Sunday, November 13, 2022

FL State Senator Lauren Book's ineptitude on full display in the 2022 midterm elections

Profession Victim Barbie is in way over her head

Braindead FL State Senator Lauren Book benefitted from gerrymandering as she moved to a divided district to steal an election. That is literally the only thing she has accomplished this year. Meanwhile, Republicans easily flipped the state red, and in the state senate, only 12 of 40 state Senate seats are represented by Democrats and money from Republicans. I have already discussed how the Democratic party is dying under Book's ineptitude. And she votes with the DeSantis agenda more times than people realize. She doesn't bother showing up to important legislative meetings and when she does, she is too busy chatting with colleages to vote.

Is anyone suprised that the Democratic Party is dying now that Book is their weasel-faced leader? Bimbo Book has always enjoyed wasting taxpayer funds on driving around the state in a gaudy bus. And while Democrats struggled with fundraising, Book collected yet another fat check at the expense of the Floridiots who voted for her. (She is also still raking in GEO Group blood money.)

The cunt should've been voted out so she can go back to her only trick (aside from the one in her leaked videos), playing the professional victim

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2022/11/10/midterms-desantis-rubio-republican/

About a week before what turned out to be an electoral catastrophe for Democrats in Florida, two state senators took a bus trip to save what was left of their party.

Jason Pizzo and Lauren Book were being realistic. They aimed to retain two vulnerable colleagues, while hoping to flip a Miami-area seat. They weren’t trying to turn the Republican-led Senate blue. Democrats could only hope to avoid complete irrelevance by winning these three Senate seats.

With no signs of a promised multi-million-dollar voter registration push by their party, they tried to beef up registration in targeted areas. Pizzo, of Miami, pledged at least $500,000 from his own campaign coffers to help other Democrats.

“If all of these races end up as a tie, we won, because we did so with one-quarter of the money, no state help, no local help, no national help,” Pizzo said last week from the bus as it passed through central Florida.

Yet Tuesday night was much worse for Florida Democrats than even some of the most optimistic Republicans had predicted. Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio vanquished their opponents by double digits. DeSantis-backed school board candidates won numerous races down the ballot. Republicans seized super-majorities in both legislative chambers. All three of the state Senate candidates that Pizzo and Book tried to help lost by at least six points...

“They pull resources from us, and it makes it very, very difficult for us to be successful,” said Book, D-Plantation, who’s in charge of electing Senate Democrats. She was talking about the Florida Democratic Party...

Democrats haven’t controlled the governor’s mansion or either chamber of the Legislature since 1999. But 2022 marked a new low, characterized by a startling mix of incompetence and national indifference. After this election, no Democrat will hold statewide office for the first time since the late 1800s.

“Turnout for Democrats was super low, and the Florida Democratic Party had no unifying message. They gave up on voter registration,” said state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, one of the party’s most outspoken, progressive members who lost a close reelection race for his Orlando-area district. “The national Democratic Party abandoned our state as far as funding and resources.”

In February, the state party announced a $2.5 million effort to close its voter registration gap with Republicans, promising “six-figure registration numbers by October.”

Democrats delivered on the six-figure promise — in the wrong direction. The party lost about 114,000 registered voters from the end of 2021 to October. During that time, Republicans widened their registration edge from 43,000 to nearly 293,000 more by Election Day...

As Democrats pick up the pieces of a bitter round of defeats, it’s unclear where they go from here. The party has no standard bearer. Diaz, the party’s chairperson, has been facing calls to resign since late October.

Observers note that the Democrats’ problems may coalesce into a death spiral. Dramatic losses make future candidates less prone to run. Lesser-quality candidates make it harder to raise money. With less money, bigger election losses become more common. With the new electoral maps drawn by DeSantis’ office heavily favoring Republicans, the future only gets tougher for Democrats.

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Ron Book donates $1500 to dubious Palm Beach County housing PAC

Ron Book "cares" so much about the homeless,
he looks like he hasn't slept under a roof in years.
Ron Book's name pops up in yet another dubious housing scheme. By the way, Ron Book doesn't have throat cancer, throat cancer has Ron Book. 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-col-schultz-affordable-housing-pac-20221011-jj365w6eyrbw5cafre3yxoqwsa-story.html

Palm Beach County’s affordable housing scam | Randy Schultz

By Randy Schultz

South Florida Sun Sentinel

Oct 11, 2022 at 3:23 pm

A recent mailer in support of Palm Beach County’s affordable housing bond referendum looks very civic-minded.

Don’t believe it.

The mailer comes from Hometown Housing Trust. It features first responders and teachers and asks voters to support the $200 million bond program on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Hometown Housing Trust also has a website. It promises that the referendum will deliver 20,000 homes and apartments for “the people who keep us safe and provide so many of the things that make Palm Beach County a great place to live.”

The problem of affordable housing is real. But here’s the reality of Hometown Housing Trust.

Randy Schultz is a Sun Sentinel columnist. (Mike Slaughter / Sun Sentinel/South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Behind this political action committee are developers and their representatives who helped to cause the affordable housing crisis by not building enough affordable housing in the first place. Now they want public subsidies for developers, overseen by county commissioners who get donations from those same developers and their representatives.

Hometown Housing Trust had raised nearly $400,000 through Sept. 29. One of the largest contributions — $25,000 — came from GL Homes.

The company’s headquarters actually is in Broward County. But given how many homes the company has built in Palm Beach County, “hometown” might not be a stretch.

Very little of that building, though, has been affordable housing. As The Palm Beach Post reported, GL lobbied the county to relax rules that required builders to include affordable units in their projects. In just two examples, GL avoided having to build roughly 700 such units, which have lower profit margins.

The company is now offering to build 277 moderately priced units near Boca Raton — but only if GL Homes can build 1,000 high-end homes where rules now don’t allow them. The trade could mean an extra $750 million for the company.

Under Florida law, the seven commissioners and top administrators can’t campaign for the afordable housing referendum. So the Economic Council of Palm Beach County and CEO Michele Jacobs are taking the lead. Which brings us to Hometown Housing Trust.

A GL vice president serves on the council’s board. So does an executive from Minto Communities, which donated $10,000. So does an executive from Florida Crystals, which donated $50,000. In addition to producing sugar, Florida Crystals has a real estate operation.

Indeed, almost all of Hometown Housing Trust’s donations have come from developers or their representatives. One of the many real estate lawyers who donated serves on the council’s executive committee. He’s a registered lobbyist for GL Homes.

Another lawyer/contributor works for the firm whose address is that of Hometown Housing Trust. Several other contributors are council board members.

The group got $25,000 from The Richman Group, which builds multi-family housing. Another $25,000 came from Miami-based Pinnacle Communities, also a multi-family builder.

Just for good measure, Hometown Housing Trust got $1,500 from Ron Book. He’s the very well-connected Tallahassee lobbyist whose daughter is a state senator. From Broward County.

The Palm Beach Post also reported that the economic council helped to craft the referendum at the request of home builders, who resisted options that could cost them. The proposal thus would shift responsibility for solving the problem onto the public and away from the industry that created it.

Hometown Housing Trust’s mailer says the referendum is all about helping regular folks. The money says otherwise.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Florida State Senator Lauren Book voted YES on the Ron DeSantis Budget that included $12 million to send Texas migrants to Massachusetts

FloriDUH State Senator Lauren Book is blasting Ron DeSantis for using $12 million of FloriDUH's taxpayer funds to fly migrants from Texas to FloriDUH to Massachusetts in the much-maligned publicity stunt. 

But Book voted FOR the bill that gave DeSantis the $12 million in the first place, just as I previously reported Book voted FOR the DeSantis anti-protest bill. 

I guess to be fair to Bimbo Book, she was too busy counting the $2 million that her scam... er, her "charity" got in the budget to give a shit where the rest of the money went:

Safer, Smarter Schools (HB 3955) (Senate Form 2097).......   $2,000,000 (For those not in the know, Lauren Book's charity "Lauren's Kids" is the sole beneficiary of this state sponsored program.)

This is why Senate District 35 should've voted for Barbara Sharief. Book cannot be bothered to read a bill because she's too busy collecting a salary from a charity she runs and gives money to while sitting on the Senate Appropriations Committee. 






Sunday, August 28, 2022

Multimillionaire Ron Book took out $300k in PPP loans which were forgiven

This is a lot of beer money or enought to buy a new Lamborghini since he crashed his old one in a drunken stupor. Ronald "Stagger" Lee Book took out TWO roughly $150k loans a year apart, and never paid a dime on them:

https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/ronald-l-book-p-a-5763687305



https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/ronald-l-book-p-a-5406828907


Ron and Lauren Book are officers in numerous businesses so it is making looking for more PPP loans the Book Crime Family collected and did not pay off. Maybe Samantha and Chase Book also have unpaid PPP loans?

https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ByOfficerOrRegisteredAgent

I may be able to add to this as I search through the numerous corporations run by Ron and lauren Book at the least:

Officer/RA Name Entity Name Entity Number

BOOK, LAUREN WE DO CARE ABOUT RWANDANS, INC. N99000006293

BOOK, LAUREN F LAUREN F. BOOK, LLC L16000201366

BOOK, LAUREN F LAUREN F. BOOK, LLC L16000201366

BOOK, LAUREN F THE FAMILY JEWELS DESIGN STUDIO, INC. P19000051761

BOOK, RON EXACT HOLDING NORTH AMERICA, INC. F11000001682

BOOK, RON FLORIDA'S FUTURE, INC. N00098

BOOK, RON THE FLORIDA HISTORIC CAPITOL FOUNDATION, CORPORATION N10000004100

BOOK, RON HALL OF FAME FOUNDATION, INC. N22781

BOOK, RON WE DO CARE ABOUT RWANDANS, INC. N99000006293

BOOK, RON CONFECTION CONNECTION, INC. P96000074624

BOOK, RON CONSTRUCTION CATERING/BIJAN'S JOINT VENTURE, INC. P97000070667

BOOK, RONALD GREATER MIAMI ATHLETIC CLUB, INC. 740687

BOOK, RONALD INTERIOR DESIGNERS ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA, INC. N25852

BOOK, RONALD NEIGHBORS 4 NEIGHBORS, INC. N51340

BOOK, RONALD RONALD L. BOOK GOVERNMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC. P97000008283

BOOK, RONALD CCK, INC. P97000058027

BOOK, RONALD NORTH MIAMI RACING CORPORATION, INC. V47120

BOOK, RONALD MIAMI SPORTS SPECIALTIES, INC. V47123

BOOK, RONALD MIAMI SPORTS SPECIALTIES, INC. V47123

BOOK, RONALD L RONALD L. BOOK, P.A. J54314

BOOK, RONALD L GIFT SCENARIO, INC. K25472

BOOK, RONALD L GIFT SCENARIO, INC. K25472

BOOK, RONALD L A STEP ABOVE, INC. K46129

BOOK, RONALD L GO BIODIESEL, L.L.C. L07000105660

BOOK, RONALD L MEGAWATTAGE DEPLOYMENT LLC L09000092323

BOOK, RONALD L AXCM, LLC L15000050161

BOOK, RONALD L R B GROW, LLC L15000112560

BOOK, RONALD L R B GROW, LLC L15000112560

BOOK, RONALD L HAV-A-BOOK LLC L18000109747

BOOK, RONALD L OCEAN FRENCHIE, LLC L21000148017

BOOK, RONALD L THE RONALD A. SILVER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC. N02000001123

BOOK, RONALD L MIAMI'S ANGELS, INC. N02000004535

BOOK, RONALD L EMERGENCY ROOM COMFORT PROJECT, INC. N02000004815

BOOK, RONALD L FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF FORENSIC PROFESSIONALS, INC. N04000006096

BOOK, RONALD L FLORIDA WIC GROCERS ASSOCIATION, INC. N06000006353

BOOK, RONALD L LAUREN'S KIDS, INC. N07000009940

BOOK, RONALD L LAUREN'S KIDS, INC. N07000009940

BOOK, RONALD L FLORIDIANS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW, INC. N08000009170

BOOK, RONALD L FLORIDA PARENTS OF MURDERED CHILDREN, INC. N18000003990

BOOK, RONALD L OCEAN LYFE, INC. N19000000691

BOOK, RONALD L OCEAN LYFE, INC. N19000000691

BOOK, RONALD L HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN SOUTH FLORIDA, INC. N21000011052

BOOK, RONALD L. LEISURE ACCESS FOUNDATION, INC. N44554

BOOK, RONALD L. LEISURE ACCESS FOUNDATION, INC. N44554

BOOK, RONALD L BOTANICAL LEARNING CENTER AT V.A.H.O.E.,INC. N97000003666

BOOK, RONALD L ORANGE BOWL FOUNDATION, INC. N98000003702

BOOK, RONALD L WE DO CARE ABOUT RWANDANS, INC. N99000006293

BOOK, RONALD L REIMBURSEMENT RESOURCE GROUP, INC. P01000054254

BOOK, RONALD L KAM COMMUNICATIONS, INC. P02000063645

BOOK, RONALD L SJE CONCEPTS, INC. P02000122391

BOOK, RONALD L JERRON ENTERPRISES, INC. P03000003490

BOOK, RONALD L BRITBRO, INC. P03000086466

BOOK, RONALD L SHUZ, INC. P03000118717

BOOK, RONALD L ED O'DELL & ASSOCIATES, INC. P05000147329

BOOK, RONALD L URBAN INITIATIVES MEDIA, INC. P06000053764

BOOK, RONALD L BRING IDEAS 2 LIFE, INC. P07000128659

BOOK, RONALD L CAPITAL ADVOCACY GROUP, INC. P09000083465

BOOK, RONALD L CAPITAL ADVOCACY GROUP, INC. P09000083465

BOOK, RONALD L AXELIA, INC. P14000074260

BOOK, RONALD L CONCERNED WATERFRONT PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. P15000023251

BOOK, RONALD L CONCERNED WATERFRONT HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. P15000030541

BOOK, RONALD L MARTIN OUTDOOR WRAPZ, INC. P16000097203

BOOK, RONALD L MARTIN OUTDOOR WRAPZ, INC. P16000097203

BOOK, RONALD L CONFECTION CONNECTIONS OF MIAMI, INC. P17000004956

BOOK, RONALD L CONFECTION CONNECTIONS OF MIAMI, INC. P17000004956

BOOK, RONALD L QKH OUTDOOR, INC. P18000027788

BOOK, RONALD L QKH OUTDOOR, INC. P18000027788

BOOK, RONALD L LSCRB, INC. P19000024359

BOOK, RONALD L LSCRB, INC. P19000024359

BOOK, RONALD L THE FAMILY JEWELS DESIGN STUDIO, INC. P19000051761

BOOK, RONALD L BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. P37341

BOOK, RONALD L INTERAMERICAN SPORTS SPECIALTIES, INC. P95000091890

BOOK, RONALD L INTERAMERICAN SPORTS SPECIALTIES, INC. P95000091890

BOOK, RONALD L JMRM INC. P96000014489

BOOK, RONALD L I. LOSANER, INC. P96000074522

BOOK, RONALD L RONALD L. BOOK GOVERNMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC. P97000008283

BOOK, RONALD L MILO & MILO ENTERPRISES, INC. P97000088235

BOOK, RONALD L GATEWAYS UNLIMITED II, INC. P97000104086

BOOK, RONALD L GATEWAYS UNLIMITED II, INC. P97000104086

BOOK, RONALD L. ESQ. B.P.G. HOSPITAL SUPPLY, INC. H86937

BOOK, RONALD L ESQ. PARTNERSHIP FOR RECOVERY, INC. N05000011596

BOOK, RONALD L ESQ. PARTNERSHIP FOR RECOVERY, INC. N05000011596

BOOK, LESQ., RONALD THE NORTH MIAMI BEACH ITALIAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL, INC. N98000006121

BOOK, RONALD L. ESQ. MY SHOES, INC. P11000044857

BOOK, RONALD L., P.A. ADVANCEINC EVENTS CORPORATION H76658

BOOK, SAMANTHA EMERGENCY ROOM COMFORT PROJECT, INC. N02000004815

BOOK, SAMANTHA WE DO CARE ABOUT RWANDANS, INC. N99000006293

BOOK, CHASE EMERGENCY ROOM COMFORT PROJECT, INC. N02000004815

BOOK, CHASE M OCEAN FRENCHIE, LLC L21000148017

BOOK, CHASE M OCEAN LYFE, INC. N19000000691

If you wish to do your own research into who collected PPP loans:

https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Welp, two more years of this dumbass pretending to be "Senate Democrat Leader"

Elect a clown, expect a circus. 

I was hoping for a better result, namely, this feckless cunt voted out of office. 

Of course, much of the new Senate District 35 was Book's prior district, and her opponent, Barbara Sharief, won in the areas that comprised her former district. 

Well, if you vote Republican, that's good news for you, since I've discussed multiple times how Book is the puppet of FloriDUH Republicans.

In related news, Matt Gaetz, another of Bimbo Book's bosom buddies, won his primary. 

Enjoy two more years of political corruption and ineptitude from your "fearless leader," FloriDUH Senate Dems, you deserve this. Just don't let her DUI daddy drink and drive again. 

Fuck Lauren and her whole family. 

Friday, July 29, 2022

Lauren Book sued for blatantly lying about political opponent

About fucking time! And Book should lose. And I'd be willing to testify against her since she lied about me multiple times. 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/elections/fl-ne-sharief-lawsuit-book-20220729-3sly2zoqw5c2rf57lkvavifqxu-story.html

Barbara Sharief sues opponent Lauren Book, alleging political ads were defamatory

By Lisa J. Huriash

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Jul 29, 2022 at 5:07 pm

Former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief is suing state senate challenger Lauren Book, accusing her of defamation and libel in a $1 million lawsuit filed Friday afternoon.

The lawsuit claims Book has “disseminated lies to people falsely suggesting that Dr. Barbara Sharief “defrauded Medicaid” and stole tax dollars in political ads on television and by mail.

The lawsuit reads, “Book knows full well that these statements are despicable lies. Dr. Barbara Sharief has never committed a crime in her life and neither she nor any company she has ever operated has ever been found to have stolen or misspent Medicaid or any other funds.”

Book is already a senator in District 32, which is changing because of redistricting. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Book and Winning Florida, a political action committee.

Book’s spokeswoman, Claire VanSusteren, said in an email response that Book has not yet been served with the paperwork, but VanSusteren called it a “nonsense lawsuit.”

“If Sharief continues down this frivolous path, there is little doubt she will be met with a lawsuit herself for falsely attacking Lauren Book and her family in TV commercials and mailers with disgusting, distorted attacks on a foundation whose mission is to protect children from child abuse,” VanSusteren said. “Voters rejected Barbara Sharief last November and they will do so again — and no eleventh-hour frivolous lawsuit will change that trajectory.”

The State Agency for Health Care Administration said Sharief’s home health care company overbilled Medicaid for patient services by nearly $500,000 more than a decade ago, according to a news article from the South Florida Sun Sentinel published in 2013. At the time Sharief said she did not overbill Medicaid, but still opted to settle the matter.

“Our view is the allegations are false,” said her lawyer, Michael Pizzi, of the original claim by the state. “She has never been found to have done anything wrong.”

Former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief is suing state senate challenger Lauren Book, accusing her of defamation and libel in a $1 million lawsuit filed Friday afternoon. (John McCall & Wilfredo Lee/South Florida Sun Sentinel & AP)

The lawsuit also alleges that Book has portrayed Sharief as an advocate for gun violence; one ad reading “Barbara Sharief’s Shameful Record on Guns & Public Safety” shows her holding an assault weapon. Her lawyer says the photo was taken at a gun-buyback program in Miramar, and the police she was standing next to were cropped out.

Pizzi called it “a smear campaign against someone who dedicated her life to public service and providing quality health care.”

The race is a contentious one for Broward’s new 35th Senate District, which is mostly south and west of Florida’s Turnpike.

Book is the daughter of Ron Book, one of the state’s most influential lobbyists. She has served in the Florida Senate since 2016, won a second term in 2018 and is eligible to serve a final two years in office before term limits kick in, preventing her from running again in 2024.

Sharief was elected to the Broward County Commission in 2012 and re-elected in 2014 in contested races.

In 2018, no opponent came forward and she won a third term without appearing on the ballot. She was elected to the Miramar City Commission in 2009.

Sharief is using the same attorney who is handling a comparable congressional lawsuit. In that case, Democratic U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is suing Dale Holness for libel, accusing her Congressional opponent of damaging her reputation and “public image” that is “irreparable.” That lawsuit also seeks $1 million in damages.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash

Sun-SLANTinel holds their nose and endorses the corrupt Lauren Book

 I've never seen a more unenthusiatic "endorsement." Let's look at the "highlights."

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/endorsements/fl-op-endorse-lauren-book-senate-broward-20220729-lvtpyplryje6vk6kctenvslnw4-story.html

Endorsement: Democrat Lauren Book in derailed Florida Senate race

By Sun Sentinel Editorial Board

South Florida Sun Sentinel

Jul 29, 2022 at 11:29 am

OpEd: "Both Democrats have political assets and liabilities. But it’s very unusual for a party caucus leader to face an intra-party challenge, and the last thing Florida Democrats need right now is more upheaval and instability." 

Comment: Lauren Book has NO leadership skills and it gave Senate Democrats the worst year ever. Generally, a sports coach inept at the sport, like Hue Jackson, gets fired, like he did after leading the Cleveland Browns to the worst record in NFL history. You can't even depend on Lauren Book to show up!

OpEd: Mainly for that reason, the Sun Sentinel recommends Book in this ugly, contentious race. We do so with little enthusiasm because Book has spent too much time and money attacking Sharief and not promoting herself.

Comment: If there's one thing Bimbo Book does well, it is promote herself and her inflated ego. 

OpEd: Let’s first dispel the myth in this race that Sharief is an interloper in the race for the Senate District 35 seat. Sharief, 50, has lived in the heart of the district in Miramar for more than two decades. Book, 37, is a sitting senator, but she had to leave her Plantation home and rent a house in Davie to establish residency in the district after reapportionment. Sharief is well-grounded in regional government

Comment: I rather liked hearing Book referred to as a "Plantation Democrat." But "carpetbagger" can describer her just as well. Of course, she's so stupid, she probably thinks I'm making fun of her rat face again. 

OpEd: Book has voted for budgets that contained large direct appropriations to Lauren’s Kids, sometimes $2 million a year. She insists that “not one dime” of taxpayer money pays her salary ($236,000 last year), and that a legal opinion from the Senate counsel concluded that voting for the budgets was not a conflict of interest. Sharief called it an outright conflict of interest. Book’s campaign did not respond to a request for a copy of the legal opinion.

Comment: Book knows this is unethical and chose to do it anyways. Kind of like when her DUI Daddy Ron Book pled guilty to illegal campaign contributions. The rotten apple doesn't fall far from the poisoned tree. 

OpEd: What makes this race fascinating is that Book has never faced the voters until now. She has been elected to the Senate twice with a “free ride” — no opposition, so her electability is in question.

Comment: Her sanity should also be in question after her goofy melodrama surrounding her spectacularly failed plan to stop abortions by pulling an unbelievable gangrape claim completely out of thin air. 

OpEd: A self-described consensus builder, Book sponsored a tax break for diapers in the Senate. She faced criticism last session for not insisting on a recorded roll call vote on her amendment to add a rape and incest exception to an abortion bill. Book said Republican women senators told her they would face political retribution from the GOP leadership if they voted for the amendment.

Comment: So, Book here admits she was too chicken to stand up to Republicans? That's not "leadership."

OpEd: That’s only part of the money story. Book knows how to raise money, and her father’s network of clients and connections surely helps. A Book political committee, Leadership for Florida, has raised $3.3 million. Much of it is from special interests including $122,500 from The GEO Group, a private prison company that has faced scrutiny for sexual harassment and sexual misconduct — conditions seriously at odds with Book’s public advocacy work. Ron Book has been a GEO Group lobbyist for years.

Comment: Lauren Book would be powerless without her DUI daddy, Ronald "Stagger" Lee Book. And she has NO problems accepting blood money from private prisons known to abuse children. That doesn't sit pretty with her claims of being an advocate against child abuse. 

Despite all this, The SLANT-inel concludes with, "This is a perilous time in Florida’s history. Book is a determined and knowledgeable advocate, especially on education and health care." Wrong. Book has proven to be inept and incapable. She's literally a one-trick pony. Whoopdy-do, she got legislation passed that any elected primate could get passed. 

Of course, the SLANT-inel forgot to mention how Lauren Book stabbed the families of Parkland shooting victims in the back by voting to reinstate disgraced ex-Broward Sheriff Israel, whose incompetence exacerbated the tragedy. 

Nor did the SLANT-inel discuss ho Lauren Book ABUSED the courts to silence a critic, which took an appeal to overturn an egregiously bad ruling. 

The Sun-SLANTinel is a trashy newspaper. Endorsing Book in spite of her blatant corruption is a bad look for an already bad rag. 

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Lauren Book voted for the controversial Ron DeSantis protest suppression bill

 Lauren Book is an enemy of free speech. Once again, FloriDUH State Senator Lauren Book helps pass a bill that restricts the right to protest, siding with the Republicans in passing CS/HB1571.  Maybe she should just switch parties?





Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Lauren Book's medodramatic response to news SCOTUS is poised to overturn Roe v Wade

Cry me a river, Bimbo. If only she was as passionate about helping real people as she is passionate about murder of the unborn or about forcing Registered Persons to live under bridges or along railroad tracks. 


Could the Supreme Court really be preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide nearly 50 years ago? Suddenly, with the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion in the case, the notion went from an abstract possibility to an imminent one. Lauren Book said that when she heard the news, she sat her 5-year-old daughter on her lap, held her close and began to weep. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh, my God,’” said Book, 37, a Democratic state senator in Florida. “This is a different world for her.”



Saturday, March 26, 2022

Finally! Impotent FL State Senator Lauren Book has a political opponent! Give Book the Hook!

"Definition of give (someone) the hook

baseball, informal

: to remove (a pitcher) from a game

The manager gave him the hook." (Just in case that blonde idiot tries claiming this is another "threat" because she's an illiterate ass.)

And hopefully, Florida voters will give Lauren Book the Hook. 

To support Dr. Barbara Sharief: https://www.facebook.com/drbarbarasharief

Or https://barbarasharief.com/

https://thecapitolist.com/barbara-sharief-to-challenge-lauren-book-in-district-35-primary-showdown/

Barbara Sharief to challenge Lauren Book in district 35 primary showdown

by Caden DeLisa | Mar 25, 2022

Former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief announced her intent to run as a candidate in the newly crafted Senate District 35 that covers southwest Broward, which is her longtime political base. Senate Minority Leader and big Florida Democrats player Sen. Lauren Book, reportedly also plans to run in the newly created district, setting up a largely important election in the scope of Florida Politics.

As a county commissioner, Sharief served as leader of the Florida  Association of Counties, and was elected to serve two terms as county mayor. In 2021 she was an unsuccessful candidate in a special Democratic congressional primary for the late Alcee Hastings’ seat.

“Tallahassee is broken. We need public servants who will fight for the people that they serve instead of selling out to big money special interests and lobbyists,” said Sharief in a campaign video posted on social media Friday morning. “We need a leader who won’t bow to the right wing agenda that wants to take away all of our rights, restrict our freedoms and limit opportunity.”


Book has been a largely influential lawmaker for Democrats in Florida, serving as a quasi-spokeswoman for the Democrat’s largest campaign points, including opposition to abortion regulation. Book planned to move to the newly-created Congressional District 35 after redistricting efforts would have set her up to challenge an incumbent Senator. Now, Book must redirect monetary and political resources toward the forthcoming campaign race.

“I have spent the past several years fighting for our shared Democratic values and am now working tirelessly to not only increase Democrats’ numbers in the Senate but to stop the ultra right wing agenda of Ron DeSantis and his supporters. Serving in the State Senate should never be a ‘consolation prize,’ especially at such a time when our values and freedoms are under attack by the extreme right,” said Book. “This last Session showed very clearly why we MUST defend blue seats and bolster the number of Democrats in the Senate, an effort I am proudly and humbly leading with a strong and diverse slate of candidates across the state. My work in the Senate and as Democratic Leader is far from over, and Democrats fighting each other only undermines our critical efforts to strengthen our Party and Caucus.”

Book is expected to be an early favorite to win reelection, though Sharief was popular during her time as Mayor and could be seen as a dark horse to unseat the Minority Leader.

“I look forward to running a campaign focused on the real issues that matter to Broward families so that I can once again put my full focus on getting Democrats elected across the state in the General Election this November,” concluded Book.

Friday, March 4, 2022

Desperate to win a rape exemption to Florida's proposed abortion ban after 15 weeks, Senator Book declares she was gangraped

I have a very good reason NOT to believe Florida State Senator's latest claims that she was 'gang raped." Just like a couple of months back when she came out to claim she was an alleged victim of sextortion, her claims never arise until they are convenient for her to advance an agenda. 

Senator Book assuming her second favorite position

In her desperation to carve out a rape exemption to a ban on abortions beyond 15 weeks in Florida, Senator Book is now proclaiming she was drugged and gang raped as a teen. 

Considering this just came out of nowhere after 20 years of telling her story numerous times all over the place. Now she brings it up in a Hail Mary attempt to stymie a bill and yet that tactic still failed because, as we have discussed already, Bimbo Book is too inept to lead the Democrats. 

Plus, she's been caught in multiple lies. She lied about being stalked and lied about rejecting GEO Group money, so who is to say this is not another of her wilf fantasies?

Also she claims she is tired of being the State Senate's "sex assault victim" but she she is the one who pulls it out every time she wants something. 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-senator-lauren-book-reveals-rape-abortion-debate-20220303-d47v3pxibrcedkulrgbuosj7ra-story.html

Pleading for exemptions to 15-week abortion bill, Sen. Lauren Book reveals she was gang raped as a child

By ANTHONY MAN

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL |

MAR 03, 2022 AT 3:55 PM

Pleading to get an exemption for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking added to Florida’s plan for strict new limits on abortion, state Sen. Lauren Book dramatically described the implications of the policy in stark, personal terms — revealing publicly for the first time that she was raped by a group of men as a child.

Her Wednesday afternoon plea to colleagues went unheeded, and legislation banning almost all abortions in Florida after the 15th week of pregnancy advanced another step in the Legislature, moving closer to becoming law.

Rape and incest happen more than people realize, Book said during the first of two impassioned speeches in the Senate chamber. But victims often stay silent, resulting in many people being unaware of the extent and the impact, she said.

“Until you’ve been there you just don’t get it and you don’t understand,” she said. “And so today I’m going to tell you, I’m going to share with you more than I’ve ever shared before,” Book told her colleagues during two impassioned, sometimes tearful speeches.

She’s had previously spoken about some — but not all — of what happened: At age 11, the family’s trusted, live-in nanny – after gaining her trust for almost a year — began physically, sexually and emotionally abusing her. Book suffered years of abuse before she found the courage to speak up.

The abuser is now in prison. And Book founded the Lauren’s Kids child abuse prevention program. In 2016 she was elected to the Florida Senate. In 2021, her Democratic colleagues elected her as the party’s leader in the Senate.

She said Wednesday that she is “tired of being known as the survivor of sexual assault in the Florida Senate,” but that the legislation to restrict abortion without an exemption for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking “compel me to share even more about my past than I’ve ever done before.”

“Here’s the part you don’t know: When I was a young teen, not much older than 13, my abuser, who was a woman, took me to a friend’s house. There I was drugged. I was put in a room. And I was raped by multiple men,” she said. “I’ve not talked about this experience to anyone but my close family my close friends. Certainly never have I done so publicly. And I have never ever planned to. But for me, this is too important.”

Some rape victims who become pregnant choose to give birth and become loving mothers or give up the baby for adoption, Book said. Others don’t “want to see the face of their rapists every single time they looked at their child. And that is their choice. It takes time to make those decisions.”

She said the allowable time to have an abortion under the pending law, 15 weeks, isn’t long enough for a victim to find out she’s pregnant and make a decision — all while dealing with the trauma of the assault.

“You know what I was doing when I finally disclosed my abuse after 15 weeks? Taping newspapers to every single window of my house, with my dad and my mom and my sister and my brother, because I somehow believe that the rapist could look in the house,” she said. “It took months for me to leave my house. I became agoraphobic and couldn’t leave. I couldn’t leave. There is no prescribed path for healing for this. I was in the throes of anorexia, self-mutilation. I was merely trying to get to the next moment and the next day.

“And if, heaven forbid, I did find myself in a situation where I had to make that kind of decision, the kind of decision that we’re talking about today, my family and I would have needed more time,” Book said.

Abortion in Florida is currently legal until the 24th week of pregnancy.

The pending changes would impose a 15-week limit, with exemptions in cases of a “fatal fetal abnormality.” An abnormality is defined as a “terminal condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical treatment, is incompatible with” survival outside the womb. Two physicians would be required to certify that such an abnormality exists.

The abortion legislation is one among a series of incendiary issues that Republicans, who control Florida government, have advanced in the 2022 session. It’s close to becoming law with support from almost all Republicans and opposition from almost all Democrats. Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated he supports a 15-week limit.

Book warned that allowing an exemption for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking “will be a canary in a coal mine for extremism.”

The sponsor of the legislation containing the new 15-week rule, state Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, acknowledged what Book said.

“I applaud your courage to come forward and to share that story, that truth. It’s not a story. It’s what happened, more real to you than any of us can ever, ever imagine and I don’t even want to try,” Stargel said.

Stargel also shared her own intimate story, explaining as she as in the past, that she was urged to get an abortion when she was a teen but did not.

“When I got pregnant at 17 and I went to Planned Parenthood, they said I would never be anything,” Stargel said. “So we can all stand here and cry on the floor with our stories. And I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it [Planned Parenthood] is a business. But it’s not a business, these are babies. And it’s not a choice, it’s a child.”

Stargel argued forcefully against the exemption sought by Book, also explaining that to her it’s “always the hardest to discuss because somehow it’s couched in a way that makes people feel that if you vote against [allowing an exemption] that you somehow support sexual abuse or that you somehow support rape.”

She said 15 weeks “is plenty of time, a long enough time” for someone to make a decision about having an abortion. And she rejected what she said is an “assumption that that child [conceived as a result of rape or incest] can’t be loved, and that child doesn’t have the right to exist. And then that child should be killed because of the circumstances in which it was conceived. And I will reject that. I’ll reject that premise.”

And, Stargel warned, an exemption would be abused. “You’re going to have people who are going to be needlessly accused, that the woman’s going to say she was raped so she can have the abortion.”

Book at the Democrats did not ask for a roll-call vote in which supporters and opponents would have to publicly declare their positions, which allowed the amendment to fail on a voice vote. First, she made a final plea: “I wish it mattered. I wish that me telling my story and the reality matters…. And I am asking you, I am begging you, for Little Lauren.”

Friday, February 25, 2022

The Florida Democratic Party is dying under Lauren Book's inept "leadership"

If you're a Florida Republican, then this is great news. If you're a Florida Democrat, this is terrible news. Either way, it is a real shitshow political circus, with Lauren Book playing the lead clown. 

Lauren Book, seen here estimating her brain size

Florida Politics is, of course, simping for Lauren Book, but consider the fact that Lauren Book collects millions from Republican donors, accepts GEO Group blood money, and betrayed Parkland shooting victims by voting to reinstate Sheriff Israel, the Coward from Broward. 

And, while Lauren Book is busy trying to compare her critics to school shooters, she was more focused on changing the state cyberstalking laws to punish her critics (which was major win for Ron DeSantis's agenda), Republicans have advanced everything they wanted because Lauren Book is too selfish and inept to stop them. 

Senate Democrats need a REAL leader, not just a blonde bimbo who bought a Senate seat and whose only talent is being the daughter of a corrupt lobyist with multiple crimes under his belt. (I'm not counting her leaked video.)

Time to ditch the zero and find a hero, Florida Dems. 

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/499093-joe-henderson-lauren-books-candor-shows-helplessness-of-democrats-plight/

Joe Henderson: Lauren Book’s candor shows helplessness of Democrats’ plight

Joe Henderson

February 21, 2022

On a Zoom gaggle with reporters, Book, the Senate Democratic Leader, called the current Legislative Session one of the worst she’s seen. Considering the buffeting Democrats have taken in recent years, that’s saying something.

“We’ve got 18 more days to go, so basically we’re in hell week until Sine Die,” Book said. “Sorry, pretty sh**ty.”

For members of her party, that’s one way to look at what’s happening in Tallahassee, but that’s probably not how Republicans see things.

The smoking irrelevance of the Democrats thus far in the Session smells like victory to the GOP.

Gov. Ron DeSantis will get just about everything he wants, despite some opposition from the Senate on his congressional map and a few other things.

The freedom party is about to win the right to tell pregnant women what they can do with their bodies. It won’t stop there, either.

“I think this year, this is all very personal, and it feels personal,” Book said. “I know it’s not coming from a mean-spirited place because I don’t believe that my colleagues are trying to pass legislation that is mean in spirit. But I do believe that this is probably one of the worst Sessions that I’ve seen, where we’re taking issues that are going to deeply, deeply affect Floridians.”

Well, I think one colleague abides in a mean-spirited place.

That would be vindictive GOP Rep. Randy Fine, who has a good chance to bully through a $200 million penalty against leaders of school districts that defied DeSantis’ no-mask order.

Well, there was a bad virus running around — perhaps you heard — and medical experts who actually study this stuff said masks would help prevent infections. Republicans countered with a #FireFauci campaign because, of course, they all hold medical degrees.

They also seized the chance to solve problems that don’t exist (see security, election) and remind women that they’re in charge. Currently, the GOP plans no abortion exemption for rape or incest. By golly, those women will carry that child into the world, after which they’re on their own.

Abortion? No choice.

Vaccines to protect against a deadly virus? Total choice.

Are we noticing a trend here? Choice is what Republicans say it is, and there’s nothing Democrats currently can do about that.

Lawmakers are supposed to solve problems during the Session to benefit the largest number of Floridians. But this Session has thus far been more about telling people how to live and what to think.

None of this lets the Democrats off the hook, though. They’re in this mess because they could bungle a one-car parade. While Republicans stick together, Democrats are a splintered mishmash of conflicting ideas that leaves independent voters wondering exactly what Democrats stand for.

They allowed Republicans to paint them as the party that wanted free stuff. Democrats were labeled elitist because they yawned and giggled when Republicans claimed patriotism and faith as core principles.

They could never cut through the unified GOP screams that abortion is murder. Along the way, Republicans defined them as socialists who are out of touch with everyday hardworking “real” Americans, and they didn’t have a sufficient rebuttal.

Republicans are doing what they said they would, and voters gave them the green light to do so. GOP lawmakers see these bills as something better — their kind of better.

Yes, Sen. Book, things look pretty, um, crappy now for your party. It doesn’t look like it will change any time soon, either. So, yeah, you’re right. There’s not much to do except to dodge confetti Republicans throw during their steamroll to Sine Die.

Monday, January 31, 2022

Senator Book is finding out the hard way that the victim role only goes so far

FL State Senator Lauren Book is trying to gain sympathy for her nude leak controversy, so she's gone back to the old professional victim playbook, expecting people to rally behind her. It doesn't seem to be working. It seems that her bid to elicit sympathy is backfiring. If anything, it seems to be causing more people to go look for her photos than if she didn't decided to tell the whole world about it. 

Fox News is probably the last place I'd go with a sob story, because the comment section is ripping her to shreds. Most of the comments are about her looks or about her lack of intelligence. (There were plenty of comments regarding the fact she should not have taken them but those aren't the funny ones.) Since the Senator's gang of PR idiots read my blog, I want them to see some of the comments I found funniest in response to her recent Fox News interview:






















Bonus from Twitter



Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Senator Book's overhyped "Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database" contains just one name and it is surprisingly not Matt Gaetz

 The inept Florida Senate Minority leader Lauren Book helped create Florida's silly "Solicitation for Prostitution" registry, in 2019. In a press release, Bimbo Book stated, "This law sends a powerful message to traffickers and pimps: the State of Florida is CLOSED for business," says Senator Book, who worked alongside survivors of human trafficking for the past two years on legislation to curb the industry. “When we curb the demand for the illegal sale and purchase of sex, we also curb the profitability of human trafficking — and take a stand against the enslavement of men, women and children in communities across our state."

But after all tis time, just one unfortunate soul was added to this useless government blacklist, some some guy who tried to get a BJ for $25. 

If you want to see a true prostitute registry, go the Florida State Legislature website and look at the list of legislators. See? You didn't need a new list after all!

The difference between a prostitute and a politician is that a prostitute usually only screws one person at a time. 

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/despite-hundreds-of-arrests-in-florida-first-of-its-kind-sex-buyers-database-lists-1-person

Despite hundreds of arrests in Florida, first-of-its-kind sex buyers database lists 1 person

Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database launched Jan. 2021

By: Kylie McGivernPosted at 6:25 AM, Jan 24, 2022 and last updated 4:51 PM, Jan 25, 2022

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A public database, run by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), was meant to thwart human trafficking by posting the names and mugshots of people convicted of paying for sex.

The idea is to go after the demand. Florida ranks third in the nation in the number of calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

The bill’s passage in 2019 was headline-grabbing. The Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database is the first of its kind.

But what some praised as a progressive way to tackle the issue of sex trafficking, others called misguided and even dangerous.

The I-Team found, so far, the reality of the list falls short of its promise.

Since the database launched January 1, 2021, every week, the I-Team checked for any updates to the state list of sex buyers — “johns.”

Month after month, the database remained empty.

In Hillsborough County, the sheriff’s office arrested 262 people for soliciting for prostitution last year.

Just one of them is on the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database.

In fact, a year after the database was launched, he is the only one listed for the entire state.

The I-Team brought its finding to State Attorney Andrew Warren.

“The fact that only one person is in the database just shows that this concept doesn’t actually work when it’s put into practice,” Warren said. “That’s a problem.”

With hundreds of arrests in Hillsborough County, the I-Team asked why more sex buyers have not been convicted of soliciting prostitution.

“About half of those cases go into diversion because they’re first-time offenders, so they’re not subject to the database. About a quarter of those cases end up pleading to a section that’s not captured by the database. It’s another soliciting prostitution law, and then we have about a quarter of those cases still pending.”


Human trafficking busts net many arrests, but convictions prove to be more challenging


According to an overview from the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office, for around 25% of cases, the defendant "pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for their actions, typically under subsection 2b or 2h."


Those subsections address offering another for the purpose of prostitution and aiding, abetting or participating in any of the acts.

Warren said while the goal is admirable — the reality is more complex.

“The goal is trying to reduce the demand for prostitution because it has an impact both on prostitution itself and on human trafficking. And we have to remember that this is a complex issue. There are women who freely choose to sell their bodies to earn a living. And then there are lots of women who feel that they have no other choice but to sell their bodies to earn a living. And then at the far end of the spectrum, you have people who are actually coerced or even forced to sell their bodies, and those are very different realities that have different priorities from a public safety standpoint.”

A person has to be arrested and convicted of soliciting prostitution after January 1, 2021, to go on the public list.

The database includes a name, a picture and an address of the convicted individual from the time that they were addressed.

If, after five years, the person has not committed another sexual offense, they’ll be automatically removed from the public database.

“The idea here was, in part, to kind of shame people. By putting their name out there, saying, ‘Oh, you solicited a prostitute and so your name is going to go into a database.’ It’s not a really effective way to reduce crime,” Warren said. “I’ve been a prosecutor a long time, I have yet to meet a criminal who looked up the statutes and evaluated the sanctions before deciding whether he was going to break the law.”

Public records show the single sex buyer listed on the database so far, solicited an undercover Hillsborough County deputy posing as a prostitute to perform a sex act for $25.

“The idea that this database was somehow going to be the ‘cure all’ for what’s happening with prostitution and human trafficking was far-fetched,” Warren said.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D-Plantation), a survivor of child sex abuse, filed the human trafficking bill the database was a part of in 2019.

“This was a product that was created with law enforcement, working together with law enforcement, survivors in the community, everyone working to address this issue,” Book told the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice in February 2019.

That law enforcement included Pasco County Cpl. Alan Wilkett, who is now retired.

At the same committee meeting, Wilkett told lawmakers he was pushing for accountability from — and a spotlight on — those fueling the sex trafficking industry he saw firsthand.

“This is for the buyer. This is for the one who’s creating the demand for this market, and the idea behind that is for years, law enforcement as a culture, has really gone after the prostituted person, has arrested the trafficker, but the john or the pimp or the buyer has really kind of dwelled behind the veil of anonymity. And we’re asking that that be stripped away,” Wilkett said. “If we reduce the demand, we reduce the market, and we can start putting an end to human trafficking.”

The I-Team has not yet heard back after multiple attempts to contact Sen. Book’s office to discuss where the database stands today.

Ultimately, the sweeping human trafficking bill passed with the support of all but one lawmaker.

“I was the only no vote on this bill,” Democratic State Rep. Anna Eskamani, of Orlando said.

Eskamani told the I-Team, if the database had not been included in the final version of the human trafficking bill, her vote would have been in favor.

“Obviously I care deeply about preventing human trafficking,” she said. “My standing was really on just — what is effective. And I just did not see, the way the policy was written, to be effective. And I don’t want unintended consequences or I don’t want policy that gives off the impression that we’re preventing human trafficking when it’s not.”

Eskamani said she would rather see the dollars put toward the database go to direct resources and organizations that are on the ground supporting human trafficking survivors.

“That one name is not reflective of the number of people who are trafficked across the state, it is not reflective of the money made in human trafficking, and so it tells me we need more solutions,” she said.

Dotti Groover-Skipper, a well-known, decades-long anti-human trafficking advocate in Tampa, said she was “shocked” when the I-Team told her a year in that the database had just one name on it.

“We know that even in Hillsborough County alone, all of the arrests that have been made for solicitation of prostitution. I mean hundreds over the last year,” she said. “I believe that there are so many loopholes in it that it probably isn’t doing what it was intended to do. And I know the individuals who passed it and who filed the bill — the intent was wonderful. I mean we all want to end demand for human trafficking and this was going to be another tool to held end demand.”

Nonprofits like SWOP Behind Bars, advocating for the rights of sex workers, came out against the johns database before its approval in Tallahassee.

“This would force already at-risk communities even further into the shadows,” one member told the Senate Committee on Community Affairs in March 2019.

Ashunte Coleman works with SWOP Behind Bars and helps to provide access to basic needs, like food and safe transportation, for sex workers.

“To be able to give back the way we give back, it warms my heart,” she said, tearing up.

Coleman, a Black transgender woman, is a former sex worker herself.

“I was one of those girls out there on that street crying for help. And needing the help. And that help never came,” she said.

The I-Team asked Coleman what she thought of the argument behind the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database — that if the state goes after the demand, those who are buying sex, that in turn will protect victims and help put an end to sex trafficking.

“I understand, cut the head off the snake and the body will die. When you bust one of these spas that have these girls here, against their will, another one pops up. It is not as simple as that,” she said. “The thing that we need to look at is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is different from sex work.”

After questioning the database over the past year, FDLE revealed to the I-Team that there were problems with the system.

In January, the agency discovered an automated process it developed, to identify possible cases for the johns list, was not working correctly. It is now reviewing “a couple dozen cases.”

This session, Republican State Rep. Jackie Toledo, of Tampa, is pushing a new human trafficking bill in an effort to help victims.

Toledo was among the lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill that included the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database in 2019.

“I just couldn’t believe that there was only one,” Toledo said of the database, when she heard of the I-Team’s finding, saying it tells her, “That they’re pleading out. That they’re hiring attorneys and they’re getting just a slap on the wrist.”

Toledo said she hoped to see a reduction in human trafficking because of the shame associated with a public database.

“Shame really works and I think — nobody wants to be on a list. But if you’re having only one person on a list, it’s not working,” she said.

To change that, Toledo’s take is there needs to be more penalties. Particularly for first-time sex buyers.

“If you increase it to a felony and then plea it down to a misdemeanor, you’re going to be part of that johns registry. Because people are going to be held accountable and they’re going to think twice before buying sex,” Toledo said.

House Bill 1439 would, in part, raise the penalty for a first-time sex buyer from a misdemeanor to a felony.

The proposed change follows the lead of Texas, which last year, became the first state to make buying sex a felony.

The I-Team will be watching to see if similar controversy that came with the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database is stirred up with Toledo’s proposal, about the best way to protect victims sold for sex.

This year, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) will study the database’s effectiveness and whether it is preventing and deterring human trafficking networks. The office will submit a report to the governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by Jan. 1, 2023. If the legislature does not reenact the database, it will be taken down on Jan. 1, 2024.

Statement from FDLE

FDLE developed an automated process to identify possible qualifying arrests and judicial dispositions in the CCH system. Once a case is identified, it is forwarded to our Investigations and Forensics Services program area for analytical review. This must be completed to determine whether or not the potential cases meet the statutory criteria to be placed in the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database. If the court files do not contain the information needed to verify entering the person into the database, an FDLE analyst contacts the arresting agency to request more information.

Cases qualify if a person was arrested and convicted after Jan. 1, 2021. Arrestees must plead guilty or nolo contendere and be found guilty or have adjudication withheld. The statute also requires the exchange of money or arrangement of a payment.

An attorney with our General Counsel’s Office completes a final review of the case prior to an individual being placed on the site.

Currently, we have a couple dozen cases being reviewed for inclusion on the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database. During a recent program review, it was determined that the automated process was not forwarding all possible cases correctly. A manual audit was completed, and any records not previously reviewed are being reviewed now.