1. Without remorse, SAB Commissioner RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN is a bad actor. His rancid, rambling response to questions about his misconduct show his unfairness and unfitness. He should resign
2. SAB Commissioner Maggie Kostka showed civility and restraint. Watch tape at 1:12. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzeny-WIgQIAP-W6ljZ-7w
3. SAB City Hall resembles a dysfunctional family. The "adult in the room," Commissioner Kostka, rightly questions O'BRIEN's actions.
4. We need MORE honorable public officials like Maggie Kostka, who will question self-serving "authority figures."
5. The current crises of American government flow from unethical sociopaths, who can't stand criticism.
6. Of Republicans and Big Business, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs." (10/31/1936)
7. O"BRIEN's poor excuses for election law violations ($200 fine) and violations of his McMansion special use permit ($25,000 fine) show that he is selfish, self-aggrandizing and narcissistic
8. Therapedia states that "APD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) is a DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition), diagnosis assigned to individuals who habitually and pervasively disregard or violate the rights and considerations of others without remorse." That's RICH O'BRIEN, whose revealing soliloquy suggests he's a spoiled rich businessman who fears accountability, questions and news media coverage.
9. RICH O'BRIEN's thanking two ex-Mayors and their entourage for their pejorative-laden March 5, 2018 perorations proves that he's indebted to secretive St. Augustine Beach Civic Association
10. No defense on the merits. NONE. Keep investigating! Keep asking questions
11. "Where's my award?"," O'Brien said. That is at best facetious.
12. He needs a subpoena to a federal grand jury from the FBI Corruption Task Force in Daytona Beach.
13. Vice Mayor Margaret England's nasty, noisome attack on govt. watchdog Tom Reynolds was uncouth, unkind and unprecedented. It is in pari delicto wth SABCA President Wm. Jones's, (disgraced demoted Sheriff's Civil Process Service Supervisor) attack on "elderly white men" asking questions about St. Augustine Beach Civic Association (SABCA) no-bid leases and contracts.
14. County Commission UNANIMOUSLY ended SABCA-pressured "First Amendment Zone" at St. Augustine Beach Ocean and Fishing Pier Park (Pier Park) on August 3, 2015. http://www.staugustine.com/article/20150804/NEWS/308049951
15. County Commission UNANIMOUSLY voted for RFP for St. Augustine Beach Farmer's Market on February 20, 2018.
16. Civility means politeness, NOT being being a servile, supine, submissive follower of secretive SABCA's orders. Commissioner is NO good-ole-gal. She's NOT the one violating First Amendment rights (like Vice Mayor England and three estimable colleagues).
17. Congratulations to Commissioner Kostka, who was classy and principled, showing she is a true patriot and honest public servant, deserving our thanks for honoring her oath to "support, protect and defend the Constitution and laws."
18. Talk of O'BRIEN's behavior was long delayed. Why?
19. Only thrice during 2017 was there time for Commissioner comments, at the end of meetings -- result of City mendacious "Manager" BRUCE MAX ROYLE's agenda manipulation.
20. Tell Commissioners you oppose their efforts to violate your free speech rights, and those of Commissioner Maggie Kostka. Vote da bums out. As Michelle Obama said, "When they go low, we go high."«
O’Brien reponds to censure proposal: ‘A huge waste of time’ By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 5:59 AM
Updated at 5:59 AM
St. Augustine Record
A discussion on whether to censure St. Augustine Commissioner Rich O’Brien ended with no action on Tuesday night, and left Commissioner Maggie Kostka taking criticism for bringing up the idea.
Koskta spent time explaining her decision to bring up the possibility of censuring O’Brien, adding that commissioners can’t talk to each other outside of meetings and have little time to talk during meetings because of the length of meetings.
Kostka cited several issues with O’Brien: not attending some city events, a letter he signed as mayor to St. Johns County supporting the St. Augustine Beach Civic Association, which the commission had not given consensus on; a setback violation on a property owned by him and his wife, which she said wasted the city’s time; and a Florida Elections Commission issue stemming from his use of “Republican’s Choice” on campaign materials in the non-partisan Beach Commission race.
O’Brien said Kostka had done a “pretty good job of trying to minimize the negative impacts” of bringing up the issue. He also called the discussion “a huge waste of time.”
“I just don’t think that a person that ran a campaign on improving civility on the commission would bring up and produce a document for the newspaper in advance of a meeting is doing a team-building civility type of an action at all,” O’Brien said.
On Kostka’s concerns, he said has written to St. Johns County in support of the St. Augustine Beach Civic Association for years as a commissioner. He also said the city didn’t have the letter she was talking about.
He said he paid $200 to the Florida Elections Commission not because he agreed with their finding but that it would have cost him much more to fight it. They found one legally sufficient complaint, that he campaigned on a partisan platform in a non-partisan race by using the phrase “Republican’s Choice.” O’Brien’s payment stopped further investigation.
On the setback violation, he said he and his wife, who own the F Street properties via their business, relied on their builder and architect to put the houses on the lot and that they had nothing to do with it. Further, he said the city had stamped and approved the plans — and he questioned where the blame should rest. Commissioners at the time voted to charge O’Brien’s team $25,000 as a reimbursement for the time the error cost. He said he paid half and the builder paid half of the $25,000.
In terms of attendance, he cited a number provided at Monday’s meeting by St. Augustine Beach Civic Association President Bill Jones who said O’Brien has attended close to 100 percent of meetings.
“Where’s my award? I’ve worked very hard to attend all the meetings,” O’Brien said, adding that he missed a meeting because his father died.
Kostka said she was referring to city events, not commission meetings, and O’Brien responded that he hasn’t seen Kostka at city events either.
Vice Mayor Margaret England said she felt the item was unnecessary and caused unnecessary controversy, and she brought up Kostka’s recent floating of whether to search for a new city manager.
“All the items that you mentioned have already been discussed and raked (sic) over the coals,” England said. “There’s nothing (sic) that commissioner O’Brien has ’gotten away with. ... Let’s work together on getting good stuff done for this city and let go of who needs to be censured and who needs to be gotten rid of.”
In other business
Commissioners plan to talk more at a later date, once they have more information, about what changes to possibly make to Beach Blast Off, including the possibility of getting rid of alcohol at the event.
Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment