By: Nathan Angelo Kilton

The 2010 general election, much like the primaries, was a pungent presentation of pugilism requiring persistent palliative peptic promotion. In other words, the elections were the usual knock-down, drag-out that left spectators with indigestion. Thankfully, as far as conservatives are concerned, the results could not have been much better for Florida or the nation.

During the past 18 months, Senator Elect Marco Rubio has become the darling of Florida conservatives. Just a year ago, he trailed Charlie Crist in the polls by 10 points, and Crist held many early endorsements from Washington conservatives. Many of those endorsements were later pulled back when Crist left the Republican Party to run as an independent. Rubio’s appeal drew support from Tea Party goers and conservative Republicans longing for smaller government. Time magazine and several television commentators labeled Rubio a Tea Party candidate. It’s true that the Tea Party helped Rubio, but I don’t believe that he tailored any of his positions or comments to appeal directly to the Tea Party. Rubio is who he is and just happened to be the right candidate at the right time. Rubio has said repeatedly that the GOP is the natural home of the Tea Party. I agree, and I think that Rubio, maybe more than anyone else, has the potential to galvanize the Tea Party movement and the Republican Party. If Rubio, along with other conservatives (e.g. DeMint, McConnell, Boehner, Pence, Cantor, Ryan, Bachmann, etc.) in Washington can wrestle the GOP back from McCain moderates, the energy behind the Tea Party will converge with a revamped Republican Party that looks more like the party of Reagan.

While Rubio is still months away from being sworn in, he has already signed on to Senator DeMint’s ban on budget earmarks. So far, Rubio has been joined by Senator Elect Rand Paul and the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell among others. It remains to be seen whether DeMint will gain a majority of the Republican caucus in this effort. The ban is important not so much because of the relatively meager impact it would have on the budget deficit, but because of the symbolic message it sends. It declares that there is a new Republican guard in Washington that is serious about tackling issues that have been sidestepped in recent years. Whether Rubio and others follow through with legitimate attempts to reform social security, Medicare, and the tax code is the big question. It’s what I expect from Rubio and why I voted for him. I believe he is up for the challenge, but with expectations set so high, there is a lot of room for him to disappoint. He has little room for error and all Republicans who have been sent to Tallahassee and Washington are on a short leash.

Congressman Kendrick Meek’s significance to the senate race really only came into play during the last few days of the campaign when it was reported that Bill Clinton asked Meek to withdraw from the race and support Charlie Crist. Meek denied the report, stayed in the race, and received 1,067,559 votes. Crist would have won had he received all of Meek’s votes. It’s an interesting footnote to a race that felt like Rubio’s win was providential.

The race for Florida’s governor was nearly as dramatic as the senate race. At first glance, it seems... Read More...

Tags: Nate Kilton

We, the people of the State of Florida, being grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, in order to secure its benefits, perfect our government, insure domestic tranquility, maintain public order, and guarantee equal civil and political rights to all, do ordain and establish this constitution. Preamble, Florida Constitution

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

The proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution present some interesting choices, to say the least. Here’s how I’m voting:

Yes (Amendment 1) to repeal public campaign financing;
Yes (Amendment 2) for a property tax break for military families;
Yes (Amendment 4) to require a vote of the people on local land use changes;
No (Amendment 5) to revised state legislative redistricting guidelines;
No (Amendment 6) to revised Congressional redistricting guidelines; and
No (Amendment 8) to watered down class size limits.

As a preface, the Florida Constitutional amendment process has been the time-honored battlefield upon which Florida’s capitalists and socialists have fought to the finish, leaving the Florida Constitution a valley of ‘dry bones’ upon which epic battles were won and lost. This election season features the same special interests pitted one against the other over proposals they suggest could end ‘life as we know it’ in Florida, or at least that’s what the lobbyists and executive directors of untold trade associations are predicting in order to stir the emotions, and pocketbooks, of the rank and file membership (who fund the TV ads you are now having to tolerate).

One war story needs to be told here. I have a distinct memory of standing on the floor of the Florida House on the last day of the Session in 2003 and being asked by Representative Goodlette to please take up and pass the proposed constitutional amendment that would amend the Florida Constitution to require a 60% vote to amend it. I asked Dudley why on earth would the people in a democracy want to dilute their power to amend their own constitution? His answer, though more diplomatic, was something to the effect that the great unwashed needed to be held in check, why they were taking things into their own hands much too often for the ruling class. As a populist of sorts, I would have no hand in that. So, we didn’t, but the next Legislature after I was gone did, and now it takes 60% to amend.

The only amendment really worth a protracted discussion in No. 4, commonly referred to as Hometown Democracy. Of course, the name is a façade and a pretense, but that’s the least of it. I explain below.

You just want Information? If you simply need information on the proposed amendments, there are several good sites with summaries of each amendment. Check out the Secretary of State for the exact language of the amendments. The James Madison Institute has a concise explanation of each amendment. Of course, the Leroy Collins Institute has a detailed flyer that makes and interesting read.

Here are my off the cuff thoughts:

Amendment 1

Vote YES on Amendment 1 because there is absolutely no reason for the taxpayers to fund statewide candidates. This amendment was placed on the ballot a few years ago in order to buy the votes of other members of the Constitutional Revision Commission on some other more conservative matters. Now is a good time to get rid of it since the federal courts are going to nullify it as a practical matter anyway. If you are a utopian or a socialist, you should vote NO. If you are a conservative, free marketer, vote YES.

Amendment 2

Vote YES on this tax cut. As Speaker Tom Feeney was fond of saying, “There are only two kinds of tax breaks: good ones and better ones.” A break for military families is in the latter category, and only a hard core Leftist who wanted to spend the money on some socialist’s idea would vote No on this. This is a ‘two for the price of one deal’ in that you can support the military and reduce the amount of money going to government at the same time. This is a feel good vote. What I can’t understand is why the Legislature doesn’t vote in more pay and benefits for the National Guard and fix up the armories that are falling down around the state.

Amendment 4

I am a YES on Amendment 4 for because of what I believe will be a favorable, but unintended, long-term consequence of its passage. However, any party line, short term thinking, conservative free marketer should vote NO on this really bad idea which was the brain child of an extremist environmental lawyer (what a combination!).

As a preface, back in the 1980’s I took one of those taxicab tours of Jamaica as a shore excursion from our cruise ship. As we rode around I noticed that there seemed to be no real consistent land use. There would be a chicken farm next to a residence next to a garage next to a store. I asked the driver whether there were any land use laws in Jamaica? He was puzzled, and I told him about the zoning and land use laws in the U.S. He turned with a look of amazement and proclaimed, “I thought you were free in America! You really mean, Man, that the government tells you how to use your land?” (I notice that in 1996, the socialists prevailed in Jamaica passing a major monster land use law. Too bad.)

No, those who invest capital in land in America are not free, but subject to the whim of central planners ad nauseam who have not invested one hard-earned dime in the purchase of the land. How the American economy bears up under the weight of layer upon layer of this regulatory socialism is beyond me.

Yet, I think I will vote YES on Amendment 4 simply because it might have the effect of waking up the Legislature and the average landowner to finally say, “Enough is enough!” People who don’t own land should not tell those who do what to do with it.

If you think that the 1985 Florida Comprehensive Growth Management Act planning act has been the panacea to contain ‘urban sprawl’ you haven’t been getting out enough. By the way, one person’s urban sprawl is the other’s suburban development. I for one am in favor of suburban development. I don’t believe that planner’s dream of telling me where to live, where to work, how and when to get there, etc., is my version of the American dream (or the Jamaican dream either).

The concept that smarter bureaucrats could map out the future society is bunk. Until we get back to the basic ideas of the Founding Fathers, including private ownership of land, we will continue to drift toward socialism and its cruel enforcement through endless confiscatory and coercive regulations.

So, I’m for No. 4 because it may lead to the Legislature repealing the Growth Management Act in response to the mess to come from hometown socialism.

Amendments 5 & 6

Vote NO on this Democrat plan to take over the Legislature with the help of their liberal enablers on the Florida Supreme Court.

Every ten years the state house and senate seats are re-designed to accommodate changes in population with a view toward equalizing the number of citizens each house member or senator represents. Historically, this function was an act solely within the discretion of the Legislature, not to be interfered with by the judicial or executive branches. Well, after the civil rights acts and court rulings in the later half of the 20th Century, the federal judiciary weighed in to the redistricting issues big time ostensibly to protect against suppression of minority voting rights. The result is that the federal courts will review any redistricting plan passed by the state legislature.

Amendments 5 and 6 seek to establish in the Florida Constitution specific guidelines that must be employed by the Legislature in the redistricting process.

The bottom line is that the political left believes that by passing this amendment the left will be able to have the Florida Supreme Court (which is still has a liberal majority) weigh in on the redistricting plan and rewrite the plan to favor the election of more Democrats. It’s that simple.

So, Amendments 5 & 6 are a ploy by the Left to obtain greater representation, if not the majority, in the state Legislature. An interesting point is that although the Democrats were in charge of drawing the 1992-redistricting plan, it did not stop the Republicans from taking over the Legislature during the 1990’s. So, even if these very bad amendments pass, there will not be an ipso facto turnover of the Legislature to the Democrats. It will mean that Republicans will have to articulate their message better than before, and that could be a blessing in disguise.

Amendment 8

I am against Amendment 8 for one reason. Everyone will tell you that class size by itself will not lead to better outcomes in public education. Yet, I am deeply suspicious when the local school district wants ‘flexibility’ with anything. Correctly interpreted, this means that the school districts want to spend education dollars on feathering their own administrative ‘nest’ to the detriment of the classroom teacher. Don’t cut them any slack.

Any thinking person knows that measuring ‘inputs’ to a system doesn’t assure that the ‘outcomes’ will be what is desired. As my Alabama uncle used to say, “It doesn’t matter how much water you put in your bucket if it has a hole in it. It will never fill up.” That is a sage observation about public education.

Republicans began to measure outcomes and put the pressure on the system to perform. Yet, the concept seems to prevail (even with Republicans) that if you just put a little more money into the system, things will be better. It won’t.

The next renaissance in education will come when parents are given vouchers and are liberated to find an education for their children in the private sector. Then education will unfold in ways that no union or school board could ever imagine. But, until then, don’t cut the school bureaucrats any slack. Make them spend the money in the classroom.


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Tags: growth management , Class Size Amendment, Redistricting, Ad valorem tax, Military Tax Breaks

RULE 8 - Endorsements A. The State Executive Committee may endorse, certify or recommend candidates in contested Republican primaries only upon unanimous approval of the Executive Board and the approval of 60% of the State Executive Committee at a meeting called for that purpose and at which a quorum is present. Republican Party of Florida Rules of Procedure

I have two very good reasons to be thankful on this Johnnie Byrd weekend: Rick Scott & Republican Hypocrisy

Thank Goodness for Rick Scott.

The ‘folks’ made a statement this week. We are sick and tired of career politicians and big money interests ‘lording’ over state government and the election process. The folks are tired of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) puppet masters running the show.

I might add that every Republican in the state of Florida actually owes an additional debt of gratitude to Rick Scott. He is the only person right now who actually can deliver on the stated purpose of the Florida Republican Party:

ARTICLE II - OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this State Committee shall be:
A. To develop a strong, effective, and informed Republican Party in Florida.
B. To support the principles, objectives, and platforms of the Republican Party and to
secure the election of all duly nominated Republican candidates.
C. To encourage able and qualified Republicans to seek office at all levels of government.

The wonderful thing is that Rick Scott has a message; he has a plan. Rick Scott’s plan to rejuvenate Florida’s economy excites people. The rank and file Republicans will now support Scott gleefully. They have been unfettered from having to support the guy whose ‘turn is next’. We have been freed from the Bob Dole effect and can get behind someone who exudes confidence in less taxes, less regulation and more personal freedom. We can get behind someone who doesn’t believe government is the answer. People are excited about the chance. I predict a Scott blowout in November and some real change for the better in Florida government and politics.

Thank Goodness for Republican Hypocrisy

The RPOF has just had the proverbial Aqua Velva slap. RPOF Chairman John Thrasher needs to regain his moral authority - and in a hurry. By taking sides in the Republican primary, Chairman Thrasher made a big mistake. It wasn’t a technical violation for him to endorse in a personal capacity, but it gave the wrong impression. At any rate, this hypocrisy revealed can allow the RPOF to redeem itself, and I believe it will.

I still can’t help but ask, “What was Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher thinking?” I don’t really know, but I am sure Thrasher will think twice before he ‘blows off’ the cardinal Republican rule of primary election neutrality again. Like most of us Republicans in the ‘outback’, I believe in power of conservative ‘principles’ not in the power of big money interests who pay the bills, but don’t care about principles unless it gets them their way. I am sure that Thrasher will get behind Scott in a hurry and do a lot of reflection on how to balance those interests in the future. Job number one right now is to pull the RPOF back together.

It’s time to shake off this issue and win in November - the future of our state and country depends on it. Now’s the time for every good conservative to call the RPOF office and ask what you can do. You can’t do everything, but you can do something. Hillsborough County Chairwoman Deborah Cox can use your help. Go to the RPOF website and check it out and then step out to do something for your state and county.
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Tags: Mike Haridopolos, Larry Cretul, Will Weatherford, Dean Cannon, John Thrasher

What I like About Sandy Murman

by Johnnie Byrd

With a nickname like ‘the Murmanator’ you’d expect high energy, and that’s what you get with Sandy Murman.

When we served together in the State House, I used to kid Murman that whenever I had an idea for a great bill - she had already filed it. Just take a look at Sandy’s profile page while she served in the Florida House. You can see that no mere mortal could keep up with Sandy Murman for legislative and community service, not to mention endless accolades from every known constituent support group.

I like Murman’s platform. It’s conservative and straightforward; it’s solid and measurable. She wants a performance based budget and 5% less taxes. On the economic development front Sandy knows that most new jobs in any community come from growth of existing small businesses, and she will require that economic development programs are accountable, not millstones around the neck of taxpayers and their children and grandchildren (that would be a first).

But, knowing Sandy as I do, there is something more profound going on with her these days. What do I think? Sandy has finally realized that the silk stocking crowd is out of touch with the people she wants to represent.

Yes, Sandy is more conservative today than ever, and I am proud of her for it. She’s come a long way from being the moderate darling of the Tampa Tribune and the Davis Island crowd. Sometimes it is a wake up call when the Trib dumps you like last years prom date and the in-crowd has move on to a newer, younger, stronger golden boy. It hurts, but it awakens. Now we’ll see the real Sandy Murman.

How do I know that Sandy believes in the fundamental righteousness of conservative, free market philosophy? Because, she was there when I brought in the big name free market economic gurus, like Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer, to address our Republican caucus meetings. And, for those of you who wonder about her stands on social issues, there’s never been a doubt that Sandy is a social conservative. She was our ‘go to’ member when a pro-life bill needed to be moved through the Florida House. (I’m sorry Sandy, the silk stocking crowd may not have heard this.)

This time Sandy knows that the ‘folks’ count - Yes, the ‘folks’ that don’t read the Trib and have never been on a host committee for a ritzy downtown fundraiser. But, Sandy knows that the folks have the final say on just who THEY want to lead.

Sandy’s become a ‘believer’ and that’s what I like about Sandy Murman.
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Tags: Sandy Murman

What I like about Jim Norman

by Johnnie Byrd

If Ralph Hughes liked you, I like you. If Ralph Hughes didn’t, I don’t either. Ralph liked Jim Norman a lot, and so do I.

Ralph Hughes was a great American who had unqualified disrespect for what he called the “so-called editorial committee” at the Tampa Tribune. He taught me that the Tribune editorial pages were a quick way to discern whether a Republican was a RINO, or not. If the Trib sang praises for a Republican candidate, we had better watch out. Even better, if the Trib waged war against a particular Republican, you could put your money on that person being a true conservative.

Would you like a case in point?

This morning I stopped in a local convenience store, and the newspaper rack caught my eye. Lo and behold, you’ll never guess whose picture the Trib had above the fold on the front page? Well, it was none other than Jim Norman! Of course, it was a non-story with a headline that some fools at the Trib had spent all Thursday afternoon brainstorming to sound like Norman was some kind of ax murderer. (And, newspapers wondering why their readership is in the toilet.) At any rate, the Trib made its contribution to Norman’s opponent and proved my case.

Unlike his opponent, who I can tell you from first hand experience is unpredictable and is soft on conservative Republican ideas, Norman is right on the issues. And, did I forget to mention Norman is willing not only to vote against new taxes but he has taken the lead to fight against crazy boondoggles, such as the Hillsborough Rail Tax. RINOs are saying that, “If we only had enough money, we could do better job in government.” Norman is saying, “Live within your means, just like the rest of us!”

Norman will be tough on illegal immigration. He will continue to support Jeb Bush’s education reforms – the only reforms that have made measurable changes in outcomes for Florida’s school children.

You should also know that Norman likes to talk to the ‘folks’ instead of the silk stocking, downtown Tampa crowd. Jim is an ‘animal’ at walking door-to-door to thousands of homes and hearing what ‘just people’ have to say about their vision of our State and Nation, not the elite vision for the great unwashed. Jim will not cater to those ‘wanna be’ political prognosticators with an irrelevant view, who are bought and sold by the old media and idle class. The silk stocking crowd will have their sad, pathetic minions trying to ‘take out’ Jim Norman with every known ‘black ops’ tool (unfounded ethics complaints etc.), but don’t be fooled - Norman is a conservative who will take things up a notch in Tallahassee.

As someone who has been on the front lines battling with Republican RINO State Senators in Tallahassee, I will tell you that there is one thing that would be a breath of fresh air in Tallahassee: If you want a change in Tallahassee, stop sending ‘moderates’ to the Senate and replace them with tough, knowledgeable and principled Republican conservatives.

That’s why I like Jim Norman. Read More...

Tags: Jim Norman, Ralph Hughes