Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
September 6, 2016 1:00 a.m.
With the August 30 Primary Election behind us, with the exception of sign removal, here is the financial tally to date for money collected and spent on the election by the winners and losers, courtesy the Supervisor of Elections Office:
Races in the following contests have not yet been decided, since additional candidates will contest primary winners in the General Election in November. The only exception is the Sheriff’s race, in which incumbent Sheriff Bill Leeper did not draw a primary opponent. He is being challenged by an opponent with no party affiliation (NPA) in the General Election:
Write-in candidates for Tax Collector and County Commissioner District 5 have not reported any contributions or expenses. The Libertarian candidate for Superintendent of Schools has not reported any fundraising or expenses for 2016. Should any of these candidates withdraw before the November election, the Primary winner will be declared elected.
Editor’s Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne’s many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.
Looks like the money wins yet again in all but three elections – how disheartening. The upside: It appears the most egregious expenditure of money from outside interests (not local to Nassau County) was met with a resounding defeat. Nevertheless, these outside contributions should be banned from ALL elections in the U.S. Overturning Citizens United should be the first step in campaign finance reform. It’s a disgraceful shame it ever passed the SCOTUS.
Randy Cottle connects the dots. Money now is amplified and distorted speech. Dark money is a subterfuge for hidden control and hidden agendas. Even local elections no longer deal with issues of local significance, but now mandate that thinking and responsible human citizens wade through the muck and mire of purchased static and mud. We are now in this mess because of “Citizens United”. And it will only get worse, as we are seeing now. This decision is bad law (second worst in American history only behind the Dred Scott decision) and must be overturned.
https://www.thenation.com/article/citizens-united-and-corporate-court/
https://www.thenation.com/article/citizens-united-and-corporate-court/
We were fortunate this primary, election cycle, that we had a Qualified Candidate for the office of Nassau County Superintendent of Schools. Through the Election Process in Nassau County, the only Criteria that is needed to run for, and hold this office is, #1 You are a Resident of Nassau County, and #2 You are a registered Voter. In what, modern Society is this acceptable.? This is 2016, Not 1820. The Educational Requirements in the 21st Century are much too Sophisticated to have our Superintendent selected like this. Nassau County, needs to rethink, how we choose our School Superintendent. a proper vetting process is needed. Randy is right, Citizens United needs to be Repealed, to eliminate this “Dark Money” filtering in to our Election Process. I was Proud of the Nassau County Republicans that were offended by the Negative Ad Campaign, by a Candidate for this office. Wedge Issues and Nasty Innuendos, was Defeated at the Primary Polls. Thank You All.
I’m not sure Randy’s conclusion is accurate. Look at District 5 where Joe Zimmerman outspent Justin Taylor by 20% and lost by more than 26 percentage points. Whereas Klynt Farmer spent 75% less and only lost by 5 percentage points. Adkins outspent Burns 3 to 1 but lost by more than 2 to 1. I think the majority of Nassau County voters are smart enough to determine which candidate is more aligned with their thinking and vote accordingly, campaign slogans, signs and ads to the contrary.
While I agree on the underlying thought that there needs to be a limit on PAC expenditures, give the voters the credit they deserve.
I agree that this is no way to pick a School Superintendent. While I”m very happy that Nassau dodged the bullet and elected someone who would meet the qualifications that are usually required in counties where this position is hired by the school board. But just having the good fortune to have such a qualified person is not reason enough to keep it that way. In our county (and in most), the Superintendent is not elected, but rather, hired by the already-elected School Board. That provides proper voter input — but it also helps ensure that only the most qualified candidates will even be considered. We don’t elect a Superintendent for the same reason that our cities don’t elect a City Administrator or City Manager, and for the same reason that our counties do not elect a County Administrator. In other words, we don’t need an extra city commissioner. These are highly specialized jobs and hould go to highly qualified people. Again, Nassau got lucky– but it could have gone a different way, and I’m not just singling out one opponent here,but rather, what if neither one of them had run?