Seminole County, Florida Progressive Ballot Recommendations (All Races) November 8, 2016
The average voter this cycle will go to the polls mainly to vote for President or maybe Medical Marijuana.
However, Seminole County Residents will have 22 different elections on their General Election Ballots provided they do not live in where you have City elections. I have no take on those.
All 22 of those elections are important and it is time consuming to research everything.
So, if you are a progressive in Seminole County, I would like to think I have done that work for you.
Early voting in the county starts Monday October 24 and encourage EVERYONE to vote by Mail or early at the polls as you never know when you will have a sudden medical emergency or situation where you have to leave or cannot go to the polls.
DO NOT WAIT UNTIL ELECTION DAY!
The following are my progressive recommendations for the fall ballot in the order that they appear on the ballot.
U.S. President/Vice President: Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine
U.S. Senator: Patrick Murphy
U.S. Congress: Stephanie Murphy
State Representative: Steve Edmonds/Fred Marra/Ryan Yadev
Clerk of Courts: Grant Maloy or Write-In "Open Primary"
Tax Collector: Joel Greenberg or Write-In "Open Primary"
County Commission District 1: Walter Osborne
County Commission District 5: H. Alexander Duncan
Justice Chris Canady: NO
Justice Jorge Labarga: YES
Justice Ricky Polston: NO
Judge Jay Cohen: YES
Judge James Edwards: NO
Judge Brian Lambert: NO
Judge Vincent Torpy, Jr.: NO
Circuit Judge 18/Group 9: Steve Henderson
Soil and Water District 2: David Mahnken
Soil and Water District 4: Ed Young
Amendment #1 Smart Solar: NO
Amendment #2 Medical Marijuana: YES
Amendment #3 Disabled First Responders Tax Break: YES
Amendment #5 Senior Citizen Tax Break: YES
Below are my in-depth explanations for each race.
U.S. President/Vice President: Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine
I understand that some progressives are still upset about the primary but voting third party or staying home like some did in our Governor's race in 2014 only hurts our cause.
If democrats win this election, we get control of The United States Supreme Court.
That is a HUGE prize and could help roll back some of the gerrymandering in this country, voter restrictions, Citizens United, abolish the death penalty (dems are split on this one) among other things and throw out how hateful laws that the right makes at the state level.
While getting the more progressive tax reform that we need is going to be hard, Hillary does have some ideas to shit more of the tax burden onto the rich that would help continue to roll back Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics that still hurt this county to this day.
I also believe Hillary Clinton can get immigration reform done and continue the progress President Obama has made the past 8 years.
Voting third party or staying home only will only get Donald Trump elected and with heartless Speaker Paul Ryan in his ear, you can bet all they will do is destroy the social safety net, pass hateful right-wing laws and multiple U.S. Supreme Court that will uphold their heartless policies.
We cannot let that happen and I urge everyone to vote for Hillary Clinton.
U.S. Senate: Patrick Murphy
I had hoped that a progressive like U.S. Rep Kathy Castor would run for this seat.
Unfortunately, she did not.
I understand that some progressives have problems with U.S. Rep Patrick Murphy's voting record. They are not alone.
However, Patrick Murphy wants to expand Social Security which is a progressive position and is going to be a vote for democratic control of the Senate. This also means Patrick Murphy is a vote for a progressive U.S. Supreme Court Justice. It is also possible they will further evolve politically to the left.
Most of all, he actually wants the job while Marco Rubio just wants to use his office to run for President again in 2020.
Rubio usually complains about people getting the "Free stuff" while he is the one who mooched our taxpayer dollars while he ran for President and openly blew off his job.
We need a full-time Senator and our best and only option is Patrick Murphy.
U.S. House District 7: Stephanie Murphy
This was going to be a swing district because of the redistricting but given John Mica's longtime service and his good constituent services, it gave potential candidates pause about running.
Stephanie Murphy jumped into this race a few days before the filing deadline.
She has run a great campaign and many national experts believe this race is a toss-up.
While some feel Mica does great things for this community and provides those good constituent services, he supports Donald Trump, all of the heartless republican policies and he actually does us all one big disservice before the start of each congress......... he votes for a republican to be Speaker of The House.
So, for those of you on the fence...... Do you want your member of congress to cast a vote for Paul Ryan to be Speaker of the House or do you want to replace him with Stephanie Murphy who will vote for a democrat to run the House and support President Hillary Clinton's agenda?
Yeah, I like the later.
Florida State Representative
State House District 28: Steve Edmonds
State House District 29: Fred Marra
State House District 30: Ryan Yadev
Seminole County is divided into three different state house districts.
In District 28, an independent Steve Edmonds is challenging republican incumbent Jason Brodeur.
Edmonds is more of a libertarian than anything else and us progressives probably only agree with him about 25 percent of the time tops. He seems to be a nice guy though.
Brodeur is part of the establishment and the heratless republican Florida House.
If we boot him, Edmonds cannot be worse than Brodeur and if Edmonds seeks re-election as an Indy or a Libertarian in 2018, it could split the vote and possibly elect a democrat if we can get one to run.
In District 29, our nominee Fred Marra dropped out and the party could not find someone to replace him.
I am still filling in the oval next to Fred Marra's name as it is a vote against Scott Plaxon. Plaxon is a hard right-wing member of the Florida House which refuses to expand Medicaid denying people much-needed healthcare while giving millionaire boat owners tax breaks.
In District 30, we actually have a very competitive district and it's the same deal as above. We need to get rid of as many republicans as we can and Bob Cortes is just like the other republicans in the Florida House.
Everyone in 30 should vote for Ryan Yadev.
Clerk of Courts and Comptoller
This race was closed to non-republicans because of two fake write-in candidates that the republican party recruited to run so only republicans could vote in this election.
The Write-In loophole to the 1998 Amendment that open primaries to everyone if only candidates from one party qualified for an election needs to be fixed. I am hopeful The Constitutional Revision Committee will come up with a fix for this that can be placed on the 2018 ballot.
Normally, I write in "Open Primary" in these situations as a protest vote and think this is the best vote for democrats.
However, if the primary was open as it should have been, I would have voted for Grant Maloy and I'll vote for him because of that.
BTW: I do think he will be a good check and balances on the establishment and call them out when they are abusing their power.
Tax Collector
Ditto on the above. I would have voted for Joel Greenberg over Ray Valdes if the fake write-in candidates had not closed off the primary.
"Open Primary" is also a good option for democrats.
The best one would have been a democrat running for this seat or the write-in rule being overruled by the Secretary of State and/or the Courts.
County Commissioner District 1: Walter Osborne
This is really just a vote for the generic democrat. Walter Osborne ran as an Indy for State Senate back in 2014. His pamphlets included work that cited "Americans For Prosperity" which is the Koch Brothers Organization.
I am obviously not thrilled at all with Osborne as a candidate but if he did win, at least another person in the establishment (Bob Dalleri) would be knocked off and maybe Osborne can at least be reasoned with on some issues.
County Commissioner District 5: H. Alexander Duncan
When I first started voting in 2000, there were a few contested County Commission races and when I saw the election results, I realized that Seminole County was a republican county.
After that, no democrat ran for County Commission until 2012 when Gail Ellis despite not doing much campaigning got about 44 percent of the vote against Brenda Carey who is part of the establishment and is running again for re-election.
It was usually us getting to choose between the republican and their fake write-in candidate.
For years, I had hoped that a viable democrat would just run to give me an option and this cycle, I not only got that but someone who is speaking out about the hold the republican establishment has had on this County.
H. Alexander Duncan has a great and inspiring story. He has also held elective office in Seminole County as a member of the Soil and Water Conservation District.
The man also has a great platform and it would be great to have him on The County Commission to hold the establishment accountable and call them out when need be.
I am proud to support H. Alexander Duncan and encourage everyone else to do so as well.
Florida Supreme Court Merit Retention
Retain Charles T. Canady: NO
Retain Jorge Labarga: YES
Retain Ricky Polston: NO
Of the bat, I am sure the right wing is going to try and get Jorge Labarga kicked off the Supreme Court again like they tried to do back in 2010.
Labarga is a moderate judge who we need to keep on the court.
It is terrible how he voted to allow Amendment 1 to stay on the ballot but Rick Scott would appoint someone worse like the below two judges.
Chris Canady and Ricky Polston
These two are hard right-wing judges and are lockstep with our horrible Governor and Legislator.
I would vote to kick both off even though Rick Scott would just appoint other judges just to show my disgust for their votes in some rulings they have made. Rick Scott will appoint James Perry's replacement next year and if one more bad judge is appointed if a republican wins the Governorship in 2018, kiss any chance of getting a progressive ballot measure on the ballot and I would not be shocked if Fair Districts was struck down. I sure as hope they will be able to appeal in Federal Court.
5th Ciruit Court of Appeals Merit Retention
Jay Cohen: YES
James A. Edwards: NO
Brian Lambert: NO
Vincent G. Torpy, Jr.: NO
We will also decide on merit retention for 4 5th District Court of Appeals Justices.
No Circuit Circuit Court of Appeals Justice has ever been denied merit retention by the voters and they usually all get around 65 to 70 percent of the vote.
This vote is mainly for disapproval to me.
Lambert and Edwards were both appointed by Rick Scott so they are both a "NO" from me.
Torpy is a registered republican and was considered for the Supreme Court in the past. He is a "No" from me.
I am not sure about Jay Cohen who was appointed by Charlie Crist before he took his progressive turn on judges. Since his voter information is unavailable and am unsure, I'd rather have him on the court than one of Scott's appointees so vote "Yes" on Cohen
All 4 are almost assured of Merit Retention but it is important and good to vote on everything on your ballot.
Circuit Judge District 18 Group 9: Steve Henderson
I voted for Bob Moletteire in the August primary but he did not make the run-off.
Steve Henderson is the next best option. He is a democrat despite some pandering to the right with how much he liked the late Justice Anton Scalia (It's smart politics given how republican Brevard and Seminole County are combined together).
Christina Sanchez is a republican and has Brevard establishment endorsements.
I feel Henderson will be more open-minded since he is a dem than Sanchez although I am not high on either candidate.
Soil and Water District 2: David Mahnken
Both candidates running David Mahnken and Tony Tizzio are republicans.
However, Mahnken is a real-life scientist who seems to want this seat for the right reasons while Tizzio seems to be an establishment hack.
Mahnken also does not seem to have other political ambitions and actually is pretty progressive when it comes to the environment.
I'll take a person who really would like this job over an establishment guy any day.
Soil and Water District 4: Ed Young
Like the other Soil and Water race, Brian Byrd and the incumbent Ed Young are both republicans.
I do wish a democrat would have run but I have to say, Ed Young is dedicated and on environmental issues, he is pretty progressive. This position pays nothing and this guy goes to the meetings of other County Soil and Water Districts across the state on his own dime.
It is stunning to see a republican so progressive on the environment and leading the charge against Amendment 1 in November.
Byrd on the other hand is to Young's right.
Young is doing a great job and there is no reason for any progressive to want to make a change here.
Amendment #1: Vote "NO"
This amendment is backed by the power company and the Koch bros. They started the effort to get this on the ballot to rival another Solar Amendment which ended up not making the ballot.
The sole purpose of this amendment is to slow down solar in this state and we cannot have that.
DO NOT believe the lies or trust the power company.
Amendment #2: Vote "YES"
Back in 2014, Medical Marijuana got 58 percent of the vote. Unfortunately, in this state, you need 60 percent.
People with medical conditions desperately need this and that is the important issue here.
Sure, this is a step towards full legalization but the important thing here is we get medical marijuana passed for the people who need it for medical conditions.
Let's vote "YES" and get this one passed 60 this time.
Amendment #3: Vote "YES"
This one was put on the ballot by The Florida Legislator and it passed in both houses unanimously.
It is a tax break for permanently disabled first responders.
You cannot go wrong giving someone who is disabled for injuries received during the line of duty a tax break.
Amendment #5: Vote "YES"
This is a property tax break for low income seniors who are long-time residents. The Florida Legislator unanimously put this one on the ballot as well.
It is good to give a tax break to someone who has worked their whole and is on a fixed income.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me and please vote blue up and down and every side of the ballot.