After writing an opinion piece in the Tallahassee Democrat about City Walk Urban Mission, several of our members contact the writer, Barney Bishop, to object to a statement he made in his article.
The article was about the City Walk homeless shelter and whether it had obtained the proper permitting. Instead of focusing on the issue, Barney Bishop, in an effort to get his way, disparaged the shelter because they accept ALL people, including those required to register as sexual offenders. Instead of commenting on an administrative matter, he turned it into a scare piece, writing; “women and children have every right to fear for their safety.”
Who is this guy and what’s with his venomous attitude towards this population that he would rather see people homeless than trying to rehabilitate themselves through City Walk’s program, which “works with the homeless and ex-offenders providing basic human needs and transitional and supportive housing focused on re-entry.“?
Bishop… and we can’t make this up… is the CEO of the “Florida Smart Justice Alliance”, which is ironic because kicking these people to the curb is neither “smart” nor “just”. Trying to find out who this “alliance” is comprised of is confusing because their site lists nobody other than Barney Bishop. It also hasn’t been updated since 2013. What we do know about the “alliance” since then is that it had a mass exodus of it’s board, who tried to fire Mr. Bishop.
A Tallahassee-based advocacy group led by veteran lobbyist Barney Bishop has had a mass exodus of board members in recent weeks, including one who accused Bishop of being motivated by “self-aggrandizement and personal gain.”
As of Monday, group founder and former chairwoman Lori Costantino-Brown and members Pamela Alvarez, Catherine Craig-Myers, Jim DeBeaugrine and Mary Lynn Ulrey had all turned in resignation letters to the Florida Smart Justice Alliance. Copies were provided to FloridaPolitics.com.
Craig-Myers said the resignations were from those who supported a motion to fire Bishop and lost.
And last month, the Internal Revenue Service posted a notice it had “automatically revoked” the alliance’s tax-exempt status. The group is formed as a 501(c)(6), a category for “business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, etc.,” according to the IRS website.
[SOURCE]
We asked around and it turned out the only person with anything positive to say about Barney Bishop… was Barney Bishop.
Based on his responses to our members, Bishop (who is registered as a lobbyist), seems to be just a political hack who cares very little about justice reform advocacy. He also has a personal vendetta against anyone with the “sex offender” label, which anyone claiming to be involved in criminal justice reform should not have. In one response he wrote, “I’m working right now [ ]with Sen. Lauren Book and we’re going to make it even more difficult for a homeless shelter that take in registered sex offenders without properly notifying the surrounding community to do so.”. That seems deeply at odds with the Alliance’s statement that “Any serious attempt to create meaningful change in Florida’s approach to criminal justice must be comprehensive and include all stakeholders.” I guess some stakeholders he just doesn’t want to hear from.
UPDATED: Barney Bishop is the lobbyist for The Wakulla County Sheriffs Department. Last year Wakulla County had to pay City Walk $160,000 to settle a lawsuit. Think Barney should have mentioned this in his opinion piece. Sketchy!
https://publicdatadigger.com/FL/tallahassee/bahama-dr/105004914/Barney-Bishop
https://www.floridaresidentsdirectory.com/person/105004914/bishop-barney
https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/barney-bishop_id_G-6903533872394471596
https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/details?name=Barney%20Bishop&citystatezip=Tallahassee%2C%20FL&rid=0x0
Joseph Pratt:
Thank you for standing up to this clown. If you have any info on him, please post it on this site so we can all look into his past.
Derek:
He requested that you contact him again and is even begging for you to contact him again. I would challenge him to a debate in a well thought out email.
Speaking of my ‘new best friend’ was any organization contacted with the cowardly name of blahblah and email of [email protected] with a shockingly bad comment which might require therapy…..
What state are you in? *
Pennsylvania
Email *
[email protected]
Select a Choice *
Admin Team/General Contact
What’s on your mind? *
This is the dumbest cause I’ve ever seen, what a waste of time ya’ll seem brainwashed as fuck.
Then you respond educating them and offering to talk on the phone and the email bounces as ‘mailbox full’ Has anybody seen a gmail account for ‘barnaby’?
Vicki, that is awfully cryptic.
Didn’t understand it either. Just posted it because it’s Vicki
Agree, I wanted to see what she has to say.
If I had to take a guess, it is the same troll that pops up here snd other places from time to time to try to annoy us. He’s the idiot who made that fake “Sex Offender News” blog that was bashing me, WAR, and FAC and made a stalker wall with pics of us. His crap blog finally disappeared off the internet last week so he/she/it is on the warpath, whining and crying about being censored and whatnot.
We get that troll a lot. Have him flagged.
Looking forward to seeing the video. By the way, if we made such a threat as he did we would have LEO’s at our door.
What a disgusting big government grifter. Living off of taxpayers. They are all crooks, scratching each other’s backs. It would not surprise me in the slightest that there would be kickbacks. No one should trust them. Taxpayers need to demand an end to these grifters. End big government. De-fund.
Grifter said, “we’re going to make it even more difficult for a homeless shelter that take in registered sex offenders without properly notifying the surrounding community to do so.” Really? So the PFRs that go to that shelter don’t have to Register that address? If only they put their names and address on the big government magic Hit List, then that would surely be perfect notification.
Obviously people need to understand that it is really important to vote for politicians who do not support big government and big government, do-nothing law enforcement and anyone else who thinks Hit Lists are smart. Everyone who supports big government needs to be tossed.
Barney Bishop, in a testimony to the Florida House Judiciary Committee on March 3, offered this gem of a comment regarding a proposed 50 year minimum sentence for sex offenses law in committee:
“We think that very long sentences are warranted; in fact, we’d like longer sentences. And I would just say in closing that with respect to smart justice that maybe what we ought to really be doing is thinking about giving the victims’ families an opportunity to have visitation with the perpetrators and a pair of scissors. That’s our idea of smart justice, Mr. Chairman, not anything short of that.”
When I emailed him in regards to this statement, he responded:
“Mr. Logue, you memory is failing you terribly…I have NEVER said anything remotely like that, and I never would…there are many people who testify that use the words Smart Justice, but that doesn’t mean they can speak on behalf of Smart Justice…
If I ever hear from you again – in any fashion – your will be REPORTED to the authorities and I can assure you that you will suffer the consequences…it sounds like you enjoy jail and being confined and I can help you get that good ole feeling again…
Just respond to this email, or try to ever contact me again…I’m a former private investigator, and I’m an NRA member, I would NEVER resort to just scissors….and I will find your picture and put it into my Outlook file…you pic will be burnt into my memory…PLEASE contact me again, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Barney T. Bishop III
Florida Smart Justice Alliance, Inc.
2215 Thomasville Road
Tallahassee, FL 32308-0737
Well, I don’t need a good memory when the video for the 3/3/2014 House Judiciary video is still online for the world to see.
My offer still stands. I’ll gladly debate this piece of trash face-to-face. Apparently, though, he’s as much of a coward as the Books are and feels the need to make threatening remarks to me, tell me he’ll have me arrested then daring me to respond to him.
DEREK…..
‘Those’ in The Commonwealth of ‘Virginia’, know that HE is a Wanted Piece of DUNG
‘THOSE’, are Country-Wide…..
‘Those’ are CONCERNED…..HE IS BEING WATCHED!
Well at least his threat toward you is well documented. Perhaps you should report HIM to the authorities. I suspect that if he is a registered lobbyist with the legislature, he is fair game to contact. Just a thought.
Ha ha ha ha, what a moron! Moron says, “I’m an NRA member”. BFD. I know people who were NRA members when they were 8 years old. I think what moron really meant to say was, “I have guns and I’ll shoot you.” Typical weak moron.
At least he proved to you that he’s a liar. As if there was doubt.
Moron is just another big government grifter. Taxpayers need to demand that big government stop supporting such “people”.
De-fund big government.
If you send us the video we will post it.
The full hearing video is:
https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/VideoPlayer.aspx?eventID=2443575804_2014031000&committeeID=2718
It is about 1 hour 51 minutes into the video.
If you just want the Barney Bisop testimoney I posted it up here:
https://youtu.be/9CP6WkKCiaw
Florida must not care how much money they are losing by the law you must register as a sex offender after two days there and be on their registry the rest of your life, even if you don’t live there. We are going to Mississippi on a week long vacation. Screw you Florida.
As always “ Follow the Money” Kansas City has several programs for helping the homeless some charitable some city financed . The policy is always “no questions asked” they offer advice for those that want it as well as a list of charitable provisions. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be. Are you sure his name isn’t Barney Fife. He is sure giving Florida a bad name.
Derek, should CROWN this Derelict with a LIFETIME SHIITAKE AWARD!
He can join the Books and other spineless ones!
That statement from book sent to the irs is enough to shut down her c3 or at least have her removed from her own nonprofit so I brought Down lungsfull who will report book?
The information just keeps flowing:
Blarney’s Clients:
https://www.floridalobbyist.gov/LobbyistInformation/LobbyistDetail/5126?year=2021&Branch=L
Teflon Ron’s Clients:
https://www.floridalobbyist.gov/LobbyistInformation/LobbyistDetail/4812?year=2021&Branch=L
More on Blarney:
https://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/search/label/Barney%20Bishop
Too bad the blog seems to have died last August.
And lest we forget, our favourite lobbyist:
https://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/search/label/Ron%20Book
http://ronandlaurenbook.blogspot.com/
Someone who has threatened Derek, but I’ll let him discuss that if he wishes to do so.
Blarney seems to have had a number of failed ventures documented at sunbiz.org. Here are the pies he currently has his paws into:
THE SMART JUSTICE ALLIANCE, INC.
SMART JUSTICE FOUNDATION, INC.
DOWNTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF TALLAHASSEE, INC.
NATIONAL EMERGENCY RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC
BARNEY BISHOP CONSULTING, LLC
PARKSIDE PLACE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION OF TALLAHASSEE, INC.
THE ECONOMIC CLUB OF FLORIDA, INC.
Z.D.B. INDUSTRIES, LLC [https://zdbindustries.com/]
Thats why I spoke up and confronted him and I copied other criminal justice reform and prison reform advocates about him and his antithetical towards convicted felons who are registered citizens. Plus hes not a justice reform advocate at all by his attitude. Including our situation there are 9 punishment schemes in the State of Florida that need to be repealed to have a liberal, progressive, rehabilitative, restorative and socialized view of corrections and a better justice system going forward.
The Abolition of and the End of:
1.) Florida’s Sex Offender Registry.
2.) Florida’s Career Criminal/Habitual Felony Offender/Repeat Offender Registry.
3.) Florida’s Death Penalty/Capital Punishment.
4.) Florida’s Natural Life Sentencing Without Parole of Violent Offenders. (Natural Life Sentences Should Have A Maximum 25 Year Cap.)
5.) Florida’s Civil Commitment of those deemed to be Sexual Predators.
6.) Florida’s Civil Commitment of those deemed to be Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.
7.) Florida’s Direct Filing Against Minors to Prosecute and Convict them as Adults.
8.) Florida’s use of Minimum Mandatory Sentencing.
9.) Florida’s use of the Indefinite Closed Management/Indefinite Solitary Confinement of its Incarcerated Persons.
All of these 9 items above are the biggest money makers in our corrupt system.
Wow. Very sad to know that he is speaking out of both sides of his mouth in regards to criminal justice. He is not healthy for the safety of communities acting in the way he is.
Who are his lobbying clients? Do we know?
Might be helpful to have a more concrete idea of whose interests Barney Bishop represents when he writes or speaks.
A few sheriff’s offices. Makes sense.
https://floridalobbyist.gov/CompensationReportSearch/FirmDetail?reportId=48271
One of those few sheriffs’ offices is Wakulla County. They are compensating him.
Isn’t City Walk, against whom he published a column, located in Wakulla County?
If City Walk is policed by one of his clients, he should have disclosed that fact in his column.
Great resource, FAC! Wish I could figure out better how to navigate it.
YES!!! HOLY COW! Now it makes a lot more sense.
Read this: https://www.wtxl.com/news/local-news/wakulla-county-to-pay-160-000-to-settle-lawsuit-with-city-walk-urban-mission
Now we know what’s up!
Hopefully, Renee Miller will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the shelter is in Leon County at 1709 Mahan Drive in Tallahassee.
I did get lost in this thread. If you are talking about the transition houses, then yes, City Walk was trying to open up some in Wakulla, but the shelter that Bishop was writing about is in Tallahassee. But I now see your tie-in with Bishop representing the Wakulla sheriff. Sorry about my confusion. Bishop probably does hope everyone is confused about what he is doing.
They moved
He seems to fit the mold of most of these anti-registered citizen ‘jack-booted’ self-approved politicians. We need to be able to stand up to these ‘weenies’. I would love the opportunity to expose him for what he is.
Bravo. I find a lot of good content on this site. But it always seems to be FAC-original content that is the best content. I hope other news orgs start picking these up.
This is apparently a man who has tons of skeletons in his own closet. It probably wouldn’t take much to let the skeletons loose. Just sayin.
Barney Bishop is just another parasite living off of the misery of others.
He is using this SO scam to pay his mortgage as so many are.
Only a soulless and sadistic sociopath would be able to sleep at night making money that way…seems to be a lot of those around – the Book’s come immediately to mind.
What a piece of…work this guy is.