Tag: Representative

You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up.

This guy is completely whackadoo.

Personally, I get very triggered when I find myself in a position to witness people in roles of authority, who are supposed to have our best interests at heart, who are instead acting completely and utterly unhinged. Because of that, if I had been a student in this Wellsville, Kansas high school on the particular day I’m about to describe, I’d have freaked out. I mean, really, really freaked out.

On April 28 of this year, according to an article entitled, “Kanses Rep. Mark Samsel arrested for battery after physical altercation with student”, these poor kids drew the figurative short straw and wound up with Samsel as their substitute teacher. I’m sure most of them wish they had skipped school that day. Especially the boy who was kneed in the groin.

I’m not sure what subject Representative Samsel was supposed to be teaching, but I’m fairly certain he went completely off the reservation by talking about God, masturbation, and procreation. He also claimed that a foster child tried to commit suicide 3 times because he had lesbian parents. He encourages the kids to make babies because it feels good. He makes two students go outside, hold hands, and run around the track to teach them some sort of a lesson.

He gets really physical. He grabs one child from behind and lifts him off the ground, all while babbling about the devil. He followed another boy around the room, grabbed him, and put his arms around him. He tells the kid that God has been speaking to him (Samsel), and then he pushes the child. The kid runs to the other side of the room. Samsel gives the other kids permission to knee that kid in the crotch, but apparently he decides that that task is best done by teacher. This of course caused the kid to hit the floor.

In the aftermath of that outrage, he asks the kid if it hurt. Duh. He offers to let him go to the nurse. He suggests that another student check his nuts for him.

Now Samsel is claiming that this was all planned, and that most of the students were in on it. He said he wanted to send a message to parents about mental health, suicide, and how we treat teachers. He says this exercise gave one student hope.

Samsel is also very involved in youth sports and activities through his church and school, and he’s an attorney as well as being a member of Kansas congress. Why does he need to supplement his income by abusing children as a substitute teacher? I don’t get it.

Clearly the man is mentally ill. He should not be allowed to be in contact with minors under any circumstance. And he definitely should not be representing Kansans, or anyone else, in any official capacity. The Republican party really needs to clean house.

This nut job was arrested the next day for misdemeanor battery, booked into the detention center, and then released on $1,000 bond. I bet that will be an interesting trial. I’ll bring the popcorn, you bring the raisinets.

Suffice it to say he is no longer allowed to be a substitute teacher in the Wellsville School District. Pardon my technical jargon, but Samsel is completely whackadoo. I suspect we haven’t heard the last of him. The man should come with a warning label and be surrounded by orange cones everywhere he goes.

The nut job in question. If you see him, run away.

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A Letter to Congress

Feel free to send this to your congressmen as well.

In light of recent events, I felt the need to reach out to my congressmen. In my case, these are Representative Adam Smith, Senator Patty Murray, and Senator Maria Cantwell. If you agree with my statement below, feel free to send it to your congressmen as well, either by letter or by e-mailing them a link to this post, as long as you give me original credit for the idea.

“First of all, thank you and all your colleagues for being public servants in these trying times. Your service should never put your life at risk. The insurrection in our nation’s capitol was unconscionable and should never be repeated.

“In light of that, I humbly request that the first paragraph of the preamble of the Democratic Platform should be changed. This paragraph should reflect a moral compass that all rational human beings can agree upon. This or a similar paragraph should always be included in every party’s platform.

“My suggestion is as follows:

“’As Democrats, we believe in the rule of law and the constitution. We believe that violence and terrorism are unacceptable, and that our democratic process should be inviolate. Anyone who disagrees with any of these tenets does not, and never will, speak for the Democratic Party.’

“I hope you’ll consider putting forward this suggestion, and as a fellow Democrat, I would encourage you to suggest that this should be made the first paragraph of the Republican platform, and indeed, any other party’s platform, as well. (If every party made this change at the same time, it would show unity and strength, and no one would have to feel that he or she is copying a political opponent.) It is high time we disavow the lunatic fringe. They do not deserve our endorsement in any way, shape or form.

“Thank you for your consideration, and, again, thank you for your service.”

Sincerely,

Barbara Abelhauser

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Andy Johnson, or Unethical Politicians are Nothing New

Not a day goes by when there isn’t some outrageous story about a corrupt politician. I’m relieved that most of us are still shocked by this, but I can feel the cynicism growing all around me like kudzu on an abandoned Southern house. I rue the day when we all become so used to it that it doesn’t even raise any eyebrows. That’s what they’re working toward. That’s what they’re hoping for. That’s why we can never allow ourselves to look away.

I have personal experience with this outrageous lack of ethics. For me the poster child for a slimy politician is this man: Andy Johnson of Jacksonville, Florida.

andy-johnson

Most of you won’t have heard of him. He’s rapidly sinking into obscurity. In the 80’s, though, he was a member of the Florida legislature. (If you want to see his smug face back in those days, go here.) It tells you much about his effectiveness as a politician that he was eventually defeated by Corrine Brown, an even bigger embarrassment to the Democratic Party.

I had the misfortune of crossing paths with this distasteful man long after his political career had taken its nosedive. For many years he was the host of a progressive talk show in Jacksonville Florida, and my boyfriend at the time worked for him, often without pay. (Had I known that at the time, I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to do business with the man, but I could only work with the information I was given.)

I’ve written time and time again about how this man stole $3,500.00 from me and refuses to pay it back. That’s why he has his very own category on my blog. Suffice it to say, I took him to court and won. I also have a lien on his house, for all the good it will do me. (If you’re interested, it’s Duval County, Florida, case number 16-2010-SC-000516.) The interest that has accrued would make this lien worth buying from me, if you are so inclined. That’s probably the only way I’ll ever see that money again, because I’m not cut out to be a debt collector.

I’ll never stop telling the truth about what Andy Johnson has done. I have the truth on my side, at least. He’ll never have that. You wear the chains you forge in life, Andy.

I guess my point is that the political corruption we are seeing today is nothing new. The difference is, those of us who have been wronged have a lot more forums in which to speak out about these offenses. The cockroaches no longer have the luxury of the dark. That, at least, is a step in the right direction. I hope someday these roaches will be squashed by justice.

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Liberals Aren’t Exactly Squeaky Clean, Either

Man, oh man, but it kills me to write that! I wish I still thought politics was a battle of good versus evil rather than a “better the devil you know” scenario. Life would be so much simpler without my current cynicism. I’d like to think there were good guys to root for. But no. It seems that politicos are all rotten to the core, with very few exceptions. And that says something really scary about us in general, since we choose to have these people represent us.

The first news item I saw on the day I wrote this was this one about Corrine Brown. Until very recently, she was a representative from the State of Florida, a Democrat who served 12 terms in office, mainly because her district was so ridiculously gerrymandered that no one could ever vote her out. I always felt she was an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. I once saw her make a college commencement speech and she couldn’t string a grammatically correct sentence together if her life depended on it. I also saw her attend a State of the Union address wearing a banana yellow suit and one of her signature polyester low-rent wigs. She nearly knocked people over to shake Clinton’s hand.

This woman was constantly being accused of dirty dealings, but she always seemed to wriggle out of things until now. This time she has been found guilty of 18 counts of tax evasion and wire and mail fraud. They say of the $800,000 raised by her One Door for Education Foundation, all but $1,200 found its way into her bank account. Can you imagine how many scholarships that could have provided to underprivileged children? Who steals from children? What’s next? Dropkicking puppies into the St. Johns River? Sheesh.

Oh, but she’s not the only dishonest one. I’ve written multiple times about Andy Johnson, former member of the Florida House of Representatives. This man stole $3,500 from me, and I have the winning lawsuit and the lien on his house to prove it. I’ll never see that money unless he sells his house because heaven knows he’ll never do the right thing and pay up. The interest I’d earn by now is astronomical, but I can comfort myself with the fact that I will not be silenced and I at least have the pleasure of ruining his credit rating with the truth.

The irony about this is that if you look at his Facebook page right now, he’s shouting “I oppose crooks, D or R. Now I say; told you so! Corrine guilty!” Oh yeah, Andy? Then WHERE’S MY MONEY????

Another cold comfort: it doesn’t look like Andy has got a progressive radio talk show anymore. That, or he really sucks at self-promotion. The thought of him being the progressive voice of Jacksonville, knowing what I know about him, made me sick. So at least there’s a tiny bit of justice in this world.

So, yeah, I may be liberal, but I’m mainly disgusted. Sometimes I wish I believed that hell existed. But hell, in truth, is politicians. D or R.

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My Daily Homework

Okay, I’ve had it. I’ve decided that I have to do more. I have to speak up and speak out, because this country is circling the drain. So I’ve assigned myself some daily homework.

First, I Googled my US Representative and my two Senators for my particular zip code. I wrote down their names and phone numbers.

Then I wrote myself a general script, based on things that have been floating around on Facebook:

“Hi, my name is ___________ I’m a constituent from  (city, state, zip code). I don’t need a response. I am (in favor of) (opposed to) __________ and I encourage the (Senator) (Representative) to please (oppose) (support) it as well. Thanks for your hard work!”

I’ll pick one issue a day and call them. Short, sweet, to the point. That frees up their phone line for the next person. And saying I don’t need a response frees up their time.

I’ll keep a list of issues and the dates I called about them, so I don’t repeat myself. Unless I really feel I need to.

I happen to be in a location where I’ll most likely be preaching to the choir. My congresswomen pretty much agree with me. But they are forced to swim in a very toxic soup, so it doesn’t hurt to remind them about what we really think.

One thing I was always good at was being a student. (It’s the rest of life that seems to be a challenge.) So I’ll be doing my homework faithfully. And so far, it has only taken about two minutes each day, because I’ve been getting right through. Care to join me?

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Andy Johnson: A Boil on the Butt of Jacksonville’s Progressive Community

One of the reasons I’m thrilled to be out of Jacksonville, Florida is that it’s an extremely conservative community. I often felt like a lone voice shouting in the wilderness when I lived there. Unfortunately, the most strident progressive voice in that town belongs to Andy Johnson, the moral equivalent of a scum-sucking catfish.

Strong words, I know, but I come by them honestly. This man tricked me out of $3,500.00 and I have the winning lawsuit and the subsequent lien on his house to prove it. Here’s a man who puts himself out there as the voice of liberal morality, and yet he blatantly disregards a court order to pay me back the money he took, and cares not one whit for the financial hardship this has caused me. That tells you all you need to know about the content of his character.

The thought that he used to be in the Florida House of Representatives leaves me slightly queasy. Our politics may be similar, but this man does not represent me. I’d be embarrassed to say he did. It’s enough to make me want to vote republican. Almost.

You can read the full and sordid details about Andy Johnson’s underhanded dealings here. Or you can get an abridged version of events here. You can get details on how he blatantly lied about the situation to a reporter and my documented evidence of it here. If you’d like to confront him about this situation, read my suggestion about that here. And if you’d like to buy my judgment at a discount and make a nice profit from collecting the money, read about my offer here. If you would like to talk about other nefarious deeds of his, do so here. If you’d like to read more about how my lien is ruining Andy’s credit, do so here. And for a log of all my articles about Andy, go here.

Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson in all his infamy.

Andy Johnson is a Heel, but I’m NOT Achilles

The downward spiral that has been my life for the past 5 years really started when Andy Johnson, former member of the Florida House of Representatives, stole $3,500.00 from me, and despite the fact that I won the court case and have a lien on his house, he refuses to pay me back.

Looking back, I can see that I let that situation get the better of me. As my circumstances became more desperate, I started making more and more foolhardy choices, and things began to snowball until I found myself in a deep crevasse of desperation, not quite knowing what to do with myself.

Why on earth would I give this man so much power? In retrospect it disgusts me. He has swindler written all over him. The fact that someone can’t even make it as a politician, which is already one of the lowest forms of life, says a great deal about his character.

The fact that I let his betrayal and thievery send me into the profound tailspin that it did says a great deal about mine. I am too trusting. I need to be more self-protective.

Most of all, I need to get some perspective. This man is pathetic. Yes, I am connected to him for as long as this lien can continue to destroy his credit. There’s no getting around that, because he’ll never pay up voluntarily. But other than occasionally spreading the word about who he really is, I shouldn’t pay him any further attention.

I’m starting to take back my life. He, on the other hand, will continue to sell his soul because he refuses to do the right thing. That makes me pity him.

No photo of Andy Johnson is connected to this blog entry. Frankly, I’m sick of looking at the man.

You can read the full and sordid details about Andy Johnson’s underhanded dealings here. Or you can get an abridged version of events here. You can get details on how he blatantly lied about the situation to a reporter and my documented evidence of it here. If you’d like to confront him about this situation, read my suggestion about that here. And if you’d like to buy my judgment at a discount and make a nice profit from collecting the money, read about my offer here. If you would like to talk about other nefarious deeds of his, do so here.

 

Andy Johnson Scumbag Central

As anyone who has been following my blog knows, Andy Johnson, former member of the Florida House of Representatives, stole $3,500.00 from me, and despite the fact that I won the court case and have a lien on his house, he refuses to pay me back. You can read the full and sordid details about his underhanded dealings here. Or you can get an abridged version of events here. You can get details on how he blatantly lied about the situation to a reporter and my documented evidence of it here. If you’d like to confront him about this situation, read my suggestion about that here. And if you’d like to buy my judgment at a discount and make a nice profit from collecting the money, read about my offer here.

So, what more is there to say? Well, quite a bit, actually. It occurred to me the other day, while discussing the situation with a friend (because I take every opportunity to spread the word), that someone who would do something so underhanded couldn’t possibly be working in a vacuum. This level of scumbaggery, in my opinion, is rarely an isolated event. And in fact, a few people have contacted me privately and intimated that he has done things to them as well. I will respect their privacy and not share the details here, but I am going to open wide a window of opportunity and offer to use this highly public and completely free forum to share your Andy Johnson stories, because cockroaches hate the light.

As much as it pains me, my Andy Johnson entries are often my most viewed entries on a daily basis, so rest assured your account will get a wide readership. It kind of feels like the most vitriolic parts of my blog are the parts that garner the most attention. I long to cut them out like a cancer, but feel the need to share the truth until I see my money, and since it seems like that will never happen, I guess I will have to rip the scab off my scar tissue every few months and continue to sally forth.

Having said that, I may as well go all out and become a central clearinghouse for all things underhanded with respect to this man, so if you have any TRUE stories about Andy Johnson’s nefarious deeds, please contact me. You can add short stories in the comment section below, or, if your story is as long and complicated as mine is, we can dedicate an entire blog entry to the subject if you would like. I only ask that all your information be factual or your personal opinion about those facts, because I want to maintain this blog’s credibility. And with all things Andy Johnson, the truth seems to be much stranger than fiction, so who needs to falsify?

I will state quite emphatically that all views and opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the originator of The View from a Drawbridge and/or any/all other contributors to this site.

So come and get him people! The truth shall set everyone free except, perhaps,  Andy Johnson himself!

Andy Johnson

I wonder what he thinks about as he gazes quietly off into the distance like that. “Who can I rip off next?”

Andy Johnson For Sale

As anyone who has been following my blog knows, Andy Johnson, former member of the Florida House of Representatives, stole $3,500.00 from me, and despite the fact that I won the court case and have a lien on his house, he refuses to pay me back. You can read the full and sordid details about his underhanded dealings here.

And then in an even more sickening plot twist, he actually lied about it to a reporter despite the fact that I have a stack of documentation that proves everything I’ve said. You can read about that here. I don’t know if it’s an over-active sense of self importance on his part, or a mental illness that makes him actually believe his version of reality, but there you have it. It’s Andy Johnson’s world. We’re just living in it.

And what an ironically warped world it is. His motto is “Never neutral. But always fair.” If Andy Johnson were fair, and as progressive as he purports to be on his radio show, he wouldn’t be screwing me over in this blatant fashion. I’m just a little fish in this big pond of ours, and who are the progressives out here to defend if not the little fish? Clearly this man is a phony.

I really have pretty much given up on the concept of ever seeing my money. Instead I’ve made it my mission to tell my story about this man to as many people as I can. And I have definitely been successful there. Of the over 17,000 views my blog has received to date, far and away the most viewed entries are the ones I have written about Andy. The word is spreading.

I’m sure it has spread to potential advertisers, too, so I suspect he would have been out a lot less money if he had just chosen to do the right thing and pay his judgment as any law abiding citizen would. Instead, through this blog I am the gift that keeps on giving, and frankly that gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d much rather get my money so I could delete these poisonous entries from my blog and forget this man even exists, as I feel these posts taint the overall good I attempt to do here with my writing. But I won’t hold my breath.

I am considering contacting the people who currently advertise with him next. I think it’s only fair that they know exactly whom they chose to endorse. Of course, that means I’ll have to listen to his radio show, and that makes me sick, in spite of the fact that our politics are ironically similar. It’s just that knowing what I know about the man, I find the sound of his voice and the image he attempts to project to be distinctly galling.

I do have another card up my sleeve. It occurs to me that by having this lien on Andy’s house, I essentially own a piece of him. (Talk about galling.) This is having a negative impact on his credit as well as on his reputation. And since the lien increases in value by six percent a year, it’s actually a nice little investment. Currently that original 3916.00 lien, which includes court costs, is now worth at least $4,856.00. (I have no idea if that interest gets compounded.)

Why is this a good investment when the man has no intention of paying me back? Ah, but here’s the beauty of it. There are companies out there that will buy judgments. Granted, I won’t get more than 50 percent of the money, and that’s being very optimistic, but I would get the satisfaction of knowing that they would most assuredly collect. And since Andy didn’t voluntarily do the right thing and I had to resort to this method of getting this judgment satisfied, I would feel guilt-free about continuing to spread the word for all eternity. Crime definitely does not pay. So sad.

This could all go away if Andy would just pay up. Barring that, I suppose I’ll have to engage in a bit of modern day slavery. Does anyone want to buy a piece of an overweight, overblown, former politician? I have here a judgment that’s currently worth $4,856.00. I’ll take $2,400.00 for it. Cash on the barrel head. You pay, I walk away, and you have all the fun you want after that, as will I. The family has at least two vehicles you can go after. Come and get it!

Andy Johnson

Doesn’t he look all puffed up with his own self-importance?

Actually, that’s the bad karma chewing him up from the inside out.

Andy Johnson is a Liar, and I Can Prove It

Recently a journalist, Robert Montgomerie, contacted me about my most popular blog entry, Andy Johnson, SHAME on you!!! in which I describe in detail how this former member of the Florida House of Representatives stole several thousand dollars from me and refuses to pay it back. (For a shorter version of events, see Andy Johnson is a Swindler. To learn what he’s up to these days, see Andy Johnson is Back on the Radio. Heaven Help Us.)

According to Montgomerie, “There are a couple of other folks who are fighting back and forth with Johnson in public about the radio station and funding. It’s a rather slimy affair.”

So the sharks are circling. That doesn’t surprise me in the least. If any lawsuits ensue, I hope these people will contact me, because I can testify to Andy Johnson’s lack of character, and I would be thrilled to have that opportunity.

Especially now, because I’ve caught him in more lies. There’s nothing more pathetic than a con artist who can’t lie well. I honestly believe that he thinks that if he says something, it somehow becomes fact. The hubris of this man is beyond the pale.

Montgomerie, being a responsible journalist, decided to talk to Andy before writing his article. What follows are some excerpts of the conversation. These are all direct quotes from Andy Johnson.

“I have not done anything to stop this woman but I do not owe her any money at all. I lined up a roofer to fix her roof in trade with me and she would not let him do it. And, well, she and her boyfriend owed me about $10,000 for unpaid radio time. I guess you buy this stuff.”

“The lady can do anything she wants. She has already got more money from me than she claims I owe.”

“I AM fundamentally honest and decent and committed to doing unselfish things.”

Oh, where to begin.

  • The most blatant lie is that I would not let a roofer work on my roof. First of all, that defies logic. Why would I give Andy Johnson $3,500 to acquire a roofer and then refuse to have the roof done? Amongst the piles of evidence I supplied for my lawsuit against Andy, which I won, is an affidavit from Riggins Roofing. This is a matter of public record. If you’d like to see for yourself, it is case number  2010-SC-000516 in the County Court of Duval County, Florida. But for your convenience I’ll quote directly from the affidavit. “What he offered me was as follows: Free ads on his radio station for a certain amount of time. Because of the slow down in my company I was unable to agree to the deal and told him so…As far as I was concerned, that was the end of my company’s involvement in the situation.” This affidavit proves that when he took my money from me, he already knew he didn’t have a roof deal. That’s fraud.
  • He also sent out a second roofer to look at the place. Chuck Guerra of Shinglemasters Roofing. He was a decent and honest man, so I couldn’t let him make a decision about the situation without knowing the full story, so I told him the truth. At that point he told me he already wasn’t going to take Andy’s deal, because he felt advertising on his show was a waste of time. He had done it in the past and it had yielded him no business whatsoever. In the end, he wound up doing my roof, and he did an excellent job, but I had to pay him full price. Which means I was out that money in addition to the money Andy Johnson stole from me.
  • Andy also states he has not done anything to stop me. That’s a half-truth at best. What he should have said was that he can’t do anything to stop me. He has a law degree, and knows darned well that all I have to do to prove I’m not slandering or defaming him is to provide proof of what I’m saying, and I’ve got about a half inch thick pile of documentation, including the court judgment in my favor, that backs me up on that.
  • Another thing I have, among all those court documents, is a letter signed by Andy, dated December 24, 2009, which states: “Within 30 days I will provide either a signed roofing company document including a firm date for completion of a roof repair…or the return in full of the $3500.” Now, being trained in the law, if I had really and truly gotten more money from him than I claim he owes, don’t you think he’d have gotten documentation of that fact? Don’t you think he’d have bothered to show up for the lawsuit and provide such documentation, or, barring that, don’t you think he’d have provided it to the court in order to have my lien on his house vacated? Show me the receipts, Andy. Oh, but you can’t, can you? Because you and I both know you have never given me one thin dime.
  • As far as me owing him $10,000 dollars in unpaid radio time, that’s patently absurd. I’ve never been on his radio station in my entire life, and wouldn’t want to be. I’ve never even called in to his show, because I think it’s a joke. I’ve never stepped foot in that radio station. Now, if he’s referring to the radio show he allowed my ex-boyfriend, John Maycumber to have for one hour a week, called “The Spot”, he provided that to him in exchange for the fact that John worked for him for an entire year free of charge. He produced a ton of amazing and humorous and highly popular radio ads for him, and he screened his many crackpot callers for his talk show. If he feels that John owes him such a fortune, why hasn’t he taken him to court for it? Because he knows that claim is a steaming pile of horse manure, that’s why. And again, being trained in the law, he should know that common law isn’t recognized in the State of Florida, so any financial issues he may or may not have with John have nothing whatsoever to do with me.

If you are truly “fundamentally honest and decent and committed to doing unselfish things”, Andy, then you would comply with the law. A judge ruled that you owe me this money. Comply with the courts. Or do you think your fundamentally honest and decent butt is above the law? I guess your actions will indicate your real thoughts on the matter.

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Here’s Andy Johnson, acting decent and honest at a meeting of the “Southside Business [sic] Men’s Club.” Little do they know. But rest assured, I’ll tell them. (Andy’s the fat one, by the way.)