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ISSUES
Issues should be
the backbone of a candidate's campaign, but that's not always the case.
Politicians sometimes promote issues and policies that have no relevance to the
office they are seeking. If such policies were implemented as stated, in some
cases, there would be unpleasant consequences. The media may also bring similar
issues, but not necessarily for the same reason. Their primary motivation is
selling newspapers or increased ratings.
A
Red Herring
is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert
attention from the original issue. The following are a list of plans or
statements submitted by my opponents, or something that I found published in the
media. Some are genuine issues and others are red herrings.
As you read my responses, you will
learn more about me, where I stand, and why. After each quote is a link to the
site where I originally found the issue and a separate link to my position.
Please understand that web addresses and candidate’s positions have the ability
to change at any time, and press releases can be slanted. My responses are in
Italic, following the quotes.
(To go directly to a particular candidate and my responses, click their name.)
Paul Congemi Kathleen Ford Bill Foster Jamie Bennett
Scott Wagman Deveron Gibbons Larry Williams
"He said most leaders in every law enforcement agency are corrupt."
Let me start out by saying that this is a press report. In such reports, words can be slanted and taken out of context. That being said, I am commenting on the story as written by Cristina Silva - Times Staff Writer.
To say that most leaders in every law enforcement agency are corrupt, without any evidence to back it up, is irresponsible and flat out rude. This kind of bigotry has no place in a leadership position. The mayor has to work with the leadership of not only our own police department, but state and federal law enforcement agencies and neighboring jurisdictions as well. Most of the leadership in the Saint Petersburg Police Department started out as street cops. So to imply that street cops are not corrupt, but being promoted to leadership causes them to fall to the dark side makes no logical sense. I have to wonder what other groups of people he has pre-determined to be corrupt.
To say that a neighborhood is plagued by violence and drugs is also irresponsible. Yes, there are drugs, violence, and crime in this city, but the people of Saint Petersburg are overwhelmingly good. In a civilized society, we don’t clean up corruption by indicting an entire group. With proof beyond a reasonable doubt and supported by the highest appellate court, we patiently and consistently take out corruption one bad person at a time. (back to candidate list)
a.
Accessibility
"As Mayor, I will make public
records available to the public online."
"Also, easy physical access to government buildings and government programs will
be a hallmark of my administration."
This is
nothing new. Saint Petersburg
has the Committee to Advocate for Persons with Impairments
(CAPI).
"Since its inception in 1972, CAPI has advised the City of St. Petersburg on
many issues concerning the needs and rights of persons who are disabled."
CAPI
provides an abundance of services for residents and visitors. Please click on
the link for more information.
To assist with compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) there
is already an organization in place called the Southeast Disability and Business
Technical Assistance Center
(DBTAC).
The assistance that Kathleen Ford has promised you, I have just given to you. If I can serve you this well as a candidate, just think what I can do for you with the full power of the mayor's office behind me. Keep reading to see if there are any other promises that have already been delivered.
c.
Accountability
"Citizens have the right to expect that their government can account for how
all taxes and fees collected are spent."
They do. Click here and you will have access to a very thorough budget.
d.
Affordability
"Local government, including the Mayor and City Council of St. Petersburg,
nearly doubled the ad valorem tax revenues collected from 2001-2007 ($58 million
in 2001 to $104 million in 2007)."
When you do a
job well in the running of the city, when the citizens and their government
create a place where people want to live, visit, and engage in commerce, one
natural by-product will be increased revenue. I'm really having trouble wrapping
my head around this criticism. It sounds like she is criticizing the city for
doing well and making money.
The
constitutional
limit for municipal government is 10 mills. Bear in mind that there are other
taxes on your property over which the mayor and city council have no control and
the county tax collector collects them all.
During the Baker Administration, the municipal property tax has never come close
to 10 mills for two very important reasons –
1. Tar
2. Feathers
We don’t import representation from out of state. They live here and they hear
you loud and clear. If they have to raise taxes, they have to pay the taxes as
well. And all the people that they meet walking down the street pay taxes. They
cannot raise taxes and hide out in Tallahassee or Washington, so they don’t take
it lightly. Since 2002, the
Saint Petersburg
millage rate
has been as follows:
2002 7.1400
2003 7.0900
2004 7.0900
2005 6.9500
2006 6.6000
2007 5.9125
2008 5.9125
2009 TBA
When combined with the other taxes paid in the county, the rate ranged from
23.8983 to 27.6781 mills. These other rates are outside the authority of the
city of Saint Petersburg,
but not outside your authority as a voter, because you elect all of the
taxing authorities.
e.
Education "I
will support the continuation of the special programs we have at our public high
schools, such as the International Baccalaureate program at St. Petersburg High
School, the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School, the Center
for Advanced Technologies (CAT) program at Lakewood High School, the Todd Center
at Northeast High School, Pinellas Technical Education Center, the fundamental
schools and all of the special programs our schools offer to ensure the success
of all of our students."
That’s
fantastic. I’m glad she supports these programs. I think we all do. I know I do.
Of course, if it wasn't for the fact that these are county and state programs
which are outside of the mayor’s authority, our support might actually mean
something. But since it doesn’t mean anything, we should probably stick to the
relevant issues, such as Mayor Baker’s mentoring program which I consider a
success and would love to continue as long as the county run schools will allow.
But keep these other programs in mind when you elect your state and county level
representatives.
f.
Environmentally Smart "It is time the US Environmental Protection Agency enforced
its rules and stopped giving permits for these power plants to pollute."
The mayor of
Saint Petersburg has no more power over the EPA and the power companies than he
has to enter into a peace treaty with a foreign nation.
Hypothetically, if he did, putting more regulation on the power companies would
have only one noticeable result - higher electric bills. Maybe an attorney can
afford a higher electric bill, but most of us can't. We need inexpensive
electricity to survive and to run our businesses. Higher electric prices will
drive away business and tourists, because the Sunshine City is not so pleasant
when it's too expensive to run the air conditioner.
When you judge the pollution caused by electricity on a per person basis, it’s
probably a lot cleaner than the pollution that we generate to get from point A
to point B in our automobiles. Obviously the power companies can always be
cleaner, but here is the reality:
Energy policy is dictated by 26 Congressional committees, 13 Executive agencies
plus the White House, and all of the Federal judges of the Judicial Branch who
interpret these rules each according to their own insight. In order for this
country to have any meaningful energy policy, it needs to be consolidated under
one command at the federal level.
I am a strong supporter of
wind power.
At this time, more than one percent of
global electricity
comes from
wind. So cleaner energy is on the way, but it’s not an overnight process. These
things have to gradually come in as we adapt our infrastructure and improve
technology. To do so too quickly would be unaffordable to most people and would
be like pulling an overweight man off of a couch to run a marathon. If he’s
lucky, he'll die at the beginning of the race so he doesn’t have to suffer
through 26 miles 385 yards of torture, and they won’t have as far to drag his
body.
The influence that a single municipal government would have on the power
companies would have the same effect that a moth has on a Humvee. Remember, we
have representatives in Tallahassee and Washington to address our interests. The
mayor would better serve his people addressing other issues, such as making sure
that the members of the police department are highly trained.
e.
Government Openness "Envision an open and transparent government where citizens can
be assured that their elected officials are looking out for their interests and
not primarily special moneyed interests."
Government
openness is nothing new. In the Federalist Papers, James Madison wrote of "the
rule requiring all bills of a public nature shall be previously printed for the
consideration of the people… this is one of the precautions chiefly relied on by
the constitution against improper acts of the legislature.”
It’s also required in the
city charter
-
Sec. 3.05. Procedure—(b)... The Council shall establish procedures for making copies of all resolutions, ordinances, and this Charter available to the public for inspection and for purchase at a reasonable price.
At this moment, you can log onto
www.stpete.org
and find an abundance of services. You can watch city council meetings live and
previously recorded and you can learn about the people in your local government.
This service will continue and will be expanded by Mayor Baker’s successor, not
because he’s a nice person, but because it’s a more efficient way of running the
government. A reasonable goal is a city hall that is quiet and empty because all
of the citizens can access all of the services that they need from the comfort
of their own home or nearest library. And if there is any noise at city hall,
it’s because the government messed up somehow and the people are responding.
Furthermore, telling people to "envision" something without the means to
accomplish it is more deception than it is leadership.
f.
Public Safety
"I will insist on prompt responses to calls for police."
link
You can
insist all you want. How will you get the job done? Giving the order without
understanding the underlying cause of why a response might not be prompt will
not get the job done and will only end up damaging the morale of the officers
who are working pretty hard already. My experience has shown me time and again
that troop welfare and morale are paramount in any organization where people
need to work together as a team to accomplish a mission. Among the ways to
maintain high morale is by ensuring that your subordinates have everything that
they need to accomplish the mission. You can't have one police officer
responding to multiple crimes at the same time. That causes burnout, stress,
hostility, and attrition. You must always recognize and reward good work. That
means publicly honoring the people who make you look good by their hard work.
And one thing that is very important is that your actions must always show your
subordinates that they have your full support and your full attention. And that
is never shown by insisting.
On the subject of crime, if you pick an election, any election in the world,
crime will be an issue. I don’t care if it’s a Utopian paradise. For some
reason, you can't have a decent election without someone talking about crime. Of
course, in Saint Petersburg, it's a very legitimate issue, and if you click
here ,
you will get a basic idea of what is happening in our city.
The reality is, since the laws are already on the books, a well trained police
force under a strong experienced leader is what we need to continue the fight
against crime. As a Marine, one of my duties was the security of ordnance at the
Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Your military is extremely
serious about protecting those high explosive missiles and bombs that our combat
aircraft carry around in the sky. A stolen radio is an annoyance. A stolen bomb
is a disaster. The Marines under my authority were trained professionals, and
the ordnance was
always secure.
(back to candidate list)
I.B.2.b.3. "Require annual neighborhood clean-up days as condition for grant monies."
Mr. Foster
appears to have forgotten where the money comes from in the first place.
REQUIRING that the people do anything more than they have already done is
insulting. Some people are holding down two jobs just trying to make ends meet.
They are taking their hard earned money and paying taxes. The neighborhoods have
already done what is required of them. They've earned the money. People should
participate in neighborhood cleanups for one reason only - because they are good
people.
II. "Public safety is not just police and fire. It is also about water and
wastewater treatment. Do this wrong, and you have an epidemic. It is about
sanitation, maintenance of roads, fleet, public facilities, and infrastructure.
Ignoring these, you have a crisis. This is public safety."
I don't even
know why he brought this up. I have been all over the world, and I have never
ever been in a modern city that didn't have a handle on water and sewage. I
don't care who the next mayor is, you'll still be able to flush your toilet with
peace of mind. On the subject of flushing,
"If it's yellow, let it mellow"
has the potential to
save the city millions of gallons of water a week.
1.b. "The number one role of law enforcement should be crime prevention and
maintenance of order, and NOT response oriented policing."
1.e. More CPTED training and assistance;
CPTED (Crime
Prevention Through Environmental Design) is a legitimate crime prevention tool.
However, Martha
Stewart could do it. The role of police is to respond to a crime that has been
committed. They cannot do anything
to a law-abiding citizen until he crosses the line and commits an actual crime.
To try it would result in one of
two things –
1) The police officer would look foolish and ineffective for bothering law-abiding citizens for no reason.
2)You would have a police state, with the officers telling law-abiding citizens
where they can go and what they can do.
Highly trained professional officers under a strong leader will earn respect
from the law-abiding citizens and fear
from the criminals. That’s how police officers prevent crime.
1.g. "Specifically target drugs and guns"
This is the part where I give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is referring to illegal drugs and guns in the hands of criminals. My having trained Marines, and my own daughter, on various rifle and pistol ranges and seen millions of rounds fired without any harm coming to anyone, I feel more than qualified to say that guns are not the problem, criminals are.
1.h. "Install and monitor security cameras in parks and high traffic tourist
areas;"
1.i. "On a temporary basis, install cameras on utility poles in high crime areas
'hot spots' until the challenge has been eliminated."
Monitoring
law-abiding citizens in public places is not the answer to crime. This is a
power that you do not want
your government to possess at any level at any time. I have no problem with
using cameras to monitor the government. Cameras in police cars monitor the
government as they enforce the law. Yes, you are monitored when you choose to
enter various private business establishments and private citizens have cameras
everywhere. But this is not your government, and you can choose to not do
business with any company that monitors it's customers. CAMERAS WILL NEVER BE
TEMPORARY. As they become less expensive, and more technologically advanced,
they will become greater in number. And the day will come when you will be
monitored the second you leave your home until you get back home again. And laws
can become more restrictive and tyrannical as it becomes easier to monitor the
people. And while you may have every confidence in the people running our
government today, who will be controlling the cameras ten years from now?
III.B.4. "Get a grip on homeless issues"
Homelessness is an issue that is given lip service in pretty much every election in every state in the union. I address it in section 7 below. (back to candidate list)
i) "City Council member Jamie Bennett has a reputation for being Mr. Nice Guy, so his decision to turn his mayoral campaign over to some of Tampa Bay's political bad boys has launched plenty of talk." link
i) Mr.
Bennett's integrity is beyond reproach. He could have the Taliban working on his
campaign and it would have no effect on him. His service has been a blessing to
this city and will continue to be long after he is gone. I only consider myself
to be a better leader, not a better person.
ii) "Have Jamie Bennett and Kathleen Ford already violated state election laws?"
link
ii) There are a lot of campaign rules on the books. If any were violated, it was obviously a mistake. If one of the candidates breaks into a room at the Watergate Hotel, you'll have a story.
iii) "Bennett should know better" link
iii) Okay, I'll admit that having his campaign manager distribute Tropicana Field suite tickets doesn't look good, but... Look, he's a good man. And I stand by that. Let's just say mistakes were made and move on to another subject.
iv) "The next day Schorsch, 33, responded, levying a series of allegations against Bennett, including that the candidate intentionally used the baseball tickets to influence neighborhood leaders, failed to report campaign expenses and attempted to sabotage the campaigns of at least four other mayoral candidates." link
Welcome to
the ugly part of the campaign. In situations where all you have to go on is one
person's word against another person's word, sometimes all you have to go on is
the observed character of the accuser and the observed character of the accused.
Whatever happened, Mr. Bennett is a good man. Don't forget that. I guess now is
as good a time as any to discuss my bad press. In the late 80's and early 90's,
Eldridge vs. Eldridge was not a pretty picture. To make a long story short. I
was accused of spousal abuse. I deny the accusations and always will. I would go
to court, deny the allegations, and get a protection from abuse order placed
against me. We'd patch things up for a little while and then the cycle would
start over again. On the positive side, my legal skills became better with each
trip to the courthouse. Being too "rich" to get a public lawyer like my wife had
and too poor to actually hire a lawyer, I became pretty good in the court room,
having spent hundreds of hours in the law library to prepare. I personally
appealed the last order to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. And somewhere in
between all of this, my not quite ex-wife left my children in a shelter. At the
time, there was no custody order and my wife wasn't there, so I entered the
place and walked out with my children. This resulted in a trespassing
conviction.
I am not trying to paint a picture of my ex-wife being evil incarnate.
Primarily because she gave me the two most above-average children this side of
Lake Wobegon. But like many exes out there, she has
numerous outstanding qualities, or I never would have married her.
v) "I want to hear what you think... Please take my survey!" link
v) As a
member of the city council, Mr. Bennett represents the interests of the people
in his district. That's what he was elected to do, and he does it very well.
But the Mayor, like other chief executives and administrators in government,
represents multiple districts. And sometimes they have conflicting interests. He
cannot put out a survey every time he needs to make a decision. He has to choose
the best course of action for the city, and inspire the citizens to follow that
course of action. This is
called leadership. Many will disagree and disagree loudly. But that's the price
of being a leader.
For your benefit, I will now take the survey and show you what I mean.
1. Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of Police Chief Chuck
Harmon?
I approve of the job performance of Police Chief Chuck Harmon. While I’ve
never met him personally, every encounter I’ve had with the people under his
authority has shown competence, courtesy, and skill. This is a positive
reflection on Mr. Harmon.
2. Putting aside the statistics concerning the level of crime, how safe do you
feel in your neighborhood?
I feel extremely safe in my neighborhood. Of course, this question is not
quite valid for me as I am not easily intimidated. I used to drive a taxi, and
I’ve been to all parts of the city and picked up all kinds of people at all
hours of the night. While there is crime in the city, overall, it is a safe
place to live and visit. And that safety needs to be
maintained and improved with strong leadership.
3. The Police Department is close to hiring enough officers to meet its
authorized force level. Do you think that this will be enough cops on the
street?
When I trained at Recondo School at Fort Bragg we had what was called the
bear pit. The pit would be filled with soldiers and Marines and the objective
was to throw everybody out of the pit. The last person left in was the winner. I
was never the winner. That's not what I'm getting at. One day one of the
instructors got into the pit and we all tried to throw him out. We were
painfully unsuccessful.
My point is, it's not about the number of cops on the street, it's about the
quality of cops on the street.
"William
Ruefle , a University of South Florida criminology professor,
said politicians tend to gravitate toward public safety issues because
they are well received. But while increasing the number of officers
may sound appealing, there's little to indicate how effective that would
be."
'More policing is always a popular position,' Ruefle said. 'But what the
research shows is that it's not how many police officers you have. It's
how they're used.'
4. The Tampa Bay Rays want to build a new stadium for their team. What level
of public financing should be provided for the construction of a new stadium?
I may allow the city to pay for some of the signs pointing the way to the new
stadium.
Other than that, I am opposed to moving the stadium at tax payer expense when
the one that we have is perfectly good. And I mean perfectly good. Perhaps I’m
being sentimental, but I used to work in that stadium and I saw nothing wrong
with it. I saw the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (their former name) lose to the Detroit
Tigers in their first
game and win in their second. My daughter and I saw Wade Boggs get his 3000th
hit in that stadium—a home run.
If it’s so important to move the stadium, sell stock to private investors.
5. Where do you think the Tampa Bay Rays' new stadium should be
built?
It has already been built. How is it that children can make a perfectly good
baseball field using a tree a rock and a dead bird, but the community leaders
and Major League Baseball can’t figure out how to use Tropicana Field?
6. On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being most positive), how would you rate the
city's performance in improving the quality of life in Midtown?
Midtown is great. I give it a 9, only because that no matter how good it
gets, there is always room for improvement. And I wouldn’t be able to inspire
people to put their businesses there if I gave it a 1. Right now, parts of
midtown are a buyer’s market. It’s a perfect opportunity to start a ground-floor
business. Kudos to Mayor Baker and Dr. Davis for all of their hard work and
success.
7. What is your suggestion for what should be the top priority in Midtown?
That’s easy. Get the word out all over the country that Midtown is open for
business. It’s called marketing.
8. Should the city continue to subsidize the businesses at The Pier?
How much subsidy are we talking? First and foremost, we need to keep the
pier. Saint Petersburg losing The Pier would be like Disney World losing
Cinderella’s Castle. This is part of the overall beauty of Saint Petersburg
that attracts business and tourists. Even if they don’t spend a penny there or
step foot on it, it’s still an attraction that gets
people into our city. If we turn The Pier into a hotel, it won't need to be subsidized. In fact, it will be quite profitable.
9. Do you think the city should provide curbside recycling?
I am extremely pro-recycle. It’s how I was raised. My mother would save
newspapers and glass jars and take them to the local recycling center back in
the days before environmentalism was a cool political issue. And I currently
take my recyclables to the baseball field near where I live.
Nationwide, there are three types of curbside recycling being done -
1. Dual-stream recycling
2. Single-stream recycling
3. Pay-as-you-throw
I will have Saint Petersburg implement single stream recycling because I would
prefer to ease into the program. Furthermore, now is not the time to put the
burden of dual-stream recycling onto the city. But I do ultimately want to have
it.
For more information on curbside recycle, click
here.
10. Do you think the city should offer free WiFi reception?
Nothing that the city does is free. A better question is, do you think that
we should be forced to pay for everybody’s WiFi reception? And the answer is,
short of a good argument opposing it, yes. This is not a black and white issue.
There are valid arguments on both sides. On the opposition, it’s a burden on the
taxpayers. Maybe a small one, but
these things add up. Additionally, you will be giving the government access to
your internet activity. That would be a government intrusion, but as long as
people are free to use other sources for their internet access, it’s not a major
problem. Or we could hire private companies to provide the WiFi.
My argument in favor is that it enhances business and promotes tourism. "Free"
WiFi would allow business to be conducted anywhere in the city which will
attract business to our area. This is a selling point to tourists who can’t live
without their internet connection.
11. Should the city become more involved in the controversy over the Raytheon
Plume?
Quick background: The following chemicals were leaked into the ground from
property which is now owned by Raytheon, contaminating a portion of the Azalea
neighborhood of Saint Petersburg -
1,4-Dioxane (note—this is NOT dioxin) It is a type of ether used as a solvent in
many organic chemistry reactions.
Trichloroethylene, dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride are known as chlorinated
ethenes. Under natural conditions chlorinated ethenes are consumed by a bacteria
known as Dehalococcoides ethenogenes and reduced to ethylene, which is benign.
However, this has not happened the way that Raytheon and the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection had hoped. The clean-up may take up to 25 years and
46 million dollars. Raytheon will be paying for all of the damages. Raytheon did
not cause the contamination and they are a major employer in this city. They are
not the bad guys. The land that they purchased was contaminated already.
The city of Saint Petersburg should stay out as much as possible. That's not to
say that it’s not an important issue. It certainly is, especially to the people
who live in there. But to do so would be nothing more than grandstanding and
fear-mongering. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection are more than qualified to
analyze the risk to the population and keep us fully informed. What can we
possibly do that they are not already doing? I can assure you that our state and
federal representatives, and our governor, who live in our community, will make
sure that the appropriate agencies take care of our interests. Governor Crist
can be the canary in our coal mine. And until we see him put a for sale sign up
on his condo, let’s assume everything is okay in Saint Petersburg and carry on
with our business of being the Sunshine City.
12. What is your zip code?
33701
13. Please Enter You Name:
Richard Eldridge
(back to candidate list)
"Here’s an example of my persistent corporate responsibility leadership." link
This is a good example of leadership, insight, and experience - no doubt about it. The problem is that this one anecdote does not distinguish him from anybody else. We all have unique talents that, when called upon, we can put to good use. I have ten years of sales experience. Once I went to work for a new local company that sold internet advertising. They were getting their leads off of the internet. And they were doing okay by that process, but they could have done a lot better. I introduced them to Reference USA. It’s a marketing tool that organizes almost every company in the United States in numerous categories along with their contact information. So, if you wanted to market to all of the barber shops in Brooklyn, all the florists in Florida, or all the thrift stores in 33701, you could do it. And at the time, it was free online through the local library. Does this one incident make me a great leader? Not necessarily. But it does make me a great marketer. And marketing skills are needed to fill the hotels that keep going up and to attract more businesses to locate or relocate in Saint Petersburg. (back to candidate list)
"This group,
announced just eleven days after Gibbons' official filing for office, represents
a diverse, bipartisan cross-section of city, county, regional and state leaders
coalescing behind Gibbons’ candidacy."
link
I searched
his website, and I searched his press releases and I found nothing that
indicated where Mr. Gibbons stood on any issue as of the time of this January
press release. His only claim to fame is that he’s held government and private
sector jobs and he’s been to college. In that respect, my experience is
superior. There is nothing bad about his resume. It’s just not as good as mine.
I won’t criticize him for putting his name on the ballot with a resume that is
adequate. It’s worth a shot.
My major criticism is for the local political leaders who appear to have
endorsed him so early in the race with no stand on any issue and an adequate
resume like he’s supposed to inherit the office. Well I’m here to contest the
will. Seriously, eleven days? Do they think that the mayor is just a man with a
top hat and giant scissors for ribbon cutting ceremonies? Didn't they think that
someone better, a proven leader, might come along between that time and the
qualification period at the end of June? What if Governor Crist decided to run
for mayor? Well, it looks like he's going to keep his job in Tallahassee for at
least another year and a half, so that leaves me.
Furthermore, I have no doubt that if I made some phone calls to friends and
family in the clergy, and asked them for an endorsement, they would all wish me
well and give me the same response—
"Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section
501(c)(3)organizations
are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or
intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any
candidate for elective public office."
Although they probably would not quote that section of the tax code verbatim,
they would pretty much have the same response.
If these ministers are affiliated with section
501(c)(3)
corporations, such as an average church, I have a strong
criticism against Mr. Gibbons for allowing these honorable people to expose
their churches and their financial supporters to financial risk in an effort to
boost his campaign. I have no doubt that this is an unintentional mistake. But
at a minimum, in my not so humble opinion, he needs to publish this disclaimer
on his website immediately,
"Titles and affiliations of each individual are provided for identification
purposes only."
"I run a six and a half billion dollar corporation every day" link1 link2
Using his logic, I ran the United States during the Reagan Administration. In his defense, people sometimes mis-speak. And the more you speak, the more your going to mis-speak. However, he seems to want to take credit for being a major influential player in this large corporation, but when the corporation is criticized for possibly exploiting lower income individuals and moving bill payments from the Enoch Davis Center to Amscot Financial, he says, "I wasn't really involved in it" (link). So he's more than happy to take credit for the six and a half billion dollar part, but not something that will put him in a negative light. That is not how a leader is supposed to act. A leader seeks responsibility and takes responsibility for his actions, even when those actions make him look bad. (back to candidate list)
"I will work to solve St. Petersburg's homeless and panhandler issues."
I won't make that promise, because based on every other election that has ever been held in this country, there will always be homeless people, there will always be panhandlers, and there will always be politicians giving lip service and only lip service to this issue. There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Williams wants to help the poor and so do I. But understand, he didn't say that he would solve the homeless and panhandler issues, he said he would "work to solve” the homeless and panhandler issues, which is extremely vague and basically means he doesn't have an answer either.
There are those in need who fall on hard times and require assistance to get back on their feet. Those are the people who can and should be helped - the people who are willing to do the work, get the training, and get the education. In many cases it takes very little effort to help them because all you need to do is get them on their feet and they will be off and running.
And we must absolutely help those who are mentally and/or physically handicapped. It's just the right thing to do.
Then there are those who won't do the work. They are perfectly happy to let you do the work and pay them from the fruit of your labor. These people cannot be helped by giving them money. It stifles their work ethic and deteriorates the soul of these people who have, for one reason or another, given up. They can be helped too, but not by handing them some change and walking away.
On the subject of panhandling, short of a Constitutional Amendment, banning it will never survive a court challenge. What has survived court challenges are laws against aggressive panhandling – confronting someone in a way that would cause a reasonable person fear of bodily harm, non consensual touching, continuing to panhandle or follow someone after being refused money, intentionally interfering with the safe passage of a person or vehicle, using obscene or abusive language while panhandling, and attempting to get money through intimidation.
Courts have upheld laws that prohibit panhandling in specified areas, such as ATM’s, public transportation vehicles and near stations and stops, near business entrances and exits, on public beaches and boardwalks.
The city attorney is more than qualified to advise the city council on how aggressively they are allowed to deal with panhandling. The only thing that is left is the enforcement. As mayor, I will certainly make sure that the police do their job. I will have that authority. But then I have to use my influence to make sure that people at the county level do their job as well, which would be outside of my authority, but not outside of my ability.
The only way to stop panhandling is to get the members of the community to stop giving them money. This would not be leaving them to die a slow horrible death from starvation. It would have the opposite effect by forcing them to turn to the appropriate organizations that will feed them and help them to turn their lives around.
"take back our streets"
Where have I heard that before? Oh, I remember - EVERYWHERE! I know some of you thought that we took our streets back in the last election, others thought it was twenty elections ago. But you have to understand that this is a perpetual campaign slogan that doesn't mean anything. It's just like "Take back our country”. From whom? The people who voted in the last election? That was us, right? Being a perpetual slogan, you're going to hear it in next year's election too. And you'll hear it year after year after year in spite of the fact that the streets are right where we left them. (back to candidate list)
Strong leadership is what is required to keep our streets safe, not worn out campaign slogans.
Yes, I know that the phrase "worn out campaign slogans" is a worn out campaign slogan.
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Richard Eldridge, no party affiliation, candidate for Mayor of Saint Petersburg, Florida. © Copyright 2009