–Roy Hardemon, a member of the Florida House of Representatives admitted that he personally put up campaign yard signs on public school property.
-Hardemon said he did it for his “boss”, State Senator Daphne Campbell.
-Two Campbell re-election campaign signs were spotted on a fence on WJ Bryan Elementary School in North Miami by a RISE NEWS reporter.
-Miami-Dade Public Schools have regulations against political candidates putting campaign materials on school grounds.
-Hardemon and Campbell are two of the most controversial politicians in Florida politics.
-Hardemon is one of 120 Florida State Representatives, while Campbell is one of 40 State Senators.
The 2018 primary election is still over eight months away, but that hasn’t stopped two local politicians from trying to use public school property to win votes for one of their campaigns.
State Representative Roy Hardemon, a Miami Democrat, personally put up two large yard signs for State Senator Daphne Campbell’s re-election campaign on the gate of WJ Bryan Elementary School in North Miami.
A RISE NEWS reporter spotted the two signs on opposite ends of the school’s property off busy 125th St.
He then called Campbell’s Senate office to get an explantation for why they were placed there.
Moments later the reporter received a phone call from an unidentified man who said that he put the signs up on Campbell’s behalf.
“It ain’t nothing wrong with [a sign] saying Happy Holidays,” the man said. “I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with that.”
When asked the made identified himself as “Roy… Representative Roy Hardemon.”
The phone number from which he called the reporter from matched the phone number that Hardemon listed with the Florida Candidate Tracking System.
“You called my boss and she chewed me out,” Hardemon said of Campbell. “I put the signs up for her. She blasted me out.”
Hardemon, who represents House District 108, hasn’t publicly disclosed payments from Campbell if he is indeed employed by her.
In fact, he hasn’t publicly disclosed any form of income on his Financial Interest Disclosure filings with the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Hardemon also doesn’t have a profession listed on his State Legislature Bio on the Florida House of Representatives website.
He is one of only three member of the 120 member House to not have a listed occupation (The others being Jennifer Mae Sullivan and Barbara Watson).
When pressed on his relationship with Campbell, a Democrat who represents District 38, Hardemon backtracked.
“She’s not my boss, she’s my friend,” Hardemon said.
Campbell was not able to be reached by the time of publication.
Hardemon said that parents of the school should be happy to support Campbell because of what he said was her leadership on their behalf.
“Somebody’s doing there best and people are complaining about signs,” Hardemon said. “I’ve had it up to here with these petty complaints.”
He also said that he thought the signs were allowed to be on the school’s fence.
Florida State Rep. Roy Hardemon. Photo: Roy Hardemon/ Facebook
“The fence is a public right of way,” Hardemon said of the fence, which is clearly on school property. “You know how it’s called, it’s an unwritten rule.”
Except that is not an unwritten rule, the rule is actually written down.
According to the Miami-Dade County Public Schools policy on advertisements on school grounds, political campaign materials are not allowed.
“Advertisements containing a campaign or other political message supporting or opposing a political candidate for public office, a political platform, or a political issue, are prohibited,” the school board passed law reads.
Since Miami-Dade public schools were out for the winter break, spokespeople for the School Board were unable to be reached.
Calls to Bryan Elementary were also not answered due to the break.
Both Campbell and Hardemon represent Bryan Elementary in Tallahassee and both are up for re-election to their offices in August.
Campbell tried to use her connection to an FPL lobbyist to turn on electricity at her house after Hurricane Irma and Hardemon has been arrested 19 times over his life, including for punching a woman in the face in 2014.
RISE NEWS is South Florida’s digital news magazine. Follow us on Facebook to make sure you never miss a story!
Have a news tip about this topic or something completely different? Send it on in to [email protected]
Next Story:
What Do You Think?
-
South Florida Tech Should Make It A Priority To Make Miami A 2016 NewCo City
By David Capelli
Miami is on everyone’s radar, as the NewCo movement sparked heightened interest in the Magic City’s bustling ecosystem. I was able to go behind the scenes of Newco San Francisco and Oakland earlier this month. While there, I made the case for why Miami should be the next Newco city in 2016.
NewCo is a movement celebrating people in a city sharing a new narrative of business and culture. From a selected applicant pool companies, non-profits, and initiatives open their doors to the public and share their space, story and experience with an interactive crowd, catalyzing a narrative of collaboration, culture and ecosystem building for a more resilient economy.
“Business is changing” NewCo CEO John Battelle said at Newco’s open house in the Bay Area. “75% of millennials say they prefer working for a company focused on positive change. Technology is not a vertical, it’s horizontal.”
Read More: Start Up Miami-LiveAnswer Leads The Way In South Florida Tech Innovation
At a time when the economy is rapidly changing from an industrial to innovation economy, Newco empowers communities to celebrate and spark new positive change. Battelle, a former media executive with several successful exits, was inspired to start Newco for the Valley to “see a world bigger than them.”
After a while, Battelle realized he needed to “ stop being half- pregnant and go. Just do it.”
NewCo is now in 17 cities and rapidly expanding, with their newest media platform featuring Newco companies around the world on their daily newsletter, building community around the new innovation economy.
NewCo experiences cost at most $500 for the VIP level. The aim is to engage the entire community in the experience. For included companies and non-profits, there is zero cost to host and much to gain, most notably, exposure, customers, and connections. Being selected as a Newco city is a rigorous process.
“Although I don’t know Miami well, I know Miami has a strong connection to Latin America. To me, that is an interesting narrative for Miami.” Chris Redlitz, Managing Partner at Transmedia Capital said.
“We look to see the city’s narrative, their unique companies and extensive team of various leaders that can pull off all components of hosting a Newco experience,” Lee Ann Mariglia, NewCo’s Communications Director said.
During the NewCo event, I was able to meet the CEO’s and go behind the scenes of Slack, Lyft, BetterDoctor, EatWith, NovaEd, the City of Oakland, Comrade, and Uber. Each session has Newco “ambassadors” that assist with the open-house experiences in the companies.
I served as an ambassador for EatWith, an in-house restaurant experience concept. The next day their team and I grabbed coffee and discussed their interest in entering the Miami market, along with other plans for the Miami ecosystem to spur more food entrepreneurs. Experiences like these connect cities and people together for stronger economies, something Miami has been doing for years for tourists.
Sitting next to me at the Newco session was one of Newco’s first investors, Chris Redlitz, Managing Partner at Transmedia Capital. I asked him what about Miami excites him as an investor and what he hopes to discover in Miami.
Read More: In Miami’s Wynwood Art District, A 25 Year Old Artist Is Ready To Take The City By Storm
“I am interested in discovering global market trends early on and nurturing that unique, fresh talent” Redlitz said. “Although I don’t know Miami well, I know Miami has a strong connection to Latin America. To me, that is an interesting narrative for Miami.”
Miami has a narrative that truly resembles the mission of NewCo of identifying, celebrating and connecting engines of positive change in our society. The entrepreneurial community, governments, and tourism/travel groups all contribute to our developing ecosystem and are critical to having a successful NewCo festival in Miami.
Miami has a new narrative to share with the world: the most diverse and bustling entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country at the nexus of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Let’s tell the story together and make Miami a Newco city in 2016.
David Capelli is Founder/CEO of TECH Miami and a contributor to Rise News.
Like this piece? Rise News just launched a few weeks ago and is only getting started. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with global news. Have a news tip? (No matter how big or small!) Send it to us- [email protected]
Cover Photo Credit: Vladimir Kud/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
What Do You Think?
-
Miami Country Day Student Wins $20,000 Scholarship From Foot Locker
What’s News In This Story?
–Foot Locker surprised Miami Country Day School (MCDS) student Danielle Geathers with a $20,000 college scholarship Wednesday.
–Geathers grew up in El Portal with her mom Marva Wiley.
–Geathers is the captain of the MCDS soccer team and has a 3.9 GPA.
–She also wrote a children’s book geared towards girls of color. The book is titled “Don’t Touch My Hair!” and reflects the common struggle found by young girls of color who go to schools where they are in the minority.
–Geathers was one of only 20 people in the US to receive the prize from Foot Locker, which seeks to reward outstanding student athletes who demonstrates “academic excellence and exemplifying strong leadership skills both in sports and within their communities.”
–Geathers will attend MIT in the fall and will study biomedical engineering.
——
There’s A Secret Buddhist Temple In This El Portal House
RISE NEWS is South Florida’s digital news network. Follow us on Facebook to make sure you never miss a story!
Have a news tip about this topic or something completely different? Send it on in to [email protected]
What Do You Think?
-
FEEL THE BERN: Sanders Now Leading Clinton In Iowa
In a shock poll out today by Quinnipiac, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders leads former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Iowa.
Sanders leads Clinton by one point- 41% to 40%.
It is the first time that Sanders has been ahead of Clinton in a major polling survey in the Hawkeye state.
“Sen. Bernie Sanders has become the Eugene McCarthy of 2016,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a press release today. “He is the candidate of the Democratic left, against his own party’s bosses and their prized presidential candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton.
9-10-2015 Quinnipiac Poll:
Sanders- 41%
Clinton- 40%
Biden- 12%
O’Malley- 3%
Webb- 1%
Chafee- 0%The new Iowa survey was conducted between August 27 and September 8 and sampled 832 likely Democratic caucusgoers.
From the press release:
“There is a wide gender gap among Democrats today as Sanders leads Clinton 49 – 28 percent among men, with 16 percent for Biden, while Clinton leads Sanders 49 – 35 percent among women, with 9 percent for Biden.”
Cover Photo Credit: Phil Roeder/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
What Do You Think?