Our Recommendations

Last updated on 26 October 2010.

We have selected based on our best judgement and advice from knowledgeable friends, given the limited time available to us.

United States Senator
Marco Rubio
Kendrick Meek
Charlie Crist
etc.. 		A no brainer.
US Rep. 15th District
Bill Posey
Shannon Roberts
etc.. 		Another no brainer.
Governor
Rick Scott
Alex Sink
etc.. 		I'm afraid we're sitting this out. We're not happy with Rick Scott's record. Alex Sink is a liberal. Unfortunately, the rest of the candidates did not satisfy, even as protest votes.
Attorney General
Pam Bondi
Dan Gelber
Jim Lewis
Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Atwater
Loranne Ausley
Ken Mazzie
Tom Stearns
Commissioner of Agriculture
Adam Putnam
Scott Maddox
Ira Chester
Thad Hamilton
State Representative, District 30
Ritch Workman
Amy Tidd
State Supreme Court Retention
Charles T. Canady
Jorge Labarga
James E. C. Perry
Ricky L. Polston 		Bold means Yes. Plain means No. I am basing this decision on their positions on Amendment 9, which would allow us to vote on opting out of Obama-Care. Canady and Polston wanted to allow it on the ballot, the others voted to remove it. See their opinion here.
Fifth District Court of Appeals Retention
Jay Cohen
Jacquiline R. Griffin
Bruce W. Jacobus
David A. Monaco
Vincent G. Torpy 		Bold means Yes. Plain means No.
Circuit Court Judge, 18th Circuit, Group 3
Oscar Hotusing
Jessica Recksiedler
Supervisor Soil and Water, Group 2
Allen Cowart
Tamala Michonski
Sebastian Inlet Commission, District 4
Jay Mills
Ann Perry
Sebastian Inlet Commission, District 5
Jim Culberson
Joseph "Joe" Pearce
Supervisor Soil and Water, Group 4
Sybrina Anderson
Gabriel E. Johnson
Matt Susin
Palm Bay City Council, Seat 4
Kristine Marie Isnardi
Benjamin J. Kiszkiel 		It seems clear that Mr. Kiszkiel, a past president of the firefighters, is running in major part to unseat Ms. Isnardi for her vote to reduce the city's pension obligations to the firefighters. First, I agree that some kind of reform is needed-the whole pension model is outdated and unsustainable, especially for public employees. And second, Mr. Kiszkiel does not even mention his position on this issue on his website, which I feel is not entirely straightforward.
Palm Bay City Council, Seat 5
Ken Greene
Sandra Karwel
Milo Matthew Zonka 		The pension issue for firefighters seems to be the "hot" issue this go-around. Mr. Greene, a former council-member, has pledged to restore the pension benefits, whereas Mr. Zonka was vocal proponent of the measure. Ms. Karwel is running due to an alleged fraud committed by a city employee against her family, a cause for a lawsuit but not in itself a good motivation for a candidacy. Possibly, Mr. Zonka could be more diplomatic and circumspect in his public and private dealings on this matter: officials should use conciliatory language whenever possible. However, it took real courage to confront the pension issue. In addition, the openness of his website to all the news-favorable and unfavorable-on this and the "trash bin" controversy is commendable.
Constitutional Amendment 1: Repeal of Campaign Financing Requirement
YES Government funding of elections is dangerous, because it has the potential of allowing those already in power to influence the outcome. Also, it is immoral because it forces those who abhor a candidate's values to support him through tax assessments. It is enough for government to ensure free poll access and just count the votes correctly.
Constitutional Amendment 2: Military Ad Valorem Tax Credit
YES Apart from the additional help this gives to them, overseas military personnel should be encouraged to have their homes in Florida even if they're stationed elsewhere (their families aren't necessarily). Later, when they return, they make ideal residents and will already be here. If you vote NO (and you have an argument here), then it would be because you think that all all rates should be the same for everyone-there's already too much fiddling and special this/special that in the tax code. So, take your pick...
Constitutional Amendment 4: Referenda for Local Gov't Land Use Plans
NO The actual effect will likely be to limit and discourage the development of up-to-date land use plans, because they will be subject to referendum, presumably even when they are changed. We already see too little foresight from local government. If we don't like the plans they are likely to make, we need different leaders.
Constitutional Amendment 5: Standards for Legislative Redistricting
NO Some provisions here are fine, such as continuity. However, provisions such as "favor or disfavor" and "deny racial or language minorities an equal opportunity" are almost wholly subjective and unenforceable. A much better approach to preventing these abuses would have been to understand and prevent directly the actual tactics used in redistricting by abusive legislatures (such as torturous boundaries either to concentrate or dilute natural constituencies). As written, all that will happen will be endless battles in the courts. Actually, given this subjectivity, the effect might be to deflect more effective reform, or even, to encourage greater abuse in the name of prevention.
Constitutional Amendment 6: Standards for Congressional Redistricting
NO See previous. Same language, but applied to US congressional districts.
Constitutional Amendment 8: Revision to Class Size Amendment
YES Actually, the entire class size amendment should be repealed--class size is a surface issue. However, this amendment seems to grant a (very slight) reprieve in the form of averaging over a given school (albeit with the unintended consequence of incentivizing districts to combine schools so that averaging can occur over more classes). The actual issues with our schools are much more deeply rooted, however--in values, the lack of responsibility and authority of parents, and the involvement of public teacher unions.
Non-Binding Advisory: Balanced Federal Budget Amendment
YES By all means-though it has no effect in law. We can't send too many messages on this topic.
Charter Amendment: Require Financial Review of Future Amendments
NO This requires the charter review committee to get a financial impact review for any amendments they recommend. That seems innocuous, but who will do the review? This could be used as a means of blocking amendments unduly, if the reviewer is not disinterested in the outcome.
Charter Amendment: Allows a City to Vote on Amendments Affecting Them
YES Under the principle of local control, voters in a city or town who will be affected by a county amendment should be allowed to voter prior to its implementation.
Charter Amendment: County Commission Must Review Citizen Recommendations
NO This certainly seems to reflect a high degree of frustration at commissioners' for their non-responsiveness. Creating a process for citizens to petition the commission that requires the commission to respond directly to the each one has a certain surface appeal-one could at least say, at election time, "see how commissioner X responded to this wonderful proposal". But notice, the commission has no obligation to say yes to anything. And further, it can bog the commission down in acres of cranky petitions-it isn't only sensible people who petition, cranks usually have more time. Fundamentally, there is just no substitute for a good commissioner, and that's where the focus of our attention should be.
Charter Amendment: Move Language to Preamble
NO I'm going to start with NO here, because it seems all we're doing is moving language already in the charter to the preamble. This has the effect, I believe, of making it non-binding. The language in question sounds preamble-ish, but also fundamental and important. I think I'd like a convincing story on how there is no alteration in the legal effect before I approved.
Authorize School Board to Continue 0.25 Millage Surcharge
NO There are a lot of families hurting in this county, and many more will join them in the coming months. Taxes have to be cut to the bone, and even, perhaps, good programs in the schools. That's pre-supposing there is no more fat to cut in the school budgets.