Who would push FOR puppy mills? OH… Ron Book would.

That’s what happened when Ron Book took a job as a lobbyist for one of the states largest retailers of pets. While the County of Miami-Dade’s motto has been “adopt, don’t shop” to encourage people to adopt from the county’s shelters, Book (undoubtedly motivated by the six figures his firm gets paid for it) argued FOR the puppy mills and asked the County for a waiver from the conflict of interest, allowing him to keep his six figure income from Miami-Dade even though their position conflicts with Book’s client.

Here’s the kicker…

According to the Miami Herald, yesterday “Miami-Dade commissioners were set to vote on stripping lobbyist Ron Book from his county contract if he didn’t agree to drop a puppy-store chain as a client over the industry’s efforts to block local regulations of pet sales. Book didn’t attend the meeting, and that didn’t matter. When Book’s requested conflict-of-interest waiver came up on the agenda late in the afternoon, Chairman Esteban “Steve” Bovo requested a delay until the prominent lobbyist and two associates could be there in person to defend themselves.”

In case you didn’t say “ah ha” Esteban Bovo is the commissioner who sponsored Ron Book’s amendment to the county ordinance allowing police to arrest homeless sex offenders on site. (Conveniently, ‘the Bovo Amendment’)

Dirty, dirty, dirty!!!

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