Deja Vu: Lauren Book is spending (and receiving) big bucks on her uncontested swamp land district

I've covered this subject before, but Lauren Book

You can look at Lauren Book's campaign contributors at: http://dos.elections.myflorida.com/candidates/CanDetail.asp?account=69300

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/265993-book-may-800000

Lauren Book spends big in May, with nearly $800K still on-hand

RYAN NICOL
2 days ago
Incumbent state Sen. Lauren Book had another month of big spending. After shelling out more than $40,000 in April, she followed it up by topping more than $50,000 in May spending.

Book’s impressive fundraising totals made those expenditures possible. She still sits on nearly $800,000 between her campaign and committee accounts.

Most of May’s spending went toward campaign petition mailers. About $40,000 went toward those mailers, with most of the remaining expenditures going to state and local Democratic Party groups.

Still, Book was able to offset those costs, bringing in nearly $75,000 to her committee, Leadership for Florida. Book’s campaign account also raised about $18,000.

The first-term senator is running unopposed in the race for Senate District 32. That would be a repeat of her previous election, as she went unchallenged in 2016 as well.

With Book bringing in big money, it’s not clear anyone will step up to the plate to contest her re-election. Book is also serving on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, established following the shooting that killed 17 people back in February.

SD 32 covers portions of Broward County including Weston, Davie, and Cooper City.

Lauren "The Crook" Book ALREADY plotting her reelection scheme

It is never too early to grab more cash, eh, Lauren?

http://www.wuft.org/news/2016/11/08/florida-incumbents-already-lining-up-for-2018/

Florida Incumbents Already Lining Up For 2018
By News Service of Florida
November 8, 2016

While the votes have not been counted in the 2016 elections, more than two dozen incumbent state lawmakers or newly elected lawmakers have already opened campaign accounts to run in 2018.

In many cases, those candidates were unopposed for their seats this year, giving them a jump on preparing to run in 2018, including raising money.

As of Tuesday morning, the list of 2018 legislative candidates included incoming Sen. George Gainer, R-Panama City; Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach; Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville; Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby; Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg; Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring; incoming Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation; incoming Rep. Jayer Williamson, R-Milton; Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, R-Saint Johns; Rep. Charlie Stone, R-Ocala; Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood; Rep. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills; Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando; incoming Rep. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge; Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park; Rep. Jake Raburn, R-Lithia; Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa; Rep. Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral; Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers; Rep. Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale; Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek; Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation; Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach; Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura; Rep. Sharon Pritchett, D-Miami; and Rep. Kionne McGhee, D-Miami, according to the state Division of Elections website.

Lauren "The Bimbo" Book wins Senate Seat by default

The only active politician dumber than George W. Bush

The big question now is where is all that money going to go now that the most unqualified politician in human history has won her senate seat by default?

FloriDUH strikes again. I'd elect a member of ISIS before I'd elect this worthless piece of bovine excrement to public office.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/214545-lauren-book-headed-florida-senate-wins-sd-32-race-unopposed

Lauren Book headed to Florida Senate, wins SD 32 race unopposed

JENNA BUZZACCO-FOERSTER
7 hours ago

Just call her an instant winner.

Lauren Book won her Senate District 32 race Friday after no other candidate qualified for the race. A second Democrat, Emmanuel Blimie, had indicated he planned to run, but state records show Blimie did not qualify.

“Having met thousands of people in the Senate district, listening to and learning about the things most important to them, I am incredibly honored and proud to now have the opportunity and to be allowed to serve the people of Broward County and the people of Florida,” she said in a statement. “As a senator, I will always be an advocate and a voice for my constituents, and fight hard for their best interests. I cannot begin to express my excitement at this new challenge of service to the people of our great state.”

Book is a well-known South Florida Democrat. The daughter of lobbyist Ron Book, she has made a name for herself in Florida and beyond for her work advocating on behalf of victims of childhood sexual abuse.

She is best known for Lauren’s Kids. The nonprofit organization was founded in 2007, and aims to teach children and adults about sexual abuse prevention through education, awareness campaigns and speaking engagements around the world.

The group also leads the annual “Walk in My Shoes” awareness walk across Florida. Book has annually made the trek, walking the 1,500 miles from Key West to Tallahassee.

Book had earned the support of several national, state and local leaders, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, incoming Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

Candidates had until noon Friday to turn in the necessary paperwork to get on the ballot. Book said she was “excited and humbled to be elected without opposition.”

“Over the past several months, our team worked very hard, knocking on doors, attending meetings, talking with and getting to know future constituents, raising money, and garnering the support of dozens of local leaders,” she said.

“We look forward to a very bright future for our state.” 

Senator Lauren Book: How Will She Serve in Daddy's Shadow?

If Lauren Book can't even answer her own questions at a Q & A at the Tribeca film festival flick about her pathetic family, how can she function without Ron Book pulling her strings?


http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/senator-lauren-book-how-will-she-serve-daddys-shadow

Senator Lauren Book: How Will She Serve in Daddy's Shadow?
By NANCY SMITH
September 1, 2015 - 10:45pm

If just-announced state Senate candidate Lauren Book was anybody but the daughter of one of the most influential lobbyists in Tallahassee, the media would be over her like vultures on road kill.

Don't even think about a race for this job. Book is as good as elected. Anybody who challenges Ron Book's little girl is either wildly delusional or plays with razor blades and likes it.

At the age of 30 and just out of the gate -- without having to offer a platform -- Lauren Book has Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler publicly supporting her. See Saintpetersblog. By the end of the month, it's going to be more a question of who isn't for her? Heck, even our Republican governor heaps praise on the Plantation Democrat.

I Beg to DifferHere's the problem: The founder of the high-profile nonprofit Lauren's Kids is going to have probably the longest list of conflicts of interest of any senator ever to serve in the Florida Legislature. Think about it: How do you consider issues objectively and vote transparently and ethically when you serve with the perception that your daddy is whispering in your ear every day before you go to work, and maybe a whole lot more than that?

She nevertheless told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday, "I'm not my father's voice. I'm there to push a button for the people who live in the 33rd District. And I do not take that lightly. ... Anyone who's been in a room with my father and me for more than two minutes knows we can disagree about a great many things. We put the fun in dysfunctional."

Book created a political action committee, Leadership for Broward, last September. Her PAC has collected nearly $640,000  -- more than any other state Senate candidate in Florida, and she only officially announced her candidacy Tuesday. Some of the donors, like the Miami Dolphins ($100,000) and the private prison company GEO Group ($25,000), also happen to be her dad's clients. All contributors/contributions are listed here.

Book was abused by a nanny when she was 11 years old, and since 2007 has responded with purpose and commitment, by leading a crusade against the sexual abuse of children,  mostly by appealing to children not to stay silent, but to tell somebody. Since 2010 she has walked the length of the state annually, ending in a final leg side-by-side with her father and a "Rally in Tally." Legislators, members of the Cabinet, former legislators who now lobby, celebrities of every description have stood on the steps of the Old Capitol during those rallies, praising her and Lauren's Kids.

Not only has she written two books -- "It's OK to Tell" and "Lauren's Kingdom" -- but she has appeared severally on national television and has been featured in major newspapers. In 2013, at a ceremony in Paris, she was named the L’Oréal Paris “Woman of Worth.”

Her profile has been big enough and bold enough to flood the Book empire with checks. Not only from private donors to her charity over the years, but from the Florida Legislature. In a state with literally hundreds of charities, lawmakers have been super-duper, over-the-top generous to Lauren's Kids. The Broward New Times reported it first: "... In recent years, a disproportionate amount of money from the state budget has been given to her charity, Lauren's Kids. For example, in 2015, the Legislature allocated the sex-abuse chairity $3.8 million while the Girl Scouts and YMCA got $300,000."

All of the honors she's gathered are laudable. Believe me, I take nothing away from Book's accomplishments. But the support from so many lobbyists and friends of her father -- in fact, from her father as much as anyone else -- players looking for favors only the Legislature can provide, will put her in a real pickle every day she asks a question, debates a bill or casts a vote -- let alone introduces bills of her own.  

All those checks for the 30-year-old daughter of one of the biggest power players in town -- it's a matter of perception, is all I'm saying. I can hear minds turning it over now -- Whose ends is Lauren Book justifying today? What did she and her dad hash over last night, this morning, 10 minutes ago on the phone? 

I've heard it suggested more than once around town that Lauren Book will break new ground next year by being the first member of the Florida Senate to buy a seat with taxpayer money. I don't go along with that entirely. Certainly the Legislature's money didn't go into her Leadership for Broward PAC. But I know what they mean: The public money is going to help elect her. That $3.8 million allocation this year alone is a lot of taxpayer dough elevating Book's profile, greasing her path to term-limited Eleanor Sobel's seat.

But I would just as soon move on. Lauren Book is in, let's face it. It now becomes less how she got there than how she's going to handle a reputation that links every day she serves to her father's business.

 COMMENTS:

Submitted by Air Force Captain on September 2, 2015 - 12:10pm
Typical Dem.....lives on/spends OPM (Other Peoples Money)...... AKA: Hillary

Submitted by C Breeze on September 2, 2015 - 4:37pm
A HUGE number of BEHOLDEN "politico" type supporters "lined up" to make sure they don't end up in Book's "Book" of ingrate traitors....
- See more at: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/senator-lauren-book-how-will-she-serve-daddys-shadow#sthash.H6dDvujk.dpuf

This twisted "Cinderella
Permalink Submitted by C Breeze on September 2, 2015 - 9:58am

This twisted "Cinderella Story" is a "closed Book";...just 'one more' political nepotistic-spawn version mimicking the "created story" of District 2's Gwen Graham, a do-nothing "rubber stamp" of the destructive Democrat regime (but, Gwen DID vote AGAINST de-funding "sanctuary cities": You know,...cities where vicious crimes and murder run rampant..but NOT, thankfully anywhere close to Gwen). The "Lauren 'Book" has almost no beginning, no interesting details, no substance and a predictable bad ending (it belongs on the shelf next to the more presumptuous "Ron 'How To' Book",...another 'poor read'). It's no wonder that Debbie "Do-Whats-erman" Schultz is a supporter of the "childrens Book", Debbie herself has minimal "life experience" outside of the stilted halls of a legislature, having been merely a State Legislative Aide & "Public Official" and NOW occasionally a "college instructor" when a political guest from the "Halls" is necessary. Schultz, Graham, and now "Little Book" are ALL cut from the same nepotistic cookie-batter. WAKE UP FLORIDA !..."politics" is becoming more and more like nepotistic Hollywood every day,.. presumptuous parents lifting up their progeny to permanently suckle at the "government mammary" for a lifetime. Hmmm, I wonder if the "Books" have a "Foundation" like "B,H&C" do..to A$$IST with day-to-day 'details' (After all, "imitation" in politics is a form of flattery...especially with Democrat politicians (and lobbiests)..................signed,... A FED UP Democrat !

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.