State Rep wants to extend Red Flag Law

Lawmaker wants to expand Florida's Red Flag law

Lori Berman, who is our state Rep here in Lake Worth, is working on a bill she feels will make a difference. Florida already has a Red Flag law on the books but State Senator Berman wants to take it a step further.

Currently Florida's Red Flag law allows only police to ask a judge to enable them to take someone's guns away but she wants a law to allow family members such as parents, grandparents, guardians or siblings to file the same request with a judge.

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In a stunning decision and a defeat for gun-grabbing socialist Democrats, the US Supreme court issued an unanimous ruling that warrantless seizures of firearms, as in private property, violates the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Lori Berman in a Landslide

In a county that is over 67% Democrat, it is nearly impossible for a Republican to win. Even Donald Trump in 2016 lost in Palm Beach County by 15% to Hillary. And Lake Worth commissioner, Herman Robinson, told someone recently, when she brought up the dismal turnout in local elections, that she should concentrate on gerrymandering!

That's what happened yesterday when Lori Berman, Democrat, won her election in a landslide for State Senate District 31.

When an incumbent has 96% more campaign contributions than an opponent as well as name recognition (she was in the Florida House for 8 years) and the Post endorsement, more than likely an opponent will crash and burn.  Now we will see Berman for four years and probably eight.

Lori Berman Won Democratic Primary in a Landslide

Lori Berman won by 95%

This was an easy win for Berman. She now will be facing Tami Donnally, Vice Chair of the Palm Beach County Republican Party in the Special General election on April 10th

It's going to be Lori Berman in a Landslide

It will be Lori Berman in a Landslide

Lori Berman seized the opportunity to run for Florida State Senate after Jeff Clemens resigned. She has been in the Florida Legislature for the past eight years.

Her opponent, Arthur Morrison, is illusive--no one knows who in the hell he is. He says he got into the race because, well, he's a Trump hater. That alone will give him Brownie Points points with Democrats. He wants to:

• help poor seniors and Medicaid

• Wants to prevent oil and gas drilling along the state's coast (did he steal that idea from Republican Governor Rick Scott?)

• Wants to stop Charter Schools from receiving any money that he feels should go to public schools.

Those running for Jeff Clemens' seat

Jeff Clemens gave his District a special present for the New Year and what a shocker it was.  He resigned (we won't mention why as everyone already knows why) from his Florida senate seat. I just don't know why he got involved with a total loser who ended up destroying his career. I hope Devon West gets her own little bit of karma in the new year.

SENATE DISTRICT 31
— Vacant because of the resignation of Lake Worth Democrat Jeff Clemens.
— Includes part of Palm Beach County.
— Special primary election Jan. 30.
— Special general election: April 10.
— Registered voters as of October 2016: 305,998

WHO IS RUNNING?
Democrats:
Lori Berman A progressive, first elected on November 16, 2010--she is term limited in 2018 and stepped up to run for Clemen's seat.
Arthur Morrison  Who in the hell is he?
will face off in the Democratic primary.

Republicans:
Tami L. Donnally is unopposed in the Republican primary. It's hard to beat a Democrat in this district but her campaign is going well she told me.

A special election for the position of Florida State Senate District 31 has been called for April 10, 2018. A special primary election has been called for January 30, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was December 6, 2017

Lori Berman runs for vacant Jeff Clemens' seat

Photo taken at Lake Worth City Hall

Lori Berman Tenders Resignation from Florida House to Run for Vacant Senate Post

Read about Lori...

Tami Donnally

County GOP Vice Chairwoman Tami Donnally from Lake Worth who lost state House races in 2010 and 2012 in Democrat-tilted districts, says she’s considering a run for the District 31 Senate seat. Palm Beach county overall is predominantly Democratic registered voters.

Those already committed to run are Lori Berman and Irv Slosberg, both Democrats.

Gov. Rick Scott has set a Jan. 30 primary date and April 10 general election to fill the District 31 Senate seat. 

Sunshine not too bright in the Florida Legislature

Half of Florida’s legislators rate ‘F’ or ‘D’ in their support for open records

Read about all our Florida Legislators and how they were graded by the Florida Society of News Editors on Open government. Our representatives didn't do too badly. Lori, proud of you.

Jeff Clemens and Lori Berman

Last night, Senator Jeff Clemens said he voted against the Education bill, 7069. First he voted for it on April 13th-- then on May 8th he voted against it. He and Berman said basically it was because of a few things in it. The final vote was 20/18 and among the 18 who voted nay, 15 were Democrats.

HB 7069 revises charter school provisions and expands the authority of high performing charter schools and systems. The bill authorizes the establishment of Schools of Hope, revises traditional public school improvement provisions and creates the Schools of Hope revolving loan program. The bill revises teacher certification provisions, modifies eligibility requirements for the best and brightest teacher scholarship requirements.

Primarily the "siphoning off money from public schools" was Clemen's biggest problem. He is not a Charter School advocate.

CS/HB 7069: Education

GENERAL BILL by Appropriations Committee ; Education Committee ; Diaz, M. ; (CO-INTRODUCERS) Cortes, B. ; Donalds ; Fischer ; Roth

Education; Requiring the Auditor General to conduct annual audits of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind; requiring that the lowest-performing elementary schools be determined by specified assessment results; creating the Schools of Excellence Program; providing charter schools are eligible for capital outlay funds pursuant to specified provisions; deleting a provision requiring the Algebra II end-of-course assessment to be administered; creating the Florida Best and Brightest Principal Scholarship Program; authorizing all students, including home education and private school students, to participate in specified virtual instruction options, etc. APPROPRIATION: $418,950,000.00

Effective Date: 7/1/2017

Last Action: 5/8/2017 House - Ordered engrossed, then enrolled -HJ 1642

Jeff Clemens and Lori Berman to speak at commission meeting

Tonight, Rep. Lori Berman and Sen. Jeff Clemens will, in some respects, give a very one-sided report on their Florida legislative update to the Lake Worth City Commission and to the public. Both are Democrats in a Florida Republican Legislative world.

We will probably hear all about their joint bills, Senate Bill 1114 and House Bill 6025, that is for abortion providers. They feel bill 1411 restricts healthcare services to women and the language is unconstitutional.

Candidates State Rep District 90

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This is my new District--90. One reason why people became registered Democrats, as far back as the 50's when my Mom registered, was the simple fact that no Republicans ever ran for office. People are reluctant to change Parties and it took me nearly 40 years.  Now we see the same thing happening in District 87 as well as District 90--no Republicans. In Palm Beach County, Democrats outnumber Republicans by 120,706 registered voters...it is a liberal leaning county and those running know where the voters are.

Berman, Lori (DEM) *Incumbent Qualified

Lurie, Artie(LPF) Qualified




As of this date, recorded with the State, Berman has raised $61,750 and raising money for two years whereas Lurie has raised zero having just filed on June 22.

Jeff Clemens gets an F grade

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Sen. Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat received an F grade from Americans for Prosperity-Florida (AFP-FL) which is a conservative advocacy group. Lori Berman, our state rep, did not fair well either.

Read about it...

The Blame is with Us

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It never gets any better.  Money comes in the front door and immediately goes out the back. We pay the PBSO a small fortune and crime escalates. Taxes are raised and some other "need" eats it up.

One can only assume that being left in the dark is how the residents want to be when it comes to actually knowing what is going on in their city. They are all wrapped up in their own lives, their families, their jobs, and have no time to be bothered. They want the "other guy" to be the community watchdog. Bully and developer backed politicians count on them. Voters are taken advantage of but either don't realize it or don't care. The city wants the public to shut the heck up and the Unions to go away and they love playing the blame game.

With 545 pages of back-up in support of everything they will pass tomorrow night, 14 items are on the Consent Agenda. That generally means nothing is pulled for discussion and when discussion is requested by a minority on the dais, the majority refuses to allow it. There is one 2nd Reading changing the Land Development Regulations that passed the first time around on a 3/1 vote.  Guess who the three were. They are going to pass over $1.8 million in expenditures with not the slightest explanation. There is way too much power in politically appointed Boards and this Trio commission.

There is nothing else on the agenda other than two presentations--one will be from Jeff Clemens and Lori Berman. I am sure that they will touch on Sober Homes as they have been contacted by residents about that growing problem within our city.  We are looking for solutions, not banality. The other presentation is about the Genesis Neighborhood that is not even recognized by the Neighborhood Association President's Council and it will be given by its highly controversial and inflammatory president who is allowed by this mayor to say or do what he pleases.

When you have an elected body that ignores the vote of the people, you have a reign of terror. That's what the people voted for...dictatorial leadership in Lake Worth. How disengaged are voters? Special interest politicians and those with Field of Dreams pie in the sky beliefs keep getting elected.  How do we ever expect anything different going forward? In many ways you must blame it on apathy and the lack of involvement from the public at large.  Politicians count on this and virtually can lie their way back into office.

National politics is all affected by attitudes that began at the local level.  It is a trickle up effect. If we in Lake Worth refuse to get involved, find excuses for not making it to city commission meetings, and do not elect a majority of representatives who put the welfare of the people, our home and our assets before the special interests, how can we ever expect anything better on the state and national levels?

The only two elected officials on our dais who continually put the people first are Christopher McVoy and Ryan Maier. The rest just want to get meetings over with so that they can get the heck home or to their favorite watering hole. These two commissioners are constantly bullied and treated disrespectfully by fellow commissioners and their political supporters who do show up for meetings.

Debbie keeps doing it

Listen:

Debbie keeps doing it.  This time she has Lori Berman into her fold.

Good bills:

One measure essentially prohibits a doctor from performing an abortion past the 20th week of pregnancy, if it’s determined that the fetus can live outside the womb with standard medical care.

The other was the State Legislature's passing of a bill making it a separate crime to cause the death or injury of on an unborn child at any stage of development during an attack on a pregnant woman.

Read more... at WND.

ROLO Neighborhood Association speech to the Lake Worth City Commission

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ROLO gave a speech to the City Commission last night--

My name is Robert Waples, President of the Residences of Lake Osborne. I’m also joined by our Vice President Katie McGiveron, Secretary Ricardo Rojas, along with many of our neighbors and friends of Rolo.

We represent a stable, single family neighborhood that has been so for over 50 years. Now here we are before the City of Lake Worth Commission giving our neighborhood update.

Let's get the negative out of the way first:

Because of political interests, the district lines for our county, state and even federal levels where shifted and we no longer share a voice with our sister neighborhoods which IS the rest of the City of Lake Worth.

OUR ISSUES SHOULD BE YOUR ISSUES!

Let’s talk about the issues:
The housing inventory in our neighborhood keeps shrinking…..why? Location Location Location! Because of the low inventory, our values are increasing which makes us a very desirable neighborhood in which to live.

Why would this be?
1.We are a neighborhood of World Class Diversity with cultures from around the globe.
2.We have very little if no absentee landlords
3.We are very close to I-95 and the Tri-Rail Station
4.We are surrounded on three sides by beautiful Lake Osborne
5.Our proximity to Palm Beach State College and of course the Park for the people, John Prince Memorial Park.
6.We have the lowest Crime Rate in the City of Lake Worth

Those are just a few things. And what could a neighborhood ask to make it better? Well we have more:

Our neighbors are caring and giving and we share a quality of life surpassed by none. We live in a quaint and quiet park setting which we do NOT want to change.

Secretary, Ricardo Rojas then gave the presentation in Spanish.

“This ends our presentation and good night.” And all three of them walked out the door.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ROLO (the Residents of Lake Osborne) represents a large population in the Lake Osborne area that will be directly and negatively affected if a Spring training facility is allowed to be developed on this deed restricted park property. Through re-districting, the ROLO area is represented by Lori Berman; the rest of Lake Worth is represented by Dave Kerner.

Going Rogue - Slick, Sick Politics

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Lori Berman, elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010, reelected subsequently as Democratic Deputy Whip 2012-2014.

And what a "whip" she is.  Representing District 90 where the residents of Lake Osborne Heights reside, she, just like all the rest of the politicians who fell into the "economic development spell," never contacted the ROLO president about John Prince Park and its major push by the City of Lake Worth officials to bulldoze over 100 acres of pristine park property for a national Spring training stadium. Although she was elected to represent the people of her district, she has been working behind the scenes with Lake Worth officials as revealed last night by the city attorney, Glen Torcivia. This is slick, sick politics.

Although this sort of power abuse has been going on locally for some time where elected bodies stick it in the eye of the electorate and the people they serve (think heights amendment), as one person said, "This is the defining point of when Political figures go rogue and the people no longer have a voice."

Democrat Berman won re-election to the Florida House of Representatives in 2012. During that election cycle, Berman raised a total of $120,491 She was rated 67% by Associated Builders and 72% by Associated Industries. She is a palsy-walsy with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. In 2013, she served on two committees and Progressive Florida bragged that she voted with the left, 100% of the time.  Her term is up in November this year. Remember this if she ever has an opponent.