UNDERCOVER REPUBLICANS: St. Johns County Democratic Committeeman WILLIAM McCORMICK Defends Election Supervisor's Fifteenth Amendment Violations Involving No Early Voting in St. Augustine City Limits, 2004-2015

UPDATE: ED SLAVIN LETTER TO DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE


Dear Dr. McCormick, Ms. Toensmann, Ms. Capella, and DEC Executive Committee members:
1. I look forward to discussing civil rights violations civilly with DEC. Dr. McCormick's jejune responses are an embarrassment to all Democrats everywhere. He should resign as our Democratic State Committeeman and issue an apology for his actions.
2. Here's an article from today's New York Times about racism in Waller County, Texas -- the blatant refusal to provide a polling place (finally requiring USDOJ litigation) and the Waller County Sheriff's ugly, stark and raw response to the African-American minister's protected activity resembles the actions of the St. Johns County Election Supervisor, 2004-2015, and the angry recriminations of Dr. William McCormick, Ms. Annette Cappella and Ms. Nell Toensmann, 2012-date in response to my reports to DOJ: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/us/racial-divide-persists-in-texas-county-where-sandra-bland-died.html Sound familiar?
3. We in the "reality-based community" are hoping for our DEC's full recovery from its afflictions, affectations, animosities and prejudices.
4. Please read below the undisputed testimony of Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Retired), U.S. Department of Labor Chief Judge Nahum Litt (Retired), Hanford whistleblower Edwin L. Bricker, Judith Seraphin and the St. Augustine Record about this "disbarred lawyer" attacked by Dr. William McCormick.
5. From this day forward, DEC must stop being neutered and fooled by special interests and members of the local Republican political machine, and stop retaliating against protected activity. As LBJ told Congress after Selma, "We SHALL overcome!"
With kindest regards, I am,
Ed
904-377-4998
Letter: Slavin's work "saved" life of U.S. special agent
Letter: Slavin's work "saved" life of U.S. special agent


Publication Date: 12/10/06
Editor: I applaud your newspaper for defending Ed Slavin and the First Amendment. I could have told you that Ed is "brilliant." I am a retired former FBI Special Agent, and former senior Special Agent for both the HUD and EPA Inspectors General. One Sherman Antitrust case I supervised had 36 "defense" attorneys as my adversaries so I've known a lot of attorneys.
Late in my career, I would not and could not sign my name to a report that resulted in a cover-up of major criminal wrongdoing by highly placed EPA officials. I was left with no choice but to file an environmental whistleblower case. Other than Ed Slavin, I was encouraged to persist only by my wife, Lynda, Congressman John Dingell's office (whose investigator referred me to Ed Slavin), and then-journalist Tony Snow. Ed completely documented EPA's attempted cover-up of $100 million in acid rain research fraud, conflicts of interest, waste and abuse.
Ed represented me in my U.S. DOL environmental whistleblower case against EPA and its inspector general, winning a precedent-setting case that protected future environmental investigators' rights, reversing two DOL judges.
Ed has always been a fighter, especially against an unresponsive judiciary who cares little about ruined careers.
The unrelenting stress the EPA subjected me to nearly took my life. Thus, Ed's work was truly a life-saver. As a result of Ed's so-called "overzealous" work, the EPA IG abruptly resigned in December 1996, following a history of harassing whistleblowers.
Public officials, who retaliate against citizens for questioning their actions demand to be investigated. Public jobs belong to the "people" -- the occupant of such office is a trustee; a custodian -- always. We have forfeited our "rights" when we refer to the government as "them." No, never. It is "We" the people. Trust me, Ed Slavin is not for sale. The First Amendment is not dead, yet.
Robert E. Tyndall
Senior Special Agent (Retired)
FBI, HUD & EPA
Williamsburg, Va.

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Column: It was the Tennessee court, and not Slavin, that overstepped bounds
It was the Tennessee court, and not Slavin, that overstepped bounds



NAHUM LITT
New Smyrna Beach
Publication Date: 12/10/06


The statements in a letter (Nov. 26) about "findings" of the Supreme Court of Tennessee about the disbarment of Ed Slavin, a St. Augustine resident, must be taken with more than a grain of salt. Readers can form their own conclusions about fairness and justice in a case involving free speech rights of whistle blowers.

First, this case was heard by a three-person tribunal appointed to sort out the charges and evaluate the evidence presented, particularly taking into account whether the testimony of the witnesses could be believed. One of the principle determinations of such a trial tribunal is the demeanor of the witnesses and it seldom that such a determination is challenged or overturned. That tribunal unanimously found that almost all of the evidence submitted, and particularly that of the current chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, was not credible. It similarly found that other complaints were not substantiated. It then determined that while Mr. Slavin was certainly outspoken, he was not guilty of most of the allegations. It recommended a slap on the wrist, a private reprimand for one minor violation.

The case then took an unusual turn in that it was appealed. Few such cases are ever appealed. And, lo and behold, the Tennessee Supreme court hand-picked as chancellor to "review" the matter, solely by chance we assume, turned out to be the son of a man who had been attacked and unmasked 20 years earlier by Mr. Slavin as taking gratuities as the purchasing agent for Anderson County, Tenn. (Oak Ridge). Mr. Slavin was represented in his own case by the same attorney who had been the county attorney who cross-examined this "impartial" Chancellor's father. Nothing wrong with "me" hearing the case he found and he then recommended suspending Mr. Slavin for three years ñ overturning the fact finding tribunal's findings of fact and making determinations that had been found wrong and factually inaccurate. The Tennessee Supreme Court found that this "impartial" chancellor committed no error, was correct in not recusing himself, and adopted his findings of fact as their own despite the fact that they were an appellate body and the facts before them were only those found by the fact-finding tribunal. That court then magnanimously reduced the suspension to two years. Remember, the Tennessee court's fact-finding body had thrown out all the "evidence." Then the Tennessee Supreme court disbarred Mr. Slavin without a trial, in absentia.

Now what were Mr. Slavin's alleged "failings?" He complained the Department of Labor has failed to enforce almost all of the labor protective positions it is charged to enforce, has spent years deciding workers' cases that were supposed to have final decisions within 90 days, and had so-called "review boards" deliberately sit on cases for over five years.

Mr. Slavin complained on behalf of his clients that they were entitled to decisions that could be appealed to courts, and that the delays were deliberate and unconscionable. There is ample evidence to support both charges, including that many of the delays were ordered by political appointees.

As far as being banned by the chief administrative law judge at the Department of Labor, all that required was referral to one of his other administrative law judges for a decision (no trial). I am sure you can draw your own conclusions as to the fairness of the process. Mr. Slavin was one of the few advocates of whistle blowers who did not demand large retainers in advance and took cases that only St. Jude would entertain.

Mr. Slavin can be both outspoken and annoying. He is opinionated and is not loved by everyone, but he has a right to his views, and free speech is more than sufficiently important to nurture and protect even when it difficult to like the person availing himself of the privilege.

What Tennessee and the Department of Labor did was get rid of a qualified advocate who was outspoken about the failings of the system and those who administered that system. It was they who have eroded the public confidence in the judicial system.

St. Augustine officials should listen respectfully and answer his questions about environmental crimes and other subjects.



Nahum Litt is a retired chief administrative law Judge, U.S. Department of Labor (retired)


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Letter: People demonizing Slavin, ignoring his work
Edwin L. Bricker
Olympia, Wash.
Publication Date: 12/08/06
Editor: Ed Slavin zealously represented me against Hanford, Washington nuclear weapons plant employers. Working for reforms to protect American workers, Ed Slavin put his career on the line to rescue others.
I was the daily victim of a hostile working environment (joined by the local union I served as steward). Federal OSHA's Assistant Regional Administrator John Spear uncovered illegal surveillance, sabotaged breathing-apparatus and daily torment. Hanford managers branded me a "mole" (spy) for reporting life-threatening environmental, safety and health hazards, working with Congressman John Dingell's investigators.
I was reminded of Hanford's hostility when I read the Record's "Talk of the Town" Web site, where Ed Slavin was attacked by "anonymous" postings by city officials and entourages, angry at Ed's disclosures about his reporting their illegal dumping. Mocking ToTTers tried to trivialize St. Augustine's environmental lawbreaking.
I wrote ToTT, defending Ed. ToTTers falsely impersonated my wife, accused me of being fictitious, posting threatening, obscene, homophobic, libelous comments.
Ed Slavin suggested voluntary ToTT civility rules (no obscenities, sexism, body-part references or remarks about posters' mothers).
Demanding Ed be kicked off, two ToTTers successfully lobbied the ToTT-administrator. They've now been banned for their abusiveness.
I agree with your editorial (November 19) -- government officials need "thicker hides." Ed Slavin is "brilliant" and deserves praise for exposing wrongdoing for decades.
Hateful officials (including President Bush's erstwhile environmental advisor, Nov. 26) have so much to conceal, like Hanford nuclear bomb factory managers.
As a former Washington State environmental regulator, I previously wrote the Record about St. Augustine's illegal dumping.
FDEP inexplicably delayed for eight months (until after elections), to recommend over $46,000 in fines. Will there now be grand jury investigations of city pollution and cover ups?
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Guest Column: Reader agrees with editorial on dumping

JUDITH SERAPHIN
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 12/03/06


Thanks for your Nov. 19 editorial blasting "soon- to-be-ex-Mayor" George Gardner!

Gardner broke his prom-ise, refusing to answer questions about illegal dumping. Then Gardner disgraced himself, abusing his valedict-ory remarks to attack Ed Slavin, who reported our city's illegal dumping, resulting in a proposed $46,000 fine for "serious" violations and officials' "lack of good faith."

Mayor Gardner was egged on by four city commissioners and City Manager Harriss -- they started the non-spontaneous standing ovation, joined in by developers, lawyers, contractors, etc. Yacht Club members were embarrassed, induced to join the ovation while waiting to discuss the Salt Run community center lease.

Officials must pay the fines and give sworn testimony. St. Augustine city officials must be prosecuted for illegal dumping and ordering city employees to sort through 20,000 cubic yards of old landfill without training. Officials never apologized to workers (or thanked Ed Slavin). Instead they insulted him for months, showing hostility and prejudice on "Talk of the Town" and in meetings.

Ed Slavin won punitive damages against three federal agencies in environ-mental whistleblower cases during 2002-2003. City officials (and hangers-on) -- refusing to answer public questions about city operations -- now seemingly support angry nuclear weapons plant managers in Tennessee (which also criminally prosecuted teaching evolution and desegregation). Birds of a feather?

Since 1776, real Americans have stood up to bullies, like "King George" Gardner and those wasting your money on junkets to NYC and Europe and a White Elephant parking garage, while delaying and denying city funds for a civil rights monument.

So Mayor Gardner's mad about Ed Slavin asking hundreds of (unanswered) questions? As Harry Truman said, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Thanks again for supporting First Amendment rights and investigating what Gardner admits is "rampant corruption."


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Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
From Staff
Publication Date: 11/19/06

Soon-to-be-former-Mayor George Gardner let one rip at the St. Augustine City Commission meeting last week when he went after city gadfly Ed Slavin.

For those of you who don¹t know, Slavin is a regular at City Commission meetings. He is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong with city government, which is plenty.

Slavin is not subtle. If he thinks you¹re a crook, he¹ll tell you to your face.

And, yes, Hizzoner is correct that Slavin can be abrasive, although he¹s always polite when he calls us, even if he is questioning our competency, which means he¹s not always alone in his views.

Hizzoner pointed out that Slavin has asked the City Commission about 200 questions, which the mayor thinks is an abuse of the public comment section of its meetings.

And he went after Slavin, pointing out that he was disbarred in Tennessee in part because of his harassment and intimidation of officers of the court. Slavin questioned judges¹ competency in court and hurled insults at other lawyers.

Well, that¹s true.

It¹s also true that without Slavin the citizens of St Augustine would not have known the city was illegally dumping waste material in a borrow pit off Homes Boulevard.

After the mayor spoke, he got a standing ovation from almost everyone in the room. Only our reporter and Slavin remained seated.

We¹re here to tell you this. Ed Slavin is brilliant. Not just bright, brilliant. The Supreme Court of Tennessee, in finding fault with him, acknowledged his ³intellect and legal skills.

Here¹s some stuff you may not know about Slavin. As the editor of the Appalachian Observer in 1982, he filed a request to get some federal documents declassified. Because of his persistence, he found out and shared with the world that the Department of Energy Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Operations had ³lost¹¹ 2.4 million pounds of mercury in Oak Ridge. Later it turned out they had actually lost 4.2 million pounds of mercury.

His work discovered widespread DOE and contractor misconduct. That became a national story.

He went on to become a public interest attorney, armed with his view of never giving up because individuals can change history.

Yes, Slavin is persistent. Yes, he overplays his hand a lot. Yes, he can be obnoxious. And, yes, we would not want to be on the receiving end of Slavin¹s barbs any more than we already are.

But we¹re happy that there are gadflies like Slavin in our world. They add texture to our public forums and, as in the case of the illegal dumping, get it right sometimes.

So, to our public officials, we suggest you get thicker skins.

To those of you who stood up to applaud the mayor after he lambasted Slavin, shame on you for trying to stifle free speech. All of us should defend people¹s right to express their views, even when they are unpopular.

And to Slavin, you may want to soften your delivery, but don¹t be hushed. Remember that it¹s not important to be popular; it is important to stick to your guns.


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UPDATE: ED SLAVIN RESPONDS TO WILLIAM McCORMICK's LATEST FATWA, AGAIN FORGIVES HIM: PRAY FOR BILL McCORMICK's SOUL

-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin
To: wmccormick41
Sent: Sun, Jul 26, 2015 7:10 am
Subject: Re: Civil and Constitutional rights violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine 2004-2015 --St. Johns County Democratic Party Response

Mr. Dear Dr. McCormick:
1. You answered none of my questions. Apparently, you and/or SJCDEC stand for nothing at the local level, other than raising our taxes. Your vapid approach to public policy is a reflection of St. Johns County Democratic Party's "Amateur Hour" mismanagement. Your anger evidences why Democrats are now a third party here, with less than 1/4 of all registrations, falling below "Others." Our SJCDEC's lacks a welcoming spirit. In fact, the very first time Brian and I attended a SJC DEC event, a fish fry, we noticed the snobbery lack of a welcoming spirit on the part of everyone, except for then-Chair Lonnie Awerdick. Our then-Rep. Doug Wiles, an insurance company owner, shunned the two of us and our dog (we were obviously a couple and I was wearing a 1992 Clinton t-shirt). This event was long before I was "a disbarred lawyer." Likewise, I remember Brian and I attending our first SJCDEC meeting and being treated as unwelcome by the governing group. How gauche and louche.
2. Our party still lacks a welcoming spirit, and is still run like a private club, and run very poorly at that. Amateur Hour.
3. There is a spirit haunting SJCDEC -- a spirit of snootiness, which you totally exemplify and personify ("disbarred lawyer …. could not get elected dogcatcher?"). You personalize everything, when the issues are about policy -- obviously your ego is towering, and you can't stand criticism, as evidenced by your hateful response to questions about early voting. Why won't SJCDEC request an early voting location at the Main Branch Public Library and be done with the issue? Why the hatred?
4. You obviously hate me and are you are motivated by actual malice, willful disregard of the truth, and a lack of understanding of one who stood up for the rights of environmental and nuclear whistleblowers under the Bush administration. Again, "I wear your scorn as a badge of honor."
5. You and your friend have done next to nothing to advance the cause of justice, accountability and environmental protection in St. Augustine. "If all politics is local," as Tip O'Neill said, that is why our St. Johns County Democratic Party is so irrelevant -- not once in ten years, on any local public interest issue, has our Party been helpful. Instead, it has actually hurt public interest causes, as when it withheld support for an Inspector General, Ombuds, and sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws. How revolting. While I have published some 70 letters and columns on mostly local issues in the Record, 2000-date, working for reforms, what exactly have you done except support the status quo?
6. When I wrote to SJCDEC Chair Ms. Nell Toensmann on on Thursday, July 23 (about endeavoring to convince our Election Supervisor Ms. Oakes to allow early voting location for St. Augustine for 2016), I never dreamed that Ms. Toensmann would not respond personally. Instead, you bitterly and repeatedly butted in and inserted yourself -- and embarrassed yourself, our Party, your family and now your son. You do so angrily, with such ranting ridicule, non sequiturs and rodomontade, that it is obviously retaliation for First Amendment protected activity in reporting Ms. Oakes to DOJ in 2012 and 2014.
7. Thus, I have contacted your son, Washington lawyer Ryan McCormick (now a lobbyist for wealthy real estate special interests), to inquire about your mental health.
8. Upon reflection, it seems that you and certain other SJC DEC leaders might just be raging homophobes, and that your vacuous viciousness toward me grew to even great heights after our mutual friend, Robin Nadeau, died on January 6, 2012. Remembering the loud rage and outrage that surrounded pouting Party leaders' pusillanimous opposition to the IG, the Ombuds and the Park and Seashore, one cannot ignore homophobia in root cause analysis. In any event, our SJCDEC is one of the most dysfunctional organizations I have encountered, resembling the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations and contractors, St. Augustine City Hall, and St. Johns County government in its fecklessness and recklessness.
9. SJCDEC's meretricious efforts to block early voting for St. Augustine, to block support for an IG, to block support for an Ombuds and to block the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore reflect pathological conditions. I conclude that you are not a real Democrat, Dr. McCormick, and neither are some of your domineering DEC colleagues. Likewise, your making SJC Democratic HQ a de facto Hillary Clinton HQ, while eschewing and refusing to share Bernie Sanders literature, is a stench on our community and our Party, and reflects your corporatist bias.
10. Again, I forgive you. And in the healing spirit of our mutual friend, Robin Nadeau, I will pray for your soul today and for your full recovery from your personal turmoil and mental afflictions and from your SJCDEC ideological perversions. Now, please support early voting for the Main Branch Public Library in 2016.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998



St. Johns County Democratic State Commiteeman WILLIAM McCORMICK Claims He Impersonated "Bishop," Not Pope, Refusing to Answer Questions About Fifteenth Amendment Violations by His Pal, St. Johns County Stupor-visor of Elections VICKI OAKES, Whose Office Refused to Provide or Logically Discuss (as Does McCORMICK) Equal Early Voting for Residents of Majority-Democratic City of St. Augustine, 2004-2015.



LATEST FATWA FROM ST. JOHNS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEMAN Dr. WILLIAM McCORMICK, D. Pharm., ONCE AGAIN REFUSING TO DISCUSS FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT VIOLATIONS BY St. JOHNS COUNTY ELECTION SUPERVISOR VICKI OAKES, AND AGAIN EMITTING AD HOMINEMS AND PEJORATIVES -- WHAT A LUGUBRIOUS HECKLER GOOBER!

-----Original Message-----
From: William McCormick
To: easlavin
Cc: voting.section ;
Sent: Sat, Jul 25, 2015 4:18 pm
Subject: Re: Civil and Constitutional rights violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine 2004-2015 --St. Johns County Democratic Party Response

Ed,

You sucked me into this discussion one last time. Unfortunately for me, I have this personality flaw that makes it very hard for me to resist exchanging barbs with someone as obnoxious as you. You may want to continue this forever, but I will manage to gain the determination to resist from engaging with you in further debate.

During your lifetime you may have accomplished some positive things with your activism, but at what cost to yourself and other? You're a disbarred attorney who couldn't win election for dogcatcher. Outwardly, you present an overly inflated picture of your accomplishments and relationships.

Granted, you graduated from Georgetown, bully for you! So did my son. You worked for Ted Kennedy and love to quote him and others. I doubt that he would remember you or even recall meeting you. He and my son knew each other well and if he were still alive, he could recall some of Ryan's accomplishments in Washington, DC.

I repeat, you should get some help.

Cordially,

Bill McCormick


UPDATE: ED SLAVIN'S RESPONSE TO WILLIAM McCORMICK, St. Johns County Democratic Committeeman, Who Emits Pejoratives and No Substance in Defense of the Indefensible -- No Early Voting Location in Majority-Democratic St. Augustine, 2004-2015

My dear Dr. McCormick:
1. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "our lives begin to end the moment we stop caring about things that matter." Dr. King called St. Augustine, Florida, "The most lawless city in America" in his June 11, 1964 letter to Rabbi Israel Dressner, resulting one week later in the largest mass arrest of rabbis in U.S. history here.
2. You never called as I requested to discuss Early Voting being denied to all City of St. Augustine residents, 2004-2015 (or the Michelle O'Connell case, or other examples of local corruption, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, flummery, dupery, nincompoopery, waste, fraud, abuse and no-bid contracts, some involving your friends and associates, and those of other DEC "leaders"). Why? These issues matter.
3. The late Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill said "all politics is local." What has SJCDEC done locally on local issues that matter to local people?
4. My record speaks for itself. Folio Weekly called me an environmental hero and the Record praised me for my work on illegal dumping. SJCDEC seeks to intimidate and silence me, refusing to allow me to speak at its Earth Day, with Ms. Toensmann writing pejoratives, for which DEC never apologized.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/03/nell-toensmann-st-johns-county.html
5. We, the People have a record of more than 30 victories here in St. Augustine, which the mossback, make-believe Democratic Party of St. Johns County has not assisted in the least, ever. http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2014/06/saving-st-augustine-florida_21.html People are rightly calling you "Undercover Republicans." http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/07/undercover-republicans-st-johns-county.html
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/05/democratic-judas-goats.html
6. Dr. McCormick, it seems that the only time you speak in public is to support the ancien regime, e.g., when it wanted a 16.666% property tax increase. You and SJCDEC were AWOL on Environmental Justice and corruption issues, no doubt because of your friendships with people you asked me not to name.
7. If your "Pope" costume were so described by the Record as an "inadvertent error," please provide evidence you asked for a correction. The story ran four years ago.
8. Also, please provide any receipts or indicia that it was a bishop costume.
9. And as Hillary Clinton would say, "What difference does it make? Sacrilege and blasphemy are the same, whether you pretended to be the Pope, or a Bishop. Many Roman Catholics would find your dressing up in liturgical garb to be deeply offensive. http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/04/gala-blasphemy-sacrilege-democratic.html
10. Your ad hominem insults leap off the page, once again: you are unkind, uncouth, uncivil and out of touch with Democrats. The facts about the Fifteenth Amendment violations are undisputed -- no early voting in our majority-Democratic City, which has been effectively redlined by Republicans for early voting, 2004-2015. In response, you again attacked the whistleblower. If the party leaders were responsive, we would have had an equal early voting place for Our Nation' Oldest City. Our SJCDEC passed my motion in 2012 to write Ms. Oakes, but Ms. Cappella's short letter did not express any conviction or leadership -- she refused my offer to provide a suggested draft letter. Ms. Cappella was angry with me and yelled, screamed and insulted me on this occasion, and others. She is a "troubled" person, in your words. I wear her scorn as a badge of honor -- and Ms. Toensmann's, and yours -- you have delusions of adequacy as an organization.
11. Your writing and speaking style makes you appear to be a social dominator, a "kiss-up, kick-down" character, a "Type A" personality that is all too common in government, academia, business, and politics. You seem unadorned by any humility or empathy or openness to discussion: we call this Boulwareism.
12. People like you can cause Americans to "turn off" to politics. You appear to be without scruples or self-control, ranting and accusing me of ranting.
13. Every day, Americans suffer because of inept party "leaders" like you, whether in unjust wars or otherwise.
14. People like you caused the St. Johns County Democratic Party to become a third party, after "Others," with less than 1/4 of registered voters.
http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/03/st-johns-county-democrats-slip-to-third.html
[ED's note: numbering error -- because no one's perfect!]
17. You are no debater, no scholar, no civil rights advocate and no gentleman. "You are an idiot, Ed….? You write like an anti-literate energumen.
18. I can just feel the love. You are a tortured soul without remorse, an other-directed, misguided misanthropic "good-ole 'boy." I pity you.
19. My religious tradition teaches forgiveness, Dr. McCormick.
20. I forgive you, Dr. McCormick. Please resign. Now. But you shall never have the last word.
21. Please call to discuss. As Adlai Stevenson said after being spat upon by a rabid racist mob in Texas in 1963, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of ignorance" -- yours, Dr. McCormick.
22. Please join me in asking Ms. Oakes to provide an equal early voting location in St. Augustine: it makes no sense to have one in St. Augustine Beach, but not in St. Augustine -- this is outrageous, intentional invidious discrimination without basis in law.
23. In the words of Senator Ted Kennedy, my first boss, for whom I worked starting the day before my first class at Georgetown University in August 1974, "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5cKYckTWEM
24. As LBJ said after Selma, "We SHALL overcome."
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
904-377-4998

UPDATE: McCORMICK Sends Hate Mail, Does Not Respond on Early Voting Concerns

Sent: Fri, Jul 24, 2015 4:14 pm

Subject: Re: Civil and Constitutional rights violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine 2004-2015 --St. Johns County Democratic Party Response

Give it a break Ed,

I enjoy debating issues with other people, but you're not a worthy opponent.  The only reason I copied other people is because they are the same people you have copied.  I don't expect any of them to respond to either of our diatribes.  Just a couple of corrections to your rant, in three of the Pedro Menendez processions, I portrayed a Bishop, not the Pope.  The incorrect title was an inadvertant error on the part of a St. Augustine Record reporter.  Second, I served as an officer with the St. Augustine Sister Cities Association as well as Penny.  I prefer you confine your rants to my activites rather than a list of individuals that includes my wife.  There are lots of other factual errors in your emails, but I am not going to bother addressing them.

My final words in this debate are "You are an idiot Ed, and unfortunately for you, you are a troubled individual who needs some help."

Sincerely,

Bill McCormick

----Original Message-----

From: easlavin
To: wmccormick41
Sent: Fri, Jul 24, 2015 11:01 am
Subject: Civil and Constitutional rights violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine 2004-2015 --St. Johns County Democratic Party Response

Civil and Constitutional rights violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine 2004-2015 -- St. Johns County Democratic Party Response 

My dear Dr. McCormick:

Thank you for your insulting 12:51 AM e-mail (below).  As humorist Will Rogers said, "I don't belong to any organized political party -- I'm a Democrat."

1.  Your hostile, pejorative e-mail is (in the immortal words of Washington Post Editor Benjamin Crowninshild Bradlee during Watergate), "a non-denial denial." 

2.   Rev. Ronald Rawls of (St. Paul A.M.E. and NAACP) and other African-American leaders have rightly raised concerns (for years) about our local Dixiecrat/ Democratic Party's institutional racism, or at best, insensitivity and ineptitude on racial issues.  Those concerns mostly fell on uncaring ears, as demonstrated by the local Party hierarchy's almost demoniacal denunciatory diatribe response to the well-reasoned, factual Fifteenth Amendment complaints that I filed with DOJ, as most recently expressed in your angry 12:51 AM e-mail below.

3.  Your support of Election Supervisor Ms. Vicki Oakes' refusal to provide any early voting locations in the City of St. Augustine is, at best facetious.  Neither you nor she can justify why the majority-Democratic City of St. Augustine, Florida has had no early voting location in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015 primary and general elections.  This is typical of voter invidiously discriminatory suppression techniques in Florida since the stolen 2000 election.  The equitable maxim is: "Silence gives consent."  Inculpatory silence as the SJC DEC makes DEC a potential respondent under the 15th Amendment, for you have now ratified the County Election Supervisor's unlawful redlining of St. Augustine and her denial of early voting sites here since 2004.

4.   Some of you on the St. Johns County Democratic Executive Committee Steering Committee are apparently not real Democrats.   

5.  All real Democrats want every vote counted, and we do not countenance Fifteenth amendment violations by anyone, friend or foe.  SJCDEC's instinctive good-ole-boy response to any stimulus is to defend the status quo, whether Sheriff Shoar, developers or Election Supervisor Vicki Oakes. 

6.  You are the same Dr. WILLIAM McCORMICK (former Pharmacy Dean at the University of Florida and University of Houston), who:

    A. Blocked efforts by 2008 Democratic Congressional candidate Ms. Faye Armitage, the late Ms. Robin Nadeau, me, et al. for SJCDEC to endorse the St. Augustine National Park and Seashore by SJCDEC under pressure from Republicans, including two current Republicans who were sworn in as members and allowed to vote (Bob and Andrea Samuels), with three ballots taken until your faction obtained the negative vote that it desired;

    B. Moved to eject me from SJCDEC and its Steering Committee for filing complaints against Ms. Oakes for violations of the Fifteenth Amendment;

    C. Is part of the controlling group that caused our Democratic Party to run no candidates in county-wide partisan elections since 2006, while operating a full-time HQ; 

    D. Is married to PENNY McCORMICK, an officer in the all-white St. Augustine Sister Cities organization run by ex-Mayor CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, Jr., who destroyed a 211-year old building illegally, and was fined only $3600, and is partner with ex-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. in a no-bid, below-market rate lease of City commercial property (81 St. George Street, Florida Cracker Cafe);

    E. Publicly heckled me at an FDEP public hearing where I raised concerns about CIty sewage pollution of the Matanzas River in the context of protected river status that you and other wealthy homeowners were seeking, insouciant to water pollution upstream affecting our saltwater marsh;

    F. Dressed up in liturgical garb as the Pope in the annual Menendez Noche de Gala parade, an overt act of sacrilege offensive to many Roman Catholics.

http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/04/gala-blasphemy-sacrilege-democratic.html

    G. Discourages new volunteers with  hierarchical behavior and a lack of a welcoming spirit;

    H. Are an ally of the St. Johns County political machine: you are often vocal in its support (e.g., 16.666% sales tax increase).

7. Our stolen Florida election in 2000 was worldwide news, while Florida's leading Democrats remained addlepated and Florida Demoratic lawyers ineptly litigated the Bush v. Gore case, failing to focus on 27,000 uncounted ballots in nearby Jacksonville (of which 20,000 were African-American ballots).  Future Florida elections could be stolen because of Ms. Oakes' early voting redlining of St. Augustine, which you do not discuss in any legal or intellectual rigor, Dr. McCormick.

8. Meanwhile, our Republican county government (under FBI investigation), which empowered by inept Democrats like you, is being covered by The New York Times and other independent-minded publications, 2013-date.  

9. Why won't SJCDEC speak out in favor of Justice for Michelle O'Connell? It is too busy inviting Democrats to do meaningless, "prestigious" things, hesto presto, e.g., " ...attend the Democratic State Convention and rub elbows with the movers and shakers in the Florida Democratic Party?" (coloring in original at  http://www.stjohnsdemocraticparty.org)   Only our new St. Augustine Mayor, Nancy Shaver, alone among all county elected officials, has taken a public position supporting Justice for Michelle O'Connell. Meanwhile, our pusillanimous Democratic Party has remained silent, forgetting that, as JFK said, (paraphrasing Edmund Burke), "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing."  See Nancy Shaver's December 2013 letter: http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/07/nancy-shavers-eloquent-december-18-2013.html    The world is watching us.

See, e.g.:

  The New York Times , "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night" by Walt Bogdanich & Glenn Silber (November 24, 2013): http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/

PBS/Frontline,  "A Death in St. Augustine (November 26, 2013): 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/  NBC News Dateline , "Two Shots Fired" (April 18, 2014): 
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816 
Folio Weekly: Jeff Billman, "Somebody's lying -- An activist accuses the St. Augustine Record of bowing 
to pressure from Jeremy Banks' attorney. The paper accuses her of spreading misinformation" (September 17, 2014),  http://folioweekly.com/SOMEBODYS-LYING-ST-AUGUSTINE-RECORD-ACTIVIST-JEREMY-BANKS,10912 
Dr. Phil, "The Mystery of Michelle O'Connell" (November 3, 2014):  http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/2298 
Folio Weekly, "Murder, He Wrote," by Susan Cooper Eastman (November 19, 2014), http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2014/11/michelle-oconnell-shooting-read-folio.html 
Folio Weekly, "The Proxy War," by Derek Kinner (March 4, 2015):  http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2015/03/folio-weekly-deputy-jeremy-banks-and.html 

 
Photo credit: The New York Times 
10. Dr. McCormick, you are evidently "driving under the inference" that anyone respects your nattering nasty negativism toward reformers, or your empty evasions, animadversions and cant opinions about early voting discrimination, your friend Ms. Vicki Oakes (or anything else).  

11. Please call me to discuss our County Democratic Executive Committee's bumptious betrayal of Democratic ideals, which is now open,  notorious and outrageous -- you sent your 12:51 AM Philistine heckling fatwa to dozens of people. Please note: I wear your scorn as a badge of honor, Dr. McCormick.  As the former Legal Counsel for Constitutional Rights for the Government Accountability Project and former chair of the Human and Civil Rights Committee of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and former member of the ABA Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section Council, published in ABA peer-reviewed publications on civil rights issues, you should have been listening to me instead of insulting me.  But as abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said, "I will be heard." 

12. I suggest that you kindly resign as our St. Johns County's Democratic State Committeeman,  Dr. McCormick,  thereby allowing selection of someone more compassionate, competent and thorough in their research and approach to the Republican political machine in St. Johns County and the State of Florida.  Perhaps this resignation and transition will be discussed at a future "blue bag lunch" at St. Johns County Democratic HQ.  What do you reckon?

Thank you.

WIth kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

9-4-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: William McCormick <wmccormick41@yahoo.com>
To: easlavin <easlavin@aol.com>; NTOENSMANN <NTOENSMANN@YAHOO.COM>
Sent: Fri, Jul 24, 2015 12:51 am
Subject: Re: Election Supervisor Ms. V. Oakes and 14th & 15th Amendment violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine -- Speech at SJCDEC tonight, 7/23, 6:30 PM

Dear Ed,

     Since I attended Ms. Oakes (sic) presentation on Thursday evening and because I am the SJC DEC State Committeeman, I do feel obliged (s)to respond to your questions.  You may wish to share my answers with your attorney who I presume will be a lawyer who is duly (sic) licensed to practice by the Florida Bar or in the Federal Courts if you decide to pursue your legal arguments at the Federal level.

1. Ms. Oakes did explain where early voting would occur and when  There was quite a bit (sic) of discussion on this issue and she did a good (sic) job addressing our (sic) questions.  I'm not sure which people you are referring to besides yourself, since you seem to be the only person submitting the questions.  Anyway, generally I think most people appreciated her responses to our questions about voting sites. 

2.  I think Ms. Oakes understands that as long as you continue to reside in our (sic) county, voting rights complaints will be filed with the U.S. Dept of Justice.  Maybe you can explain to everyone who (sic) you emailed how those previous complaints (assuming you filed them) (sic) went. 

3.  My suggestion for you is to express your concerns about poor press commentary in the national media to City and County officials.  I can't (sic) speak for them, but I will say if I was (sic) one of them, I wouldn't be concerned. 

4.  Of course there was a long Q&A session that was both informative and satisfying (sic) for the audience. 

5. and 6.  NO and NO  Those were pretty dumb (sic) questions Ed!  Gee, do you really think the whole world is watching.  I didn't think we were that important. 

Cordially, 

Bill McCormick 

On Thursday, July 23, 2015 5:02 PM, "easlavin@aol.com" <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:

Election Supervisor Ms. V. Oakes and 14th &15th Amendment violations by St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections in Refusing Early Voting Anywhere in Territorial Limits of City of St. Augustine , 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 & 2015 primary and general elections -- Ms. Oakes' Speech at SJCDEC tonight, 6:30 PM 

To:         St. Johns County Democratic Executive Committee (SJCDEC)

Through: Chair Nell Toensmann:

1. Will Ms. Oakes please explain to us whether We, the People shall have early voting within the territorial limits of the City of St. Augustine for 2016 primaries and general elections?  

2. Does Ms. Oakes understand that a new Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment and Voting Rights Act complaint will be filed with the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division every two years until she (and the corrupt one-party-dominated political machine of which she is a synecdoche) finally comply with our Fifteenth Amendment and finally provide equal early voting sites inside St. Augustine city limits?  

3. Does she know how continuing violations might make our City and County appear in national news media, including The New York Times?

4. Will there be a Q&A session?

5. Will the answers be videotaped and placed on YouTube?

6. Will Ms. Oakes' counsel be present?

The whole world is watching.

Please call to discuss

Thank you!

Cordially,

Ed Slavin

904-377-4998

www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com