Lauren's Kids releases dubious study basing claim of widespread campus sexual abuse among athletes

A recent claim that one in 4 college athletes are sexually abused by authority figures conjured up by Lauren's Kids made its rounds among the mass media around the end of August, primarily USA Today. As I've stated on other blogs, we have to watch out for dubious studies. The link to the study (not prominently displayed) can be found at:

https://laurenskids.org/college-athletes-report-high-incidence-of-sexual-abuse-by-campus-authority-figures-survey-finds/

PDF here -- https://laurenskids.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/21-CRU-001-Campus-Sex-Abuse-Report-V2_5.pdf

Interestingly, Lauren's Kids did not provide detailed results, including methodology and breakdown of actual numbers for download. All we get is the summary of their findings. 

As with any dubious survey, there are a few problems the media did not consider at all: 

1. The study was not only commissioned by Lauren's Kids, an already questionable charity, it was also conducted by Ben Crump and Richard Schulte, two attorneys looking to rake in millions of dollars over sexual abuse claims on the campuses of Ohio State and Michigan. 

2. The survey was of around 1500 "college educated people", with about half "under the age of 45." While older Americans occasionally go to college, it is far more likely many older survey takers went to college long ago in a different era. Why did they go this route rather than go to a college and survey current students? Where was the surveys conducted? Did they limit themselves to just colleges where a current scandal occurs? It is unclear since they never bother to mention methodology. I would not be surprised if it was a survey directly of people in direct contract with victim advocate groups, which would skewer the results.  

3. The survey jumps from saying based on a survey of 1500 'college educated people' they jump into the claims that "one in four student-athletes "endured inappropriate sexual contract". Nowhere in the survey does it state the number of those surveyed who were student athletes.

Without knowing the answers to the latter two questions, and knowing the source of these clais, this report should be taken with a grain of salt. This appears to be just another PR stunt by Senator Book. 

FL Democratic State Senator Lauren Book is trying to cover multimillion dollar donations (with a lot of Republican support)

Nothing about the Book Crime Family surprises me. Is any of this new to me? No. The only thing that shocks me any more is that anyone even notices. They've done it so long that it is a given. Lauren Book has never been anything more than a money and power hungry person, just like her daddy. 

https://www.floridabulldog.org/2021/05/new-senate-democratic-leader-lauren-book-conflict-of-interest/

New Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book has conflict of interest as Republicans quietly shower taxpayer millions on her charity

Lauren Book

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book Tuesday discussing her amendment to the state’s $500-million gambling compact with the Seminoles that aided her father’s lobbying client, the Town of Davie. Photo: The Florida Channel

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

Lauren Book, the newly anointed leader of Florida’s Senate Democrats, has a financial conflict of interest that’s raising questions about her loyalties as her beleaguered party prepares for the challenge of redistricting in January.

For the past two years, House and Senate Republicans decisively showered the Senate Minority Leader’s charity – Lauren’s Kids – with $4 million in taxpayer dollars.

The appropriations, including $2 million awarded in the regular session that ended April 30, were camouflaged to make it difficult for the public to spot them.

Since 2011, the Republican-controlled Legislature has lavished $19.69-million in grants on the sexual abuse prevention charity founded and led by the Plantation Democrat. In addition, Lauren’s Kids has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from other Republican OK’d funding mechanisms, notably a specialty license plate.

State records indicate the charity intends to ask for another $2 million next year. “There is not currently a source of funding available that can be used in lieu of state funding,” says Lauren’s Kids most recent funding request.

Lauren’s salaries – and bonus

According to the latest available federal tax records, Lauren’s Kids paid Sen. Book an annual salary of $200,000 plus an incentive bonus of $15,000 in 2019. The bonus was not further explained.

The compensation Book received from Lauren’s Kids rose 49.1 percent between 2016, when she first took office, and 2019. Her salary from the charity in 2011 was $68,000. Her current Lauren’s Kids salary is $220,000, according to spokeswoman Claire VanSusteren. Book also draws a state senator’s salary of $29,697.

Book has said in the past, and VanSusteren reiterated this week, that “none of these dollars were derived from public funds.” That’s true, as far as it goes. State records show that millions in Lauren’s Kids grants were structured to pay for programs and staff salaries other than Book’s. But Book’s large salary would not be possible without the huge infusion of state dollars that have annually underwritten the charity’s other expenses.

Sen. Book, the daughter of influential lawyer-lobbyist and Lauren’s Kids chairman Ronald Book, did not respond to Florida Bulldog requests for comment. Ronald Book and his Aventura firm lobbied the Legislature for the grants, records state.

In a 2017 interview with Florida Bulldog, Sen. Book said she would not abstain from voting on matters involving her father’s clients or on measures sending millions of state dollars to benefit Lauren’s Kids. “In ALL matters, I will vote my conscience and in what I believe is best for my district, for Broward County and for the people of the State of Florida,” she said.

“I have met with the Counsel of the Senate and have been advised that it is proper that I do not abstain on these matters unless funding directly inures to my benefit, which it does not.”

Political life with father

Just this week, Sen. Book acted to benefit one of her father’s clients, the Town of Davie, that she likewise represents by sponsoring an amendment to the state’s $500-million gambling compact struck with the Seminole Tribe on Wednesday. The amendment changed the formula for determining how much local governments adjacent to the tribe’s reservation casino near Hollywood are entitled to receive.

Lobbyist Ron Book Monday before the House Select Subcommittee on the Seminole Gaming Compact Photo: The Florida Channel

Because of Book’s amendment, Davie will rake in tens of thousands of dollars more annually at the expense of the more populous and more racially diverse Hollywood. The compact is a 30-year deal. U.S. Census Bureau estimates as of July 1, 2019: Davie’s population of 106,000 was 8.8 percent black; Hollywood’s population of 155,000 was 18.2 percent black.

The Legislature’s largesse toward Lauren’s Kids, while no secret to many Republicans or Democrats who, like Sen. Book, voted for it, nevertheless was curiously kept out of public sight. Indeed, Tallahassee insiders Florida Bulldog spoke with were unaware of the millions earmarked to Lauren’s Kids in 2020 and 2021, nor did any Florida media outlet report on those large payouts last year, or while covering this year’s record $101.5-billion state budget.

Why? The House and Senate legislators who sponsored the Lauren’s Kids grants modified the name of those appropriations.

Underlying documentation clearly identifies Lauren’s Kids as the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity that requested the twin $2-million grants to be funneled through the Department of Education. But unlike past years when “Lauren’s Kids” identified the recipient, the grant’s name was changed to “Safer, Smarter Schools” – the name of the Lauren’s Kids curriculum.

The result: the annual list of state-funded charities in the final appropriations bill no longer mentions Lauren’s Kids as receiving any funds. (See page 30 of this year’s SB 2500.)

State descriptions of the Lauren’s Kids program for 2020 and 2021 both say, “Funding will be utilized to continue to provide child abuse prevention curriculum and resources to Florida’s public schools, parents and communities.” This year’s description adds, “The onset of COVID-19 has elevated the need for these critical resources due to the documented rise in child abuse, maltreatment, digital exploitation & trafficking during the pandemic.”

The COVID-19 language looks like window dressing. No documentation to support the assertion that child abuse, exploitation and trafficking increased last year was provided when the funding request was filed on Feb. 17.

‘Troubled’ by camouflaged grants

The sponsors of the 2020 Lauren’s Kids grant were then-state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Marianna, and then-state Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples. This year, the sponsors were state Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Pensacola, and state Rep. Vance Aloupis Jr., R-Miami.

This year’s Republican sponsors for Lauren’s Kids $2-million grant. Sen. Doug Broxson, right, and Rep. Vance Aloupis Jr.

Florida Bulldog contacted some prominent South Florida Democrats to ask them about the  recent disguised, multi-million dollar giveaway to Lauren’s Kids by the Republican-dominated Legislature.

“I am troubled by what you’re telling me,” said a former state senator who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It sounds bad, certainly. It may be bad. I don’t know. If I were still in the Senate,I would want to know a lot more.”

Another former legislator now in local elective office said she was “concerned” both by Book’s sizeable compensation from Lauren’s Kids, as well as her charity’s dependence on Republicans for continuing support.

“The challenge for her is going to be that she needs to bend over backwards to be more ethical than other people. Everybody’s watching her,” she said. “She should step aside from the charity while she’s the Democratic leader.”

Florida Bulldog reached out to several key Senate Democrats for comment, including Miami’s Annette Taddeo, Tampa’s Janet Cruz and Jacksonville’s Audrey Gibson. None responded.

Lauren Book sees additional Republican funding

Even before Book was elected to the Senate, her father was a significant presence in Tallahassee. In 2013 Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed a bill that amended state law to allow Lauren’s Kids to collect $25 fees from the sale by specialty license plates sold by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Further, the DMV allows Lauren’s Kids to insert in every auto tag renewal notice mailed to more than 6 million vehicle owners a brochure asking the public for donations. Miami-Dade and Broward counties facilitate individual $1 donations by including a box for people to check on their car registration renewal forms. 

In 2019 alone, Lauren’s Kids reported that the department paid it $536,000.

Lauren Book, who was sexually and physically abused by her nanny for six years starting at age 11, founded Lauren’s Kids in 2007. She was elected to the state Senate without opposition in 2016 and again in 2018. She’s running for re-election next year.

To date, her campaign has raised $170,000 and the political committee she chairs – Leadership for Florida – has collected another $246,500. A chunk of that money comes from at least a half-dozen of her father’s lobbying clients.

Incumbent Book, 36, has a Republican opponent in 2022, Davie resident Diana Bivona Belviso, 34. Belviso’s campaign reports receiving a single in-kind contribution: $300, for professional photographs.

Lauren Book established Leadership for Florida in 2014 with the help of Tampa accountant Nancy Watkins, who remains the political committee’s treasurer. Watkins and her husband, Robert, have for decades kept the books for numerous Republican candidates and conservative political groups in Florida and around the country. The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2019 that Watkins’ clients have included then-President Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio and Fort Lauderdale resident Roger Stone’s legal defense fund.

The new Senate Minority Leader has had generally warm relations with Florida’s Republican governors. Gov. Ron DeSantis, not known for praising Democrats, put out an effusive statement calling her “an internationally respected child safety expert” who fights “for Florida’s families.”

In 2015, then-Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. senator, hugged Lauren Book and appeared with Ron Book on the steps of Florida’s Historic Capitol amid a rally for Lauren’s Kids.

Book rose to become minority leader less than a month ago after Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Lighthouse Point, was ousted following a unanimous vote of no confidence. Book, who became next in line for minority leader after Fort Lauderdale state Sen. Perry Thurston filed to run for the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings’ seat in Congress. Book is scheduled to remain minority leader until 2024.

Just who is "educating" Lauren Book?

Even during this COVID-19 crisis, Lauren Book is still promoting her organization, and with April typically being child abuse awareness month (which is pointless amidst a global crisis), there are plenty of opportunities for people to get educated. FloriDUH is paying State Senator Lauren Book millions to educate the public on sexual abuse, but has anyone actually educated Lauren Book?

Recently, Lauren Book's latest publicity stunt, walking on a treadmill for 42 hours for the dubious claim of 42 million abuse victims. But where did she pull that stat from? It is interesting Lauren Book's organization, Lauren's Kids, does NOT post original sources for her dubious claims. Instead, like so many victim advocacy groups, each organization cites other advocacy groups rather than any actual research.

Lauren Book's statistical claims are many. These claims are:

#1 - Lauren's Claim: "There are more than 42 million survivors of sexual abuse in America. (National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse)":

It is hard to track down the origins of this stat, but the oldest reference I can find is a book written in 1987 entitled BY SILENCE BETRAYED The Sexual Abuse of Children in America by John Crewdson, a Chicago Tribune reporter. The LA Times noted that Crewdson relied heavily on a single 1985 LA Times poll that found 24% of the 1145 men and 1481 women claimed to have been sexually abused. Crewdson then assumed that 38 million Americans had experienced sexual abuse as a child.

Part of the problem is the survey had a 24% refusal rate, so it is likely many did not take the survey because it was irrelevant to them. It must also be noted that this survey also asked opinions on the McMartin trial and it was still a time where people associated homosexuals with pedophilia.

The site Lauren's Kids cites is a fellow child victim advocacy website which did NOT offer a reference at all.

#2, another of Lauren's favorites:
1 in 3 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. (The Advocacy Center)
1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. (The Advocacy Center)

The source for this stat is NOT The Advocacy Center. The origin of this stat is from a handful of stats from feminist groups circa the 1970s/1980s. In the 1988 book "The Right to Innocence" by Beverly Engel, she attributed the stat to a survey of cases from one Hank Giaretto, who promoted his own advocacy center he founded in 1971 until his death in 2003. But similar claims could be found before then: Elizabeth E Cobey of Parents United told a congressional subcommittee in 1977 she saw stats that 25% of American women were molested as children. These surveys were conducted primarily by feminist groups with relatively small numbers.

This is a good time to discuss validity versus reliability. Something is reliable if it gives the same results. Something is valid when something gives the right result. Let's say you rig up a device that shoots a gun at a target. If it hits the bullseye all 5 times, it is both valid and reliable. If it shoots in the same spot five times but hits 5 inches from the bullseye, it is reliable but invalid.

Many of the tests used to make estimates on the prevalence of sexual abuse suffer from the same issues with validity. Back in the 1980s, repressed memory was taught by numerous victim advocates, and that stuff taught back then is believed by the current generation of advocates. It goes like this -- if your life sucks in any way, such as being depressed, trouble meeting a good man, or trouble at work, then you were probably abused, even if you don't remember it. Repressed memory has long since been debunked (think about all the terrible experiences you've ever had and you'll discover it is very hard to forget) but we never forget even bad advice we were taught, like stranger danger.

This is a major problem among victim advocates but they like to repress such facts. 

#3: Lauren's Claim: 1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on the Internet before the age of 18. (National Children’s Alliance: Nationwide Child Abuse Statistics) --

Surprise! Lauren's Kids fails to cite the original resource. Instead, she promotes another victim advocacy group that took down the page she cited. 1 in 5” stat: came from a 2008 Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS); 19% received a broad  term "sexual solicitation," which included anything from sexual spam to someone asking if a person “got  lucky” on a date. Only one in 33 experienced an "aggressive sexual solicitation," or a request to contact offline. Of those who actually solicited a teen online, 24% came from adults, 48% came from other juveniles, and 24% from unknown people. One cannot assume all solicitations came from "online predators" implied by Lauren's Kids.

#4: Lauren's Claim - 30% of sexual abuse is never reported. (Child Sex Abuse Prevention and Protection Center) --

Any discussion about sex offense inevitably lead to claims of widespread underreporting. It is the classic appeal to ignorance; we simply can't disprove claims of widespread underreporting so we can't easily debunk such claims. By the same token, claims of widespread underreporting cannot be proven, either. There is already a lengthy discussion about underreporting online; to summarize the article for the sake of this article, the National Crime Victimization Surveys are the largest surveys on this topic, but even they rely on incredibly small numbers (less than a hundred unreported cases) and broad definitions of what constitutes sexual assault, which can lead to wide variations in results. One year, it is 30%, the next year, it is 90%, depending on the resource. These underreporting surveys rely on self-reports from common citizens, which means no investigation was made to determine if an event or fear of an event qualifies as abuse in the eyes of the law.

#5: Lauren's claim: Nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults (including assaults on adults) occur to children age 17 and under. (Children’s Advocacy Center)

-- This stat is actually verified by legitimate studies but is a pretty useless stat simply intended to incite fear. On average, there are only about 100,000 to 200,000 sexual assault reports in America annually in a nation of roughly 330 Million people. But this stat is like a stat saying 10% of manufactured cars are colored red.


#6: Lauren's claim: 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way. (U.S. Department of Justice)

-- This one is true but is also a valid argument for the uselessness of sex offense registries, since they were designed with Stranger Danger in mind.

#7: Lauren's claim: Approximately 20% of the victims of sexual abuse are under age eight. (Broward County)2

This is a stat from just one county, so it is not necessarily indicative of the entire state of Florida. This is another "10% of cars are red" stat. It is an emotionally charged stat but is not useful for anything else.

#8: Lauren's Claim: 95% of sexual abuse is preventable through education. (Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute)

-- I agree (albeit knowing the 95% is an arbitrary number created merely as a talking point) but the education has to be FACTUAL, not based on the tired myths propagated by Lauren Book. Lauren's kids is the equivalent to Jim Bakker's Silver Solution for COVID-19. There are far better programs out there.

Also, I wonder what 5% cannot be prevented by educating the public and how this conclusion was made.

#9: Lauren's Claim; 38% of the sexual abusers of boys are female. (Broward County)

-- Again, a single county stat.It is good to point out not everyone accused of sexual offenses are men. Wll, good for Lauren Book, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.

#10 Lauren's Claim: There is worse lasting emotional damage when a child’s sexual abuse started before the age of six, and lasted for several years. Among child and teen victims of sexual abuse there is a 42 percent increased chance of suicidal thoughts during adolescence. (American Counseling Association)

-- The article she links to DOES NOT make this claim. This report is merely a brief of POTENTIAL, not ACTUAL, impacts of abuse, and warns not everyone will have reported problems that Book claims will happen. On this I say this a blatant lie by Lauren Book.

#11: Lauren's Claim: “More than 90% of individuals with a developmental delay or disability will be sexually assaulted at least once in their lifetime.” (Valenti-Heim, D.m Schwartz L.)

-- This report is not available online but is from a very obscure book from 1995; despite a few sources quoting this (and by a few I mean less than a dozen), there is no way to verify the outlandish claims made here. Judging by the lack of citation, I'm willing to bet Lauren Book does not actually know where this stat came from. If I was in search of a stat, I'd provide the actual reference.

#12: Lauren's claim: “There are nearly half a million registered sex offenders in the U.S. – 80,000 to 100,000 of them are missing.” (The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) --

This myth came from a 2003 poorly devised telephone survey conducted by another dubious victim advocate cult, Parents For Megan's Law. Legitimate studies have found this number is not even a tenth of PFML's false claim. A lengthy discussion on this persistent claim can be found at oncefallen.com.

#13 Lauren's Kids claims: “A typical pedophile will commit 117 sexual crimes in a lifetime.” (National Sex Offenders Registry)

-- Lauren's Kids cites this dubious stat to a private registry company that sells advertising space on their websites and was conjured from a blatant misread of a single quote by Gene Abel in a book. This stat was posted on Yellodyno, another advocacy site. Interestingly enough, the original citation cannot be found anywhere. It was attributed to Gene Abel (1985) “The Evaluation of Child Molesters: Final Report to the Center on Antisocial and Violent Behavior.” Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health. No one has a copy of the original study! But, as written in“The Stop Child Molestation Book: What Ordinary People Can Do In Their Everyday Lives To Save 3 Million Children” by Nora Harlow and Gene G. Abel, “On average, a pedophile molests 11.7 children compared to a non-pedophile molester, who molests, on average, 2.9 children… On average, a molester with pedophilia commits 70.8 molestation acts. On average, a molester without pedophilia commits 6.5 acts.” Somewhere along the way, the stat was misread!

To borrow WaPo's Pinocchio scale, Lauren's statistical claims are a solid THREE Pinocchios and barely a fact from four. If a person lies as frequentrly as Donald Trump how can we trust her "education" curriculum to provide factual information?

Surprise! Lauren Book "sprinkles" herself with $500,000 more Floridiot taxpayer bucks

"Woo hoo! More money for ME!"

According to the Florida Bulldog, 37 of 45 bills introduced by Lauren Book didn't even make it out of committee.

In case you want to keep score, these are the only bills she helped pass:

1. The sex doll ban
2. An administrative bill changing agency names for the state's elderly care department
3. "Andrew's Law" yet another named law, this time targeting school hazing
4. Creating a new bureaucracy, the "Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission"
5. A bill revising rules for Stroke Centers

The rest died in committee or failed to pass later.

Remember the Progressive Ad "Only Winners Get Sprinkles"? I don't think Senator Bimbo earned her sprinkles this year.

https://www.floridabulldog.org/2019/05/legislative-sprinkle-extra-half-million-dollars-to-state-senators-nonprofit/

Legislative ‘sprinkle’ adds extra half-million dollars to state senator’s nonprofit, quietly doubling state payout to Lauren’s Kids

MAY 22, 2019
AUTHOR: FRANCISCO ALVARADO

In the waning days of the most recent Florida legislative session, it appeared the nonprofit agency founded and run by Plantation State Sen. Lauren Book would walk away with only half-a-million dollars in taxpayer funding after consecutive years of receiving seven-figure sums.

Then came the April 30th meeting of the budget conference chairs. That’s when Lauren’s Kids got sprinkled.

The so-called “sprinkle list” is used to describe how legislators shower favored organizations with additional dollars near the end of session.

Toward the end of the hearing, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Rob Bradley, R- Green Cove Springs, announced that the children’s cancer awareness foundation Live Like Bella and Book’s organization, Lauren’s Kids, had been erroneously left off the list. He said each would receive an additional $500,000.

With a stroke of a pen, Bradley made sure his colleague’s nonprofit walked away with $1 million for its educational outreach program aimed at preventing sexual and physical abuse against children, as well as encouraging the reporting of child-abuse cases. Book later voted to approve the budget bill containing the allocation for Lauren’s Kids.

But according to ethics watchdogs, the large allocation of public funds to a senator’s nonprofit  raises concerns about whether Book, a Democrat, properly disclosed her ties to Lauren’s Kids. Likewise, they question the legislative practice of doling out public dollars to private groups after legislative committees have already voted on how much money the groups should receive.

Subversive sprinkle

Peter Cruise, executive director of Florida Atlantic University’s LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy, said the sprinkle list subverts the committee process. “It becomes more concerning if it involves a legislator and the organization has her name on it, even if it’s for helping abused kids,” said Cruise, who is also a Palm Beach County ethics commissioner. “Things like this should not happen, no matter how worthy the cause is.”

Ben Wilcox, research director for the watchdog organization Integrity Florida, said legislators only have to disclose a possible conflict of interest if the appropriation directly benefits them. “She can argue that it is not a direct benefit to her because the allocation is to the nonprofit,” Wilcox explained. “But it is a really gray area. If I were her, I would err on the side of full disclosure.”

Furthermore, Book should have sought an opinion from the Senate’s general counsel before voting on the state budget, Wilcox said. “If you don’t take some steps to fully disclose what could be a potential conflict, it doesn’t look good to the public,” he said.

Since its inception in 2007, Lauren’s Kids has sought and received grant funding from the state, collecting more than $13 million in the last five years alone. The senator, a rising Broward Democrat whose father is powerhouse lobbyist Ron Book, receives a $144,250 salary as Lauren’s Kids CEO, according to the nonprofit’s 2016 tax return, the most recent available. The same document shows that government grants represented 68 percent of Lauren’s Kids 2016 $4.1 million revenue. Book’s Senate salary is $29,697.

In a 2017 interview before the start of her first year in office, Book told Florida Bulldog that she consulted the Senate’s general counsel about voting on issues relating to Lauren’s Kids. She said she was advised “that I do not abstain on these matters unless the funding directly inures to my benefit, which it will not.” Book insisted that her CEO salary was restructured so that is not paid with state funds and that she derives no personal benefit from public tax dollars.

During her first term, Book has quickly risen up the ranks in the Republican-controlled Legislature. She is chairwoman of the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee and is a member of the Appropriations Committee and two appropriations subcommittees that oversee education, health and human services. However, she has been mostly ineffective in passing her own legislative agenda.

According to her Senate website, 37 of 45 bills Book sponsored died at the committee level, including measures to establish trust and compensation funds for victims’ families of the Feb. 14, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High mass shooting.

A ‘scrivener’s error’

As a member of the Appropriations Committee and subcommittees, Sen. Book was at the April 30th budget conference. When Bradley said a ‘scrivener’s error’ had mistakenly left off funding for Live Like Bella and Lauren’s Kids, Book was a few feet away from the Senate appropriations chairman, according to video footage of the meeting.

“As an appointed member of the overall Joint Budget Conference Committee and a member of both the Education and the Health and Human Services Budget Conference Sub-Committees it was my duty to be there,” Book said in an emailed statement. The senator said the $500,000 sprinkle for Lauren’s Kids was requested by Democratic Sen. Bill Montford of Leon County, who also is the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. Bradley and Montford did not respond to phone messages and emails requesting comment.

Book said she became aware of the scrivener’s error during the budget conference, but that she did not discuss Lauren’s Kids funding with any of the legislators or Senate staff in attendance.

Lauren’s Kids spokeswoman Claire VanSusteren told Florida Bulldog that Book has not been involved with any legislative funding requests related to the nonprofit.

“She does not lobby her colleagues on the budget, and does not participate in foundation-related legislative updates as she is no longer a member of the Lauren’s Kids board of directors,” VanSusteren said. “The only exception has been to vote on a final state budget as is required of her as a state senator.”

Cruise, the ethics commissioner, said having a colleague like Montford sponsor funding for Lauren’s Kids puts some distance between the senator and her nonprofit, but that the sprinkle list subverts the vetting process undertaken by the legislative committees.

“The appropriations process is extremely political,” Cruise said. “It is hard to get on an agenda and organizations can get knocked out at the last minute. To have something come out of left field is not the way the process is supposed to work.”

Book crime family sided with a person who made a bogus CSA claim & is now getting sued for their efforts

It may be easy for the Book Crime Family to abuse the courts in an attempt to silence the activism of registered citizens, but they will have a far harder time trying to silence someone falsely accused by the Book Crime Family.

http://www.floridabulldog.org/2018/03/businessman-accused-of-child-molestation-sues-alleging-smear-campaign/

Businessman accused of child molestation sues alleging defamation, smear campaign

By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org

Lauren Book sporting those Buddy Holly-Prison Framed Glasses

A South Miami-Dade couple launched a smear campaign with the assistance of mega-lobbyist Ron Book to destroy the reputation of a prominent businessman accused by their six-year-old daughter of molesting her at a pool party, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Jozef Opdeweegh has denied any wrongdoing. And he and his wife, Jacqueline Miguel, are suing spouses Jonathan and Melissa Cauff and Stuart Cauff, the little girl’s grandfather, for defamation with express malice and neglect in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The Feb. 14 complaint does not name Book as a defendant, but the document identifies him as a family spokesman who helped fuel substantial media coverage about the alleged sexual assault, which occurred on May 31, 2017.

The complaint cites Book’s remarks to Local 10 News after Opdeweegh’s Aug. 16, 2017 bond hearing that “clearly there was an inappropriate touching.”

In a phone interview, Book dismissed the lawsuit as a meritless attempt to harass and intimidate the Cauffs from continuing to speak up about what Opdeweegh allegedly did to the 6-year-old girl. “This lawsuit is meant to stop them from continuing to make their case,” Book said. “It is re-victimizing the victim and it creates a chilling effect.”

JOZEF OPDEWEEGH

Attempts to reach Jonathan and Melissa Cauff were unsuccessful. Calls to publicly listed phone numbers under their names indicated they were disconnected. Stuart Cauff declined to comment. Opdeweegh and Miguel are represented by Barry Richard, a Greenberg Traurig shareholder who represented George W. Bush in the Florida Gore versus Bush legal battle that determined the presidency in 2000. Richard declined to comment.

On his personal website, Opdeweegh touts his 17-year experience as a past chief executive, chairman and board member of private and public global companies with a combined 17,000 employees and $300 million in earnings. His most recent CEO gig was with Premier Farnell, a global technology manufacturer and distributor based in London from April to November 2016. Since then, he has worked as business consultant for private equity funds.

Opdeweegh is suing for damages for the loss of his good reputation, loss of consulting gigs with multiple private-equity companies and loss of an opportunity to become the chief executive of a global corporation.

A pool party

According to a Miami-Dade police report, Opdeweegh, Miguel and their two children attended a pool party hosted by the Cauffs at their Glenvar Heights apartment complex at 8150 SW 72nd Ave. The report states Jonathan Cauff and Miguel are childhood friends and their kids attend the same classes at Gulliver Academy. At some point, Opdeweegh was in the water with the children, including Jonathan and Melissa Cauff’s daughter. Her parents were not in the pool.

In an interview with a Miami-Dade police detective two months after the incident, Jonathan Cauff said his daughter got out of the pool and ran over to the cabanas where he was sitting. “She leaned over, whispered in his ear and stated, ‘Mr. Opdeweegh just touched my pipi,’ ” the police report states. She repeated the accusation two more times to her father and then showed her mother how Opdeweegh rubbed his hands over the portion of her bathing suit covering her vagina.

THE APARTMENT HOUSE POOL WHERE THE ALLEGED TOUCHING OCCURRED.

Ron Book illustrating the size of his manhood

The couple decided to act as if nothing untoward had happened and continued to party so as not to create a scene and cause more distress for their daughter, “who appeared nervous and afraid,” Jonathan Cauff told the investigator.

Two days later, on June 2, the Cauffs reported the alleged molestation to the Department of Children & Families and scheduled an appointment with a therapist because their daughter was crying, sad and scared following the incident, per Jonathan Cauff’s statement. DCF reported the child’s accusations against Opdeweegh to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and county police.

On June 22, the little girl participated in a forensic interview at Kristi House, a non-profit affiliated with the state attorney’s office that assists child sex abuse victims. She showed investigators how Opdeweegh allegedly touched her vagina in an “up/down motion.”

Melissa Cauff also recounted similar details about the incident with detectives and mentioned how in 2015 she read her daughter a children’s book called “Lauren’s Kingdom” in which the author was sexually abused as a child by a nanny.

The book was written by Broward State Sen. Lauren Book, daughter of Ron Book and founder and CEO of Lauren’s Kids, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering sexually victimized children and their family members to report their attackers to the proper authorities. Her father, who represents dozens of private companies and local governments in Tallahassee, is chairman of Lauren’s Kids.

Florida funnels millions to Lauren’s Kids

Since 2012, the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott have showered Lauren’s Kids with more than $10 million in taxpayer funding to develop a curriculum about child sex abuse reporting for elementary, middle and high school students. The program is optional and not every public school district is required to teach it.

During the 2017 and 2018 legislative sessions, legislators approved a combined $3 million in funding for Lauren’s Kids knowing the non-profit is owned and operated by one of their colleagues, who was elected in 2016. Sen. Book, who earns a $135,000-a-year-salary as Lauren’s Kids top officer, has also voted in favor of the state appropriations bills knowing it includes line items for Lauren’s Kids.

In previous interviews, she told Florida Bulldog that she doesn’t have a conflict because the funding will not personally benefit her. In addition, she said, she resigned from the board of directors of the foundation that raises money for Lauren’s Kids and her salary was restructured so that her compensation is not funded with public dollars.

According to Opdeweegh’s lawsuit, he fully cooperated with detectives after they informed him that he was being investigated on July 27. A month later, on Aug. 14, he voluntarily surrendered and was charged with one felony count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child. He was freed on a $300,000 bond two days later.

Between June 1 and Aug. 14, the Cauffs met with persons acting as their agents to discuss a plan of action designed to destroy the reputation of Jozef Opdeweegh, the lawsuit alleges.

“The Cauffs, or their agents acting with their knowledge and approval, caused substantial media attendance at the August 16, 2017 bond hearing,” the lawsuit claims. “As a result, there was widespread media coverage of the bond hearing, including video clips of Jozef Opdeweegh in prison uniform, and of a press conference at which Ron Book, a spokesman for the Cauffs, stated that ‘clearly there was an inappropriate touching.'”

The lawsuit also contains excerpts of alleged text messages between Jonathan and Stuart Cauff lauding the lobbyist’s handling of the media. “Ron Book was fantastic,” Stuart Cauff wrote. “The total report makes it appear to have gone exactly as desired.” To which Jonathan Cauff responded: “Ron is amazing. Thank God he was there. They painted [Opdeweegh] so guilty.”

Opdeweegh, in his lawsuit, alleges the text messages “reflect a strong desire and intention to hurt the Opdeweeghs rather than seeing fairness and justice served, and to use the news media to do so.”

Cauffs refused to cooperate?
The complaint also claims the Cauffs refused to cooperate with police investigators, including making a controlled telephone call to Opdeweegh to see if he could catch his daughter’s alleged molester in a lie. “The purpose of the call was the possibility that Jozef Opdeweegh’s response would assist in determining the likelihood of guilt,” the lawsuit claims.

On Sept. 20, an assistant state attorney told the Cauffs that the office was not going to prosecute Opdeweegh due to a lack of corroborating evidence, the lawsuit states. Eight days later, the case was closed with no action taken against Opdeweegh.

ATTORNEY BARRY RICHARD

Book told Florida Bulldog that sexual abuse cases often don’t go to trial because of the difficulty proving the alleged incident took place when there are no eyewitnesses or other corroborating evidence. “This gentleman was charged because police believe he did it and the judge found probable cause,” he said. “The prosecutors decided to dismiss the case because they felt they couldn’t get a conviction. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

Book also admonished Opdeweegh’s lawyer, Richard, for mentioning his name in the complaint. “I think it’s unfair,” Book said. “We stand up for victims’ rights on a regular basis. Somehow the plaintiff and Richard felt that was somewhat material.”

He said he did not speak at the press conference as a legal representative for the Cauffs. “I got out in front because the press wanted someone from the family to say something,” Book recalled.

Nevertheless, Book said he and Lauren’s Kids have no regrets getting involved with the Cauffs. “This isn’t going to deter us from standing up for victims and their families,” he said. “Lawyers for the gentleman criticized the Cauff family for teaching their child to speak up until someone hears her voice. To do otherwise is wrong, period.”

Lauren Book collected over $100,000 from her own charity, funded by taxpayer money

Consider this-- Lauren's Kids raked in $1.5 MILLION last year, and nearly 10% alone went to Lauren Book alone. And yet the politicians who voted for the funding don't even know where the money is going? Hint-- check Lauren's bank account. 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-laurens-kids-funding-20150626-story.html

Nonprofit gets outsized state $$ to fight sex abuse
Dan Sweeney
Sun-Sentinel
June 26, 2015

There's a stereotype of pedophiles – creepy strangers lurking at the edge of city parks, cooling their heels in public bathrooms. Lying in wait.

But 90 percent of child sexual abuse comes at the hands of someone whom the child knows, and 95 percent of it is preventable through education, according to Broward County's rape crisis and child advocacy center. That's where the nonprofit organization Lauren's Kids is trying to make a change, by teaching PreK through third graders to recognize signs of danger so they can tell someone.

"The biggest challenge is battling the stigma of child sexual abuse – it's an issue that thrives in darkness, silence and secrecy," said Lauren Book, who founded the Aventura-based charity in 2007. Book, the daughter of prominent lobbyist Ron Book, was sexually abused by a nanny for six years beginning at age 11.

The state this year is giving Lauren's Kids $3.8 million – almost twice as much as any other group in its budget category, which includes organizations such as the YMCA and the Girl Scouts. It is the second year in row it received that much.

Book said Lauren's Kids' $3.8 million is "a direct result of a growing recognition by the Florida Legislature of the pervasive and costly problem that is child sexual abuse and a strengthening commitment to end it in Florida."

Tax records show Book's organization had $438,357 in total revenue in 2010 – that number tripled the next year. By 2013, Lauren's Kids took in $1,810,495, buoyed by $1.5 million in state funds. At the same time, Book's salary as CEO of the organization went from $67,596 to $103,540.

The next year, state funding for the group went up to $3.8 million for the first time. No other organization in that budget category has seen such a meteoric rise.

Local lawmakers who sit on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, which are responsible for setting funding levels, were mystified.

"I've not quite understood why there's been such exponential growth in Lauren's Kids as a budget item," said state Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami. "We understand that the organization's doing the work providing counseling and other programs for young adults that have been victimized. But we do need to know where those dollars are being spent. … I've made the inquiry and have not really received an answer that's substantive."

Lauren Book's father, Ron Book, is the president of Lauren's Kids – she is the CEO and she acknowledges her lobbyist dad certainly doesn't hurt her organization's bottom line.

But she maintains state funding couldn't be going to a better purpose.

She points to a 2012 study by the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence that found a pilot program of Lauren's Kids' curriculum resulted in a 77 percent increase of children's knowledge regarding sexual abuse awareness.

Book said her organization had identified an unaddressed problem – preventative education rather than simply going after perpetrators of crimes.

With the Lauren's Kids educational tools expanding to more grades – fourth and fifth grade are in development and should be available for the 2015-2016 school year – Book's next role may be in the very legislature that has bestowed more than $9 million on her organization in the last three years.

Last September, Book opened a political action committee, Leadership for Broward, which is a fundraising first step when running for office. More than $570,000 has been contributed to the PAC since then. The biggest donations include $100,000 from the Miami Dolphins, $25,000 from Vitas Hospice Care, and $25,000 from the GEO Group private prison company – all clients of Ron Book.

dsweeney@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4605 or Twitter @Daniel_Sweeney

Florida gives $3.8 million to Lauren’s Kids charity after questionable poll on sex abuse

EVERY action of Lauren's Kids should be questioned, not just this one. This isn't the first time a supposed victims' rights group has been caught padding the stats.

http://www.floridabulldog.org/2015/06/florida-gives-3-8-million-to-laurens-kids-charity-after-questionable-poll-on-sex-abuse/

JUNE 26, 2015 AT 9:40 AM
Florida gives $3.8 million to Lauren’s Kids charity after questionable poll on sex abuse
Filed under A1 TOP STORY, CHARITIES, GOVERNOR{6 COMMENTS}

By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org

On June 4, Lauren’s Kids, released the results of an Internet poll it commissioned that found more than one-third of female respondents and one-fifth of male respondents had admitted to being sexually abused as children.

The survey’s results came in just as legislators reconvened for a special session to decide the 2015-2016 budget, which included a $3.8 million grant for the Aventura-based charity that specializes in child sex abuse prevention education.

Founded by Lauren Book, the daughter of prominent Tallahassee lobbyist Ronald Book, Lauren’s Kids got the funding, even escaping Gov. Rick Scott’s dreaded veto axe. But the trustworthiness of the online survey – a method national polling experts warn often results in unreliable, inaccurate public opinion data – can’t be verified.

Sachs Media Group, the Tallahassee public relations firm that was paid an undisclosed sum by Lauren’s Kids to conduct the poll, declined to provide detailed information about how individuals were selected to participate in the invitation-only survey. A Sachs senior executive also would not say how many people received invitations, and cited privacy considerations in declining to provide a list of the 1,033 participating Florida adults and their responses.

“We use industry standard balancing and targeting techniques to ensure randomness [of the participants],” said Karen Cyphers, Sachs Media Vice-President for Research and Policy. “The survey was fully online, no person-to-person interviews were conducted. Of those who clicked on the initial invitation to participate, the completion rate was just over 75 percent.”

Cyphers did provide FloridaBulldog.org with the list of poll questions that led to some of the alarming conclusions in the Lauren’s Kids survey.

For instance, the first question asked, “Were you sexually abused prior to age 18?” According to the document provided by Cyphers, 21 percent responded “yes.”

The participants who answered “no,” “not sure,” or “don’t want to say” were then shown a list of acts that constitute child sexual abuse that included being forced to expose themselves to grown-ups and being forced to watch adults have sex, Cyphers explained.

They were then asked, “After seeing a list of what constitutes child sexual abuse, were you sexually abused prior to age 18?” Nine percent of those who had answered “no,” “not sure,” or “don’t want to say” changed their answer to “yes,” according to the poll questions document.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SURVEY ACCURACY

Russell Renka, a retired political science professor at Southeastern Missouri University who wrote a 2010 research paper on what makes a good and bad poll, told FloridaBulldog.org the Lauren’s Kids survey is an advocacy poll being used to promote a specific viewpoint, which raises questions about accuracy.

Renka said professional pollsters, like the Pew Research Center, regularly publish backup data with survey results so that observers can independently evaluate the information. He noted Lauren’s Kids has only posted on its website selected highlights of the poll instead of the entire survey with the full set of questions and a full explanation of the methodology.

“You are counting on them to assure that the results are accurate,” Renka said. “That is a slippery slope.”

Click here to see the Research Methodology sheet provided by Sachs Media and its unit, Breakthrough Research, for the Lauren’s Kids survey.

Heather Gray, executive director of Lauren’s Kids, defended the nonprofit’s poll, saying Internet surveys have overtaken telephone methods in reaching a diverse, representative sample of respondents while producing reliably comparable results.

“Internet surveys reduce interviewer bias, enabling respondents to share personal or undesirable opinions without fear of judgment by another person,” Gray said. “This is important, particularly for a topic as sensitive as this one.”

However, even some of the nation’s most respected numbers crunchers caution about the use of Internet-based surveys.

In an early June post on his blog FiveThirtyEight, stats wunderkind Nate Silver said web polls are a big part of gauging public opinion, but that some pollsters are abandoning scientific principles when conducting them.

“It’s fundamentally challenging to ‘ping’ a random voter on the Internet in the same way that you might by giving her an unsolicited call on her phone,” Silver writes. “Many pollsters that do Internet surveys eschew the concept of the random sample, instead recruiting panels that they claim are representative of the population.”

Silver points out that online surveys grossly miscalculated the results in last year’s mid-term elections, Israel’s general election in March, and the Parliament elections in the United Kingdom last month.

“The foundation of opinion research has historically been the ability to draw a random sample of the population,” Silver writes. “That’s become much harder to do.”

Cliff Zukin, a former president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, wrote in the June 20 New York Times Sunday Review that there are major problems with Internet polls.

PROBLEMS WITH INTERNET POLLS

“First is what pollsters call ‘coverage error,’” Zukin wrote. “Not everybody is reachable online.”

A professor at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics and Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Zukin asserts that statisticians have not figured out how to draw a representative sample of Internet users.

“Almost all online election polling is done with nonprobability samples,” Zukin opines. “These are largely unproven methodologically…It is impossible to calculate a margin of error on such surveys.”

Also problematic are the conflicting interests involved when a company that conducts the survey, in this case Sachs Media, is paid to do so by another company with an interest in the outcome.

Cyphers insisted Sach’s Internet polls are scientifically sound. For the Lauren’s Kids poll, she said invitations were randomly sent to people who were identified as living in Florida. Those who responded that they resided out-of-state were dropped from the results.

Between 2011 and 2013, Lauren’s Kids paid Sachs a total of $1.6 million for producing webinars, program materials such as brochures, palm cards and a mobile app, and a 30-minute TV program that was aired on network affiliate television stations throughout Florida, among other media services.

The poll results came out at a crucial time for Lauren’s Kids, which has received nearly $7 million in state appropriations in previous years used to fund the non-profit’s programs that train kids, teachers, and child caretakers at the Pre-K to third grade level to recognize the signs of sexual abuse and report it to authorities.

With the $3.8 million Lauren’s Kids will receive this year, it plans to expand its curriculum at the fourth grade to high school level. During the teleconference with reporters on June 4, Lauren Book, who was sexually abused when she was a teen, said the Internet poll proved the reasons why her programs must continue.

“Clearly sexual abuse can happen in any family,” Book said, adding the poll “shines a light on how much work we have to do to report sexual abuse and to recognize the signs of sexual abuse.”

The appropriation for Lauren’s Kids was tucked in a $23.8 million pot for “school and instructional enhancements” that emerged unscathed when the governor finalized the budget earlier this week. Scott obliterated funding for 24 other special interest projects on the list, including $100,000 for youth summer job programs and $30,000 for a financial literacy pilot program in Broward County.

Gray said Lauren’s Kids was not given preferential treatment.

Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, who sits on the appropriations committee, sponsored funding for Lauren’s Kids. Fresen did not respond to a request for comment, but Gray said he was required to submit the non-profit’s request before the entire committee for evaluation.

Gray said Lauren’s Kids was also vetted before the state senate appropriations committee.

“Chairman Don Gaetz [a Republican] and Vice Chairman Bill Montford [a Democrat] sent a joint letter to all organizations in the state budget who received funding in fiscal year 2014-15 and asked them to submit information for evaluation for fiscal year 2015-16,” Gray said. “We complied with the request and are pleased to have received bipartisan support from the committee upon completion of the submission and evaluation process.”

Miami Herald: Politicians send millions to charity of lobbyist’s daughter

It pays (millions) to be the daughter of convicted criminal Ron Book.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article20347971.html

 MAY 6, 2015
Politicians send millions to charity of lobbyist’s daughter

BY FRANCISCO ALVARADO
FloridaBulldog.org

Over the last four years, Lauren’s Kids, a nonprofit founded by the daughter of top Tallahassee lobbyist Ron Book, has become one of the Legislature’s favorite charities, raking in nearly $7 million in taxpayer funds. If and when legislators reconvene to pass a budget, that total is slated to rise to $10.8 million.

The mission of Lauren’s Kids is to raise awareness about child sexual abuse. At the same time, however, Lauren’s Kids has cultivated a symbiotic relationship with important political figures in the Capitol, led by Gov. Rick Scott and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera.

The politicians get feel-good publicity with photo ops. Lauren’s Kids gets state dollars, and plenty of them.

Legislative appropriation records show that of the 27 special-interest groups to be allocated funds from a $19 million pot earmarked this year for “school and instructional enhancements,” Lauren’s Kids will get the most, $3.8 million. More than two dozens youth organizations, including the Girl Scouts of Florida and the YMCA, are to receive less than $300,000 each.

Critics say Book’s political clout gives Lauren’s Kids an unfair advantage over hundreds of applicants vying for state discretionary funds.

“There are so many things this money could be used for,” said Vicky Henry, a national advocate against sexual offender registration laws. “Take some of that $3.8 million and give more to school districts or church and scout organizations.”

Lauren Book, chief executive of Lauren’s Kids, said her nonprofit is on the same playing field as others seeking state funds.

“I believe the process is highly competitive,” Book said in an email. “Projects receive intense scrutiny; first in budget subcommittees, then in full committees, on the floors of the chambers, and in joint budget conference committees. Following all of that, an appropriation is vetted by the governor’s staff, and must withstand the gubernatorial veto process.”

Book, who was sexually and physically abused by her nanny for six years starting at age 11, founded Lauren’s Kids in 2007. Her father, Ron Book — an attorney who counts the Miami Dolphins, the GEO Group prison company and dozens of cities and counties as clients — is the organization’s chairman. Last year, his firm collected $5 million in lobbying fees, state records show.

SPECIAL TREATMENT

Grants aren’t the only way government helps fund Lauren’s Kids. Miami-Dade and Broward counties facilitate individual $1 donations by including a box for people to check on their car registration renewal forms. Lauren’s Kids also has its own state-approved specialty Florida license plate, from which it collects $25 from each sale, according to its website. Lauren’s Kids tax returns show that from 2011-2013 those $1 car registration renewal donations brought in more than $700,000. How much revenue has been generated by the specialty license tags, approved by the Legislature in 2013, was not available.

Lauren Book’s most publicized annual event is “Walk In My Shoes,” a 1,500-mile trek across Florida from Key West to the steps of the old state Capitol building. It’s also a favorite of elected officials.

Book completed her sixth walk on April 22. Joining her at the Capitol were dozens of child sex-abuse victims and their families, her father and a lineup of powerful Republicans and Democrats. They included Scott, Lopez-Cantera, Senate President Andy Gardiner, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat and vice chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.

A PAC ALL HER OWN

Lauren Book, who has hinted at a run for office, formed a political action committee last September called Leadership For Broward that has collected $525,257, mostly from her father’s clients, including $100,000 from the Miami Dolphins.

Lauren’s Kids’ most recent tax returns show it received government grants of $486,116 in 2011, $1.6 million in 2012, and $1.1 million in 2013. Most of the combined $2.8 million was from the state.

The organization has yet to file its tax return for 2014, but Book confirmed previous media reports that Lauren’s Kids received $3.8 million from the Legislature last year.

The 29-year-old Book’s annual salary is on a similar upward trajectory, rising from nearly $68,000 in 2011 to $95,000 in 2013.

From 2011-13, Lauren’s Kids collected $1.4 million in private contributions, more than half coming from the $1 donations via car registration renewals. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in other revenue has come through special events and the sale from books, including Lauren Book’s self-published memoir, It’s Ok to Tell.

Book says the bulk of Lauren’s Kids revenue has been used to create and maintain an educational program called “Safer, Smarter Kids” that trains public school teachers and child caretakers throughout the state on how to identify signs of sexual child abuse and how to report cases to authorities.

Originally targeted to children in pre-kindergarten to third grade, the program has expanded to educate kids in fourth and fifth grades, as well as adolescents in middle and high school. To implement the program, Lauren’s Kids hired Tallahassee advertising firm Sachs Media Group, which was paid a total of $1.6 million between 2011 and 2013. Sachs produces webinars, program materials such as brochures, palm cards and a mobile app, and a 30-minute TV program that was aired on network affiliate television stations throughout Florida, among other media services.

Lauren’s Kids also paid $219,000 to the Monique Burr Foundation in Jacksonville for acting as a go-between with schools participating in the Safer, Smarter Kids program. It paid another $142,000 to the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence for staffing a crisis hotline and developing training materials and conducting training sessions for 15 school districts.

As a result of her organization’s educational program, tens of thousands of Florida children now know to report incidents of sexual abuse, Book said.

Florida Bulldog is a not-for-profit news organization created to provide investigative reporting in the public interest. Contributions are tax-deductible. www.floridabulldog.org

AS LAUREN BOOK HINTS AT RUN, SOME QUESTION IF HER CHARITY COULD BECOME POLITICAL TOOL

Methinks the apple hasn't fallen that far from the tree.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/as-lauren-book-hints-at-run-some-question-if-her-charity-could-become-political-tool-6559904

AS LAUREN BOOK HINTS AT RUN, SOME QUESTION IF HER CHARITY COULD BECOME POLITICAL TOOL

BY DEIRDRA FUNCHEON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 | 7 MONTHS AGO

As she climbed the hill leading to Florida's State Capitol last spring, Lauren Book broke from a walk into a run. The 29-year-old blond with a pink ribbon wrapped around her ponytail raised both arms in triumph and flashed a huge smile as she crossed the finish line of the Walk in My Shoes charity event. Her father, Ron Book, perhaps the most influential lobbyist in Florida, trotted beside her in running shorts.

Lauren had walked 1,500 miles, having started in Key West 42 days earlier on a mission to bring attention to childhood sexual abuse. When she trekked through South Florida, Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra called her an "angel." When she was in Orlando, abuse survivors fought back tears as they joined her. During a postwalk news conference on the Capitol steps, Fort Walton Beach Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz bragged about freshly passed legal reforms that would crack down on sex offenders -- ideas "that were on Lauren's mind, that ended up on my legal pad, that are now in the laws of Florida." When it was Gov. Rick Scott's turn to speak, he called them laws "I had the honor to sign."

A year later, Nancy Smith, executive editor of the Sunshine State News, which covers Florida politics, remembers the spectacle. "Cabinet members don't get that kind of coverage, that kind of interest... I don't understand how in four or five years, one person gets to this level with a charity."

One reason: Lauren suffered horrific sexual abuse at the hands of her nanny during her teens. She parlayed her pain into advocacy by founding a nonprofit called Lauren's Kids that has brought much attention to the issue and achieved national press, including an appearance by Lauren on Katie Couric's show.

But this past November, she founded a political committee, suggesting to many -- including the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald -- that she's exploring a 2016 run for office. Speculation is that she's eyeing a state Senate seat, Florida's 33rd District -- which includes Davie, Plantation, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Miramar, Pembroke Pines, and Dania Beach. Incumbent Eleanor Sobel has served since 2008 and is reaching her term limit. So far, the committee has raised more than $400,000, as much as many active candidates garner in an entire election cycle.

"I have not made that decision," Lauren, now age 30, says via email. Despite requests over two weeks for an interview, she said she was too busy to sit down with New Times. The potential of her candidacy has at least three insiders contacted by this newspaper bristling. Already, the insiders allege, businesses and politicians funnel money to Lauren's Kids to gain points with her father's powerful political machine. It's no surprise that such an ambitious young woman would seek office, they say, but it's worth critiquing the forces that are propelling her.

"Any big corporation that needs good press can make a donation to curry favor with [Ron Book]," says Nancy Smith, the Sunshine State News editor. Companies donate "so that he will represent them at some point, so that he won't go against one of their projects."

"Nonsense," says Ron Book. Any allegations of quid pro quo are "outlandish -- and completely false -- claims."

"Political points?" Lauren asked incredulously. "I want to be clear about one thing. I was raped every day for six years, and they were the six most horrible and horrific years of my life. I felt guilty, ashamed, invisible, bad, dirty, hurt, and afraid every single day from the time that I was 11 until I was 16... Children in every community on the planet are also enduring the pain I suffered. I am trying to turn my personal pain into something positive and hopefully prevent this from happening to others."

Ron Book has represented some of Florida's richest companies -- the Miami Dolphins, AutoNation, and the GEO Group among them -- as well as scores of cities and towns. He also helps raise millions for candidates seeking office. His firm earned $5.6 million in fees in 2013. This, he has said, is because he's effective as hell. He works from 6:15 a.m. until 8 or 9 at night and jets between South Florida and Tallahassee more than most people go to the corner store. He has been described as both charming and dogged.

But his zeal has sometimes brought trouble: In late 1985, he came under investigation for allegedly helping to bribe an Opa-locka politician. The next year, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in an insurance-fraud case. In the mid-1990s, he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors after funneling more than $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions to politicians.

In her 2011 memoir, It's OK to Tell, Lauren explains that her father was frequently away on business and her mother in the throes of mental illness when she was young. So, beginning in 1997, Lauren, then a preteen, and her two younger siblings were left in the care of 30-year-old Waldina Flores. Lauren was shocked one night when Flores stuck her tongue in her mouth. Lauren, who had never even kissed a boy her own age, was confused and ashamed and accepted Flores' explanation that it was a sign of love.

The abuse escalated to sexual contact. Flores threatened that Ron Book's career would be tarnished if Lauren was outed as a "lezzy." When, at age 16, Book developed an age-appropriate relationship with a boy, Kris Lim, Flores retaliated by sodomizing her with a fork, she writes. Lim discovered the abuse and encouraged Lauren to tell. The nanny fled but was eventually caught, convicted of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior, and sentenced to 15 years.

Lauren at 17 endured the additional trauma of testifying and having her name splashed in the news. The psychological toll was deep: Feeling guilty after seeing her former nanny in court, she wrote letters to Flores, who defied a judge's instructions and wrote back, earning ten more years tacked onto her sentence.

In 2004, Lauren would advocate for -- and the Legislature would pass -- the Lauren Book Protection Act, making it a felony for offenders to contact their victims.

Lauren married Lim, who had become a pro golfer, in 2008. It was a million-dollar affair that was filmed for a reality TV show, Platinum Weddings, and described in ads thusly: "Daddy's Princess gets every wedding wish she ever desired." The couple divorced in 2010. In her book, Lauren says Lim had "an affair with the roommate of one of my closest girlfriends... another betrayal."

Lauren went on to become the public face of childhood sex abuse. She founded Lauren's Kids in 2007. The charity has three prongs: education, awareness, and advocacy. She organized her annual walk, sent out millions of fliers, and partnered with the state on a campaign to teach adults the signs of abuse. She wrote a children's book called Lauren's Kingdom; her face was plastered on billboards across the state.

Lauren even designed an abuse prevention curriculum that will be implemented in all public kindergartens and some higher grades. At the end of January, Lauren led a teacher training in Tallahassee.

Ron Book serves as president of Lauren's Kids. As he announced at the Capitol last year, "I advocate for changes in laws, I advocate for funding, knowing full well that I can't really fix what happened to Lauren."

Lauren's Kids' nonprofit tax forms indicate that Ron Book spends 25 hours a week on the charity but does not draw a salary. He does not list Lauren's Kids as a client on lobbying disclosure forms, but he has been perhaps the state's most aggressive advocate for anti-sex-offender laws. Most famously, he pushed for legislation that restricted where registered offenders could live; in Miami, this inadvertently led to a colony of offenders collecting under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Tax forms reveal how rapidly Lauren's Kids has grown. In 2007, gifts and grants were just $1,500. In 2012, that number was up to $2.5 million -- with $1.6 million coming from government grants. In 2009, Lauren, the vice president, was paid $14,000; in 2012, she made $85,250 as CEO.

Documents also show how the organization raises and spends its funds. A 2012 golf tournament had gross receipts of $224,605 but expenses of $192,998. The walk that year raised $396,015; expenses were $171,104. Lauren's Kids paid Ron Sachs, a communications firm that reps political insiders, $670,032. Sachs' firm won an Addy award for its design of a billboard that shows Lauren against a purple backdrop. "Lauren Book," it says. "Survivor. Educator. Advocate."

In the final days of the 2011 legislative session, Lauren's Kids was denied $3 million it had requested for a program but was then awarded $1.5 million that neither of the Books had requested. In 2014, an appropriations bill granted Lauren's Kids $3.8 million, far more than any of the 50-odd other similar beneficiaries; most received $100,000 to $500,000.

To some in Tallahassee, this is alarming. It amounts to taxpayers subsidizing publicity for Lauren, they say, which would come in handy if she were to run. "All they do is put Lauren's name and face on billboards," says one insider who has spent decades in Tallahassee. If elected, companies could hire her father and expect her vote in return.

Lauren insists that no billboards are funded with tax dollars and points to several Florida legislators who are related to lobbyists. If elected, she'd seek legal counsel on how to avoid any conflicts of interest. But she insists speculation is premature.

In 2010, Lauren considered candidacy for the Broward School Board but then opted not to run, saying, "I feel we can push the foundation into more of a nationwide presence over the next two years" but adding, "I will be looking at other offices."

This past November, Lauren opened a political committee called Leadership for Broward. It had raised $423,750 at last report -- much of that from Ron Book's past and present clients. The Miami Dolphins are the biggest donors, with $100,000. AutoNation gave ten grand; the GEO Group, a corrections provider, $25,000.

David L. Thompson, vice president of public policy for the National Council of Nonprofits, said any charitable nonprofit leader running for public elected office should consider stepping down from the nonprofit post to avoid the appearance of partisanship. "I guarantee that if Jerry Lewis was to run for office, his campaign materials would be amended to say 'formerly president of Jerry's Kids.' " He stated that the question of whether a nonprofit's existing advertisements could be considered improper, would have to be resolved by the IRS.

But unless someone were to lodge a formal complaint or a challenger were to arise, the younger Book is probably a shoo-in. Lauren, who lives in a $400,000 house in Plantation, doesn't have to file qualifying papers until June 2016 but has already scared off potential candidates seeking the Senate post, which currently pays $29, 697 annually.

Steve Geller, who served 20 years in the Legislature, was considering running for the District 33 seat but now says he won't bother. Lauren, he says, "is a very formidable candidate" who has "virtually unlimited funds -- in a primary. I don't know any people who'd want to run against millions in a primary." Even the best candidates could expect to raise only half a million, he says -- a figure Lauren has nearly met. "I think Lauren will have whatever it takes to win, whether it takes 2, 3, or 4 million dollars."

Lauren said she wished critics "would speak directly to me so I can show them the amazing work we are doing on behalf of children."

But the only people who seem willing to confront her are members of groups like Missouri-based Women Against the Registry, whose leader, Vicki Henry, says the backlash against sex offenders "has gone too far." She says that laws like the ones Lauren has pushed for prevent offenders from ever getting jobs or being productive members of society and that such demonization unfairly hurts their family members.

When Lauren busts into Tallahassee on April 22 during this year's Walk in My Shoes event, Henry and her cohorts intend to be near the finish line, protesting with signs. They'll probably be the only ones.