Best newspaper in FL, the St. Pete Times, endorses Jim Davis for Governor!

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/29/Opinion/Jim_Davis_for_governo.shtml

Jim Davis for governor

Excerpts from the Times editorial
Published October 29, 2006

For eight years, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature have been largely unchecked while advancing a conservative agenda in areas such as standardized testing in public schools, tax cuts and the privatization of government services. Now it is time to restore some measure of political and ideological balance in Tallahassee. In our judgment, that goal can be best accomplished by electing Jim Davis as governor.

<>Davis best reflects Florida's mainstream values. Over eight years in the state House and a decade in Congress, he has methodically built a centrist record of supporting available and affordable health care, protecting the environment and improving public education. The 49-year-old Tampa Democrat has never been among the most partisan or the most vocal, and he is more comfortable working behind the scenes than grabbing headlines. But do not mistake his low-key approach for a lack of determination. In Tallahassee, he helped persuade his colleagues to ban fundraising during the legislative session. He first ran for Congress as an underdog in a crowded Democratic primary and won against several better-known opponents. And in Washington, he fought hard against those who wanted to drill off Florida's coast and intervene in the Terri Schiavo feeding tube controversy. While we did not recommend him in the Democratic primary for governor, Davis impressed us by aggressively responding to millions of dollars in negative, sometimes misleading attack ads by the sugar industry.

Looking ahead, Florida faces serious challenges even if it manages to avoid a major hurricane in the next year or two. On the most pressing issues, Davis has the more thoughtful approach.

The Democrat has a reasoned plan to restructure the way Florida measures the performance of its schools. The obsession with standardized testing and grading schools has frustrated many teachers and parents. Davis would transform the FCAT into a diagnostic tool instead of a punishing club by abolishing the letter grades that simplistically label schools. Students would get their FCAT tests back, along with study guides to help them address their weaknesses. And Davis would add more variables when evaluating a school, including parental involvement, school discipline and graduation rates. While both Davis and Crist would raise teacher salaries, Crist is a strong supporter of the current FCAT testing. It's encouraging that the former education commissioner is open to fine-tuning the system, but he has not offered specifics.

Similarly, Davis has the most thorough response to concerns about high taxes driven by soaring real estate prices and the inherent inequities created by Save Our Homes. Davis would reduce state-required school property taxes by $1-billion next year and stop the state from continuing to shift its financial obligations onto the backs of local property owners. He would cap assessment increases at 10 percent for owners of businesses and investment properties, the taxpayers who are suffering the most. That offers reasonable relief until there is a broader overhaul of the tax system.

In contrast, Crist would not do anything immediately for business owners or owners of investment properties. He wants to allow counties to double the $25,000 homestead exemption, and he would let homeowners take their Save Our Homes tax break with them if they move. Doubling the homestead could force cuts in services by local governments, and making the Save Our Homes tax break portable only exacerbates its unfairness. These ideas have little support even among other Republicans.

[Nimrod2005]

1. Excellent....!

We can win this...

[BlueJazz]

2. I've always been proud of the St. Petersburg Times. They are one...

....of the Democratic Beacons in this (Mostly) Repug State.

...as opposed to other Right-Wing trash...lke the Jacksonville "Florida Times Union"
which would endorse an Uneducated, Bible Thumping, Crooked Cockroach, just as long as it followed the Repug agenda.

[watercolors]

3. I think we are poised to win this one!

most papers are endosing Davis.

[teryang]

4. I'm a floridian and I haven't heard much about Davis

If Davis wants to oppose the increase in the homestead exemption he's in for trouble. It's on the ballot, Constitutional Amendment no. Six. It's a no brainer.

I hear a lot about how local tax collectors want to get rid of the save our homes act. They are headed for trouble as well. The state and local governments have had huge windfalls from paper appreciation of real estate assets and huge increases in assessments. If they try to shift the commercial tax burden of real estate developers to ordinary homeowners they are going to lose.

State and local governments are rolling in money. Fuck the developers and their unsold homes, condos and malls. Why should ordinary working people bail them out?

Did you hear about the yacht expo in Lauderdale? Wayne Heisenger (sp) wants to sell his $70 million yacht, it takes $250,000.00 to fill the tank. High end yachts of the have and have mores are selling like hotcakes! We're supposed to give this class assessment caps and defeat Amendment No. Six?

[flpoljunkie]

5. Doubling the Homestead Exemption would blow a big hole in local budgets,

but is a cheap political trick to buy votes. The Republican controlled Legislature already turned this idea down this session, by the way. Jeb Bush and his minions in the Florida Legislature drastically cut state funds going to local governments for schools, and it had to be made up by the local governments.

Jim Davis would restore these state funds, so that local would not be so strapped to provide funds for schools.

[teryang]

6. The homestead exemption hasn't changed in decades

I don't give a s..t about Republican legislatures. This is a pocket book issue. Real estate taxes on ordinary Floridians have gone to the moon. Local government is rolling in money. They take the maximum assessments allowed by law every year.

[flpoljunkie]

8. Nevertheless, R's caused budget shortfalls by cutting money to local

governments, so they could pay for elimination of the intangibles tax for millionaires and hundreds of millions to Scripps Research Institute to bring a few jobs to Florida.

Perhaps the answer is more realistic property assessments and return of the money Jeb and his minions took from local governments--which Jim Davis promises to do.

[teryang]

11. The assessments went up with the housing bubble

When have assessments ever gone down?

The bank loan manipulators and land developers are holding the tab now for state and local government and rightly they should because they are the ones increasing the burden on the local governments. They don't want to pay the freight because their land speculation and huge bank loans and tax bills are coming due and their condos and spanking new neighborhoods are freaking empty.

The local tax collectors are collecting more money than ever. The increases in local government revenues have been huge.

[seasat]

17. Here's the reason why property taxes are so high.

To provide some backup for your point.

(LINK)

When Gov. Jeb Bush took office in 1999, property taxes accounted for about 40 percent of the money that flows through the Florida Education Finance Program, the system that divvies up most of the state's education budget. The rest came from state sources, primarily the sales tax.

This year: Only 48 percent will come from the state while 52 percent will come from local property taxes.

The change is one of many factors at work as homeowners and business people complain loudly about their tax notices and public officials try to sort through what happened.

The shift started gradually, then accelerated the last three years as state officials took advantage of double-digit leaps in Florida property values.

Charley will make this worse. Increasing exemption rates won't help since with Chameleon Charlie's spending plans and other tax cuts they won't be able to cut millage rates. They may even have to raise them to keep up with Charlie's proposed increases in school spending. That means that new home buyers and renters are going to get hammered and an increase in homestead exemption won't make a bit of difference to everyone else.

Now, I could support an increase in homestead exemption if we repeal the "Save-Our-Homes" amendment. It primarily benefits the owners of beach front McMansions. The Palm Beach Post did a great series on this issue. Check out the sidebar on the article where they list some of the multimillion dollar homes that benefit from this amendment (LINK).

Crist and his allies have made the aggressive push despite legislative analyses that show how the Save Our Homes cap has created drastically different tax bills on identical properties, has benefited the wealthy disproportionately and could, if it is made portable, invite a successful legal challenge under the U.S. Constitution.

After being asked daily about how he would deal with property taxes, Davis released a plan Tuesday to cut the state-mandated schools property tax by $1 billion in the 2007-08 budget by replacing it with state tax money he would generate by repealing several tax breaks passed in recent years. He was not specific about which breaks could be repealed under a Republican legislature.

Now, as to why Jim Davis is having trouble competing with Crist in getting out ads, it is the money. Crist has set a fund record of over 18 million dollars. He was able to do this because big special interest dollars are freely flowing into his campaign. Here's a recent example (LINK).

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's insurance industry has given a combined $15.3 million so far for this year's elections.

· Attorney General Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate for governor, has taken in $763,507 in insurance industry contributions through Oct. 6, the most among any candidate in the general election.

The Repugs have gamed the system. They control the state government through severely gerrymandered districts. They have all but gutted campaign finance reform for state races. In 2005, a candidate was limited to 8.8 million in contributions, they raised the bar to 21 million just in time for the governor's race. Under the old rule, Jim Davis would be receiving matching funds for every dollar Charlie gets above 8.8 million. Now, he won't receive those funds unless Charlie tops 21 million. When the Repugs eliminated the run off in the primary, they also changed reporting so that the parties don't have to report who they received money from until November 3rd. That means that we won't know until days before the election how much more special interest money has poured into Crist's campaign.

If you are tired of this and want real representation in Florida's government, then you need to look beyond the slick commercials and vote for who actually supports your interests. Personally, I'm voting a straight Democratic ticket for both state and federal offices. It's the only way to restore balance and representation of my views.

[jab105]

7. Honestly, Davis has done a HORRIBLE job of getting his message out...

in North CEntral FLorida...I don't know if it is like this all over, but this is what I've seen on tv:

the ONLY Davis ads are these tiny 15 second spots that basically say "JIm Davis wants to get rid of the FCAT, Charlie Crist doesn't...vote for Jim Davis"...the other is that CHarlie Crist doesn't want to do anything about insurance rates until 2010...that's it!! Other than that, the average tv viewer-- voter-- knows NOTHING about Davis from Davis...

Crist has an incredibly effective commercial, which says that Davis has the second worst attendance record in congress...and its "cutesy"...a family came to DC to see their congressman Davis, but he wasn't there...all they see is his chair...easy to remember...I was talking with some friends about the vote on THursday, they were SHOCKED when I said that I was voting for Davis, and then they started QUOTING the chair commercial...

I live in a BLUE county, I liked Davis in the debate, but frankly, that was on PBS, most people were watching other things...just viewing the commercials, its just almost like Davis isn't even trying...

I DESPERATELY want a democrat as governor, specially after 8 years of Jeb, and the 2000 fiasco...but again, it's like Davis didn't even try, at least not in my county...its really disappointing...

One newspaper ad isn't going to cut it, and I'm peeved about it because we could have beaten Crist - if we had tried!

[flpoljunkie]

10. Sad folks buy the silly "Empty chair" ad. How many days do you think Charlie

has missed as Attorney General while he has been galavanting around the state running for Governor. I am amazed that people are impressed by this cheesy ad. I think the Florida Democratic party needs to come up with the money and run this ad, "Sorry Charlie!" It's tough and funny--unlike the "empty chair" ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBtzK_KBWY

The Republicans are bankrolled by wealthy special interests here in Florida, and they are spending mightily to keep the Rethugs in control of the governship. It is not over! Jim Davis has never lost a political race--he's 12-0!

[NotGivingUp]

12. people are going to have to freaking smarten up and KNOW

they can't base their vote on a freaking commercial. it's up to them to educate themselves. they didn't want to turn on PBS to watch the debates? well, i guess that means we'll just keep having CRAP for government.

[saltpoint]

9. The St. Petersburg TIMES really is one of the best papers in the

nation, not just Florida.

It's a great read.

And they picked the right candidate in the gubernatorial race, too.

[NotGivingUp]

13. i honestly don't see where this high praise of the st. pete times

comes from. just because they're not as bad as some, does not make them good. there's huge amounts of room for improvement. i would so love to have a 'real' newspaper' delivered to my door each morning, but instead i'm stuck with the st. pete times.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Perhaps you would prefer the Florida Times-Union conservative rag.

The St. Pete Times has been recognized for many years as one of the leading newspapers in the United States and has won many awards for their reporting.

[saltpoint]

15. I like the paper for its being "saved" by Eugene Patterson, an editor

at the Washington POST, who, some years ago was told by his doctors to retire to a sunny climate.

He chose the Florida Gulf Coast.

His improvements in the paper were visible and in my opinion made it one of the nation's best papers.

There's room for improvement in just about anything, including newspapers, but emergency salvation is required in dailies such as the Indianapolis STAR, the Cincinnati ENQUIRER, and the Arizona REPUBLIC.

[NotGivingUp]

16. the st. pete times SUCKS! just like all the other 'news'papers

out there.