The Political Whore

Cut Taxes Now, the anti-tax effort fronted by St. Pete neurosurgeon David McKalip, has issued a “Final Report” wrapping up its efforts to put tax-cutting referenda on the ballot. McKalip writes:

It is a bittersweet moment for me and for Cut Taxes Now.  In August of 2006, a small number of fed up taxpayers met in the City Council Chamber of St. Petersburg.  We quickly grew into a new grassroots organization that joined with others around the state to work for smaller government and lower taxes.  Today, it is time to close one chapter and begin a new one.  Cut Taxes Now is officially disbanded as an organization.  The www.CutTaxesNow.com website will remain open for a month or two so anyone who likes can copy the files and research freely and use in any way.  This it the last email from Cut Taxes Now.

Full text after the jump:

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My latest column from the print edition of CL is up on the interwebs and here is a taste as I vow not only to write about problems but offer solutions:

PROBLEM: Politicians flipping and flopping. Barack Obama was for a 16-month troop withdrawal in Iraq; now he’s against it. John McCain was for immigration reform; now, not so much. Charlie Crist was against offshore drilling; now, with the vice presidential selection on the line, he’s Florida’s top roughneck.

Let’s be reasonable. There’s room for positions to change and ideas to evolve. But the election-year contortions going on now are beyond the pale.

SOLUTION: Issues lock-in. When you apply for a mortgage, your interest rate is locked in for a period of time. The bank can’t change it. Same for candidates under my new campaign rule. Candidates who publicly profess a position during their party’s primary cannot change their stance during the general election — even if we know they could just screw us over and change their minds once they are elected. They are fined $100,000 by the FEC for every time they violate their issue lock-in.

Read the whole thing here.

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Just got off a conference call set up by the Campaign for America’s Future, a progressive strategy group, that outlines the launching of its Economic War Room. The distribution center for progressive economic messages will send out daily e-mails with message points and polling data once both national conventions are done, co-director Robert Borosage said.

The bottom line: The Democratic message on the economy was falling flat because it was all about criticism without giving solutions. Voters didn’t disagree with the criticism of the GOP and the Bush Administration, pollster Celinda Lake said; but any five or six people sitting around a dining room table would have come up with those same criticisms. Voters want to hear how we can get out of this mess.

“A critique of the economy doesn’t win; a populist and focused solution wins in polling,” Lake said. The economy “is a powerful issue out there. The voters, if anything, want to hear more about it.”

(Her thoughts were echoed in an AARP poll released today.)

Drew Westen, Emory psychologist and “The Political Brain” author, added that the framing of the message matters, with populist and even progressive themes testing well in the campaign’s polling. “It matters a great deal how you talk about the economy,” he said. “It’s not about the rich vs. the poor;. It’s about the special interests vs. the rest of us.”

Westen provided a fascinating breakdown on why John McCain is winning the energy-message battle with Barack Obama, despite the fact that the Democratic economic platform tests better with voters. Republicans understand much better than Democrats, he said, that voters think in nonlinear and subconscious ways. Connecting rising gas prices with the solution of new offshore drilling works because the mind instantly recognizes that we need to drill to get more oil. Making the case that offshore drilling will take 10 years to have an impact on prices and will only lower them by an estimated 3 percent takes more thought and is less intuitive. So even if people hear that counter-message 1,000 times, they still make the positive connection between “drilling” and “more oil,” and “more oil” and “lower prices.”

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TBO.com’s transportation reporter Rich Shopes puts Pam Iorio ahead of the rest of her TBARTA board colleagues this morning in a story about her desire to get a Tampa-centric rail system in front of Hillsborough voters in 2010. From the article:

“I think the city is ready,” she said this week. “I think the people are ready.”

Some members of that regional authority, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, or TBARTA, think Iorio is jumping the gun.

“We need the support of multiple counties to make this work,” Clearwater mayor and TBARTA board member Frank Hibbard said.

TBARTA has had a pretty unified front until now, and while this isn’t much of a crack in that facade, it is a crack. But Iorio has increasingly been strident about her desire for a USF-downtown-airport rail line going in front of the voters, given that it will take a decade to build if it is approved in 2010. That puts rail, at its earliest, in the year 2020.

A month ago I sat down with Iorio for a 35-minute interview and she talked about transit as part of her explanation of why she is so methodical (and slow) in her decisionmaking. Here’s that excerpt:

I think being methodical works well because that’s my style, so I can’t be anything different than that. When you bring people in, you don’t make rash decisions. I give the example of the discussion of mass transit. I started three years ago in the State of the City speech saying we need to focus on transit and our bus system is very poor. Well then that started a particular cycle of conversation. Then the next State of the City speech I upped it a little bit and starting talking about, now we have to have light rail and then I produced a white paper on rail and how we had to take the Tampa plan and dust it off and re-do and get the MPO going. So that’s what we did.

Now here we are in 2008, and I think it’s been a pretty methodical approach of introducing the topic, of showing an interest in the topic, getting the MPO engaged to redo their plan, working with the Partnership to get TBARTA. It’s been a methodical process over the past three years. So you can say, well, why not just declare that we need to have light rail and go for it? Because it doesn’t work that way. That’s not how communities get light rail. No one just goes for it. It’s got to be a community consensus. You’ve got to build a dialogue. You have to get to the pont where other elected officials feel comfortable stepping out and saying, Yeah I’ll support a referendum for that.

But they’re not going to get to that point overnight. It’s got to become part of the community debate and consciousness. Now, today, light rail is an acceptable conversation for anyone to have. We’re talking about going to referendum in 2010, and I’m trying to push for a starter line that’s going to be from USF to downtown to Westshore. So there’s an example of something that you start by planting the seed of what should be a community dialogue and you start by taking the steps and it begins to evolve.

It remains to be seen whether Hillsborough County commissioners, who generally seem disinterested in the TBARTA process, would vote to put a transit tax on the 2010 ballot for Iorio.

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I finally got a chance to speak with Elected County Mayor PAC founder Mary Ann Stiles and opponent Jim Shirk, who has filed a lawsuit against the November referendum, too late for our print edition story, but both had interesting things to say.

Stiles sounded exasperated by what she called falsehoods about her proposal to replace the appointed county manager with an elected county executive. The biggest lie? “That it’s going to add more layers of bureaucracy and its going to increase costs. More layers? It’s a replacement, replacing it with an elected person. The structure for that person is already there.”

As for increased costs? “The mayor’s salary will be set by the board [of county commissioners, so there is accountability].” What about the fact that an elected mayor likely would have to hire a professional chief of staff/administrator anyway? Stiles countered that current County Manager Pat Bean already has a coterie of deputy county managers, any one of whom’s positions could be converted to a chief of staff.  “She’s already got all those positions. I think an elected county mayor would actually cut positions.”

The second lie?

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Coupla tales from the front lines of the economic disaster that is Tampa Bay.

First, good news!!! Our housing market is so bloated with inventory and our houses are losing so much of their value that we made the Today Show’s segment on “Housing markets where you can rape the shit out of the current owners/the bank because of the market slump.”

Now the bad news: more and more restaurants are closing. I drove over to the Boston Market on Kennedy Blvd. to buy a chicken caeser salad but found it stripped clean and closed. The Hardee’s in Britton Plaza shuttered its door in the past few months. And now this morning I read in the Business Journal that the highly annoying steakman Sam Seltzer is closing his Brandon restaurant:

Sam Seltzer’s Steak Houses of America Inc. lost $11.5 million over the past three years due to its unsuccessful rapid expansion and reduced sales from hurricanes followed by the economic slump, bankruptcy court records say.

The restaurant chain, based in Tampa, lost $7.1 million in 2007, $3.9 million in 2006 and $528,500 in 2005, according to court filings.

To turn things around, the company closed another three restaurants on July 14.

No longer operating are locations at Brandon Town Centre, Port Charlotte Towne and Altamonte. It had already closed two restaurants in Lakeland and Palm Harbor.

Oh, and Florida leads the nation in job losses. And Tampa Bay leads Florida.

Can’t wait for Governor Charlie to get back from Europe with his socialite fiance to fix these problems. After he first celebrates his birthday at a $5,200-a-head soiree at The Breakers in Palm Beach.

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The Colbert Report issued the challenge and the blogosphere stepped up: Make John McCain exciting using green screen technology and any of a number of movies/games/TV shows. Here is one of the funniest:

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When it comes to holding back billions and billions of gallons of water in eastern Hillsborough, size does matter, our Fix It Now correspondent Kelly Cornelius reports in her latest blog post.

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From the folks bringing us the November referendum on a strong county mayor in Hillsborough:

TAMPA – Mary Ann Stiles is proud to announce former Senator Les Miller and Councilwoman Gwen Miller have joined the efforts to give Hillsborough County an Elected County Mayor.

Senator Miller served in the historic capacity as the Minority Leader in the State House and the State Senate.  Councilwoman Miller has served on Tampa City Council since 1995 and was the Chair of the Council from 2004 to 2008.

This distinguished, accomplished and respected couple will both serve on the Executive Committee of the Elected County Mayor Political Committee, Inc.   Mr. Miller has also joined the Speakers Bureau and is available to speak to community organizations on behalf of the Elected County Mayor effort.

Ms. Stiles commented “We are so honored to have these two distinguished individuals join our campaign team.   Both have served this community in so many capacities and are so well respected it will be a privilege to work with them.   I believe their commitment to our cause brings another element of validity to the fact that Hillsborough County needs an Elected County Mayor.”

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It doesn’t mean he will be walking the streets anytime soon, but Sami al-Arian is a bit closer to some justice and freedom after a court ruling today. This from former CAIR local executive director Ahmed Bedier:

JUDGE ORDERS DR. AL-ARIAN RELEASED ON BAIL PENDING TRIAL
By Attorney Johnathan Turley

In a set back for the government, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was granted bail by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema today. Over the objections of the government and the pre-trial services, Judge Brinkema agreed that Dr. Al-Arian was not a flight risk and no danger to the community.

The government has suggested that it may now block release by having Immigration officials hold Dr. Al-Arian for deportation - despite the fact that it is trying to hold him for years under a criminal sentence rather than deport him.

SOURCE CLICK HERE
http://jonathanturley.org/2008/07/09/dr-sami-al-arian-files-motion-for-bail/

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AL-ARIAN IN DEPORTATION HOLD AFTER RELEASE FOR CONTEMPT

By JOSH GERSTEIN, Sun | July 10, 2008
A federal judge is ordering a prominent Palestinian Arab activist, Sami Al-Arian, released pending a trial on criminal contempt charges, but she has refused to block immigration authorities from detaining Al-Arian as a prelude to his deportation.
The upshot of the ruling from Judge Leonie Brinkema at a bail hearing at Alexandria, Va. this morning seemed to be that Al-Arian will stay behind bars, at least for now. However, the decision puts the government in the odd posture of detaining a man for a deportation authorities have no immediate intention of carrying out.

“It was a very good day,” one of Al-Arian’s lawyers, Jonathan Turley, said in a brief telephone interview after the court session. “She agreed with us that he’s not a flight risk and not a danger to the community, that that was not a barrier to bail.”
Mr. Turley said Judge Brinkema also said she was picking up “strange signals” from the case and she warned the government that it should not be using the contempt charges to delay Al-Arian’s deportation.

The prosecutor at today’s hearing, Gordon Kromberg, declined to comment for this article.
FULL ARTICLE HERE

http://www.nysun.com/national/al-arian-in-deportation-hold-after-release/81624/

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Cong. 10 Democratic candidate Bob Hackworths’ campaign sent along this statement as the Senate prepares to vote in the reauthorization of the FISA domestic spying bill:

DUNEDIN, FL—With the Senate poised to vote today on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); Mayor Hackworth has taken a stand against this unwarranted infringement on our civil liberties.  Americans who contact people outside this country will have their calls and emails collected without the use of warrants. Another provision of this act allows telecom companies that have illegally wiretapped Americans in the past will not be held accountable for their illegal actions.
“Once again this administration has shown its disregard for the Constitution,” said Mayor Hackworth.   “By providing the telecom companies with immunity, the senate will be condoning the extra-constitutional actions of this government and be sending a message to the country and the world that big business comes before the freedoms and liberties of the American people.  As usual, Rep. Bill Young sided with the administration in voting to restrict the freedoms that this country was founded on,” said Hackworth.
When H.R. 6304 passed in the House, Democrats were split down the middle as 128 voted against and 105 voted in favor of it.  When elected to Congress, Mayor Hackworth will work to restore the constitutional liberties the founders intended.

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