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Who is Blake MacDiarmid and what is his connection to Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell?
An excerpt from The Palm Beach Post editorial writer Joel Englehart--what follows is a key portion--a blast from the past--it goes back twelve years:
The feds probably want to know not only what Commissioner
McCarty has done for her husband but what she has done for her brother,
Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard. That's where Blake MacDiarmid comes
in.
Mr. MacDiarmid managed Commissioner McCarty's 2002
campaign. He was an up-and-comer in Republican circles, where
Commissioner McCarty reigns. But something went wrong. "Blake did not
sufficiently kiss the ring," one observer said. Suddenly, Commissioner
McCarty was undermining Mr. MacDiarmid at every turn. Candidates he had
long represented told him no thank you. Clients couldn't hire him
without risking Commissioner McCarty's wrath - and active opposition.
Losing clients at that rate, Mr. MacDiarmid would pose no threat to
Commissioner McCarty when she leaves the commission in 2010 to become a
lobbyist. Assuming she's not in prison by then. From the Palm Beach Sun April 2011
Well, we all know what happened to her. The five-term commissioner pleaded guilty to honest service fraud in 2009
and was sentenced to 3 and 1/2 years in a federal prison camp. Her husband, Kevin had a brief term in prison for not reporting Mary's crimes.
MacDiarmid has been a paid political consultant for the campaigns of
several Delray Beach commissioners. In 2004, he was hired to help the
city when it asked voters to approve a $14 million bond issue used to
finance parks and recreation projects. He is well known in political circles and Judge Marni Bryson of the 15th Judicial court is now his wife. You can't get a better connection than that working on your side.
Interesting diatribe? It gets better. In South Florida, he
has served as an adviser to Congressman Tom Rooney, State
Representatives George Moraitis and Pat Rooney, Palm Beach County Mayor
Steven Abrams, Palm Beach County Commissioner Hal Valeche, Boca Raton
Mayor Susan Whelchel, Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein and Lake Worth
Mayor Pam Triolo.
NOW GET THIS--**Mr. MacDiarmid served as lead consultant for the
successful passage of a $24 million parks and community ballot
referendum, was chief strategist with the City of Fort Lauderdale to
pass a critical $40 million public safety ballot issue, and has also
worked as a strategist with Lynn University, the Republican Party,
Florida on the Move and business and neighborhood advocacy groups. Source: Old faithful Ins
In March 2014, Scott Maxwell paid MacDiarmid $3,000 for campaign services and consulting. Consulting for what? For an election that never happened? Or was it for advice on who to approach in order to bulldoze a county park for national baseball? Was it for the infrastructure bond issue that he wants so badly to happen?
More often than not, favorable results develop behind the scenes and out of the Sunshine--in strategy meetings with consultants and other politicians. What's next for Scott Maxwell? Who knows? We do know that when he wants something, he will fight for it every step of the way, doing whatever it takes--a mover and shaker. Watch for Scott Maxwell to move on and up in local politics.
1 comment:
Maxwell is a bully who will throw even his own neighborhood under the bus to get his way.
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