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Columns

Andrew Gillum Is a Dead Man Walking

June 23, 2017 - 6:30pm

I read Leslie Wimes' column Friday about Andrew Gillum, and I'm not one bit surprised she thinks Gillum walks on water, same as she thinks Obama did.

Unfortunately for her, Gillum ain’t Obama, and she readily acknowledges that, too.

Florida isn’t going to elect a left-wing Democrat to the governorship, period. 

As a lifelong Democrat, albeit a conservative one, there isn’t a chance in hell that Gillum will see the inside of the Governor’s Mansion, except perhaps, as an invited guest of the real governor.

Why?

Because he already has five strikes against him, and we haven’t even gotten to 2018 yet.

Yep, FIVE strikes.

Strike one:  He illegally used city staff, city computers, and then sent overt political emails to Tallahassee voters under the aegis of communicating with his constituents.

When he got caught, he paid back the cost of the email list, which he insisted city taxpayers pay one-half of, while his campaign paid the other half.

Any idiot knows that is illegal.  If they’re too stupid to understand that fact, the city’s CFO should have certainly flagged it right away, because any bookkeeper – and citizen – knows that’s wrong.

But paying back the cost of the emails doesn’t absolve Gillum of anything.

He didn’t pay back for the staff time used illegally.

He didn’t pay back the use of city computers that were used illegally.

You can’t commit an illegal act, get caught, pay some money back and then think you can walk away from it.

Except poor, dumb Gillum.

Strike two:  The high crime rate in Tallahassee.

It didn’t just happen, we’ve been at the top for the last three years. And he’s been on the City Commission for 15 years, since he graduated from college.

If he’s the chosen one, why hasn’t he done something about crime? I’ll tell you why: because he’s too busy consorting with the likes of George Soros and Norman Lear to busy himself with the nuts and bolts of his own community’s crime problem.

Oh, he’s put it on the agenda for the next City Commission meeting, and he’ll point fingers at everyone except himself, because it’s easy for him to do.
You see, Leslie, he’s a smooth talker, and he gets to control the agenda at City Commission meetings.

Strike three:  He was just accused of using Charlie Crist’s fundraising list to mine for his own campaign.

How sweet of him to use something that belongs to someone else for his own financial benefit.

If it was a federal campaign list, it could be a violation of federal law.

Strike four:  Gillum’s never met a tax increase he didn’t like.

Never.

He won’t even consider cutting expenses before raising taxes.

Even when the city had a budget surplus of over $14 million in 2015, he still insisted on raising taxes in 2016.

Strike five:  He and others in the Tallahassee power structure have just been served with FBI subpoenas.

Gillum claims he’s not a focus of the investigation.

Guess what? That doesn’t matter. The feds will go wherever the facts lead them.

His former campaign treasurer was the beneficiary of a CRA sweetheart deal on the Edison Restaurant.

There’s been smoke billowing from that place for the last couple of years.

And Leslie, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Adam Corey or Ryan Grindler will, in this federal investigative process, get “turned.” And when that happens, everyone is going down.

There is corruption here in Tallahassee and everyone suspects it, and the feds have decided to go and check it out for themselves.

They’ll find the truth and in the meantime, the dark clouds that have been gathering here in the state capital aren’t going to go away anytime soon.

So, yeah, Leslie, you go right on talking about your guy Gillum.

Floridians haven’t elected a Democrat in a generation, and for good reason. And from the looks of it right now, with your own recent commentary to buttress my argument about the leadership disintegration of the Florida Democratic Party, the chances of a leftie winning is about the same chance that tomorrow it’s going to snow somewhere in Florida.

And just to help you out, Gillum is one helluva speaker.  I admit it.

He wants free health care for all.

A free college education for everyone.

A “living” wage for all workers.

Who wouldn’t want to vote for someone like that?

The only problem is, Floridians know better than to believe a Huey Long-like populist candidate promising a “chicken in every pot.”

You know why? Because Floridians, and now Americans intuitively understand that nothing is free.

There is one thing, though, that we can both agree on.

Gillum has never worked a day off the government payroll. He’s never created a job.  He’s never paid unemployment compensation taxes.  He’s never made a profit. He simply is a government tool.

Gillum is now part of the walking dead.

He’s on life support.  He’ll continue to collect money because to do otherwise is to ensure that he would have to go out and get a real job.
Now he won’t even be a possible lieutenant governor nominee.  Go figure.

Barney Bishop III is a former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.  A self-described conservative Democrat, he believes that a strong private enterprise system is the hallmark of a democracy.  You can contact him at barney@barneybishop.com


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Comments

Of course a Leslie supports him. He's black, she's black. Time to protect one of your own, ain't it Leslie? 'Nuff said.

Sounds so typical of the cities run by Democrats....nepotism, fraud, and a profound disregard of the law. Let's not forget that those are some of the same people who wanted the Killearn land grab for "multi-family" apartments. They are bought and paid for by Soros and that should concern every taxpayer...there's a nasty stentch that follows him...sulfuric in nature

Every citizen in Tallahassee knows how corrupt Gillum and the others are...

He is not ready now.......Maybe in 2022 or later.

I do not know Mr. Gillum but I do know a muckraking piece when I see one. So far the only fact related here is the emails. Show me the clean, unfettered by personal flaws politician and I'll escort Jesus himself into your office. A higher crime rate? You do know that any uptick in crime is related to social environment and not a single politician, right? So should he forego his duties as mayor to personally address crime alone? As for being subpoenaed and that where there's smoke there's fire, well if that was the case both parties would be past the raging inferno and we would be sifting through old ashes. No, this is the same old tired hit piece so many who claim to be journalists engage in. But it has no legs. It venomous aspiration but nothing to sink those fangs into. And the responses favoring it are always the same, "you tell 'em fella!" responses with nothing of substance to add. By parties are a joke that cannot be relied apon. The Dems are chock full of promises of progress but they acquiesce so easily to their bankrolling donors they get little to nothing done, while the Reps no longer hide their disdain for the working class for full time knee pad wearing at the behest of the wealthy. They can do this by uttering Bible, Jesus and Guns and even the poorest white people let them off the hook. With a shrinking somewhat informed middle class there's nothing to buttress the marginalization of the working poor who are constantly referred to as lazy and unmotivated (I guess working two, poor paying jobs to keep a roof over the heads of your family just isn't enough to be seen as struggling). Worse, you bandy out the worst innuendo instead of collecting genuine facts to use against Gillum. That's just lazy but it's also obvious. Your open disdain of "free education" and "free healthcare" exposes you. You're not really a Democrat when you hold such disdain of things that are working in EVERY civilized nation to level the playing field. No, you're all about favoritism to those with power and the money and I see your knee pads. I'm one of those fortunate people who has the means to live a good life and take the time to pay it forward to those who aren't. Get down in the trenches with strangers and see what's really going on, THEN take Gillum to task for not alleviating that stress. Or..... just keep playing up to those with the money. They're bound to notice you down there, ready, willing and able to continue doing their bidding.

Give the spelling errors a pass before any respondents start with the insults. You have a lousy format that auto-corrects into inanity. Read and respond on the points and not the support page's horrible editing efforts.

You left out one other rather important factor: a black, liberal, Muslim from the LGBT community. Definitely a Democrat Party primary favorite. Democrat winner only.

Spot on Barney. Anyone with an ounce of integrity should be bothered why these issues. Clearly he is not prepared to be Governor as he continues to fail as Mayor.

The article is spot on about Andrew Gillum. As a Tallahassee resident, however, I would enjoy him getting elected to a different office. That way he and his crew would go away. And Leslie, if you were so #unbothered, why did you bother commenting? Weird.

Leslie's only possible advancement is to hope to hitch a ride out of the Democrat South to become a DC swamp thing. Maybe she could be a summer intern the year Gillum might win a congressional seat. But problem is, there are too many honest people running for office, so Gillum has to remain a Tallahassee Swamp Thing. What's incredible is that Tallahassee has a larger budget than Tampa!! That's INSANE!!

Terrible headline. Not in today's crazy world. But I agree with the content.

You tell them Barney!! Guy has never had a real job and uses his office to set up all his buddies. He totally botched the management and messaging of the energy restoration efforts in this town after a Category 1 storm. Imagine if a real storm had hit Tallahassee. Nice guy but not ready for prime time

AMEN ! Even though (unlike Obama), we know exactly who Gillum is.

Leslie Wimes - 0 Barney Bishop - 1

I keep advising her to do research and back her reports up with facts, not rhetoric. She dislikes advice from certain people.

Dear old has-been, (I meant Barney): The last time you were actually relevant, Vanilla Ice had a #1 record. Like all things "white and outdated," please have several seats.

Florida Girl: (AKA Leslie Wimes most likely), you're a racist. No, a Racist. Well, this white Republican is voting for Adam Putnam!!!

You must be such a proud bigot! Try making relevant points for a change, people might start taking you seriously.

Learn to read. Its packed with relevant facts. Unlike Leslie's dribble.

On behalf of the Trump administration, we thank the mayor for running. We support him as the Demo candidate, unless they find a liberal Afro American Muslim woman.

I'm sure Andrew Gillum feels the same way about this column as I do: #unbothered

Oh yeah, the truth hurts some people. L

Comments are now closed.

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