Broward News & Opinion

JENNIFER ANDREU GOT CAUGHT LYING

Scott Travis at the Sun-Sentinel already did the heavy lifting on Broward Schools’ computer procurement mess.

One finding ought to follow Councilmember Jennifer Andreu back to Plantation.

The inspector general found that she “knowingly and incorrectly” told the School Board that the purchasing agent hadn’t shared bidders’ prices with staff.

In plain English, she lied to the School Board.

Andreu was overseeing procurement. She’s also a Plantation councilwoman, so she knows exactly what it means to sit on a dais and rely on the information someone gives you before casting a vote.

So why should residents believe her the next time she explains a budget vote or assures them about a development?

Her colleagues in Plantation also ought to be asking themselves how much her word is worth. Will they put their political skin on the line based on it? If I were sitting next to her on that dais and she told me she loved her mother, I’d want to see the evidence.

An elected official has the trust the community places in them. When they lose that, it’s over. Andreu ought to understand that better than most.

Then comes the OIG’s recommendation: Add an explicit prohibition against knowingly making material misrepresentations at School Board meetings.

What a joke. How about we fire staff who lie to their bosses? Are we not allowed to do that anymore?

Do we really need to update the handbook before expecting someone overseeing public contracts to tell the truth?

For all the grief I’ve given the OIG, it finally looked under the right rock. Investigators wrote that they “may have established the elements of bid tampering” involving information disclosed before it became public, and it’s been referred to the Broward State Attorney’s Office.

Let Harold Pryor clean up that mess.

The School Board can start by showing its employees what happens when they get caught lying.

SCOTT WYMAN CRASHES OUT

I watched Scott Wyman, drink in hand, lip quivering, barely keeping himself together from anger:

“You fucked us.”

His target? Someone who helped former City Manager Rickelle Williams withstand the steady drip of politicized dirt coming her way.

For months, the whole city wondered where that drip was coming from. Then the mayor’s chief of staff started complaining in the reception area of the State of the City that somebody had interfered.

Interesting choice of words, Scott. “Us.”

Wyman works for Mayor Dean Trantalis. To my ears, that “us” sounded like the mayor’s office taking ownership of the operation. Unless “us” meant Scott and his drink, they have some explaining to do^[1].

Especially after Dean Trantalis gave Rickelle such a lovely sendoff.

“You set an example for a lot of people in the city, and we thank you for that,” the mayor said when she left.

Lovely. Somebody should get Scott a copy.

The defense offered to me by someone close to that office was that if they really had been behind it, Rickelle would have been gone in a month.

Well, if a month was the plan, apparently somebody “fucked” that up. That explanation certainly didn’t account for why Scott was so upset with the person who helped her.

Rickelle left with 20 weeks of severance and public praise for her integrity and work. To me, that looks like a capable administrator who decided the political bullshit wasn’t worth her integrity.

She walked away. Scott was the one I saw standing there with a drink, still carrying on about her.

And this wasn’t the first time Scott’s mouth got him in trouble.

Back in 2022, his contact with a losing candidate had Commissioner John Herbst calling for his job. Dean defended him then.

Apparently, explaining Scott is part of the mayor’s job description.

Either way, Scott works for Dean. The mayor can’t hand out compliments from the dais and expect nobody to notice what his chief of staff says elsewhere.

If his chief of staff was speaking for him, the mayor owes us an explanation. If Scott was moonlighting, the public has a right to know what type of side-work he has going on that could conflict with his duties as a city employee.

…And if anyone is dumb enough to use City Hall to retaliate against me for reporting what I witnessed, I’ll write about that, too.

Stay tuned.

TWO MORE ROUNDS

Which lobbyist got so drunk at the State of the City that he started getting out of pocket and had to be sent home?

Hope that wasn’t billable.

Seen around town: Mega-lobbyist-in-training Jared Rosenstein’s wife and Erika Donalds having drinks at Runway 84 after Donalds’ fundraiser at Jay’s Steakhouse.

[1]: As always, I will publish, unedited, any elected official’s comments, responses, articles, etc…