Teresa Jacobs for Orange County Mayor

Ye socks will recall how frustrated yours truly was with the very crowded field of candidates that assembled to succeed Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty earlier this year.

But, after the August primary, the field was narrowed to just two: current commissioner Bill Segal and former commissioner Teresa Jacobs.

It has been quite easy to compare and contrast these two candidates.

Both have well-documented histories in this little corner of heaven.

If the decision had to be made on demeanor alone, however, I don't see how anyone could vote for Mr. Segal.

In a recent public forum, he sat with arms crossed in what could only be interpreted as a defensive posture. Answering voters' questions, he was more than happy to rattle off how many boards and task forces he belongs to or has belonged to in the past. But, his own ideas are half-baked--particularly when it comes to cutting county employees' healthcare costs and property taxes.

When it comes to jobs, Segal made it clear that his approach as county mayor would be to act as the area's chief salesman. He would pimp out our great natural resources and public amenities to draw new businesses to the area.

At the same forum, Jacobs actively engaged each voter's question. She was leaning forward, looking each person in the eye. And, believe it or not, she actually remembered to use their names as she detailed both her experience and her vision.

Beyond body language, I really liked her answer to the question of improving the local jobs market. Rather than following the tired old formula of selling-out to outsiders, she put more emphasis on utilizing the tremendous resources we already have on hand and encouraging the LOCAL entrepreneurial spirit.

After mulling over this race for the last several months, I can now whole-heartedly endorse Teresa Jacobs for Orange County Mayor.

Tough call

Further to yesterday's post in the dryer, folks in this little corner of heaven will also be asked to vote for a Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District Superivsor #4.

I know, not very glamorous.

The candidates are incumbent Susan Clary and J.P. Quinones.

Clary is a native Floridian, albeit from the St. Petersburg area. She graduated from Rollins College and has worked for the Orlando Sentinel.

Quinones is the brother of Osceola County Commissioner John Quinones. He's a Republican, but has been frustrated in previous forays into politics. He considered running for tax assessor a couple of years ago, then later for state legislature. He has been more successful working for the Mouse, and was vice president of his union.

So, the incumbent journalist, or the former union boss?

In this case, unless something emerges between now and election day, I'll have to hold my nose and vote for Quinones. At least he's not an incumbent . . .

This race is an example of why yours truly doesn't believe in early voting.

Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisor #2

This has got to be the most overlooked contest on the ballot in this little corner of heaven .


It also happens to be a crowded race.


The candidates are Timothy D. Blevins, Jose Ismael Bosque, David "Monty" Montanez, and Edward N. Rodriguez.


I found it difficult to find any information on these guys.


Only Montanez has an actual campaign website. At least his was the only one I could find.


Rodriguez has the most detailed campaign filings with the local supervisor of elections, and received some ink in the local press when he was shunned by the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at their straw poll.


So, it looks like those two are more serious about winning this seat.


Beyond that, they both seem like good guys. Rodriguez is a retired police detective. Montanez is a Navy veteran of both Gulf wars.

Until and unless some additional info crops up, I don't think anyone could go wrong casting their vote for either of them.

We tighten our belts . . .

. . . and the gutless wonders keep trying to reach into our pockets!

It seems to me they should do some more belt tightening of their own.

I know making budget cuts isn't fun, but the public sector shouldn't consider themselves immune to the economic ills that are hitting the private sector.

In this case, the ranting applies to the Orange County School District and the "Special Referendum" they have placed on our ballots in this little corner of heaven.

They want to raise our millage rate to supplement their income to the tune of about $400 million dollars.

This will cost the average household approximately $125 MORE than what they already pay in county school taxes every year.

The demand comes at a very unfortunate time.

Yours truly would suggest Superintendent Ron Blocker and his board are shirking their duty to live within the people's means.

They need to go back to the drawing board.

An indicator of things to come?

Well, it seems outside of this dryer there wasn't much enthusiasm for yesterday's primary election in Orange County.

Only 129,343 folks actually cast ballots . . . that's about 21% of registered voters.

Still, I'm told that is good for a primary in an off-year. Really?! 21% is good?!

Of those who did get off their rumps to vote, it would appear the enthusiasm is decidedly on the Republican side.

Orange County as a whole is 44% Democrat, 31% Republican, and 25% other.

Yesterday, the percentages were 53% Republican, 38% Democrat, and 9% other.

If this level of enthusiam can be sustained til the general election, it will definitely be a November to Remember.

Primary endorsements - part 4

Another non-partisan race to pick today.

This time, it's for the Orange County Commission seat being vacated by Bill Segal.

The candidates are Segal's predecessor Ted Edwards and Maitland Mayor Doug Kinson.

Again, though this is supposed to be non-partisan, the party affiliations are known. This time, though, both are Republicans. So, that can't be the deciding factor . . .

At the end of the day, I guess I'll have to go with Edwards since he's been on the commission before and can hit the ground running during a year when there is going to be so much turnover on the board.

To find out more about Ted, check out his site: http://www.tededwardscampaign.com

Time to pay the piper . . .

In this case, for ye local socks anway, that means Earl K. Wood.

That's right, it's that time of year again.

Unless you escrow your property taxes, it's time to stroke a check to our illustrious Orange County Tax Collector.

Oops, that was probably in bad taste to use the word "stroke," wasn't it?!

Breakfast with the candidate

In the ongoing effort to do ye olde civic duty by getting to know the folks running for public office around this little corner of heaven, yours truly had the pleasure of meeting Matt Falconer this morning at the regular Friday roundtable.

Mr. Falconer certainly came well-prepared for our little group. He literally brought a text book he wrote on how to improve Orange County's government, and gave copies to everyone at the table.

You can't say this guy isn't thorough.

That may be just what we need in the next county mayor.

I'm still not sure I agree with his ideas on consolidation of services, though. I mean, I don't know how the folks up in Apopka would feel about having their fire department absorbed into some new mega-district. And, I doubt the folks down in Belle Isle want to give up their new police department. So, I guess I'll have to read his textbook over the weekend to try to figure out exactly what he means . . .

Man, nothing like homework for the weekend! This being a good citizen thing can really cramp your style, no?!