lot of money on her and they had a good time. They had dinner and drinks at "the Cafeteria" on South Beach. Jennifer said that they had fun that night. On Sunday, January 15, 2006, while Jennifer was on duty at the pool by herself the Mayor called and she told him that she could not leave because she was there by herself. Jennifer called Khaled Coury, her supervisor on the telephone and asked if she could leave. He said it ~ okay for her to leave, however, the pool was left unattended by the assigned supervisor. There were lifeguards at the pool, however, the pool should never be left without a supervisor being present. Jennifer met the Mayor at the "Yucatan" for lunch and she had a margarita although she was on duty and had to go back to the pool. I told her that she had violated City policy and she could have gotten into serious trouble. Jennifer said it was at this meeting that for the first time, the Mayor's conversation became very sexual and she did not like it. Jennifer left the Yucatan and went back to work. After their lunch at the Yucatan, the Mayor kept calling her and most of the times, she did not answer telephone because she did not want to speak to him. She allowed Lauren Dismuke, a temporary lifeguard, to answer the telephone, and the Mayor on many occasions, identified himself. Jennifer told lack that she needed his help to get the Mayor off her back. She received several calls during that week from the Mayor and again, she asked Jack to take care of this problem for her. It was at this time that Jack told her she was an adult and her issue was not work-related. Jennifer allowed Jack to hear some of the Mayor's telephone calls and he said that he did not see anything wrong with the Mayor's calls, they seemed normal to him and this was Jennifer's problem not his. After receiving a call from the Mayor one day, Jennifer called Jack again and said, "get over here." Jack came by the pool with Andrew Hyatt. Jennifer complained again to him about the Mayor's calls. Jack said she would have to tell the Mayor face to face that she was not interested in going out with him again. At that point, Jennifer called the Mayor on Friday, January 20, 2006, and said she needed to speak to him. The Mayor asked her to stop by his home that evening because he was sick. Jennifer allowed Carla and me to hear three of the telephone calls the Mayor made to her. The calls were respectful and friendly and we did not sense any kind of coercion in the Mayor's messages on the telephone. When Jennifer got to the Mayor's home, he asked her to watch a movie with him. They were watching ''Million Dollar Baby" when someone called the Mayor's home from Jennifer's home telephone number. The call was from David Godoy, a man that Jennifer was seeing and who had worked with her prior at the pool. She said they got into a heated discussion and she hung up the telephone. David called the Mayor's home again and this time he spoke to the Mayor. David Godoy made several threats to the Mayor and said he would kill him. When the Mayor hung up he told Jennifer that he was being set up by her and he asked her to leave his home. When Jennifer left the Mayor's home, she called Jack Disher, her husband, Paul, and her girl mend, Jill Palmeiri. When she spoke to Jack about the entire issue, he said he did not know about any calls she was receiving from the Mayor. In the meanwhile, Paul arrives at Jennifer's home before she does and confronts David Godoy, who was still there trashing her condo. David Godoy left and Paul waited until Jennifer got there. The place was well trashed and the Coral Springs police was called. David Godoy was arrested but since that time, charges against him have been dropped. Jennifer has not been able to return to work since January 21, 2006. Vincent Kendrick, Director of Parks and Recreation had an opportunity to speak to Jennifer on January 30,2006. He suggested that she take advantage of the City's Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Jennifer had already contacted the EAP to see a counselor. Since January 27th, Jennifer has been seeing a counselor at the EAP. I told Jennifer that she was a very good swimming instructor and the City would hate to lose her as an employee. I also felt that as an adult, she had made some bad decisions, but EAP staff would help her sort the whole thing out. I asked her when she thought she would be able to return to work and she said she did not know. She was really contemplating to resign and return to her parent's home in South Carolina. Jennifer says that she feels Jack Disher has disappointed her because he is someone she trusted. She felt pressured into making a decision to go out with the Mayor after being asked on a daily basis to do it. I asked her if she liked her job. She said, "I love my job!" However, Jennifer also said that she could not work for Jack Disher again in the future. I assured her that if she returned to work she would never again be under the supervision of Jack Disher. The Parks and Recreation Department has already moved to reorganize the Ocean Rescue and Pool areas. I recommended that she take her time before making a rash decision since as an adult, she would find that she could not live with her parents indefinitely. Jennifer said she would seriously think about it and get back with us. Jennifer said she would continue her sessions at EAP because she should have done this before. She felt that the EAP sessions were very helpful. I have offered to assist Jennifer in any way that I can, while she is off work and when she returns if that is her decision.