What Was He Thinking?

Got the story on Sun-Sentinel political writer Buddy Nevins’ speech to local Republicans. Lauderdale Beach Republican Club founder and former president Bob Wolfe told me he invited Nevins to the club on Feb. 6 to speak and was “stunned” by what the columnist said at the meeting, which morphed into something of a Nevins-led GOP pep rally.

First he announced that he’d abandoned the Democrats for the GOP, which led to cheers. A member of the audience asked him why he’d made the switch. According to Wolfe, Nevins’ answer was, “To vote for Charlie Crist in the primary.”

Crist, of course, is running a pitched battle with Tom Gallagher in the Republican gubernatorial race to replace Jeb Bush. I don’t need to explain here the implications. Nevins’ spends most of his time doing straight political reporting for the Sentinel rather than his weekly nuts-and-bolts, non-ideological column. And now he’s publicly backed a candidate in the state’s most important campaign -- which he has covered as a reporter this year. To say he’s compromised his stance as an unbiased reporter would be an understatement. The Gallagher folks and the Democrats will feast on that little tidbit.

But Nevins wasn't nearly finished. He then told the Republican room that there was a “liberal” bias in the Sun-Sentinel newsroom. To prove it he pointed out that there were a lot of gay and lesbian employees working there.

“But he took a lot of questions from the crowd and he basically made comments that the media is liberal,” Wolfe told the Pulp of the meeting, which wasn’t recorded. “And he made some comments about how people wore their sexuality on their sleeve in this community and especially in the newsroom and that it reflects the liberalism [at the Sentinel].”

To illustrate his point, Nevins mentioned that he used to sit next to the president of the gay and lesbian journalists’ association.

Wolfe said that as Nevins was making his comments, he worried that a member of the Log Cabin Republicans who was in attendance would be offended.

“I didn’t personally view it as a bigoted remark,” Wolfe said. “I think Buddy was just playing to the room. I just don't like to see sexuality brought into the discussion at all.”

The Sentinel, by the way, does employ numerous gay and lesbian reporters and editors. While Wolfe is forgiving, I wonder how this will play in the newsroom.

When it was over Wolfe, a moderate Republican, said he was waiting for Nevins to break it to the room that it was an April Fool’s joke. “I think his comments stunned a lot of people in the room,” he said.

I asked Buddy for a response yesterday afternoon and haven't heard back from him. In some ways I admire Nevins for speaking his mind. And I know he has integrity as a reporter, no matter which party he belongs to. But I also think the speech was a terrible lapse of judgment, especially considering the audience.

And I think it’s a pretty good bet we’ll find out more in his column this coming Saturday.

Story of the Day

Once again, we have a no-brainer today, though it's buried on page 6B of the Sentinel. Reporter Angel Streeter does a pitch-perfect job telling about recent developments involving the The Siren statue in Wellington. In case you don't remember The Siren, I've added a pic. Streeter writes that artist Norm Gitzen, or "her maker" as Streeter puts it, has "added enhancements: nipples." Now that's what I call a, um, twist in the story. "Now, she will be complete," says Gitzen, who is apparently a mix between Frankenstein and Larry Flynt. But Gitzen will have to remove the nipples before it returns to its regular roost at the Wellington Community Center. Said Krisztine Ergas, who works there, "[The nipples] would not be appropriate." Any guesses as to what Ergas actually called them?

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