GBW response to Obama

Rep. Brown-Waite Statement on President Obama’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Ginny Brown-Waite (FL-05) issued the following statement this evening regarding President Barack Obama’s address to a Joint Session of Congress:

“I applaud the President’s intent to put forward a comprehensive plan to combat our nation’s economic woes. Intentions, however, do not equal results and a “plan” totally lacking in detail is about as helpful as putting a band-aid on bullet hole.
“We cannot borrow and spend our way out of this mess. We must control spending and end the spiraling debt. The financial industry, small businesses and families across the nation are balking at each dollar being shoveled out the door.

“I support the President’s commitment to responsible budgeting by requiring a way to pay for new programs. My colleagues across the aisle promised to govern by this principle, but the PAYGO obligation has been waived in all but a few cases. As one of only a handful of Republican members who supported this in 2007, I hope the President can force his party leaders to govern by it. We must apply it consistently and forcefully to prevent our future generations from being saddled with crushing debt.

“The President spoke of the right goals tonight: addressing the current crisis, getting our economy back on track and putting our nation on a path of growth. I will work with him and this Congress to attempt to accomplish those goals in a responsible, successful way.”

No clue

In yesterday's Hernando Today, Commission Adkins makes a rambling attempt to sell his "CPR" stimulus plan to the public, again. He made factually incorrect statements on many points but these two came screaming off the editorial page. Here are his statements:

• "We are all to blame. At the end of the day, we have to deal with the reality of the boom and the bust."
• "We are using money sitting there in reserves, not doing anything for the taxpayers of Hernando County". (He is referring to the $2.5 million he wants to use from county reserves for his CPR program.)

First of all, let's be perfectly clear. We are NOT all to blame for the economic woes facing our country. In fact, the majority of us pay our bills on time, in full, and are now being asked to bail-out deadbeats that defaulted on their mortgages. Frankly, Adkins' mentality on the economy is what got the country into this predicament in the first place. Adkins looks like he belongs on the mantle with Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd.

Secondly, it is really apparent that Adkins has no clue on the structure of Hernando County finances. He wants to rob the money from the reserve funds, like his buddy Governor Crist has done at the state level. Apparently he is unaware that some of these reserve funds are necessary to back up the bonds within the county. Hernando County has a triple A bond rating because of the reserves on hand in the county coffers. If these reserves are depleted, it will increase the interest on the bonds. Is Adkins going to then say we need to raise taxes to cover the increase in interest to float his cock-a-mamie bail-out?

If there is a surplus in reserve funds, then the entire county should benefit from a millage rate reduction and not just a few with a get-rich scheme cooked up behind the doors at the local Hernando County Republican Executive Committee...

Think twice

I sent the following email to the attention of Govenor Charlie Crist this morning:

Governor Crist,
Please think twice before indebting our state with the Obama's Democrat Stimulus plan. Our children's children will be paying this debt for decades to come with this pork-laden piece of legislation.

It is quite obvious that this bill is opening the door to socialism in our country. Please use our 10th Amendment right to refuse this outrageous assault on our economy in Florida. Governors Jindal, Barbour, Otter, Perry and Palin are all considering saying No to the Obama administration to federalize their states, Please follow the lead of our Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite that said no to all bail-out programs on the floor of Congress.

In closing, Ronald Reagan said it best in his address to Congress in 1984 when speaking on the economy:

"This isn't a Keynesian Recovery produced by big-spending bureaucrats tinkering with aggregate demand...Instead, this recovery was created by the incentives of tax-rate reductions, which shifted resources away from the government back to American producers, savers and investors."

Respectfully,
Anna Liisa Covell
A.L. Covell Electric, Inc.

Public's servants

Well, it looks like Commissioner Jeff Stabins is the only one that understands the meaning of public servant. The reduction of citizen input time at the county commission meetings from 2 hours a month, to just 1/2 hour stretched over two meetings, does not serve the public's interest with local government. "It is all about openness and citizen access," Stabins said in the Hernando Today.

Citizens use this time to address their public officials on numerous issues, some of which are not related to the commissioner's agenda. Sometimes individuals have no where else to turn and end up in the county commission chambers pleading their cases at the podium to commissioners.

In case the county administrator and commissioners have forgotten, they hold well-paid public service jobs. This 15 minutes may not seem much to them but to someone with a critical issue, this time is a life-line to them.

Snake oil...

Do you remember when snake oil salesman used outlandish techniques to peddle their products in western movies?

Well, it looks like we now have a new medicine man in town by the name of James Atkins. Commissioner James Atkins, that is, who rode into town wearing a white hat, promising lower taxes and smaller government to the electorate last fall. This charlatan preached a mantra of “ax the taxes” to the masses and now wants $2.5 million of taxpayer money to bail-out an industry that was involved in many home foreclosures in Hernando County.

It seems Atkins has engaged the services of the founder of the Government Gone Wild seminars to hawk a local stimulus plan that would be financed with $2.5 million of taxpayer’s money. This air of enthusiasm by Atkins to sell this local stimulus plan in Hernando County would make a "western shill" blush with envy.

What part of smaller government don’t you understand Mr. Atkins? Responsible taxpayers in Hernando County do not want their hard-earned dollars used for any type of bail-out, locally, or on a federal level.

Responsible folks in our community are already grappling with the notion that we will be forced to cover the bad debt of some consumers in this nation. Are you now telling us that you want another $2.5 million from the local general fund to reward bad debt, Mr. Atkins? When did it become the taxpayers’ responsibility to bail-out homeowners in the foreclosure crisis?

There is no “silver bullet” to fix this economic solution, Mr. Atkins, other than pure grit and determination by the private sector to put people back to work. We don’t need any more government spending to create an even larger deficit in our lives.

Staff-only?

Hernando County Administrator was right to tell Commissioner Rocco that she was not welcome at the staff-only leadership meetings. Staff-only gatherings are meant to be just that, staff-only. Rocco's obligation, as a commissioner, is for oversight of David Hamilton's job performance, not that of his entire staff.

Rocco was quoted as saying, "We employ him, he doesn't employ me" in this morning's Hernando Today article. She's right on this point but needs to bow out of the staff meetings. These is where the free flow of ideas comes from in any organization.

Leadership involves hiring the person most suited to accomplish your goals as commissioner. These staff level functions are the responsibility of Hamilton. The attendance of staff-level meetings, without an invitation, is simply micromanagement of this administrator by Commissioner Rocco.

***It looks like the administrator has worked out the problem with Commissioner Rocco, according to this morning's Hernando Today.