Florida Governor RICHARd SCOTT, our Fifth Amenndment Governor, who invoked his right against self-incrimination some 75 times in Medicare-Medicaid fraud depositions, has finally made up his mind on a running mate for re-elction.
SCOTT has picked a Miami-Dade County politiican, Property Appraiser CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTERA, as his Lt. Govrnor, replacing JENNIFER CARROLL of Jacksonville, a crook who resigned ten months ago. Republican veteran CARROLL resigned March 12, 2013 amid criminal indictments of her former employers at the ALLIED VETERANS $300 million gambling scam. Lt. Governor CARROLL was the first African-American and first woman Lt. Governor. Mr. LOPEZ-CANTERA is the first Hispanic Lt. Governor (the Spanish never had such a post and left in 1819). "I love the fact he's Hispanic," SCOTT said, stating he picked him for his "business skills."
The new Lt. Governor takes office on February 3, 2014, with no confirmation vote required under the Florida Constitution. The appointment moots a lawsuit by Democrats seeking to compel Governor SCOTT to fill the vacancy, which has existed for ten months.
In making the appointment, Governor SCOTT is seeking minority support, having been found to be "underperforming" in Hispanic communities. SCOT was elected Governor in 2010 by some 49,000 votes, having spent some $78 million of his own money on a campaign that featured bizarre hostile TV ads criticizing a mosque in lower Manhattan (an appeal to Islamophobic, Tea Party and KKK voters).
CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTRERA, as Florida House Republican whip, supported Gov. RICHARD SCOTT's anti-immigrant legislation, patterned after Arizona's laws, found to be unconstitutional. HB 7089 would have allowed warrantless of persons by local law enforcementer where there was probable cause to believe they were in the United States llegally.
Miami-Dade developer CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTRERA, who recently turned 40, was born two months premature, in Madrid, Spain, and raised in South FLorida by his parents; his father is a developer and so was our new Lt. Governor. Our new Lt. Governor is the former Florida House Republican Whip, and defeated an incumbent for Property Appraiser in 2012, running on the populist issue of lowering property appraisals based on home foreclosures in Miami-Dade. LOPEZ-CONTRERA is only the second elected property appraiser in Miami-Dade history. His campaign also focused on stopping fraudulent property tax exemptions and improving access to property tax data. He got 51.2% of the vote.
As a Florida State legislator, LOPEZ-CONTERA got all A's and A+'s from the NRA and an overall 97-A from the Florida Chamber of Commerce. He consistenty voted with pre-Cambrian and antebellum Republicans, and thus supported offshore oil drilling, voter suppression and education funding cuts. He was a close ally of MARCO RUBIO in the legislature, and helped push through the deep dredging of the Port of Miami, overcoming environmental concerns. In 2011, he reportedly supported Texas Governor Rick Perry for President. Mr. LOPEZ-CONTRERA was reportedly carrying a loaded gun pursuant to a concealed carry permit as early as 2005.
In 2012, the Washington Times paraphrased a LOPEZ-CANTERA speech supporting WILLARD MITT ROMNEY: "He pointed out that in the spirit of Halloween, conservativse should go to lierals and redistribute their Halloween candy to the conservatives. That would be the only way to explain to liberals how awful the economic redistributionist (sic) posicies of the last four years have been."
How trite.
While in the Florida state legislature, Mr. LOPEZ-CANTERA listed his office address as Suite 111, 2300 Coral Way, Miami, Florida. Curiously, this address is not listed on the MIAMI-DADE PROPERTY APPRAISER's website, but the address is shown on Mapquest as the CPA office of the late AMADA LOPEZ-CONTERA, 305-854-1040, who is listed on the Florida Secretary of State's office in connection with a slew of corporatons. The late AMADA LOPEZ-CANTERA was the late grandmother of Lt. Governor CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTERA, and she died in February 2013. Thus, AMADA-CANTERA apparently used office space provided by a family member for his state legislative office in Miami.
Also unlisted, as reported in the Miami Herald: LOPEZ-CONARA's residence, which was purchased for $745,000 in July 2011 and which CANTRARA's office assessed at $574,471 in 2013.
The website of the Bank of Coral Gables, viewed today, shows that the father of the new Lt. Governor, also named CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTERA, is President of "Pan-American Companies, a real estate developer which specializes in real estate investments alnd land economics." The website states is is a "registered architect, a real estate and mortgage broker, a licensed engineer and a contractor. He has been involved with th development of various types of real estate projects, includingofffice-industrial parks, hotels, office buildings and mixed used (sic) projects," stating he is former chair of the Florida construction Industry Licensing Board, 1988-94, serving as chair for two years. The website of the Florida Secretary of State lists CARLOS LOPEZ-CONTRERA Pan Amercan Companies as the sole drector of PAN AMERICAN COMPANIES. The firm's website states it manages hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial property in South Florida.
Thus, Governor SCOTT has once again shown his affection for ultra-rightists, bankers and developers.
Little of this background has made its way into print. CARLOS LOPEZ-CANTRERA's wife reportedly works in the Miami Herald circulation department.
St. Johns County School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Joyner, Ed.D. was considered for the job, but withdrew his name in November.
At least Governor SCOTT did not pick controversial St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID B. SHOAR, whose unexplained refusal to recuse himself from "investigating" the shooting death of a deputy's girlfriend with the deputy's SJCSO handgun is a stench in the nostrils of the planet (thanks to the dogged investigation of the New York Times)
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