Palm Beach County Commission Proposes Sales Tax Increase

The County Commission, by a 5-2 vote, is proposing to place on the ballot in August, a 1% sales tax increase to fund Fire/Rescue outside of the normal budget process. If passed, it would become effective at the end of the year when a .5% school infrastructure tax ends, thus the new rate would be 7%.

Unlike the school infrastructure tax, this one would not have an end date, and would eliminate the need for Fire/Rescue to participate in the normal county budget process every year. In effect, it would provide a steadily increasing revenue stream that would be earmarked for Fire/Rescue only, and would be collected regardless of budget needs. It should be noted in this context, that in the period 2004-2010, the Fire/Rescue call rate went up 19% (24% if you adjust for 2004 hurricanes), while the Fire/Rescue budget went up 82%. While most would agree that Fire/Rescue is an essential service, there are a lot of things in the budget that are only incidental to responding to emergencies. If this gets on the ballot, we will be picking it apart line by line.

The tax is supposed to be “revenue neutral” – that is the county would reduce the millage so the ad-valorem taxes on real estate would decline by the amount of the sales tax increase. That sounds good (shifting taxes to consumption rather than property) but there is nothing in either the proposal or the overlying legislation (SB1000, HB365 from 2009) that requires them to do so now or in the future. How long do you suppose it would take the County Commission to find that they “need the money” and put the millage right back where it was (or higher).

A broad coalition of business and grass roots groups is coming together to fight this bad idea. The first front is on the city level -as they need the agreement of 7 of the 12 municipalities that have their own Fire/Rescue operations. It is not clear how the cities will decide it – the interlocal agreements that address revenue sharing would have to be worked out first, and you can imagine that there will be a bit of lobbying going on. If you can, call your city council and find out what they plan to do and if there is a public meeting scheduled, then post what you find here. If they can convince 7 of the cities, the rest will have to go along or lose the use of the money that their citizens are paying to the sales tax.

The second front is at the county level with two public meetings on 5/18 and 6/8, where the text of the ballot measure will be discussed. The two dissenting votes last time were Jeff Koons and Steve Abrams. Karen Marcus is the author of putting the measure on the August ballot instead of November when more people will be voting. “It is just shifting,” Commissioner Jess Santamaria said. “It is not increasing taxes… It is a way of balancing things and making it more equitable,” he said. Please prepare to attend these meetings and say whether you agree with that statement.

The third front will be the ballot measure itself (if it gets that far). With all the other issues to deal with this year, it would be a shame if this fight is added to the mix, but we must be prepared. The coalition that is coming together in opposition to this measure has created a website to make the case and provide factual context. It can be found at . Please refer to it from time to time and join us in the fight.

Allen West Takes the Lead over Ron Klein in New Poll

In a survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies on April 18-19, Colonel Allen West leads Incumbent Ron Klein 44% – 42%.

West is now known by nearly 50% of the Congressional district and has a favorable to unfavorable ratio of 3-1 (23%-8%). Klein’s is viewed unfavorably by nearly one-third of the district (31%) and trails West even though over 90% of the voters have heard of Klein.

For the full press release from the West campaign, CLICK HERE.

The Children’s Project of Palm Beach

Have you seen the recent commercials on television or seen the ads in the paper?

The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation is spearheaded by Dave Lawrence of The Children’s Trust in Miami-Dade County. The Foundation is sponsoring The Children’s Project of Palm Beach– a feasibility study about the potential for organizing and building a politically powerful Children’s Movement of Florida, significantly shaping the State’s priorities for children.

Those priorities include:

• Access to quality health care.
• Training for parents and guidance for mentoring.
• Early screening and treatment for children who might have special needs.
• Stimulating and nurturing child care.
• High-quality pre-kindergarten.

This is a countywide outreach project to strictly educate and inform Palm Beach County residents about essential issues regarding children in order to ensure that they are prepared and ready to learn in school and able to succeed in life.

To that end Dave Lawrence at The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation  http://www.teachmorelovemore.org/ECIF.asp , funded by the Kellogg Foundation www.wkkf.org , is promoting the Children’s Project of Palm Beach during April and May.  The goal during these two months is to learn how media messages and grassroots organization might educate and inform the public about the need for a “movement” for children.  This non-partisan effort seeks to measure the extent to which people, once informed, can actually tell us how they received new information and why it is important for children. That then gives us a better chance of prioritizing resources to benefit children and families.

RCPB is pleased to be co-hosting an event which will further our understanding of the program.  The event is FREE – but reservations are REQUIRED.  Please contact Bette Anne at 561-697-4911 or via email info@gopclubpb.org

The Childrens Project 5-11-10 Click Here for Invitation

Cordially invite you to a presentation about early childhood development and children’s issues: If children are our future – shouldn’t we invest more in them now?

Presented by

 Roberto Martinez, Esq.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Meet And Greet: 5:45-6:30 p.m.

Presentation: 6:30-7:00 p.m.

Bear Lakes Country Club

1901 Village Boulevard

West Palm Beach, FL 33409

Business Attire, No Jeans Please

Cell Phones must be silenced

Light Refreshments and Beverages Provided

The Bar will be OPEN for Credit Card Purchases

SELF PARKING – No Valet Service

There is NO Fee to attend and learn more about the Children’s Project of Palm Beach County

Reservations are REQUIRED

R.S.V.P. to

(561)-697-4911

Action Alert – Contact your Senators on S.3217, Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010

On Monday the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.3217, Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 . The 1400 page bill has a lot wrong with it – and it’s important to call our Senators and tell them to vote NO.

Here is an excellent article by an analyst at Heritage Foundation on 14 Fatal Flaws. I suggest you read through it prior to contacting Senators Nelson and LeMiuex with the contact information provided further down. All the points are excellent – but to me #14, without any of the other points, would make this bill a non-starter!

Senator Dodd’s Regulation Plan: 14 Fatal Flaws
Published on April 22, 2010 by James Gattuso

The Senate is expected to take up a proposal, originally authored by Senator Chris Dodd (D–CT), to reform the financial regulatory system in the U.S. The goal is clear: to minimize the chances that another financial crisis—and bailouts—will arise again.

The objective is a good one. Unfortunately, the 1,408-page bill includes numerous provisions that would hurt—not help—consumers and the economy. It would even make another financial crisis or bailout more likely to occur.

Fourteen Flaws

Among other things, the bill:

1. Creates a protected class of “too big to fail” firms. Section 113 of the bill establishes a “Financial Stability Oversight Council,” charged with identifying firms that would “pose a threat to the financial security of the United States if they encounter “material financial distress.” These firms would be subject to enhanced regulation. However, such a designation would also signal to the marketplace that these firms are too important to be allowed to fail and, perversely, allow them to take on undue risk. As American Enterprise Institute scholar Peter Wallison wrote, “Designating large non-bank financial companies as too big to fail will be like creating Fannies and Freddies in every area of the economy.”[1]

2. Provides for seizure of private property without meaningful judicial review. The bill, in Section 203(b), authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to order the seizure of any financial firm that he finds is “in danger of default” and whose failure would have “serious adverse effects on financial stability.” This determination is subject to review in the courts only on a “substantial evidence” standard of review, meaning that the seizure must be upheld if the government produces any evidence in favor of its action. This makes reversal extremely difficult.

The complete article can be found here: Senator Dodd’s Regulation Plan – 14 Fatal Flaws

The bill can be found here.

Contact our senators:

LeMieux, George S. – (R – FL) Class III
356 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3041
email Senator LeMieux

Nelson, Bill – (D – FL) Class I
716 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5274
email Senator Nelson

Video from Allen West HQ Opening

Videos from Boris Balaban
Allen West


Joyce Kaufman


E Clay Shaw


Allen West thank you

Right Nights – Uncommon Common Sense – Encore by Aubie Baltin

5:30 to 7 pm – By Popular Demand at Bear Lakes

Hear a Pin Drop as  DR. AUBIE BALTIN, Publisher/Editor, “UNCOMMON COMMON SENSE” connects the dots between Communism and Progressivism.

Apply for 2010 SCHOLARSHIP by May 3 at www.gopclubpb.org

 

RSVP by Mon Mar 22 (561) 697-4911—BA Starkey

or e-mail:   info@gopclubpb.org

RCPB Luncheon – Take Back Our Country

“Take Back our Country”

Lunch – Bear Lakes Country Club

AMBASSADOR AL HOFFMAN

West Point graduate, Fighter Pilot, Entrepreneur, CEO & Founder of WCI Communities, Nat’l Republican Leader, Nat’l Finance Chair for Presidents Bush 41 & 43; State Finance Chair for Jeb’s successful elections; Appointed Ambassador of Portugal by Pres. GW Bush

Lessons learned from the Democrats- How to get past being the minority party-How to get rid of the elitist tag and portray Republicans as common folk–

11:30am Meet & Greet 12:00 Program Begins

Tax Day Tea Party Pictures

These are from Joy and Delia
To see videos of the entire event (from Boris Balaban) Click HERE.

CD 19 Election – A Look at the Numbers

In Tuesday’s election for Congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch was the winner, receiving 62% of the votes cast. Voter turnout, an indication of voter interest (or lack thereof) was an anemic 15.2% of registered voters (10% in Broward and 17.4% in Palm Beach). The turnout in the 2008 election by contrast, was 73% in Broward and 72% in Palm Beach.

How did the vote compare?

Let’s look at the “liberal” vote versus the “conservative” vote in each election:

	Liberal	Conservative
2010	Deutch: 62.1%	Lynch + McCormick: 37.9%
2008	Wexler + Graber: 72.8%	Lynch: 27.2%

So the “conservative” vote increased by 10% for those that turned out.

Were the dynamics of 2008 overwhelmed by the candidacy of Barrack Obama which provided for the high turnout numbers, and coattail effect on other Democrats down-ticket? Absolutely not- in 2004, the turnout was 67% and 75% in Broward and Palm Beach respectively very similar to 2010.

To see if that mattered in CD19 we can look at previous elections, but there was no conservative candidate in 2006 or 2004. In 2002, Wexler won against Republican Jack Merkl with 72.2% of the vote with a turnout of 45-50% in the 2 counties. From this I conclude that the increase in conservative votes in 2010 COULD be significant, but it is certainly not a trend that will bring us a victory any time soon (barring a scandal or some other unexpected event).

How did all the grass roots support for Ed Lynch help? We know that South Florida 912, DC Works for Us, and the South Florida Tea Party were all making calls and walking precincts independent of the campaign, and many members of those groups helped the campaign directly. Hard to say objectively, but it surely didn’t hurt. Many calls were to people who were Lynch supporters but didn’t know about the election. Of course on the other side, Organizing for America ran 17 local phone banks for Ted Deutch, last weekend alone.

South Florida 912 selected a subset of the precincts in northern Palm Beach and did “saturation calling”. When the county releases the precinct vote tallies tomorrow or Monday, I will compare them to 2008 and see if there is a statistical difference between the years and contrasted with other precincts in 2010. Stay tuned.

Joe Budd’s Analysis of the CD19 Election

Video provided by Boris Balaban:

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