Friday, June 01, 2018

Re-elect Mayor Nancy Shaver on August 28th (Feast of St. Augustine)

Our heroic Mayor of St. Augustine, Nancy Shaver, has earned another term.  She defeated the formidable forces of corruption, defeating Mayor JOE BOLES in 2014 and trouncing other-directed Hate Radio station owner KRIS PHILLIPS in 2016.  She is the only elected official in St. Johns County who publicly supports Justice for Michelle O'Connell. In 2016, Sheriff DAVID SHOAR dropped a money bomb on her; it fizzled, SHOAR fumed


Florida Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince swears in Mayor NANCY SHAVER December 1, 2014, as her daughter holds the 1820 family Bible.

In the August 28, 2018 primary, you have a choice of three (3) candidates so far:

Mayor NANCY SHAVER, who is qualified, competent, compassionate and knows the value of a dollar.  Mayor NANCY SHAVER values making fact-based decisions, without fear or favor -- that includes being a leader to help our Nation's Oldest City to:
  • end corruption,
  • solve mobility problems,
  • represent residents with wise decisions,
  • halt offshore oil drilling and sonic testing, 
  • preserve our history, 
  • protect our environment, and
  • adapt to global ocean level rise.
BILL McCLURE (hereafter "BM"), former one-term County Commissioner.  Carpetbagging  BM does not live in St. Augustine.  BM has rented a two-bedroom apartment in a $129/night Marine Street tourist home.  BMtold me earlier this year that he was  running for County Commission, this time from Ponte Vedra.  At the podium, I raised ethical questions after he spoke at County Commission on March 9, 2018 and gave his Crescent Beach residence address; later in the meeting, he gave a Ponte Vedra address.  (Bumptious bumpkin businessman BM was lobbying at the March 9 meeting yet another special interest zoning variance, this one for his mother's proposed too-big rental house, opposed by environmentalist Bill Hamilton and other neighbors.
As one-term St. Johns County Commissioner, BM pushed for "incentives" for corporations -- Corporate Welfare. If BM were Mayor, would developers get "incentives," like they had a key to the back door at St. Augustine City Hall?
Key questions about carpetbagging BM:
  • Is BM just "whistlin' Dixie" in his quixotic campaign?  
  • BM claims support of the Tea Party (TP).  Does TP know BM is a Corporate Welfare supporter, who supports millions of dollars in tax holidays ("incentives")?  It's our money.
JACQUELINE ROCK (hereafter "JR"), a member of the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission District Board and elected 2016 Bernie Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention.  As an AMCD member, JR has missed meetings, arrived late, accomplishing nothing.  She's a huge disappointment to her former supporters, including me.  Arrogant JR angrily demands removal of St. Augustine's  1871/1879 monument to Confederate veterans.  The City rejected her demand and a seven-person committee is working on plans to add words and images beneath it to contextualize it.  This promotes healing.  Acting like heels with hauteur, petty juvenile JR, et al. disrupted the opening November 2018 Nights of Lights event, elbowing and stepping on toes and irritably inveighing against monuments to dead soldiers.  How gauche and louche.
As required by state law, JR has finally resigned to run,  resigning from AMCD effective December 2, 2018.  JR is spending May 29 to August 24, 2018 in Europe.  JR's candidacy creates an August 28, 2018 primary for Mayor.
Key questions to ask about absentee angry amateur JR:
  • Is JR supported by anyone other than her mentor, racist Rev. RONALD RAWLS, JR.?
  • is JR wasting your tax money ?  She plans on taking $2000 ($500/month) for three (3) months when she will not attend meetings (June, July, August) and one for which there is no meeting (November).  JR refused AMCD Commissioner Jeanne Moeller's reasonable request that she resign NOW.  Taking $2000 for a no-show job?  It's our money.  Character counts.  JR: resign now. Let citizens apply for the job.   
Political tourists?  Amateur hobbyists?  While JR is playing "political tourist" and "activist" in Europe May 29 to August 24, a second political tourist, BM, has rented a room at 105 Marine Street (he also owns some five (5) residences).  Does BM think this is "residency?"  We know that our St. Augustine is now an international tourist destination, but we're flattered to have peripatetic politicians --political tourists -- pretending to run for Mayor.  Everyone needs a hobby, especially amusing rich guys like BM, who has no ideas and is, well, at least, amusing.  JR has no sense of humor and told me she wants a "revolution" if elections don't work.  Both JR and BM are extremists.  Both political hobbyists invoke François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac:  "Hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue."

Why this matters:  If Mayor NANCY SHAVER receives 50%+1 of the votes in the August 28, 2018 Primary election, she is re-elected.  It's the 453rd anniversary of the naming of St. Augustine by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the day he first sighted it and named it on the Feast of Saint Augustine, named for an African bishop and pillar of the Roman Catholic faith.

BOTTOM LINE:  I support Mayor NANCY SHAVER:  the ONLY qualified, competent, compassionate candidate.  She has earned our trust and respect.  We don't always agree, but I know that she's working for the people, not against us.  This brilliant woman has shown that she has the grace to make our City a better place.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Question. HCN has a story about Bill entering the Mayoral race https://historiccity.com/2018/staugustine/news/florida/mcclure-announces-campaign-for-st-augustine-mayor-72070

Most of the "article" is from Bill's press release (available on Bill's website). There's even a call to action (to visit Bill's website).

Is this an illegal campaign ad? Does it need follow-up with the Florida Elections Commission?

Ed Slavin said...

Good question.
Here's FEC's complaint process and form:
http://www.fec.state.fl.us/fecwebfi.nsf/pages/complaints
http://www.fec.state.fl.us/FECWebFi.nsf/0/107B3CBA00C3FF1585257C94004B8528/$file/FEC+Complaint+Form+1-Fillable_August+2017.pdf

I am amused if not amazed -- thanks for your discovery of HCN's printing McClure's press release. Could this possibly be an exemplar of pay-to-play marketing?

The St. Augustine Record and "Historic City News" too often print press releases word-for-word. Shhh! Don't tell anybody. :)

I find it kind of quaint and cute -- hick hackery at its funniest. [Like our local government TV channels, which forbid public access content (since 2007).]

We're living in an information desert, where:
o newspapers eschew investigative reporting on corruption and developers; while
o some candidates receive financial and material support from undisclosed foreign investors and their secretive LLCs.

The Record once listed all local campaign contributions over $100. No longer. Why? Is GateHouse even worse than Morris in some respects?

But, to your point: HCN printed a controversial candidate's press release, in haec verba, without identifying it as such --- clearly unethical, and seems just a bit dotty.

It reminds me of the early 1980s in East Tennessee.

I observed Union Carbide Nuclear Division and U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations press releases were printed without alteration. Routine practice of East Tennessee journalists at the Clinton Courier-News, The Oak Ridger, Knoxville Journal and Knoxville News Sentinel. (Call them "the Gang of Four Chain Gang Journalism newspapers," if you will).

I saw it very week when I was editor of the Appalachian Observer 1981-1983 in Clinton, Tenn. We got those mailed Union Carbide and DOE press releases too, but we did not treat them as holy writ. Critical thinking led to uncovering the massive Oak Ridge pollution scandal, biggest mercury pollution event in the history of this frail planet, part of an ongoing national cleanup.

This "Gang of Four" Chain Gang Journalism newspapers" didn't even change the headlines in the Union Carbide and Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations press releases -- they ran them, word-for-word-for-propagandistic word.

Pitiful. We must work zealously, so that investigative journalism survives and prospers amidst the sleaze, and what Warren Celli calls "Xtrevilism."

Ed Slavin said...

Typo correction: I saw it every week.