Jacksonville mayor’s race takes on national significance ahead of 2012

Jacksonville is a big city—one of the largest in land area in the U.S. It’s also a key city in Florida elections. In 2008 voters chose Sen. John McCain (R) over then Sen. Barack Obama (D) for president by less than a 2 percent margin. Some analysts believe Jacksonville will be a key city in the 2012 General Election, and that concept is leading to speculation about the impact of Jacksonville’s elections in May when voters will select a new mayor.

Alvin Brown, a Democrat, will face Republican Mike Hogan.

Thus far Hogan is not popular with the daily newspaper in Jax. The Florida Times-Union endorsed Audrey Moran in the Primary. Moran ran as a Republican, but she had significant support from Democrats.

Hogan qualified to run by petition; so did Brown.

BACKGROUND ON BROWN, HOGAN
Brown’s ties to former vice president Al Gore, now a global warming financier, and his service to former president Bill Clinton are touted by Brown’s campaign and supporters as an indication he would be a successful mayor. On his campaign website, Brown said in a news release (2-7-11) he was “humbled and thrilled” Gore came to Jax to offer support, and the same went for the now politically rehabilitated Clinton who was at a Brown fundraiser in the fall.

Ironically Gore’s policy and political stance on global warming have directly contributed to economic conditions that harm the poor most of all—rising fuel, energy and food prices. Those increases can be directly attributed to Democrats’ policy at the national level.

Hogan, on the other hand, doesn’t have Washington lobbying for his success, and he seems to be a down to earth sort of fellow. A leftwing columnist at the paper regularly assails Hogan, and the columnist seems particularly alarmed that Hogan is a Christian.

As a Jacksonville resident, I have firsthand experience with Hogan’s term as tax collector, and here’s what I know. I always pay license fees online and the licenses arrive in days. I have had occasion to call the tax office twice. Both times I received exemplary assistance, and that was before Hogan was running for mayor. I was a nobody to the Treasurer’s Office by the way.

WASHINGTON AND JACKSONVILLE
Republicans had doubts Hogan would win the primary race—many believed the GOP candidate would be Moran or Rick Mullaney, both of whom had bigger political machines. Hogan was definitely not the insider Republican pick for mayor, in my opinion.

Much is being made of Brown’s service on the White House Community Empowerment Board. Gore announced Brown’s appointment to that board in June, 2000. Very little information is readily available, although the board did create a booklet highlighting projects such as first time homebuyer assistance, access to capital for micro-businesses, improvement of schools and small business loan guarantee programs. I could not locate any such program in Northeast Florida, but I can’t say there were none because again, little in the way of accountability is online about the program other than the glossy booklet promoting forward-thinking projects. How those projects fared is anyone’s guess.

I’d say Brown will naturally have support in some corporate sectors after the mythic “public-private partnership” money government likes to dole out at the federal level. That concept has produced, among other offspring, the sinkholes known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a large quantity of windmills most of which are produced in China.

The U.S. at present does not have a truly free market—those public-private partnerships have created the entity known as crony capitalism and we on Main Street witness the results in our wallets on a daily basis.

LOCAL NOTES
Proponents of the left often praise Democrats for their dedication to education. I would posit we would be better off asking Democrats to eschew their educational efforts and instead yield real power directly to teachers, parents and schools. We would also benefit and also free up funds by sizably decreasing the number of bureaucrats in district and state offices.

First Coast Tea Party leader Billie Tucker summed up her take on the link between Jacksonville’s 2011 local race and the 2012 national races: “Last week we received a call from a friend in DC who works on the Hill.  The caller said, “Jacksonville was mentioned the other day at a meeting I attended.  It appears Organizing for America (OFA) and MoveOn.org are in Jacksonville.  They are there to help Alvin Brown get elected so Obama can take Florida.”

Tucker rightly pointed out the importance of the 2012 presidential candidate taking Duval County in order to take Florida.

Tucker also talked about protesters who showed up at the rally: “A handful of nasty, mean-spirited and foul-mouthed young people showed up at our Rally.  They stood behind the stage with their pre-made signs, their hats shoved to the side of their heads, texting on their cell phones, and screaming at the Governor as he gave his speech. “

I don’t have video of the protesters at the Jax rally; I did locate video of protesters at a Tax Day rally in Oregon, and as noted in the opening scene, proceed with caution. It’s a very unpleasant piece of film that shows how desperate the left is to silence small government proponents at any cost.

Hogan hasn’t trotted out any Washington politicos as supporters, but he has a lengthy list of local and diversified endorsements.

Nor does Hogan have the money machine Brown has—some Republicans are backing Brown and pledging to raise large sums of money. That’s fine but I think it’s safe to assume those backers have their eye on that public-private partnership concept and that concept is exactly what tanked our economy at all levels.

THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Even Obama’s Treasury Secretary agrees with me on that notion. Tim Geithner told the US House Committee on Financial Services, “For decades, the government supported incentives for housing that distorted the market, created significant moral hazard and ultimately left taxpayers responsible for much of the risk incurred…”

Geithner was speaking of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, programs begun by the great enabler Democrat of all time Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The taxpayer is on the hook for unknown losses—Clinton wouldn’t put the GSEs on the books and nor would Bush ’43 and nor would Obama. There are numerous videos of testimony about these government sponsored enterprises (aka public-private partnerships) at YouTube.

I’d also add that the billions and more in ‘toxic assets’ the government blamed for the meltdown are directly related to Larry Summers who served both Clinton and Obama. Summers publicly took credit for the greatest financial deregulation in history and that deregulation birthed those toxic assets.

AN ENDORSEMENT, FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH
By now you probably realize I plan to vote for Hogan. I acknowledge he’s already held a position inside city government, but frankly, I view that as a positive rather than a negative. He already has a grip on the revenue and I am hoping he can get one on the expenses because that grip has for quite some time been nearly nonexistent.

Hogan has the support of taxpayer watchdog Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County and that libertarian-leaning group is known for careful vetting of policy statements by candidates. CTDC has been praised by both right and left publications, so they must be doing something right. I am, by the way, a supporter of CTDC.

I think the last thing this city needs right now is any politician who believes government is the solution to all our problems. That is and has been the dominant theory in D.C. and that approach to governance is more like rule than true governing by consent of the people. That theory has led to a brutal weakening of the most liberty-minded country in the world, perhaps in all of history.

Progressives know a mayor who is a Democrat would be a blessing to Obama in 2012. I do not see that as a blessing for people on any income level in Jacksonville, regardless of the power-money backers a candidate may have and praises sung by leftwing columnists.

As for the Tea Party assassinations dominating Democrats’ speeches these days, it is fitting that I disclose although I am a registered Republican (although I voted for Clinton in 1992), I am also a proud member of the First Coast Tea Party. I was forced to join the FCTP by none other than Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

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*Ed. Note: Clicking the graphic below this article will take you to YouTube where you can watch the Oregon protesters harassing a Tax Day rally.

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Leftwing protesters harass a Tax Day rally in Oregon. WARNING: foul lanugage and gestures.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/April 21, 2011)

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