06-08-2009, 06:50 PM
LAMBERTI IS A DOUBLE LOSER
Look at the headlines today
TODAY' S BUZZ
Fear tactics, overtime: Broward sheriff showing bad form
By Gary Stein | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 8, 2009
It is getting impossible to support Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti in his soap opera budget cut battle with the county commission.
Here you have a sheriff who says he's cut his department budget to the bone -- and then comes the revelation over the weekend that the sheriff's office spent $28.7 million on overtime for the year. There were over 800 employees who earned at least $10,000 in overtime last year, at a time when every county service is being cut.
No matter how the sheriff wants to spin that, it shows something is lacking in the way of oversight and management, when he can spend more in overtime than the county spent on animal control, cultural affairs, emergency management and pollution prevention combined.
And now, on top of that, the sheriff has resorted to grandstanding fear tactics.
He is threatening to shut a low-security stockade, which will either overcrowd other jails or cause inmates to be freed. Ah, but the sheriff says he must do it to save $9.4 million.
How about cutting back on some overtime to save that $9.4 million, sheriff?
This whole issue has been poorly mismanaged by the sheriff. Surely there is now disharmony among some deputies since it has become public who is making how much overtime. And the public has to be upset with being played for pawns in this power game, as the sheriff threatens to close the jail.
For weeks, Lamberti has been claiming that if he has to cut any more, public safety will be threatened. If you want to make the public believe that, sheriff, you need to keep a much closer handle on the overtime. And if you want to get the public on your side, the fear tactic of threatening to close a jail is not a way to do it.
Poor form, sheriff. Very, very poor form.
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Look at the headlines today
TODAY' S BUZZ
Fear tactics, overtime: Broward sheriff showing bad form
By Gary Stein | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
June 8, 2009
It is getting impossible to support Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti in his soap opera budget cut battle with the county commission.
Here you have a sheriff who says he's cut his department budget to the bone -- and then comes the revelation over the weekend that the sheriff's office spent $28.7 million on overtime for the year. There were over 800 employees who earned at least $10,000 in overtime last year, at a time when every county service is being cut.
No matter how the sheriff wants to spin that, it shows something is lacking in the way of oversight and management, when he can spend more in overtime than the county spent on animal control, cultural affairs, emergency management and pollution prevention combined.
And now, on top of that, the sheriff has resorted to grandstanding fear tactics.
He is threatening to shut a low-security stockade, which will either overcrowd other jails or cause inmates to be freed. Ah, but the sheriff says he must do it to save $9.4 million.
How about cutting back on some overtime to save that $9.4 million, sheriff?
This whole issue has been poorly mismanaged by the sheriff. Surely there is now disharmony among some deputies since it has become public who is making how much overtime. And the public has to be upset with being played for pawns in this power game, as the sheriff threatens to close the jail.
For weeks, Lamberti has been claiming that if he has to cut any more, public safety will be threatened. If you want to make the public believe that, sheriff, you need to keep a much closer handle on the overtime. And if you want to get the public on your side, the fear tactic of threatening to close a jail is not a way to do it.
Poor form, sheriff. Very, very poor form.
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