The Laker/Lutz News

Conservative Club of East Pasco

Florida could decide 2016 presidential election

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Predictions as to which Republican candidate will come away with the prize of the national party’s presidential nomination is an impossible task this early in the race. But there is no doubt that Florida will be a pivotal state in a hard-fought 2016 election, according to Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political scientist.

“There’s not another state in the country that will be this competitive,” she said. “It’s considered a bellwether, a microcosm.”

Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, offered insights into the 2016 presidential race to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, offered insights into the 2016 presidential race to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

MacManus addressed about 30 people at the Conservative Club of East Pasco on June 15 at the group’s monthly meeting in Zephyrhills.

The Interstate 4 corridor will be key to carrying the state, she said.

Gov. Rick Scott had just a 1 percent edge in votes along I-4 in his re-election victory over former Gov. Charlie Christ in 2014. And, past presidential elections were decided by about that same slim margin.

“Almost half of registered voters are between Pinellas County and Daytona Beach,” MacManus said.

Florida mirrors the nation in demographics such as population age and diversity among registered voters, though not among total population.

It is a myth, MacManus joked, that people in Florida are 95 years or older. Also untrue is the perception that all Hispanics in Florida are Cuban, she said.

Along I-4, for instance, Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic demographic.

One of the most intensely fought over groups will be the millennials. The generation from about age 18 to age 24 is going to be as influential as the baby boomers were in their day, she said.

“I see a little bit more movement (of millennials) back to the Republicans,” MacManus said. “A lot of that is over fiscal issues.”

To date, 12 candidates have announced among Republicans including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Donald Trump.

MacManus was dismissive of Trump.

And, her first encounter with Gov. Scott Walker, who has not officially announced as a candidate, was not impressive.

“I was rather disappointed,” she said, though she will give him another chance. “I didn’t think he’d had a lot of sleep.”

Bush’s launch of his campaign, however, was masterfully done, she said. He spoke to a crowd that reflected the diversity in Miami and across the country, dispelling the criticism that Republican crowds are mostly white.

MacManus also noted that the Republican field of candidates is more diverse than Democrats running for president.

Bush’s first speech as a candidate struck an anti-Washington tone, MacManus said. She expects he will tout his economic record in Florida and his education reforms, as well.

The question MacManus is asked most often is who will win Florida’s Republican primary, Bush or Sen. Marco Rubio.

She doesn’t have a crystal ball on that one.

“So much is volatile,” she said.

She does predict that the 2016 presidential race will be the most expensive ever, and Tampa Bay will be in the thick of it.

“This is really going to a happening spot,” MacManus said.

However, local and state candidates may face challenges because national races, including Congressional elections, will compete for donations and media attention. They could be “starved out a bit,” MacManus said.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the party’s nomination. But MacManus said, “It is surprising to see the interest in (Sen.) Bernie Sanders…People find him very interesting.”

She also has been surprised that there are women voters who like Sen. Elizabeth Warren “but wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton.”

Some of Clinton’s support comes from women voters who believe she got a “raw deal” in 2008 when then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama won the nomination.

But there is another reason.

“She would be the first woman president,” MacManus said. “People love people that can break the mold. That’s why Obama got elected. He broke one of the biggest barriers – race.”

Voter turnout will be crucial for both parties.

“The emphasis, and rightly so, will be to get people to vote,” she said. Though extended and early voting is popular, the trend hasn’t boosted overall turnout, she added. “Both parties have felt the sting of bad turnout.”

With the election about 17 months away, residents should be prepared for campaigns that likely will be fought through social media, scare tactics and negative advertisements, MacManus said.

“That’s kind of sad,” she said.

But on the plus side, Florida and Tampa Bay will be the place for politics.

“Thank God, I don’t live in North Dakota,” MacManus said. “How very dull.”

Published June 24, 2015

Election Day is here! And so is everything you need to know

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Today is Election Day where Florida will elect a governor, an attorney general, a chief financial officer and an agriculture commissioner among others. Locally, however, voters will have to decide on representatives in Tallahassee, as well as who will represent their interests on the county commission.

In last week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, we offered an election primer, which you can read by clicking here. But do you want to know more?

Here is a collection of stories related to the various candidates and government leaders The Laker/Lutz News has published over the past year, both in print, and online. We’ve covered all the races extensively, and provided some government news at the same time, which helped earn us the state’s best local government reporting coverage this past year by the Florida Press Association.

Did we miss a story? Feel free to search the site using our internal engine using key words that most interest you, and chances are, we’ve covered it.

Be sure to keep reading our site tonight as we provide up-to-the-minute coverage of the election, before we break it all down in the Nov. 12 print editions of The Laker/Lutz News.

GOVERNOR’S RACE

Scott wants closer look of Ebola threat (10/26)
Although one nurse already under quarantine feels the measures are too restrictive in other parts of the country, Gov. Rick Scott has issued an executive order that could go as far as putting people under quarantine he feels is at high risk for Ebola.

Beverly Ledbetter with Charlie Crist
Beverly Ledbetter with Charlie Crist

Crist has slim lead in Saint Leo poll (10/23)
With a less than two weeks until voters have to make a final decision on who they should send to (or keep in) Tallahassee, a new poll from the Saint Leo University Polling Institute shows Democrat Charlie Crist with a slight lead over incumbent Republican Rick Scott.

Crist campaign gets Pasco County boost (10/16)
Mike Fasano has made no secret his dislike for Gov. Rick Scott. But now he’s taking that opposition to television. The Charlie Crist gubernatorial campaign has released a new commercial featuring the Pasco County tax collector and former state legislator, taking a shot at Scott while publicly endorsing Crist, who Fasano calls “a good man.”

Browning parts from Scott, stands by Common Core Standards (10/2)
Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning is standing by the Common Core State Standards, despite a recent decision by Gov. Rick Scott to put the kibosh on the state’s participation in a consortia developing assessments for those standards.

Lopez-Cantera holds no punches against Crist (10/2)
Carlos Lopez-Cantera is Florida’s second-in-command behind Gov. Rick Scott, but there are still pockets of the state he has only heard about.

Gov. Rick Scott taking part in groundbreaking in Lutz.
Gov. Rick Scott taking part in groundbreaking in Lutz.

Fact Check: Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s campaign visit to Zephyrhills (9/30)
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera made a campaign stop on behalf of Gov. Rick Scott in Zephyrhills Sept. 22, speaking in front of the Conservative Club of East Pasco.

Local projects spared from Scott’s veto pen (6/2)
Gov. Rick Scott left nearly $69 million of this year’s state budget on the cutting room floor, but various projects throughout Pasco and Hillsborough counties were given a reprieve.

CABINET RACES

Pasco’s free lunches take to the road (7/3)
It’s hard to imagine getting through most days without that noontime break for lunch. That packed sandwich, frozen entrée, or maybe even a quick trip to a local eatery, is something many people take for granted each day. But for 36,000 students in the Pasco County school district, that trip to the cafeteria may be the only nutritious meal they have all day, paid for through federal tax dollars.

Private businesses don’t have to open records to public (6/19)
While government typically hires its own people to perform various functions, there are many times when officials contract with private companies to get that work done. But does that mean the records of those businesses are now public record, like they are for the government? The answer is no, Attorney General Pam Bondi has decided.

Bondi saves Fasano’s prescription drug program with $2M pledge (5/5)
Every year since Gov. Rick Scott took office, Mike Fasano says he’s had to fight to keep the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program alive.

CONGRESSIONAL RACES

Local congressmen support president’s ISIL plan (9/18)
In a rare move, the U.S. Congress supported an initiative by President Obama Wednesday, voting to authorize limited military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or more commonly known as ISIL. Despite the U.S. House approving the measure 221-192, the area’s two local Republican congressmen are still saying they’re not happy with how Obama is handling the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Local congressional districts should remain unchanged (8/7)
Florida lawmakers are back in Tallahassee for a special session this week after a judge in Leon County declared the boundaries for two Congressional districts were unconstitutional.

Cusp of history: Pasco leads way to amend Constitution (1/15)
It’s nearly impossible to get Democrats and Republicans in Congress to agree on anything these days, but a state senator from Pasco County might have a way to bring them together — even if it’s to campaign against his plan.

STATE LEGISLATURE RACES

Buy local? Not state House political candidates (11/2)
They have both championed jobs and money to flow into their district in Pasco County, but are two politicians seeking a place in Tallahassee practicing what they’re preaching?

Burgess: There’s no place like home … rule (10/23)
Danny Burgess was nervous as he straightened his tie and tried to review in his head everything he was going to say. It was his first debate in his race for a seat on the Zephyrhills City Council, and he had an uphill battle to convince older voters that electing an 18-year-old to represent them was the right way to go.

Burgess won’t defend Duke Energy, despite donation (10/9)
A state regulatory agency ordered the company to refund $54 million to customers last week, yet many Duke Energy customers remain unhappy about being charged for $3.2 billion in failed nuclear power plant projects. And one candidate for the Florida House is feeling the heat.

From teacher to candidate, Ledbetter just can’t say no (7/31)
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And when there’s a need, there’s Beverly Ledbetter. The retired educator has made Dade City her home since the days of Richard Nixon, inspiring thousands of students at Pasco Junior High School and later Pasco High School for more than three decades. Along the way, Ledbetter found herself in the most unexpected jobs, whether it be coaching the school’s soccer team, or helping educators through her work with the teachers’ union.

Express route to downtown Tampa in jeopardy, HART says (7/24)
The number of people who depend on HART’s Route 51X connecting Pasco County to downtown Tampa is dwindling. And so is the organization’s money. So it’s probably no surprise to some of the remaining riders that officials with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit want to make some significant changes to the route, possibly removing the express route altogether. But at the very least, adding some local stops to finally bring such mass transit service to the New Tampa area.

Danny Burgess and Beverly Ledbetter at a recent candidate forum.
Danny Burgess and Beverly Ledbetter at a recent candidate forum.

Legg, lawmakers build path to collegiate high schools (6/26)
High schools have come a long way in preparing students for schools, with Florida especially hanging its hat on dual enrollment opportunities that allow many juniors and seniors to earn college credit before receiving their high school diploma.

Paperwork snafu costs Diaz chance for Tallahassee (6/20)
Danny Burgess no longer has to worry about a primary battle in his quest to succeed Will Weatherford in House District 38.

PHSC project one of Florida TaxWatch’s ‘turkeys’ (5/27)
Will Pasco-Hernando State College get that performing arts center it has been hoping for? Not if the governor is paying attention to political activist group Florida TaxWatch.

Winners and losers from tough Tallahassee session (5/23)
Amphibians like frogs and toads can create thousands of tadpoles each season, but only a few actually survive to become adults just like their parents. That could be the perfect way to describe how lawmaking works in Tallahassee. Hundreds of bills are introduced during each session of the Florida Legislature, but very few survive.

Danish pushing Scott to sign child welfare law (5/6)
State Rep. Mark Danish, D-Tampa, is urging Gov. Rick Scott to sign a bill into law he says will help strengthen the speed and quality of child abuse and neglect investigations in the state. Danish is pushing S.B. 1666, which includes parts of a House bill he introduced this year, and other child welfare initiatives. The bill quickly made it way through both chambers, receiving no dissenting votes in either the House or the Senate.

Future of Pasco lives and dies with municipal airports (4/17)
The expansion of State Road 56 into Zephyrhills could be key to a major economic boom for Pasco County, and two candidates seeking to replace state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, in Tallahassee agree state-level leadership must be in place to make sure it happens.

Burgess invites Tampa mayor to rediscover Wesley Chapel (4/11)
Danny Burgess has just a few more days as mayor of Zephyrhills before he goes full-time into a state House campaign. But before he goes, he has a message for Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn: Wesley Chapel is no longer a “bedroom community.”

Lawmakers propose a little help at the gas pump (3/20)
There are more than 9,000 gas stations in Florida, but only 350 of them offer any type of help for someone who might not be able to pump their gas on their own. Two lawmakers, however, are looking to change that — and are using Hillsborough County as a model.

Eastern Time, Central Time … Florida Time? (1/30)
Spring forward. Fall back. Using the seasons as a guide, Americans have used those expressions to figure out when they should set their clocks back an hour, or forward an hour, to switch between standard time and daylight saving time.

Burgess eyes Tallahassee, but path may not be easy (12/11)
Although there always was a chance he could run for re-election, Danny Burgess knew he had just a short time as mayor of Zephyrhills when he was elected unopposed earlier this year. He will step down from that office in April with an eye on a much bigger prize: replacing Will Weatherford as the area’s state representative in Tallahassee.

PASCO COUNTY COMMISSION RACE

Moore, Remsberg spending money outside Pasco (11/3)
Bringing money into the county is something politician after politician has brought to campaigns and local government for years, and the Pasco County Commission race between Mike Moore and Erika Remsberg has been no different.

Left Behind: Bus services screeches to a halt on Monday (10/16)
Monday was Columbus Day, a holiday with federal status, but one that’s not recognized by many employers, including state and even Pasco County officials. Yet, many offices in the county were closed, including Pasco County Public Transportation, while the employees from those departments attended a daylong retreat and appreciation day.

Mulieri endorses new replacement, crosses party lines (10/16)
No one could ever accuse Pat Mulieri of simply following the herd. Two months ago, she took a stand in the Republican primary, endorsing underdog Bob Robertson from a group of candidates looking to replace her on the Pasco County Commission.

Mike Moore waving signs in Land O' Lakes.
Mike Moore waving signs in Land O’ Lakes.

Moore raises $34K in two weeks, but is it too much? (10/10)
A huge $22,500 haul from developers and real estate professionals over the last two weeks has given Pasco County Commission candidate Mike Moore his best fundraising week of the campaign, raising a whopping $34,250.

Both want jobs, but disagree on how to get them (10/9)
One of the biggest challenges facing the Pasco County Commission in recent years is how to create more jobs here, and not force nearly half the population to travel elsewhere to find work. It’s likely a problem that won’t be fixed over the next four years, but that hasn’t stopped the two candidates looking for a seat on the commission to share their ideas on how it might happen. They are just quite different.

Partisan politics infest county commission race (10/2)
It’s been four years since a Democrat has served on the Pasco County Commission, but Erika Remsberg hopes to change that with just one election in November. However, she has a formidable opponent in the form of Republican Mike Moore, who not only has out-fundraised her 19-to-1, but seems to be the shoo-in to replace the retiring Pat Mulieri in District 2.

Littlefield joins forces with Moore in commission race (9/25)
They may have been foes during the primary, but former state Rep. Ken Littlefield has taken sides in the November election, joining the campaign of Republican candidate Mike Moore in his efforts to replace the retiring Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission.

Moore tops $100,000, makes district race most expensive (8/22)
With just days before voters will choose just one of three candidates to represent the Republican ticket in the Pasco County Commission District 2 race, Mike Moore will clearly take the fundraising title after a final push this week put him over $100,000.

Moore brings big voice to Pasco, but is ready to listen too (8/21)
Money talks, especially in a political campaign. And with nearly $100,000 at his disposal throughout his primary campaign, Mike Moore has had a pretty loud voice.

Let them go? (8/7)
It pretty much started when John Gallagher was caught in heavy traffic on Interstate 75. The morning rush is exactly that, the morning rush. But Gallagher, then the Pasco County administrator, realized that these were primarily people who lived in his county, but were heading south to work jobs in Hillsborough and even Pinellas counties.

Erika Remsberg
Erika Remsberg

Remsberg ready to give commission a much-needed intervention (7/31)
The first step in finding out who will replace Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission begins at the Aug. 26 primary. There voters will choose between three politically focused men — Ken Littlefield, Mike Moore and Bob Robertson — to represent Republicans in the November election.

Commission candidate among those appointed to planning council (4/1)
Michael Moore is one of six appointments announced Monday by Gov. Rick Scott to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Moore, who is seeking Pat Mulieri’s seat on the Pasco County Commission, is the owner of VR Business Sales/Mergers & Acquisitions of Wesley Chapel. He was appointed for a term that began Monday, and would end in October 2015.

GOP commission candidates debate policy for the first time (3/13)
He served eight years in the Florida House, a few weeks on the state’s Public Service Commission, and some additional time working in Gov. Charlie Crist’s administration. So why would Ken Littlefield, who is approaching his 70th birthday, want to try once again to replace Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission?

OTHER ELECTION NEWS

Pasco, Hillsborough offers free rides to polls (11/3)
Want to vote, but not sure how to get there? Well, whether you live in Pasco County or Hillsborough, a chance to cast a ballot is just a free bus ride away.

Pasco gets 25 percent head start into Nov. 4 (11/2)
Early voting in various places around Pasco County ended Saturday, and although there’s still room to receive more mail-in ballots on Monday, county elections supervisor Brian Corley has to be happy with the turnout so far.

Political mailer pits neighbor versus neighbor (10/30)
A political mailer sharing the voting habits of neighbors might not be a new trick for the 2014 elections, but it’s one that has some residents questioning how much of their personal information should be made public.

Strong early voter turnout so far in Pasco (10/30)
Brian Corley likes what he’s seeing for the 2014 election so far. As of 4 p.m. Thursday, more than 21 percent of registered voters in Pasco County have dropped a ballot in the voting box, and there’s still two full days of early voting left.

Inaccurate campaign fliers confusing voters (9/29)
Thousands of voters in Pasco County and across the state opened their mailboxes this weekend to find a flier from the Gov. Rick Scott campaign telling them their absentee ballots should have arrived. Yet, there were no absentee ballots waiting for them.

Voters speak their mind on the primary election (8/26)
Despite the best efforts of election officials to get people out to the polls for the Aug. 26 primary, turnout — at least in Pasco County — is likely to be below 15 percent.

Campaign Crunch: Politicians reveal where their dollars are coming from (8/14)
Erika Remsberg has not raised a lot of money for her bid to replace Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission — and she never expects to.

Voters are mad, and it could affect turnout this November (7/3)
There’s one question Susan MacManus gets more than any other as we head into a contentious election season. And despite her long and impressive credentials as a political scientist, even she can’t answer it.

Lopez-Cantera pulls no punches against Crist

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Carlos Lopez-Cantera is Florida’s second-in-command behind Gov. Rick Scott, but there are still pockets of the state he has only heard about.

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera gives a campaign stump speech to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco during an appearance Sept. 22. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera gives a campaign stump speech to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco during an appearance Sept. 22.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

That included Zephyrhills, until he finally found his way to the City of Pure Water last week in a campaign stop in front of the Conservative Club of East Pasco. And while he might talk about how the governor has kept is word to the point that “even Democrats can’t deny it,” Lopez-Cantera had almost nothing good to say about who Scott succeeded and is facing again in the November election: Charlie Crist.

“When Gov. Scott took over, we had lost 830,000 jobs, and had an 11.1 percent unemployment rate,” all from the Crist administration, Lopez-Cantera said. “Since then, we have added 640,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate is 6.3 percent.”

Yet while some might point out the entire nation was in an economic crisis during a good part of Crist’s tenure as governor between 2007 and 2011, Lopez-Cantera accused the former governor of continuously abandoning his post when he was needed the most.

“He didn’t even want to be governor when he was governor,” Lopez-Cantera said of Crist. “The first two years, he was chasing the vice presidency and not focusing on the state. The second two years, he was running for a United States Senate seat. And he is the first governor in the history of Florida to not run for re-election. That is how much he cared about being governor.”

Lopez-Cantera was a member of the Florida House representing the Miami area during Crist’s time in the governor’s office, and said he withdrew support of the governor almost from the beginning, despite the two being members of the same political party at the time.

“I have known Charlie for almost 20 years, and I really got to know him when I was a new member of the Florida House,” Lopez-Cantera said. “That’s when I lost faith in him.”

The lieutenant governor said problems started for him when then House Speaker Marco Rubio wanted to pass a much more aggressive property tax bill that would provide larger exemptions on the first $200,000 of a home’s value, and then 15 percent beyond that. Crist, however, “wanted a simple property tax bill, and that is unfortunately what the citizens of Florida got.”

Lopez-Cantera and Rubio, however, would vote for Crist’s version of the bill in a special session, using a property tax exemption method still used today.

All of Scott’s decisions “have not been popular,” either, Lopez-Cantera said. “But they have been the right decisions for the state’s economy.”

If Scott is re-elected, Lopez-Cantera said residents can expect another $1 million in tax cuts, and another $120 million assessed through cellphone usage.

Lopez-Cantera assumed the lieutenant governor’s office in February following the resignation of Jennifer Carroll, Crist’s original running mate in 2010. She resigned last year after she was questioned about her alleged involvement in pushing money toward Internet cafes, which some say are fronts for illegal gambling in the state.

“I talk to the governor all the time about the turnaround here in the state,” Lopez-Cantera said. “I’ve only been here for eight months, but I get to take credit for all his hard work. This is the hardest-working governor that I have ever seen, and I served with three governors.”

Campaign speeches tend to just lightly touch on a number of different issues voters may care about, and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera had a lot to say in Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign against former governor Charlie Crist. But what’s the full story behind some of Lopez-Cantera’s statements? Go online right now, and reach our fact-check at tinyurl.com/LtGovCheck.

Published October 1, 2014

See this story in print: Click Here

Partisan politics infest county commission race

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It’s been four years since a Democrat has served on the Pasco County Commission, but Erika Remsberg hopes to change that with just one election in November.

However, she has a formidable opponent in the form of Republican Mike Moore, who not only has out-fundraised her 19-to-1, but seems to be the shoo-in to replace the retiring Pat Mulieri in District 2.

Mike Moore
Mike Moore

However, as the commission’s last Democrat, Mike Cox, learned in 2010 — dollars don’t necessarily equate to votes. Despite a nearly 20-to-1 fundraising advantage, he lost his seat to then newcomer Henry Wilson Jr.

Moore doesn’t want history to repeat itself, so it’s probably no surprise he spent a recent campaign speech distancing himself from Remsberg … by calling her the “L” word.

“We have a person running against me now that is a self-proclaimed liberal,” Moore said. “Typically, I don’t talk about my opponents as we had a very positive campaign in the primary, and we’ll continue to do that. But we are running against a liberal, something she has mentioned in the newspapers and in her talks. That is what we’re up against.”

To be fair to Moore, he was speaking in front of the Conservative Club of East Pasco, so such discourse would likely be welcomed in front of the audience. But what exactly Moore meant by “liberal” he didn’t get into.

Instead, Moore asked the political group during a recent meeting in Zephyrhills to help his campaign by going door-to-door and waving campaign signs.

In an email after the speech, Remsberg found the fact that she was even mentioned at all by a presumed frontrunner to be encouraging.

“Maybe I am getting somewhere if the stones are being thrown,” she said. “I am not interested in divisive politics. Not at all. I am interested in people, their rights, their ability to stay in their homes, retain their property, and as much of their money as possible.”

Erika Remsberg
Erika Remsberg

Although as a Democrat, Remsberg doesn’t deny the “liberal” label, she said her campaign is attracting the attention and support of some voters from across the aisle.

“I am finding more Republicans open to my ideas because they are Pasco resident-friendly ideas,” she said. They are “not politically driven ideas, not ideas motivated by outside interests, but ideas focused on helping our current residents.

“Residents in our county are being asked to pay more for the sake of growth, (and) I am concerned about this.”

Remsberg even included what she said was a dictionary definition of “liberal,” which was defined as “open to new behavior or opinions, and willing to discard traditional values.”

“Yes, I agree I am open to new ideas, seek to broaden my scope of knowledge, and acknowledge different interpretations and perspectives,” she added.

Moore later told The Laker/Lutz News that he didn’t want to get caught up in a label war.

“Our campaign has focused on the issues important to our community, including creating new jobs and new opportunities here in Pasco County,” he said, in a statement. “We’ve run a positive campaign, focusing on the issues which impact all of us, and the solutions which unite us. I am optimistic as each day we continue meeting with voters across our community, sharing our positive message, and working together to bring about a brighter future for Pasco County.”

But Remsberg wasn’t necessarily ready to accept that. She said it’s this kind of politics that have created some of the issues that have prevented good ideas from moving forward in the county.

“The commission should be nonpartisan, because the social issues that divide the (parties) are generally not a factor at the county level,” she said. “We need less divisiveness and more consensus building.”

Voters will decide between Moore and Remsberg in the Nov. 4 elections.

Published October 1, 2014

See this story in print: Click Here

Fact Check: Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera’s campaign visit to Zephyrhills

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Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera made a campaign stop on behalf of Gov. Rick Scott in Zephyrhills Sept. 22, speaking in front of the Conservative Club of East Pasco.

Throughout his stump speech, Lopez-Cantera attacked Scott’s Democratic opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, but also made some other claims as well. 

For the complete story of Lopez-Cantera’s campaign stop, read the Oct. 1 edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

 “The high-speed rail was a project that is about $2 billion, but that would not have covered the cost of the project. And you know who would’ve been on the hook to cover the cost of the project? All of us.

“Look at California. They took the federal money, and they have not laid one inch of rail in their state for high-speed rail. They’re hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole. They raised the gas tax 6 cents just to cover the expense.

“And that is still not going to cover the cost, that is projected to be around $100 billion.”

President Obama announced construction of high-speed rail routes in several states, including Florida, in 2009 as part of his overall stimulus package to help jumpstart the nation’s lagging economy.

Florida was set to receive more than $2 billion, while California was gearing up to receive $8 billion in federal funds. However, while the federal dollars were expected to cover the cost of the Florida route’s first phase between Tampa and Orlando, the California contribution was just a fraction of the $68 billion needed to build the entire line in the state, that had been planned for decades.

The California project took a big hit last January, however, when a state judge there ruled the government could not sell billions of dollars in bonds that would’ve helped finance the project, according to the Washington Post.

In August, the New York Times called the high-speed rail project a failure, claiming the Obama administration spent $11 billion on the project, with nothing to show for it. However, Michael Grunwald from Time magazine disputed that report, saying just $2.4 billion has been spent nationwide, and that major construction of the first high-speed rail lines are just beginning after years of planning.

“In the next two years, you can expect another $1 million in tax cuts, and this is not a Charlie Crist rhetoric tax cut. Another $120 million will be cut in taxes if you have a cellphone. Your cellphone bill will go down.

“And we’re going to eliminate the manufacturing sales tax once and for all, so that we can continue to attract manufacturing jobs to our state, because those are good, high-paying jobs.

“We are going to get a constitutional amendment passed that if your (home) value does not go up, your property taxes will not go up. It is not fair.”

The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan research think tank based in Washington, D.C., has called some of these policies a “mixed bag.”

The constitutional amendment, for example, would require the approval of 60 percent of voters. At the same time, this would affect local government revenue, not state government revenue, said Lyman Stone of the Tax Foundation.

“Restrictions on property tax assessments can reduce local taxation, but only if there are also restrictions on property tax rates, effective standardization of tax-assessing practices, and strict limits on other local revenue sources,” Stone said. “Otherwise, if property taxes are ineffectively capped, localities will just raise the same revenues through less transparent means, like excessive fees, fines, or budget gimmicks that just push expenses further out.”

However, in the same analysis, Stone praised the proposed reduction in cellphone taxes. Florida, he said, has the fourth highest taxes on cellphone usage, and would bring the state closer to norms experienced elsewhere in the country.

 Drug testing those people receiving state funds “was passed in 2011, and has been challenged by liberal groups since then. We are still appealing it. There is an injunction in place that doesn’t allow (the state to enforce drug-testing) until it makes its way through the courts.”

A federal judge last December struck down the law forcing welfare recipients to be drug tested, saying the law violated the Constitutional protection against unreasonable searches. It was similar to a ruling made in Michigan in 2003 that put many proposed drug-testing policies on hold for several years.

The suit that led to the decision was put together by the American Civil Liberties Union, a group generally described as “liberal,” on behalf of a U.S. Navy veteran, Luis Lebron, who had filed for public assistance and was asked to submit to testing.

The New York Times reported late last year the program cost far more than it saved, finding less than 3 percent of those tested with positive results for narcotics.

“We talked about how we increased funding for education the last three years, and how Gov. Scott was a champion of a $480 million pay raise (for teachers). That was not a bonus but a pay raise.”

The raises, according to Scott, would amount to $2,500 per teacher, and up to $3,500 for those deemed “highly effective.” However, while the Legislature did approve a measure that would make an additional $480 million available to school districts, it’s still up to county school boards — not the states — on how that money will be distributed, if at all.

Also, the allocated money is not just for teachers in the classroom. It’s also for guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists, librarians, principals and assistant principals, according to the bill, which means at least some of the money is earmarked for those who aren’t in front of students.

Scott has pushed for increased education funding in recent years, but that came after he slashed the education budget in 2011 by $1.3 billion. In fact, despite his most recent increase, education funding per student is still below the levels under Crist in 2007, according to Politifact.

“Charlie (Crist) doesn’t want anyone to remember that he was governor for four years, and what the state looked like when he took it over. It had a 3.5 percent unemployment rate, and when he left, it was much higher. He is going to say it was the global recession, and that it would’ve happened to anybody. That is not true. The same time that Florida lost 830,000 jobs, there was another governor who focused on jobs, and they added 200,000 jobs. And that was Texas.”

Crist moved into the governor’s mansion in January 2007, enjoying an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent. However, by that July, it had climbed to 4 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As the Great Recession went into full swing, unemployment would rise to 4.8 percent after Crist’s first full year in office, and then 8.8 percent after his second.

Florida’s unemployment rate peaked at 11.4 percent in December 2009, and started to drop by April 2010.

When Scott took office in January 2011, the unemployment rate already was declining, dropping to 10.9 percent. It would take nearly three years for Scott to see unemployment rates drop below 7 percent, which it finally did in September 2013, but has plateaued around the 6.3 percent mark since last December.

In terms of what states weathered the recession better than others, Texas did gain attention for its job growth. However, many of those jobs, according to news reports, came in the oil and natural gas industries, which took only a minor hit during the recession.

Florida, on the other hand, was hit hard by the crash of the housing market, losing many jobs in that field — something Texas was able to absorb.

Last July, NPR reviewed job growth in all 50 states between January 2008 and May 2014, using data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that time, North Dakota had the biggest job growth at 21.2 percent, followed by Texas with 8.4 percent — both taking advantage of growth in the petroleum industry.

In total, 18 states and the District of Columbia saw positive job growth since the time the recession was in full swing, but none of them are Florida. The Sunshine State is ranked 38th in job growth since January 2008, tied with Maine, showing it’s still short of reaching its pre-recession levels by 1.7 percent.

Of the 19 states and territories that have seen positive growth since the recession, eight are led by Democrats, and seven by Republicans. Two other states — Oklahoma and Iowa — went from Democrat to Republican governors during that time span, while two others — Minnesota and California — went from Republican to Democrat.

“The first two years, he was chasing the vice presidency and not focusing on the state. The second two years, he was running for a United States Senate seat.

“And he is the first governor in the history of Florida to not run for re-election.”

Charlie Crist was touring and campaigning with John McCain after the U.S. Senator won the Republican nomination in 2008, and many news outlets said Crist was one of the contenders to possibly accompany McCain on the presidential ticket, especially since that could help deliver Florida in the presidential election.

McCain, however, chose Sarah Palin instead, and would go on to lose to Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the November race.

Less than a year later, Republican Mel Martinez resigned from his U.S. Senate seat some four years after winning it, and Crist appointed his chief of staff, George LeMieux — who many largely saw as a placeholder for Crist — and Crist soon after announced his intentions to run for the seat.

When it became obvious Marco Rubio was going to win the Republican nomination two years later for the senate seat, Crist would stay in the race as an independent, eventually losing to Rubio in 2011.

Crist, however, is not the first governor in history to not run for re-election. Assuming Lopez-Cantera was only referring to sitting governors eligible to seek re-election (which would exclude the likes of Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush), C. Farris Bryant chose to serve just one term as governor, and did not seek re-election in 1964. He would be succeeded by another Democrat, W. Haydon Burns, in a two-year term in 1965.

Littlefield joins forces with Moore in commission race

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They may have been foes during the primary, but former state Rep. Ken Littlefield has taken sides in the November election, joining the campaign of Republican candidate Mike Moore in his efforts to replace the retiring Pat Mulieri on the Pasco County Commission.

Moore, who faces Democrat Erika Remsberg in the November election, revealed the new team during a recent Conservative Club of East Pasco meeting.

“I am helping Mike in the general election,” Littlefield said, adding with a laugh, “I’m bringing back the (Moore political) signs that I stole.”

Littlefield and Zephyrhills financial analyst Bob Robertson were defeated in the August primary by Moore, who raised more than 10 times the money they did. Littlefield attacked Moore throughout the primary on a variety of topics, including the amount of money he was raising from people in the development community.

Moore has raised $10,500 in the first two weeks of September, bringing his campaign total to nearly $113,500. All but about $1,500 of it came from a group of development companies under common ownership, Lew Friedland of Tarpon Springs. Moore has a little more than $13,000 in cash available, according to campaign finance reports.

Remsberg raised $475 during that same time, bringing her total to just under $6,500. She has about $460 in the bank for her campaign.

Lieutenant governor paying visit to Zephyrhills

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The Conservative Club of East Pasco is welcoming a very high-profile guest to its Sept. 22 meeting in Zephyrhills.

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera is the scheduled speaker for the group when it meets next week at the Zephyrhills Woman’s Club, at 38549 Fifth Ave.

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera

“We’re excited to have the lieutenant governor coming, but I’m still really trying to get Rick Scott to visit, too,” said Nils Lenz, the Conservative Club’s secretary. Lopez-Cantera is running on the Republican gubernatorial ticket with Scott in November against Democrat and former Republican governor Charlie Crist.

The 40-year-old Lopez-Cantera assumed the duties of lieutenant governor last February following the resignation of Jennifer Carroll.

That means a lot of people may not know much about Lopez-Cantera, especially since the state’s second top spot usually gets overlooked by many in the public.

Yet, this remains the highest-profile guest the local Conservative Club has had in its 10-year history. Next Monday’s meeting is free and open to the public — as long as those who attend are respectful to the Conservative Club’s views.

“Usually we get 30 to 40 people in a regular meeting,” Lenz said. “But we expect to have a lot more than that for this visit. It’s big for the community.”

Since last December, the Scott campaign has raised $7.7 million seeking re-election, compared to a little more than $7 million from Crist. Polls have had both candidates neck-and-neck. Significant advertising — primarily by outside groups — has cast a very negative shadow on both campaigns.

Scott has worked to tie Crist to the economic problems that hit both the state and the county during Crist’s terms, as well as his association with fallen state GOP leader Jim Greer.

Crist, on the other hand, has highlighted the legal trouble Scott’s former company, Columbia/HCA, suffered through in the 1990s, which resulted in a settlement with the federal government costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Crist, whose previous lieutenant governor was former lawmaker Jeff Kottkamp, has picked Annette Taddeo, chair of the Women’s Enterprise National Council’s Leadership Forum.

Before becoming the lieutenant governor, Lopez-Cantera spent eight years in the Florida House, and later became property appraiser for Miami-Dade County. He was born in Madrid, Spain, but moved to Miami soon after he was born.

The Conservative Club meeting is set to start at 6:30 p.m.

For more information on the meeting, or the Conservative Club itself, call Nils Lenz at (813) 782-9491, or email .

Published September 17, 2014

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