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VOTERS GUIDE
FOR DUVAL COUNTY ELECTION OF MARCH 22, 2011
SUMMARY OF OUR Message from our WHO ARE THESE
ENDORSEMENTS Concerned Taxpayers of
President:
Duval County?
Mayor: Mike Hogan (page 2) Dear Duval County Taxpayers.
Others reviewed: pages 6 & 7 Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County was origi-
Sheriff: None (reviewed p6) It is with great pleasure that I present this nally created in 1987 for the purpose of promot-
voters guide on behalf of the Concerned Tax- ing and adopting the local Charter amendment
Tax Collector: Dick Kravitz (p4) payers of Duval County Inc’s Candidate that limits local property tax revenue increases to
Property Appraiser: Committee. We hope that this guide will be not more than three percent per year. This charter
Jim Overton (p4) useful to you for deciding how to vote in our amendment successfully passed and is now con-
spring municipal elections. Our purpose in tained in Article 14 Sec 14.09 and has been ig-
CITY COUNCIL: nored by subsequent mayoral administrations.
bring this guide to you is to help you make
At Large Group 1: Anyone an educated decision about who you are go- Throughout the years, it has been involved in
But David Taylor (p4) reining in the excessive spending of taxpayer
ing to vote for. We have also provided infor-
money by city government. We are not a “527”
At Large Group 2: mation about who will best represent the in- and we do not exist simply to promote or oppose
John Crescimbini (p4) terests of the Taxpayer, the most often over- any candidate.
looked constituency.
At Large Group 3 : N/A (p4)
We are a non-profit and non-partisan group of
At Large Group 4: Juan Diaz and Jim Rob- Can we continue to allow fear mongering citizen advocates focused solely on issues of
inson (p4) politicians’ threats of cuts to legitimate gov- transparency, good governance and fiscal respon-
ernment remain as cover to raise and invent sibility. We are the leading group in the fight
At Large Group 5: against waste, fraud, corruption, inefficiency,
taxes as funding for the corporate, cultural
Robin Lumb (p4) and philanthropic special interests of the po- wrongdoing, and tomfoolery in Jacksonville city
City Council District 1: government. We are here to remind the politi-
litically connected? The answer is resound-
cians that it’s the taxpayers’ money that they are
Clay Yarborough (p5) ingly NO! Residents of Duval County, now spending and they are expected to spend it
City Council District 2: is the time to vote your conscience without wisely.
fear or concern for party labels and acknowl-
Bill Bishop (p5) edge that our fair city and county can be Our Mission:
City Council District 3: saved. Our fate is in your hands! Please It is the mission of the Concerned Taxpayers of
Mario Rubio (p5) vote on Tuesday March 22, 2011. Duval County, Inc., to prevent, identify, and pub-
licize all forms of fiscal waste, extravagance, and
City Council District 4: N/A (p4) imprudence within and by the government which
Best Regards,
City Council District 5: impacts residents of Duval County, Florida.
Stephen Hyers (p5) Victor L. Wihelm Jr.,President
We represent the special interests of YOU the
City Council District 6: None (p3) Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County Inc. TAXPAYER!
City Council District 7: None (p3)
City Council District 8: N/A (p5)
City Council District 9: N/A (p5)
City Council District 10: N/A (p5)
City Council District 11:
Doug Moore (p5)
City Council District 12:
Joe Andrews (p5)
City Council District 13:None (p5)
City Council District 14:
Kendall Bryan
and Henry Mooneyhan (p5)
Table of Contents
1 Summary and District Map
2 Mayoral Endorsement & Sponsors
3 Process and Non-Partisan Position
4 Endorsements (Countywide races)
5 Endorsements (City Council) http://www3.coj.net/City-Council/Docs/2007districtmap.aspx
6 Other Candidate Assessments
7 Questionnaire & More Assessments
8 City Council Questionnaire Scoring
904-351-8126
www.jaxtaxpayers.org
Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 2 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
We want to thank the individuals and groups that made this voters guide
possible. All Taxpayers of Duval County are in your debt…
MAYORAL ENDORSEMENT
Jacksonville Elections
Timeline
MIKE HOGAN February 22, 2011,
Concerned Taxpayers’ Choice for Mayor Absentee Ballots Mailed
March 3, 2011,
Sample Ballots Mailed
Mike Hogan has held political office for
nearly twenty years and generated a March 7, 2011,
number of strong supporters (and a few Early voting Begins
detractors) in that time. His last oppo-
nent, eight years ago, is coincidentally March 22, 2011
now the chairman of the Concerned Tax- First City Election
payers’ Candidate Committee; for that
reason Mr. Hogan may have had to work April 19, 2011
harder to convince us that, if elected, he Absentee Ballots Mailed
will walk where he now talks regarding
fighting government spending increases May 2, 2011
and growth of programs. Early Voting Begins
The fact that John Peyton has made a re-
peated point of attacking Mr. Hogan May 17, 2011
while praising other candidates may be General Election
the best initial reason for a voter to con-
sider supporting Mike Hogan.
In order to run for mayor, Mr. Hogan is
giving up an office with no term limits
where he faced no opposition four years all being in the appointed “executive” Your Candidate Committee Members
ago, and probably would have had none branch (a common limitation with Mr.
this year, or four, eight or twelve years Brown, Ms. Moran, and Mr. Mul- John Winkler: Chairman and Past President
Tony Bates: Vice Chairman and Past President
hence. We doubt the $25,000 raise he laney). He is the only candidate who has Rod Morrill (legislative affairs)
held political office and had to respond Dawn Holder (legislative affairs chairwoman)
would receive as mayor over his Tax Dan Carr
Collector’s salary is the motivation for to constituent concerns, both in a legisla- Curtis Lee
Conrad Markle (ethics and code enforcement)
running. Nor, at age sixty-one, do we tive and administrative capacity. Victor Wilhelm Jr. (Past and current president)
feel Mr. Hogan plans to use the mayor’s None of the six candidates whose name
office as a stepping stone to higher of- appears on the ballot is our perfect
fice. choice, but Mike Hogan is the best fit for
those of us who believe in limited gov-
Sponsors for the Voters Guide
We requested thirty minutes of Mr. Ho-
gan’s time for an interview and he gra- ernment doing a few things as efficiently Daniel Carr
ciously answered out questions for over as possible. The Concerned Taxpayers
of Duval County endorse Mike Hogan Pat McBride
an hour. He was articulate, well pre-
pared, and provided details of how and for Mayor of Jacksonville and urge the Conrad Markle
where he would achieve specific savings voters of this county to elect him.
Rod Morrill
in the city budget. Mr. Hogan’s prior po-
litical experience was relevant without Erik Setzer
John Stevens
JOIN THE Kathleen Perera
CONCERNED
Joseph Andrews
Jim Fitzpatrick
TAXPAYERS!!
Odile Gracey
Louis Rose
VISIT WWW.JAXTAXPAYERS.ORG
Ian Keogh
Grace Bryan
FOR MORE INFORMATION Curtis Lee
William Gulliford
WATCH OUR LOCAL ACCESS TELEVISION SHOW
Ashleigh Sleiman
ON COMCAST CHANNEL 99
THURSDAYS AT 7:30 PM
Curtis Wolf
Joe Strasser
904-351-8126
www.jaxtaxpayers.org
Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 3 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
The Selection Process tutional officer, and City Council candidates. No City Council District 6: No Pick
By John Winkler, Candidate Committee Chair candidate for any office can legitimately com-
March 1, 2011 - Jacksonville, Florida plain that he or she was not given ample opportu- No Endorsement
nity to plead their cause with us. We then pre- We were presented with a dilemma after our in-
The process of developing the information neces- pared the detailed report contained in this guide terviews of the three candidates in District Six.
sary to making informed and informative en- explaining to the public our decisions and what We honestly feel Mandarin and the city as a
dorsements and commentary on the candidates brought us to each conclusion. whole would have been better served if one or
and races in the March 22, 2011 Jacksonville One thing we refused to consider in our delibera- both of the challengers to incumbent Jack Webb
consolidated unitary election was lengthy and tions was the political affiliation of the candi- had chosen instead to run against at large council
time-consuming. Several of the members of the dates, which we regard as entirely irrelevant to member Stephen Joost, who wound up unop-
Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. had whether or not a person shares our concerns on posed. Either Mr. Schellenberg or extreme late-
been, since last summer, discussing the idea that behalf of the taxpayers (and which appears no- comer Mr. Youngblood would have handily re-
we should go beyond the typical “special interest where in this guide). The entire committee ap- ceived our endorsement over Mr. Joost. Instead
group” style endorsements, which result from proved each endorsement and the specific lan- we have two new otherwise commendable candi-
closed-door sessions and rarely give any expla- guage in our report, and our Board of Directors dates forced to attack each other as well as the
nation as to why one candidate was deemed supe- then amended and approved that report for re- incumbent.
rior to another. lease and publication. As far as we know, this is Our opinion of Jack Webb is severely mixed. On
We decided to conduct fully transparent inter- the most objective attempt by any organization to the one hand, he consistently stood up for com-
views, video recording and posting the candidates explain and justify its endorsements that has ever petitive bidding throughout the landfill fiasco,
responses, as well as producing a spreadsheet of been seen in our consolidated city. and he has always been a focal point of collegial-
City Council candidate responses compared di- ity on the council, even after back-stabbing per-
*** sonal attacks by other members; on the other
rectly to incumbent votes on crucial issues. The
seven votes we selected were: hand, he unnecessarily compromised his ability
The 2010-11 fiscal year budget and the property to control the landfill expansion process and did
rate increase votes. (Two of the seven) We con- relatively little, in our opinion, to restrain the
sidered both since many disingenuous council City Council District 7: No Pick 2009 and 2010 city budgets. On balance, more of
members claimed the property rate increase did No Endorsement us think Jack Webb has been more helpful to the
not amount to a tax increase as, overall, it was concerns of the taxpayer than not. We wish it
We are disappointed with Johnny Gaffney and
“revenue neutral.” In other words, if a non- were not so close a call.
his poor rating on behalf of his constituent tax- Given our druthers, Matt Schellenberg, Greg
homesteaded taxpayer was lucky enough to have
payers. Unfortunately, despite repeated requests, Youngblood and Jack Webb would not be
property which depreciated less than the average,
their taxes went up. We viewed this as a tax in- his opponent marc McCullough has not provided lumped into one district race and would all be
crease, and the budget as relying upon a tax in- us with any basis upon which to endorse him as able to serve together on the next council. Since
crease. an alternative. We regretfully cannot recommend that is not and cannot be the case, we decline to
The vote to “settle” litigation on the Trail Ridge that the voters of District Seven choose either of endorse any specific candidate over the other two
landfill, resulting in a roughly billion dollar ex- their two options for city council..
tension of Waste Management, Inc.’s twenty year in what promises to be an interesting contest.
old contract with the City for another couple of
decades, without any competitive bidding. This
issue was so important to conduct of good gov-
ernment a voter can validly weigh the response
(or vote) more heavily than we did in judging Our Process
candidate’s concern for the taxpayers.
The 2010 doubling of the garbage fee, breaking
All non-incumbent city council candidates were mailed our questionnaire.
the promise of gradual fee increases made when
the fee was created in 2008. The questionnaire assigned a CTDC “fiscal responsibility rating” based on responses to past city
The vote to restore an ethics code to the City council ordinances.
Charter. A number of candidates mistakenly as- Did not respond means candidate did not return questionnaire.
sumed that this bill required additional expendi- Refused to answer means questionnaire was returned without answers
tures and based their opposition on that error, “Don’t know” was an answer.
which might indicate a flaw if they were to be Graded like a take home test, non-responses, refused to answer and “don't know” were given zeros.
elected – they did not read the bill before decid- Those that responded to the questionnaire were invited for an interview.
ing how to vote. We interviewed over 37candidates
We also rated candidates on whether or not they We interviewed constitutional officers
would have voted last summer to give the Jaguars We meet four times for interviews over the course of 4 days
the last 25% of the money Everbank is paying for Several attempts were made to reach all candidates and accommodate their schedules on an individ-
stadium naming rights, about $800,000 a year. ual basis.
(The Jaguars already got 50% of naming rights Interviews were open to the public.
money, increased a year ago to 75%) With a sub- The “Pledge to Taxpayers” had no consideration for endorsements.
sidized stadium, dedicated maintenance funds and Candidate committee deliberated fair and objectively based on responses to the questionnaire and
other concessions costing the taxpayers and im- interviews.
proving the franchise’s bottom line at public ex-
pense, our affection for the team and its owners
was outweighed in this instance by the crying
core public service needs in this city.
While all of the foregoing votes took place in
2010, our final bellwether vote occurred in 2008,
when the City Council passed a bill reducing cor- Non Partisan for a reason:
rections officer retirement to 20 years and putting
a minimum annual 3% cost of living increase The Candidate Committee and Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County has witnessed the use of politi-
onto public pensions, despite elusive funding cal party label and partisan rhetoric to confuse the voters and obfuscate the issues. Often analogies to
possibilities. Although elements of the bill had to national issues are used that have no bearing legislative and governance matters in Duval County. The
be passed to comply with federal labor law, that political insiders have used this tool to play one side of the electorate against the other with the Taxpay-
may have been done as a “cover” for the other ers losing in every instance where special interests are successful.
fiscally irresponsible aspects of the bill.
These objective questions asking how each City Our voters guide deliberately omitted the partisan political label for this very reason. A process that
Council candidate would have voted on the seven considers the voting record of incumbents and how non-incumbents would have voted, combined with
specific issues described above were prepared in the answers to very specific questions, is the most effective means to find those candidates who will
November. After approval by the Board and sub- best represent the Taxpayers.
mission to the candidates in December, the tedi-
ous but rewarding process of recording and com- In the end, issues of fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability impact everyone in our great
paring the results of the survey went on for over city regardless of their political party affiliation or lack thereof..
four weeks, overlapping with the interviews we
conducted with over three dozen mayoral, consti-
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Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 6 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
CTDC’s OTHER CANDIDATE ASSESSMENTS
and city council can, and hopefully will, find
Mayor: Others: Rick Mullaney greater efficiencies in the future. However, we
Mayor: Honorable Mention:
Rick Mullaney says in his advertising, “I’ll be a are concerned that Rutherford simultaneously Warren Lee
conservative mayor who works for the taxpayers, accuses the past City Councils of “underfunding” We interviewed Mr. Lee and found him to be
and no one else.” His 34 point plan contains de- very sincere with extensive experience in a multi-
public safety pensions by $356 million as though
tails for ruling the city not provided by any other
something illegal had taken place (which the tude of public safety jobs, probably better suiting
candidate. He is attempting to project an image
of forthright “change” and openness as a break Sheriff, when asked, acknowledges is not the him to run for sheriff than mayor. Nonetheless
from the present administration that he served as case) while stating he is only responsible for po- Warren Lee appears to be the true citizen candi-
General Counsel for seven years. Mayor Peyton lice work rules and not pensions or collective date – neither aspiring politician nor a frustrated
says Rich (and Audrey) have great ideas bargaining issues. Thus, while on balance, we political gadfly, Mr. Lee assembled over 5,000
(although he isn’t endorsing either of them just are satisfied with the current direction (if not the signatures from registered voters to get on the
yet). ballot in lieu of the $10,436.46 filing fee. Unfor-
pace) of fiscal constraint shown by the incum-
We have a hard time reconciling Rick’s decades
bent, and we do not endorse either of his oppo- tunately, Mr. Lee’s fund raising has been much
of high-level government insider employment
with the “aw shucks” home-spun Horatio Alger nents, we are compelled to withhold any endorse- less than that of his opponents, and whatever the
autobiography depicted in Rick Mullaney’s cam- ment in the race for Sheriff of Duval County. merits of his ideas he is proving unable to com-
paign advertising. Perhaps he could have ex- municate them to the electorate. His strong stand
plained the epiphany that led to this new found in dealing with the pension crisis and willingness
fiscal conservatism he claims on our behalf as Sheriff: Ken Jefferson to regard every aspect of the budget as one the
taxpayers, but despite repeated requests, Mr. table were sincere, but the steep learning curve
Mullaney did not manage to interview with Mr. Jefferson recently retired as the Sheriff’s for Mr. Lee should he be elected mayor could
us. Perhaps our endorsement doesn’t matter to department spokesman. He maintains that too
the former head city lawyer; maybe he suspected force him to rely on Peyton administration hold-
many sworn officers are on desk duties and
that he would not get it even if he had answered overs just to get business conducted. While we
claims he would get them back in the streets.
our questions. We have not been able to forget The incumbent challenges the validity of this like Mr. Lee and wish him well, we do not feel he
that while Rick Mullaney was the General Coun- argument and maintains that the assignments to can overcome these issues of experience and
sel for the city he oversaw a change in the law projects and other internal duties are needed to electability. Nonetheless, we consider Mr. Lee as
that allowed him to retire last year at age 55 with promote the development of a new generation of our collective second choice after Mike Hogan
a starting pension of over $152,000 a year; hav- cost effective and fiscally sensitive leadership.
ing “got his,” so to speak, his tough talk on city and therefore give Warren Lee an Honorable
Mr. Jefferson would expand the applicant pool Mention as candidate for Mayor.
employee pension reform sounds a trifle for new policemen by requiring only an associ-
shrill. We also remember that two years ago ate’s degree rather than the current four-year col-
Rick pushed hard for Mayor Peyton’s plan to lege degree/experience minimum.
bypass the bidding process and give a half billion Property Appraiser : Kurt Kraft
dollar contract extension to Waste Management In most other specific policy areas there was a The sole plank in Mr. Kraft’s platform is “term
to run the city landfill, and that he didn’t speak general agreement between Mr. Jefferson and the limits,” that is, the present office-holder should
out to stop City Council from giving away tens of current Sheriff. Take home vehicles, potential leave after eight years even though no law re-
millions more without bidding when the landfill cost savings in the motor pool, the use of commu- quires his departure. While we agree that the vot-
issue came up again last year. Works for the tax- nity service officers and the need to revisit pen- ers tried in the last century to impose a two-term
payers? Maybe, but not at a discount. If elected, sion commitments all show considerable continu- limit on this job (as well as those of School
Rick will be pulling in over $325,000 a year from ity of thought between these two candidates. Board, Sheriff, Tax Collector and others), it has
the taxpayers, between his public salary and his What we did not hear from Mr. Jefferson which been clear since 2000 that only the mayor and
public pension. might have resulted in our endorsement was a city council were affected. Mr. Kraft’s opponent
Another concern of ours is that any long-term bold plan to achieve substantial cost savings never promised not to seek a third term, and we
former General Counsel acting as mayor would, through systemic organizational restructuring. cannot condemn him for seeking to retain this
knowingly or not, unduly influence the city’s new What that might be, we don’t know, but without difficult administrative position.
chief attorney, compromising his or her inde- stronger concrete plans for enhanced fiscal sav- While we find Mr. Kraft to be pleasant and well-
pendence and impartiality when acting as the ings we cannot recommend either the incumbent qualified for his present duties as a long-term
lawyer for the City Council, School Board, Sher- or this challenger over the other at this time. employee in the Property Appraiser’s office, we
iff and other officers and agencies that make up cannot agree that the voters should change lead-
our consolidated government. ership merely because eight years has
Another point – Rick has decades of experience passed. We thank Mr. Kraft for giving the voters
on the “inside” of the city administration as the a choice in this race.
mayor’s chief of staff (lining up votes in City
Council for the mayor) and General Council, Sheriff: Soren G. Brockdorf
telling council and everyone else what they can Tax Collector: Honorable Men-
and should do. He has enormous skill at evading tion: Ryan Taylor
public record requests and Sunshine Law meeting Mr. Brockdorf is a young JSO patrolman with a
requirements. Is this the fox to hire to guard the very bright future. His thoughts on departmental
improvement, which are very similar to those of We note, first and foremost, that Ryan Taylor is
henhouse?
Mr. Jefferson, reflect an organized and manage- NOT related to David Taylor, whom we have
Sheriff: John Rutherford rial mind. He would accept recruits who meet the specifically Anti-endorsed in his city council
Most county sheriffs find themselves trying to minimum state requirement, arguing that some race. Ryan has been a managerial employee of
expand their budget at the unintended expense of the finest officers in other jurisdictions have no the Tax Collector’s office for some years and
all other local government functions, and John more general education than a high school di- helped implement many innovations in that time,
Rutherford is no exception. There is a tension in ploma. In his opinion the sworn officers on desk
duty are anxious to return to the field, and a sub- including the queue ticket system. Although Mr.
the Sheriff between the best interests of fiscal Taylor filed to run for Tax Collector long before
responsibility and getting the best for his depart- stantially larger presence in the streets can be had
without adding additional police. Mr. Brockdorf his opponents, he has not previously held elective
ment. As happened last year, both the Sheriff
and City Council will claim credit for any roll- also has an accounting background which can office and has not raised the substantial sums
backs in the final budget from the Sheriff’s initial only be helpful as he advances in the department. which conventional wisdom dictates as defining
requests; we are just happy to see both sides en- We feel that Mr. Brockdorf needs to gain addi- “viability” in a candidate. The practical matter of
gaged in a process to restrain growth in the Sher- tional experience before we could consider him money aside, we are concerned that Mr. Taylor’s
iff’s portion of the city’s public safety expendi- to be more highly qualified than his two oppo- relative youth and inexperience with executive
tures. nents. We commend him for the brave act of public or private administration will interfere
We recognize that John Rutherford continues to running for the office held by his ultimate boss with his “hit the ground running” effectiveness in
bring much more experience to the job of sheriff (although we do not believe there would be any office. While we do not endorse Mr. Taylor in
than his opponents. With improved transparency repercussions from this exercise in democracy). this election, he rates an Honorable Mention.
in the budgeting and procurement processes he
904-351-8126
www.jaxtaxpayers.org
Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 4 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
CTDC CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS
Our Choice for Tax Collector Our Choice for City Council Our Choice for
DICK KRAVITZ At-Large Group 2: Property Appraiser
ENDORSED JOHN CRESCIMBENI JIM OVERTON
Dick Kravitz has a long ENDORSED ENDORSED
history as a non- Our choice for city council in this contest is the This is a vastly different world than the booming
establishmentarian city and incumbent and we endorse John Crescimbeni. real estate market of 2003,
state legislator. We feel this He has always considered the best interests of the and with the uncertainty of
should result in Mr. Kravitz taxpayers at large in every the next four years there is
being relatively unbeholden official action and has the a benefit to retaining the
to special interests. His past institutional knowledge to services of an assessor who
private sector employment continue to serve effec- has administered the prop-
in connection with the Jack- tively for years to come. erty tax rolls in both fat
sonville Suns put him at His known incorruptibility times and lean. Jim Over-
least as much in the public leads us to reject all other ton freely admits that the
eye as he would be as candidates as unknown job of Property Appraiser
county tax collector, a position he pledges to use quantities. Amazingly Mr. is much more complicated
as a “bully pulpit” to press local government for Crescimbeni performs his than he imagined it to be
smaller budgets and greater efficiencies. Unlike duties responsibly and when he beat out a field of opponents (including
Mr. Corrigan, Dick Kravitz has a solid record in responsively without using Mr. Kraft) in 2003, and acknowledges that he is
public office as a fiscal conservative. We view the taxpayer funds budgeted to the employment now better at the job than when he started. Since
past performance as the best guide to likely future of an assistant. Of his three opponents only we do not automatically endorse incumbents (far
actions. Accordingly we endorse Dick Kravitz Vince Serrano gets to the starting gate. Tom Pat- from it, as witness other sections in this
for the office of Duval County Tax Collector. ton is an involuntarily retired local public radio guide), we had to take Mr. Overton’s assertion
and television reporter whom we respect for his that he needs four more years to achieve optimal
participation in the political process, and Paul efficiencies under advisement. After Jim assured
City Council At Large Group 1 : Martinez never returned our survey questions. us that he would press the legislature for ad
valorem exemption reform, seeking to expand the
ANYONE ELSE BUT tax base to allow a reduction in rates, and he re-
NOT DAVID TAYLOR ! ferred to the existing system of exceptions and
limitations as “unfair,” we concluded he should
City Council At Large Group 3
get the chance to address that unfairness. While
NO CHOICE reminding him that we will monitor his progress,
Steve Burnett caused us concern over his ap-
proval of the Mayor’s original no-bid landfill Stephen Joost—UNOPPOSED the Concerned Taxpayers endorse Jim Overton
plan and opposition to restoring an ethics code to No contest. Incumbent Stephen Joost, whom we for Property Appraiser.
the city charter. He did not dispel these clouds in do not support, was the only candidate to qualify
our interview and we are accordingly unable to and thus is reelected by default. There are sev- Our Choice for City Council
endorse him in the first election in this race, al- eral candidates in other crowded races who,
At-Large Group 5
though we view him as superior to David Taylor
based on where they live, could have run against
ROBIN LUMB
and thus wish him well.
Mr. Joost, and whom we in fact urged to run ENDORSED
Kimberly Daniels apparently has stronger com- Mr. Lumb impresses us
munity support and would have voted in agree- against him. Anyone unhappy with Mr. Joost
with his knowledge and
ment with our positions as noted on the survey during the next four years needs to reflect on the quick wit, combined with a
results on the back cover of this guide. She sees fact that he is unopposed. perfect score on our “quiz.”
more of a social services mission for local gov- We endorse Robin Lumb
ernment than we deem ideal, but like Mr. Burnett with an Honorable Mention
we view her as a much better choice than their Our Choice for City Council At to Fred Engress. We lack
opponent David Taylor, as explained hereafter. Large Group 4 : sufficient information on
We stop short of an endorsement only because JUAN DIAZ & candidates Hall, Foy or
she entered the race at the last minute and we are JIM ROBINSON Rukab to express any favor-
not yet fully familiar with the extent of Ms. CO-ENDORSED able opinion due to their
Daniel’s community involvement and civil ex- Both Jim Robinson and Juan Diaz impress us a failures to respond to our requests.
perience. We will revisit the group one race after
serious fiscal conservatives
March 22 to consider an endorsement before the
May second election. who are prepared to take
tough action on the city Candidates Pledge to the Tax-
budget. We cannot recom- payers of Duval County
David Taylor earns a rare UNCONDITIONAL mend Greg Anderson, who I ______________________ do hereby swear or
REJECTION from CTDC and an admonition did not respond to our ques- affirm the following commitments to the resi-
to the voters to choose either of the other candi- tionnaire. While reserving dents and Taxpayers of Duval County Florida to:
dates rather than just passing on this race. Mr.
t h e
Taylor’s flagrant disregard for the city sign ordi- 1. Introduce or support legislation to seek the
nance and the repeated investigations into his right to repeal of the storm water fee/tax.
professional conduct as a lawyer (“I have so reconsider our endorsement
many Bar complaints, they all run together,” Mr. for the May run-off, we co- 2. Introduce or support legislation to seek the
Taylor is quoted as saying by the Times-Union, endorse Juan Diaz and Jim repeal of the garbage fee/tax.
see http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-01- Robinson for in the March
27/story/duval-judge-reports-forgery-bar-lawyer- election. 3. Introduce or support legislation to seek the
denies-doing-it ) would be enough in themselves repeal of the JEA franchise fee (utility tax).
to for us to decline to recommend him; his huge
investment of personal funds (over $200,000.00 4. Obey the existing tax cap for the city
through 12/31/2010) and matching ego lead us to budget. Abide by the mandate of the voters and
an official rejection. It is important to vote in this comply with the 3% tax cap on ad valorem taxes
race, however, to guarantee that Mr. Taylor as provided for in the Charter - Article 14 Sec
comes in third and does not advance to the May City Council District 4: NO CHOICE 14.09
second election. By not voting at all, the least Don Redman —UNOPPOSED
informed voters in the county who foolishly vote No contest. If the voters of District Four later 5. Not implement an increase in sales tax with-
merely on name recognition will be making the express dissatisfaction with the performance of out voter approval via public referendum.
decision for those better informed voters who Don Redman, they have no one to blame but
decline to vote in this at-large contest.
themselves.
904-351-8126
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Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 5 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
CTDC CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS
Our Choice for City Council Our Choice for City Our Choice for City
District 1: Council District 5: Council District 12:
CLAY YARBOROUGH STEVE HYERS JOE ANDREWS
ENDORSED
ENDORSED ENDORSED
Clay Yarborough gets Concerned Taxpayers’ nod Another crowded race, District Five candidates In this three way race we exclude Doyle Carter
over Darryl Fleming and include a former public from consideration for our endorsement only
Lindsay Brock for voters employee union president because he did not seek it.
in District One. Mr. Yar- (Jack Daniels), a judge’s
The other two candidates,
borough always votes his spouse (Lori Boyer), a
conscience, and on money licensed ferryboat captain/ Joe Andrews and Jim
matters his moral compass attorney/MBA (Fritz Van- Davis, score well on our
unswervingly agrees with Volkenburgh), and a fiscal responsibility index
ours. Both Mr. Brock and genuine Horatio Alger (although we have scold
Mr. Fleming impress us as success story, Steve Mr. Andrews for not
sincerely interested in the Hyers. Since Ms. Boyer knowing how he would
District One constituency and Mr. VanVolkenburgh
have voted on the landfill
but have no track record. actively objected to pro-
We urge them to run again in 2015. For the 2011 viding us with answers to the objective questions issue). Between these
election we endorse Clay Yarborough for a sec- regarding how they would have voted on certain two, our endorsement goes to the candidate we
ond term. issues, we lack valid data on their candidacies to know better, Joe Andrews, in large part because
determine if they would be fiscally responsible of his public service on the TRUE commission,
Our Choice for City Council with public funds. Jack Daniels, although he with an Honorable Mention to Jim Davis.
submitted answers at the extreme last minute, is a
District 2: Bill Bishop perennial candidate and we feel he lacks serious-
ENDORSED ness of purpose.
Our Choice for City Council
Bill Bishop’s philosophy of local government Although Mr. Hyers may seem to some to be
may not be identical to ours, but his dedication to almost too earnest, he does come across to us as District 14 :
transparency and demand genuinely concerned about taxpayer issues, and HENRY MOONEYHAN &
for logic and reason from not one to part with public funds lightly. We KENDALL BRYAN
therefore endorse Steve Hyers for council mem-
his fellow council mem-
ber from District Five.
CO-ENDORSED
bers is consistent and re- With a nearly absurd number of choices, the six
freshing. He is scheduled way race to represent the Riverside to Argyle
to serve a year as city crescent promises to confuse voters even more
council president during City Council District 8, 9 and 10 than most. After interviewing five of the six can-
his second term if re- No Choice didates (only Jim Love ignored our repeated en-
elected, and look forward Incumbents-UNOPPOSED treaties to help us educate the voters) and observ-
to reasonable government No contests. No one residing in these three dis- ing all six in a candidate forum, two stand out as
under his future leadership. tricts has any basis to complain about the repre- potentially better aligned
We agree with Mr. Bishop that his professional sentation they will continue to receive from these with our view on fiscal
employment as an architect brings a needed per- three unopposed incumbents for the next four responsibility than the
spective to the council in urban design that his years. others. Henry Mooneyhan
opponent lacks. He will bring much needed ex- has a perfect score on our
pertise and the highest ethical commitment to a Our Choice for City Council rating scale, and Kendall
second term and we urge his constituency to re- District 11: Bryan impressed us with
elect him. We endorse Bill Bishop, the incum- his interview.
DOUG MOORE—ENDORSED
bent in District Two. Ray Holt, District Eleven incumbent, appeared to
support bidding the expansion of the landfill until Ei-
Our Choice for City Council he took substantial cam- ther Mooneyhan or Bryan
District 3: paign contributions last would keep the concerns of
MARIO RUBIO spring from the current the taxpayers foremost as a
landfill operator and its council member. We co-
ENDORSED lobbyist. Then Mr. Holt endorse both Kendall
We have become disillusioned and disappointed voted to extend the land-
Bryan and Henry Mooney-
with Richard Clark over his actions regarding the fill contract for decades
despite a counsel auditor han in District Fourteen.
Trail Ridge Landfill no-bid contract extension,
report showing extra costs
his attempt to prevent Jack Webb from serving a to the taxpayers in the
council president this year, and his early depar- tens of millions of dollars.
ture from a council meet- Until then we might have given Mr. Holt the City Council District 13: No
ing to enjoy an expensive benefit of the doubt we no longer have. Pick
steak dinner with a lobby- As an incumbent, Mr. Holt’s voting record is an No Endorsement
ist after a “successful” open book and, to us, unpleasant reading. In our This is another race overpopulated with respect-
vote (to note but a few of estimation he is likely to continue to act contrary able candidates, at least one of whom should
our concerns). Since Mr. to the taxpayers’ interests if reelected. Doug have run instead for the at large seat held by
Clark also served a partial Moore has presented himself well to us and gives Stephen Joost. All four candidates meet our gen-
us no reason to hesitate in our support of his can- eral qualifications and have very good to excel-
term before his uncon-
lent fiscal responsibility ratings.
tested reelection in 2007, didacy. While we cannot dislike the third candi-
Given the close rankings and the answers we
he already has the six date in District Eleven, Tom Baine, and would
received in our candidate interviews we have
years tenure needed to receive a $10,000-plus support him over Mr. Holt, he has not given us
decided to refrain from any endorsement in the
annual pension for city council service. He also good reasons to prefer him over Mr. Moore, who
first election. Assuming no candidate receives a
voted for the change in city pensions that enabled impresses us as being the more electable fiscally
majority of the votes in District Thirteen in the
Rick Mullaney to qualify for his $152,000 pen- responsible candidate. Accordingly, the CTDC
first round, we will revisit the two remaining con-
sion this year. [FACT CHECK REQUIRED] It is endorse Doug Moore for city council from Dis-
testants for a possible endorsement in the May
time for Mr. Clark to retire from public office trict Eleven.
election..
before he does further
damage to taxpayer in- 904-351-8126
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terests. Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 7 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
CTDC’s OTHER CANDIDATE ASSESSMENTS
Mayor: Others: Alvin Brown Mayor: Others: Audrey Moran Tax Collector: Others:
Ms. Moran, in our opinion, has attempted for Michael Corrigan
Despite our best efforts to corral Alvin Brown for months to cultivate an aura of accessibility with
an interview, we had to settle for observing him the press and the public. It was surprising to us,
at a mayoral forum and reviewing his responses then, when it proven to be not merely difficult but
As term-limited city council member Michael
to other groups’ questions. Other groups with impossible to arrange an interview with her –
Corrigan last year let it be known that he was
whom our members are affiliated have shared our again, as with Mr. Mullaney, despite personal
planning on running for either Property Appraiser
frustration in getting responses from Mr. Brown, contact and seeming agreement to appear (37
or for Tax Collector in 2011. We have to scratch
other candidates found the time, although we
leading us to believe there is a general lack of our heads over that dilemma – what criteria does
seriousness about his campaign. Mr. Brown’s made it clear that it was not mandatory to inter-
the upwardly mobile politician use to decide be-
constant references to national figures and issues view to be considered for our endorse-
tween two highly paid offices, neither of which
of the 1990’s, when he was part of the federal ment). Friends of ours who urged Ms. Moran’s
he is qualified to hold? Each pays $149,000 a
administration, concern us that he would look for staffers to help arrange an interview were just as
year, comes with medical benefits and other
“big government” solutions in a decade when frustrated to be told that they could learn Aud-
perks, and either tacks on to the pension that he
rey’s views from her website and frequent public
limited economic resources, if nothing else, are has already “earned” from six years on city coun-
going to force heavy reliance on local budgetary appearances. When we looked for her answers to
cil. While we assume Mr. Corrigan chose Tax
answers in the areas of public safety and infra- our questions in these alternate sources we found
Collector because that incumbent is not seeking
structure improvements. Mr. Brown may have a little which directly addressed our concerns, but
reelection, while the sitting Property Appraiser is,
far-sighted vision for our city, but without dem- much which we perceive as avoiding commit-
we were unable to ask him what metrics deter-
onstrating an equal eye for fiscally responsible ment to the philosophy of any limitations on the
mined the decision since he never replied to our
detail we cannot endorse him. scope and proper role of local government. It is
numerous requests for an interview.
on that basis, and not merely because we were
We doubt Mr. Corrigan could have shed any light
avoided, that we cannot endorse her candidacy.
on dismal voting record which would have per-
suaded us to support him for either office, how-
ever. [see the last page of this Guide for repre-
Candidate Questionnaire Sent Out by Concerned sentative votes] Some on our committee were
Taxpayers of Duval County represented by Mr. Corrigan for the last eight
years in city council, and were also disappointed
with his lack of responsiveness to other, non-
This is the candidate questionnaire sent out by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County to city wide fiscal, constituent concerns.
political candidates. The responses are recorded in the candidate response pages located on this website. We do not feel that a professional politician
should be rewarded for repeatedly raising taxes
On behalf of the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc., which for over twenty years has moni-
be electing him to the job of collecting them from
tored local government on behalf of the citizens, I present this brief questionnaire to you as a candidate us. Accordingly, we do not merely endorse an-
for local office. Using the results we will be better able to make recommendations and/or endorsements other candidate for Tax Collector, CTDC
in your race. Please either fax your responses to 389-6431 and/or email them to jswpa@yahoo.com by REJECTS Michael Corrigan as a candidate for
January 2, 2011. Responses by mail are not encouraged but may be send to the CTDC c/o John Winkler, office.
2515 Oak St., Jacksonville, FL 32204
Mayor: Others: Steve Irvine
All of the non-incumbent City Council filed candidates are being presented with the same questions,
which are based on what you would have done had you been a member of the City Council during the
A perennial mayoral candidate, Mr. Irvine told us
last term. Your responses will be compared directly with those of other candidates in your race or, in the
upfront that he had no chance of becoming
case of the incumbent seeking reelection, with the actual votes cast by that individual. If you care to ex- mayor. He refuses campaign contributions and
plain your answer you may do so in as much detail as you wish without regard to the limited space pro- has extremely limited exposure for his message
vided. for more private support for public health. While
1. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2010-557-E, the 2010-2011 Jacksonville City Budget? we cannot endorse him or recommend voting for
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________ him we admire his moxie. We can’t help thinking
the more than $10,000 Mr. Irvine spent putting
Optional: explanation of your answer: : his name on the ballot might have been better
2. How would you have voted on Resolution 2010-553-A, the 2010-2011 ad valorem tax millage rates? spent promoting his views in other ways.
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________
Optional: explanation of your answer:
SUMMARY OF
3. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2010-217-E, the Trail Ridge Landfill settlement/contract?
OUR
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________ ENDORSEMENTS City Council District 3:
Optional: explanation of your answer: Mario Rubio
4. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2010-216-E, the increase in city garbage and other fees? Mayor: Mike Hogan City Council District 4:
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________ Sheriff: None N/A
City Council District 5:
Optional: explanation of your answer: Tax Collector:
Stephen Hyers
5. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2010-616-E, the Ethics in the Charter Bill? Dick Kravitz
City Council District 6:
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________ Property Appraiser: None
Optional: explanation of your answer: Jim Overton City Council District 7:
CITY COUNCIL: None
6. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2010-644-E, the Everbank Field Naming Rights Revenue
At Large Group 1: City Council District 8:
Transfer? Anyone N/A
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________ But David Taylor City Council District 9:
Optional: explanation of your answer: At Large 2: N/A
7. How would you have voted on Ordinance 2008-983-E, the unfunded 20 year Retirement for Correc- John Crescimbini City Council District 10:
tions Officers and 3% COLA bill? At Large Group 3 : N/A N/A
At Large Group 4: Juan City Council District 11:
Aye _________ Nay _________ Do not know _________
Diaz and Jim Robinson Doug Moore
Optional: explanation of your answer: At Large Group 5: City Council District 12:
Additional Questions Robin Lumb Joe Andrews
8. What has motivated you to run for City Council in 2011? City Council District 13:
9. What do you view as the proper primary purposes and functions of local government? City Council District 1: None
10. Should City Council members receive salaries? _______ Clay Yarborough City Council District 14:
City Council District 2: Kendall Bryan
If your answer is yes, then how much per year? $_______________
Bill Bishop and Henry Mooneyhan
Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name:___________________________________
904-351-8126
www.jaxtaxpayers.org
Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Page 8 THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY INC. VOTERS’ GUIDE March 2011
MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE ON ELECTION DAY!
Not Sure Where to Vote? Find Your City Council Voting
District
http://www.duvalelections.com/precinctfinder.aspx
VOTE FOR LOWER TAXES AND SMALLER GOVERNMENT
904-351-8126
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Paid electioneering communication paid for by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc. ,
P. O. Box 2307, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
