WHAT HAPPENED IN MARCH … HAPPENED IN NOVEMBER …
Dear Readers …just as we saw in March in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea … politics as usual is no longer tolerated by voters and taxpayers.. Last night voters made that clear once again…They voted out Congressman Ron Klein who stood behind some White House /majority sweeping changes that didn’t sit right with those he was sent to Washington to represent…He compounded it by not showing up to face the music of those who were clearly unhappy with his stance…Add to that those who thought he should be re-elected because he had an “in” with the current administration…For many that was the problem would not the catalyst to send him back to deliver more from Washington rather than the other way around… Col. West will now have to show he will listen and deliver as well as reconsider a stance if that is warranted…
George Moraitis beat Barbara Stern for Ellyn Bogdanoff’s District 91 seat handily as another example of a decent candidate making strides by running a good campaign and gathering momentum against someone who seemed to be in a position of being anointed due to politics as usual and who her mother is… positioned due to calling in “favors” some would say, from years of her mom being deeply entrenched in Democratic politics and lobbying… It renews ones faith that a seat for public office is possible for anyone ….even in 2010…
Chip La Marca is our new Broward County Commissioner as this writer posted previously it looked like he would be… Ken Keechl was another one who may have started out well as a Commissioner …but last night, received no “pass” for his questionable actions over the past year plus…of questionable personal and political ethics … and how he ran this costly, negative campaign… LBTS voters surely knew what this writer knew once he sent out that despicable last mailing calling his opponent a criminal with a picture behind bars for a DUI La Marca had in college, he was toast..just as it was for the CIC- candidates 8 months ago….. Come on, if we go after politicians for what they did in college… who’s safe enough to run?… This writer discovered LaMarca when we were on a local radio talk show after former Town Manager Colon removed former LBTS-BSO Chief Scott Gooding..LaMarca spoke up about her actions…and the actions/inaction of that sitting Commission who were soon to be voted out as Colon was herself once a new majority took over in March… He struck me as someone with conviction as well as common sense, who was not afraid to voice his opinions ….After that show, I took the time to once again look at how things ran in Lighthouse Point where he was a Commissioner… This writer had previously posted many times that LBTS should take a field trip to see how they ran their town…close in size of residents and annual budget… Time to extend a warm welcome to Comm. La Marca and ask him to work with us and the county for the Welcome Center and so much more….
Also winning Ellyn Bogdanoff for State Senate…Pam Bondi Attorney General…the first woman…This writer will watch to see how she takes on that job …Jeff Atwater is our Florida CFO …At this hour it sure look like Rick Scott is the new Governor …and Marco Rubio will be our new Senator showing former Gov. Charlie Crist voters held him responsible as well for being courted by the White House…and then acting like a flawed weeble…as he tried to backtrack…change his stance …and then change his political party to get his butt to Washington… Voters made sure he fell down!…
PUT ON NOTICE FOR 2012….
Now what?. Those in office and who want to stay in office need to get real…They need to listen and they need to get things done… In LBTS this means no more esoteric …politically correct …non-substantive meetings… Time to get down to the next round of the nitty-gritty this majority was voted in to accomplish… Yep, this group has accomplished quite a lot in their first 8 months with the new Administration and the new budget as well as cleaning up the mess left behind the scenes from a former administration that spent so much time putting out fires they themselves caused, leaving much of the Town’s business to languish as a result… literally in boxes behind Town Hall doors…
This Administration will have a meeting with the Commission currently set for Nov. 15th at a time not yet set due to VM Dodd’s Hillsboro monthly meeting conflict…This will be the first step to the “2nd act” of their commitment to move the Town forward…It will be to prioritize what’s on their plate and deal with those items before moving on to the next tier to be addressed and acted on …This writer still believes he Administration needs to remove several current leftover employees from the previous administration who are remiss in their duties in the positions they maintain… I also believe this Administration needs to look outside the box on contracting out services…and ridding the taxpayers of the pensions that are tied to Town employees doing jobs that can be done by private companies…
Along those lines this writer takes issue and respectfully disagrees with Mayor Minnet, Comm. Clottey and whomever else believes that government does not run like business and that it needs to be understood by the new Commissioners so the new Commissioners do not expect anything more going forward from government… This was brought up at the last roundtable…(prev. post)… This voter was at the front of the line with 65% of the LBTS voters who wanted just the opposite!… One of the pluses for this new majority was the fact they were business people…It was also a big plus that the new Town Manager spent years outside of government in order to assure that outside of the required government actions such as Notice of Intent and the like, our local government would definitely be run more like business and less like the status quo!…
I think the new Commission needs to re-think their last roundtable meeting discussion on businesses allowed in town (prev. post)… We elected them to allow for more business in town…not less… There is no reason not to allow a paint-wallpaper store/flooring store/ funeral home/electric supply-lighting store/ high- end consignment shops to be allowed in town…to exclude them is not business friendly, hurtful to building owners and makes no sense…Just zone them to west of A1A…It’s that simple! ….
On a personal note…please stop with the pontificating about environmentally, healthy living, green and politically correct future committees and plethora of local, state and federal resolutions rather than putting forth meaningful agenda items that have an impact … benign or not…just stop…Let individuals decide what they want to support and what they want to do to aid a cause…
The voters are watching and it is evident in 2010 …there is no grace period in politics or resting on your laurels…Voters in 2012 will want to see candidates who can firmly stand in front of them and state what they accomplished…what they are working on and what they need to stay in office to finish …otherwise… those elected officials will be out and someone else will be seated in their spot to see if they are the ones that can do it!… Remember declaring for office in 2012 is just around the corner!….
More to come….
Tags: local government, Local Politics, Newly elected County Commisisoner Chip La Marca, No More Politics As Usual In 2010 In Florida and Beyond, Politics, Scoops
