LOCAL and Florida Politics

[spenser1058]

Bracy wants to tax out-of-state housing investors:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/543449-randolph-bracy-proposes-taxing-out-of-state-housing-investors/

Feom Florida Politics 

[spenser1058]

Hey, we’ve got a great candidate for @HankStrongwho says he really likes trains (just look at his resume). Only problem for Hank is he’s running for city commission in Altamonte,.

Nevertheless, the article talks about some of the creative stuff the city’s doing in transit. Just one more reason I’m liking Seminole County more and more lately. People up there actually DO stuff. Heck, it’s The Natural Choice!

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/542990-transit-and-trains-advocate-bob-omalley-seeking-altamonte-springs-seat/

From Florida Politics 
 

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Bracy wants to tax out-of-state housing investors:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/543449-randolph-bracy-proposes-taxing-out-of-state-housing-investors/

Feom Florida Politics 

I've got mixed feelings about that.  On one side, why not, right? Slow it down a bit.  But that will quell people from CA, NY, and IL that are moving down here for many reasons, state income taxes being one of them.  But will it quell those out of state (and foreign) investors buying up everything at market rate and above?  Probably not unless the Fed intervenes (or the State).

[spenser1058]

Just now, jrs2 said:

I've got mixed feelings about that.  On one side, why not, right? Slow it down a bit.  But that will quell people from CA, NY, and IL that are moving down here for many reasons, state income taxes being one of them.  But will it quell those out of state (and foreign) investors buying up everything at market rate and above?  Probably not unless the Fed intervenes (or the State).

There are a lot of unanswered questions. What’s funny is too often the default position in Florida is unbridled growth, even when it degrades the quality of life and brings in those wonderful Rick Scott Wawa jobs. There are plenty of states that are growing more slowly on us but concentrating on the environment and better education as a way to attract quality jobs.

[jrs2]

8 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

There are a lot of unanswered questions. What’s funny is too often the default position in Florida is unbridled growth, even when it degrades the quality of life and brings in those wonderful Rick Scott Wawa jobs. There are plenty of states that are growing more slowly on us but concentrating on the environment and better education as a way to attract quality jobs.

LOL.  Don't forget all of the Buc-cee's jobs...

[HankStrong]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Hey, we’ve got a great candidate for @HankStrongwho says he really likes trains (just look at his resume). Only problem for Hank is he’s running for city commission in Altamonte,.

Nevertheless, the article talks about some of the creative stuff the city’s doing in transit. Just one more reason I’m liking Seminole County more and more lately. People up there actually DO stuff. Heck, it’s The Natural Choice!

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/542990-transit-and-trains-advocate-bob-omalley-seeking-altamonte-springs-seat/

From Florida Politics 
 

I do love trains, but I hate the hot garbage that is this thread.  I'm pro train!

[spenser1058]

The good Republicans over in Lake County are feasting on each other:

Outright lies’: Lake’s GOP election chief blasts voting misinformation from fellow Republicans 
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-lake-county-voter-disinformation-20220803-euwf2yyadvcxpmu3boz7hfgo7i-story.html

From The Sentinel 

Such a lovely county!
 

[jack]

On 8/2/2022 at 1:56 PM, jrs2 said:

I've got mixed feelings about that.  On one side, why not, right? Slow it down a bit.  But that will quell people from CA, NY, and IL that are moving down here for many reasons, state income taxes being one of them.  But will it quell those out of state (and foreign) investors buying up everything at market rate and above?  Probably not unless the Fed intervenes (or the State).

It will slow it down and increase the pricing of existing housing. Artificially decreasing the supply without slowing down the demand. 

Corporations that buy housing to rent can register in the state of Florida to work around this proposal. the larger impact will be to 2nd homeowners that vacation in Florida part of the year. But many of them are registered to live in Florida so it won't impact them too much. 

Overall, this does not attack the root cause. 

On 8/2/2022 at 2:00 PM, spenser1058 said:

There are a lot of unanswered questions. What’s funny is too often the default position in Florida is unbridled growth, even when it degrades the quality of life and brings in those wonderful Rick Scott Wawa jobs. There are plenty of states that are growing more slowly on us but concentrating on the environment and better education as a way to attract quality jobs.

They are growing slowly because the demand is limited. If we do slow it down, it will only increase the price of existing housing. Eventually, it may work itself out or we may end up looking like California. A state many want to be in but cannot afford to live in. 

[spenser1058]

Good heavens, a candidate in Central Florida that’s not ready to be a resident of VMC if Ms. Ponte ever, you know, builds it.

The Orlando City Council would have to give up its Lawrence Welk background music if a twenty-something was elected. (I think Buddy requires an AARP card to get under the dome these days).

Anyway, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who’s 24 right now, is running for Congress in Val’s old seat. With union, LGBTQ+ and the support of folks like Carlos Smith and Anna Eskamani, he may pull it off. Best of all, he has money behind him. 

It’s a blue-leaning seat and I was glad to add my vote for him.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/544515-pac-pours-692k-into-tv-to-support-maxwell-frost-in-cd-10/

From Florida Politics 
 

[popsiclebrandon]

16 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Good heavens, a candidate in Central Florida that’s not ready to be a resident of VMC if Ms. Ponte ever, you know, builds it.

The Orlando City Council would have to give up its Lawrence Welk background music if a twenty-something was elected. (I think Buddy requires an AARP card to get under the dome these days).

Anyway, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who’s 24 right now, is running for Congress in Val’s old seat. With union, LGBTQ+ and the support of folks like Carlos Smith and Anna Eskamani, he may pull it off. Best of all, he has money behind him. 

It’s a blue-leaning seat and I was glad to add my vote for him.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/544515-pac-pours-692k-into-tv-to-support-maxwell-frost-in-cd-10/

From Florida Politics 
 

Hope he wins but think its super funny its all backed by a crypto bro.

[spenser1058]

Volusia County Council explodes in anger over environmental meeting

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/local/2022/08/05/volusia-county-council-argues-over-politicization-of-environment/10234667002/

From The News Journal 

Although he’s a native of Volusia, County Council Chair Jeff Brewer doesn’t seem to quite understand they don’t have a strong mayor form of government. It seems the rest of the council is making it loud and clear…
 

[spenser1058]

More endorsements for rising political star Maxwell Alejandro Frost in the CD10 race:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/544455-sierra-club-slew-of-other-progressives-pile-endorsements-on-maxwell-frost-in-cd-10/

From Florida Politics

I wonder if Buddy prefers candidates like Corinne Brown and Alan Grayson who seem incapable of figuring out they’ve stayed around too long? Corinne and Buddy can both share stories about their visits to jail!

 

[spenser1058]

While DeSatan removed Hillsborough County’s state attorney from office (someone who has been elected twice by county voters) because of his stance on prosecuting the state’s draconian forced-birthing laws, he’s remaining strangely quiet about right-wing sheriffs who’ve stated publicly they won’t enforce the state’s gun safety rules:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-florida-sheriffs-gun-control-desantis-20220808-olkcvjqfkfcm7b2pb6unzh2hsi-story.html

From The Sentinel 

Isn’t it time to elect a governor who’ll represent ALL the citizens of Florida?

Early Voting begins today in Orange and Osceola counties.
 

[spenser1058]

Mark Hamill is endorsing Anna Eskamani. That settles that… vote for Anna and May the Force Be With You!

[spenser1058]

It’s very important with one of the political parties going to extraordinary lengths to keep folks from voting, to follow up and make sure your vote counts.

If you vote by mail, make sure your Supervisor of Elections office has a way to contact you if something goes wrong. Party activists are going to be reviewing ballots and sadly many have an agenda.  If a signature isn’t included on the outside envelope or doesn’t exactly match what’s on file, it could be rejected by evildoers. Elections officials will try to get you a do-over, but they have to be able to reach you before the deadline.

Fortunately, if you live in OC you can go online and verify your ballot was received and accepted. Just go to ocfelections.com and check your info. I mailed mine back Friday and by Monday it was verified

 DID YOU VOTE YET?

[spenser1058]

The rent cap goes to the November ballot by 4-3 vote of the OC Commission.

Meanwhile, Charlie’s 2009 President Obama hug, which all but got him booted out of the GOP, is now a huge positive:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/545407-the-hug-comes-full-circle-from-infamous-to-point-of-pride-for-charlie-crists-new-ad/

From Florida Politics 

Edited August 10, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

One wonders if Steve Bannon is vacationing in Volusia this summer:

Volusia Chair Jeff Brower says his family dog was poisoned; a political ally blames REC

https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/08/09/volusia-county-chair-says-support-dog-poisoned-no-sheriffs-report-filed/10269119002/

From The News Journal 
 

[spenser1058]

Charlie gets $500K from the AFT (teachers), his biggest contribution this cycle:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/545841-american-federation-of-teachers-gives-charlie-crist-a-500k-boost/

From Florida Politics

[spenser1058]

From Florida Politics’ Weekly Winners and Losers column:

“The biggest winner: The Walt Disney Company. Remember the predictions for pain and suffering at Disney following the culture attack on the entertainment giant by Gov. Ron DeSantis?

The Mouse just roared.

The only pain Disney experiences these days is from lifting all those bags of cash as customers keep responding to the siren call of the company they love.

Disney reported a $3.6 billion (with a “b”) operating profit in its latest earnings report, up 50% from a year ago. The company’s revenue was $21.5 billion, a 26% increase from last year.

Two factors drove the increase: A strong performance by its theme parks as people shrugged off the pandemic and paid for a Disney getaway, and the company’s streaming service, Disney+.

While other major streaming platforms struggled, Disney+ grew to 221 million subscribers worldwide, passing Netflix for the first time.

Florida Republicans gloated after taking away Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, telling anyone who would listen that the company would finally “pay its fair share” in taxes.

It looks like Disney can handle that.”

[spenser1058]

The Tallahassee idiots are still grifting the taxpayers:

“A Florida company with a former (Republican) House Speaker as a top executive allegedly charged local government millions of dollars for Hurricane Michael cleanup that it never performed, according to an FBI affidavit released last week as part of an ongoing investigation.”

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/547116-fbi-company-chaired-by-allen-bense-bilked-government-after-hurricane-michael/

From Florida Politics 

Had enough?
 

Edited August 15, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Charlie raises $1 million in the first 11 days of August after raising $2.3m in July. Although he won’t reach DeSatan’s numbers, it will be more than enough to finance the campaign into the fall if the numbers keep to that level, especially since Charlie already has great name recognition.

 

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/547141-charlie-crist-raises-another-1m-in-first-11-days-of-august/

From Florida Politics

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Over in CD7, which has been redrawn to lean right after preacher John Mica lost his seat toStephanie Murphy, is a regular GQP side show.

The worst is MAGA bombthrower Anthony Sabatini, who is so loathed by his fellow legislators they stuck his office in the basement.

Then we have Ted Edwards, who Democrats dispatched from the OC Commission several years back. Democrats, you see, remember that Ted was one of those who worked hardest to torpedo the light rail that would have run seven days a week and included access to International Drive. Instead we got the weak-kneed SunRail several years later, mostly because it allowed Jeb! to engineer a sweetheart deal with CSX.

Today’s winner, however, is Al Santos, who’s been pulling in about 3% in previous polls but today announced a poll showing him leading.

But wait - there’s more! Al says the poll was conducted by the Harvard B-School. Only one problem, they never heard of him.

I’m not sure why it’s so hard for Republicans to tell the truth. Any ideas?

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/547304-harvard-disavows-survey-released-by-cd-7-republican-al-santos/

From Florida Politics 
 

Edited August 15, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Nikki annoys me:

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/548087-nikki-fried-double-standard/

From Florida Politics

”She thinks her problem is a ‘sexist double-standard’. “Given that most of the Charlie voters I know (including myself) also voted for Val for Senate, maybe the real problem is we just don’t like you and your lobbying ways.

If, by some miracle, you’re the winner on Tuesday, I’ll vote for you over DeathSentence, but I’ll be holding my nose.

[spenser1058]

Interesting group - when rents increased as much as 35% in one year, there wasn’t a peep, but a one-year 9.8% percent cap has them squealing like a stuck pig:

Landlords sue to stop Orange County’s proposed rent cap 
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange-county/os-ne-orange-rent-control-lawsuit-20220817-4bmmdtmq5zbq3e4zj5tij4imti-story.html

From The Sentinel 

Their motto, as Dr. Oz would say: “Let them have crudités!”
 

Edited August 17, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

“TALLAHASSEE — Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is getting major contributions from groups supported by Florida Power & Light and Big Sugar, and from dark money committees, while U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist’s donations largely come from labor unions and liberal philanthropists, campaign finance records show.” 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/2022-election/os-ne-politics-2022-election-fried-campaign-donations-20220818-2tqzfa3vpvggfkpyjirmxkjgbq-story.html

From The Sentinel 

Tuesday can’t come soon enough and she’ll be forgotten as quickly as Andrew.