Save the date – 8/16 – Sole PBC Legislative Redistricting Public Hearing
As a result of the census, reformulation of voting districts are underway from the municipality level up to Congressional districts. Various criteria are used to determine the size and makeup of all of those districts and readjust them based on the changes that occurred in population and demographics over the last 10 years.
This may mean that your current Congressional Representative no longer has a district, or you no longer live in his/her district. It may mean the same for your state Senator or Representative. There are redistricting public hearings in process throughout the state. The sole redistricting meeting for Palm Beach County Citizens will be at FAU Boca Raton on August 16 at 10am.
For the latest information check the calendar with meeting details at on the public hearing schedule. You can RSVP on their calendar, but it isn’t required.
You can use a tool on the same website to create your own districts and see how difficult it is to do at: the Florida Redistricting main website.
Here’s a Post on Politics article on potential impacts locally – both Allen West’s Congressional District 22 and Lizbeth Benacquisto’s Fl Senate District 27 are at risk. (note that the article says the meeting begins at 8am, however the Redistricting website says 10am). Check the redistricting website prior to going for schedule changes.
ALERT–FLIMEN–ALERT
2) CALL THE FOLLOWING SENATORS
(EMAILS WILL NOT LIKELY BE READ BUT IF YOU BUT IF YOU DO, MAKE THE SUBJECT LINE SOMETHING LIKE “PRO-E-VERIFY”; FAXES ARE GREAT; * = MOST IMPORTANT):
SENATOR – TALLAHASSEE PHONE – DISTRICT PHONE – EMAIL – FAX
|
FLIMEN
P.O. Box 667605
Pompano Beach, FL 33066
Karen Harrington to run again for CD20
If you would like further information on Karen please click on link below.
http://www.KarenforCongress.com
Paid for by Karen Harrington for Congress Inc.
High Speed Rail Rally in Orlando, 3/14
Karen Jarosh, leader of the Tampa 912, has alerted us that high speed rail is not dead yet. Congressman John Mica, CD7 (which includes Daytona Beach and St. Augustine), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastucture committee, is holding a “Congessional Field Hearing” in the Orlando area Monday at 9:30. Invited to this public meeting is the CEO of US-Japan High Speed Rail, and the unstated purpose is to try to revive the HSR project.
Mica of course is the Congressman who has attempted to keep the project alive by building a 21 mile route linking Disney to the airport, using a local consortium. Google “Mica” and “high speed rail” and you will see some amazing claims made by this congressman who really (really) wants the project to proceed in spite of the Governor.
Tampa 912 plans to send a contingent to this meeting and is asking for grass-roots participation from around the state. These rail projects are boondoggles – we need to let them know we know this in a clear voice.
Below is the press release:
A Legislator’s Perspective on Rail, the Constitution, and Other Matters
By Fred and Iris Scheibl[ PRINT ]
As anyone following the process has discovered, there is friction among the branches of government in Tallahassee. When Governor Scott decided to reject the federal grant for building a high speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, a “gang of 25” Senators were not pleased. So displeased that they wrote a letter to Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asking for more time to circumvent the Governor’s decision before “our” $2.4 billion were allocated to California or New York, or some other “rail-friendly” state. (Click HERE to see the letter).
District 25 Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff is one of the “gang of 25” signatories, as is district 27 Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto. Both Republicans are newly elected to that body and both were supported in various ways by South Florida 912, including a prominent recommendation on our “leader’s picks”. Since we support the Governor’s decision and rationale on high speed rail (it is a boondoggle, makes no economic sense, and will likely put the state on the hook for future subsidies), we contacted both Senators for their rationale in end-running the Governor.
Senator Benaquisto described her decision as “process related’. Although she does not support using federal funds to build the rail project, and doubts that a private sector project would be profitable, she signed on to the protest letter to protect the prerogatives of the Legislative Body. She was not in the Legislature when the original rail bill was passed (which provided funding to qualify for the federal grant), but was swayed by the argument that the actions of a previous legislative session (and previous governor) could not be unilaterally overturned by the present Governor. She also is now having second thoughts about the issue.
A Conversation with Ellyn Bogdanoff
Ellyn Bogdanoff has a nuanced view of the issue. After exchanging several emails on the subject, she offered to meet with us to better explain her position. In her view, much of the issue has been obscured by trivialized media reports and she believes the constitutional issue it engenders is larger than any discussion of high speed rail.
This afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with the Senator at the comfortable Starbucks in the Gardens Mall. Accompanying her were legislative and political aides who were traveling with her throughout the district today.
We started our conversation in agreement – most of the coverage we read about the Legislative Session in the Palm Beach Post and Sun-Sentinel is superficial and doesn’t delve into the whole story.
As a member of the Florida House, the Senator supported Sun-Rail and the groundwork that was laid to qualify for federal transportation grants for the high speed rail projects. We don’t agree on this issue, but the Senator has been consistent. Irrespective of the underlying policy though, she views this current issue as one with constitutional ramifications.
While Senator Bogdanoff agrees with most (80-90%) of Governor Scott’s positions on issues, she believes that many of his actions since coming into office are arrogant, but more importantly, unconstitutional.
As a corporate CEO, he had the ability to take actions without necessarily consulting or deferring to other ‘bodies’. The state government on the other hand, is structured to assign separate powers to the legislative and executive bodies. The Governor, the executive body, does not have the authority to unilaterally overturn what the legislature had appropriated in past sessions. Nor does he have the ability to ‘legislate’. She referred us to an Orlando Sentinel article describing the contention between Governor Scott and the Legislature: (Click HERE for the article.)
Governor Crist did much that she considered unconstitutional as well, including the arbitrary extension of voting time during the 2008 election.
To Senator Bogdanoff, fidelity to the Florida State Constitution trumps any position on issues where she would otherwise agree with the Governor. If one ignores blatant constitutional violations when one agrees, then what happens in the future when other rights are being trampled?
She believes that we (ie. grassroots activists, South Florida 912, South Florida Tea Party) can and should remain ‘pure’ in our positions. She however, as a legislator, has to be focused on achieving ‘incremental’ wins. She has worked hard to have a leadership ‘seat at the table’ (Ellyn Bogdanoff now chairs the Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax) and if one behaves as a ‘bomb-thrower’, but gets nothing passed, then what is accomplished? In the give and take that her leadership role entails, if she can get 85% of what she wants, by voting for the 15% she doesn’t agree with, then she’ll do it. High speed rail was such an example – the Orlando-Tampa line was perhaps not the route she would have preferred, but she compromised to move on the larger package.
We have agreed to disagree with the Senator on high speed rail for Florida. We do not believe that the ridership projections are realistic and thus believe that any rail effort will ultimately result in requiring subsidies from the taxpayer. She believes that any private corporation agreeing to build and run the line would not do so if they didn’t think they could be profitable without subsidies.
Prior to Governor Scott’s decision, both Wisconsin and Ohio rejected similar grants. They (like us) see the entire Obama rail dream as a $57B progressive pipedream. None of these projects are likely to be profitable and will require operating subsidies to make riding them affordable. This is true of Tri-Rail and it is true with Amtrak, for which the Pew SubsidyScope Project estimates carries a subsidy of $32 for every passenger and loses money on 41 of 44 routes.
Other Topics
After our discussion of high speed rail and the separation of powers, we briefly touched on some other issues of local interest.
Key to budget restraint at the state and local level is FRS reform. The proposal as outlined by the Governor includes reduction in special-risk accrual, elimination of COLA and a 5% contribution by participants. Senator Bogdanoff considers the proposal as it stands, “dead on arrival” as there are not the votes to go that far. The bills (SB 1128 and 1130) that have been introduced by Senator Jeremy Ring (FS32), Chairman of Governmental Oversight and Accountability, are working their way through his committee, but fall short of the Scott proposal (and what is needed).
Another bill, SB1406, sponsored by Senator Bogdanoff, would introduce a 2.5 cent sales tax increase to replace the ad-valorem tax for the school systems. Although it deletes a requirement that a district school board levy the minimum millage rate necessary to provide the district’s required local effort, it does not prevent them from doing so. We suggested that this presents a double taxation case like the local Fire/Rescue sales tax proposal but she insists this is a true tax swap. She did say though to make it work, it will require an additional constitutional ballot amendment in 2012 removing school board funding from property taxes.
We ended the meeting keeping communications open. She has been willing to explain her rationale for her positions. We may not always agree on specific issues, but appreciate the Senator’s candor and openness.
What are you waiting for? ACT NOW!
You’ve stood on corners, waved signs, called and faxed your representatives to try and have an impact. But isn’t the upcoming Election ultimately what it’s all been about? Electing people who understand your positions, listen to you and who will be accountable to you?
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK!
VOTE:
Do your research, then check out our Leaders’ Picks. Then Vote! And take your neighbors with you!
Early voting locations are found here: Early Voting Locations.
CAMPAIGN:
Make phone calls or walk or put out signs for your favorite candidates – look at their websites for how you can help them. Click on Elections, pick the campaign you want to work on and click on the Candidate for their website.
SIGN-WAVE AND HAND OUT MATERIALS AT EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS:
For Central Palm Beach County locations: Joe Budd, Tami Donnally and Sherry Lee campaigns are trying to maximize volunteer shift coverage by working together to cover the main locations. Please contact any of those campaigns directly or call Melissa Nash Andrews at 561 436 5836 or melissa@tamidonnally.com to sign up to take a shift or several shifts. The Early Voting locations are open from 10-6 weekdays and 10-2 on Saturday and Sunday.
Additionally – Allen West needs Early Voting coverage at the two northern locations – Palm Beach Gardens Library and Jupiter Library for 2 hour shifts – contact Ralph Eltringham at ralphde33@gmail.com or call 561-744-5522 and give them your polling place choice, day and time committment.
Analysis of FL State Ballot Amendments by James Madison Institute
Lots of folks have questions on how to vote on the Florida State Ballot Proposals.
The James Madison Institute is a Florida-based research and educational organization engaged in the battle of ideas. The Institute’s ideas are rooted in a belief in the U.S. Constitution and such timeless ideals as limited government, economic freedom, federalism, and individual liberty coupled with individual responsibility.
South Florida 912 member Francisco Rodriguez is an active member of the James Madison Institute Palm Beach Board of Advisers.
Check out the Voter Guide for the 2010 State Ballot Proposals to get a better understanding before you vote.
It’s time to Act – Muster and get deployed NOW!!
Please save the date for our next meet-up at the Old Wellington Mall on Wed Sept 22 at 6:30pm
The Original Wellington Mall center court
12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd
Wellington , FL 33414
Yes – its short notice. But we need to step up our volunteer efforts for the imminent elections as well as make a strong showing of support for the TAB (Taxpayer Action Board) proposal, and more aggressive spending cuts at the final Palm Beach County Budget Public Hearing on 9/28.
Joe Budd, candidate for Congressional District 19 will be our key candidate speaker – with other candidates to be announced. We’ll also talk about what what we can be doing between our meetup and the 9/28 hearing to be more effective in making our positions on the budget known to the County Commissioners.
You’ve been learning about issues and fighting for your beliefs for the last year and a half – and now is the time to ACT and support your candidates in every way you can. Otherwise, what was the point? Please join us at the meetup!
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View your August 24 Sample Ballot on line
Early voting has ended as of 2pm on Sunday. Tuesday is it – Election Day!
The Supervisor of Elections was mailing out individualized-by-precinct ballots last Monday. I know that I haven’t received mine yet. However – you can view your ballot on-line. Either go to the SOE precinct finder or go to the Elections Tab at the home page of our website and click on ‘find your districts’. Fill out your address and then when you get to the screen that lists your options, click on ‘view sample ballot’, put in your party affiliation and it will bring up your ballot and polling place.
Remember – even if you aren’t registered in a political party (eg you’re NPA) – you still may have items on the ballot – Judges, School Board, etc. Please take the time to check and make sure. Every vote counts!
McCollum / Scott Debate
While this wasn’t broadcast locally – all of the sections of the debate can be viewed here! Since many of us have heard them individually – it’ll will be interesting to see the interaction in a debate. Personally, I can’t stand the commercials from either of these candidates and I wonder whether the loser will endorse the winner.