The Adderley/Rothstein Connection: If he took that flight, it’s time to say “good night”!

The Adderley/Rothstein Connection:

If he took that flight, then it’s time to say “good night”…

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley has had a rough go of it over the last year, ever since he was selected by City Manager Gretsas to be our Police Chief. City Manager Gretsas is known for placing his “Yes-men” into positions of authority with our City Government; he has always been more concerned about insuring unwavering obedience to himself than with competency, and many City departments have suffered as a result.

But I felt that the selection of Adderley was different. Neighborhood policing seemed to be getting better and local police officers appeared to be more aggressive in dealing with neighborhood crime and were more attentive to the needs of the resident. Whether these improvements were started before Chief Roberts left or were initiated by Adderley, I don’t know. But I felt that the selection of Adderley as police Chief seemed the right one.

Then things started falling apart. Chief Adderley’s family situation deteriorated when his wife fired a gun at him one night, several times. Some say the legal process was handled differently in this instance and that the case was given special treatment. And now this most recent Rothstein Ponzi scheme of over $1.2B and the link between our Police Chief and that con-man attorney.

Chief Adderley’s office approved 24-hour a day protection of Rothstein, the chief ate at Rothstein’s restaurant, began socializing with Rothstein, went to his parties, and showed up (and was apparently photographed) with Rothstein at an automobile accident involving a wealthy friend of Rothstein’s. It appears that this accident may have also been given special treatment.

Is all this just “bad luck” on the part of our Police Chief? Having people close to you run afoul of the law can happen to anyone, I suppose. But “good judgment” and common sense usually keeps us out of trouble. That judgment and common sense should be especially keen among those public servants who are there to protect us. That being said, I would still support our Chief and say, it’s just bad luck; let’s move on, Chief and I hope your luck improves.

But now there’s this story of our Police Chief taking a private flight to a ball game with Rothstein, and not publicly reporting that flight. In my mind, this is a more serious issue. According to State Law, Adderley should have filed a gift disclosure form if the cost of the flight was more than $100.00 and he didn’t pay the value of a commercial flight.

If this is true, then I’m sorry to say that I feel that our Police Chief needs to resign. In South Florida, we have been rocked this year with scandals, corruption, fraud, greed, incompetence, and lies; too many of these traits seem to be coming from the wealthy, the well-connected and from public officials who are supposed to be looking out for us. Here in Fort Lauderdale, we need to be letting our elected City officials know that we have “zero tolerance” for his type of behavior.

I hope it’s not the case, but if it becomes clear that Chief Adderley took that flight, then it’s time for him to say ‘good night”. And time for us to look for a new Police Chief.

Earl Rynerson