Rep. Renner and the entire Florida House of Representatives Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness should be outraged at the fact that there is no public participation in disaster and evacuation planning in St. Johns County. State Rep. Paul Renner represents the Southern portion of St. Johns County, and if Republicans continue to control the House, he may be a future Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (reckon you read it first, here, on January 30, 2016, eighteen months before it happened, based upon the amount of money raised by his PAC). See my e-mail to County Commssioners, here and read the Sunshine State News and News-Journal articles, and background on Renner's possibly becoming Speaker in 2022 if Republicans still control the House:
Corcoran Announces Creation of Select Committee on Hurricane Response
Submitted by Nancy Smith on September 19, 2017 - 4:45pm
Sunshine State News
Speaker Richard Corcoran announced Tuesday the creation of the Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness. The Select Committee will gather information, solicit ideas for improvement, and make recommendations that can be utilized in the work plans of the appropriate standing committees.
Specifically, it will address issues such as protection of the elderly, disabled, and other vulnerable populations as well as look at evacuation and mitigation challenges for future storms
The Speaker characterized the select committee as "an advance team to prepare the house for the regular session.”
The Select Committee will be chaired by Speaker Pro Tempore Jeanette Nunez. Membership is as follows:
Rep. Jeanette Nunez, Chair
Rep. Ray Rodrigues, Vice Chair
Rep. Ben Albritton
Rep. Danny Burgess
Rep. Cord Byrd
Rep. Bob Cortes
Rep. Dane Eagle
Rep. Michael Grant
Rep. Elizabeth Porter
Rep. Holly Raschein
Rep. Paul Renner
Rep. Chris Sprowls
Rep. Cyndi Stevenson
Rep. Jay Trumbull
Announcing the Select Committee, Corcoran said, “Hurricane Irma produced many heroes and showed, once again, that Americans take care of each other. Tireless work by Governor Scott combined with the outstanding efforts of first responders, emergency managers, electrical workers, and ordinary Floridians, showed that there is no challenge we can't face if we work together. Make no mistake, the very best of Florida is on display since the threat of Irma emerged.”
He continued, “Even in one of our finest hours as a state, we can still learn. We will ensure Florida is even more prepared to weather the next storm. Whether it is hardening the grid, burying transmission lines, mitigating flooding ,enhancing shelter facilities, creating a gas reserve or a host of other strategies, the Florida House will take action.”
House speaker names Paul Renner to hurricane panel
Tuesday
Sep 19, 2017 at 2:48 PM
Staff Report
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran on Tuesday announced the creation of the Select Committee on Hurricane Response and Preparedness.
The panel will gather information, solicit ideas for improvement and make recommendations to be considered for legislative action, the speaker said in a prepared statement. Corcoran described it as "an advance team to prepare the House for the regular session.”
Speaker Pro Tem Jeanette Nunez, R-Miami, will chair the committee, and State Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast will be among its members.
“Hurricane Irma produced many heroes and showed, once again, that Americans take care of each other," Corcoran said. "Tireless work by Gov. (Rick) Scott combined with the outstanding efforts of first responders, emergency managers, electrical workers, and ordinary Floridians, showed that there is no challenge we can't face if we work together.”
Northeast Florida’s Paul Renner wins House speaker vote
ORLANDO | Rep. Paul Renner is in line to become speaker of the Florida House in 2022, making him the first legislator from Northeast Florida to be chosen for the leadership position in more than two decades.
Renner, 50, was designated speaker by his freshman Republican colleagues on Friday during an election held at a hotel near the Orlando airport. Renner was elected after a single round of secret balloting during a closed-door meeting. He and three other candidates gave speeches and answered questions prior to the vote.
Renner, of Palm Coast, never publicly confirmed he was seeking the speaker position but has worked for several months to build support among colleagues. During the 2017 session, he carried high-profile legislation that limited the use of economic incentives in Florida.
“You should always be the leader you want to be or want to support,” he said after Friday’s vote. “I think for me it was just about helping my colleagues and doing what I can to do to make them successful.”
Renner’s campaign was also boosted by robust fundraising through his Florida Foundation for Liberty political committee, which has raised nearly $1 million since 2014 and $261,500 in the month of May alone. May donors comprise a who’s who of Jacksonville area businesses and political leaders that rallied behind the prospect of a future speaker hailing from the region.
Former Ambassador John Rood, Preston Haskell and John Baker are among those who gave to Renner’s committee, as well as companies like Gate Petroleum and Miller Electric.
Renner works in Jacksonville as an attorney and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He was elected to the House in a 2015 special election but is considered a freshman because his first full term began in 2016. Renner first ran for the House in 2014 but narrowly lost in the primary to Rep. Jay Fant.
Technically, Friday’s election allowed the 26 freshman GOP representatives to select who will serve as the class leader. If Republicans remain in the majority in 2022 and Renner is still in office, he will become speaker during his fourth and final term in office.
Renner only needed 14 votes to win on Friday but received 16. Second-place candidate Rep. Jamie Grant, of Tampa, got nine votes. The other two candidates were Rep. Erin Grall, who lives in Vero Beach, and Naples Rep. Byron Donalds.
Grant said after the vote that he still counted the experience as a success because all four candidates adhered to new rules that prohibited them from formally asking for support until after the 2017 session. In previous iterations, speaker’s races sometimes settled before freshman members had even been sworn into office.
“From beginning to end, when we said meritocracy, when we said ‘no deals,’ when we said all of the things that people said were crazy: we kept those (promises),” Grant said. “And so that is success.”
Until a few weeks ago, Rep. Randy Fine was a fifth candidate. The south Brevard County representative said Friday that he threw his support behind Renner after observing “a maturity of leadership.”
“I think he earned the admiration of the class in how he pursued it, and I think you can see that based on how the results went today,” Fine said.
Before leaving the room, the representatives gathered in a circle for a prayer of unity. The Legislature will formally convene in September for committee meetings ahead of the 2018 session.
Paul Renner pledges teamwork, ‘full collaboration’ as speaker
FLORIDA POLITICS
By Scott Powers
June 30, 2017
State Rep. Paul Renner pledged military-unit-like reliance on teamwork and full collaboration after he was elected by his Republican peers to be their leader-designate.
The Palm Coast Republican won on a first ballot during a closed-door meeting of Republican members of the freshman class Friday. He beat out J.W. Grant of Tampa, Erin Grall of Vero Beach, and Bryan Donalds of Naples.
Renner, a retired U.S. Navy Reserves commander and attorney, spoke of teamwork and collaboration, said his class is deep with expertise and experience and he intends to use that to the full extent.
He received 16 of 27 votes on the first ballot. Details of what the other three candidates received were not released.
“I think one of the things I spoke about is that every member of the team is critical. That is something I learned in the military, from the first day of boot camp. You learn that you succeed or fail as a team,” Renner said.
“The focus I would like to have is we have a great class, we can do great things together, and I want to be the facilitator,” Renner said.
Exactly what Renner or the other three said in their ten-minute speeches, or how the other Republican representatives responded, may never be known. The lawmakers gathered in a hotel near the Orlando airport and met in secret for nearly three hours before announcing that they elected Renner.
Unlike other recent Speaker elections in the era of term limits, this one was put off until after the Session to give the members of the class a chance to get to know each other and pick a leader from among people with whom they’ve worked.
“We’ve got a process here that will leave you with a class united,” House Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues said to Renner. “It’s good for your class and more importantly it’s good for the institution.”
Discouraging citizen participation and making decisions in closed door meetings are hallmarks of hijacked gangster government.
ReplyDeleteKeep on pretending.