Following the recent South Florida Gay News articles that degraded and bullied the Brian Neal Fitness and Health Foundation, a number of community leaders are beginning to step forward, each sharing their own personal horror stories surrounding publisher Norm Kent.
Community leader Vincent Clancy, in the midst of being very disturbed with the coverage of the Brian and Neal Fitness and Health Foundation (a foundation that Clancy has supported as a dancer in Dancing with the South Florida Stars Season I, felt it was his community duty to report to the Florida Agenda malicious and unethical behavior by Kent which has negatively impacted his business, Da Vinci Realty located on both Wilton Drive and Las Olas.
SFGN published two articles on Denny Hughes, who was an employee of Clancy’s, claiming Hughes stole escrow funds from him. Unfortunately, the article mistakenly listed Hughes as one of Clancy’s realtors, instead of his actual position: an assistant. Instead of printing a retraction or a clarification, SFGN simply ran another article providing an update on Hughes’s charges. Even though DaVinci Realty continues to be a leader in South Florida real estate, Clancy claims the articles have negatively affected his business, in regards to bringing in new real estate investors and in his ability to hire real estate agents.
Clancy claims that Mr. Kent allegedly bribed him, indicating through a phone call that if he would start buying ads, he would not publish any future negative pieces on DaVinci Realty regarding Denny Hughes. “Mr. Kent called me one day and said he was going to run a story on Denny Hughes,” said Clancy. “My firm used to advertise in his paper and he said if I would come back, the story would not run. Mr. Kent ran the story and an update to the story a year later, with statements out of context and lies. DaVinci Realty Group does not and has never had an escrow account for client’s funds. That story is still on the internet doing harm to my firm.”
Another community leader, Marc Hansen (President of Pride South Florida), released a statement to the Florida Agenda, addressing a variety of remarks made in a SFGN article that he says are not only bullying, but false as well. He began the statement with a poignant point: “The definition of manipulation is, ‘to control or influence somebody or something in an ingenious or devious way; to change or present something in a way that is false but personally advantageous.’ Manipulators are very good at what they do – controlling others. Their tactics vary, but the goal is always to get you to do what they want. Manipulative behaviors can include threatening, demeaning or bullying. By definition, Pride South Florida (PSF) feels that they have, and are continuing to be subjected to behavior by the Publisher of SFGN that constitutes manipulation and bullying.”
PSF has said that they have every intention of continuing its transparency to the public for which it is a part of, offering to publish (with full disclosure) any and all information regarding IRS communications once they are finalized.
“By repeatedly publishing half truths and manipulating the facts, SFGN editor (et al.) has apparently made it his goal to hurt, damage, and/or cause defamation to the reputation of PSF as an organization as well as all of its Board members,” said Hansen. “Some examples of this include: ‘He [Marc Hansen] has demanded SFGN to cease further contact with him’, ‘to deny the South Florida Gay News documents we are entitled to,’ ‘Pride South Florida Refuses to Release Tax Records’, ‘IRS threatens to revoke tax exempt status,’ and so many more.”
Hansen says, “PSF is in no way attempting to engage in a ‘conspiracy of silence,’ nor is it hiding anything from the community
it represents and depends on for support.”
In the statement, Hansen sets the record straight:
“We received a form letter from the IRS following a recent audit covering the years 2010 & 2011. The letter was a result of the IRS not receiving information that was sent to the auditor following a request made for same. A response is being pursued by PSF to the IRS to rectify the issue. As this is an important and pending situation, PSF requested legal advice. Upon receiving a news media request for information on this matter, PSF was advised not to release anything until the matter is resolved. This is what the media was told. Regarding communication to the media, in order to maintain consistency and abide by the bylaws of the organization, the Board was reminded that only the Officers are to make statements to the media. The revised & adopted 4/23/13 state:
ARTICLE V – DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS
Section 1: President/Vice President
‘President/Vice President (aka Co-Chairs): … The Co-Chairs will act as the sole spokespersons for the Board, and will represent the Board to outside organizations and the media.’
PSF respectfully requests the community-at-large to understand they are acting in good faith and with no malice of intent. PSF will share the outcome of this event when it is closed and final. We thank you for your patience and understanding, along with your continued support as we strive to maintain our good standing for and within the community we represent.”
As stated above, the facts are that per PSF’s By Laws; the only people allowed to speak about organization business are the Co-Chairs, but according to Hansen, neither Kent nor Parsley ever called either of the Co-Chairs after June 13 to the best of their knowledge. “These reporters from SFGN had no problem calling several Board members, both past and present,” said Hansen. “Even after sending emails to explain that no one other than the Co-Chairs could speak on the subjects, they forged on. Specifically aiming their inquiries towards individual(s) they had personal friendships or legal business relationships with that would be more easily convinced to circumvent the by-laws of the organization to obtain information that they had been told would not be released yet. PSF learned that Kent was able to get one board member (who admitted to this) to send out everything and anything he had that Kent wanted, totally ignoring PSF By Laws & SOP (Standards of Practice).”
Hansen says that the alleged initial phone call (which occurred on or about June 13), between Hansen and Kent, left Hansen feeling verbally abused, attacked and bullied due to the fact that he would not provide the information that Kent wanted immediately. Hansen says, “Kent was told that the documents he was demanding couldn’t be released at that time, but would be as soon as the matter was closed. Attempting to circumvent Hansen’s denial, Kent proceeded to call the organization’s accountant, reportedly stating that he was given permission to obtain the documents from him, even though he (Kent) was fully aware that was not true.”
SFGN Associate Publisher, Jason Parsley, recently attended a PSF Board meeting, where Hansen feels that he selectively reported the event. “Mr. Parsley left out many of the occurrences that happened during that meeting which only go to support the feeling of PSF about being manipulated,” said Hansen. “Some of the outstanding highlights that have been excluded from any reporting include, but are not limited to: members of the PSF Board being yelled at, verbally assaulted and bullied by a SFGN employee (and PSF Advisory Board Member) John Fugate; Mr. Fugate was seated at the table as a Board Member, but was observed by several other Board Members taking the steno pad from Parsley and writing down notes for the article being worked on (just like a member of the media). At that point, Fugate became a reporter and no longer an Advisory Board member, which is why no documents or files that Fugate was demanding were released.” According to Hansen, Parsley was confronted regarding the defamatory inferences the paper was making by repeatedly utilizing a graphic of Hansen superimposed over a backdrop of rainbow-colored $100 bills as well as the similarity between Hansen’s actions with those of Michael Cruz’s felony.
Hansen asserts, “Per the United States Internal Revenue Services’ request, the advice of legal representation PSF has been consulting with, PSF is not currently permitted to discuss the details of the IRS audit. All of this has been explained to Mr. Kent multiple times both in writing and via the phone. PSF is intrigued that a lawyer (Mr. Kent) will continue to demand to speak to Board members and demand that PSF hand over documents, when he is fully aware our legal representation has said not to, and how a person that is not a lawyer (to the best of our knowledge), Jason Parsley, has the audacity to question a lawyer in this quote from an email he sent to a local attorney, ‘… Marc Hansen is telling people that his legal counsel told him not to release anything to the media. I assume you’re the legal counsel, so please confirm this. And if this is true, why did you give them that advice?’”
The Florida Agenda will keep the community posted on the developments of PSF.
If you, your business, or any organization you’re involved in, has been negatively impacted by any misrepresentations by Norm Kent or SFGN, please contact The Florida Agenda. We are on your side as a media outlet in both print and online, to protect the integrity of LGBT reporting to the world. Contact us at editor@floridaagenda.com
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