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Paid for by the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee, Independent of Any Candidate or Candidate Committee, PO Box 358536, Gainesville, Fl 32635. |
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When Do Discount Coupons For Tax Return Preparation Get Mistaken For Crack Cocaine Trafficking?
According to Gainesville City Commissioner Lauren Poe, or Gainesville City Attorney, Marion Radson, when the coupons are distributed to black neighborhoods.
Here is the story:
A couple of weeks ago, a local tax return preparation company distributed discount coupons into Lincoln Estates. They put the coupon in a plastic bag and added a couple of river rocks to the bag. The coupon, itself, was designed to look like a $50 bill. Makes sense since it is a discount for tax prep service.
Here is a link to the original Gainesville Sun article:
Putting coupons in plastic bags with a couple of rocks is a VERY common practice. It has happened in my neighborhood, west of Gainesville, a number of times. It keeps the coupon dry, and the rocks serve the dual purpose of keeping your coupon from blowing away, and you can easily toss them from a car onto driveways.
Seriously, who doesn't know that coupons or other business flyers have been distributed into neighborhoods this way?
Why are City Attorney, Marion Radson and Commissioner Lauren Poe so willing to sterotype and equate crack cocaine use to African-Americans that a common method of coupon distribution is treated as an intentional act of racial insensitivity, just because it is done in a black neighborhood.
Ok, I get it. Plastic baggies with something that looks like a $50 bill held down by a couple of rocks is probably not the best combination of ingredients, for an advertisement, in any neighborhood, but if the tax return service's advertisement wasn't a good one, then the free market will explain that to them. Still, City Commissioners and a city attorney associating it with crack cocaine trafficking just because it is a black neighborhood, doesn't really sit well, either. Isn't that assumption, in and of itself, an act of racial insensitivity?
Worse, according to the Gainesville Sun, the city attorney is trying to find a state statute that he can use to charge the company. REALLY!?
Herein lies the problem. If the company violated some solicitation ordinance, then give them a ticket for that, but no act of violence was perpetrated by this company, and they didn't steal anything from anybody. The only conclusion that we are left to draw is that the City Attorney wants to criminalize thought - in this case, a misinterpreted thought. How Orwellian!
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Of County Roads and New Sales Taxes
The Alachua County Commission is entertaining the idea of putting a sales tax on the ballot to fund road repair. There is currently about a $400 million backlog of critical road needs in Alachua County. When we say critical, we mean that most of the roads in that backlog are at a critical failure point.
The plan, put forth by some, would be to pass the sales tax, then bond against the sales tax so that the roads can be fixed in a few years instead of over 20 or 30 years; the working theory being that the roads are failing too fast to be able to catch up over a 20 or 30 year period.
Some have even proposed that the county referendum lock the county commission into road repair, only (no round-abouts, no narrowing, no widening bike lanes, etc).
A referendum like that has even received acceptence in some, surprising, conservative, political circles.
Make no mistake, that would be a bad, bad move. These liberals that have run this county are 100% responsible for this problem. They have made pet projects and social programs more important than something as important to public safety as a safe system of roads.
Let's assume that the only way to get ahead of this massive problem in the necessary time frame is a sales tax, against which we can bond. We are fools if we turn that over to the same people that created the problem, to begin with. A deal like the one described requires commissioners that will act in good faith. These commissioners (with the exception of Sue Baird) are not capable of that. Just as soon as that tax is passed, they will find ways to shift other revenue, that has previously been spent on roads into more pet projects, and they won't use it to upgrade the capacity of roads that are failing because of over-utilization. Those commissioners have more ways than we know to play shell games with our tax dollars.
So, some would say, let's put a tax on the ballot and then work to get rid of those commissioners, in the same election.
Bad idea.
If the business community and some conservatives tacitly support that tax by not opposing it, we are dulling the political tools that we can use to get rid of the commissioners that caused this problem to begin with.
Alachua County is one of the highest taxed counties in the state, and we have a $400 million debt stored in our road system. The Alachua County Republican Party made 60,000 phone calls last election cycle. We are committing to somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 for the 2012 election cycle. We are committed to trying to get rid of these commissioners and getting some commissioners that can address this problem in good faith.
Supporting a tax on the same ballot as the commissioners that caused the problem is putting the cart before the horse, and a very risky move.
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Phone Calling and Poll Watching For City of Gainesville Elections
Phone Banking:
The Alachua County Republican Party is phone banking on Thursday night at our headquarters (1210 North Main Street). We will be providing food and drinks. Please come down. We are starting at 5:30 and going until about 8 or 8:30.
Poll Watching:
We are organizing poll watchers for the conservative candidates. Early voting is March 7 through March 12 from 9:00 to 5:00 at the County Administration Building. Election Day is March 15. The Run Off will be April 12.
The Early Voting poll watcher schedule will be from 9:00 - 1:00, and from 1:00 - 5:00 Monday through Saturday.
The March 15 schedule will be 7:00 - 1:00 and 1:00 - 7:00.
The April 12 schedule will be 7:00 - 1:00 and 1:00 - 7:00.
If you can volunteer for this election, please let us know what days and times you can watch.
Names and times of early vote poll watchers are due to the Supervisor of Elections by noon on February 21st. Election day poll watchers names and times are due by February 28th.
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Gainesville City Commission Elections
Well, we just finished one election season, but another very important one is coming up.
The elections for Gainesville City Commission are up on March 15th, 2011 with the run-off happening on April 12, 2011.
Folks, it is all about turnout. We can take these seats, and we have some great candidates to do it with.
Robert Krames, Todd Chase, Don Marsh, Dikassa Dixon and Rob Zeller are all GREAT Republicans that have filed to run for the District 2, District 3 and At-Large 2 seats.
The Alachua County Republican Party is going to be working, very hard, to turn out the vote, and we will be calling our exceptional volunteers to help us make that happen.
Candidate Contact Information:
District 2:
Todd Chase - http://www.votechase.com
Robert Krames - http://www.electrobertkrames.com
District 3
Rob Zeller - http://www.robzeller.com
At-Large 2
Don Marsh - http://www.donaldmarsh.com |
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