Nobody Writes to the Journal

Yes, for those of you playing the home game, it's that time again. It's tommorrow in fact!

Straight forward City Council elections where really there isn't much of a winner in most of them. But hey, it's what we have.

So if you are in St. Petersburg and planning on voting, here's a last minute guide:

Note, these aren't as indepth or impartial as I usually try to make them, but hey, it's something right?


DISTRICT 1:
Robert A. "Bob" Kersteen: One of the old guard in city politics who left, and wants to come back again. Honestly? He was annoying enough the first time around.

Herb Polson: Was appointed to fill a vacancy and despite having the position for a really short amount of time is using the "RE-ELECT" slogan of an incumbent. A complete and utter stooge for the mayor. If you LIKE the mayor, then this is your guy.

District 3:

Bill Dudley Rowdy former high school coach/driving instructor

Ed Montanari stooge for the mayor

District 5

James S. Bennett
New Election

Yes, you read that right. Bennett's opponent dropped out and now - by rule - he has to run against "none of the above/new election". Personally I think he's ok, but I HATE his "if you vote for new election you will be costing the city too much, just vote for me" campaign.

District 7


Gershom Faulkner: setting himself up for a possible bid to run for Mayor, endorsed by a LOT of people - unendorsed by A LOT of people went he started voicing his opinions against homosexuality during interviews and debates.

Wengay Newton: setting himself up as the independent voice on the council.

Despite the signs everywhere in District 3 (and District 5 for that matter - but no one I know happens to live in District 5 and that's not really, oh, a contest, but I'll cover it in case someone wants to link this public post) no one I've talked to seems to have much of an idea about this local election.

What is it? Who's involved? Where can I get an amusing but poignant hat to wear when I go vote?

You are on your own on the hat issue. I don't do hats. I don't know about hats.

What I DO know is local politics, or at least somewhat. I know what I know and I know what I don't know... and here's some insight on what you will be voting on this coming Tuesday:

First and foremost, this is a primary, which means the top two vote getters are going to be head to head in a county wide election November 6th.

This is to fill the spot of outgoing council member Bill Foster who is going to the dust bin of history (and probably running for mayor next term) after his terms on the council being a stooge.

So who are the four folks running and what are they about?

(as listed on ballot)

DISTRICT 3

Bill Dudley: Bias time here. He was one of my high school teachers - so was his wife. I had classes with his daughter and at least vaguely knew the name of his now son in law. He's a good guy. Not sure where his politics are, although from his tendiency to bite off people's ears and swallow live chickens, I'd say more libertarian than anything. He probably wouldn't agree with that, but I do, so there it is!*g* He's got the name recognition, since if you grew up in District 3 chances are good that you went to Northeast (or St Petersburg High and played Northeast...) and thus encountered him. He's some sort of real estate broker now apparently, but considering his signs say "Coach" that's the angle he's playing, so there it is... He openly opposes furthering waterfront development and believes little green men live in the hair of Mayor Rick Baker, ok, maybe not that last one. But he IS kind of crazy - and that might be fun on the council!

Cliff Gephart: Speaking of crazy - now we have Cliff who's slogan should be "Cliff Who?" based on the fact that he's managed to miss just about every interview I've ever seen with the group of candidates, has virtually no signage, website, and who's campaign seems to be based on a Myspace meet-up, helping some elderly relative save a log cabin, and general concern for property taxes. Oh, and of course his infamous trying to get a project picked up by Comedy Central. Anything you read about the guy mentions it - so again, there it is. Will the guy be fun on the council? Probably. Anyone would be more fun than Bill Foster IMO...

Cathy Harrelson: Probably the most serious of the candidates. Sierra Club connections and thus the only one talking environmental impact - tough on crime, bringing up the murder at Durangos and it's social and emotional impact on the community (the victim being a really good friend from high school of my ex wife)and in general being respectable. Which means she might not be as fun to watch on the council, but she seems to have a decent head on her shoulders as is at least claiming she doesn't want to be a "bobblehead" for Mayor Baker. Does she mean it? *shrug* That I can't tell you.

Ed Montanari: A bobblehead for Mayor Rick Baker who's pet project is the airport. As an ex pilot it's been his baby for a while now.. but considering he's Foster's guy AND Baker's (as well as having "the crazy vote" - the owners of the assisted living facility have signs for him all over the place... hence my unoffical campaign slogan "Crazy Folk for Ed!" )there's not a chance you are going to hear me say he'd be a good choice. Any of the three above - but personally I'd love for him not to make the general election. His pockets are too deep to avoid it, in such a low turnout election, but man I'd love to see that!

DISTRICT 5

James S. Bennett: The incumbant. The only way he doesn't make the run off, and win the general election is if he gets somehow pulled into the John Bryan situation, which doesn't look likely, but hey, who knows! He's frequently going head to head against Baker and spearheaded the city's effort to fix the homeless situation once the city realized "hey, we botched this!"

Debra Johnson-Woodard: Appears to be running for Jesus and a couple of people she ran into the street who thought Jesus was a good way to campaign. (she's raised $255 - in other words *I* have a better funded campaign for city council than she does!) She does however want to look out for the average citizen, which is something that has been lost in the whole "let's build up downtown!" effort.

Chris Kelly: Another Bobblehead for Baker. Seriously, the less said about him (by me) the better. If you like what has been done in the city in the last 4 years - this is your guy. If you don't - either of the others, vote for one of them.

continuing my trend of picking up old features of my LJ and playing with them:

"It's Ask lifeofjason a Question Wednesday!" where we ask questions and Jason answers them! It's just like the "ask me a question" feature he does on his LJ - usually on Wednesday - only it's here, and if he doesn't answer we get to make up answers for him!!!

So what do you want to know?

Since I have the page up already, I might as well do my usual "this is what is going on with that" section by section of the pieces on the ballot.
( because no one else really wants to read this )

Hillsborough. What I don't know about the internal workings over there would fill volumes. But there ARE a couple races where I think I can give some insight, and so here I am!!!*g*

The Berfield-Justice race btw is over in my Pinellas section, even though it also covers a fair section of Tampa as well. To save you time - I picked Justice.*g*

( Tampa/Hillsborough )

I was going to ignore the various smaller area charter amendments - until I came across the one for Seminole. I know a couple people in Seminole, so here you go...

Charter Amendment for Seminole It takes the language for the Election Canvassing Board out of the Charter itself and puts it in the Code of Ordinances for the City.

This is government language at it's finest in that someone went "why is THAT in there?" and wants to move it to just being a general law instead of being in the city's Charter!!

I don't THINK that I know anyone who lives in any of the other areas of Pinellas County who are impacted by charter amendments of their cities, so I'll move on to...STATE HOUSE AND SENATE RACES!!!
***

( State House and Senate Races - Pinellas )

Now comes the point where we lose just about everyone! The PINELLAS COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENTS!!! WHOO HOOO!!!!!

( Pinellas County Charter Amendments )

Going backward here a bit, because it strikes me that I have a little more to say about the race for Governor. There are a hell of a lot of issues at stake here, a little more than "I don't trust Crist to actually do anything he says he will" should be allowed to cover. EDITED because I just saw a tax ad and it reminded me

( : )

Now comes the tricky part (well, ok, talking about the local races might be harder since so very few of you are in my area.*g* I might not even go into them, unless of course you're interested in my opinion and then of course I will talk your ear off!!!) THE AMENDMENTS.

No one ever knows what to think of the amendments unless you've got a lot of time on your hands *cough and waves* or has a personal stake in one of them. (or know someone with a personal stake.) Which is why you get things like voting for a high-speed rail and then the next election cycle voting against it... and why JEB thought he could put the class size amendment back on the ballot because people just go down the line and mark "yes" unless they have a reason not to do so.

I'm going to try to just sum these things up. Hopefully I will do a fair job. By all means look them up for yourself and decide, but I want to try to put it in plain English to help!*g*

( Here Come the Amendments )

I covered some general National scene issues in part 1. I covered the Florida Governor's race in part 2.

Now here is part 3 I babble on incoherently about various state wide races where I have an opinion one way or the other.

( Florida State-wide Races - Cabinet Positions )

I tried to get this to show up as part of the last entry, but it didn't work.

So here's Part Two!! (yes more parts to come... I'll condense them though.*g*)

( On to Florida )

Before I get into anything, I have to come out and say this - I am a registered Democrat. I have also spent some time in the past when I was involved in Student Government at St. Petersburg (then Junior) College involved in Florida politics. I was also going to be one of the founding members of the Pinellas County Young Democrats, although never ended up paying my dues so it was never official.*g* I tend to see myself more of an independent, voting across party lines when I see someone that I know will do a better job.

I would LOVE to have a decent third party in the area, but for the most part, it comes down to people and the folks that I know that are involved in third party efforts in the area are just not the people I want making high level decisions in my name. (*cough* Clark comes to mind *cough*) I'm sure there are many, many folks involved in third parties who would do an EXCELLENT job, they just haven't been around at anything I've been seen (and yes, it IS their job to make themselves known to me. I'm the voter. They want my vote, they better be prepared to engage me, I shouldn't have to beg to find out who they are and where they stand.)

I registered Democrat mostly because of the closed primary system that was in place in Pinellas County, and have stayed one due to how often that is manipulated to KEEP the primaries closed with "throw away" candidates. I am more often to vote Democrat than not.

I believe that government is here to serve the people and to give what it can to it's citizens. I believe that citizens have an obligation in turn to help that government function for the betterment of society.

THAT is my disclaimer.

Now on to my thoughts on the various races.

( General Election National Comments )

Since Nix jumped the gun and showed our hand I'm going to reveal the master plan a little earlier than I had expected...

TODAY IS FRIENDING HELEN DAY!

If you have not met Helenangel - if you have not friended her - today is the day to do it!!!

I always say "helen is the internet" and some people don't know what that means. It's a combination of (1) Helen is what is RIGHT with the internet (2) she's involved all over the place with all sorts of projects and (3) she secretly controls the internet.*g*

Helen doesn't do a lot of "friending frenzy's" because she says she is afraid of rejection. Rejection?? She is WONDERFUL!!!!

I've met her in person, and if anything she is even cooler in person than she is online! (and at the risk of riling her husband Mattie, might I say, really hot. Good job there sir!*g*)

Helen is just an all around wonderful friend - and if anyone deserves to have a billion friends on LJ - it's her!!!! She makes you feel welcome and wanted, and it's well past time the internet made her feel the same way!!!!

You're not going to be able to find a better friend to have than Helen. So you might as well just go ahead and friend her!!!

So go friend Helenangel today - and post your own Friending Helen Frenzy!!!

http://helenangel.livejournal.com/profile

I just realized that it's been almost a month since we've done one of these. (and one a month is probably about right...or every couple months... depending)

So grab your friends, your foes, and strangers with or without candy and come on in!!!

One of the things I like the least about this competition is when people aren't able to make the deadline and we are forced to vote them out. This time, there were 5.

The flip side of this is *19* of you made the deadline and AUTOMATICALLY ADVANCE TO ROUND 2!!!

(Jonah posted a link to all the entries, there is an amazing amount of talent this season)

Of the 5 who did not make it, 1 of these folks is about to join misskitten77 in being the FIRST BOOT OF THE SEASON - the others are going to live to post another day.

So remember to vote for who you want to see stick around!!!!

http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/2673.html

The poll is going to remain open until Monday August 7th at 10am EST. So get voting!!!

Make sure you post your entry in time!!! You have less than 24 hours to go, and there are quite a few entries we are still waiting on...
Post it at:
http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/1506.html

(or just go there to read what has been submitted thus far)

LJ Idol Season 2 has officially kicked off!!! http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/1506.html


Whoo hooo - kick off party!!!!!*g*

One day left to sign up for LJ Idol!!!

Less than one day actually... get yourself, your friends, your arch enemies, or to http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/

before it's too late!!!

ALL MATTERS LJ IDOL HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE NEW COMMUNITY MAINTAINED BY OUR BUDDY JONAH - http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/

Please make sure to sign up, and tell your friends!!!

You've been waiting for it, you've been craving it, now here it is!!!

THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - WE ARE COMING BACK FOR SEASON 2, AND THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE A PART OF THE FASTEST GROWING INTERNET SENSATION - LJ IDOL!!!!

LJ Idol is coming back, better and bigger than ever.

For instance, I will not start the new season before there are any less than 20 contestants involved. Twice the amount of the original season. More would be even better...

For those who don't know what LJ IDOL is - it is a journal entry contest. No singing, no talent or swim suit portions... just good old fashioned writing entries in your journal.

Sometimes I will pick a topic for you, sometimes it will be completely your own choice. Sometimes... oh, but that would be telling...*g*


This post is the sign-up sheet. And yes, if you participated last time, but did not win, you are more than welcomed to try again this season!

Post here and let me know that you wish to join last season's winner tinhuviel as THE LJ IDOL!!!