Chris Dodd and Bea Arthur ... separated at birth??
Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Pinellas Qualified Candidates
Congress, District 9
Gus Michael Bilirakis (I)(REP) Anita de Palma (DEM) John Dicks (DEM) Richard O. Emmons (TLP) John "Johnny K" Kalimnios (NPA) Bill Mitchell (DEM)
Congress, District 10
Bob Hackworth (DEM) Samm "Denise" Simpson (DEM) C. W. "Bill" Young (I)(REP)
Congress, District 11
Eddie Adams, Jr. (REP) Kathy Castor (I)(DEM)
State Senate, District 11
Mike Fasano (I)(REP) Richard Skandera (DEM) Fred Taylor (DEM)
State House, District 48
Peter F. Nehr (I)(REP) Carl "Z" Zimmermann (DEM)
State House, District 51*
Janet C. Long (I)(DEM) Terry Lynn Sanchez (REP)
State House, District 52
Bill Heller (I)(DEM) Ross Johnson (REP)
State House, District 54
James C. "Jim" Frishe (I)(REP) George A. Gonzalez (DEM)
State House, District 55
Charles S. McKenzie, Jr. (DEM) Darryl Ervin Rouson (I)(DEM)
Pinellas County Property Appraiser
Pam Dubov (REP) Ben Friedlander (DEM) Frank Gregoire (REP)
Pinellas County Sheriff
Jim Coats (I)(REP) Randall M. Jones (DEM) John Pikramenos (DEM) Greg S. Pound (NPA)
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections
Deborah Clark (I)(REP) Jack Killingsworth (DEM)
Pinellas County Commission, District 1 At-Large
Neil Brickfield (REP) Jane Gallucci (REP) Paul Matton (DEM)
Pinellas County Commission, District 3 At-Large
Nancy Bostock (REP) Rene Flowers (DEM) Darden Rice (DEM)
Pinellas County Commission, District 5
Jake Mullens (NPA) Norm Roche (DEM) Karen Williams Seel (I)(REP)
Pinellas County School Board, District 1 (Nonpartisan)
Janet R. Clark (I) Jennifer S. Crockett Max Loden Grant Smith
Pinellas County School Board, District 2 (Nonpartisan)
David O. Archie Nina Hayden Minetha Morris Sean O'Flannery Raquel Stiehler Ron Walker
Pinellas County School Board, District 4 (Nonpartisan)
Chris Hardman Steven D. Isbitts Ken Peluso Robin L. Wikle
Congress, District 10
Congress, District 11
State Senate, District 11
State House, District 48
State House, District 51*
State House, District 52
State House, District 54
State House, District 55
Pinellas County Property Appraiser
Pinellas County Sheriff
Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections
Pinellas County Commission, District 1 At-Large
Pinellas County Commission, District 3 At-Large
Pinellas County Commission, District 5
Pinellas County School Board, District 1 (Nonpartisan)
Pinellas County School Board, District 2 (Nonpartisan)
Pinellas County School Board, District 4 (Nonpartisan)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Factors Affecting PCSB Races
When reviewing Pinellas County School Board races, it's important to take into consideration various issues affecting the campaigns and also past performance in previous cycles. With that in mind, here are a few issues unique to PCSB campaigns:
Issues
Through my fun boots-on-the-ground perspective, there are not exactly a whole lot of issues happening in Pinellas that aren't happening everyplace else in Florida. It's a long held belief that an effective candidate need only campaign on a triad of three issues. A sampling of what's happening:
Testing: The perennial favorite in Florida is support or criticism of the Florida A+ plan, more specifically the use of a single day of the diagnostic Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in order to determine the effectiveness of the teaching in a single school. Most career educators and curriculum experts feel that the one size fits most FCAT is detrimental to Florida schools and the fact that the state has tied a school's funding and teacher pay to this test has served to alarm them further. Passing the high school-level FCAT is a requirement for a traditional high school diploma in Florida and has resulted in several situations where honors students suffering from severe test anxiety are not able to graduate due to their poor performance. The flip side of this issue is that the FCAT presents policy makers with an objective, standardized rubric with which they may evaluate schools. Unfortunately, most elected and appointed policy makers in Florida do not have the experience or savvy necessary to understand the complex dynamics of evaluating the effectiveness of education.
Racial Issues: Since the days of segregation, desegregation, court-ordered busing, and the like, there has always been a feeling that minority students do not receive the same quality education as their white peers. This claim is substantiated by standardized test scores indicating lower average scores for minority students.
Busing and Integration: Another issue is the end of court-ordered busing. Pinellas County has implemented a school choice plan and many parents have opted to send their children to neighborhood schools, oftentimes within walking distance of their home. Facially, this is a convenient arrangement and is seen as an avenue to increase parent involvement. However, it is necessary to take this in the context of Pinellas' demographics. Historically, black residents have tended to live in a few concentrated neighborhoods. This means that there is a distinct possibility that some neighborhood schools may wind up to be majority black or almost entirely black.
Budget: Pinellas County schools are facing a massive budget shortfall. Enough said.
Clayton Wilcox: The Superintendent, Dr. Clayton Wilcox recently announced that he was departing his position for a job as a Vice President of Scholastic Education. Before you jump to conclusions about inside deals, the Times did some research and found no indication of inside deals of preferential business dealings. The School Board must now complete a nationwide search in order to find a new candidate for this position. In the meantime, the School District is without a permanent administrative leader.
Next up is a discussion of voter behavior in these this and other nonpartisan races in Pinellas County.
Issues
Through my fun boots-on-the-ground perspective, there are not exactly a whole lot of issues happening in Pinellas that aren't happening everyplace else in Florida. It's a long held belief that an effective candidate need only campaign on a triad of three issues. A sampling of what's happening:
Testing: The perennial favorite in Florida is support or criticism of the Florida A+ plan, more specifically the use of a single day of the diagnostic Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in order to determine the effectiveness of the teaching in a single school. Most career educators and curriculum experts feel that the one size fits most FCAT is detrimental to Florida schools and the fact that the state has tied a school's funding and teacher pay to this test has served to alarm them further. Passing the high school-level FCAT is a requirement for a traditional high school diploma in Florida and has resulted in several situations where honors students suffering from severe test anxiety are not able to graduate due to their poor performance. The flip side of this issue is that the FCAT presents policy makers with an objective, standardized rubric with which they may evaluate schools. Unfortunately, most elected and appointed policy makers in Florida do not have the experience or savvy necessary to understand the complex dynamics of evaluating the effectiveness of education.
Racial Issues: Since the days of segregation, desegregation, court-ordered busing, and the like, there has always been a feeling that minority students do not receive the same quality education as their white peers. This claim is substantiated by standardized test scores indicating lower average scores for minority students.
Busing and Integration: Another issue is the end of court-ordered busing. Pinellas County has implemented a school choice plan and many parents have opted to send their children to neighborhood schools, oftentimes within walking distance of their home. Facially, this is a convenient arrangement and is seen as an avenue to increase parent involvement. However, it is necessary to take this in the context of Pinellas' demographics. Historically, black residents have tended to live in a few concentrated neighborhoods. This means that there is a distinct possibility that some neighborhood schools may wind up to be majority black or almost entirely black.
Budget: Pinellas County schools are facing a massive budget shortfall. Enough said.
Clayton Wilcox: The Superintendent, Dr. Clayton Wilcox recently announced that he was departing his position for a job as a Vice President of Scholastic Education. Before you jump to conclusions about inside deals, the Times did some research and found no indication of inside deals of preferential business dealings. The School Board must now complete a nationwide search in order to find a new candidate for this position. In the meantime, the School District is without a permanent administrative leader.
Next up is a discussion of voter behavior in these this and other nonpartisan races in Pinellas County.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
PCSB District 1
Pinellas School Board District 1
Janet Clark (Incumbent)
Jennifer Crockett
In the fun world of countywide nonpartisan races, I've decided to call the PCSB1 race for Jennifer Crockett. In 2004, Janet Clark pretty much won by accident against Lee Benjamin. Clark raised very little money and did not run much of a campaign. She is not a seasoned campaigner and, though she's done well on the school board, isn't expected to be successful in this campaign. Crockett ran a very good campaign against Mary Brown and is probably even more prepared for this campaign.
In the fun world of countywide nonpartisan races, I've decided to call the PCSB1 race for Jennifer Crockett. In 2004, Janet Clark pretty much won by accident against Lee Benjamin. Clark raised very little money and did not run much of a campaign. She is not a seasoned campaigner and, though she's done well on the school board, isn't expected to be successful in this campaign. Crockett ran a very good campaign against Mary Brown and is probably even more prepared for this campaign.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Exciting BCC Races in 2008?
Couple this expected realization with the speculation on Commissioner Bob Stewart's possible retirement and it looks like we might have an exciting Pinellas County Commission campaign in 2008. It also looks as though everybody and their brother is planning on jumping in on either one of these countywide commission seats.
Here's the possible candidates thus far:
District 1, At-Large (Duncan seat)
District 3, At-Large (Stewart seat)
These two seats may prove to be the first act in what looks to be a very interesting election cycle. Supposing Bostock and Gallucci depart School Board seats to run for County Commission, two seats formerly held by Republicans (on this "non-partisan" board) may be primed for Democratic pick-up. As things stand now, the School Board has a one member Republican majority.
The other interesting aspect of this is Jim Sebesta's name being entered into the mix. Aside from the obvious smack down he would lay on most other Republican primary challengers, there is another dynamic at work here. Since Bill Young has decided to seek re-election in 2008, the stage is set for a 2010 or 2012 open Congressional election. Can you think of a better way to keep your name in the mix than to run for an at-large County Commission seat that includes the entire Congressional district? Sounds better than running around being a former State Senator to me.
Stay tuned and once Bob Stewart makes his announcement, we'll be here to divine the tea leaves and see what will happen next.
Tampa Tribune USF Silliness
I can let an extraordinarily poor headline slip past, but there has been a stunning revelation in this article that I just have to point out. The Tampa Tribune has this unfortunate habit of running with statistics that look to have been sexed up by a 4th grader with a calculator. That is saying that our friends at the Tribune will run an article about a shocking statistic such as "USF received more earmarks than all but 9 universities" without taking into consideration that USF also happens to be the ninth largest university in the country by student population. Just take a look at this handy reference from UF.
Looking at how the 9th largest university is the 9th highest recipient of Congressional earmarks is nice, but we should really be asking what the heck the University of South Alabama did to get its $33.4 million in 2008. Never mind that we're talking about a total of approximately $477 million here in a federal budget of about $7 trillion (with a 't'). Are there better things that we could be spending this money on? More than likely. Does it bother me that Congress is allocating money for academic research, capital projects, and other money to benefit universities that are already strapped for cash? Not a bit.
As a quick sidebar, the last time the Tribune went crazy with inconsequential statistics was during their expose of personal day abuse at HARTline. Apparently 42% of sick days happened to be either a Monday or a Friday. That sounds like a lot until you realize that, out of a five day work week, one day represents 20% of the week and combining two days would be 40% of the work week. Since HARTline runs seven days a week (much to the writer's chagrin when he's navigating South Tampa on a Saturday), we'll say that one day is 14.3% of their work week. With that in mind, the expected number should be 28.6% of days off on Mondays and Fridays. So there is an increased likelihood that drivers will take off either Monday or Friday, but it is hardly a panic situation.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Richardson's Next Gig
In case you've missed it, there's been some talk of Bill Richardson being Judas after nearly endorsing Hillary Clinton after his Super Bowl party with Bill Clinton and then later endorsing Barack Obama. The idea is that Richardson saw the writing on the wall that Hillary was not going to win the nomination and scrambled into Obama's corner in order to get a job in the new administration. I don't think this is the case though. You see, Bill Richardson has been spending his free time doing two things: 1) running New Mexico, and 2) growing a spiffy I-didn't-get-elected-President beard ala Al Gore circa 2001.
Before I continue, I have to tell you two more things: 1) I worked in the frozen tundra of New Hampshire for Richardson and I honestly like the guy and 2) politics is a lot like acting, it's hard to find a steady paying gig. Richardson's a smart guy and knows this, so I think he's decided to do things Fred Thompson style and audition for a regular guest spot on a long running series. Thing is that Thompson already has Law and Order locked up. So what else is out there that will be around for aeons to come? Days of Our Lives!
I'm thinking that Bill Richardson is about to do what he can to oust Joseph Mascolo from the Days cast and take over as perennial villain, mobster, and fine wine aficionado Stefano DeMira. The proof is compelling:
Just think, when you see Bill Richardson kidnap John and brainwash him or sabotage somebody's plane in order to win a decades-long feud, you'll remember that you heard it here first.
In order for me to not be a complete single party hack, I think it's important to call attention to another politician that's about to make it big as an actor: Rudy Giuliani. My hunch here is that he'll work on the much anticipated remake of the classic silent film Nosferatu as the namesake character. Just take a look:
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