Ed Slavin response to Sierra Club on Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County Commission (2024)

Here's my response to the March 2024 Sierra Club questionnaire re: Mosquito  Control Commission;

Good evening:

Thank you for your patience!  Excellent questions. 

Questionnaire to Candidates for St. Johns County 

County Commission 2024

Please provide answers to the following questions below, or on a separate sheet:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most important), where do

environmental issues rate when compared to other critical issues facing St. Johns County and

Northeast Florida? Please include a brief explanation of your rating.

Most important: 10.  Our frail planet, our city, county, state and nation are all threatened by pollution and climate change. Overdevelopment is destroying our quality of life.

2. What are the most significant environmental issues and challenges in St. Johns County? 

* Proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore deserves our County's support.  First proposed by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Walter Fraser, both U.S. Senators and our Congressman in 1939, this is an idea whose time has come.  https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-st-augustine-national.html

* Developers demanding to be free of fair impact fees.  

* Secretive PACs and campaign contributions, corruption and conflict of interest. Corruption, as Al Gore wrote in 1992, in Earth in the Balance, often leads to environmental devastation.  

* Proposed 25 ideas for local government reform in 2022, one (1) heeded (County Sheriff body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, long opposed by Sheriff David Shoar). County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on government reform. Why not?

County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on governmen... Our County Commissioners lack a welcoming spirit. Developers rule. Citizen concerns are ignored. That's why Kri...

+ Support meritocracy amidst one-party rule by mediocrities in St. Johns County Commission

+ Positive can-do spirit has contributed to dozens of local victories.  Don't Be Discouraged by Yul Nivver, Spouting "You'll Never" -- American History Teaches That Yul Nivver is Nearly Always Wrong!

Don't Be Discouraged by Yul Nivver, Spouting "You'll Never" -- American ... Updated January 27, 2024: Developer puppets, unjust stewards and corporate cat's paws voted 3-2 against stopp...

3. What actions have you taken in the past to demonstrate your concern or interest regarding our environment?

 

1. Opposing corporate welfare for developers. See ANOTHER VICTORY: LANDSLIDE DEFEATS DEVIOUS DEVELOPERS' PITIFUL "PENNY PLAN," A "RAPE OF THE TAXPAYER" -- 63% of VOTERS REJECT 15% SALES TAX INCREASE
   

   
   
2. Helping end pelagic whaling of endangered sperm whales by promoting development of jojoba oil seed crops, an exact duplicate for the oil of the sperm whale. The market system worked. (Working as intern and staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy, 1974-76).  
   
3. Helping defeat coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in U.S House of Representatives, helping preserve and protect precious scarce water from Madison Formation aquifer.  (11,500 word Crossroads Magazine (formerly Coal Patrol) investigative article, inserted into Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Skubitz, Republican of Kansas, except for parts on campaign finance).  July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legislation
   
   

   July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legisl... It was 44 years ago: activists defeated coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in the U.S. House of Rep...
   
   
   
   
4. Exposing U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority purchasing and policies that encouraged steep slope strip-mining, corruption, coal quality fraud, antitrust violations and and conflicts of interest. With support from Fund for Investigative Journalism, helped secure GAO investigation verifying  concerns of Appalachian activists, led by Save Our Cumberland Mountains.  TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed
   
   

   TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed Because the coal purchases of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have a major impact on its costs and power ra...
   
   
   
   
5. Winning declassification of world's largest mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and testifying about it in Congressional investigation.  July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- Largest Mercury Pollution Event in World History (4.2 Million Pounds). 



July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tenness... 40 years ago today. Members of Congress wanted answers, or at least then-Rep. Al Gore and some others acted like...




6. Security clearance reforms protecting environmental, nuclear anjd other whistleblowers, and LGBTQ, people working for federal agencies and government contractors.  Helped win American Bar Association House of Delegates vote in February 1990, endorsing security clearance reforms that were implemented under President Clinton, halting a proposed Bush Executive Order that would have erased rights to fair hearings and due process.
7. Environmental whistleblower law victories and precedents at U.S.Department of Labor, including landmark whistleblower case protecting federal environmental crimes investigators against retaliation for recusals or refusing to coverup wrongdoing.  FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P.
   
   

   FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P. 1. I am heartbroken. My heart goes out to the entire Tyndall family and to all of Bob's many friends and former ...
   
   
   
   
8. Exposed intimidation of nuclear weapons plant whistleblowers. February 5, 1992
   
   

   February 5, 1992 Time flies. It was 32 years ago: On February 5, 1992, I was up early in the Northeast Washington, D.C. arctic co...
   
   
   
   
9. Questioned aerial pesticide spraying program and winning reversal of illegal, no-bid SJC Mosquito Control Board purchase of $1.8 million luxury Bell Jet helicopter unadorned by nozzles, tanks, pilots, hangar or any plans for aerial spraying, winning 100% refund of deposit.
   
10. Defeat of multiple unwise development projects in St. Augustine and St. Johns County,
11. Adoption of employee whistleblower policy and sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. 
12. Successfully reported City of St. Augustine illegally dumping a landfill in a lake to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree, after City Manager William B. Harriss had said he would not agree to put the contaminated solid waste in a Class I landfill without a court order.  2008 Folio Weekly cover story by Anne Schindler called me an "environmental hero."
13. Reported City of St. Augustine illegal sewage pollution to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree.
14. Helped elect Nancy Shaver as in St. Augustine Mayor and Krista Keating-Joseph as County Commissioner, defeating pro-developer incumbents. 
15. Helping secure preservation of historic iconic Fish Island as city park with state funds, rejecting proposed ruinous development by D.R. Horton, with fifty (50) witnesses, including former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass.

4. What organizations do you belong to? 

1000 Friends of Florida

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Democratic Party

St. Augustine Historical Society

Fort Mose Historic Society

Florida Historical Society

Sierra Club

Investigative Reporters and Editors  

American Assn. For Advancement of Science  

Florida Adventures in Railroading

WJCT

5. What is your position and suggested solution on these key issues affecting our county?   

- Climate change and sea level rise

+ Support federal, state and local legislation to preserve and protect us from carbon and methane pollution, protect our coasts and wetlands, promote biodiversity, restore balance,

+ Support County's acceptance of federal grants on climate change. 

+ Oppose Florida Governors' attacks on environmental protection, with frequent blog posts.

www,cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

+ Support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Spoke to every St. Johns County Legislative Delegation meeting since 2006 on National Park and Seashore.

- Growth management and development

+ Strongly support reform of our Land Development Code as we know it.  

+ We must have fair hearings, with full disclosures, lobbyist registration, expert testimony, cross-examination of all witnesses and background investigations of developers.  

+ Are our current local and state procedures are a honky-tonk medley of "regulatory capture," farce and kabuki dance?

+ James Madison wrote, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. "

+ Affordable housing: we must reject "snob zoning," and allow duplexes and other auziliary dwellling units, preserving land and advancing affordable housing. 

+ We must adopt a Public Housing Agency.

+ We must comply with Fair Housing Act.

+ Let's start by re-writing our LDC and quasi-judicial hearing procedures.

+ For transparency, Commissioners must never meet with zoning applicants ex parte.  

+ St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver refused such meetings during her 1550 days as Mayor (making an exception when an applicant was allegedly being treated unfairly).

+ What kind of administrative judicial system lets zoning applicants meet secretly with elected officials?

+  Reject this corrupt system and will not be embroiled by it. 

+ We must require fuller corporate disclosure and better data. 

+ Require background investigations on zoning applicants -- know your customer! 

+ Are any zoning applicants involved in money-laundering,  

+ Environmental violations by zoning applicants must be researched by County staff and discussed publly in hearings.

+ We need full information on ex parte contacts with Commissioners, disclosed before hearings.

+ All ex parte meetings with Commissioners and staff must be videotaped and made a public record.  

+ As Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrey is for losers, for people who don't understand the value of the information.

- Trees and the proposed 14 point tree ordinance

+ Support proposed tree protection ordinance and spoke in favor of it, as did dozens of residents.  

+ I objected to four Commissioners' harsh response to First Amendment protected activity, evident retaliation against reform Commissioner Krista Joseph..

- Management of traffic and infrastructure

+ Support transit, impact fees and reform of zoning and planning as we know it.

- Septic tanks

+ Explore ban on new septic tanks in new construction

+ Monitor septic tank inspections and code enforcement.

6. What is your motivation for running to be a County Commissioner?

+ My first American ancestor escaped the British government-caused Irish potato famine in 1849, immigrating to Philadelphia with Irish neighbors at age six, the rest of her family died in famine.  My father taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "if you don't stand up to people in power, they walk all over you."   JFK was killed 22 days after I proudly wore a JFK costume on Halloween, at age six. At age 17.5, I went to work for his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the day before my first Georgetown class, inspired after hearing Ralph Nader speak on August 28, 1974 (Feast of St. Augustine).   

Love this magical place. We need to preserve what we know and love, with National Park Service help.  http://www.staugustgreen.com 

Moved here November 5, 1999, after falling in love with St. Augustine when we visited in August 1992, right after first environmental whistleblower trial against Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  

Faster than a speeding dump truck, what we love about St. Johns County is being destroyed. 

7. If you are elected or re-elected, what initiatives would you introduce or promote to protect the environment of St. Johns County?

* St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore

* Environmental Regulatory Commission.

* Independent environmental impact statements for government project, as under NEPA.

* Lobbyist registration and background investigations.

* Video of every County Commissioner "ex parte' meeting with putative "developers."

* County whistleblower protection ordinance

* Reform zoning and planning as we know it. 

Thank you. 

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998

Celebrate Independence! On or before November 3, 2026, Elect Ed Slavin to Anastasia Mosquito Control Board of St. Johns County

Election is on November 3. 

To St. Johns County voters: On November 3, 2026, may I please have the honor of your votes for Commissioner of the Anastasia Mosquito District of St. Johns County?

Endorsed by both Historic City News and St. Johns County Democratic Party in 2024.

Here's my 2024 Q&A with the League of Women Voters:

What motivated you to run for office?

It's our money. I've been a watchdog on mosquito control since 2006. Mosquitoes could bring us the next global pandemic. We will be prepared with data, research, education, and environmentally-friendly, non-toxic natural pesticides. My dad was an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, infected with malaria in Sicily. Dad recovered in Army hospitals, but we saw dad suffer lifetime effects. LWV's Ms. Robin Nadeau asked me to help her investigate Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County, buying a $1.8 million no-bid, luxury Bell Jet Long Ranger helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter, not unlike buying a Porsche to propel a snowplow. We persuaded AMCD to cancel illegal, no-bid helicopter contract, saving $1.8 million in 2007.  

What do you see as the most pressing issues for this office and how do you propose to address them?
Advancing research and education while protecting scientific integrity and employee whistleblower rights; safeguarding the independence of AMCD, an independent scientific and technical organization; protecting public health, the environment and public funds. Let's assure that "whistleblower" ethical employees are heard and heeded whenever they raise concerns. Let's resist any further effort by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners to take over independent AMCD, as attempted by former SJC County Administrator Michael Wanchick and County Commission Chairmen. I oppose allowing arbitration clauses in AMCD contracts, Yes, I've been a watchdog of mosquito control environmental protection and spending since December 2006.

What training, experience, and characteristics qualify you for this position?
Helped persuade our independent mosquito district to cancel unwise, no-bid luxury $1.8 million helicopter contract. Won declassification of our frail planet's largest-ever mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant),triggering nationwide cleanups; recommended for Pulitzer Prize by DA. Clerked for USDOL Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt and Judge Charles Rippey. Staffer for Senators Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart & Jim Sasser. B.S.F.S., Georgetown U.; J.D., Memphis State U. Your watchdog, termed an "environmental hero" by FOLIO WEEKLY (after reporting City's illegal dumping of landfill in lake and illegal sewage effluent pollution of our saltwater marsh). Shall we ask questions, demand answers & expect democracy?

How important are environmental concerns when making decisions for the Anastasia Mosquito Control District?
Very important

Explain your answer.
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" informs good science and use of non-toxic natural pesticides as much as possible. Amid global climate change, the next pandemic could be a mosquito-borne disease. Let's protect AMCD independence, education and applied research to protect public health and our environment. I support AMCD's leadership on natural pesticides. I once reported FEMA and AMCD to federal environmental law officials when bald eagles were exposed to organophosphate pesticides. Support AMCD working with other mosquito control districts and officials to share scientific knowledge to protect all of us "non-target species": mosquito control workers, residents, tourists, pets, horses, livestock, bees and other pollinators, flora and fauna. 

St. Johns County is growing rapidly. How does this impact the management of mosquito control?
Overdevelopment increases the expense of mosquito control and increases exposure of families to mosquitoes from wetlands. St. Johns County Commissioners, developers and their big money clout decide way too many unwise development decisions. This requires our nimble small mosquito control special taxing district to innovate, with sensitive adaptation of mosquito control techniques to protect entire new neighborhoods, which seem to spring up overnight, adjoining wetlands. Public education, applied research, sound science-based policies and non-toxic mosquito control methods, are all essential to protecting public health from mosquito-borne diseases. AMCD exists to prevent any outbreaks of deadly mosquito-borne diseases. We must do it right!

Watch John Oliver on special tax districts.

John Oliver on special tax districts. FYI: I am running for a seat on our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 2, in the nonpartisan general election. You can vote for me on or before November 3, 2026. It is an independent special taxing district. Watch John Oliver on independent special tax districts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saU5racsGE

ANNALS OF TRUMPI$TAN: The Trump Administration is a Cesspit of Corruption. (Paul Krugman, October 5, 2026, Substack)

Here's Nobel Prize winning journalist Paul Krugman's column:

The Trump Administration is a Cesspit of Corruption

The Trump Administration is a Cesspit of Corruption

And fighting it should be at the heart of the Democratic agenda

PAUL KRUGMAN

19 HOURS AGO

The cesspit of corruption that is Donald Trump’s presidency is finally getting the attention it deserves. It’s about time. And if a massive blue wave sweeps Washington on November 3^rd as polls now suggest, Democrats should put corruption front and center of their agenda in Congress.

The level of corruption that Trump has engaged in and enabled in others is completely unprecedented – self-dealing that, as Trump would say, is like nothing anybody has ever seen before. America currently has a Republican president who, along with his family, has raked in billions, possibly close to $10 billion in personal gain from office in less than two years. He has effectively sold criminal pardons to scammers, invalidating the legal claims of their victims for restitution. His son-in-law Jared Kushner has become a billionaire running an investment fund for Gulf petro-state autocrats despite having no discernible investment skills. The Times just reported that Kristi Noem paid hundreds of millions over the reasonable price for 5 aircraft – one of which contains a marble bathroom and luxury bedroom – that were ostensibly for deportations but are instead sitting on the runway. And then there’s Trump’s Secretary of the Commerce, Howard Lutnick, whose family has doubled its net worth to over $7 billion, largely through its investments in Tether, the crypto-currency of choice by Iran, terrorists and rogue states.

And I shouldn’t omit the tragic fate of Simon Andriesz, the British banker and whistleblower, who recently died by suicide. Andriesz revealed to the Senate that Lutnick had lied about the extent of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Right before his death, Andriesz spoke openly about how threats to himself and his family as a result of his testimony had ruined his life.

Despite the extent of Trump and Co’s corruption, there’s still some voter education to be done here. Given everything else — the disastrous Persian Gulf war, tariffs, inflation, threats against our closest allies, visions of AI annihilation — it has taken a long time for Trump and Co’s lurid, open corruption to emerge as a major political issue. But there are growing signs that corruption is finally breaking through into the public consciousness. Hopefully this breakthrough will be hugely important not just for the midterm elections but for what happens afterwards.

A clear indication of this breakthrough was the startling Oct 2^nd lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal — yes, that left-wing rag, the Wall Street Journal —excoriating the Trump family’s corruption. True, the headline — “Don Jr.’s star turn is coming” — was oddly elliptical, and the example of corruption it chose to focus on – the wedding gift bestowed by a Russian oligarch worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, is penny-ante by Trump standards. The tone was more “this is a public relations problem for Republicans” than “the Trumps are selling America to the highest bidders, some of whom are enemies of the State”. But apparently even the formerly pro-Trumpian Wall Street Journal editorial page has finally reached its gag level.

Reflecting this trend, the latest Economist/YouGov poll included questions about corruption and which political party voters blame most. This appears to be the first time that this question has been asked systematically. Here’s what the poll found:

At first sight, these poll results are somewhat disappointing: only 30 percent of Americans see Republicans as the more corrupt party, with a majority either saying that Democrats are more corrupt or that there is no difference between the parties. But if one combines a closer look at these numbers with a more realistic understanding of public opinion, this poll actually shows that corruption is becoming a serious G.O.P. problem.

First, only a small fraction of independents say that Democrats are more corrupt than Republicans. The only group in which a majority say that the Democrats are the more corrupt party are MAGA Republicans — and as the old line puts it:“they would say that, wouldn’t they?”

Second, most voters, too busy trying to cope with daily responsibilities compounded by inflation and surging car loan rates, don’t pay close attention to the news. They are vaguely aware that corruption is an issue, and too often equate low-level, routine grifting like that of Hunter Biden or Bob Menendez with Trump’s wholesale looting and vandalism. They have little sense of the reality that recent corruption is orders of magnitudes bigger and more blatant than anything we saw in the past.

But that may soon change. According to all the polls, Democrats have a virtual lock on winning the House by a large margin. In addition, polls indicate a high probability that they will also take the Senate. And this means subpoena power. Through Congressional hearings and investigations, Democrats can vastly elevate the visibility of the extent of the outright looting and vandalism of this country by Trump and his gang.

Given the extent of the corruption, the rise of oligarchy in America, and the ever-rising flood of money in politics, many people may reasonably ask “Why will this matter?” Having elected Trump twice, can we trust Americans to vote for what is right rather than for lies? And can we trust Democrats, once in power, to be immune to the seduction of Big Money, as the Big Money will certainly try?

So, in a very real sense, once in power Democrats will have multiple battle fronts on their hands. In addition to battling Trump in his two remaining years of power, they will also have to prove to the American people that they will be immune to the inevitable attempts by Big Money to buy them off through campaign contributions and back-room deals. A couple of examples of what is already going wrong are the recent employment of Chuck Shumer’s daughter by OpenAI and the crypto billions raised by Kirsten Gillibrand’s 22-year old son for a new venture.

Granted, these two examples are exceedingly small potatoes in comparison to Trumpian corruption. But a significant number of voters won’t see it that way and will instead settle into a disaffected stance that both parties are equally bad. Furthermore, it’s a sure bet that once Democrats are in power, the Wall Street Journal and its ilk will revert to form, lambasting Democrats and elevating the Republicans.

So Democrats need to use this coming blue wave not only to clean out Trump’s corruption but to also put their own house in order. Because the forces that gave rise to Trump will not go meekly into the night.

MUSICAL CODA

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Discussion about this post

GH

19h

How you managed to write that with such visible but restrained anger is damned impressive. Must leave you exhausted having to research and focus on such vileness.

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Kimberly

19h

If Dems do manage to get the majority they absolutely need to 86 Schumer and Jeffries and get people dedicated to honesty and $0 crypto, oil and other big money contributions. Really, they should be able to run a country and prosecute people at the same time.

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