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

A New Hero Emerges

Be a Poll-Watcher and help all of the candidates

Some definitions first – since campaigns throw out a lot of terms that may not be ‘technically’ accurate 😉

Poll Workers are the people who check you in at the polling place; they are paid by the Supervisor of Elections, trained and work the polls from before opening until after the polls close. It is a volunteer job with minimal pay for hours worked. It is also too late to apply for a position.

Poll Watchers are unpaid volunteers who are trained in how the poll operations work. They are observers who work part or all of election day inside the polling location – looking for anything that may be ‘fishy’. They work to ensure that all Florida Election Laws and Procedures are followied to ensure fair and unbiased election without the presence of fraud. A few examples could include – a non-zero vote count at the start of election day, failure to check ID when checking in voters, letting people with some kind of issue (eg wrong precinct, invalid id) vote instead of creating a provisional ballot, etc. While generally there may be a poll-watcher from each political party, technically, each candidate can have his/her own poll-watcher at each voting location. Poll Watchers fill out an application and must be approved as valid Palm Beach County voters/poll-watchers prior to Election Day.

Often candidates will use the term poll-watchers or poll-workers for volunteers who wave their candidates’ signs or hand out materials at the voting locations on Election Day. That is another way you can help a specific set of candidates – but it is neither poll-working or poll-watching.

The Republican Party of Palm Beach County and the Allen West Campaign are seeking Poll Watchers for Election Day. The deadline to submit your application is Monday, October 18th!!

To apply for the GOP poll-watching position – fill out the application: EDO commitment form and then fax it to the number at the bottom of the application. To apply for the Allen West Campaign poll-watching position – fill out the Allen West Poll-Watcher Application and then either email the information to Sue Snowden (email address on the application), call her with the information or fax it to the Allen West Campaign at 954-571-7833.

Note: While sometime you may work at your own voting location – many times you will be asked to poll-watch at a location where there have been difficulties in the past.

Support Allen West and Joe Budd at Voters’ Coalition Meeting on Thurs 10/7

Support Allen West and Joe Budd at the next Voters’ Coalition Meeting at South County Civic Center on Thursday 10/7 at 1pm (South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach).

Here is the Palm Beach Post article.

Sherry Lee Republican Candidate for CC District 2 is scheduled to speak at the meeting as well. Sherry has been endorsed by the Voters’ Coalition.

Watch Marco Rubio debate Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist on 10/6 at 7pm

George Stephanopoulus is co-moderating at ABC’s Orlando and Tampa affiliates. The debate will be broadcast on WPBF (ABC) locally.  It can also be streamed live on abcnews.com and facebook.com.

You can also submit questions.

More details can be found here.

For those who want to attend the GOP Debate watching party – there will be one at the GOP Action Center on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. – reservations required. Please RSVP with Genessa Casanova at (305) 479-8719 or by email: genessa@marcorubio.com for more information.

PBC Candidate Forum on October 4th at the Borland Center

The South Florida 912 is collaborating with the South Florida Tea Party on this event.

We need some volunteers! Please contact me ASAP if you can help with this event.

This is a really important event! Please bring friends and people that have never been to a political event out to hear these great candidates.

This event starts with a Meet an Greet followed by a series of candidate panels moderated by Joyce Kaufman, radio commentator and powerful activist. You and your friends will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of several Palm Beach County candidates for key offices. Our slate of participating candidates include: LTC Allen West (CD22-R), Jim Horn (CD16-D), Tom Rooney (CD16-R), Joe Abruzzo (FH85-D), Tami Donnally (FH85-R), Steven Rosenblum (FH89-R), Albert Key (FH84-R), Joe Budd (CD19-R), Pat Rooney (FH83-R), Marc Marciano (FH83-D), Lizbeth Benacquisto (FS27-R), Bill Hager (FH87-R) and Bernard Sansaricq (CD23-R).  Special guest Lou Galterio will sing the National Anthem.

MAJOR EVENT! Palm Beach County Candidate Forum
Date: Monday, October 4, 2010
Time: 6 pm Meet & Greet; 7 – 9 pm Candidate Forum moderated by Joyce Kaufman
Where: The Borland Center in Midtown
Address: 4885 PGA Blvd, Palm Beach Gardens 33418
Directions: On the north side of PGA just west of Military Trail

Seating limited to 500 people so please come early and bring your friends!

For candidate registration or for more information, please email pam@southfloridateaparty.org.

Please go here for Event Registration. If you would like to VOLUNTEER please contact Shannon 561-506-5258
or email me at Shannon411@gmail.com

Sharon Day and Bernard Sansaricq Highlight 8/25 Club Lunch

On Wednesday 8/25, the “day after” the primary election, the monthly RCPB lunch featured Republican National Committee Secretary Sharon Day, and District 23 Congressional Candidate Bernard Sansaricq.

Sharon, one of the first of Florida’s leading Republicans to warmly congratulate Rick Scott on his victory yesterday, spoke of Republican unity after the divisive primary election cycle. She acknowledged the difficulties caused by the excessive zeal of some party leaders who crossed the line in supporting “their” candidates in the primary, and stated that if a leader feels they must advocate for one candidate over another in a primary, they should step down as leaders for the duration. This advice was for local leaders as well as those at the state level, and she acknowledged in answer to a question that RPOF funding 527s to attack local Republican candidates was wrong and needs to stop.

She even referred obliquely to the John Thrasher letter attacking Rick Scott as not appropriate. It is time, she said, for Florida Republicans now to unite behind our slate of candidates. (Editors note: As of this writing, Bill McCollum still has not agreed to support his victorious opponent).

Bernard Sansaricq, introduced by Peter Feaman, gave a rousing speech laying out his plans to defeat Alcee Hastings in District 23 by rallying the Republicans and Independents, and appealing to the Caribbean community in that district to rally around one of their own. As past President of the Haitian Senate, he understands very well the effects of the Clinton invasion of that country and described how Democrats in the US have enriched themselves at Haiti’s expense. As a perfect example of a Republican Champion from a minority community, he needs our support in the upcoming election battles.

Here’s a few pictures from the event:

Marco Rubio Visits Victory Center

Marco Rubio, Republican candidate for US Senate (Florida), made an appearance August 12 at the Palm Beach County Republican Victory Center in WPB. He was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd including local candidates who joined him for his Phone Bank Kick Off.

The “rising star” of the Republican Party was introduced by Sid Dinerstein, County GOP chairman. Marco spoke to us among other things about limited government and personal responsibilities. He mentioned his parents, who left Cuba’s communism, and took advantage of the opportunities offered in this land of freedom. They worked hard to assure him an education and a better life. He thanked all of us present at this event.

After his speech, Marco gave us of his time to have photos with him.

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