Another day, another public interest victory: VCB CEO RICHARD GOLDMAN REINSTATED!

St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau Board Reinstates VCB President/CEO Richard Goldman  St. Augustine, Fla. (Aug. 25, 2017) -- Since the decision was reached regarding Richard Goldman's separation from the VCB, the Board of Directors and Mr. Goldman were able to re-visit a number of the core issues around the marketing of the destination. As a result, the Board is pleased to announce that both parties have agreed to retain the services of Mr. Goldman as CEO.

For a good laugh, check out Record "Development" beat reporter Stuart Korfhage's article, unadorned by any mention of the eight of us living, breathing, actual people -- government watchdogs and tourism business owners and managers.  We sua sponte came and testified at the August 24, 2017 VCB meeting in support of Richard Goldman and in opposition to the violation of his rights and the public's rights to transparency and compliance with our Florida Sunshine law, which was violated by VCB's board on June 27, 2017.

Too many publications won't ever do anything to offend advertisers or controlling business interests, as Tom Wicker wrote in his book, On Press, and as my late Pulitzer Prize winning reporter friend, Nat Caldwell of the Nashville Tennessean explained to me over beers and baloney sandwiches at his 1820 Gallatin, Tenn. lakeside home, while I was investigating Tennessee Valley Authority and coal suppliers on a Fund for Investigative Journalism Grant as an undergraduate at the tender age of 21-22. 

At the Appalachian Observer in Clinton, Tenn., I developed a shorthand term for such "journalists" in our July 4, 1981 Prospectus: "Chain Gang Journalism."

For years, "Chain Gang Journalism" wrought by the mendacious family-owned MORRIS COMMUNICATIONS has had a close and continuing relationship with VCB, publishing its travel guide to St. Augustine. In attendance at the August 24, 2017 meeting was the travel guide's publisher.

The Record did not even bother to send any actual reporter to the meeting, and then missed the scoop (once again)!

GateHouse CEO Kirk Davis, Gatehouse executives and Gatehouse Board of Directors: please note this sloppy reporter's freaky ineptitude -- once again missing lawbreaking and omitting it from his Chamber of Commerce Weltansuchauung-contaminated, creepy, kooky, coverup-prone coverage).

Pitiful. This is truly "fake news." Record subscribers: we deserve better -- we need incisive coverage and tough investigative reporting, for as my late journalistic competitor, Clinton Courier-News (Tenn.) Publisher Horace V. Wells, Jr. said in his page one slogan for decades: "What you don't know WILL Hurt you!".

More other-directed spin from the developers' pet and Sheriff DAVID SHOAR's favorite distorter-reporter:

Posted August 26, 2017 12:02 am
By STUART KORFHAGE stuart.korfhage@staugustine.com
St. Johns County VCB decides to retain Goldman as CEO

Upon further review, Richard Goldman has been retained as president and CEO of St. Johns County’s visitors and convention bureau.



After the VCB Board of Directors recently announced to members that Goldman was to be removed from the position, a release was sent out Friday afternoon saying the board had instead decided to keep him. Goldman’s last day was slated to be Friday.

“Since the decision was reached regarding Richard Goldman’s separation from the VCB, the Board of Directors and Mr. Goldman were able to re-visit a number of the core issues around the marketing of the destination,” the statement says. “As a result, the Board is pleased to announce that both parties have agreed to retain the services of Mr. Goldman as CEO.”

VCB Board Chairman Charles Cox, owner of the San Sebastian Winery, said the VCB members met Thursday, and the board met again Friday with Goldman. He said they were able to work out their differences and allow him to remain in the position he’s held for more than seven years.

“It was just some differences of opinion of how to market the destination moving forward that the board wasn’t seeing movement on, and we’ve come to agreement on those items,” Cox told The Record. “We probably all wish we could have done that, maybe should have done that, earlier in the process to have avoided all of this.”

Goldman had said in a previous interview that he thought he was following the direction of the board in his role as leader of the county’s tourism marketing arm.

Cox praised Goldman for being willing to continue to work with the board to reach an agreement where they were all satisfied that they could continue to work together.

“Richard was extremely professional and amicable through this entire ordeal,” Cox said. “That was very much appreciated by me and the rest of the board.”

Goldman made it clear that he did not want to leave his position and is glad to move forward now.

“I’m very pleased by this decision of the board and for the opportunity to continue to work for this wonderful destination,” Goldman said in an email to The Record.

St. Johns County has a contract with the VCB to provide professional advertising, marketing and promotional services aimed at attracting tourists and convention activity to the county. The funding for this contract comes entirely out of the Tourist Development Council annual budget.

Money for the TDC budget comes from local “bed tax” revenue levied on all short-term lodgings in the county.