One candidate calls himself a businessman who has lived in the real business world. He understands the economy because of this and will be a better choice for president because he’s a decider. Can some one please inform this candidate that he doesn’t understand how Government works? There are a group of elected officials called the congress who decide on financing the government not the economy. They call this a budget, which comes out of a budget committee then voted on by a majority of congress in both houses. Only if a majority in both houses passes this budget bill will you get the opportunity to decide by signing it into law or veto it and send it back for revisions. Capitalist don’t fear the president and his policies they fear the Congress and Senate for their lack of legislation. The problem any President has and will always have begun in the 1975 rules changes made by the senate. Any legislature to pass after a filibuster requires a three fifths vote of the senate or 60 votes out of 100 also know as a supermajority.
The Real Story needs to be told
Re: It’s story time for Nugent by Paulette Lash Ritchie
Mr. Richard Nugent got back to his roots as he states after reading to first graders at Weeki Wachee K-8. He read a book about our system of legislating using the characters in the book as House Mice and Senate Mice. What he didn’t realize is the portrayal used exemplifies most representatives in Washington mice or in some cases rats.
Budget Battles and Turf Wars
You would think that after 4 years of declining revenue and the depletion of county reserve funds the county commission would finally realize that the Bush great recession is not going away to soon. As a matter of fact we will be crawling out of this recession for the remainder of this decade. Their priorities are so misdirected Administrator Hamilton reminds me of a teacher trying to control and unruly 1st grade class where the students are running wild with no direction or purpose. One example of their misdirection is the Dredge Project which is going on over 10 years. This year is a bad budget year yet, they decide to spend over 7 million of county tax dollars on the dredge project when asking employees to sacrifice their jobs and compensation. If they would have given back the 3 million they received from the state for the dredge project we would have saved 4 million dollars in tax dollars. This number I believe is next years budget shortfall. Did I just solve their budget problem NOT. All county departments including the constitutional offices must cut to the minimum necessary yet provide the basic services needed to service the community.
“When the going gets tough the tough get going”. Unlike this commission.
I think this commission needs to go.
Florida Voters were fooled
Tuesday the 15th of March I attended a rally at the Spring Hill Dr. Library for Move On .Org. We were rallying for the workers in the State of Florida who are currently under attach by Governor Rick Scott and the Republican majorities in the State House and State Senate. I met a young man with his wife and children. He just lost his job because of the Scott budget cuts for social work programs. We heard from women who also lost her job recently with a heart condition and no health insurance while Scott was cutting Medicaid funding which gave her no options for treatment. Who are the workers in Florida? They are Teachers, Firemen, Policemen, Librarians, Nurses State Workers, County Workers and all the Service Employees of Florida. Targeted at the moment are Teachers in the public school system. Republican legislation Senate Bill 736 now called the Son of Six eliminates tenure for teachers hired beginning July 1, ties teachers pay to student test scores, and ends layoffs based on seniority. I find it cynical and not amusing that Republicans would use a reference to the Son of Sam a mass murderer because that’s exactly what they are doing to the Teaching Profession, murdering a once sacred profession. What this bill does it takes away everything gained through collective bargaining for teachers for over decades through union accomplishments, does this sound familiar Wisconsin. Teachers who once were admired for their contribution to society’s progress through teaching future generation are now no longer admired for their efforts but treated like they are the cause of the State Governments over spending. The truth of the matter is this. How else can you provide the money to businesses that were instrumental in getting you elected you do this by cutting aid to school districts by 1.7 Billion dollars and give tax cuts to those same businesses? Rick Scott a man who took the 5th amendment 75 times as CEO of HCA during a deposition hearing for his role in the embezzlement of billions from Medicare and The Republican majority House and Senate found the way by giving almost 1.5 Billion of tax cuts to Corporations. Those of you who voted for these characters are getting a wake up call. Sooner or later the old saying comes true, you can fool some of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Did Florida get fooled?
Dredge Project with overdraft protection
Over two years our county administrator and county commissioners have utilized reserve funds to balance our budget by cutting operating costs and transferring money from reserve accounts to pay bills. Transferring reserves are simply accounting transactions to cover expenses in excess of revenues for example anyone who has overdraft checking linked to their savings account can understand this. When you write a check in excess of your checking balance an automatic transfer from your savings covers the overdraft. This kind of financial management is a temporary fix when revenues are declining and an assumption that revenues will increase in the future to satisfy the imbalances being satisfied by reserve (savings) transfers.
The Dredge Project a lose lose situation for the taxpayers.
The County Heads into Uncharted Waters for over thirteen years of legal issues, miscalculations, poor planning, and poor oversight by the County Commissioners, currently Russell and Stabins, and County Administrators currently Hamilton including poor judgment the Hernando Beach channel dredge project is now moving into another phase. Hernando County Commissioners will entertain Administrator Hamilton’s proposal to become General contractor for the Hernando beach dredging project when discussed at the January 25, 2011 commission meeting. Hamilton has requested Director of Transportation Services Susan Goebel and others to come up with a plan by February 1, 2011 at the next commission meeting.
