Seminole County Tax collector asks for a courtesy pass on a speeding ticket.

[Baitball Blogger]

People wouldn't ask unless they have seen others get away with the same behavior.

Seminole Tax Collector Joel Greenberg asks for 'professional courtesy' after ticketed for speeding

Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg asked a Lake Mary Police officer for “professional courtesy” because he is an elected official as he tried to talk his way out of a ticket after he was pulled over for speeding Tuesday.

“I’m baffled that the professional courtesy is not being extended to at least issue a warning in something like this,” Greenberg can be heard on a police video telling a Lake Mary officer after he was issued a citation for traveling 39 mph in a 25 mph zone. “If there’s any way on earth — I’m just trying to stay off the front page of the damn newspaper: ‘Tax collector gets ticket.’ This is the kind of political crap I have to deal with.”

The incident comes after Greenberg turned on white flashing lights on his SUV and followed a Sanford woman to the front of her subdivision Dec. 13, 2017, to tell her to stop speeding while wearing his office badge. A prosecutor’s report found his actions “inappropriate” but said he didn’t break the law.

On Wednesday, Greenberg, who was a political newcomer when he was elected in November 2016 after earlier ousting longtime tax collector Ray Valdes in the GOP primary, admitted he was speeding and will pay the $206 fine.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-tax-collector-joel-greenberg-speeding-ticket-20180124-story.html

[voteearlyvoteoften]

1. Fire him

[marble falls]

2. Like my good friend from Chicago, voteearlyvoteoften said "Fire him".

[Egnever]

5. Fairly funny to come from someone from Chicago.

in my younger days there it was common to keep a 20/50/100 $ bill taped to the back of your license for just such situations.

[marble falls]

7. Remember the checker stripe the cops used to have on thier hats? One of my snockered friends....

from boot camp climbed into the back of a squad car and asked to be driven to Old Town. He got a "welcome to Chicago" instead and dumped on the sidewalk. Those were the days.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. The guy he replaced was using his position to acquire tax information that was used for personal

profit.

Public Corruption Charges Coming For Seminole County Tax Collector Ray Valdes?

For nearly 30 years, Seminole County residents have had Ray Valdes as their tax collector. Since his first year in office, Mr. Valdes' net worth has increased from just around $150,000 to nearly $3 million dollars, according to publicly available financial disclosure documents.

After receiving several troubling tips from concerned Seminole County residents, we have discovered just how Mr. Valdes has padded his bank account, using his inside knowledge of tax deeds and claims his office auctions to the public.

snip

Valdes Uses Aliases & Several Companies To Purchase Tax Deeds

Joseph Raymond Valdes, J. Raymond Valdes, Raymond Valdes, Joseph R. Valdes are some of the aliases Mr. Valdes has used to purchase tax deeds from the very office and auctions he oversees. Additionally, Mr. Valdes has allegedly used his company Bravados Enterprises Inc. and Conservation Enterprises Trust, LLC to purchase just over 100 properties during his tenure.

Tax certificates allow an investor to purchase the owed taxes on a property, and then if the property owner can't pay back the taxes owed, plus interest, Valdes and his associates submit for a tax deed which allows them to foreclose on the properties.

Yes, you read that right, the Seminole County Tax Collector is using his inside knowledge of tax deeds the system to profit on the backs of homeowners who are underwater during tough economic times.


http://seminolecountypost.com/public-corruption-charges-coming-seminole-county-tax-collector-ray-valdes

[Flaleftist]

3. There are selfies with him and Roger Stone

and Milo Yiannopoulos. Enough said.

Link to tweet

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Nice catch.

[onethatcares]

6. poor baby,

"tax collector gets ticket" is such a horrid headline. What's worse is he wore his "tax collector badge" while speeding after a woman that was speeding. I didn't realize the tax collector had arrest authority.

Will someone introduce him to Sheriff "I got the best badges" Dave Clark????

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Oh, I fully understand that "speeding after a woman who was speeding," thing.

That is a very strong good ole boy society trait. They may have direct social connection to the local police through a family member, like an ex police chief for example. Or they are just connected to the backwater circles where they know they can make a phone call and get immediate service.

It is really creepy because you can get subjected to over-vigilance if you tread into their playing fields, which is likely when you move into the county. Especially if you move next door to one of them. They have their own neighborhood watch program. They literally come out to watch you when you come out to maintain your own yard.

In sum, I would try to find out who that woman was that he was chasing, because it's likely that it was someone he knows. Maybe she was just trying to get away from him? I have had a weird experience leaving my own neighborhood with someone speeding up and coming inches of my bumper when I stopped at the stop sign.

[Vinca]

8. Idiot. If he'd just shut up and paid the fine no one would have cared.

[GulfCoast66]

11. This guy is a real piece of work

Total right wing nut job who decided his tax collectors need to be armed like police.

He has clashed with the county council about turning over all the tax revenues to the county. When one of his biggest opponents on the council came into the office to pay a bill he had her forcibly removed.

He will be out next election even in republican Seminole county

[Baitball Blogger]

12. There's more like him.

Young bloods who are crass and greedy. There really isn't any old bulls around to set a proper example because they all want the same thing. Overreach and encroachments. That is this county's MO.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. The officer points out that asking for a pass is what's "unprofessional", not issuign a ticket

39mph in a 25mph seems like serious speeding to me. This 'fellow officer' stuff just seems a load of BS; a tax collector is an office worker, not someone out to enforce laws in the community.

And the excuse that he was going to tell a woman to stop speeding sounds like BS too; he later complains that the delay of having the ticket issued is going to make him late for a meeting. But in that case, why would he be spending his time doing vigilante speed ticket work? And if you were pulled over by a civilian car, and the guy flashed a "tax collector" badge and started the "do you know what speed you were doing" spiel, what would you think? I'd think "Jeez, this is some nutter impersonating a cop, badly".

[Baitball Blogger]

16. I think this thing needs to be looked into more deeper.

He was definitely being a vigilante, chasing after that woman. I think it should be looked into to find out if he knew her.

A lot of that kind of bullying goes on in this county.

There is something very, very weird about public workers in Central Florida. Not all of them. Just the ones that are tapped into jobs that can be very political. I had a fall-out with a friend over a county debacle and did my best to cut things off quietly and sensibly. But they are very aggressive with social networking. At a reunion, which was held in another country, she pushed her way into a conversation I was having with another classmate. I was shocked at her boldness and blurted out, "Back off!" Did she leave? No, she stood by a few feet from us to listen to our conversation.

In the next days at the reunion, her husband would seek us out to take pictures of whoever I was hanging out with. At least one notable time he tried to take a picture of his wife hanging near the group I was with, to make it look like we were besties. Atleast, that's what it looked like to me.

You want some peace and freedom to write your story, and they just keep giving me more material to write about.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Come on, he's just fighting back.

What's the harm in that?

[MineralMan]

15. Oh, a tax collector playing cop. Cool beans.

Give a guy flashing lights and a badge, and he thinks he's a cop. Brilliant!

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Just like George Zimmerman, right?

[MineralMan]

18. Well, not exactly. I mean, Zimmerman was not

a public official, like the tax collector.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. The behavior is common whether you have a badge, or feel like you are

entitled to police others. If you look close at their family circles, you can find someone who was involved in law enforcement or legal system. They grow up eating and breathing that world.

[MineralMan]

21. Yes, I know. I'm just giving you a little bit of a hard time.

JK.

[Orsino]

19. Red flag: tax collector plays policemen in his off time.

Don't think I need to read about him whining about getting a speeding ticket.