Ho-hum So Far...

Are you worried about excessive taxes, high homeowner's insurance premiums, overcrowded classrooms, high-priced gasoline, health insurance costs, etc. Well, now is the time to start thinking about who will best represent you, and your family's interests, in the future since it is election year again. Some of the offices up for election include congressional seats, the state house, the governor, to the local county commission and school board races. This year has been ho-hum so far, with very little coverage in the local media about pre-qualified candidates, except for the opinions from the two major newspaper editors about the field of candidates. These editors comments were quite candid in expressing their opinions on the qualifications, or lack thereof, for the incumbent candidates. The public, in general, has been calling for an upheaval of all incumbents due to distrust and have expressed their opinion in many of the media outlets such as local talk radio and letters to the editors of the newspapers. Before you decide to check off candidates merely because they are incumbent, check out their voting records. Do they do what they say, and say what they mean, or are they merely pandering to the public for votes to keep their jobs? Some of the incumbents have had their nose to the grindstone, like Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite. She has represented the senior population of our community well, along with actively supporting our veterans by her actions, not just mere words. Other incumbents have merely existed in office, from year to year, without any significant contributions to our community except when it personally serves them. Now's the time to do your homework about the open seats for election and the slate of candidates vying for the particular position. Is three terms enough for a school board candidate or county commission candidate? Should a one term county commission candidate be advanced to the Florida House? Do we need a long term state house representative as a county commission candidate? It all depends on the performance of the incumbent and whether they deserve our vote of confidence again in 2006.