travis's blog

Various opinions and information about what's going on this time.

     I am opposed to the abolishment of the Clay County Charter because this will diminish the ability of Clay Citizens to participate in local government.  I believe that citizen input is indispensable because the electorate are not only shareholders in government decisions, they also fund the government through taxation.
     The question is “what benefit is there to cutting citizens out of the decision making process?”  An additional question is “who benefits from cutting citizens out local government decisions?”  Besides these questions, there are also some ethical and legal considerations to take into account while debating the future of the Clay County Charter.

COMMENTS ON THE CENSUS

     
     I’m getting a little annoyed by the census.  There have been multiple commercials promoting it on television and radio, and the schools in Duval have been encouraging the children to make sure their parents send in their census form.  The TU recently had a picture of a kid wearing a census t-shirt.
     What the heck?
     Why promote the census?  They mail you the form, if you don’t return it they either call you or show up at your door, and if you refuse to fill out the form you get fined.  There is no more need to promote the census than there is a need to promote filing your taxes.  I haven’t seen any happy-go-lucky income tax commercials or 1040 t-shirts.

     There is a saying attributed to Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”
     I understand this as meaning that in matters of political conflict that the level of attention and animosity directed at you by an opponent is an indication of how much they see you as a threat.  
     Many Floridians have been watching the contest for the Republican Senatorial nomination between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.  In it’s history you see the progression of this phenomenon.

FIRST THEY IGNORE YOU
     Crist began his campaign by trying to make it understood that ONLY HE would win the Republican nomination, ONLY HE could beat the Democratic Party opponent, and that any efforts by Republicans to defeat him for the nomination would just undermine his chances of winning the Senate seat.

Two links of political interest.

How to undermine a movement: turn it’s values on their heads.  By Walt Thiessen

http://www.nolanchart.com/article7348.html

Top 12 Teaparty Players to watch.  National Journal Online

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/print_friendly.php?ID=no_20100204_7827

The second link is information about the “tea party movement.  The tea parties have been a political game changer, this explains some of the main elements of this movement: who runs them, how much money they have, their activities, how many employees they have.

The Clay County Republican Liberty Caucus will be having yet another monthly meeting at 7:00 this wednesday at the Fleming Island.  There is no speaker this month so it gives attendees a greater chance to express their opinions.

Subjects on the agenda:

Steering committee- we need some proactive people.

watchdog committee-we need some people with an axe to grind

Sunday alcohol sales-There are some new developments on this issue.  Depending on how things go I want the RLC to assist in the petition drive. 

Welcome Terry Martin-Back to MCS.  I'm sure you have many interesting things to say about your campaign, so don't keep us waiting.

Just letting you know we're here.

Clay County Republican Liberty Caucus January update.

To solicit input and participation

1)Meeting place and time: The next meeting is still scheduled to be at the Fleming Island Library, 7:00 pm, on Feb. 3.  I am open to suggestions for a different date and location.  I chose the library because it is free, and the first Wed. because it was what was available.  The time problem is that the 1st Wed. immediately follows the RLCNEF monthly meeting; I don’t want people to choose between which meeting they want to attend.  As for location, people like food and alcohol more than books.  I’m leaning towards St. Johns Seafood in Middleburg or Opies in Orange Park, some night on the second week of the month.  Let me know what you think.

2)Watchdog Committee: Clay County needs organized citizen oversight over local government affairs.  There are a number of individuals who do attend public meetings and are critical of county activities, my goal is to bring them together.  All levels of government need to be watched.  My general conception is for members of the committee to attend public meetings or watch the streaming video, dividing between themselves the various meetings of the local government.  Each committee member would note government actions they find troubling and share them with the rest of the group, and a vote taken as to what we would pursue as a group.  There is power in numbers, the more people we have the more power we have.
Note that membership in the watchdog committee does not mean that an individual cannot pursue an issue on their own in the case the group declines, neither does it require the individual to participate on issues they personally disagree with.  We are all volunteers.
The real problem is not just getting people to participate, it is in getting government officials to pay attention.  Some of us have gone the “letters to the editor” and “public comments” route and found that it does little or nothing to sway public officials.  That is the reason so few people take and interest in government or voice opposition, their experience has been that it is a useless effort.  It takes more to gain the attention of an elected official.  I’m open to suggestions on lobbying tactics, and I invite people to join the committee whether or not they have an interest in other RLC activities.

3)Steering Committee: A steering committee is not a board, it is a committee.  In order to form an independent chapter and elect a board we need 10 paying RLC members to submit the paperwork to the state RLC.  Until that happens we are technically a “meetup” group that is being allowed to use the RLC name.  Though not a certified RLC chapter, we still need to have elected leadership to carry out effective actions and have a democratic decision making process.  I am the group organizer and am looking for a 4 person steering committee, when the chapter is certified both the organizer and steering committee will go away and be replaced by an elected board as per RLC bylaws.
Here’s how it will work.
     1)The 4 member steering committee will perform many of the same functions as a board, with the group organizer acting as a 5th voting member of the steering committee.
     2)Applications for steering committee will go through the organizer, that being me, and I reserve the right to deny applicants.  Prospective candidates will be required to be members of the online meetup group, read, understand, and agree with the RLC “statement of principles” on www.rlc.org, and the Florida RLC bylaws, which I will e-mail to them.
     3)Steering committee applicants will be required to write something introducing themselves to the group and explaining what they would do as a group leader. This will be e-mailed to all the members of the meetup group and they will have 7 days to review the information, contact the applicant with any questions, and cast a vote yea or nay whether the applicant be elected to the steering committee. 
     4)Applications for steering committee will be presented to members in the order they are received.
     5)Steering committee members will serve for a three month term, for this purpose the first quarter will begin Feb.1 2010.  Steering committee membership will be on a rotating, first-in, first-out basis.  If there are no applications for steering committee, members will be reinstated for another 3 month term.  Vacancies on the steering committee will be filled immediately and fulfil the remainder of the term.  I feel this process gives all interested persons a chance at group leadership and gives all members of the group a feeling of who would eventually be a good addition to the elected board.
     6)While steering committee members may serve on any committees of the Clay RLC, they cannot be a committee head at the same time they are a member of the steering committee, except in the case they are the only person on said committee.

I can be contacted through the Clay RLC meetup site at.
http://www.meetup.com/Republican-Liberty-Caucus-of-Clay-County/
      
  

     I’m sure that many are aware of the Clay “controversy” over Sunday alcohol sales.  To catch up those who are not, during the last election the voters approved a non-binding ballot to allow alcohol sales on Sundays to begin at 12:00 rather than at 2:00.  Though approved by the voters this was never enacted by the BCC, and neither were any public hearings held.  Some time later the Chamber of Commerce petitioned the Policy Council to allow the Sunday start time to begin at 7:00, it was tabled by Commissioner Robinson and never voted on.
     On a personal note, a few months ago I made some public comments at the BCC to complain about this situation and ask them to hold public hearings on the issue.  Of course, nothing came of it.  A few weeks ago I sent an e-mail to the Charter Review Commission asking them to consider taking up the issue.  Honestly, I expected them to reject the idea outright.  I was quite pleased in that I received responses from 2 of the CRC members, and that at the last CRC meeting they were taking my request seriously and were putting it in their “idea bag.”  

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better...

There is a SECOND SPEAKER for the Jan. 6 Clay RLC meeting!

I bet you are twice as excited as before!

Not only will Stanley F. Pfenning of the Charter Review Commission be speaking, we are also featuring David VonGunten, Florida coordinator for Independence Caucus.  
I blogged about Independence Caucus several months ago.  Their website at http://icaucus.us has some very eye-opening videos that explain why there are so many problems with government but the same politicians keep getting reelected.
I have been spending some time on their Florida site at http://icaucus.ning.com.  From the blogs you see the conflicts that are causing such deep rifts in the world of conservative politics.  On the one hand you have I-Caucus concentrate on it’s goal of vetting fiscal conservatives and helping win election.  On the other hand you have a plethora of different opinions on the conservative course of action: Republican loyalists, advocates for the new Tea Political Party, Tea Party people who reject the Tea Political Party, advocates for GOOOH, people for Rubio, people against Rubio, every conflict of conservative politics in Florida.  The blogs by themselves are worth the read.