Category Archives: Florida

Trevor Noah interviews Andrew Gillum over lunch. (Noah had what Gillum called “a wimp plate”.)

It’s a 30-minute talk, and as is so often the case, the ‘comedy’ interviewers do more substance than you get on news TV.

People usually have views on the top of the ticket, which this year ought to be seen as a referendum on Donald Trump; vote GOP if you like how he’s conducting his Presidency, vote straight Democratic if you do not.

It’s harder to get information about the electoral undercard. Here are some ballot suggestions, with voting line numbers, and links to posts explaining my reasons:

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There is one state Supreme Court Justice up for retention this year, Justice Alan Lawson.  Justice Lawson is, by any estimation, a very conservative jurist.  He achieved fame in 2012 when he dissented in a 5th DCA decision, later upheld by the Florida Supreme Court, that allowed a child to have two legally recognized mothers.

Lawson’s complaint was that decision was akin to eliminating laws “prohibiting same-sex marriage, bigamy, polygamy, or adult incestuous relationships.”  So, not my kind of guy.

Governor Rick Scott appointed Lawson to the Florida Supreme Court late in 2016, so he hasn’t been on the bench for long.  In that time, he has not done anything that would disqualify him for retention.  It may be tempting to some to say that with the Florida Supreme Court’s ideological balance at 4-3, a split likely to continue if Andrew Gillum is elected, this is the time to create a fourth opening.  I don’t think we should give into this temptation to further politicize the judiciary.

I have said since I started writing about elected judges that we should generally retain judges and Justices unless they demonstrate they don’t deserve it, and whether or not you agree with him ideologically, I don’t see how one could say Justice Lawson has come close to that line.   So I am voting to retain Justice Lawson.

The School Board has a proposal on the ballot for a 0.75 mil tax on property to support schools.  The tax would sunset in 2023.  The proposal is projected to raise $232 million per year. School Board members have pledged that 88 percent will go to teacher salaries and 12 percent to hiring new school security guards. If approved, the tax hike would  increase property tax  $0.75 per every $1,000 of assessed property value.  That would cost the typical homeowner $142 a year.

TL/DR – Vote for the School Board referendum

There are three reasons to vote for this, and one that leans against, so I think the ayes have it.

The reasons to be for this tax are:

1.  The schools need the money, and teachers are in the main underpaid. (Although exactly which teachers will get what remains to be determined; and maybe we’d like to use some for more teachers?)
2. The legislature has required that school hire security guards, but didn’t provide the funds for it. If we don’t fund that unfunded mandate through this increase, the money will come out of the budget for teachers and buildings.
3. Other counties, including Broward, have passed similar taxes and are raising teacher salaries.  According to WLRN, 40% of Miami-Dade teachers live in Broward, so if this doesn’t pass we risk losing our best teachers to a northern competitor.

The reason to vote against this is based Miami-Dade’s long history of misusing voter-approved tax increases.  History suggests that earmarked money for one goal tends to crowd out other spending and we don’t end up much ahead in the long run.  Perhaps this time will be different because this is the School Board and not the whole Commission, so all the spending has to go on education. Maybe.

But the fact is that, given the unfunded mandate from the state legislature if nothing else, we really have no choice but to approve this tax.

Links to other November 2018 election guides:

• 2018 November Election Guide: Judges
• 2018 November Election Guide: County Referendum
• 2018 November Election Guide: Six Florida Constitutional Amendments to Vote Against
• 2018 November Election Guide: Six Florida Constitutional Amendments to Vote For