Dear Elijah,

Perhaps you're aware I'm also filed as a candidate running against Sheila. For whatever reason, Sheila has targeted you, and not me. Repubs get no respect in this 80/20 district.  I also had a "letter to editor" in Sun-Sentinel exposing the unfortunate truth about the Congresswoman. And I submitted a "Guest Column" to the Miami Herald that never saw light of day and then sent to Palm Beach Post with minor editing to get it current. Same result. Not published. There it is below. Good luck with that SLAPP lawsuit (Strategic lawsuits against public participation)

 

When the South Florida delegation of Democrat House members went to tour Alligator Alcatraz recently, Congresswoman Sheila McCormick was there in the background representing the late Alcee Hastings' 20th district. I live in Tamarac, part of that district. To me, Hastings always operated ineffectively, away from the spotlight and now so does she.

 

My Congresswoman has been quiet as a church mouse for 3 years since being elected. Alcee Hastings - a charming man who I've met one on one - (more about that later) never made the national news on any important issue in 20 plus years in office. Why? Hastings was encumbered by ethical issues and could realistically quietly co-sponsor bills but never write his own. The ethically challenged McCormick will never be like Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz at Alligator Alcatraz taking questions or sponsoring bills like H.R. 4542 - "No Cages in the Everglades Act".  FOX news, as much as they've ridiculed Shultz over the years, would have a field day with McCormick. By the end of September, the encampment is probably going to be gone and quarter billion dollars wasted. 

 

Hastings, if you didn't know, was an impeached Federal judge before he was a congressman. One of 3 judges in US history kicked off the bench.  And like Alcee was, McCormick is gagged.  Why? Scandal. Concurrent with her successful high spending campaign for public office she and her privately owned company were one of the premier abusers of government Covid relief funds.

 

The Congresswoman misappropriated a tidy sum of 6 million dollars meant for Trinity Health which she ran in Miramar. There was a decimal point error on the check sent by the state of Florida! Trinity had applied for a modest $60,000 stimulus. THEY WERE MAILED $6,000,000 BY MISTAKE. She, the CEO, cashed the check! The future lawmaker took the ill-gotten windfall meant for a modest Covid 19 vaccine registration drive and used it for massive political advertising (more about that con later) against her significantly poorer 2021 Dem primary opponents. SHE WON BY 5 VOTES...then coasted to victory that November against her Republican opponent in the grossly 80/20 gerrymandered 20th. McCormick now has one of the poorest net worth of any member of Congress because her balance sheet has a 6-million-dollar liability. McCormick has to personally pay back the Florida Department of Emergency Management 5.8 million dollars within the next 10 yrs. And then there's these small potatoes. She's also under D.C. House Ethics investigation for misusing $1.5 million that House members, her included, get every year to operate and run their office. Her violation? Purchasing political TV ads! Hastings also had House ethics investigations over things like fancy car leases, overpaying staff, etc. McCormick ironically made Alcee Hastings' problems an issue the first time she ran for the House seat, against...Alcee Hastings!!!

 

I mentioned "free spending McCormick" winning a special election primary by only 5 votes. That ill-gotten Covid "stimulus" check for her business used to overwhelm her election opponents with TV ads and road signs, promised voters...free, $1000 per month...checks, a.k.a in Dem politics as Guaranteed Annual Income! It was her central campaign promise if elected. 

 

Hakeem Jefferies, you have may a problem with this Representative of yours.  And who am I attacking a new member of Congress like this? I was Hastings opportunistic 2016 Republican opponent. I ran unopposed in my primary. In an 80/20 gerrymandered Dem district it's hard to find (good) Republican candidates. The state of the Union, the makeup of Congress, the representation in my district, is worse now than in 2016. I've filed to run again this yr. I'll work as hard as in 2016, which is to say, I'll beat my head against the wall. Impossible to win, but somebody has to say these things, it might as well be me.