Call to Action – County Budget Meeting, 9/13/11

This is a call to action for next week’s county budget hearing, Tuesday evening, 9/13/11 at 6:00pm. The meeting is in the county government center, 301 North Olive in West Palm Beach. Come early as the meeting is expected to be crowded.

As you prepare for the meeting, here are some resources that may be useful:

• September Talking Points
• Sample email and 3 minute remarks
• The 2012 TAB Proposal – September Update
• September Budget Hearings – Some Background

Also check the “News Articles” tab on the TAB website for the latest budget stories from the Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel, and others.

Those on the “receiving” side of the budget will be out in force. Those of us on the “paying” side must also have their voices heard. If you can’t attend, send an email. Addresses for the commissioners and administrator can be found on right side of the TAB website, or you can email all at once at: BCC-AllCommissioners@pbcgov.org.

For some specific details about this meeting, see the 9/9 TAB email.

Former Ambassador Al Cardenas Highlights June Lunch Meeting

On Wednesday, June 22 at Bear Lakes, Keynote speaker Al Cardenas of the American Conservative Union, gave his views on current events and emphasized how important it is to stand on principles, such as boldly supporting the Ryan budget, given it is the only “real” proposal on the table to fix our structural fiscal problems. He considers it a moderate document, since it takes 28 years to achieve balance and does not touch Social Security. We need to stand for conservative principles, both while running for election and governing. Consistency provides mandates – if you take a controversial stand and are elected on that basis, then you have a mandate to implement that position. Ambassador Cardenas also announced that a regional CPAC convention is to be held in Orlando coincident with Presidency 5.

Also noted at the meeting was the formation of a new grass roots group in the county, the Palm Beach County Tea Party. Pam Wohlschlegel, formerly county coordinator for SFTP, has formed a new group to build a coalition of activists from related organizations dedicated to fiscal responsibility, constitutionaly limited government and free markets. She pointed out that she has been a Republican since her school days, but decided to work through a non-partisan group because of their success in attracting disaffected Democrats and Independents to the conservative cause.

Also speaking were Joe Kaufman, candidate for CD20 (Debbie Wasserman Schultz), and Starla Brown, PB and Broward coordinator for the Mike McCallister for Senate campaign. The meeting was hosted by Bette Anne Starkey.

Pictures by Boris Balaban and Delia Garcia Menocal.

Governor Scott vetos “Turkeys”

On Thursday at the Villages to sign the 2012 budget, Governor Rick Scott used the line item veto to eliminate 87% of the “Turkeys” identified by Florida TaxWatch. The “Turkey List” annually identifies those dubious projects that are slipped into bills under cover of darkness – sometimes in confernce committees, sometimes by the leadership after the conference delivers their bill. Used by the more influential legislators to “bring home the bacon” to their districts, these “Turkeys” are the Florida equivalent of earmarks in the US Congress – those questionable appropriations that the Republicans in Washington have sworn to eliminate.

To his credit, our local Representative Pat Rooney did not participate, and when asked about the practice at an RCPB lunch this week he indicated he thought their use was questionable, even if some projects did benefit their communities.

See the whole story in “Scott Line-Item Vetoes Parallel TaxWatch ‘Turkeys'” in the Sunshine State News.

Senator George LeMieux Highlights April Lunch

Former Senator (and now candidate) George LeMieux gave us an interesting perspective on the federal budget struggles and what is at stake in the battle over the debt limit. Appointed by Charlie Crist to fill the slot vacated by Mel Martinez, his Washington experience gives him some advantages over his two announced competitors Adam Hasner and Mike Haridopolis, but all three would make capable Senators and it will be a spirited campaign.

Here are a few pictures of the event:

RPOF Chairman Dave Bitner Highlights March Meeting

CHAIRMAN BITNER IS A HIT TO FULL HOUSE

Dave Bitner, the newly elected chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, gave a filled room of Republicans a lot to be happy about as he shared his philosophy on the state party’s future to an enthusiastic audience.

“Grassroots” is at the top of his priorities. “When I am asked, ‘ Where is the State Party Headquarters?” I tell them ‘Our building is in Tallahassee but our party is everywhere there are active Republicans making a difference”. He emphasized that the rebuilding of the RPOF started by Senator John Thrasher and now continued by him was taking hold. “Trust is being rebuilt; givers now know that their money will be invested well”.

Our club was pleased to welcome an extra star guest. The Chairman of the New York Republican State Party, Ed Cox was a big hit as he graciously shook hands and chatted with our members afterward. We were also pleased to welcome the elected officials in attendance– West Palm Beach Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, Palm Beach Councilman Bill Diamond and South Palm Beach Councilwoman, Bonnie Fisher.

Joe Cardenas did an outstanding job officiating the meeting for our President Melissa Andrews.

Highlights for future meetings: April 27 we host Former US Senator George LeMieux May 25 we host FL Rep Pat Rooney; June 22 we host newly elected CPAC Chairman and former RPOF Chair Al Cardenas. Mark your calendars now as we expect sold out crowds for these outstanding speakers.

A few pictures from Delia:

Adam Hasner Highlights February Meeting

Former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner joined us for the February meeting at Bear Lakes. Mentioned in some circles as a possible Senate candidate, he showed us his keen grasp of national and state issues as he gave us an update of current events.

Some pictures courtesy of Delia:

Collective Bargaining 101

Video courtesy of the Heritage Foundation.

A Legislator's Perspective on Rail, the Constitution, and Other Matters

By Fred and Iris Scheibl[ PRINT ]

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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

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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

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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.

Allen West Wraps up CPAC

Excellent Turnout for Veterans Event

The “Celebration of Freedom – a Salute to Veterans” was a rousing success, with a standing room only crowd and $2805 raised in the silent auction sheparded by Michele Poole

Special guest Congressman-elect (Lt. Colonel) Allen West made his first visit to the club after his resounding defeat of Democrat Ron Klein who ran one of the nastiest campaigns in South Florida, and was as excellent a speaker as ever. One of the rising conservative stars of the party (along with fellow Floridian Marco Rubio), the eyes of the nation are on Allen as he will be taking his place alongside the approximately 100 NEW members of Congress in January.

The entertainment was excellent, as local artist Madison McIntosh rendered the anthem and other patriotic songs to an appreciative audience, and the presenting of the colors by the Dwyer High School ROTC started the event with distinction.

The numerous veterans in attendance were recognized, and each was presented with a lifetime membership in RCPB.

Quite an event and it certainly raised the bar for next year. Here are a few pictures from the event:

For additional pictures, click HERE

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