It said welcome Drudge fans because the article was linked on Drudge.
If Drudge linked one of my blogs, you're damn right I would put up a comment like that!
Now what death threats has Koch or Breitbart leveled against anyone?
Oh, in our own News Journal, one of the best reasons why I oppose public sector unions:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/politics/legislature/2011/03/06/will-florida-lawmakers-target-unions.htmlFred Costello was content to serve on the planning or development review boards in Ormond Beach until he watched firefighters actively campaign against -- and help defeat -- his friend Ed Kelley in the 1997 city elections.
Two months after firefighters helped elect a new majority, they received a 19 percent raise.
Firefighters had received raises of at least 3 percent in each of the preceding five years. No firefighters had quit the year before. And the city had received 76 applications for the last opening in the department. Yet after commissioners approved the raise, one said it was about correcting "years of inequities."
Case, as they say, closed.
Puhleeze! You don't think I know who Fred Costello (or Kelly for that matter) is? The Reformed Mormon (ya know...so he can smoke and drink but still thump his Book of Mormon and try to drive out the evil bikini bars so the planned development - Ormond Crossings - he's backing as a former member of the Planning Commission and has a financial interest in can be built) is? He's the king of the teabaggers here in Ormond! Of course, you know that too, since you're probably a member of the same 9/12 group he's in, huh? Can you share with us the racial joke posted on the 9/12 website? He's also hated by every cop in town.
Why is he hated. HB303. Look it up. Here's a
letter:Representative Costello,
My name is Doug Lashbrook. I’m 47-years-old, married and have a 13-year-old son. I have been in the Florida Retirement System since age 18. For the past 20 years I have been proudly employed by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy Sheriff who earns the 3% Special Risk service credit. After reading HB 303, a proposal by you, a Dentist/State Representative, I must say that I and all of my co-workers are thoroughly appalled with your bill.
Allow me to give you some of my employment background with the State of Florida. I was in my high school senior year in 1981 when I took a job with the Florida Park Service as a Park Ranger in Flagler Beach. I’ll be the first to say the money was not the reason for working at the park it was the Florida Retirement System. I earned the 1.6% service credit per year as did many other employees. I continued my state employment for 8 ½ years and had the opportunity to work and travel throughout this beautiful state. In 1987, I attended the Law Enforcement academy in Quincy, Florida where I obtained my Law Enforcement certificate. Now in South Florida, I continued working for the Park Service in places like Bahia Honda State Recreation Area in Big Pine Key, John Pennekamp in Key Largo and lastly, North Shore State Recreation Area in Miami Beach. It was there I worked closely with the Miami Beach Police Department and became very good friends with the Police Officers and liked what they represented. This was a turning point in my career that led me to becoming a Deputy Sheriff and increasing my service credit from 1.6% to the 3% high risk.
I and many others throughout the state are nearing the end of our careers. This proposal is a slap in the face to us who have given everything we have to a career that promised security and peace of mind after retirement. The same type of security and peace of mind that for 20 years I have strived to provide to the citizens of the county I serve. Your proposal of HB 303 will take that all away and force the next generation of Law Enforcement Officers to think twice about this career.
It’s very clear to my colleagues and me, that you do not support Law Enforcement or any profession that puts their own life on the line to protect the citizens of this great State. Nor have you researched (or maybe you have and didn’t care) the lifespan of a Law Enforcement Officer after retirement. I ask you Representative Costello, are you familiar with “fight or flight”, “adrenaline dumps”, or “stress”? I’m sure you may have heard of the terminology, but have you ever experienced it? Again, you may have, but look at it from another perspective. Put on a uniform, badge and gun, then patrol the mean streets everyday for 25 years (our current time allowed for retirement). Experience what it’s like to “fight or flight”, have an adrenaline dump and continuous stress then multiply that, on a low end of once per shift, five times per week for 25 years. Do you see where I’m going with this? Stress Kills. We as Law Enforcement Officers are sworn to protect and serve life and property die at a much younger age than other professionals because of job-related stress compared to those who sit behind a desk! And you’re proposing we work longer and reduce our retirement benefits?
I invite you to attend the funerals for Miami-Dade Police Officer’s Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth who were brutally murdered on January 20, 2011 attempting to arrest a murder suspect. In fact, why don’t you speak to the families, friends and fellow Law Enforcement Officer’s who have gathered from around the country who are grieving over the senseless deaths of more Law Enforcement Officers? Please do so and tell the widow and three children of Officer Castillo and Officer Haworth’s 13-year-old child that there ultimate sacrifice’s mean nothing to you.
For those of us who have chosen Law Enforcement as a profession, we know the dangers that are present. But we do this with pride, because we want to make a difference. We remove the dangerous criminals from the streets and protect the innocent, knowing that when our career has ended, we will live out our last few years rewarded with a good retirement for the sacrifices we made and with any luck, pass that tradition off to our children.
We in the Law Enforcement community know all about your proposal. You see, it’s easy for you to sit behind your desk and propose HB 303 not knowing the sacrifices we make everyday to protect people like yourself. Or maybe this proposal is your way of retaliation for the “smear” campaign that you allege. Sadly, those allegations go hand-in-hand in the political world. Get over it. Whatever the case may be, hopefully your political career will be short-lived just for being vindictive.
If you haven’t already, ride along with the Ormond Beach Police Department or Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. But if you feel real brave, come to South Florida and get a first hand look at what we experience practically every day of our career.
God Bless you.
Oh. And now he wants to raise our
taxes! so his buddies in Ormond Crossing won't have to pay as much property taxes!
TALLAHASSEE — Put on the backburner a couple years ago, the idea of swapping a sales tax increase for property tax cuts has emerged again in the Florida Legislature.
Bills filed in both chambers last week would boost the state sales tax by 2.5 cents to 8.5 percent, a 42 percent increase, while at the same time axing the state's required property tax levy for education by more than $7 billion a year.
Floated originally when property taxes were flying through the roof, the renewed interest in the idea coincides with Gov. Rick Scott's campaign promise to reduce property taxes 25 percent by ratcheting back on the state required local levy for schools.
"Everything we do should be about jobs," said Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach and co-sponsor of the House version (HB 995). "One of the things we can do to attract business is to lower their fixed costs."
Costello is teaming up with fellow freshman Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, who is in line to become House speaker in 2016, to sponsor the bill in the House. An identical measure (SB 1406) has been filed in the Senate by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Tax Committee.
Costello, the mayor of Ormond Beach from 2002 until his election to the House in 2010, said shifting the tax burden to consumers would result in a fairer system in which tourists would help pick up a quarter of the tab.
Edited to add: I just spoke to an Ormond Police Officer about Costello.
He's trying to take away our retirement! I wish I hadn't voted for him!
Ahh...the sweet smell of voter's remorse. Coming soon to 2012!
