Exclusive Interview with Candidate Richard DeNapoli (FL-Dist. 74)

WDW sat down with Richard DeNapoli, candidate for FL-District 74. As the 2014 election cycle heats up it is important for voters to know the candidates. WDW will continue to interview candidates and elected officials to educate voters.

DeNapoli served as a prosecutor in Orange County, Florida for a short time after law school, prosecuting third degree felonies, before returning to South Florida to care for his grandmother when his grandfather passed away in June 2003.

In addition to being a Licensed Attorney, Realtor, Mortgage Broker and Notary, DeNapoli is also a Certified Financial Planner. He worked as a Trust and Investment Officer for five years at Northern Trust on a team with $1.8 Billion assets under management providing services to high net worth individuals. Prior to joining Northern Trust, DeNapoli had a successful law practice.

What sets DeNapoli apart is his work in Broward County, FL to insure voters rights are protected.

In November 2011 DeNapoli sent an open letter to Dr. Brenda C. Snipes, the Supervisor of Elections in Broward County, about early voting locations. DeNapoli, the then Chair of the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC), found that all of the Broward County early voting locations were in heavily Democratic areas. DeNapoli in his letter noted, “Research in numerous scholarly journals has shown that the greater the distance from a voting site, the greater exists the likelihood of non voting. The incidence of early voting is highly sensitive to the location of the early voting location.” Due to his efforts one of seventeen early voting locations was placed in a heavily Republican location.

But DeNapoli was not finished.

In May 2012 DeNapoli and BREC officials, “[C]onducted a search of the Social Security Death Index (“SSDI”) for Broward County for the 2011 calendar year as obtained through www.GeneaologyBank.com.  The search was conducted from May 13-19, 2012.  The results revealed that 9,960 Broward County residents had passed away during the 2011 calendar year.  BREC officials then checked 2,100 of these names without regard to party registration against the Broward SOE’s website: 481 deceased individuals cross referenced by name, birth date, city or zip code were still listed as “active” voters according to the Broward SOE. This is 23 percent of the deceased persons examined.” The featured photo above is of DeNapoli holding the stack of dead voter registrations in Broward. Photo courtesy of the BREC.

It is always interesting and notable to see any political party or politician scrub the voter roles of dead people – Republicans and Democrats alike.

Danita Kilcullen, TEA Party Fort Lauderdale, sent this comment to WDW – FL, “Richard DeNapoli was a fantastic Chairman of the Broward Republican Executive Committee.  He brought tens and tens of new memberships and put his own money where his mouth is. Especially memorable was the evening when CAIR’s South Florida Leader, Nasar Hamze, after months of heckling and creating chaos at Allen West’s Town Hall meetings, decided he would join BREC.  What Richard did to prevent this was maverick and read much like a Perry Mason courtroom drama.  When he tells you he’ll fight for you, that is exactly what he does.”

To learn more about Richard DeNapoli click here.

EDITORS NOTE: WDW will be keeping an eye on those running for public office in Florida. Stay tuned.

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