Editor’s Note: In a report sent to the Fernandina Observer on Florida State legislative actions, Representative Janet Adkins included a letter to the editor sent to the News Leader. The following is a portion of her letter reporting on recent activity before the Local Government Affairs Commission, HB 1201 involving the Nassau County Ocean Highway and Port Authority bill to allow partisan elections.
State Representative Janet Adkins
April 4, 2015 7:45 a.m.
“Wednesday morning I had another early bill presentation before the Local Government Affairs Committee. HB 1201 deals with the Nassau County Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OPHA). The bill allows for partisan elections of the OHPA board members.
Since the creation of its charter in 1941, the elections of OPHA board members have been partisan. It was not until just recently that the Supervisor of Elections learned that the charter needed to be amended to
allow the continuation of partisan elections in order to be compliant with state law. The OPHA board had passed a resolution requesting a local bill for this change and the Nassau Delegation approved the request this past January.
The OPHA board elections are often considered to be “down ticket” races on the ballot. They are located rather far down on the ballot and often voters have little information about who the candidates are. While there are some that believe that these races should be non-partisan, I believe that the party affiliation is helpful to voters in that it gives some additional information on the ballot about the candidates.
We had two individuals who travelled from Nassau County to speak on the bill. OPHA board member Robert Bruce spoke in support of the bill and Michael Harrison spoke against the bill. The bill passed with a vote of 10 yeas and 3 nays.
After the bill was heard, the three of us enjoyed a cup of coffee in my office.”
Yes, Party politics at it’s best. The Nassau Delegation (nice sounding) amounted to Sen. Aaron Bean, Who authored the newest OHPA commission charter revisions and Rep. Janet Adkins a wonderful party soldier. At the January hearing on the issue there were 13 individuals that spoke, with compelling reasons to make these elections non-partisan, like our city commissioners are elected and two individuals that wanted to keep it partisan. This meeting was a Kangaroo court. Only for show, the results would have been the same,regardless of the number of people in our community who spoke or how compelling the arguments against partisan election where. If anyone in our city thinks that ether Bean or Adkins will protect this city from the Greed, and Corruption of Kinder Morgan and the Petroleum industry. Don’t hold your breath.
I think one could easily argue that if all a registered voter knew about candidates in a particular race was their party affiliation they should skip voting for any candidate in that race. Mrs. Adkins’ logic is quite biased and I am sure influenced by her husband Doug’s position as a Committeeman for the Republican party of FL. I am a registered Republican for those that think my comments are some sort of sour grapes.
I think one could easily argue that if all a registered voter knew about candidates in a particular race was their party affiliation they should skip voting for any candidate in that race. Mrs. Adkins’ logic is quite biased and I am sure influenced by her husband Doug’s position as a Committeeman for the Republican party of FL. BTW, I am a registered Republican.
Thank you Dave.
Well said.
This is a big non-issue in my opinion. There is absolutely nothing to stop anybody from filing and running for a seat on the Port Commission. The fact that individuals who are Independents or Democrats and have been unsuccessful in winning such a seat in the past … from my observation … has more to do with those candidates being poorly qualified, out of step with the community, or running a bad campaign (essentially running no campaign short of filing to run). There are bigger problems to be worrying about than this. I believe there were non-partisan races for school board last time around … with only one candidate. Making a position a partisan race hardly makes it more likely to attract more choices. And yes, I have a lot of confidence that Adkins and Bean are looking out for our best interests and are not tools of Kinder Morgan … I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise. I see the same names over and over harping on the same thing and having to express an opinion on EVERYTHING. It’s tiresome.
Rep Adkins position is sophistry. As many voters only vote party affiliation and don’t bother to understand what a candidate stands for, requiring Port elections to be partisan eliminates the need for candidates to express their positions on such issues as industrial expansion. Cain is also being sophistic; this is a big deal as Kinder-Morgan is out to expand operations and our waterfront neighborhood is endangered. And don’t give too much credit to Doug; Janet is the real brains of that pair.
As Adkins points out … these posts have been partisan elections since the 40’s. I wonder why no one cried about this years ago.
Candidates from minority parties have been elected to positions in many places … because they were clearly superior candidates and ran good campaigns.
Mr. Weintraub’s dig at Doug Adkins is childish … which is why a lot of people ignore and dismiss a lot of what he writes about … he shoots himself in the foot with his antics.