October 2008 Archive

A friend and I were talking about Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s efforts for a third term in New York, and I was surprised to hear a refrain from him about how Mayor Mike could be better applied to the needs of our country, in a position other than the Mayor of New York. The following letter is provided as a thought piece - in case some of Mayor Bloomberg’s political people are reading:
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In the past few months, I have been talking with various campaigns (advising on the QT) since I have been somewhat swamped this year with business initiatives across the board. One of the teams I spoke with is the Democratic contender for the Congressional seat in Florida 13th, Mrs. Christine Jennings.

In my conversations with her Campaign Manager and her Communications Director, I learn a lot about the differences between the two candidates and asked for a comparison between the two candidates. Following is a breakdown of both Vern Buchanan’s positions/actions as Congressman and Ms. Jennings’ positions on the issues.
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One of the projects I have been working with is twittervotereport.com and the following video is a reasonably fun way to learn about what is happening right before your eyes:

Cameos by Nancy Scola, Billy Gray, Beka Economopoulos, Matt Cooperrider and Noel Hidalgo.
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So - after a blog comment expressing a familiar refrain of frustration on who are Oliver Parker and Fred Segal, I decided to dial some of my contacts and look into reaching out to the two candidates for the position of Broward County Soil and Water Conservation District 3.

What I discovered is interesting - the position, which is a county-wide position, is an unpaid position, and focused on the environment, land use and preservation and supporting the agricultural needs of the county. It turns out that this seat is a very obscure position - the Broward Supervisor of Elections even left it off the sample ballot when mailed out before the election. The Board of Supervisors meetings discussing the issues of the District, and the two candidates have interesting backgrounds. Below, I provide you with information on the two men - one from an interview I had over the phone, and one from what limited knowledge I have learned about him on the web. I have left a phone message with Mr. Parker and am waiting for replies/photos from both men.

Fred Segal, current incumbent

Mr. Segal is the incumbent in the seat, and had been appointed to fill a vacancy in the District back in June 2008. He said that he was appointed to the seat because he normally attended the Board of Supervisors meetings for over three years and is involved with many orgs on environment, water, etc - and the roles are important.
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In 2000, after the debacle in the Supreme Court (can you tell where I am biased?), I was in London with my new company and was reading a copy of the USA Today around the time of the Inauguration. In the article, the reporter was describing the makeup of the “new” President’s Cabinet.

For some reason, I have always misremembered the opening paragraph within the article - in my mind, I always interpreted it to be “would you rather have a strong cabinet with a weak leader or a weak cabinet with a strong leader?” especially since he seemed to be hiring the same people that had brought the recession upon us at that time.
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One of the most amazing things that happened this past week was my own frustration on trying to vote ont he Broward County ballot and then discovering how much content was missing.  Simply put - being an informed voter is not easy at all this year.  

Yes, our attention has been super-glued to the media and robocalls and volunteer efforts to bring out the vote by the Presidential campaigns - which means that supporters from both parties are going to be driven to the polls. The Presidential pick and the Congressional picks are relatively easy since people are pushing an effort out - but what about the local elections?

Sure, the Florida Amendments and the Broward County Charter changes are administrative - which is why I have included the summary of the amendments and the statements from the newspaper’s Editorial Boards for your perusal.  

Disappointingly, very little information was out there for the non-exciting amendments (e.g. the amusingly named “Marriage Protection Amendment”) which made the Editorial Boards important in terms of fleshing out the Amendments.

What bothered me the most was the lack of information from the local candidates for the various roles.  In particular, a bunch of the candidates did not tell me who they are - and support their case with details on what they stand for and why I should choose them for office.  Let me break down the Broward ballot and show you what I mean.
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In keeping with my promise, I am including the ten amendments that are being discussed to modify the Broward County Charter. I have been very careful about my publishing of these summaries since I am not trying to suggest one way or another on how to vote.

I know my family and friends who have been reading these posts have appreciated the content and the access to the information that makes voting easier and more effective. I will comment that my biggest frustration lied in voting for the position of Broward Soil and Water Conservation District role (between Oliver Parker and Fred Segal), and since I could not find any information on them, I chose not to vote for either of them.

[UPDATE: Oliver and Fred - would you mind putting some information up somewhere? Even in my comments would be great.]

For the ten initiatives to modify the Broward County Charter, I am listing what I have found published at CBS4.com’s site (with a corresponding link) and the opinion of the Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
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Wow. Just got an email from a friend that showed me what the Chicago Office of the Obama Campaign has been working on. Talk about transparency - they launched “Under the Radar” where people can see and submit robocalls and scan of negative mailers to the campaign - and allow for the rest of the country to see and hear them.

This is BIG. This is incredible.

For the first time, we can connect on what is happening in different battleground states and SEE and HEAR what dreck is being distributed. This is something that can change the way campaigns are run.

When I saw it - I was incredibly excited since remembering when I was working for a candidate in Florida and found, during the canvassing, the various lies and hate mailers that people were pulling out of their mailboxes.

Way to go Team Obama. Terrific work with Under the Radar.

During my trip, I visited the Hudson Street Studios and filmed an episode of Political Lunch with Rob Millis to talk about the Broward mail-in ballot, the joys of the “bubbie patrol” and the exciting efforts of the Twitter Vote Report team (#votereport).

To see the Twitter Vote Report efforts, go to http://www.twittervotereport.com.

For more information on how to get involved with the Twitter Vote Report, go to http://votereport.pbwiki.com - we are looking for developers to get involved in delivering this incredible solution for the protection of our Democracy.

When I read my ballot, I shook my head and could not believe the lengthy nature of the different initiatives. So, I have been searching on the web for various research sites for information on the Amendments. I list them below, based on the document from Florida League of Cities. For clarity’s sake, I am also including the Miami Herald’s and Sun-Sentinel’s endorsements.

I also received a great link for explanations on the Amendments from a commenter - which I am now including in the post. Be sure to look at the Flash display on each Amendment at the Collins Center.
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