This past Tuesday, May 21, 2019 the Brevard County Commission held a regular meeting. You can find the agenda and the video here.
This was the first meeting after the arrest of David Isnardi, the husband of Commissioner and Chair Kristine Isnardi. It may have been kismet, but she was out of town attending the graduation of her son from a military school in Virginia. That left the meeting to be chaired by Commissioner Bryan Lober.
Lober represented David Isnardi for bond hearings in what many people consider to be the appearance of impropriety.
We suspected the topic of the appearance of impropriety and the alleged corruption in Palm Bay would come up during public comments, and it did. What we did not expect was the level of animosity coming from the audience and from Commissioner Lober.
With most of the focus in Palm Bay and Brevard County has been on David Isnardi and his legal issues, the same amount of scrutiny and light has not been applied to the person arrested the same day in the same case with Isnardi, Jose Aguiar.
After initially being denied bond, Aguiar and his attorneys filed a motion to allow Aguiar to be bonded out. The Florida Today wrote about the filings in an May 20 article.
However there was a little nugget at the end of the article that caught the eye of many:
This is not Aguiar’s first brush with the law. In 1997 in Massachusetts, he was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine and was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison.
It was 2012 and Brevard was in the midst of what people have said was the most acrimonious election seasons on memory. There was an all out war for the Clerk of the Courts office. The Property Appraiser’s race was full of salacious accusations and counter accusations.
Several of our staff were interviewing candidates for a local radio show. We made a pact not to do any “gotcha” moments or anything like that. We weren’t looking for “ambush journalism” rather than asking questions that would allow candidates to make their points and highlight where they agreed with their opponents and where they disagreed. We wanted to let people see the differences in the candidates and their positions.
There were some races and discussions that afterwards, we wanted to take a shower and hopefully wipe away the mud and the stench that had been slung. There were races that after the interviews, we looked at each other and said “are these the best candidates we have?” It was that bad.
But then there was the race for Brevard County Sheriff to replace the then retiring Jack Parker. (more…)
People on the barrier islands south of the Pineda Causeway should be aware that starting today, May 20, 2019, Brevard County will be conducting “sanitary gravity sewer assessment” via a contract with RedZone Robotics.
Comedian Tim Conway passed away the other day. He was 85.
Conway was known for his role on “McHale’s Navy” where he played the role of bumbling Ensign Parker. He was also known for his outlandish series of tapes called ““Dorf OnGolf”.”
In a strange sort of way, he was also known for never starring in a successful series as the lead actor. Last time we looked, he attempted his own show eight times without success.
However, most people will remember him for his appearances on the “Carol Burnett Show” where he worked as both a writer and a performer.
Conway would take great delight in writing and rehearsing scenes in one way, and then the day of filming in front of a live audience, would change his lines or actions to things that would make the rest of the cast crack up. It was one of the joys of watching the Carol Burnett Show and watching the other actors try not to laugh and break character.
Perhaps the greatest example of this is the “Elephant Story” which took over a skit and just had the cast members struggling in vain to stay in character. (That set of characters would later be spun off to the sit-com “Mama’s Family,” staring Carol Burnett alum Vickie Lawrence.)
The following two images are making the rounds. They are of the Mayor and City Council of Palm Bay meeting before Thursday night’s City Council meeting out of microphone range:
