Clermont needs to clean its dirty laundry

For the fine citizens of Clermont: Please read the following article which was in today's Orlando Sentinel about the corruption that CURRENTLY EXISTS in our lovely police department and overpaid and non-budget concerned city council. It seems as if the police department, and rightfully so, are eager to place crimes and reports online in a facebook page, yet have yet to settle their own dirty laundry. A concerned citizen has to do what a concerned citizen has to do.
Lauren RitchieCOMMENTARY

February 8, 2013

Good morning, ladies and germs, and welcome to the second half of our show, "ClermontCorruption Month," starring the city's police officers as the bad guys.
Apologies to Milton Berle for stealing his opening line. But if he were still living, the funny man of the last century surely would have found the antics in Lake County's biggest city amusing.
First, the City Council hires a police chief to clean up an unprofessional department. So the chief fires officers for everything from lying under oath to trumping up fake charges on a suspect. The discredited, dismissed cops begin whining that the chief is "corrupt." The council actually listens, thereby giving the cops unwarranted credibility.
The chief, fed up with the babble, quits. But the bellyaching continues nonstop. Elected namby-pambys continue to listen, and they go so far as to designate January as the month for citizens to bring forward complaints of corruption against the police department. (As if folks couldn't do it any hour of the day or night that they chose.)
Sigh. Most cities designate a month to dispose of old paints and gas cans. Not Clermont.

Now, the 30 days are up.
City Manager Darren Gray said about 20 people came to talk with him and "nothing earth-shattering" came to light. It was just a bunch of sniveling about former Chief Steve Graham's management style and mewling by the same old former officers that internal-affairs investigations went against them.
Wait! No way, Darren! Clermont is bulging with corruption! It is dripping out the seams! It is oozing from under the cracks of the doors at City Hall! Morally putrid officers are using their power every single day for the forces of evil! Just ask — everyone in town knows!
"I haven't received anything at that level at all," Gray said. "Nothing new."
Gray said he and police Chief Chuck Broadway, who took over in December, thought one complaint from a former officer against two current ones might rise to the level of a crime, so they sent it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for review. FDLE bounced it back, saying nothing illegal had been alleged. So Gray and Broadway have asked the Lake County Sheriff's Office to conduct an internal-affairs investigation.
Also this week, representatives of the International Association of Chiefs of Police started a review of the department and were to begin one-on-one interviews with officers. The cost of this useless exercise, which was approved by council members, is $30,000. Shame on them.
The most easily duped of the elected crew has been Rick VanWagner, who insisted that he knew of corruption allegations and who pushed for a venue for citizens to present these supposed complaints.
At a November meeting, VanWagner said he'd heard "phone numbers, names, the whole nine yards. People are ready to come forward."
Of course, nobody with a valid complaint did so. That's because from the first, this has been a smoke screen devised by those thrown off the police force for misdeeds.
Let it end here and now.
Council members gave these former officers and their supporters credibility by taking their groundless complaints seriously. They have the power to stop this expensive nonsense by rejecting these repetitive gripes in the same way one ignores a 3-year-old who demands ice cream for dinner.
And this should be the last time Clermont asks the Lake sheriff to wash its laundry. Clermont's new chief is perfectly capable of conducting his own internal-affairs investigations. Broadway ought to be given the opportunity to be thoroughly in charge of his own department. If he doesn't get that privilege soon, he, too, will end up being run out of town.
That leaves one loose end, and his name is Steve Graham.
For months on end, council members shamefully allowed former officers and their supporters to repeatedly humiliate the former chief at council meetings by accusing him of committing crimes, without ever having to provide specifics of what he supposedly did.
And despite being actually invited by council members, not a single person brought forward an allegation of corruption against the former chief, who now works for the sheriff.
Now is the time for a complete and open apology. If council members have a shred of honor and a single backbone, they will acknowledge before the public and in writing that they received no complaints of corruption against Graham and that his service to the city was without blemish.
After all, council members are the ones who launched this unguided missile of injustice.
Lritchie@tribune.com. Her blog is online at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/laurenonlake. Lauren invites you to join her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/laurenonlake.

Concerned citizen what are you waiting for? The truth on JL keeps getting deleted but it was posted long enough for all to see just promise to keep your kids away from him.
So big mouth we're all waiting I for one hope your not just a copy and paste kinda guy or gal.

Amazing. Talk about dead reckoning. We at CPD will prevail. Well said & a long time coming.

Well I'm not just a cut and paste type of person. However, I am a citizen of this city who was sick to my stomach upon seeing the bad apples of my home town police department and their wives holding signs concerning corruption of the prior, and honorable by the way, Chief Graham. I don't understand the back stabbing comments and intrusion into the private lives of police officers. YES...what you do while off duty is your business as long is it is not illegal. It's embarrasing the way you debase yourself for posting such drivel. I'm ASHAMED OF MY CITY COUNCIL and I'm ASHAMED OF THE DIRTY COPS that were fired. If there wasn't corruption before the Chief left, which I have not heard one true instance of (if there was the dirty stinking cops would be dancing in the streets and taking out full page ads in the newspaper) being reported. These protesters who were fired used all avenues legally availble to them to get their jobs back I'm sure, and obviously lost their appeals and I'm pretty sure this would be in public record somewhere. Seriously citizens go and look what these losers actually did...by the way...are any of those people that held those signs employed as an officer now....in clermont or ANYWHERE??) I really don't know but I'm guessing not.

It's like throw crap mentality and see what sticks. And if, as it seems, no one but the fired cops showed any type of corruption, all this money spent to formally investigate both the prior chief and another officers were just a waste of MY tax dollars. Now what do we have? A city council member (VanWagner) who basically assured us citizens that corruption was rampant while Grahm was there and spent many many thousands of dollars on tips from cops who were themselves found to be corrupt hasn't shown our city anything? Where are these people, give me their numbers so I can call them because I damn sure want to know what over $60,000 was paid for. Where did the new chief come from? I don't know much about him. Can't say anything bad but I believe he was an officer under former Chief Grahm at some point. Why didn't he report these alleged but unfounded multiple instances of corruption? Where was he at when all this was happening? Sitting back quietly kissing someones ass waiting for a chance to slide into the chief's position? I don't know but you would think if he was a clean cop, which I have no reason to doubt, and all these illegal things were going on he would have done something about it.

And please please please stop acting like spoiled little kids who call people names and stomp their feet when they don't get what they want. If you got a complaint...go public and give your information, give your name, and I'm sure it will be investigated by the corrupt Clermont City Council... I'm sure there still is some money that they can blow following leads that obviously go nowhere. If I acted like you whiny crybabies all the time I wouldn't have a job. Grow up. Do your job and protect our city and stop making yourselves look like a five year old who got their lolly pop taken away.

During a City Counsel meeting VanWagner stated that he has a list of names and numbers people reporting corruption to him. Isn't that covered under the Sun Shine Law? Can't he be compelled to provide that list?

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Originally Posted by wheresthesunshine

During a City Counsel meeting VanWagner stated that he has a list of names and numbers people reporting corruption to him. Isn't that covered under the Sun Shine Law? Can't he be compelled to provide that list?

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Well one would think. But the problem is there isn't no list! It's BS once again. Van Wagner really needs to go to church and stay there and pray for forgiveness for what he has done! End of story. He doesn't need to be on city counsel he needs to stick to his profession and its not a leader of a city and I am beginning to wonder if he is even qualified to be a pastor or preacher or what ever he is. Man of God should not do the things that he has done! So lets see what happens next! I am sure it won't be going away anytime soon! Everyone things that the police department is running smoothly. Well someone should look into that. Good officers are leaving and there has to be a reason behind it. Come on wake up...If Capt Johnson would ever leave I am positive the new chief will fail! Capt Johnson keep up the good work that you are doing and don't leave us officers because we need you!

Great post JJ....we need you, give me a break!
That's the biggest bunch of crap ever posted.

I wanted to check the website and see if any further information has been posted in regards to the city council and CPD. I was hoping to see proof of corruption or an apology to the citizens of Clermont. I will settle for either on their behalf. B. Fife it is not nice to call people names. For instance, you call me a big mouth. Why is that? Because I question the status quo? If you wish to debate on any subject I would be more than happy to entertain a multitude of possibilities. If you have nothing of import to say then don’t say anything. If your intent in your post was to either insult me or issue a provocation toward me it didn’t work. For if you read your blurb you will find that all you did was make yourself seem foolish and nonsensical with your attempted insult to both myself and whoever JJ is. I would also like to give some advice to “corruption list”. Do not lower yourself to throwing people’s personal lives into a debate. In the end does it matter if they are a pastor, brother, sister, bell ringer, piano player or deacon of a church or atheist? No it doesn’t. What matters is the job they do for Clermont. If you have something to say about an issue that you don’t believe is right; fight the good fight and address the issue at hand. Your input, beliefs, and ideas less credible when your lower your standards and become one of “them”. I mean no disrespect to either of you but I believe right is right and wrong is wrong.

I’ve been checking the papers and the city websites awaiting these bombshell reports from all of the residents who have complained about corruption. I’m really getting tired of waiting. The City Council is grasping at straws and sweating because they know they acted in an injudicious manner with the ludicrous accusations against Chief Graham and other officers on the force. They literally requested (begging is a more honest term) for citizens and police officers to make complaints. Per VanWagner's own admission there has been NOTHING that meets the term of corruption or any other such thing 8) . Isn’t lying about people and demeaning people with no proof slander? If nothing is found and I was talked about the way Chief Graham was and other officers…well I’d just simply take the issue before the court and ask for compensation for my lost wages, future wages, and defamation of character. The BIG PINK ELEPHANT isn’t going anywhere. Someone is going to have to prove corruption or man up and say “we were wrong”. That is what I want. One way or the other. Prove what you said or apologize for your reckless behavior which caused Clermont to be embarrassed and looked at as fools by anyone with a single brain cell.

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Originally Posted by Really

Great post JJ....we need you, give me a break!
That's the biggest bunch of crap ever posted.

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I really don't think JJ would have wrote that message. He is too smart to misspell words.

The city and the clowns that started this show will not apologize. As much as I would love to see a press confrence acknowledging the fact that there was no evidence to support corruption, no list of people who had proof, and the fact that the city council had a knee jerk reaction to a bunch of lies, I know it will never happen. The city still continues to entertain that group and it costs good officers their lively hoods because of it. Those guys and gals that get further and further harassed by this group, lose the one little shot that they will ever have of going anywhere else. So just collect your paycheck, work your shift, and maybe after 20 years you can go work for Disney like EJ and have a stress free life.