President
You know who you are voting for - if you are still "undecided" you are too stupid to own a computer, so you won't be reading this.....
There are 10 other candidates for President, notably Jill Stein from the Green Party, who if they had even a snowballs chance would be worth voting for, and at the other end of the credibility scale Roseanne Barr.....yech.....
US Senate
Connie Mack [R]
Dumb as a post, corrupt, rich kid using the family name
Bill Nelson [D] *
Old, boring, blue-doggish conservative Democrat but quite sensible
Congress - Fl. District 10
Daniel Webster [R]
Career politician, Florida House, Senate then Congress for one term. Voted on party lines for every stupid piece of legislation, including the Ryan budget to kill Medicare, and the "no abortion for rape and incest" bill. Tea Party approved, but at heart a religious extremist. Has the nerve to present himself as an outsider who will reform Washington.....
Val Demings [D] *
Former police chief of Orlando, articulate, passionate and sincere. I have met this lady twice, and she is impressive as a candidate but more importantly seems to be a genuinely nice person......
State Senate District 11
Alan Hays [R]
Running almost unopposed [see below]
John Iler [NPA]
Property Appraiser
Carey Baker is it......owner of Petersons Gun Shop in Tavares and a politician in the Florida House and Senate for the last 12 years.....
Elections Supervisor
Margie Eaton [R]
A legal assistant from Eustis, not sure why she wants the job.....
Emogene Stegall [D] *
Has been in the position for 40 years, with an impeccable reputation for running the offfice in a fair and responsible way. Have seen a couple of bumper stickers "Republicans for Emogene".....
County Commissioner District 3
Jimmy Connor [R]
Most interesting article from the Orlando Sentinel about a vote to slash spending irresponsibly instead of sensibly. Connor voted to cut.
Rated "A" by a local Tea Party blog that three years ago found him too liberal.....
Connor is affable, but appears to have the core values of a Romney.....flip flopper......
Michael Odette [D]
A prosecutor in the State Attorney's office......no website.....oh well......
Three Supreme Court Justices - Lewis, Pariente, Quince
Recommend you vote to retain all three.*
The Justices are under attack by Rick Scott, the Republican Party of Florida, Americans for Prosperity [Karl Rove] and Tea Party groups. Their issue? The Florida Supreme Court is independent, makes sensible decisions and isn't under the control of politicians.
At stake here is the principle of judicial impartiality - if you don't think the justice system should be under the control of Florida elected officials and the Governor, vote to retain all three Justices....
The 12 Constitutional Amendments proposed by the Legislature
Vote NO on all 12 amendments*
Most newspapers, many citizens groups and anyone who has read these amendments recommends vote NO on all 12. They are deceptive, written so noone can understand them except the lawyers who wrote them and it is grossly irresponsible to have them on the ballot in their entirety. They are hoping to slow down voting because if people try to read this ballot it will slow down the polls.
School Board District 2
Lake County schools rank 44th out of 67 counties, and we see nothing from the School Board that looks likely to change this dismal result.
Rosanne Brandenberg
Incumbent, votes consistently for the status quo.
Jim Miller
Wants technology and is pushing school uniforms for all students. Good website. *
School Board District 4
T. Lowe
Here is a quote from a local conservative blog.....
Lowe, aVietnam political refugee and 2008 U.S. citizen, struggles to connect with voters who are looking for someone who can articulate a new vision for the district. Lowe has really struggled in her verbal communications, and this appears to have slowed her momentum.
Debbie Stivender *
Same blog....
Many believe Stivender has done a good job balancing school and economic needs, but made some mistakes on policies such as uniforms.
Mount Dora City Council
Whether you realize it or not there is an issue in Mount Dora between residents of the city and the newer communities in the city limits, like the Country Club, Loch Leven and the Lakes of Mount Dora. Let's call them the HOA [homeowners association] areas.
Most of the residents of the HOA's are connected to Mount Dora, use the facilities and are involved in the community, but there is a small but vocal group of HOA residents that have a different philosophy. They aren't that interested in improving the downtown because they rarely come here, so they don't like the recent plan approved by the Council to rework part of the look and feel of downtown. Too expensive.
They want to cut City expenses because the infrastructure in the HOA's is newer, requiring less maintenance, so they don't understand that taxes are necessary to fund a Public Works department [for example] that has to deal with an ageing network of streets and infrastructure.
They also resent the expense of having a decent size police force. Why? Because HOA's with only one entrance are normally safer than traditional cities - "one way in and out" is a deterrent to crime. In addition the HOA's are usually one class of residents, in Mount Dora's case mostly older white retirees, so the HOA's don't see the need for a big police force. Their neighborhoods are safe, so they want the police budget drastically cut for the rest of us.
This simmering resentment against the City from some of the HOA residents has been around for a few years, and Councilman Dennis Wood represents this outlook. This year in 2012 two candidates [Girone, Rowlett] are running on this type of platform, cut expenses, cut taxes, cut City personnel without specifying what services would be affected by these actions.
I attended a "meet the candidates" event last week for Nick Girone and Ed Rowlett, but neither man addressed the 40+ attendees or took questions. The only thing I heard from them was a critical comment about how the Police Chief's car [Ford Edge] was too expensive, and complaints about the Citizens on Patrol program being evaluated for cost-effectiveness.
Let's not forget - Mount Dora, along with every other municipality in the United States, has had to slash services and budgets to the bone over the last four years because of the drop in tax receipts. I am certainly not saying the City government can't be improved, but we still have some of the best services in Florida and minimal fat in the budget.
People also forget with property values dropping our taxes have also gone down. We are paying substantially less taxes than we were four years ago.
Anyway you have some clear choices of candidates this year......we can keep an experienced City Council that although not perfect is cautiously implementing the master plan to improve the downtown within a limited budget, and using our City Manager and department heads to hold our pretty good level of services together in these tough financial times.
Or you can vote for candidates who will nickel and dime every expenditure and rule the City Departments with an iron [fiscal] fist, second guessing every decision. Who will also pay lip service to keeping the downtown thriving, but who really don't understand what makes our wonderful little city function.
Choose wisely.......
Mount Dora City Council - At Large
Nick Girone
Resident of the Lakes of Mount Dora.
Vasco Watters*
Lives in the city, sensible voting record on the Council
Mount Dora City Council District 3
Ed Rowlett
Rowlett lives near Lake Gertrude, has been here about three years but appears to share the Tea Party philosophy - cut, cut, cut.
Jim Yatsuk*
A former mayor, lives downtown, been on the City Council for many years, a voice of reason who believes in the City.
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