This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
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The Supreme Court races work in the excat same way as the District Court. On each judge it is a vote on if they should get another six years. The Justices up this time:
* Raoul G. Cantero, III
* Kenneth B. Bell
All the same things I said about the District judges apply at this level as well. Not much info on their positions, because they are not allowed to talk about issues that may come before them. The laywers recommend retention by 80+% in the survey. No major campaigns against either of them or negative information I can find. So like the District Judges, OK, lets keep them.
My votes:
Raoul G. Cantero, III: YES
Kenneth B. Bell: YES
This is the last of the non-partisan positions on the ballot. As I make my way up the rest, there will be Republicans and Democrats (and some other parties). What a shame. I like it when it is just about the individuals. Oh well!
OK, I feel like I am skimping, but I am also running out of time. I will roll the questions of the five district court judges into one post. In Florida judges are appointed by the Governor, but then every six years have to be voted for “Merit Retention”. That means you get to vote yes or no on each one, to determine if they get another six years. If they are voted out, the Governor gets to appoint someone else. The District Judges up for retention at this time are:
* Vincent G. Torpy, Jr.
* Winifred J. Sharp
* Earle W. Peterson, Jr.
* David A. Monaco
* Jacqueline R. Griffin
OK, the websites just give basic resume stuff. And apperantly judges aren’t allowed to have “real” campaigns where they talk about their views and stuff. And I don’t have the time or resources to actually start going and looking up the case histories for these judges.
In several palces I was able to find summaries of these retention races, and they all looked very similar. Here is a typical one. Basically it gives info on each of the judges and how long they have been in their positions. It also gives a couple of one sentence summaries of a few proiminant cases. It notes that a survey of area lawers showed that all five candidates enjoyed a greater than 80% support rate for retention.
Another article that I found makes the point that since Florida has had this system, there has NEVER been a judge removed by this system. OK…
In thew absence of finding any serious move to remove any of these guys, and nothing I could find with any serious problems with them, I’m OK keeping them all.
My votes:
Vincent G. Torpy, Jr.: YES
Winifred J. Sharp: YES
Earle W. Peterson, Jr.: YES
David A. Monaco: YES
Jacqueline R. Griffin: YES
Three hours later, here I am again. Urgh. I am so tired. Lets see if I can do a couple before I have to get ready and go to work… For School board the candidates are:
* Larry E. Hughes
* Harold Parten
One of them with a website again. Good. And I found this PDFwith information on a lot of candidates, including these two. And of course, Florida Today. And an article about a debate for school board. And there were actually a few more. But this is enough…
Frankly, on their viewpoints on the various issues, there did not seem to be much difference. They agreed on more than they disagreed. A little more looking around and it seems that Parten is the one that has been endorsed by teacher’s unions, which makes me a bit nervous. Based on previous experience, I don’t usually trust the teacher’s unions. But it looks like Parten has a lot more experience and has an educational background, which has pros and cons, but I think the pros outway the cons. It is good to be an expert in the field you are dealing with as a public official. I do not feel strongly about this one and could actually fall either way. But Parten also had the sense to have a website.
My vote: Harold Parten
OK, it is 08:30 UTC. I am exausted. Need to sleep. Have to work tomorrow as well as vote and then watch election results until an ungodly hour at night. I need to get to sleep. So far I have figured out how I will vote on 19 items on the ballot. There are 16 left to go. Arggh!
I really should have done more earlier! It always seems to end up this way at the last minute though. That’s just how I am. I want to just push through with the rest, but I know I need at least some sleep too. I intend to vote in the early afternoon though. Not much time is left… This sucks.
OK. Time for a little break. I will get back to this as soon as I can.
There is a mayoral race going on too! The candidates:
* Harry C. Goode, Jr.
* Ed Palmer
* William Perry
OK, to be fair, that is the website for Mr. Goode’s family business, not his own site.
As usual, there is the helpful Florida Today summary. William Perry had no website that I could find, and did not bother to answer any of Florida Today’s questions. So he is not even a consideration.
Palmer seems qualified and had a lot of experience on the council. But his issues and stated views do not seem substantially different from Goode. But Goode has been mayor before, as well as being a state representative for a number of years. His responses seem a bit more detailed and focused. Also, Mr. Palmer is 77 years old, while Goode is a spritely 66. Let’s give the youngster another go. I also am interested by the depth of Goode’s family history in Melborne mentioned at his store’s site. (They were one of the founding families of Melbourne.) Anyway, I think Mr. Goode looks the best at this point.
My vote: Harry C. Goode, Jr.
Taking a short break from the research… I am really tired… it is almost four hours past my normal bedtime!
Anyway, flipped on CNN. Dixville Notch, New Hampshire did it’s usual thing and voted just after 05:00 UTC (the earliest they can legally vote). As in the last few elections Hart’s Location, New Hammpshire also did. Since they are allowed to release the results before the statewide polls close if EVERY registered voter in the town has voted, the entire population of both towns gets together at midnight and votes and they count it right away. It has been a tradition for decades.
So, with these two towns, the election so far stands at:
Bush – 34 votes
Kerry – 22 votes
Nader – 1 vote
I drove by Dixville Notch with my mom once as part of the 1998 Q4 Random Trip. We didn’t even notice.
OK, last of the Melbourne districts… The candidates in District 1 are:
* Richard P. Contreras
* Mike Nowlin
Only one website this time, and an official (boring) one. But I guess I know he is the incumbant from that. The Florida Today summary comes to the rescue again… Well, it really didn’t give much info. Contreras is in the office right now and wants more police and fire protection. Nowlin is concerned about growth.
I did find one more thing on Contreras. A blog called Noded had a mention that during the hurricanes Contreras was very active keeping people updated on the local situation via some of the online forums at floridatoday.com. The author of the blog says that he thinks people will remember Contreras come election time. Well, OK.
I didn’t of course actually see any of his communication during the hurricane, but his experience shows in his answer to the Florida Today questions, and Nowlin doesn’t provide a strong argument to give him a chance instead.
My vote: Richard P. Contreras
OK, next district… in Melbourne District 2, the candidates are:
* Matthew Carroll
* Mark LaRusso
* William Lovin
Finally a couple with actual websites!
And once again, Florida Today has a summary of the candidates. Based on the info from the candidate sites and the summary, here is what I come up with:
LaRusso is pretty new to the county, and is very vague on what he wants to do. I don’t see much there. Carroll seems to really have it out for Lovin, spending a good deal of his space countering an ad by Lovin, and pointing out that he has been in Melbourne much longer. Lovin… dunno, perhaps it is because I read Carroll’s site first. But while both Carroll and Lovin seem to be fiscally conservative, about controlling growth while keeping taxes high and the standard of living up, but Lovin seems a bit more conceited. His “I am running because people asked me to” does nothing for me. Carroll seems more up front about things. Lovin is in tech, so of course his website is slicker, but it is almost too slick for a local race. And what is with the big-ass flag?
My vote: Matthew Carroll
Each Council Member on the Melbourne City Council apperantly represents a specific district making up a part of the city… however they are elected by the whole city, not just those people in their district, but they have to live in the district. I think. It doesn’t make sense to me. You should only be able to vote for the council person from your district… at least I think so. But that isn’t how it is, so lets look at all of these…
For the record, I am in District 5, which is not on the ballot at all this year… apperantly there was only one candidate, Cheryl Palmer, who ran unopposed, and therefore automatically won and that seat is not appearing on the ballot. There is something wrong with that… I hate unopposed elections. Oh well!
Although that is apperantly better than one of the other districts, where Cliff Cook vacated the seat and NOBODY ran for the open seat… So they will be holding a special election in February to put someone in.
Anyway, the candidates for District 3 are:
* Lynne Flora
* Cleave Frink
* Kathy Meehan
* R. Richard Ott
* Merrill Robertson
* Manuel Rodriguez
Once again, I couldn’t find anybody with a campaign website. People! Get with it!!!
I did however find a couple articles from Florida Today that are relevant. One on the large number of candidates running for Melbourne City council this year, and one specifically with profiles on all the candidates in the District 3 race. Since it is the most complete information I could find, this will be my main source of info for this race.
Ott is out. He didn’t answer their basic questions. (“Why are you running? How are you qualified? What are your key issues?”) Robertson is for VoTech schools. Rodriguez is for youth sports programs. Flora wants more flights to the Melbourne airport.
Frink and Meehan seem to address a broader range of issues, both seem to have a good deal of community involvement in their past. Looking at their pitches though, Frink seems to be a bit too self assured for my taste. Meehan seemed more reasoned and moderate.
My vote: Kathy Meehan
Ok the second of the two Sebastian Inlet Districts I get to vote for. Here the candidates are:
* Jenny Lawton Seal
* David A. Pasley
I could not find websites for either of these candidates. Come on folks, I know it is a dinky local office, but this is 2004. Make yourselfs a freakin one page website saying why you want to be elected… Anyway, both Seal and Pasley were invited to the same debate I mentioned in the previous post about District 5. Only Pasley showed up. And I could not find anything on Seal on the web at all… except an article (again behind annoying registration) on tcpalm.com saying that she… and Sherrie Quarrie… ahd gotten significant campaign donations from a lobbiest for a sand mining company. Apperantly Seal is also the granddaughter of a former commissioner who died recently. In any case, she was a no show and has provided no resources to find what she stands for or anything. Pasley shoed up at the debate, and seemed to do OK. The same editorial I quoted in the last post says of Pasley:
Pasley, an avid fisherman, boater and inlet volunteer, wants the district to reach out to more community organizations and environmental groups. He also believes it could benefit by collaborating with other districts around the state. … Pasley and Culberson are knowledgeable, independent candidates who are committed to improving the inlet’s management and effectiveness. As straight shooters, they deserve a shot at the job.
OK, not too much on him. But his competition didn’t really shows up. And from what I read in the article about donations (it goes on quite a bit) both her and Quarrie look like they are part of a ploy by the sand people (you know, like in Star Wars) to influence how replenishing efforts in the county work and such.
My vote: David A. Pasley
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