Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 11, 2009, at 10:10 am
Should local governments have spent your tax dollars in campaigns for referenda such as the Penny for Pinellas?
Senate Bill 216 is now law, and its top advocate, St. Petersburg state Sen. Charlie Justice is pretty happy about it. SB 216 bans local governments from spending tax dollars to educate voters about referenda, a process that is both defended by government as a necessary means of explaining tricky civic issues and criticized by those who say it is merely advocacy campaigning with taxpayer money.
I’ve got both sides of the issue on it. First, Justice, who issued this statement upon Gov. Charlie Crist signing the bill:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 3, 2009, at 10:28 am
2008’s winner for Best Politician, Sen. Charlie Justice
Times flies when you’re struggling to make ends meet, but it is rapidly approaching that time in each summer when a Tampa Bayite’s thoughts turn to … Best of the Bay!!
This year, as we expand and make voting for the best goods, services, places, people, restaurants, bars, strip clubs, etc. more fun and interactive, we’re going to start by asking you: What categories in People, Places and Politics (the equivalent of our News & Politics section, my personal bailiwick as your Political Whore) would you like to see in the balloting?
Here are a few of the classics and new CL staff ideas we hope to feature this year (after the jump):
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2009, at 12:44 pm
Cristina Silva has a great story over at Bay Buzz about how the St. Petersburg City Council has a letter queued up to go to Gov. Charlie Crist urging a veto of SB 216, a good-government bill by local Sen. Charlie Justice.
Upshot is that city officials want to keep the ability to spend your money to tell you how to vote on city referenda or other issues. They say this bill is overly broad and could result in local elected officials getting arrested, they say. It is on the St. Petersburg City Council agenda for Thursday’s meeting, so if you can go and tell them to stuff it, that might be a good idea.
Download the draft letter in .pdf format after the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 16, 2009, at 2:10 pm
Sen. Charlie Justice has gotten out ahead of the Democratic field of those who want Bill Young’s three-decade seat in Congress by announcing today that he is in the race.
Young has not signaled his intentions, but his retirement has been rumored for at least a decade. Yesterday, Politico mentioned him again as a leading retirement prospect because he raised virtually no campaign money in the first quarter.
In a written statement, Justice said, “The impact of the faltering economy can be seen all across our community in the form of short sales, foreclosure signs and shuttered businesses. Florida families are pulling together at the dinner table and in churches and synagogues because they are determined to succeed. We need more leaders in Congress who share that determination.”
Posted by David Warner on Nov. 6, 2008, at 12:58 pm
Wayne is otherwise detained, but he forwarded this letter from Senator Joyner and Senator Justice to Governor Crist regarding the issues with the Hillsborough County Elections office. Will Gov. Charlie get involved? Stay tuned …
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Oct. 31, 2008, at 10:23 am
Nothing funnier than watching a bunch of down-ballot candidates flub their video promos. Actually, this is a pretty funny-effective video (disclosure: one of the Vote Local consultants, Larry Biddle, is the partner of Creative Loafing editor David Warner.)
