Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Lake Worth Commissioner Andy Amoroso ducks the Press

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Katie LaGrone, Investigative Reporter WPTV
and camerman



Because of all the hot news lately affecting the publicity in our downtown regarding Dylan Harrison and his manufacture of illegal synthetic drugs, as well as all the reported problems at that downtown establishment, last evening Channel 5 West Palm Beach was on the scene in order to get an interview with Commissioner Andy Amoroso. It had already been reported previously by this blog on July 27  and later by a Miami television station, WPLG Miami, that Mr. Amoroso had accepted a campaign contribution from Harrison.

Amoroso is used to the "friendly" Lake Worth Herald sitting across from him throughout every meeting but last night Channel 5 took him off guard. Taking a few poignant  questions from the news media was too hot to handle for Mr. Amoroso.

The chain of events went something like this:

Amoroso enters City Hall and is asked for a brief interview. He says "no" and hurries to his office shutting the door to the hallway so that Channel 5 cannot pursue.

Before the commission meeting begins, he exits his office area and he is asked again--

"Commissioner, why won't you talk to us?" asks Ms. LaGrone.

"I have nothing to say," says Amoroso.

"Commissioner, what is your relationship with the owner of the Kavasutra Bar?" asks LaGrone.

"There is no relationship," says Amoroso.

As we all entered the city hall chamber, we soon found out that there was a deletion to the agenda--Mr. Amoroso had deleted his request that the city pay for his air fare to New York City. This was not the day that Amoroso was in any mood to answer "hot" questions from the press or the public.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big deal. Commissioners can't be responsible for the actions of every person who donates to their campaign. Just another example of lame reporters trying to make something out of nothing.

Anonymous said...

andy should have talked to them instead of being a jerk about it.

Anonymous said...

Andy knows everything going on in the downtown. He knew better. Money was more important than common sense.

Anonymous said...

As the above poster said,Andy does know everything going on in our downtown. That is why many thought that he would be a very good Commissioner. I don't understand his reluctance to give a few statements to the press.I'm sure that many downtown merchants contrubted to Andy's campaign. Again,it never looks good to dodge the press.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Have a fun vacation in NY, Andy. Please, stay away as long as you like.

Anonymous said...

The news reporter had no interest in getting the facts. She was only interested in a story, even one fueled by unfounded speculation. Are there any FACTS that Commissioner Amoroso has done anything illegal? NO! He does not have to talk to the media; he has done nothing wrong or newsworthy. If the reporter really wants the story, she should be doing some investigating rather than listening to innuendo and less than credible sources.

Anonymous said...

She's just pursuing the truth, anony at 10:04. Explain your less than credible sources statement. LOL. It is really dumb not to talk to a reporter. It just shows he is hiding something and if he's not, then why run from a reporter.

Anonymous said...

Since in PBC the term investigative reporter is a dichotomy of words, Andy was smart enough to understand that nothing constructive could come out of an interview.
Also, it certainly is nice that we have somebody on either side of the dais that is not narcissistic with respect to any chance for shooting off their months to the mass media.

Anonymous said...

Says you. I love how you all spin everything. Amoroso should have talked to the reporter. It makes him look like a complete jerk.

Anonymous said...

And the reporter asking Amoroso if he took campaign money 9 months ago from someone that was just arrested last week would have made him look like a hero.
And you know who contacted the media to ambush Amoroso. That's who the less than credible sources are. It would have been more obvious if Ch. 25 was there again.

Anonymous said...

Amoros is a wonderful guy even his porn is cool

Lynn Anderson said...

Anonymous at 11:33. Who contacted channel 5 in WPB? You seem to know--let's hear it.

Anonymous said...

Andy is so so smart, isn't he?! His porn is average but his amyl nitrate is quite reasonably priced. Does he still sell it, I wonder?

Anonymous said...

the fBI is still investigating. before this is over, we will know much more. Amoroso, if you have something to hide it will be uncovered.

Anonymous said...

The people that read this blog are so lucky. They are experts at everything from zoning to construction to developing to capitalism to politics to the law to governing a city to picking the right city manager to running a city to the city charter to amendments to handling the media. You all know it all.
How come none of you are successful at anything?

Lynn Anderson said...

People who come here are from many different cties and states, different walks of life--some are extremely successful, some are wealthy to boot--some are restaurant owners other might be retired folks like myself. In other words, they are from all walks of life even national politics. What exactly is "success" in your book? You came here. Hurling stones and trying to personally attack people like you do so well?

Anonymous said...

The conspiracy theories that people LEAP to in our town are truly astounding. - there are many, many times when it might be best not to talk to the press. Especially when they are looking for a 'scandal'.
Because of people like the ones that frequent this blog, why would he fuel the non-existent fire by addressing it in the media? I heard that the story she was looking for was if Andy sold drugs at his store -
I wonder who might have put that in the reporter's ear?
It's slander and hearsay and completely untrue.
I cannot understand, again, why Andy is so brutally dealt with on this blog.
He loves his hometown. He is doing what he can to make LW a better city.
Yet he is beaten down and falsely accused of things - when his whole life is Lake Worth.
I just don't get it.

Lynn Anderson said...

To brush off the press is just not smart. All he had to do was to answer the questions ...
What exacerbated the situation was the Miami tv station that first went with the story. He should have dealt with the press in a calm and cordial manner so that it could put it to rest. Instead Andy ran and was rude to the press. You have to wonder when people react this way if there is something there. In hindsight, he might have handled it differently if had to do all over.
He attempted to explain that he received campaign contributions from all or many of the merchants--no big deal. The big deal was treating the press in the manner he did.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the Dylan Harrison story.

Anonymous said...

Dylan gave every candidate in the county money. Lake worth as well as wpb and palm beach county. Why is Andy different???

Anonymous said...

Dealers, crooks, bad asses, are always giving contributions to politicians. And why do you think they do that? Amoroso is the heartbeat of the downtown. To pretend that he didn't know what Harrison was doing is not believable. ou would have to be mentally challenged to even consider that.