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HALL OF
FAME CHEF
Oliver Saucy
www.cafemaxx.com
and www.eastcitygrill.com
The James Beard Awards are the Oscars of the
food-and-beverage industry. So as we add Oliver Saucy to our
Hall of Fame this year, it’s especially fitting that
he has captured his second James Beard nomination as one of
the top five chefs in the Southeast. We’re not surprised.
His and business partner Darrel Broek’s flagship restaurant,
Pompano Beach’s Cafe Maxx, has been recognized as one
of the finest in the country, and they and their staff have
consistently maintained that standard since opening in 1984.
Their new East City Grills in Weston and Birmingham, Ala.,
are hugely successful, and they have further branched out
to launch Darrel and Oliver’s Bistro 17 in Fort Lauderdale’s
Renaissance Hotel and Ollie’s Backyard in Islamorada
at the Holiday Isle Resort and Marina. Saucy is a graduate
of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park,
N.Y., but he actually learned how to cook from his father,
Eric Saucy, a lifelong chef. Oliver Saucy’s business
and cooking skills are matched only by his dedication and
support of organizations such as the national anti-hunger,
anti-poverty organization Share Our Strength. He has been
a primary force in SOS’s annual Taste of the Nation since
its inception 11 years ago, serving as the event’s chef
chair. He also donates his time and talents to literally hundreds
of food and charity events each year. His focus on excellence,
dedication to helping people in need and commitment to the
South Florida community are unmatched. Great chef, great person,
great addition to the Hall of Fame.
::top::
BEST ARTIST
Sas Christian
954/326-3242 or 954/567-1711
www.hotboxdesigns.com
This British-born painter doesn’t mind
being called a lowbrow artist. The movement inspired by cartoons,
pop culture and magazine illustration somewhat covers her
style. “If I say that I do lowbrow, outsider, big-eye
art, it gets across the kitsch element and the feeling behind
it,” she explains. “But I don’t know if it
covers everything.” With shows coming up in Los Angeles,
Denver and Portland, Ore., the Fort Lauderdale resident applies
numerous, superthin layers to achieve a brushless patina on
her paintings of girls with saucerlike eyes. She partners
with artist husband Colin Christian at the innovative business
Hotbox Designs, where they can make almost anything —
including a giant mousetrap — for their clients.
BEST NOVELIST
Christine Kling
www.christinekling.com
Before arriving in South Florida, Kling worked
as a deck hand and boat cook before getting her 100-ton captain’s
license in the Virgin Islands. Between sailing charters, she
pounded away at her manual typewriter. She has since settled
in Fort Lauderdale, taken a job as Broward Schools’ magnet-program
coordinator and released her debut novel, Surface Tension,
which took seven years to write. In this page-turning mystery,
readers follow Seychelle Sullivan, a tugboat captain, onto
the Intracoastal, down the streets of Fort Lauderdale and
deep into the culture of boaties who gather over cocktails
in real-life spots such as the Downtowner Saloon, Bahia Cabana
and Flossie’s Bar and Grill. Kling is currently writing
her second book.
::top::
BEST MUSICIAN
Jack Shawde
www.jackshawde.com
Jack Shawde is a true craftsman. For the past
decade, he has lent his dexterous and soulful stringwork to
the music of Miami singer-songwriter Diane Ward, with whom
he shares a seemingly supernatural musical connection on-stage
and in the studio. Shawde co-produced her latest recording,
2002’s The Great Impossible, and adds texture
and shading to her deeply personal music. On the opening “Wide
Awake,” he picks a reverb-laden 12-string guitar for
a Beatlesque effect. The exuberant “Shooting Rockets”
finds him skinning frets with a lean and gritty slide solo.
His beautifully picked acoustic solely accompanies Ward’s
piano and emotionally naked vocals on the achingly wistful
“Perfect Kiss.” And Shawde adds harmonica to his
acoustic playing behind Ward and harmonizer Brian Franklin
on a stripped-down version of “Baby Look Up.” Besides
adding ambient sounds on a couple of tunes, Shawde also strums,
picks or plucks lap steel, Mando guitar, baritone guitar and
electric EBow guitar, which are just a few of the 60-odd instruments
in his arsenal. You’d never know it to see him on-stage
in jeans and sleeveless T, but Shawde is also a lawyer with
the Miami firm Steel, Hector and Davis.
BEST PARTY DJ
Eddie Handell (a.k.a. Eddie the DJ)
954/758-0705 or 954/755-0705
Eddie Handell is more than just a DJ; he’s
a performance artist. As such, he doesn’t just show up
to a house party in jeans and a T-shirt. He dresses to the
nines. And he doesn’t just play the music of pop, rock
and R&B stars of the past 50 years; he becomes
them. When the party hits a lull and the dance floor begins
to empty, he’ll put on “Can’t Help Falling
in Love” and do a near-perfect impression of the King
— “for the ladies.” But the best thing about
Handell isn’t his classic taste in music, his timing
or even his skill at impressions; it’s the fact that
he’s so convincing, seeming to take himself so seriously,
partygoers will never know if the cheese is an act or if it’s
for real.
::top::
BEST VETERINARIAN
Dr. Christina Orfely Stevens
Emerald Hills Animal Hospital
3399 Sheridan St., Hollywood
954/983-2300
What could be worse than a cat with irritable
bowel syndrome? Surely not much — except taking him to
a vet who repeatedly tries to sell, sell, sell you more products,
tests and even health insurance. Sick of the spiels, Tiger
and his owner sought a new vet and, just by chance, landed
at Emerald Hills with Dr. Stevens. (She works there only three
days a week, so luck must have been on their side.) Specializing
in small animals, she not only has the bedside manner that
makes listening to Tiger’s heartbeat difficult (he won’t
stop purring), she explains his problems thoroughly without
condescending and offers to work with his owner to achieve
the best treatment. When Tiger’s owner hit hard times,
Stevens offered to teach her to administer his injections
at home at a fraction of the cost. And when the owner asked
about ordering less-expensive medicines via the Internet,
Stevens’ brow furrowed: She’d heard disturbing things
about that company’s sources, storage and handling of
products and offered to ask the owner of Emerald Hills to
match the prices — even at a loss — for the sake
of the pet’s safety and health. In practice for 10 years,
Stevens cares so much that she might make an owner feel guilty,
calling to check on her continuing-care patients even when
their owners forget. You might say she’s the Florence
Nightingale of vets.
BEST CHEF — BROWARD
Anthony Sindaco
Sunfish Grill
2271 E. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach
954/788-2434
www.sunfishgrill.com
Some chefs become well-known thanks to their
highly paid publicity people. Other chefs become famous because
they work at it, in the kitchen. Anthony Sindaco clearly belongs
in the latter category. His grandmother taught him how to
cook when he was a mere toddler, and by age 14, he was already
working in restaurants in Pennsylvania. After studying under
master chefs in Switzerland, he returned to the States and
worked for, of all people, Leona Helmsley. In 1989 and 2000,
he cooked at the world-famous James Beard House in New York.
Ready to settle down, he and his wife, Erika, opened Sunfish
Grill in 1998, which has been a huge hit ever since.
::top::
BEST CHEF — PALM BEACH
John Belleme
Zemi
5050 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton
561/391-7177
www.dinezemi.com
We appreciate John Belleme for the same reason
we admire Anthony Sindaco: He works hard at his job. Belleme
worked in several Miami eateries before heading for North
Carolina, where his first chef’s job was at the River
Hills Country Club. After graduating first in his class at
the Culinary Institute of America, Belleme returned to Miami
in 1993 and hooked up with Dennis Max at Maxaluna and worked
on several Max projects. In January 2000, he opened Zemi,
which he describes as “a new-style American restaurant.”
His food incorporates American, Mediterranean and Asian influences
“updated for the ’90s” and is as pretty to
look at as it is to eat. Belleme is never satisfied and works
to make every dish better than the last. That’s not easy,
considering how fine his foods are in the first place.
BEST WAITER
Kevin Kelly
Casa D’Angelo
1201 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale
954/564-1234
www.casa-d-angelo.com
What is a smiling, full-blooded Irishman doing
in the middle of the dining room at Casa D’Angelo —
the ultimate Italian restaurant — at 8 on a slammed Saturday
night? For starters, Kevin Kelly is making sure that every
water glass at each of his stations is iced, every fork and
piece of silverware in place, every bottle of wine decanted,
every wineglass filled and every patron lucky-enough to be
on the receiving end of his over-the-top service wearing a
smile as broad as his own. He’s a consummate professional
working for a restaurant that prides itself on its professionalism.
“People always ask for Kevin,” says Denise Elia,
hostess and wife of owner and chef Angelo Elia. “Make
sure you mention that they always ask for Kevin.” Such
loyalty is an earned accolade. After a career in the hospitality
industry that has included stints as banquet captain at The
Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach and the Turnberry Isle Resort and
Club, and waiter at California Café and Bistro Mezzaluna,
Kelly has spent the past three years dispensing his own style
of service to the customers of Casa D’Angelo. His love
of food and wine and his commitment to making your dining
experience a special occasion are constants in a sea of change.
Whether working a party of 20 in the private dining room or
making sure that the couple in the restaurant for the first
time is fully informed of the magical delights that await
their palates, Kelly uses his style, charm and commitment
to excellence to enhance every evening.
::top::
BEST WAITRESS
Renata Nasca
Jacaranda Pizzeria Restaurant
8283 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation
954/472-4163
Jacaranda Pizzeria isn’t really the place
for an intimate meal — unless you want to get intimate
with your waitress. Renata Nasca, a partner in the business
who also waits tables, not only serves a full menu of Italian
dishes that taste like Mama’s cooking, she offers conversation
that’s as personal — and sometimes as graphic —
as a family dinner. A recent first-time diner got a tale of
how Nasca’s son had accidentally walked in on her in
the shower, a discussion of wrinkle creams and the story behind
her first name: Her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck,
she was thought to be stillborn, but her father didn’t
give up, getting her to take her first breath. (Renata
means reborn in Italian.) Visit this cozy restaurant
once, and the walking-and-talking miracle will give you a
big smile — and an earful. Visit twice, and you just
might get a hug.
BEST SOMMELIER
Virginia Philip
L’Escalier, The Breakers
1 S. County Road, Palm Beach
561/655-6611
www.thebreakers.com
Sommelier? What’s a sommelier? We’ve
just gotten used to being (mostly) rid of those pesky “wine
stewards,” as area restaurants have instead educated
their wait staffs in the matching of food and wine. But sommeliers
are different. Their job includes everything from researching
and developing wine lists to training service staff to dealing
with winemakers and distributors to purchasing and storing
entire inventories — not to mention pleasing as many
people as possible with their insight into the pairings of
food and wine. It sounds complicated, but choosing the best
sommelier was too easy. Virginia Philip is not only the best
in South Florida, but in November, the 35-year-old beat 31
other contestants at the American Sommelier Association’s
biennial competition, held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York,
and was named the best sommelier in America. The month prior
to the competition, Philip was also certified by the association
as one of only 10 women among the 105 master sommeliers worldwide.
Overseeing more than 6,000 bottles of wine at L’Escalier
— the modern-French, AAA five-diamond, Wine Spectator
Grand Award-winning restaurant at The Breakers — Philip
is the person to turn to when any issue has wine in the subject
line.
::top::
BEST RADIO PERSONALITY
Michael the Black Man
WBOS, The Boss (104.1-FM)
The Boss, a pirate station in North Miami
that is becoming harder and harder to tune in because of its
poor signal, plays the most exquisite soul music. But the
main attraction is still the station’s guiding force
and political/spiritual talk show host, Michael the Black
Man. A one-of-a-kind Yahweh Ben Yahweh disciple, he kicks
up one diatribe after another about how women are all Jezebels,
men shouldn’t pay child support, gays are trying to steal
our children and Democrats are devils. His views are so wrong,
and the way he backs them up with Scripture from his version
of the Bible so outrageous, that the entire show becomes a
farce. It’s like a Flip Wilson parody and, to top it
off, he has a barbershop-style Greek chorus that backs up
his every word with a barrage of yes, sirs and oh,
yeahs.
BEST MOUSTACHE
BEST DRIVE-TIME RADIO
PERSONALITIES
Paul Castronovo and Young Ron
Brewer
WZTA (94.9-FM)
www.hecticday.com and
www.949zeta.com
Together for 12 years, the dynamic duo of
South Florida radio is still getting it on. Striking a fine
balance between community volunteer work (such as Taste of
the Nation and their annual Thanksgiving food drive for the
Daily Bread Food Bank), badly sung commercials for sub shops,
sexual innuendo, blatant sexual references and challenges
to the manhood and/or womanhood of their wildly loyal listeners,
Paul and Ron give as good as they get. They push all the right
buttons and are a riot doing so. Paul’s Brooklyn upbringing
and passion for the Florida Gators, and Ron’s cooking
skills and fear of balloon animals aside, their chemistry
is a formula for success.
::top::
BEST REASON TO LEARN SPANISH
Sandra Peebles
WLTV-Channel 23 (Univision)
In the often over-the-top world of Spanish-language
television, Sandra Peebles, an experienced, smart and funny
woman who just happens to be beauty-queen beautiful, is one
reason to learn the language. At least that’s what the
folks at Univision must have been thinking when they lured
Peebles away from WTVJ-Channel 6, where she’d toiled
as a reporter from 1995 to 1999. The former beauty pageant
contestant has already bagged an Emmy nomination and now lights
up the weekend newscasts with a megawatt smile, a wardrobe
to die for and some serious reporting chops. She has even
managed to make news herself: Grace under fire may be a tired
cliché, but in April, when the news truck in which
she was riding caught fire on I-75 just north of Arvida Parkway,
Peebles kept her cool as other media swooped in to report
the story. We’re sure she didn’t even smear her
makeup or break a heel escaping both the fire and the humiliation.
BEST TV NEWS REPORTER,
IN MEMORIAM
Mark Londner
WSVN-Channel 7
In a medium that lost much of its journalistic
credibility ages ago, WSVN’s Mark Londner provided a
reminder to his blow-dried brethren that reporting has more
to do with how you think than how you look. With his wire-rimmed
glasses and curly hair, Londner looked more like a college
professor than someone who would work for a station like Channel
7, which trumpets style at the expense of substance. Except
for a two-year stint in Cleveland, Londner worked at WSVN
since 1973, compiling a résumé that included
interviewing every president since Nixon and covering such
world-shaking events as the O.J. Simpson trial, the arrest
and conviction of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega and
even peace talks in the Middle East. Londner died of cancer
in March just two days before his 56th birthday. While his
loss was felt by those who trusted his reporting, it was felt
most at Channel 7, which will have trouble finding another
one like him.
::top::
BEST TV WEATHER BABE
Jackie Johnson
WSVN-Channel 7
www.wsvn.com
OK, we admit it, when we chose Jackie Johnson
last year, we had no idea how fast her popularity would rise.
First, local radio jocks jumped on the bandwagon, cheerleading
her to victory in a Playboy.com contest for the nation’s
sexiest-weather-girl title. Next thing we know, she has her
own feature, Living It Up, in heavy rotation on WSVN.
To date, she’s been seen on-air doing water aerobics,
playing paintball, hockey and golf, and — in our absolute
favorite segment so far — even rolling around in spandex
with a medicine ball. Rumor has it that one of our staff even
tapes her morning forecasts to send to his poor father, who
has left Florida and headed north to Michigan for the summer.
Johnson is bright, blond and easy on the eyes, and her growing
success proves that beauty and brains can go hand in hand.
Her broadcasts make getting out of bed in the morning worthwhile,
and if we had any part in her meteoric rise, well, an autographed
picture would be thanks enough. Make that two pictures, Jackie
— one for dear old Dad, back in Michigan.
BEST PIEMAKER, IN MEMORIAM
Terry Roth
Bob Roth’s New River Groves
5660 Griffin Road, Davie
954/581-8630
www.florida-oranges.com
Known in recent years as “The Key Lime
Queen,” Terry Roth co-founded New River Groves with her
husband, Bob, in the mid-1960s. She started making pies when
she figured she could do better than what she was being served
in area restaurants. She was right. Roth’s sweet, creamy
and just slightly tart Key lime creation proved to be a revelation
for locals and tourists — Nick Nolte and Bill and Hillary
Clinton reportedly among them — who buy upward of 30,000
pies a year at the roadside stand. Roth died last October
at age 55 after a seven-year battle with lung cancer. But
her recipe continues to be honored by New River customers
and the city of Davie, which just dedicated a picnic pavilion
in her name.
::top::
BEST ARTISTIC MUSE, IN MEMORIAM
Peter Cocuzza
The lifeblood of 9Muses Art Center in Lauderhill
passed away in April at the age of 57. Peter Cocuzza’s
legacy is the enormous impact he had on people and an extraordinary
series of paintings that depict his struggle with mortality
in the face of having AIDS. Cocuzza overcame his shyness to
talk to groups about the paintings. A gentle man with a diplomat’s
ability to read people, he affected all the students he taught
as art director of 9Muses by helping them improve regardless
of their skill level. He was a born teacher who found his
life partner, artistic voice and professional calling late
in life. An exhibition of works by Cocuzza and his students
in tribute to his excellence is currently on view at 9Muses.
BEST REBELS WITH A CAUSE
Broward Anti-War Coalition
www.antiwarbroward.org
They couldn’t stop Operation Iraqi Freedom,
but neither could the United Nations, the Republican Guard
or millions of peace activists around the world. So what the
hell did you expect from a grassroots group founded by a Broward
County librarian? If you expected persistence in the face
of insurmountable odds, you got it. The Paul Lefrak-led coalition
has continued to protest and meet. More impressive still,
they have continued to do so in a part of the country that
isn’t exactly brimming with political activism and at
a time when speaking out against the war is misinterpreted
as being “against the troops.” Maybe they don’t
have the Dixie Chicks’ clout, but unlike the Chicks,
Lefrak and his cohorts stand by their opinions.
::top::
BEST PHILANTHROPIST, IN
MEMORIAM
Dora Bak
Even while facing terminal illness, 88-year-old
Dora Bak continued to support the arts. In October 2002, she
announced that she wanted to give the Middle School of the
Arts in West Palm Beach both her name and $1.5 million, saying,
through her lawyers, that since she had no children, she wanted
to adopt the ones who attend the school. Her gift is reportedly
the largest single contribution ever given to a school in
Palm Beach County. Over the years, Bak, a classical music
lover and daughter of a violinist, gave millions to other
organizations such as the Palm Beach Opera, the Greater Palm
Beach Symphony and the National Wheelchair Sports Fund. Bak
died Dec. 13, 2002, but her charity lives on.
BEST SELFLESS TEEN
Danielle Barnett
After seeing a Broadway play with proceeds
benefiting AIDS research, South Plantation High School student
Danielle Barnett, 18, came up with an idea to help sick children
on her own turf. She conceptualized and organized last November’s
Dance a Dream for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a one-night-only,
sold-out performance by 150 dancers and singers in her high
school’s auditorium. The event, featuring elementary-school
to college-age students from schools statewide, required three
months to finalize. “People got so excited to be a part
of it that everything was donated,” Barnett says. The
event raised more than $3,300 to pay for a 12-year-old Lauderhill
girl’s dying wish for a piano and piano lessons. The
event was so successful that the school plans to repeat it
next year.
::top::
BEST MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
Al Goldstein
The pornographer often accused of exploiting
women helped save one at his waterfront home in Pompano Beach
last December. When a former girlfriend with a history of
depression locked herself in a guest room and threatened to
kill herself, the Screw magazine founder used his powers
of persuasion to keep the woman alive until a Broward Sheriff’s
Office hostage negotiator arrived on the scene. It took BSO
five hours to convince the woman to put down her weapons and
return to the more stable environment of Goldstein’s
living room. During the lengthy talk-down, the corpulent (and
shirtless) Goldstein was evacuated to the street, where he
chatted with cops and waved to curious onlookers with his
walking cane. While credit for preventing the suicide rightly
goes to the BSO negotiator, Goldstein laid the groundwork
for the rescue by first inviting the depressed woman to stay
with him during the holidays. The compassionate porn king
still keeps a giant sculpture of a hand with protruding middle
finger in his back yard, but on this occasion at least, he
showed that the hand that tells you to fuck off is also the
hand that takes the gun from you when you’re trying to
kill yourself.
BEST DOOR-TO-DOOR SALESMAN
Robert K. Schink
Fuller Brush Company
954/581-5224
When your doorbell rings anytime during business
hours, it’s usually a UPS delivery, a Christian missionary
offering salvation or a kid selling candy bars so he can win
a trip to the nation’s capital. That is, unless your
neighborhood happens to have Robert Schink walking door to
door. “Fuller Brush Man” is how the 82-year-old
Schink introduces himself from under a broad-brimmed straw
hat. Carrying a small case of samples and that month’s
special sale item, the tireless Schink has greeted South Floridians
the same way for more than 40 years. If you give him a minute
— that’s all he asks, and he’d prefer talking
to the lady of the house — he’ll try to sell you
a Fuller brochure for 27 cents, tax included. If you give
him two, he’ll show you the sale item. Recently, it was
a sleek-handled black broom priced at just $15.99 — $3
less than the regular price. Three minutes will get you an
introduction to the Fuller line of brushes, mops, dusters,
degreasers, waxes, sprays and sponges that can be ordered
from that brochure Schink charmed you into buying.
::top::
BEST POLITICIAN
Bob Butterworth
www.stu.edu/lawschool
Bob Butterworth’s 16-year track record
as Florida’s attorney general should have been enough
to win him a variety of higher offices from governor to senator.
Until last year, he’d never lost an election in a distinguished
career that spanned three decades of public service. And as
the state’s top prosecutor, he championed consumers and
civil rights while taking on the tobacco industry. But in
last year’s statewide Democratic collapse, the outspent
Butterworth was defeated for a state Senate seat by an obscure
state representative after term limits forced Butterworth
out of his AG post. In April, Butterworth was appointed dean
of the St. Thomas University Law School. But we deserve more
from him: Why didn’t he seek Democratic nominations for
governor in 1998 or U.S. senator in 2000? If presidential
aspirant Bob Graham’s Senate seat becomes available,
let’s hope Butterworth doesn’t hesitate again.
BEST PLACE TO CELEBRITY-WATCH
CityPlace
700 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach
www.cityplace.com
Perhaps quick access and proximity to both
The Breakers resort and Palm Beach International Airport are
the reasons, but CityPlace’s restaurants and shops have
become a magnet for the rich and famous. And it’s not
just the usual suspects like Jimmy Buffett and Rod Stewart.
Russell Crowe stopped by in a mad rush to buy Ferrari jackets
at the exotic-auto shop Exoticar Model Gallery. Regis Philbin
caught In the Bedroom at the Muvico Parisian 20, and
Chris Tucker and Serena Williams have been seen strolling
arm in arm through the complex. The oddest sighting happened
in April, when Michael Jackson arrived alone in a hotel shuttle
bus wearing a feathered, bright-orange mask. Ducking into
Brookstone, he bought a precision tool set and an “Enlightenment
Pen.”
::top::
BEST ATHLETE
Ricky Williams
Miami Dolphins
www.miamidolphins.com
The Miami Dolphins may have disappointed their
fans once again last season, but it was no fault of running
back Ricky Williams, who balled like a man possessed, rushing
for a league-best 1,853 yards, catching 47 passes, scoring
17 touchdowns and being named MVP of the Pro Bowl in February.
All this followed a shaky intro to South Florida that had
found the somewhat-misanthropic Williams — early in his
career, he wore a helmet with a tinted face shield during
interviews — getting harassed by police and regretting
having moved to Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami, where police
are busy following a more notorious running back.
BEST GROUP TO FIGHT CITY
HALL
Original Save Our Beach
Deerfield Beach
A group of locals determined to keep their
chunk of old-school Florida from morphing into another faceless
beach, OSOB has managed to keep a pretty tight leash on elected
officials. The political action committee’s greatest
success came last November, when voters approved two OSOB-backed
referendums designed to restrict development on or near the
beach by changing Deerfield Beach’s city charter. One
project affected by the vote was an $11.5 million parking
garage, which, according to the new charter, would have to
be cut from four stories to two. That project — and the
city, to some extent — remain in limbo while the charter
amendments are challenged in court. Whether the changes stand
or not, the group has established itself as a force to be
reckoned with, if not a major pain in the ass.
::top::
BEST PERSON TO FALL FROM
GRACE
Miriam M. Oliphant
Broward County Supervisor of Elections
www.browardsoe.org
Last June, we hailed the Broward County Elections
Supervisor as Best Politician. Sorry about that. Since then,
Miriam Oliphant’s job-approval ratings have plummeted
to the lowest levels of any American politician in decades,
including Richard Nixon and Gary Condit. Why? It’s not
only that she botched the September 2002 primary after rebuffing
outside offers of help, leading to chaos, polls that opened
late or closed too early, malfunctioning machines and hundreds
of uncounted absentee ballots. And it’s not just the
state criminal investigation and county audit that have targeted
her and her office for alleged mismanagement, cronyism, budget-busting
waste and contract and ethical violations. And it’s not
that county and city officials had to step in to salvage the
subsequent general and municipal elections. Mostly, it’s
that she’s handled it all with an infuriating combination
of ineptness, arrogance and a virtually steadfast refusal
to accept responsibility for what went wrong. In April, she
announced that she’s running for re-election. “Nobody
knows more about elections than me,” she said, true to
form. “I learned the hard way, but I learned.”
BEST BUREAUCRAT
Joe Cotter
When they need an election mess fixed, Joe
Cotter is the man Broward County and its municipalities looked
to for help. Cotter was a veteran elections administrator
and longtime chief aide to Miriam Oliphant’s predecessor,
Jane Carroll. After Oliphant took over, he was shoved out
along with other senior staffers, in part so she could hire
inexperienced cronies at inflated salaries. After the September
2002 primary debacle, county officials pressured her to hire
him back to assume day-to-day control of the office, ensuring
a smooth general election on Nov. 5. But Cotter’s contract
guaranteed that Oliphant wouldn’t interfere with his
work, and he quit in December after she fired the office’s
chief spokesman, Bob Cantrell, apparently for speaking to
prosecutors investigating her office. Although his contract
also guaranteed Cotter would get a full year’s severance
pay if she interfered with him, Oliphant has refused to pay
it. But Cotter hasn’t stopped protecting democracy: In
February, he helped a Cooper City condo association run its
election.
::top::
BEST CITIZEN ENVIRONMENTAL
ACTIVIST
Roy Gold
It’s hard not to be amazed by the scope
and depth of Roy Gold’s dedication to the natural world.
He serves on 21 local community boards and committees. He
has coordinated Coral Spring’s Adopt-a-Mile program since
1990. He oversees more than 225 volunteers as the Coral Springs
site leader for Broward Waterway Cleanup. Presently vice chairman
of Broward Beautiful, the county affiliate of Keep America
Beautiful, Gold has chaired the Broward Beautiful Community
Grant program since 1996, overseeing the distribution of more
than $1 million to nearly 200 nonprofit organizations, including
$13,000 to landscape Habitat for Humanity homes in Broward.
He has pioneered the effort to increase the tree canopy in
Coral Springs from 17 to 30 percent as part of the Cities
Comprehensive Plan. He was the guiding force behind the Environmentally
Sensitive bond issue in the mid-1990s that, combined with
state and county funds, allocated $10.1 million to purchase
and protect from development more than 60 acres and 4,000
trees. And speaking of trees, did we mention that he is a
licensed tree trimmer, certificate No. 10994? Gold is one
of those rare people who brings a global vision to local issues
and problems. Since 1990, when he won the President’s
Environmental Youth Award from the Environmental Protection
Agency, Gold has worked to make a difference in South Florida.
And we are reminded of that fact every time we seek relief
from the blazing sun under one of the more than 1,800 trees
that were planted as part of the Neighborhood Tree Planting
Program he championed.
BEST BARTENDER
Cat
The Poor House
110 S.W. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale
954/522-5145
If you visit The Poor House in downtown Fort
Lauderdale seeking a libation, you may be lucky enough to
be served by the lovely and talented Cat. A veteran of the
local bartending circuit, she first began building a following
of loyal customers nine years ago at Southport Raw Bar, where
she’s still a waitress. She’s also called The Poor
House home for five years. Cat will always remember a customer
— and more important, his favorite drink.
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BEST ENVIRONMENTAL-ACTIVIST
GROUP
Committee To Protect Cypress Creek
When it becomes God vs. the environment and
the environment wins, credit must be paid. When the Rev. Leo
Armbrust, the charismatic priest best known as the Miami Dolphins’
chaplain, decided he was going to bring his longtime dream
of an elite golf club that doubles as a rehab center for at-risk
teens — don’t ask — to fruition on 400 fragile
acres north of Jupiter, local residents and environmentalists
rallied. Calling themselves the Committee to Protect Cypress
Creek, the activists brought public attention to the fact
that this land is vital to the health of the Loxahatchee River
and is a wildlife link to Lake Okeechobee. Present in large
numbers at every Jupiter City Commission and zoning meeting,
the group made it impossible for Armbrust to proceed and turned
his project into a PR nightmare. He has since put the entire
plan for his Renaissance Village on hold.
BEST ENVIRONMENTAL IMPOSTOR
President George W. Bush
Outside Florida, the president has a well-earned
reputation as one of the worst environmental presidents ever.
He has refused to sign the Kyoto global-warming treaty, has
worked to gut clean-air and -water laws and is seeking to
ravage national forests for business use. “He’s
willing to open virtually every area in the country to oil-drilling
— except Florida,” notes Frank Jackalone, the Florida
Sierra Club’s staff director. But to help his brother
Jeb politically, President Bush stopped offshore oil-drilling
within 100 miles of Florida’s coastline and spent $235
million to buy back offshore oil and gas leases near the state.
But despite a photo op last year in the Everglades and support
for an $8 billion federal Everglades restoration plan, the
president’s — and the governor’s — environmental
image in Florida is collapsing. That’s because little
brother Jeb has supported a Big Sugar-backed bill in the Florida
Legislature that delays the Everglades cleanup and risks scuttling
the federal restoration plan. Maybe voters in Florida can
see through President Bush’s act after all.
::top::
BEST SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER
— RATED PG
Michael Joseph
www.michaeljoseph.com
It appeared to be destiny when Fort Lauderdale
fine-art photographer Michael Joseph took a picture of the
World Trade Center’s twin towers, the cross of a nearby
church rising between them, months before they were destroyed.
The shot was poignant and the weight of the sentiment heartfelt.
But after City Link ran a cover story on Joseph’s
goodwill of presenting poster prints to every firehouse in
New York and campaigning to have the image put on a U.S. postage
stamp, the self-promotion became overwhelming. No matter how
altruistic his original intentions may have been, when he
rented a van and headed cross-country on an odyssey both to
create a memorial banner and to petition for the national
stamp, it became the traveling Michael Joseph show in the
wake of a national tragedy. Upon his return he said, “That’s
it; I’ve got to stop.” But not before trying to
organize a public homecoming, pitching a documentary on his
travels and sending 20,000 signatures to the Postmaster General.
BEST SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER
— RATED R
Laurence Gartel
Boca Raton digital photographer Laurence Gartel
is the self-proclaimed “Britney Spears of art,”
a title he gave himself during a spat with a gallery owner
over his sexually charged fetish imagery. The thing is, the
guy is a master of the medium, a pioneer in the field and
a big-timer recognized in important circles outside Florida
and the United States. But his tireless efforts to get publicity
(which get results) wear thin at a time when he should relax
and let the work speak for itself.
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BEST NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST
Jim DeFede
The Miami Herald
www.miami.com
The Miami Herald’s lead metro
columnist has spared no one in a position of authority —
dead or alive and including his own bosses — since moving
to the paper from Miami New Times last year. Writing
in direct, unimpeachable terms, DeFede has followed the journalistic
axiom of afflicting the comforted in describing the hypocrisies
of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas; ex-County Manager Steve
Shriver; the corporate chiefs at the Herald’s
parent company, Knight-Ridder; and even the late entrepreneurs
Leonard Miller and George Batchelor. The day after the Columbia
space shuttle explosion, DeFede spoke for rank-and-file workers
everywhere when he chided Knight-Ridder executives for giving
themselves huge bonuses while slashing benefits for Herald
staffers who’d just cut short their weekend to cover
the story. The coup for DeFede, however, was the column about
Miller and Batchelor, two Miami multimillionaires who died
just days apart. While the official Herald obit lauded
the two for their successes, DeFede dug out the skeletons
in each man’s past. He noted that Miller built those
crappy homes that were wiped out by Hurricane Andrew while
at Lennar, and also cited aviation pioneer Batchelor for threatening
to cut Latino workers’ vacation time if they didn’t
stop speaking Spanish on the job. As for Penelas, the county
mayor should hope DeFede is no longer at the Herald
when it comes time for his obit.
BEST TABLOID SUBJECT
Baby Eve
The real miracle in the alleged birth of a
cloned baby named Eve, claimed by the Raelian UFO cult last
December at a news conference in Hollywood, was that the media
gave the obvious hoax any serious attention at all. The kind
of made-up story that normally graces the cover of the Weekly
World News became the focus of worldwide attention, though
no proof of any claim, including two more births, was offered.
Clonaid CEO Brigitte Boisselier managed to stall the worldwide
media for weeks with her assertions that independent DNA tests
would be forthcoming, but she ultimately balked, saying the
parents wanted to protect the child’s privacy. A private
legal effort in Broward County to appoint a guardian was ultimately
thrown out when Boisselier said the baby was actually in Israel.
But Clonaid is still in business, offering to produce a human
clone for anyone who wants one at prices as high as $200,000.
Suckers, if not clones, are born every minute.
::top::
BEST REASON FRANK BROGAN
SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NAMED PRESIDENT OF FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Stanley Fish
One of three finalists for FAU’s top
spot, Fish dropped out of the race prematurely after he reportedly
decided his work was not yet done at the University of Illinois
in Chicago, where he is the dean of the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences. He made a point of saying the FAU search
committee treated him fairly throughout the process, but a
man with his amazing intellect surely knew that as soon as
Brogan entered the race, Fish had been filleted — and
unjustly so. He should have received top priority for his
name alone. His Ph.D. from Yale and stints at the University
of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and Duke were icing
on the cake. Not to mention the fact that he is a teaching
icon, the foremost authority on John Milton and a canonized
contemporary thinker who makes one’s head hurt with statements
such as, “Insofar as critical self-consciousness is a
possible human achievement, it requires no special ability
and cannot be cultivated as an independent value apart from
particular situations.” But give FAU credit for one thing
— they made a simpler choice.
::top::
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