May 4, 2023 • 22 mins
Nearly 7 years ago, one of the worst mass shootings in the history of the United States of America was inflicted on Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. In those 7 years, millions has been donated to an organization called onePULSE but now questions are surfacing about where that money went and some wonder if the owner of Pulse Nightclub is chasing after a big payday.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So the last couple of days,we've been talking on and off about this
situation with the Pulse nightclub, andessentially it's like, hey, a lot
of time has gone by. Thishappened back in twenty sixteen. There's been
all sorts of talk about doing somesort of memorial, but nothing's come to
fruition. And all that time,and there's a lot of question marks,
at least in my head about whythings aren't happening and who is maybe being
(00:24):
greedy or not greedy about this,And maybe we'll get down to some of
that. Here. We've got CommissionerKathy Shehn. Sorry, Patty she Had
excused he can't read his own hadexcuse me joining us on the show.
I'm sorry for screwing up your name. I've been called worse, Patty she
Had. We appreciate you joining usnumber one. Uh. And I saw
(00:46):
some of your quotes and articles aboutthis, and it seemed to me,
maybe I'm wrong here, tell meif I'm not being fair with saying this,
but it seemed to me like youwere pretty fired up about this.
I am fired up about it,and uh, you know, and and
and true to disclosure, I havenot been involved with the organization for about
five years. UM. I hadmy falling out with them years ago.
(01:07):
Um, you know, in thespirit of community unity, I had hoped
that the One Pulse Foundation would dothe right thing by the families, and
I didn't want any of my dramawith Barbara to get involved with any of
that. But you know what theywhat my angelus says, when someone shows
you their true colors, believe them. Yeah right, yeah, And I
got a I got a bellue fullof it. Let me tell you so,
(01:29):
UM, I walked away from myown stantity. UM, I got
some help. And I'm gonna tellanybody, if you deal with something as
as as horrific, as as theaftermonth of Pulse like we were, I
just need to walk away from itand get some help. I mean I
was. I was in it,you know, pretty much for two years.
I helped get the you know,um Interrememorial put up. You know,
that'll help get a lot of thatdonated work with some of our you
(01:53):
know, great partners who donated allthat, you know, and thank God,
that's the that is the that thatMemoire Intimemorial is the property of the
Foundation, not Barbara Poma. Sothat will at least be something that will
remain in you know, and ourbasically the communities, m you know,
(02:14):
property and stuff like that, Imean, under our control. But yeah,
there's a lot going on, man, that's interesting. I didn't know
that that was the case. Well, when you say it's the property of
the foundation, Barbara Poma only steppeddown from the foundation, uh month ago,
not even how long was that,I don't know. I can't remember
exactly when it was she she steppeddown, but it was just this week
(02:37):
that they said that that they werenot going to be able to get the
property for the foundation. All right, I'm just going and I'm thinking that
might have had something to do withwhy she's no longer with the foundation,
right, Yeah, it seems likethere's definitely some consternation there. But I'm
just gonna be honest with you andthen you steer me straight because you know
a lot more about this obviously thanI do. With your experience and being
(02:57):
so connected to this. When Ilook at some of the stories, at
least thus far, it looks alittle bit to me like Barbara Poma and
her husband might have been trying toutilize this to profit, to get more
money out of the property than maybeit was worth, or to try to
get some kind of payday out ofthis situation. They refused the money from
the city when that was offered manyyears ago. It seems that they've refused
(03:20):
this latest offer for the one pulsedeal that blew everything up in their faces
here. I know they are trottingout this idea this morning, that it's
not their idea not to sell,but it's this third partner who just so
happened to be a really close afriend of them that has in some business
ventures with them. Is this somethingthat has to do with money or am
I getting this wrong? Hey,Sean, I don't see how it's anything
(03:43):
but money, you know. Imean, I'm just going to go back
to my history of Barbara. Iknew Barbara many many years before the shooting
happened, and I had a goodrelationship with her. And nobody could have
defended Barbara more strongly than I didon the ten days on that hot street
when she wasn't even around by theway. Um, I defended her,
and I defended her very strongly.Um. But I have since seen a
(04:06):
different side of this person and umand it's been a it's really really unfortunate.
It's been professionally difficult, but it'sall. It was also really personally
difficult. Now, yeah, backin back in December of sixteen, when
the city offered I believe two pointtwo million as a purchase price for the
club, and she turned it downand she said, I think, and
(04:30):
I don't want to speak out ofturn, but she said something like it
was too personal or too close toher. She had an attachment to it.
There was no talk back then ofa third party or third exactly exactly.
I'm so glad that you said thatthere was absolutely have fart about this.
That was there was no third party. Okay, So when they refused
(04:53):
our offer, the city's offer,I'm just gonna say the city's offer,
okay. Well, you push pushedhard for the city to buy it,
see family. Okay, So whenthey were when they turned down our offer,
there was no third party, oursecond party involved with this, all
right. So if they had thepartner at that time, we certainly weren't
(05:14):
aware of it. And if theyneeded the money so bad, why did
they have to borrow money later fromthis third person? None of this makes
sense financially. None of this makessense on the timeline. So you guys
are onto something. Yeah, Imean it sounds like And now I wonder
because of their involvement with one pauseand her stepping down, like because um,
(05:36):
to be completely honest with you,there, I've been a lot of
people and I found a link thismorning when I was trying to do my
research for today's interview of someone agroup of people that is completely against having
any sort of museum there. Buta lot of documents were attached to what
seemed to be a lot of justprofit making on either the foundations or perhaps
(06:00):
the couple's part. And I don'tnow. It just seems all confusing and
considering a lot of people that aretouched to I'm sure a lot of people
that have donated already and hopes thatthis is going to help the survivor's families
and the victims families, and nowit just seems to be a big old
mess and where do you go fromhere? Well, and this is the
(06:21):
thing, Sabrina, we have toseparate Barbara Poma now from the foundation because
the foundation has now said enough.You know, and I liken it too.
You know, if you have cancerand you cut out the cancer.
You know, you keep on living, and I think this foundation does have
(06:42):
um, you know, even thoughthey're they gotta believe me, they got
a black eye from this. ButI have since had some conversations with them,
which I haven't had any contact withthem in many, many years because
of this crazy toxic work environment thatthat was that was there. Um.
I think that there are some wellintentioned people there that do want to do
the right thing by the families.It's going to be hard for them to
(07:04):
basically, you know, kind ofmake that up to everybody and let them
understand that this is going to bethis is a new day and this is
not the same situation than it was. But you have to also understand there's
not a lot of people who arestill on Barbara's court. I don't don't
get how um you know, Imean, there are people who will believe
(07:27):
in people no matter how many horriblethings they do. I think we've seen
this in politics. Well what aboutthis commissioner she handed when I when I
see this story and get some moreof the details from you, the worst
thing about it to me isn't evenjust the commodification of pulse and trying to
make more money off the property andsome of the other things that I'm sure
I go beyond what I even knowby a long shot. But it's really
(07:51):
what seems to happen with Barbara Pomais that anytime criticism has lobbed at her,
she either deflects it to somebody elselike this brand mystery partner that is
the one that doesn't want to sellpolls, or deflects behind the tragedy of
Pulse itself, which to me isone of the worst things you could possibly
do, to use that as ashield when really your motivations are different than
(08:13):
you're pretending. Bingo, I can'tI can't add anything else to that.
I mean, I was very honoredto be a part of bringing this city
together in love, you know,after that happened, it was very much
unity. I made sure Barbara wasbrought into all of the events and include
(08:35):
it, and I think she's coopted that. I think that. You
know, we did the one yearmemorial at Lake Eola. It was a
beautiful event we had, and thenwe had the dedication of the at the
two year mark of the inner orMemorial, and from that on out it
(08:56):
just became it no longer became acommunity event. It no longer became something
about community. It became something verymuch I think profit driven, Yeah,
to benefit them, And how elsecan you explain? I think what's happening
now, frankly, is that they'retrying to get us to offer them imminent
(09:18):
domain after they've got after they've alreadygotten insurance settlement. Okay, they had
business insurance. You know, they'vegot a business. You know, they
got a settlement from their insurance companyon their losses. Did you make she's
made over a million dollars as theexecutive director over seven years? Wow?
Yeah degree the year to be theexecutive director Okay, multipi at time seven?
(09:39):
Yeah. And people, I'm surewho are donating money to this probably
didn't think that that necessarily it's theway this stuff was going to go.
But yeah, I think a lotof people feel like they were they were
they were taken where taken? Wheredo you think this should go? Now?
Do you think, like, doyou think that this should be as
some people are saying, a publicthing in a different location that is respectful
(10:03):
and a great place for people toyou know, for aflect back on what
happened with polls or do you thinkit has to be at this location and
something else should be done against this, Barbara Poma to make sure that things
are fair or what? Well,this is the problem with eminent domain.
You pay even higher than its value. Okay, So do we really want
(10:26):
to reward this behavior? And maybethis was the plan all along? I
know that sounds very cynical, butthat's all I can think of now.
Was just the highest way to monetizethis murder that happened in this location?
Is there a precedent? I didn'teven know you could use eminent domain for
something like a memorial or a museum. I thought that was mostly I know
(10:46):
this is going to sound pedestrian,but I thought it was just for building
roads. I thought it was justtaking houses. We're buying your house so
we could build more roads. Wemust be able to justify eminent domain because
of the federal designation and other things. But do we really want to?
I mean, do we want toreward this dreadful behavior? You know?
(11:07):
Do we want to? Yeah?I see what we're saying. Yeah,
this is all the time when weget fired up. Yeah, I mean
the problem here is, you go, would we like to have it at
this location, would this be best? And then that's one set of problems.
But then you go, if wecould take this land through them in
(11:28):
a domain, we're rewarding somebody whohas engaged in some of the worst behavior
around a mass tragedy that you possiblycould engage in, and we're lining their
pockets for for what for for Zoe, Who's who's kind of messed up the
name of this group? And you'reright, I think you know one post
deserves another chance aside from the poemasthey deserve another chance to kind of map
(11:50):
something out new and show that theycould do something differently. And I think
that they deserve that because I thinkthey made the right decision by parting ways
with her, which could not havebeen an easy decision. Believe me.
I have been attacked by the bythe pol proper people, believe me.
And I'm getting I'm getting hammered onsocial media right now. But I don't
(12:13):
care. I'm a big girl,you know, I don't care about that.
I don't mind taking difficult positions.I've done it my whole life.
I mean, I'm an out lesbianin politics. I mean, if I
haven't taken some hearts, I don'tknow who has, you know, give
me a break. But what reallybothers me about this is the monetization of
the murders, is the constant driftingand the way people have been treated.
(12:39):
I mean, Christine leaning In isone of the mothers who one of the
Pulse victims. And I was therethe day that we were doing the federal
designation. I hadn't been there verymuch because I'd already had I had already
had enough of the One Pole Foundationin Barbara. But I went to that
event out of respect to Congressman SotoBen, Congressman Val Demings, and Congresswoman
(13:03):
Stephanie Stephanie Murphy. I went therefor them, okay, for to get
that federal for that federal designation.And Christine leannan and showed up and she
was not invited because she would personand nada with the with the with this
group. And she started to holler, you're trying to make money off the
death of my son, and Barbarawanted her arrested. Wow, okay,
(13:28):
okay. The police, the policeon site came to me and said,
Commissioner, we don't want to arrestthis lady. What can you do?
Can you help us. So Iwalked over to Christine and I gave her
a hug, and I said,you have every right to be angry,
and you have every right to beupset. You've been treated terribly and I'm
(13:48):
sorry, but you cannot get arrestedtoday and we cannot let them win.
Please come with me, and CarlosGarama Smith was with me too, by
the way, I was on oneside of Ricrlos said a few words to
her and we walked her off theproperty. God, that's wild. Well,
I think it's not hard, butthat is that's the kind of stuff
(14:11):
that I've been dealing with, yeah, and regularly, and these families,
and these families have been dealing withif they have treated her that way.
And now Christine's outspoken, but youknow, she has every right to be
angry. She lost her only son, right, of course, he has
every right to be mad. Butthe thing that comes to mind here is
that when you see everybody's reaction tothis, I'm glad you're talking to us
(14:31):
right now, because most people thatsee these stories aren't aren't aware of these
details, aren't aware of the behaviorfrom the poem of family. And some
of the other folks who were involvedin this, who had you know,
some grifter tendencies here and when theysee the story, they just see one
Poles Poles nightclub and that is ashield between these people and I think more
(14:52):
broader and people around the country.Yeah, it's it's to me one of
those things that's incredibly frustrated because ifpeople know this, if this information that
you're saying gets out further, they'llunderstand that this is not an attack on
Pulse by any means. This isan attack on Hey, what is going
on behind the scenes here with thisperson who has been acting in their own
(15:13):
self interest in a case where youshould be worried about anything, but you
should be worried about the memories ofthe people who were lost in the families
that were impacted by you know,the post nightclub shooting in twenty sixteen.
Do you have seen anything but takingcare of any anybody else? I mean,
the only people who've been taking careof the families has been the Orlando
(15:35):
United Resource Services, which is partof the center now they now run it.
We used to run the Orlando UnitedAssistant Center. That's the counseling arm
that's getting help to people, andall those kinds of things. That's the
only direct service that's been offered.And we had to do that because they
weren't getting any help from One Pulse. And they actually said, oh,
(15:56):
that wasn't part of our mission nonsense. They had it in their mission statement.
They took it out because that wasthe hard work. They didn't if
they didn't they didn't want even thehard work. They didn't want to do
the counseling. They didn't want tohave to deal with people's emotions. They
didn't want to have to help themput their lives back together again. They
just wanted a big, shiny concertvenue. At one point in time,
(16:18):
Barbara slipped up and said, ohmy concert venue to me. Wow,
Yeah, there's a lot to process. Yeah, you realize. Do you
think that she's done anything illegal here? There's a big difference between unethical and
illegal. Um, And that's theproblem. I think we see a lot
of people doing things that are unethicaland maybe don't get to the point being
(16:40):
of being illegal. But what Iwant to know is, um, she
kept saying that she was gonna doit. I was there when you fetched
Keen Rosarius say they were going todonate the club. So how can they
go back on that promise that they'vemade over many, many years to donate
the site with this business partner thing. I mean, if it's if it's
(17:03):
not if it's not illegal, itcertainly is unethical. Yeah, it looks
like there's some things that could belooked into here, because even just on
the surface, it's obviously a situationthat went about as sideways as one could
go. And we can only hopenow that we can pull the nose up
here a little bit and figure outhow to proceed forward with best respect to
(17:25):
the people affected by the post nightclubattack. But we are une, but
we are not unique. This wasso frustrating to me, Sean, is
that in these mass shootings all acrossAmerica, there's always not for profits that
step in. There's always all kindsof group that step in and say they
are not they are going to helpthe victims, and they never do.
(17:47):
And there is a group called theCompassion Fund and they go and it's unfortunate.
These people have to go from placeto place to place to place,
and they travel and they basically kindof help you do the best practices to
make sure that people get the help. So when we did the one fund
at the City of Orlando, withthe Quality Florida, we make sure one
hundred percent of that thirty four milliondollars went directly directly to those affected families,
(18:12):
survivors, those who were injured,and anyone who was in that club
got at least enough money to getsome counseling. You know, it was
a it was a entirely brands parentprocess. It was a community involved initiative.
So the one so Barbara had,Barbara knew how to do it right.
(18:34):
She saw how we did it right. How much how much of money
you think the Poema family has benefitedoff of this? How much money you
think they've made off of this wholething after this, the nightclub attack.
I can't tell you because I don'tknow how much money they got in an
insurance settlement, because you know theydid. Okay, okay, you have
a business that gets shot up,you have business insurance. But I don't
I can't tell as a private citisthan how much you've benefited from that.
(18:57):
That's say, you know that's notthat's not public knowledge, right, But
they benefited in that way, okay, And they kept telling everybody, oh,
we got nothing, and it was. It was. It was awful
during the time that we were givingout the money of the victims. But
Barbara was actually complaining that she didn'tget any o. My god, Yeah,
(19:22):
she didn't get any She didn't getany benefit of that thirty four million
dollars. And you know, therewere times when I could have bit my
tongue clean off, and that wasone of them. Yeah, I don't.
I don't blame me, I think, but I stood by her.
I stood by her because I believedin her. And I understand all these
other people, you know, whomight still believe in her. Be careful
(19:45):
right here. You know, youmight find yourself Ryan not about bus next,
because Lord knows I did. Andyou know what I did. I
walked away. I didn't want toget involved in all their craziness when they
were threatening me and everything like that. You know, I went and got
myself some help because I was inthat for two years and it was a
lot. I'm at thirty eight ofthe forty nine families, you know.
I helped you know out in alot of different ways. And I was
(20:08):
flat out exhausted and emotionally drained.And then I was attacked by them on
tabom that. Of course you wouldbe exhausted. You're the face of Orlando
to a lot of the people lookingin on us from the outside, and
to think what it's turned into afterthis, Yeah, what a mess.
God, But this is the thingthat I want to and I want to
(20:29):
express to everyone though we are stillthat community. Don't let the poemas steal
that from us. Sure, yeah, very true. Don't let and don't
let the people who you know whoare on that screen take that from us,
because that's what they're gonna think.Oh, Patty's being so divisive.
Not then it sounds like anything anythingagainst them, any criticism against them,
(20:52):
is just that right, you know, they're they're they're knocking it away with
this. But I appreciate you talkingto US Commissioner Patti Shan and number one,
I appreciate you speaking your mind.There's too few people that do that
when it comes to something that couldbe as dicey as this where you're gonna
get Yeah, and good for youfor doing that. Well, you know
(21:12):
it. It hasn't been easy.I got to do a lot of soul
searching through this. But someone hasto be the boys for these families,
and I got to know them inthe aftermath of Pulse. I got to
me, like I said, thirtyeight of the forty nine families, and
I've gotten to know a lot ofthe survivors too. Somebody has to be
their voice, and I have noproblems standing up and speaking up for them.
(21:34):
Anything. You would say to BarbaraPomo, if she's listening right now,
she probably isn't. She's not.She's not listening right now. And
I have okay after all that,after all that happened, I tried many
times to reach out and men fenceswith her and try to get her to
understand that she was going down thewrong path. And I was told I
(21:56):
wasn't important enough to be involved.I was insult to Jesus. Yeah,
I had all kinds of They madeall kinds of crazy. They made some
of the craziest allegations against me andsaid they were going to ruin my reputation
in my career. Yeah, well, good luck. Thank you, Patty.
(22:18):
We appreciate Yeah, right, thankthank you so much for taking the
time. We appreciate it. CommissionerPatty, she hand speaking your mind on
the incident with Pulst Nightclub. Clappinghere at people really enjoyed the conversation for
sure. A lot of positive,positive feedback on the chat side of things
that was illuminating. I think we'lltalk a little more about this and we'll
(22:41):
get into more of your comments ordispatches in just a moment, that's coming
up next on the News Junkie
So the last couple of days,we've been talking on and off about this
situation with the Pulse nightclub, andessentially it's like, hey, a lot
of time has gone by. Thishappened back in twenty sixteen. There's been
all sorts of talk about doing somesort of memorial, but nothing's come to
fruition. And all that time,and there's a lot of question marks,
at least in my head about whythings aren't happening and who is maybe being
(00:24):
greedy or not greedy about this,And maybe we'll get down to some of
that. Here. We've got CommissionerKathy Shehn. Sorry, Patty she Had
excused he can't read his own hadexcuse me joining us on the show.
I'm sorry for screwing up your name. I've been called worse, Patty she
Had. We appreciate you joining usnumber one. Uh. And I saw
(00:46):
some of your quotes and articles aboutthis, and it seemed to me,
maybe I'm wrong here, tell meif I'm not being fair with saying this,
but it seemed to me like youwere pretty fired up about this.
I am fired up about it,and uh, you know, and and
and true to disclosure, I havenot been involved with the organization for about
five years. UM. I hadmy falling out with them years ago.
(01:07):
Um, you know, in thespirit of community unity, I had hoped
that the One Pulse Foundation would dothe right thing by the families, and
I didn't want any of my dramawith Barbara to get involved with any of
that. But you know what theywhat my angelus says, when someone shows
you their true colors, believe them. Yeah right, yeah, And I
got a I got a bellue fullof it. Let me tell you so,
(01:29):
UM, I walked away from myown stantity. UM, I got
some help. And I'm gonna tellanybody, if you deal with something as
as as horrific, as as theaftermonth of Pulse like we were, I
just need to walk away from itand get some help. I mean I
was. I was in it,you know, pretty much for two years.
I helped get the you know,um Interrememorial put up. You know,
that'll help get a lot of thatdonated work with some of our you
(01:53):
know, great partners who donated allthat, you know, and thank God,
that's the that is the that thatMemoire Intimemorial is the property of the
Foundation, not Barbara Poma. Sothat will at least be something that will
remain in you know, and ourbasically the communities, m you know,
(02:14):
property and stuff like that, Imean, under our control. But yeah,
there's a lot going on, man, that's interesting. I didn't know
that that was the case. Well, when you say it's the property of
the foundation, Barbara Poma only steppeddown from the foundation, uh month ago,
not even how long was that,I don't know. I can't remember
exactly when it was she she steppeddown, but it was just this week
(02:37):
that they said that that they werenot going to be able to get the
property for the foundation. All right, I'm just going and I'm thinking that
might have had something to do withwhy she's no longer with the foundation,
right, Yeah, it seems likethere's definitely some consternation there. But I'm
just gonna be honest with you andthen you steer me straight because you know
a lot more about this obviously thanI do. With your experience and being
(02:57):
so connected to this. When Ilook at some of the stories, at
least thus far, it looks alittle bit to me like Barbara Poma and
her husband might have been trying toutilize this to profit, to get more
money out of the property than maybeit was worth, or to try to
get some kind of payday out ofthis situation. They refused the money from
the city when that was offered manyyears ago. It seems that they've refused
(03:20):
this latest offer for the one pulsedeal that blew everything up in their faces
here. I know they are trottingout this idea this morning, that it's
not their idea not to sell,but it's this third partner who just so
happened to be a really close afriend of them that has in some business
ventures with them. Is this somethingthat has to do with money or am
I getting this wrong? Hey,Sean, I don't see how it's anything
(03:43):
but money, you know. Imean, I'm just going to go back
to my history of Barbara. Iknew Barbara many many years before the shooting
happened, and I had a goodrelationship with her. And nobody could have
defended Barbara more strongly than I didon the ten days on that hot street
when she wasn't even around by theway. Um, I defended her,
and I defended her very strongly.Um. But I have since seen a
(04:06):
different side of this person and umand it's been a it's really really unfortunate.
It's been professionally difficult, but it'sall. It was also really personally
difficult. Now, yeah, backin back in December of sixteen, when
the city offered I believe two pointtwo million as a purchase price for the
club, and she turned it downand she said, I think, and
(04:30):
I don't want to speak out ofturn, but she said something like it
was too personal or too close toher. She had an attachment to it.
There was no talk back then ofa third party or third exactly exactly.
I'm so glad that you said thatthere was absolutely have fart about this.
That was there was no third party. Okay, So when they refused
(04:53):
our offer, the city's offer,I'm just gonna say the city's offer,
okay. Well, you push pushedhard for the city to buy it,
see family. Okay, So whenthey were when they turned down our offer,
there was no third party, oursecond party involved with this, all
right. So if they had thepartner at that time, we certainly weren't
(05:14):
aware of it. And if theyneeded the money so bad, why did
they have to borrow money later fromthis third person? None of this makes
sense financially. None of this makessense on the timeline. So you guys
are onto something. Yeah, Imean it sounds like And now I wonder
because of their involvement with one pauseand her stepping down, like because um,
(05:36):
to be completely honest with you,there, I've been a lot of
people and I found a link thismorning when I was trying to do my
research for today's interview of someone agroup of people that is completely against having
any sort of museum there. Buta lot of documents were attached to what
seemed to be a lot of justprofit making on either the foundations or perhaps
(06:00):
the couple's part. And I don'tnow. It just seems all confusing and
considering a lot of people that aretouched to I'm sure a lot of people
that have donated already and hopes thatthis is going to help the survivor's families
and the victims families, and nowit just seems to be a big old
mess and where do you go fromhere? Well, and this is the
(06:21):
thing, Sabrina, we have toseparate Barbara Poma now from the foundation because
the foundation has now said enough.You know, and I liken it too.
You know, if you have cancerand you cut out the cancer.
You know, you keep on living, and I think this foundation does have
(06:42):
um, you know, even thoughthey're they gotta believe me, they got
a black eye from this. ButI have since had some conversations with them,
which I haven't had any contact withthem in many, many years because
of this crazy toxic work environment thatthat was that was there. Um.
I think that there are some wellintentioned people there that do want to do
the right thing by the families.It's going to be hard for them to
(07:04):
basically, you know, kind ofmake that up to everybody and let them
understand that this is going to bethis is a new day and this is
not the same situation than it was. But you have to also understand there's
not a lot of people who arestill on Barbara's court. I don't don't
get how um you know, Imean, there are people who will believe
(07:27):
in people no matter how many horriblethings they do. I think we've seen
this in politics. Well what aboutthis commissioner she handed when I when I
see this story and get some moreof the details from you, the worst
thing about it to me isn't evenjust the commodification of pulse and trying to
make more money off the property andsome of the other things that I'm sure
I go beyond what I even knowby a long shot. But it's really
(07:51):
what seems to happen with Barbara Pomais that anytime criticism has lobbed at her,
she either deflects it to somebody elselike this brand mystery partner that is
the one that doesn't want to sellpolls, or deflects behind the tragedy of
Pulse itself, which to me isone of the worst things you could possibly
do, to use that as ashield when really your motivations are different than
(08:13):
you're pretending. Bingo, I can'tI can't add anything else to that.
I mean, I was very honoredto be a part of bringing this city
together in love, you know,after that happened, it was very much
unity. I made sure Barbara wasbrought into all of the events and include
(08:35):
it, and I think she's coopted that. I think that. You
know, we did the one yearmemorial at Lake Eola. It was a
beautiful event we had, and thenwe had the dedication of the at the
two year mark of the inner orMemorial, and from that on out it
(08:56):
just became it no longer became acommunity event. It no longer became something
about community. It became something verymuch I think profit driven, Yeah,
to benefit them, And how elsecan you explain? I think what's happening
now, frankly, is that they'retrying to get us to offer them imminent
(09:18):
domain after they've got after they've alreadygotten insurance settlement. Okay, they had
business insurance. You know, they'vegot a business. You know, they
got a settlement from their insurance companyon their losses. Did you make she's
made over a million dollars as theexecutive director over seven years? Wow?
Yeah degree the year to be theexecutive director Okay, multipi at time seven?
(09:39):
Yeah. And people, I'm surewho are donating money to this probably
didn't think that that necessarily it's theway this stuff was going to go.
But yeah, I think a lotof people feel like they were they were
they were taken where taken? Wheredo you think this should go? Now?
Do you think, like, doyou think that this should be as
some people are saying, a publicthing in a different location that is respectful
(10:03):
and a great place for people toyou know, for aflect back on what
happened with polls or do you thinkit has to be at this location and
something else should be done against this, Barbara Poma to make sure that things
are fair or what? Well,this is the problem with eminent domain.
You pay even higher than its value. Okay, So do we really want
(10:26):
to reward this behavior? And maybethis was the plan all along? I
know that sounds very cynical, butthat's all I can think of now.
Was just the highest way to monetizethis murder that happened in this location?
Is there a precedent? I didn'teven know you could use eminent domain for
something like a memorial or a museum. I thought that was mostly I know
(10:46):
this is going to sound pedestrian,but I thought it was just for building
roads. I thought it was justtaking houses. We're buying your house so
we could build more roads. Wemust be able to justify eminent domain because
of the federal designation and other things. But do we really want to?
I mean, do we want toreward this dreadful behavior? You know?
(11:07):
Do we want to? Yeah?I see what we're saying. Yeah,
this is all the time when weget fired up. Yeah, I mean
the problem here is, you go, would we like to have it at
this location, would this be best? And then that's one set of problems.
But then you go, if wecould take this land through them in
(11:28):
a domain, we're rewarding somebody whohas engaged in some of the worst behavior
around a mass tragedy that you possiblycould engage in, and we're lining their
pockets for for what for for Zoe, Who's who's kind of messed up the
name of this group? And you'reright, I think you know one post
deserves another chance aside from the poemasthey deserve another chance to kind of map
(11:50):
something out new and show that theycould do something differently. And I think
that they deserve that because I thinkthey made the right decision by parting ways
with her, which could not havebeen an easy decision. Believe me.
I have been attacked by the bythe pol proper people, believe me.
And I'm getting I'm getting hammered onsocial media right now. But I don't
(12:13):
care. I'm a big girl,you know, I don't care about that.
I don't mind taking difficult positions.I've done it my whole life.
I mean, I'm an out lesbianin politics. I mean, if I
haven't taken some hearts, I don'tknow who has, you know, give
me a break. But what reallybothers me about this is the monetization of
the murders, is the constant driftingand the way people have been treated.
(12:39):
I mean, Christine leaning In isone of the mothers who one of the
Pulse victims. And I was therethe day that we were doing the federal
designation. I hadn't been there verymuch because I'd already had I had already
had enough of the One Pole Foundationin Barbara. But I went to that
event out of respect to Congressman SotoBen, Congressman Val Demings, and Congresswoman
(13:03):
Stephanie Stephanie Murphy. I went therefor them, okay, for to get
that federal for that federal designation.And Christine leannan and showed up and she
was not invited because she would personand nada with the with the with this
group. And she started to holler, you're trying to make money off the
death of my son, and Barbarawanted her arrested. Wow, okay,
(13:28):
okay. The police, the policeon site came to me and said,
Commissioner, we don't want to arrestthis lady. What can you do?
Can you help us. So Iwalked over to Christine and I gave her
a hug, and I said,you have every right to be angry,
and you have every right to beupset. You've been treated terribly and I'm
(13:48):
sorry, but you cannot get arrestedtoday and we cannot let them win.
Please come with me, and CarlosGarama Smith was with me too, by
the way, I was on oneside of Ricrlos said a few words to
her and we walked her off theproperty. God, that's wild. Well,
I think it's not hard, butthat is that's the kind of stuff
(14:11):
that I've been dealing with, yeah, and regularly, and these families,
and these families have been dealing withif they have treated her that way.
And now Christine's outspoken, but youknow, she has every right to be
angry. She lost her only son, right, of course, he has
every right to be mad. Butthe thing that comes to mind here is
that when you see everybody's reaction tothis, I'm glad you're talking to us
(14:31):
right now, because most people thatsee these stories aren't aren't aware of these
details, aren't aware of the behaviorfrom the poem of family. And some
of the other folks who were involvedin this, who had you know,
some grifter tendencies here and when theysee the story, they just see one
Poles Poles nightclub and that is ashield between these people and I think more
(14:52):
broader and people around the country.Yeah, it's it's to me one of
those things that's incredibly frustrated because ifpeople know this, if this information that
you're saying gets out further, they'llunderstand that this is not an attack on
Pulse by any means. This isan attack on Hey, what is going
on behind the scenes here with thisperson who has been acting in their own
(15:13):
self interest in a case where youshould be worried about anything, but you
should be worried about the memories ofthe people who were lost in the families
that were impacted by you know,the post nightclub shooting in twenty sixteen.
Do you have seen anything but takingcare of any anybody else? I mean,
the only people who've been taking careof the families has been the Orlando
(15:35):
United Resource Services, which is partof the center now they now run it.
We used to run the Orlando UnitedAssistant Center. That's the counseling arm
that's getting help to people, andall those kinds of things. That's the
only direct service that's been offered.And we had to do that because they
weren't getting any help from One Pulse. And they actually said, oh,
(15:56):
that wasn't part of our mission nonsense. They had it in their mission statement.
They took it out because that wasthe hard work. They didn't if
they didn't they didn't want even thehard work. They didn't want to do
the counseling. They didn't want tohave to deal with people's emotions. They
didn't want to have to help themput their lives back together again. They
just wanted a big, shiny concertvenue. At one point in time,
(16:18):
Barbara slipped up and said, ohmy concert venue to me. Wow,
Yeah, there's a lot to process. Yeah, you realize. Do you
think that she's done anything illegal here? There's a big difference between unethical and
illegal. Um, And that's theproblem. I think we see a lot
of people doing things that are unethicaland maybe don't get to the point being
(16:40):
of being illegal. But what Iwant to know is, um, she
kept saying that she was gonna doit. I was there when you fetched
Keen Rosarius say they were going todonate the club. So how can they
go back on that promise that they'vemade over many, many years to donate
the site with this business partner thing. I mean, if it's if it's
(17:03):
not if it's not illegal, itcertainly is unethical. Yeah, it looks
like there's some things that could belooked into here, because even just on
the surface, it's obviously a situationthat went about as sideways as one could
go. And we can only hopenow that we can pull the nose up
here a little bit and figure outhow to proceed forward with best respect to
(17:25):
the people affected by the post nightclubattack. But we are une, but
we are not unique. This wasso frustrating to me, Sean, is
that in these mass shootings all acrossAmerica, there's always not for profits that
step in. There's always all kindsof group that step in and say they
are not they are going to helpthe victims, and they never do.
(17:47):
And there is a group called theCompassion Fund and they go and it's unfortunate.
These people have to go from placeto place to place to place,
and they travel and they basically kindof help you do the best practices to
make sure that people get the help. So when we did the one fund
at the City of Orlando, withthe Quality Florida, we make sure one
hundred percent of that thirty four milliondollars went directly directly to those affected families,
(18:12):
survivors, those who were injured,and anyone who was in that club
got at least enough money to getsome counseling. You know, it was
a it was a entirely brands parentprocess. It was a community involved initiative.
So the one so Barbara had,Barbara knew how to do it right.
(18:34):
She saw how we did it right. How much how much of money
you think the Poema family has benefitedoff of this? How much money you
think they've made off of this wholething after this, the nightclub attack.
I can't tell you because I don'tknow how much money they got in an
insurance settlement, because you know theydid. Okay, okay, you have
a business that gets shot up,you have business insurance. But I don't
I can't tell as a private citisthan how much you've benefited from that.
(18:57):
That's say, you know that's notthat's not public knowledge, right, But
they benefited in that way, okay, And they kept telling everybody, oh,
we got nothing, and it was. It was. It was awful
during the time that we were givingout the money of the victims. But
Barbara was actually complaining that she didn'tget any o. My god, Yeah,
(19:22):
she didn't get any She didn't getany benefit of that thirty four million
dollars. And you know, therewere times when I could have bit my
tongue clean off, and that wasone of them. Yeah, I don't.
I don't blame me, I think, but I stood by her.
I stood by her because I believedin her. And I understand all these
other people, you know, whomight still believe in her. Be careful
(19:45):
right here. You know, youmight find yourself Ryan not about bus next,
because Lord knows I did. Andyou know what I did. I
walked away. I didn't want toget involved in all their craziness when they
were threatening me and everything like that. You know, I went and got
myself some help because I was inthat for two years and it was a
lot. I'm at thirty eight ofthe forty nine families, you know.
I helped you know out in alot of different ways. And I was
(20:08):
flat out exhausted and emotionally drained.And then I was attacked by them on
tabom that. Of course you wouldbe exhausted. You're the face of Orlando
to a lot of the people lookingin on us from the outside, and
to think what it's turned into afterthis, Yeah, what a mess.
God, But this is the thingthat I want to and I want to
(20:29):
express to everyone though we are stillthat community. Don't let the poemas steal
that from us. Sure, yeah, very true. Don't let and don't
let the people who you know whoare on that screen take that from us,
because that's what they're gonna think.Oh, Patty's being so divisive.
Not then it sounds like anything anythingagainst them, any criticism against them,
(20:52):
is just that right, you know, they're they're they're knocking it away with
this. But I appreciate you talkingto US Commissioner Patti Shan and number one,
I appreciate you speaking your mind.There's too few people that do that
when it comes to something that couldbe as dicey as this where you're gonna
get Yeah, and good for youfor doing that. Well, you know
(21:12):
it. It hasn't been easy.I got to do a lot of soul
searching through this. But someone hasto be the boys for these families,
and I got to know them inthe aftermath of Pulse. I got to
me, like I said, thirtyeight of the forty nine families, and
I've gotten to know a lot ofthe survivors too. Somebody has to be
their voice, and I have noproblems standing up and speaking up for them.
(21:34):
Anything. You would say to BarbaraPomo, if she's listening right now,
she probably isn't. She's not.She's not listening right now. And
I have okay after all that,after all that happened, I tried many
times to reach out and men fenceswith her and try to get her to
understand that she was going down thewrong path. And I was told I
(21:56):
wasn't important enough to be involved.I was insult to Jesus. Yeah,
I had all kinds of They madeall kinds of crazy. They made some
of the craziest allegations against me andsaid they were going to ruin my reputation
in my career. Yeah, well, good luck. Thank you, Patty.
(22:18):
We appreciate Yeah, right, thankthank you so much for taking the
time. We appreciate it. CommissionerPatty, she hand speaking your mind on
the incident with Pulst Nightclub. Clappinghere at people really enjoyed the conversation for
sure. A lot of positive,positive feedback on the chat side of things
that was illuminating. I think we'lltalk a little more about this and we'll
(22:41):
get into more of your comments ordispatches in just a moment, that's coming
up next on the News Junkie
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