The top stories last week

Ian S. Seitel, attorney, Ian Seitel P. A.

Republicans will try to assuage their loss in the Alabama Senate race by convincing themselves that it can be chalked up solely to a candidate accused of preying on teenagers. While there is validity to that, one can’t dismiss the fact that the party lost the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, that the Republican tax bill is largely unpopular with the working class, that health care remains without a fix, and more significantly, that their party is led by a president with a historically low approval rating who continues to do all he can to please no one but his base.

Earl Maucker, commissioner, Lighthouse Point; former editor, Sun Sentinel

The Broward County State’s Attorney’s Office this week filed charges against some members of the Broward Hospital District Board, but what’s next? While indictments charging violations of the state’s open meetings law were issued, many are wondering when some of the other shenanigans at Broward Health will be disclosed. Taxpayers deserve explanations on such things as no-bid contracts, cozy relationships with lobbyists, allegations of kickbacks and other corruption. The annual report from the Broward Inspector General sadly didn’t have a word on the matter. Hopefully state and federal grand juries investigating will shed more light.

Sandra Bernard-Bastien, chief communications officer, Children’s Services Council of Broward County

Feminism was named as the 2017 word of the year by the American dictionary Merriam-Webster. The publication said there had been a 70 percent increase in online searches for the word during the year. No surprise there, when the Women’s March, women’s rights and accusations of sexual impropriety made headlines. Words do mean something and in the case of feminism, it encapsulates so much of our society today. The runners up — complicit, recuse and dotard all have their accompanying stories. The former English teacher in me is so happy that people are looking up words with which they are unfamiliar.

Walter G. “Skip” Campbell Jr., mayor, Coral Springs; former member, Florida Senate

What should be done when a large corporation creates a very dangerous situation to our environment? Do we hold them accountable? Not if you are Florida Power & Light. In fact what they did is to go to the Public Service Commission and ask that their customers pay for their negligence. The Public Service Commission, which used to be an elected position, does what FPL wants and orders that we all pay for FPL’s mistakes. This is just not correct. It demands that we have a Public Service Commission that answers to us and is elected by us.

Tim Ryan, member, Broward County Commission

Action by Broward County commissioners could save millions in taxpayer money before the end of the year. One of the little known potential impacts of proposed changes to federal tax laws is that it could cost local governments more to borrow money. Some of the changes would prevent local governments from refinancing bonds early to get better interest rates, and could go into effect by Dec. 31. So county commissioners voted to allow more than $200 million in bonds issued to pay for the new courthouse to be refinanced before the deadline — potentially saving taxpayers millions in the process.

Kathleen Cannon, president, United Way of Broward County

United Way has rarely ever taken a position on major bills, but tax reform is different. This past week leaders publicly announced their opposition of the tax reform bill H.R. 1. United Way has stated that the tax plan wouldn’t provide much or any benefits to lower income families and could ultimately hurt nonprofits. A large part of this is due to the elimination of the charitable deduction for the middle and upper-middle income taxpayers, this could potentially eliminate United Way’s ability to help communities across the country. United Way wants tax reform, but not at charities’ expense.

Pastor D.H. Dawkins Sr., Praise Tabernacle International

The love of money is the root of all evil. I believe that half of the billions of dollars spent over the course of this year to build sports, entertainment and commercial complexes could have gone toward helping to get some people out of debt (namely student loans and medical expenses), restoring communities (homes) damaged by natural disasters and a litany of other things. At what point will America’s leadership understand that taking care of your citizens can relieve many of the woes of this nation?

James Donnelly, CEO, Castle Group; chairman, Broward Workshop

Broward County hosted the 9th Annual Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit at the Broward Convention Center this week. The annual summit brings together leaders of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and the focus this year was “The Business of Resilience.” I moderated a panel of real estate, law, insurance, and business experts to discuss what role business plays in adapting to climate change. My take away — the seas are rising, markets have not priced climate risk yet, regulation and funding remediation are huge problems, and we have some really smart people working on the problem. Stay tuned!