Ex-Mayor hires stepson, so St. Augustine Record runs article with photo and byline?

St. Augustine's ex-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. hired his stepson as a lawyer. So naturally, the St. Augustine Record ran a news story,  breathlessly telling us, with a byline, that the BOLES LAW FIRM was "expand[ing" its "legal team," without mentioning that BOLES just hired his stepson. 

• JOE BOLES specialized in debt collection and garnishment.
• When Congress made the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applicable to law firms in 1992, BOLES changed his business model to Elder Law.
• BOLES chairs the Council on Aging and uses it to get referrals to write wills and trusts.
• BOLES was chair of the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board.
• BOLES was president/chair of the St. Augustine Art Association.
• BOLES was chair of the St. Augustine Rotary Club.
• BOLES was vice chair of the Welfare Federation.
• BOLES was board member of Buckingham Smith Benevolent Association
• BOLES was elected Commissioner in 2002.
• BOLES was Mayor from 2006-2014. 
• In 2014, BOLES was defeated by reformer Nancy Shaver, who served 1550 days until suffering a stroke on February 25, 2019, resigning on February 28, 2019.
• During the 2014 primary election campaign, BOLES spent the lion's share of his budget on radio advertising on the local Rush Limbaugh Hate Radio station, WFOY.
• During the 2014 general election campaign, JOE BOLES went door-to-door begging elders for their votes and informing them that he heard that Nancy Shaver was not married to her deceased husband, spreading Lashon hara and slander.
• BOLES procured an unauthorized endorsement from Fr. Thomas Willis, pastor of the St. Augustine Cathedral-Basilica, which I reported to the Bishop.
• When BOLES lost by 119 votes, he never telephoned Nancy Shaver to congratulate her until I pointed out his effrontery and gracelessness on this blog.
• When Mayor Shaver was sworn in as Mayor on December 1, 2014, by Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince, BOLES refused to shake hands with the new Mayor.
• BOLES, et al. ran the City of St. Augustine like a personal fiefdom.
• BOLES and ex-Mayor CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, JR. long used City resources to feather their own nests.
• BOLES refused to make corporations disclose ownership when they sought zoning favors.
• BOLES and WEEKS still profit from a 1989 no-bid deal where they pay below-market rent for 81 St. George Street, site of the Florida Cracker Cafe and Savannah Sweets.  BOLES and WEEKS were exposed for this deal by Folio Weekly Magazine in August 2014, in a cover story, quoting me.
• BOLES refused to talk to Folio abut the deal, deferring to his non-lawyer buddy, LEN WEEKS, to answer questions.
• BOLES' buddy WEEKS destroyed 211-year old DON PEDRO FORNELLS HOUSE on September 25, 2014, a date that will life in infamy, working without permits, fined only $3700.
• St. Augustine City Attorney ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ hugged LEN WEEKS after the Code Enforcement proceeding.
• LOPEZ called me "sexist" for suggesting it was an appearance of impropriety to hug LEN WEEKS, saying as a woman, she can hug anyone she wants.
• BOLES came back to City Commission to speak in support of KANTI PATEL's controversial San Marco Hotel project, approved by vote of 4-1, Mayor Nancy Shaver, dissenting.
• BOLES former college and law school roommate, Tracy Upchurch, is now the interim Mayor of the City of St. Augustine, selected March 4, 2019 without meaningful public comment or disclosure of candidates.
• This was the Triple Crown of Lawbreaking, violating the First Amendment, F.S. 119 and F.S. 286.
• BOLES helped pick the new Mayor after reform Mayor Nancy Shaver's stroke and resignation.
• BOLES' cronies now seek to make the job of Mayor no longer elected by the people, undoing progressive reforms from the 1980s.
• JOE BOLES can hire anyone he wants, but when he hires his stepson, is that a news story?  Seriously? Are you kidding me?

Here's the fluffy PR-generated puff piece from the incredible sinking, shrinking stinky St. Augustine Record:




Boles Law Firm expands legal team

HIDE CAPTION


William S. Masson [CONTRIBUTED]

By Colleen Jones
Posted at 12:46 PM
St. Augustine Record
The Boles Law Firm has added attorney William S. Masson as a new associate. Masson comes to the team from the defense firm Delgado & Romanik. Prior to that, he was an assistant state attorney in Daytona Beach. In addition to elder law, estate planning and asset protection, probate and pre-Medicaid eligibility, the Boles Law Firm will now add elder criminal defense.