Tag Archive for: District 13

POLL: Sink 47%, Jolly, 37 %, Overby 12% in FL-13 Special Election

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SAINT LEO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Democrat Alex Sink leads Republican David Jolly 46-37 percent ahead of the March 11 special congressional election in the Pinellas, Florida-based 13th congressional district, according to a new poll released today by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute. Libertarian Lucas Overby would get 12 percent of the vote if the election were held today.

“Ms. Sink’s advantage is being driven by solid favorability ratings coupled with issue positions that seem to be more closely aligned with voter preferences than are Jolly’s,” said Frank Orlando, a political science instructor at Saint Leo University.  “She overcomes a partisan ID disadvantage in the district by maintaining much higher favorability among Republicans and Independents than Mr. Jolly does among Democrats.  The fact that a Libertarian candidate has robust support levels in the double digits seems to be contributing to the size of Sink’s lead.”

Democrats are overwhelmingly (88 percent) favoring Sink with only 6 percent favoring Jolly and 4 percent favoring Overby.  However, Republicans are a bit more divided on their candidate.  Only 64 percent of Republicans are backing Jolly.  Sixteen percent of Republicans say they’ll vote for Sink and another 14 percent say they’ll chose the Libertarian candidate.

After a heavy advertising campaign, both Sink and Jolly have become well-known in the district and have similar favorable ratings. Sink has a net favorability ratings of +7 and gross ratings of 51 percent favorable, 44 percent unfavorable. Jolly has a net favorability rating of +3 and gross ratings of 47 percent favorable, 44 percent unfavorable. Sink enjoys an intensity advantage among voters who say they are “very favorable” toward a candidate, with 33 percent holding a “very favorable” opinion of Sink and 21 percent holding a “very favorable” opinion of Jolly.

Libertarian Overby, who has been included in debates and has received more media attention than third party candidates often do, has hard name identification of 58 percent (30 percent favorable, 28 percent unfavorable). His net favorable rating is +2.

Methodology: The Saint Leo University Polling Institute poll of likely voters who live in FL-13 was conducted February 9-11, 2014 using a blended sample reached by Interactive Voice Response and an online panel. The sample size was 400 respondents, yielding a margin of error of +/- 5% with a 95% confidence level. 372 respondents (93% of sample) were reached on randomly dialed landline telephones using an automatic dialer, pre-recorded questions, and touch-tone telephone keypad responses. To ensure that a representative sample of younger voters was included, 28 respondents in this age group were reached using an online panel. To be included in the survey as a “likely voter,” all respondents had to affirm twice that they are 18 or older and then they had to get past three screening questions.

SOURCE: Saint Leo University Polling Institute

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times.

Libertarian Candidate in FL District 13 race seen as Equal to Major Party Challengers

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Danielle Alexandre from the 1787 Radio Network reports:

In the wake of the death of 43 year US House Representative, Bill Young, a special election will be held on March 11, 2014. As the Republican Primary comes to a close the race will come down to Democrat Alex Sink, Republican David Jolly and Libertarian Lucas Overby.

Lucas Overby has been heavily campaigning for this seat, raising over $12,000 in the span of 72 hours to secure his place on the March ballot, holding town hall meetings throughout the district to speak with the voters and launching an aggressive ground campaign with volunteers going door to door in voter outreach efforts.

Today, it was announced that Lucas Overby will also be included in the televised debate for the Florida Congressional District 13 race. This putting him on equal footing with the two major party candidates and making Lucas the first Libertarian candidate included in a debate for a federal office in Florida.

The televised debate will be held on February 3, 2014 from 7-8 pm and can be viewed locally on Bay News 9 or nationally on C-SPAN.

This is a victory for the Libertarian Party which has historically been plagued with media and debate blackouts and gives the Lucas Overby for Congress Campaign the credibility and respect needed to be seen as a viable candidate in this race.  This has become the race to watch for Libertarians around the country.

Read more.

Matt Schnackenberg is the Libertarian candidate in US Congress District 11 and Ray Netherwood in US House Dist 19.

Below is the letter from the Tampa Bay Times Managing Editor inviting candidate Overby to participate in the February 3rd debate with Jolly and Sink:

letter from tampa bay editor

Florida Rep. Buchanan: “Heads Need to Roll” at the IRS

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-FL, and the only member of the Florida delegation on the House Ways and Means Committee, today called on acting-IRS commissioner Steven Miller to immediately fire Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official who oversaw the intentional targeting of individuals because of their politics and criticism of the government.

“Heads need to roll today,” said Buchanan, Florida’s only member of the Ways & Means Committee which oversees the IRS. “Ms. Lois Lerner knew about this gross abuse of power as early as 2011 but continues to plead ignorance to this day. We don’t want apologies we want answers and accountability — and we can start by firing the person responsible for this gross abuse of power.”

On Friday, Lerner told reporters that she first learned of the IRS targeting of political groups from media reports. However, a draft report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration confirms that Ms. Lerner was made aware that such political targeting had occurred on June 29, 2011. Ms. Lerner also tried to pin the blame on low-level workers. The Inspector General’s report confirms that senior IRS officials in Washington were made aware of the misconduct as early as August 2011.

“Our founding fathers would be rolling in their graves if they knew their government was targeting individuals based on their political beliefs and criticism of the government,” said Buchanan. “The American people need to know they can be critical of their government without fear of retribution.”

Buchanan issued a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday demanding a full accounting from top to bottom of those responsible for the IRS’s gross abuse of power and what action is being taken to restore the public trust. The Ways & Means Committee will hold its first hearing on Friday to further investigate the matter.

Congressman Buchanan sent the letter below to Treasury Secretary Lew:

May 13, 2013

The Honorable Jacob Lew
Secretary of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Secretary Lew,

I share the outrage of millions of Americans at confirmed reports that the Internal Revenue Service has gone out of its way to intentionally target individuals and organizations whose politics are at odds with the Administration. The American people demand and deserve a full-accounting from top to bottom of those responsible for this gross abuse of power and what action is being taken to restore the public trust.

On March 22, 2012, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee which oversees the IRS, we heard then-Commissioner Douglas Shulman clearly state that the IRS did not engage in the practices of which it is now accused saying “there is absolutely no targeting.” Yet, less than a year earlier, Commissioner Shulman’s own deputy, Lois Lerner, was made aware that such malpractice had indeed occurred. It became evident that groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names were extremely vulnerable to auditing harassment. Even nonprofit organizations that sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution were unfairly singled out for scrutiny.

The nation’s trust in government was betrayed by this unconscionable behavior.

On behalf of my constituents, your immediate response is not only warranted but essential to clearing up a matter that would have our founding fathers rolling in their graves.

Sincerely,

Vern Buchanan
Member of Congress

Democrat Denies Stating: Illegals “better employees than Americans” But The Record Shows He Did

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Keith Fitzgerald, Democrat candidate for Congress in Florida’s District – 13, is quoted in a 1997 Sarasota Herald-Tribune column stating, “[I]llegals are are often good hires … they’re better employees than Americans.” This came up during a debate with Representative Vern Buchanan this week. Buchanan paraphrased what Fitzgerald said in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune column. It is interesting that Fitzgerald, who wrote a book on illegal immigration, would deny what he wrote and re-stated in the column (see the below video).

Gordon Russell, author of the column reports, “…Fitzgerald says, people wouldn’t cross the border illegally if they weren’t certain they’d find work here. They usually do, so they keep coming.” The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reports that illegal aliens costs to the state of Florida in 2009 as $5,462,614,142.

The FAIR website states, “According to the Census Bureau the foreign-born population of Florida was about 3,658,043 persons in 2010. This estimate meant a foreign-born population share of 19.5 percent … Between 2000 and 2010 the Census Bureau estimate indicates an average annual rate of change in the foreign-born population of about 96,314 people, compared to the state’s annual average population change of about 275,018 people. That is a 35 percent share of the state’s population change (not including the children born in the United States to illegal aliens).”

This is of note to Floridians because President Obama chastised Governor Romney for his comments about illegals “self-deporting” during the past Presidential debate as the best way to solve the large illegal alien population.

FAIR notes the following positions of the candidates:

Some of President Obama’s stances included:

  • support for a broad amnesty, including the DREAM Act;
  • touting his backdoor amnesty initiatives such as deferred action for those meeting the criteria of the DREAM Act, and focusing enforcement only upon illegal aliens who have committed serious crimes;
  • opposition to Arizona’s SB 1070; and
  • touting his efforts to reduce the time in which immigration officers have to approve visa applications.

Gov. Romney’s stances included:

  • opposition to a broad amnesty while supporting a military-only DREAM Act;
  • supporting E-Verify and other programs to promote attrition through enforcement;
  • opposing driver’s licenses for illegal aliens; and
  • supporting the stapling of green cards to the diplomas of foreign graduates of U.S. universities.

FAIR also notes, “Criminal aliens — non-citizens who commit crimes — are a growing threat to public safety and national security, as well as a drain on our scarce criminal justice resources. In 1980, our federal and state prisons housed fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens. Today, about 55,000 criminal aliens account for more than one-fourth of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities, and there are about 297,000 criminal aliens incarcerated in state and local prisons. That number represents about 16.4 percent of the state and local prison population compared to the 12.9 percent of the total population comprised of foreign-born residents.” Florida has the 8th highest illegal alien prison population.

Illegal aliens cost Floridians dearly to incarcerate, medicate and educate. With so many Americans out of work, is it not time to give the jobs to our legal workers? Today, few would agree that Americans would not fill the positions held by illegals.

VIDEO: Buchanan – Fitzgerald debate: