BCC Candidates for District 1

[jdarg]

I have been waiting to see if someone else is noticing the fact that there are plenty of candidates for District 5, but is anyone running against Scott Brannon in District 1?


:idontno:

[Andy A.]

I have been waiting to see if someone else is noticing the fact that there are plenty of candidates for District 5, but is anyone running against Scott Brannon in District 1?


:idontno:
Good question and while Scott has done a creditable job in many areas, I would like to see all commissioners have apponents. I am sure everyone on SoWal is aware that we can vote for all district candidates in Walton County.

[scooterbug44]

Good question and while Scott has done a creditable job in many areas, I would like to see all commissioners have opponents. I am sure everyone on SoWal is aware that we can vote for all district candidates in Walton County.

I love that someone CONVICTED of election fraud is running unopposed. :bang:

[wrobert]

I love that someone CONVICTED of election fraud is running unopposed. :bang:


Funny, I do not remember a trial on this issue.

[Aggie]

Speaking of convicted .. today's Daily News has a story on Charlie Burke with this headline: "Suspended Walton mosquito control commissioner convicted of voter fraud" .. what a shame.

Brannon agreed to accept the fines imposed by the Florida Elections Commission and the WAV group also agreed to pay fines in a consent agreement to settle charges of compaign finance law violations.

[wrobert]

Speaking of convicted .. today's Daily News has a story on Charlie Burke with this headline: "Suspended Walton mosquito control commissioner convicted of voter fraud" .. what a shame.

Brannon agreed to accept the fines imposed by the Florida Elections Commission and the WAV group also agreed to pay fines in a consent agreement to settle charges of compaign finance law violations.


Civil penalties are not a conviction though.

[Johnny Post]

Thanks Aggie and wrobert, you beat me to it.

Not at all endorsing any activity that is deemed to fall outside our election laws, but campaign violations are not criminal, so saying "convicted" is inaccurate.

Also, let's be clear, agreeing to pay a fine for an alleged violation is not at all uncommon. I know a lot of people who aren't thrilled with speeding tickets, but don't want to spend the time or money to contest the issue, and opt for the cheaper "fine". And, I'm just guessing here, but I suspect a lawyer for an election complaint costs more than one who does traffic tickets. It may have been a simple financial decision to pay the fines and not pay the lawyers.

Now Charlie Burke, he was "convicted".

As always, lets keep these discussions about facts. It gives us in SoWal more credibility.

[scooterbug44]

Sorry, I will rephrase, as I obviously used a poor choice of words:

I love that someone with a well-documented history of campaign violations and major financial backing from a group who also has a history of campaign violations and ugly tactics is running unopposed! :bang:

What was it, 30+ violations that they were fined for?

[Johnny Post]

Thanks for rephrasing.

If I recall the PAC involved was fined on approximately 30 counts. Comm. Brannon was fined on 2 counts.

I assume thats the well-documented history you refer to. Either way, I agree with the point about the PAC.

These groups have a very negative effect on all campaigns, and this would appear to be the first local race we saw that in.

Back to the original post... is it truly necessary that every incumbent have multiple opponents? More signs, more dollars spent on elections, and less time to focus on actual issues getting resolved.

I'm all for the democratic process, but the idea of opposition, specifically multiple opponents, as a requirement strikes me as being a bit much.

[scooterbug44]

I am not advocating multiple opponents, just wish someone was running against Brannon.

I do not approve of his actions while campaigning or in office and want someone with the community's best interests in mind elected.

[wrobert]

I am not advocating multiple opponents, just wish someone was running against Brannon.

I do not approve of his actions while campaigning or in office and want someone with the community's best interests in mind elected.


Then run. You seem to be a pretty balanced, informed individual.

[rapunzel]

Isn't that just going to bring the wrath of the developer mafia down on her if she does?

Can anyone run in that district and still do business in this community?

[Andy A.]

I am not advocating multiple opponents, just wish someone was running against Brannon.

I do not approve of his actions while campaigning or in office and want someone with the community's best interests in mind elected.
In all fairness, why don't you look at what he has promoted and done while in office instead of how his campaign was run? I did not vote for Scott Brannon because I thought he was in the pocket of the developers, due in part, to his campaign antics. However, his actions while serving on the Commission have not borne this out, IMO. For instance, he is the Commissioner who proposed the 50 ft. hieght restriction for Choctawhatcee Bay and othe points in NoWall and I, personally think that is a very good thing unless you want Walton County to look like Destin and Panama City Beach. His efforts to improve the Morrison Spring recreational area are also commendable. If you do not attend commission meetings, SB44, I suggest you attend a few and observe Mr Brannon in action. If you do attend you should recognize what I am talking about. Also, as I previously stated, I prefer to see an opponent for all incumbents. My previous post was not meant to be any kind of endorsement for Scott Brannon. This one is meant to point out that his service on the Commission has met many of the desires I have for the betterment of Walton County.

[DuneLaker]

Morrison Springs was acquired by a previous commission, not Brannon. However, there are complaints of how now during Brannon's term the area is being overdeveloped (per letter to editor in DeFuniak Paper about two months ago). Brannon wasn't out front helping with the Blue Sign issue. One could comment that if he had been attending meetings and communicating with his South Walton constituents, some of that issue might not have happened. South Walton did not vote in the majority for Brannon. He moved the commissioner's office out of SoWal. SoWal used to have two commissioner offices. There are quite a few that are not pleased with his performance. SoWal has suffered from a number of issues the past four years and there has been little to no comment from Brannon on a number of issues. Most people in SoWal resigned themselves to calling Cindy Meadows if they wanted to talk to a commissioner that had an interest in SoWal. Brannon was not living in District 1 when he filed and his service to SoWal has showed how that might have had some effect on his committment to the area.

[DuneLaker]

As to the use of the word conviction. I think we could discuss that more. Stated in Roget's Thesaurus 971 Condemnation. -- N. condemnation, conviction, proscription, damnation; death warrant; penalty etc. 974. attain-der, -ture, -tment. V. condemn, convict, cast, bring home to, find guilty, damn, doom, sign the death warrant, sentence, pass sentence on, attaint, confiscate, proscribe, sequestrate; non-suit. disapprove etc. 932; accuse etc. 938. stand condemned. Adj. condem-, dam-natory; condemned etc. v.; non-suited etc. (failure) 732; self-convicted Phr. mutato nomine de te fabula narratur.

[sowalgayboi]

Why is he still running? With the real estate downturn he won't have his cadre of cronies interested in getting him re-elected. He doesn't strike me as someone interested in public service as every inquiry made to him is given the exact same form response.

[rapunzel]

Why is he still running? With the real estate downturn he won't have his cadre of cronies interested in getting him re-elected. He doesn't strike me as someone interested in public service as every inquiry made to him is given the exact same form response.

What I'd like to know is what he's doing that makes some powerful people in this community feel it's so important that he's re-elected that they intimidate potential opponents. Allegedly.

He supported the NatureWalk Beach Club development at Seagrove Villas, despite it's clear violation of the code. I doubt there's a development project he wouldn't approve. Perhaps that's it?

[DuneLaker]

Good luck in finding anything out. Brannon is quieter than the Sheriff when it comes to speaking out, returning calls or showing up at public events -- especially in District 1 in SoWal. Who funds him is still a mystery to most. When the financial report story came out in the papers some months ago, his was once again missing and not ready for publication. Someone will probably have to file a complaint to get his information. Then, it will be two years before you find anything out as his adept lawyers and pr firm drag his response out. His value is the family and close ties to lawyers, lobbyists and developers like Olson & Assoc. of Nature Walk ($5,000 to WAV, a 30+ campaign finance law violations group) who gave him and the group campaign money. Hilton calls turtles "the little critters" and often speak out at public meetings in opposition to a turtle light ordinance. Hilton gave at least $20,000 to same WAV group and maximum to Brannon. Most regular citizens are limited to $500.

[Johnny Post]

When a candidate takes money from developers, we rightly get to question his allegiance. So I agree with several of the previous posts, you can certainly hang development money around Comm. Brannon's neck.

But let's be clear on our facts about approving developments. In many cases, our elected officials are bound to approve developments, even if we in the public are adamantly against them. It is a simple matter of following the code, and voting in accordance with staff approval (planning department and planning board).

Now, before it starts, I know we have had some commissioners vote against a project, when the only problem was the public outcry. While that seems great, its not actually right.

It frustrates me to hear people direct comments, and attacks, at elected officials who follow the code, and then say it was their personal decision. If you don't like our development code, start pushing for change. If you don't like staff recommendation, start pushing for change. But in many cases, seeking a change of the commissioner will miss the heart of the problem.

[scooterbug44]

Then run. You seem to be a pretty balanced, informed individual.

It was considered and swiftly rejected because I have too many potential conflicts of interest - both real and perceived because of my various jobs.

Once again, doing the "right" thing based on moral / honesty reasons paid off, as per some entertaining (and yet to be verified local gossip), if I had gone through with it I would have quickly received a visit from an iconic local figure threatening my 30-A livelihood if I ran against Scott Brannon!

Supposedly 2 others have already been dissuaded via this method!

What the puck is going on? :idontno:

[BeachSiO2]

Once again, doing the "right" thing based on moral / honesty reasons paid off, as per some entertaining (and yet to be verified local gossip), if I had gone through with it I would have quickly received a visit from an iconic local figure threatening my 30-A livelihood if I ran against Scott Brannon!

Supposedly 2 others have already been dissuaded via this method!

What the puck is going on? :idontno:

You know I have heard the same gossip. Has anyone heard it DIRECTLY form one of the people that were going to run and has pulled out, or is everyone hearing the same story passed around. I don't understand the benefits to the person I heard that was doing the dissuading. Based on your post, I am pretty clear that it was the same iconic local figure.

[DuneLaker]

Going back to JDarg's original comment of why so many District 5 candidates and so few District 1 commissioner candidates. Besides the points made about past campaign organizations with 30+violations which might deter candidates not under their influence, when the County Commissioners redistricted after 2004, SoWal was poorly served. Instead of looking at the growth and allowing a more generous deviation to accomodate communities of SoWal, Freeport's Cuchens and Brannon, Paxton's Pridgen, Mossy Head's Jones (at that point SoWal's Meadows is in, but you'll remember in the early days there were a lot of 4-1 votes and the boys were beating up on her pretty bad) had District 5's border be 395. This cut down on the available number of SoWal candidates that could have qualified in District 1. The damage was done and this scenario was predictable. Nothing much we can do about this now. However, SoWal needs to be very involved in the next redistricting process and be sure SoWal gets the representation it deserves.

[wrobert]

Going back to JDarg's original comment of why so many District 5 candidates and so few District 1 commissioner candidates. Besides the points made about past campaign organizations with 30+violations which might deter candidates not under their influence, when the County Commissioners redistricted after 2004, SoWal was poorly served. Instead of looking at the growth and allowing a more generous deviation to accomodate communities of SoWal, Freeport's Cuchens and Brannon, Paxton's Pridgen, Mossy Head's Jones (at that point SoWal's Meadows is in, but you'll remember in the early days there were a lot of 4-1 votes and the boys were beating up on her pretty bad) had District 5's border be 395. This cut down on the available number of SoWal candidates that could have qualified in District 1. The damage was done and this scenario was predictable. Nothing much we can do about this now. However, SoWal needs to be very involved in the next redistricting process and be sure SoWal gets the representation it deserves.

From my experience with redistricting, I do not recall being allowed to take into account what MIGHT happen. Everything that I could find pointed to what actual numbers were at the time of redistricting. Without a good solid census to go on, and without any other direction other than past case law and Florida statute, the only thing the majority felt could be accomplished last time was cleaning up some district lines and numbering, while we wait until 2011.

Our direction came both from Ken Little and from other committee members who worked with Tallahassee officials to provide guidance.

I was very surprised at the number of people on the panel, who were from south Walton, that did not have a clue as to how elections actually worked in Walton County.

[DuneLaker]

Not talking about what MIGHT happen. Talking about real numbers and deviation allowed. Up to an overall 10% is allowed and this is good as it gives room to keep communities together. I believe there was much less deviation adopted. This kept all districts around 8,100. SoWal would have been better served by a larger overall deviation, clearly allowed within the laws of redistricting.

[wrobert]

Not talking about what MIGHT happen. Talking about real numbers and deviation allowed. Up to an overall 10% is allowed and this is good as it gives room to keep communities together. I believe there was much less deviation adopted. This kept all districts around 8,100. SoWal would have been better served by a larger overall deviation, clearly allowed within the laws of redistricting.


That number was mentioned repeatedly yet no one could point to it in a court decision or statute. In fact there was support of a much greater deviation in a county in Florida that was similar to Walton in that it had a large urban area along with a large agricultural area. After they redistricted they were sued by local citizens and were able to defend the decision to have a district with a much larger number than the others.

The problem that we ran into was that no one could reach a consensus on which numbers we would use to make a determination of the district boundaries. The argument of lack of representation fails, according to case law we found, due to the fact that each district is elected at large.

The result was not necessarily what the committee wanted but with few legal guidelines and defined sources of numbers it was the only choice we could make until 2011.

[ShallowsNole]

Other issues notwithstanding, remember that Brannon is from Freeport. I love Freeport. Went to high school there, lived there for 10 years, still have many good friends there. I actually consider Freeport as part of "south Walton" as it is certainly not "north" Walton.

But Freeport as a rule does not want to share their county commissioner with South Walton. This was true when my dad ran for District 5 BCC in 1976, and it is still true today for District 1 BCC.

[DuneLaker]

The United States Justice Department which has the final say ultimately in redistricting cases has this. Someone should have looked it up. I know all those lawyers and lobbyists that work on redistricting in Tallahassee know this. Redistricting is in some ways more important than elections. The professionals know this and plan and scheme way in advance for election scenarios. Remember all the Texas hoopla over redistricting. Hopefully, SoWal will get some good appointments to the redistricting board next time and SoWal will be vocal and engaged. Most don't realize how the system works. Most voters didn't understand much about voting laws and regulations until the 2000 election, either.

[wrobert]

The United States Justice Department which has the final say ultimately in redistricting cases has this. Someone should have looked it up. I know all those lawyers and lobbyists that work on redistricting in Tallahassee know this. Redistricting is in some ways more important than elections. The professionals know this and plan and scheme way in advance for election scenarios. Remember all the Texas hoopla over redistricting. Hopefully, SoWal will get some good appointments to the redistricting board next time and SoWal will be vocal and engaged. Most don't realize how the system works. Most voters didn't understand much about voting laws and regulations until the 2000 election, either.


Everyone tried to look it up. No one could find it. No one in Tallahassee could show us. No case law or other guidance could be found. A couple of people just kept saying that they knew it was so, but without a source. Maybe people will start doing their homework now so when we do redistrict in 2011 everyone can be prepared. I know this information was researched for several months to no avail, maybe with years to find it, we can uncover it.

[DuneLaker]

Maybe who was asked in Tallahassee did not want you to know. Redistricting is full of shenanigans. Take SoWal's crazy Congressional House District 2. Geez, it snakes through SoWal up and picks up Blue Water Bay. Rep. Bev Kilmer, once SoWal and District 7 representative was on the legislature's redistricting committee. She helped draw SoWal numbers and Blue Water Bay numbers into that Congressional House District. And, guess what? She ran for that seat the next election. Fancy that coincidence.

[wrobert]

Maybe who was asked in Tallahassee did not want you to know. Redistricting is full of shenanigans. Take SoWal's crazy Congressional House District 2. Geez, it snakes through SoWal up and picks up Blue Water Bay. Rep. Bev Kilmer, once SoWal and District 7 representative was on the legislature's redistricting committee. She helped draw SoWal numbers and Blue Water Bay numbers into that Congressional House District. And, guess what? She ran for that seat the next election. Fancy that coincidence.


Maybe. But I do not personally subscribe to conspiracy theories of such magnitude. We were doing a county commission redistricting, not a state house. When they did the District 7 one didn't a sitting county commissioner or two go to Panama City and testify in a public forum that those rural counties east of here had more in common with south Walton than north Walton?

Pretty common for those state and national districts to be gerrymandered. I think the ones in Walton were to some degree this last time, based on whose house was placed in which district. But with some solid numbers from a credible source, I do not see that happening again. There was way too much interest and a desire by the people to try to do something this last time. None of us were able to find what we thought was a way to make a change with legal standing. I thought the last redistricting occurred in 2001 after the census. I know it has to be done in odd years that is why we looked at it in 2007.

[BeachSiO2]

Maybe. But I do not personally subscribe to conspiracy theories of such magnitude. We were doing a county commission redistricting, not a state house. When they did the District 7 one didn't a sitting county commissioner or two go to Panama City and testify in a public forum that those rural counties east of here had more in common with south Walton than north Walton?

Pretty common for those state and national districts to be gerrymandered. I think the ones in Walton were to some degree this last time, based on whose house was placed in which district. But with some solid numbers from a credible source, I do not see that happening again. There was way too much interest and a desire by the people to try to do something this last time. None of us were able to find what we thought was a way to make a change with legal standing. I thought the last redistricting occurred in 2001 after the census. I know it has to be done in odd years that is why we looked at it in 2007.

Talk about gerrymandering. How about Congressional House District 2 where Boyd is? IMO, that was an interesting change to try and move it from the blue column to the red column by picking up Sowal and Destin and extending from Tallahassee all the way over here.