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TRANSCRIPT
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Vol. 12, No. 10 November 2012
President’s Message
A Publication of the Venice Area Democratic Club ~ Venice, FL
What’s News?
President’s Message (Ernie Zavodnyik) Page 1
Editor’s Notes / Welcome New Members Page 2
Important Programs: Working for Change / Happenings Page 3
Expressing Our Viewpoints Page 4
How to Contact Your Elected Officials Page 5
Calendar of Events / Message from Rita Ferrandino Page 6
Book Review Page 7
Democratic Candidates Page 8
The Venice Area
Democratic Club is
an affiliated club of
the Democratic
Executive
Committee of
Sarasota County,
and chartered by
the Florida
Democratic Party.
We meet the
third Saturday of
every month at
10:30 a.m. in Naar
Hall of the Venice
United Church of
Christ, located at
620 Shamrock
Blvd. in Venice, FL.
Please join us for
a stimulating,
progressive and
enlightening
meeting of like-
minded
individuals!
This Month’s
Meeting, Nov. 17
Saturday 10:30 am
Reviewing the
election.
We will celebrate our success, at least in
helping Barack
Obama take Florida, and we will also re-
flect on how we might do even better in the next election. Please
come and share your
ideas and experiences.
Reflections on November 6
I write this in the glow of President Obama’s election victory this past Tuesday in which we are all basking.
Thanks to all our VADC members, volunteers. and friends who contributed in so many ways to the President’s campaign and to the Democ-ratic election campaign. Your contributions of money, labor and most important of all, your time are much appreci-ated. The presidential election results manifestly demon-strate the value and impor-tance of volunteer efforts.
The President’s victory au-gurs well for attacking our many complex and difficult national issues. We want
President Obama and Con-
gressional Democrats to
forthrightly take up the issues and work with the Republican leadership to generate respon-sible legislative action that is comprehensive, fair, and just.
Clearly, compromise will be a necessary ingredient in re-
solving the issues. Our nation needs wise and intelligent leadership working together to face the hurdles in front of us. We have put our individ-ual trust and our communal trust in President Obama to fearlessly and thoughtfully lead the United States in these perilous times. If national leaders are to successfully draft, approve, and implement meaningful legislation, sacri-fice will be asked and re-quired of us. Economic sacri-fice has to be progressive. More has to be asked of those at the top of the economic ladder if we are serious about asking all Americans to sacri-fice for the long term good and welfare of our country. Our history offers us models of Americans accepting sacri-fices for the common good. The numerous sacrifices of and by Americans during World War II evidence Amer-ica’s united resolve to con-front and overcome burden-some challenges.
(Continued on page 7)
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Editor’s Notes
VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
HOW ABOUT THAT! WE REALLY DID IT!!
Well, in actuality we dodged a bullet, didn’t we? Simple logic
and a consideration for what is right and wrong should have
made Barack a shoo-in. And although the statisticians kept
saying that President Obama had by far the best chance of
winning, the polls were still frightening with the pendulum
swinging back and forth toward the end. But finally…how
sweet it is to have our endless hours of knocking on doors and
making phone calls pay off. It was worth it.
During the many discussions that I heard, it seemed that many
of us were of the opinion that if Romney were to win, and we
were to pretend that the Supreme Court was not a factor (just
for talking purposes), the country would surely slip backward
in many areas. Shooting themselves in the foot and taking the
rest of us with them, the conservatives would at least try to
undo much of the progress made in the past decades to im-
prove the quality of life of all Americans.
But, there would likely be a cycle in which the good folks
would eventually regain power in Congress. It has happened
this way before. After the damage done by the extreme con-
servatives took its toll and the citizens could no longer be
fooled by deceitful Republican rhetoric, it seems likely that
the country would swing back on the way to progress. How
long might this this recovery take place? Perhaps between
two and four presidential election cycles, so maybe a dozen
years?
But now add the effect of having Mitt Romney select two
new Supreme Court judges. It is too depressing to think
about. The length of the cycle before the damage was re-
versed would likely be much much longer than in the above
fictitious case.
We have earned four years to strengthen our base of sanity.
How we do that will be a tough challenge, but our chances
look good and we are part of a good team, are we not?
Welcome New Members
VADC OFFICERS PRESIDENT
Ernie Zavodnyik [email protected] (941) 485-7436
VICE PRESIDENT
Barbara Desmond [email protected] (941) 484-6296
RECORDING SECRETARY
Susette Bryan [email protected] (941) 496-8668
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Norma Dayton [email protected] (941) 493-5087
TREASURER
Virginia Bright [email protected] (941) 685-5784
VADC DIRECTORS
Henry Bright [email protected] (941) 586-4163
Brad Hardin [email protected] (941) 408-8401
Dee Hardin [email protected] (941) 408-8401
Joel Nelson [email protected] (941) 485-2080
Cathy Stumpfl [email protected] (941) 492-7113
Jack Wetherson [email protected] (941) 493-4205
COMMITTEES
Campaign Norma Dayton
Hospitality Madeleine Havlick & Anne Hoffman
Membership Henry Bright
Publicity Joel Nelson
Ways & Means Henry Bright
VOICES is the official monthly newsletter of the
Venice Area Democratic Club
P.O. Box 1743
Nokomis, FL 34274-1743
Tele(941) 492-5965
VOICES Editors: Brad and Dee Hardin
Production Manager: Jack Wetherson
Website: www.venicedemocrats.org
Betty Porazzo
Marion Craig
Ralston and Shirley Reid
Jennifer Cohen
Patty Gillaspy
Nancy Ryder
Deborah Yash
Peg Witek.
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VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
Important Programs: Working For Change
GOING FORWARD
The 2012 election clearly showed that people want our government to deal with economic inequality and other important issues. Thank good-ness voters saw through the corporate media advertisements, the talk show babble and lunacy of the extremists. Now it is time to go forward to help justice for all become reality.
Here are three things you can do right away:
1) Sign the Move to Amend petition at www.movetoamend.org and join the movement to overturn Citizens United and amend the Constitution to say clearly that corporations are not persons and money is not speech. Contact Kindra at 941-497-1764 if you can carpool with us to the South-ern Democracy Convergence in Gainesville Dec. 14-16. This move-ment is spreading across the country!
2) Join Brad Hardin’s SMART group (Sensible Messaging Activity to Restore Truth) (call 941-408-8401) and help spread the word of progressive ideas via letters to the editor and more! Not only letters, but responding to blogs, using Facebook and Twitter, can be very helpful. Don Diddams can show you how. People are learning the value of so-cial media to reach a wide audience. We MUST have our liberal voices heard. Otherwise the only message people hear is that of the increas-ingly radical conservatives.
3) Here is one good issue right in our backyard that needs to be brought to the public clearly. This is a good example of corporate control that denies human rights. Do you know that Publix is the major food corpo-ration in Florida that has NOT signed on to the Fair Food Agree-ment to provide humane working
conditions and a penny-a-pound
more to the Immokalee workers who
pick the tomatoes we eat? Since
2005, 11 corporations have signed
this agreement that guarantees to-
mato pickers rights regarding report-
ing sexual harassment, rights to
shade and water, a guaranteed mini-
mum wage, and more. Taco Bell was
the first to sign. Most recently,
Whole Foods and Trader Joes signed
on. Publix is the hard holdout. It is a
privately held corporation not sub-
ject to shareholder pressure. They
need the encouragement from the
public to do the right thing. See
www.ciw-online.org for all the de-
tails—and start writing!
Thanks for all your good work to help save democracy in this country.
Kindra Muntz, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections: www.keepdemocracysafe.org
Happenings Last month’s Venice Democratic Club meeting took place on October 27. We were immersed in canvassing at that time and Rita Ferrandino vis-ited Venice to discuss where we De-mocrats stood regarding our canvass-ing program to promote absentee voting and the strategy for early vot-ing. And, as we can attest to that now, the plan that Rita and other De-mocratic strategists proposed worked. In fact it worked very well.
October 20th was a particularly busy day as there were three separate events that many of us participated in.
First, the Venice Democratic Club had an entry in the Venice Sun Fiesta Parade with an elaborately decorated flat-bed trailer and featuring one of
our members dressed as a statue of liberty. Thanks to all of those who helped in decorating the trailer and in walking in the parade.
After the parade we zipped up to Sarasota to take part in the Ringling bridge walk in support of Barack Obama. Signs were waived at cars passing and speeches were made along the water prior to the walk. More than a thousand walkers par-ticipated. There was also a caravan of 15 cars taking part.
Finally, during the day there was a Gay Pride Festival held across the street from the other activities with a multitude of booths, good food, and wonderful music performed by the Diversity Choir.
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VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
GLOBAL WARMING?
If you did not see the CBS Sunday
Morning segment on November 11,
you missed a revealing informative
piece on "global warming" and sci-
entific findings.
By 2100 CO2 levels will be twice
what they are today. Evidence shows
over a 90% probability that humanity
is the main cause. We can avoid most
of it by using clean natural gas and
energy efficiency now (forget "clean"
coal...there is no such thing). Mean-
while storms will be more severe, not
necessarily more in number.
Then in the era 50 years from now
solar, wind, and nuclear can be com-
petitive. China must be a part of this
since by 2025 the emission levels in
China are expected to double or triple.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Association's exhibit, "Science of a Sphere" shows changes in tempera-ture. Since 2000 the model shows we can expect almost double the amount of CO2 in 100 years. The problem now is US (so Al Gore was correct!). A low-carbon future is necessary.
Patricia P. Wellington
WHAT IF
ROMNEY HAD WON…
Although I have not seen the movie
Obama 2016 nor have I read the
book by Dinesh D'Sousa on which it
is based, my understanding is that it
attempts to predict what Obama's
policies will be based on some of the
radical contacts that Obama may
have had from childhood through
college and beyond. In particular, it
says that President Obama's policies
will be driven by his father's political
philosophy (an assertion that has no
rational basis whatsoever).
Apparently, these wild speculations,
presented as fact, have been enough to convince those who already hate the President and who are only too willing to latch on to a thesis that appears to validate their fears.
So what do we Democrats realisti-cally expect the President to accom-plish over the next four years? And what would have happened if Rom-ney had won and the Republicans had gained a majority in the Senate (in addition to their shrinking Con-gressional majority)?
In either case, it looks like the U.S.
economy will continue to improve
slowly over the next four years. If the
Republicans had won, they would
tout this as due solely to their policies
when in fact, the President has very
little control over the economy in the
short run. But a run of four years of
economic improvement will have
great political impact in the 2016
elections and for that reason, it is es-
pecially gratifying that President
Obama will be the one to benefit.
We certainly expect Obamacare to be implemented, maybe with a few tweaks. A Romney win would have seen repeal with nothing comparable to replace it for many years.
A Romney win would have seen one or more liberal Supreme Court judges replaced by a right-wing ju-rist, thereby shifting the balance to the right for many years. Under Obama, we can expect to at least maintain the current balance.
We will see an increase in taxes for the wealthy under Obama. The tax rates for the middle class will remain at current levels, but I expect there will be some cuts in deductions and exemptions that will generate addi-tional tax revenue from the middle class also. This may be phased in gradually but there will be intense
pressure to reduce the budget deficit and both tax increases and expendi-ture decreases will be required to accomplish that. Some of the expen-diture decreases will be in the mili-tary budget, but Obama will be forced into some cuts in entitlements and other programs also.
Under a Romney administration, the Bush tax cuts would be made perma-nent for everyone and the military budget would be increased. Tax rates would be lowered and deductions would be cut, resulting in higher taxes for the middle class and signifi-cantly lower taxes for the wealthy. To reduce the deficit, there would be severe cuts in Medicare and Medi-caid as well as a raft of other federal programs and subsidies. It is ironic that prior to the election, a Republi-can mantra was to predict America going the way of Greece. In fact, Re-publican austerity policies are ex-actly the kind of policies that are fail-ing in Greece right now.
Under Obama, we will see continued emphasis on developing solar, wind and other alternative energy sources, as well as plans to reduce overall energy consumption. Domestic oil and gas production will continue to increase anyway for some time. A Romney administration would dis-courage alternative energy but would promote oil and natural gas develop-ment, and since they do not believe in man made global warming, they would not promote policies to cut carbon emissions..
Under Obama, I do not expect to see
us engage in military actions in Iran
or Syria. I am hopeful that the Presi-
dent will succeed in persuading Iran
to stop short of producing atomic
weapons. A Romney administration
would be much more likely to be-
(Continued on page 7)
Expressing our Viewpoints
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VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Website: www.WhiteHouse.gov
U.S. President Barack Obama (D) (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2461
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
U.S. Senators Bill Nelson (D)
www.BillNelson.Senate.gov (888) 671-4091 Fax: (202) 228-2183
Marco Rubio (R) www.Rubio.Senate.Gov
(202) 224-3041
US Representative—District 13 Vern Buchanan (R) www.buchanan.house.gov
(941) 951-6643 Fax: (941) 951-2972
DC Office: (202) 225-5015
STATE GOVERNMENT www.MyFlorida.com
Governor Rick Scott (R) (850) 488-7146 Fax: (850) 487-0801
Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) (850) 414-3300
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater (R) Consumer Hotline: (800) 342-2762
[email protected] www.flgov.com
Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H Putnam (R) (850) 488-3022
State Senator - District 23 Nancy Detert (R) (941) 480-3547 Fax: (941) 480-3549
State Representative - District 70 Doug Holder (R) (941) 918-4028 [email protected]
SARASOTA COUNTY GOVERNMENT www.SCGov.net
Board of County Commissioners (941) 861-5344
District #1: Carolyn Mason (R) [email protected]
District #2: Joe Barbetta (R) [email protected]
District #3: Christine Robinson (R) [email protected]
District #4: Nora Patterson (R) [email protected]
District #5: Jon Thaxton (R) [email protected]
Clerk of the Circuit Court Karen Rushing (941) 861-7400
Property Appraiser Bill Furst (R) (941) 861-8200
Sheriff Tom Knight (R) (941) 861-5800
Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent (R) (941) 861-8600
Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates (D) (941) 861-8300
www.SarasotaTaxCollector.com
Venice City Council
(941) 486-2626
John Holic, Mayor [email protected]
Jim Bennett [email protected]
Emilio Carlesimo [email protected]
Bob Daniels [email protected]
Jeannette Gates [email protected]
Kit McKeon [email protected]
David Sherman [email protected]
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Calendar of Events
VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
This information is presented as a guide only. While we do the best we can to be accurate, event times and venues do change. Please check with the event sponsor to confirm the details. To re-quest that your event be listed, e-mail Brad Hardin at: [email protected]
VADC EVENTS
Regular Meeting: November 17,
10:30 a.m. Share our thoughts about
the election and how we might im-
prove our participation in this impor-
tant process. Please come with your
ideas. (See Ernie’s President’s Mes-
sage in this Voices for more detail.)
Please note our meeting at the re-vised time, Refreshments will be served. There is no charge to attend. For more information contact http//
www.venicedemocrats.org or call (941) 492-5965
VADC Holiday Party: Saturday, December 8, 6:00 p.m. Jacaranda West Country Club. For tickets call Norma at 493-5087 or Henry at 586-4163
Save your items for our annual
Great Democratic Yard Sale.
OTHER EVENTS
UPCOMING MEETINGS
North Port Democratic Club - Monthly Meeting: North Port. Info: 806-8483, [email protected] or http://www.northportdemocrats.com
Sarasota County Democratic Party Monthly Meeting: November 14,
election celebration at Democratic Headquarters from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: SCDP - Monthly Meeting
Thursday, November 15, 12:00
pm, Sarasota Planned Parent-
hood's High Tea at High Noon
Luncheon & Fashion Show
Chaired by culinary expert and TV
personality Chef Judi Gallagher, the
event will feature a wine/champagne
reception, high tea luncheon, and a
high-energy fashion show. Guests at
this year's event will be treated to an
array of delightful culinary surprises,
children's wear by L. Kids ,and gor-
geous, trend-setting wear by Dream
Weaver, among other stores. (For
details: sarasotadems.org)
Rita Ferrandino
Chair, Sarasota County Democratic Party
AN HISTORIC ELECTION
This election is historic because the voters reaffirmed President Obama’s vision of an America where "no mat-ter what you look like, no matter where you come from, you can make
it if you try."
While not every race was a victory, Democrats here in Sarasota County
did their part. I believe the tide of fear and division has been turned, and America will move forward. We can’t stop now. We will build upon America’s strengths and continue the work that has been started. As Presi-dent Obama said during his final
campaign appearance in Iowa:
"As long as there’s a single
American who wants a job but
can’t find one, as long as there
are families working harder but
still falling behind, as long as
there’s a child still in Des
Moines, anywhere in Iowa, any-
where in this country languishing
in poverty, barred from opportu-
nity, our work is not done."
In fact, our work is just beginning.
Americans must move forward to-
gether to deal with the problems
and the opportunities facing us as a
nation, a state and in our local
communities.
It is the greatness of the democratic
vision of this country that our giant
leaps toward a better world are made
by countless small steps by individu-
als. We are those individuals -- each
of us. We care. We voted. And we
must continue to work every day for
our values and our vision of what
America can be, because together we
can make this a better world.
Message from Rita Ferrandino
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VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
President’s Message
come involved militarily in the region.
We will see some proposals for changes in Social Security. Under Obama, the system would remain the same but solvency would be im-proved by increasing the contribution base and tying initial benefit calcula-tions to the CPI instead of a Wage index in addition to a small increase in contribution rates. Under Romney, there would be another attempt to change to an individual savings ac-count approach.
Hopefully, President Obama will try to take action to counter voter sup-pression in states under Republican control. Under Romney, voter sup-pression would likely have been ram-pant and succeeded in disenfranchis-ing large blocs of Democratic voters. It is not farfetched to imagine that with a right wing Supreme Court this suppression might become severe enough to achieve permanent Repub-lican domination of elective offices. Whew! Aren't we lucky to have es-caped that dread fate!
Henry Bright
(Continued from page 4)
Expressing our Viewpoints—Cont.
Last week while looking over the books on the “New Book” table at the Venice Library, a particular book caught my eye. It was one of those cases where my first impression was to immediately not like the book or the author. And this was after only reading the title! I think you will see why. The book was “Reviving Work Ethic” by Eric Chester. The Republi-cans have chosen a major theme that says that Democrats want to turn the country into a socialist state where everyone is dependent on the govern-ment. Some people believe that there is evidence that this has happened already to a large extent. (Of course referring to Democrats. Republicans aren’t part of the problem because they appreciate the work ethic along with their individual freedoms.) This is consistent with Mitt’s belief that we are part of the 47% who will not accept responsibility.
The book may actually have some value for business owners and man-agers since it includes examples of employee performance problems that commonly arise in any reasonably sized organization.
The concern that I have with the book is hinted at in the subtitle: “A leader’s guide to ending entitlement and restoring pride in the emerging workforce.”
This is not a new theme with the Re-publicans but it seems to have taken on a more major role in their attacks on us. We know that their disdain for entitlements is so harsh and unfeel-ing that it seems bizarre. As a social work graduate student in 2001, I per-sonally saw a severe reduction in funding for social programs in gen-eral that was a result of the compro-mise worked out between Democrats and Republicans in the Clinton spon-sored program to revise welfare. That “compromise” devastated social ser-vices in Maryland and I suspect across the country. Given the surplus that resulted during Bill Clinton’s presidency, it remains a puzzle as to why such severe reductions were agreed to.
I do not recommend reading this book unless you are a manager or owner of a business as discussed above. It does not, as I had hoped, provide documentation on whether or not we really have a problem in this
country with the current younger generation being unwilling to work hard. Most of us have children in that group. Based on what you know of your children and what you know of others in their general age level, do you see a trend for that generation to avoid hard work (the work ethic)? Do you think that that generation would prefer to accept whatever gov-ernmental entitlements they might get by hook or crook rather than working to achieve a higher standard of living through their initiative. If you will kindly email me your thoughts, I will summarize the re-plies in a future Voices and we will explore related questions.
Brad Hardin
At our regular Club meeting this month (November) we focus on a structured member discussion of the 2012 election. You will have an op-portunity to voice your views and concerns about the election. To start the discussion suggested sample questions will be distributed such as:
Did the election focus enough on major issues facing Americans?
What did you like and not like about the presidential election, other than the outcome?
Why don’t Democrats win local elec-tions in Sarasota County?
What can the VADC do to improve the local election process?
Each table will be asked to designate a reporter who will relate his or her group’s major ideas to those in atten-dance. The 2012 election campaign should and will provide us with suffi-cient fodder for a lively and spirited club meeting.
Ernie Zavodnyik
(Continued from page 1)
Book Review
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VOICES Venice Area Democratic Club November 2012
“Thank you to all our able candidates. We appreciate all your
hard work during this campaign and wish you well in your fu-ture endeavors.”
John Torraco 12th Judicial Circuit
www.vote4torraco.com