The Martin County
Defender
The e-newsletter for aware citizens – No. 181
Last call for your Primary Election vote
If you did not cast a mail-in ballot (good until 7:00 pm Election Day, but not returnable at polling places), it’s still not too late. You can vote at any of the five early polling places, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, until Aug. 21. Find the list of locations at:
http://www.martinvotes.com/content.aspx?id=93
If you intend to vote on Election Day – Tuesday, Aug. 24 – there are 53 Precinct Polling Places, open 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Find the list of locations at:
http://www.martinvotes.com/ElectionPollingPlaces.aspx?eid=0
If you need information, you can call the helpful folks at the Supervisor of Elections:
288-5637.
REPUBLICANS: In addition to state candidates, there are five candidates for Commission slots in two districts. All voters throughout the County may vote for two candidates irrespective of where you live. We believe that the best qualified candidates, who obey the election laws, will preserve our quality of life, and are not under the undue influence of developer/business special interests, are:
Ed Fielding (District 2)
Sarah Heard (District 4)
This Primary Election is a valuable opportunity for residents to start regaining control of County affairs from the sharp money guys. When Opportunity knocks – VOTE.
DEMOCRATS & INDEPENDENTS: There are no local partisan candidates. [See below for non-partisan School Board candidates and Tax Exemption Referendum, which all registered voters can vote for.]
NON-PARTISAN SCHOOL BOARD: There are seven candidates for three Board positions. We believe that the following three candidates will do a good job, and not be receptive to the campaign contribution influence of school building contractors:
MICHAEL BUSHA (District 1)
CAMERON BOYNTON (District 3)
MAURA BARRY-SORENSON (District 4)
TAX EXEMPTION REFERENDUM: This measure allows politicians to grant a few favorite companies 10-year tax exemptions. It is being pitched by the Business Development Board and its supporters as a job creator, though there is nothing in the referendum item that ties the exemption to jobs, and no assurance it would add jobs. See item below for hard numbers on how ineffective it is to throw money at companies.
VOTE NO ON TAX EXEMPTION
State-wide cost per biotech job - $1.4 million
A report by the Orlando Sentinel found that the state of Florida has invested $759 million to pay for equipment, lab space and salaries at eight biotechnology campuses since 2003, all in the hope of kick-starting the creation of "clusters" of high-paying jobs around them.
"This investment has not yet resulted in the growth of technology clusters in the counties where program grantees have established facilities," says OPPAGA, the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
MEMORY LANE: Remember when some developers were trying to convert Martin County’s Highway Transient zones to Biotech Zones?
When private and local funding is included, the eight biotechnology projects have received a total of $1.55 billion so far. That equates to $1.4 million in expense per job created.
These are hard facts that the Martin County Commission majority refuses to recognize as it seeks to siphon off property tax revenue, and to grant tax exemptions, in the vague hope that such a stimulus will create jobs. That’s called “Thinking like Washington.”
Retired teacher criticizes Stuart News coverage of School District
Retired teacher Tim Black has been highly critical of how the Stuart News has been reporting the news about School District events and personnel. He communicated his concerns to News editor Mark Tomasik in a letter that is too long for full presentation in these pages. However, here are highlight excerpts:
“When you have a reporter who has been compromised and promised a job by a school board member (which I believe Superintendent of Schools Nancy Kline told you about) and you continue to assign her to report stories covering the superintendent and the school board you are only compounding your problems.
“The story that Ms. Tyko wrote about the forum I attended not only was misleading but confusing to older voters in the county who believed the appointed superintendent was on the primary ballot because of your story. I informed Mr. Canan that Dr. Anderson had missed several school board meetings, but he dismissed my comments as not newsworthy. Had Anderson not made his last meeting he could have been removed from office for missing meetings for 60 consecutive days. Again, not newsworthy.
“The News received public record documents including an email taken from a school computer in which Sara Wilcox sent her secretary instructions on how to write Anderson's campaign literature. Also included was information that Anderson was calling Morganti and Willie Gary from the district phones to solicit campaign contributions. Of course the News didn't report any of it.
“You mention nothing of Mrs. Gaylord's tax problems or the fact that Rick Bell filed an election law violation on David Anderson. Had these happened to Mrs. Kline it would have been 1A. Yet when Bell writes a letter you make sure to include the dismissal of the Gaylord ethics violation after his name - and you think people in this county don't see the slant?
“I understand you are pro business - it is self-interest, but bashing the school system constantly is not good for the county's image. Or business. In fact, a local preacher wrote 'the good for you' section, not the letters to the editor, stated glowingly of Mrs. Kline. The folks in the churches sure like Mrs. Kline .The teachers like Mrs. Kline. The businessmen like Mrs. Kline. The environmentalists like Mrs. Kline. The Stuart News does not like Mrs. Kline.
“Frankly, my high school journalism students would have done better work. I used to teach about a guy named Jefferson who believed that newspapers were more essential than government. I'm glad Tom isn't living in Stuart today, for I think he would have eaten his words.”
Federal bailout dollars working against us
Nearly $2 million of the $5 million raised by the opponents of Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment 4 since April comes from Wall Street’s biggest construction corporations --- corporations that recently received billions in federal bailout money. Another $2.5 million funneled to the Political Committee opposing Amendment 4 during the past four months came from a who’s who of lobbying groups that represent the over-builders/speculators.
These publicly traded construction companies engaged in reckless speculation, over-built many communities, and crashed Florida’s economy. Yet they received huge taxpayer bailouts this year and are now using them to try to deny Floridians the right to vote by funding the opposition to Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment 4.
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Al
Al Forman, Editor 8/19/10
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