Waxman Files - Page 12 of 14 - A Realistic Look at our World

A Day at the Opera

April 27, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

A Day at the Opera

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a Post WWll household that appreciated great music, great art and great literature. Our bookshelves were stocked with Hemingway, Mailer, Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Robert Benchley, Ogden Nash, Fitzgerald, Thorne Smith, as well as Dickens, Mark Twain and the best the literary world had to offer. The 78 rpm records were of Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and most of the swing bands and jazzmen pre Monk,Dizzy, Parker et al. There was also a sizeable collection of classical music on RCA Victor Red Label albums and others. I was about six when I first heard Lauritz Melchior and Kirsten Flagstad in Tristan and Isolde and I’ve been hooked on Opera (all of it, Wagner, Italian, French, Russian, etc.etc.) ever since. This year, the Metropolitan Opera Company is retiring it’s Otto Shenk production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the close of the current season. The Met has been producing it since 1986. I taped the 1991 PBS broadcasts and still have the tapes somewhere (I think). I’ve been listening to the Met broadcast season all year as I have been doing (when I can) since 1967. I also just sent my local NPR station a generous pledge to keep its programming coming. Saturday’s broadcast was Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods), depicting the death of the gods and the destruction of Valhalla. It’s been almost twenty years since I have seen those tapes and yet I vividly remember how brilliant the entire production was, from the multi-million dollar set to the fabulous pyrotechnics and great costumes. This production had three outstanding talents, Katarina Dalayman as Brunhilde, Christian Franz as Siegfried and James Tomlinson as theMalevolent Hagen. Close to Melchior and Flagstad but not quite, however, if you’ve never head their recordings you have no standard to judge by. You can go on Youtube and type in their names and you’ll understand. There’s a plethora of selections for you to enjoy.

Unfortunately, the state of opera and indeed, all the performing arts including my first love, theater, throughout the nation is not healthy. Recently, the Orlando Opera announced that it might close if it can’t raise the $500,000.00 necessary to keep operating. It’s easy to blame the economy but that’s not the problem. For at least the last forty years neither our schools nor we as parents have raised our children with any appreciation of the fine arts and our unique cultural heritage. It is American society’s total disinterest in these disciplines that are the main contributors to the problem.

Even back in the Wild West of the 1800’s every established town had an opera house. When great stars like Nellie Melba and Caruso toured here they went all over the country, as well as the theatrical show that played there with Maurice Barrymore and Edwin Booth and other great actors of the day. During the depression the country had no shortage of cultural exposure. Some of the greatest creativity in opera and theater came from the Depression era.

Movies made celebrities of singers like Lily Pons, Grace Moore, Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Alan Jones, Deanna Durbin and others whose careers were in either opera or operetta. The Great American Songbook was largely written during that period of time with composers and lyricists such as Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and many others. Broadway theaters were swamped with hits by those same songwriters plus playwrights like Kaufman and Hart, Anderson, Sherwood, Odets, and Ben Hecht. Melchior and Flagstad were at their peaks The nation listened to Walter Damrosch on the radio for his weekly broadcasts. The arts actually flourished during the Depression which economically was worse than anything we’re experiencing now.

In the 40’s the movies made stars of Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, Jose’ Iturbi and later on Ezio Pinza and Mario Lanza, as well as classically trained dancers like Cyd Charisse. Iturbi was a popular figure in the forties who could play Chopin elegantly and then delve into Boogie-Woogie a la Meade Lux Lewis or Pinetop Smith.

As teenagers, even though we grew up in the 50’s we still sat in amazement as Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in his series of Young Peoples’ Concerts. Of course, growing up in the fifties was also a period of conformity, so we didn’t want to appear to be different and suppressed our tastes in front of our parents and contemporaries. Many plays, such as Tea and Sympathy dealt with that very subject. That conformity, alas, helped do us and our parent’s generation in. Our parents (Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation, which I thoroughly dispute) allowed this deterioration. Just look back to the Hollywood Blacklist, McCarthyism and other anti-communist initiatives (i.e. Other, Non-conformist, Pinko, Different, Weird, Queer) such as the discrediting of Pete Seeger, Paul Robeson and Charlie Chaplin and how the (feh) Greatest Generation reacted. They eventually elected Ronald Reagan to the Presidency. To me, George McGovern is not the poster boy for that generation-Ronald Reagan is, and we are all the more diminished for it. And my generation didn’t help.

We need to change things. Our children and grandchildren are missing out on beautiful things that would enrich their lives. It’s up to us. We need to take over city, county, state and school board elected positions and put the arts back into our lives, despite this economy. Actually, the Arts have a positive economic impact on the community. Future columns will deal with how we can do it.

Florida Legislative Update

The Florida House suspended debate on HB 7149 at 1:00 PM and went on to discuss new initiatives on off-shore drilling within three miles of the Florida coast. Friday evening we were advised that the House will suspend actions this session on the bill. At this time it is not known whether the Senate will continue further action on SB 956, statements in a letter sent out late Friday afternoon to Unitarian Church leaders it appears unlikely that it will come to a vote this year. Here’s a copy of the letter:

From: Pardue
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:56:01 -0400
To: IWI<pardue2@comcast.net>; WII<pardue2@comcast.net>; WIII<pardue2@comcast.net>; WIIII<pardue2@comcast.net>; CFW<pardue2@comcast.net>; Sheri McCandless<sheri@bettercopycenter.com>; Meredith Garmon<meredith_garmon@uulmf.org>; Terry Lanning<terry_lanning@uulmf.org>; Gerald & Janet Goen<gjgoen@verizon.net>; Bob Keim<rbkeim@hughes.net>; Bud Murphy<bud_murphy@uulmf.org>
Subject: Bad Elections bill dead

Hasner says elections bill dead

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner says his chamber will not revive the debate over a highly contentious, last-minute elections bill. (background here and her

And he said it seems stuck in the Senate, too.

“From everything I understand, the Senate bill is stuck in committee,” the Delray Beach Republican said. “It’s still possible but they intend to have the same stripped down version that is noncontroversial.”

Hasner said the controversy had nothing to do with the decision to kill the proposal. Rather, he said, time ran out.

“Hindsight being 20/20, I wish we would have had more time to have a very strong debate on that bill throughout the process because I think there were some much needed election reforms in the original bill. … Cracking down on groups like ACORN is something that I think is critical in terms of cleaning up our elections system”

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, said he would take a “fresh look” at the proposal over the weekend. But he acknowledged the long odds at salvaging something before time runs out. “Unfortunately,” he said, “we’re just not there yet. If it doesn’t work out, then we’ll have to wait until next year.”

What this means is that we still have to inundate these people and the governor with calls, letters and faxes ad nauseum until it is a completely dead issue.

Jerry’s Notes.

This is a new format I’m going to try out and see how it works. It will hopefully post to my blog, producerworld, which you can find on WordPress, and it will be submitted to Huffington as well, covering, as you can see, many more subjects than merely politics. In the future there will be columns on everything, including sports, and you can bet that my take on it all will have a political undercurrent running through it.

I also welcome your feedback both positive and negative, and if you want to post remarks there’s plenty of space here.

*The words Hojotoho are what Brunhilda and her sisters sing during the classic Ride of the Walkuries This is probably the most recognized musical passage in all of Grand Opera, due to the many parodies in TV commercials, Elmer Fudd’s “Kill the Wabbit” aria and Robert Duvall’s Napalm in the Morning speech from Apocalypse Now.

Florida Voter Suppression-If at first you don’t succeed……

April 27, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

As submitted to The Huffington Post 4/24/09

Jerry Waxman

*Author’s note..This is the revised article. It’s much less preachy and more evidence based than the previous one. Sometimes, when facing deadlines I tend to push too hard and let my passion get in the way of my better judgment. The need to get timely things into print takes over just proving the old adage that “Haste makes Waste.” Fortunately, for all of us, a veritable boatload of new information has come in which has changed things. There’s even more than what’s here, but to get through everything here it’s going to take a lot of time and I don’t want you to get bored. I’ll save it for a future column where the governor has to act.

Republicans in Florida overwhelmingly control both houses of the Legislature and they are determined on reversing the gains made during the 2008 elections. At the moment both houses are crafting legislation that would severely limit third party participation in voter registration drives, as well as offering ballot initiatives, redistricting reform and constitutional amendments. This would affect organizations such as ACORN, as well as the League of Women Voters to actively participate in the election process. Democrats in the legislature have cynically come to refer to these actions, specifically Senate Bill 956 as the “Republican Majority Protection Act”. The New York Times addressed this point in an April 18 Editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/opinion/19sun2.html?_r=1

On April 20, Jim Callahan, a local civic activist stated that Florida Democrats now have a voter registration majority of over 690,000 throughout the state, but due to outrageously gerrymandered re-districting Republicans are still solidly in control, and by hook or by crook they intend to keep it that way. According to Callahan this legislation is the result of careful planning by organizations such as The Heritage Foundation, which will be targeting the same type of actions in other states which posted huge gains in the November election. This is not a new practice; it was tried before in Florida and struck down during 2006. Several articles were devoted to voter suppression at that time, here are two to ponder:

http://www.ncdp.org/Protect_Voter_Registration_Drives

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN01487:@@@L&summ2=m&

Furthermore, a very upsetting part of the process is that the Republican majorities in both houses were not allowing legitimate debate on these issues and trying to push them through on a fast track. Callahan stated that if the Republicans are successful here, it will serve as a handbook for Ohio, Missouri and other states where Democrats are making significant gains. He also noted that former congressman Tom Feeney, who was defeated by Suzanne Kosmas in 2008, is now employed at The Heritage Foundation, a fact that was announced in Politico April 14. Feeney has a long history of voter manipulation and gerrymandering districts as can be seen in his history in Wikipedia.

Numerous newspapers in Florida offered editorials questioning the legislation. The League of Women Voters and the ACLU among dozens of other civic groups are all actively opposing the passage of the two bills. The Florida House Democrats wrote a letter to Governor Charlie Crist outlining their opposition to PCB-EDCA 09-08 on April 22. Here is a copy, provided by Representative Elaine Schwartz of Hollywood District 99:

Dems Oppose Elections Bill By Kenneth Quinnell on April 22nd, 2009 From the House Dems:

Dear Governor Crist:

In recent years, Florida has revamped its election system and regained the confidence of voters. The benefits of these improvements were seen last November when record numbers of our citizens participated in the presidential election. You took action last fall to bolster our election system and laws by signing an executive order that extended the hours of early voting and eliminated problematic touch-screen machines. It would be a travesty for the Florida Legislature to take actions now that would reverse our state’s progress toward making our elections more open and accessible. Unfortunately, legislation has been proposed — without justification — that would disenfranchise voters and reverse much of the progress that has been made toward reforming elections in our state. On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, we strongly urge you to make known your opposition to House PCB-EDCA 09-08 and its Senate companion, SB956. Also, should either bill pass the Legislature in any manner similar to its current form, we would further request that you veto the legislation. There is nothing more sacred than the right to vote and any legislation pertaining to this right deserves to be treated with extraordinary care and caution. As this bill currently reads, members of the House Democratic Caucus and numerous voter-advocacy and public interest groups find absolutely no justification for the radical changes entailed in this measure. The flaws in this legislation are too numerous to identify completely in this correspondence, but some of the troubling impacts are that it would: · Weaken campaign finance laws and make lawmakers less accountable to the public;· Reduce transparency in the funding of political advertisements;· Restrict the list of accepted forms of identification for voter registration and identification at the polls;· Discourage voter protection efforts;· Eliminate many voters’ ability to vote a regular ballot on Election Day;· Hurt third-party voter registration efforts;· Make it much harder for grassroots groups to use the citizens’ initiative process;· Restrict nonpartisan election protection programs; and· Limit the ability to extend early voting. On behalf of our constituents throughout Florida, we sincerely request your urgent consideration of this matter.

Respectfully,

Franklin Sands, Democratic Leader Geraldine F. Thompson, Democratic Leader Pro Tempore

Also signed by: Representative Joseph Abruzzo: Representative Leonard Bembry: Representative Debbie Boyd: Representative Mary Brandenburg: Representative Oscar Braynon II: Representative Ronald Brisé: Representative Dwight Bullard: Representative James Bush III: Representative Charles Chestnut, IV: Representative Gwyndolen Clark-Reed: Representative Adam Feterman: Representative Keith Fitzgerald: Representative Luis R. Garcia, Jr: Representative Joseph Gibbons: Representative Audrey Gibson: Representative Bill Heller: Representative Evan Jenne: Representative Mia Jones: Representative Martin David Kiar: Representative Rick Kriseman: Representative Janet C. Long: Representative Mark Pafford: Representative Ari Porth: Representative Kevin J.G. Rader: Representative Scott Randolph: Representative Betty Reed: Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda: Representative Yolly Roberson: Representative Hazelle Rogers: Representative Daryl Rouson: Representative Maria Lorts Sachs: Representative Ron Saunders: Representative Elaine Schwartz: Representative Michael Scionti: Representative Kelly Skidmore: Representative Darren Soto: Representative Richard Steinberg: Representative Dwayne Taylor: Representative Priscilla Taylor: Representative Perry E. Thurston, Jr.: Representative Jim Waldman: Representative Alan Williams.

When Representative Schwartz was questioned about the tactics being used by the majority she offered her opinion:

My comment is that:
” The R’s know that only way they can win is by intimidation and cheating! ”
You’ve got to see that Schenck You tube clip. It’s as though he’s covering up for being caught red handed !…………… go to YouTube.com and search for Schenck. He always says to me ” May the Schwartz be with you”. He never tires of saying it. Tomorrow I’ll tell him that I saw his interview……and its too bad the Schwartz wasn’t with him when he made his blunder so he wouldn’t have to squirm so.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUrSlSA_MDA

The ACLU also sent e-mails to its membership denouncing both bills, which can be accessed here:

http://fl.aclu.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=42481.0&dlv_id=46061

Yesterday, in a reversal, the house leadership took out most of the legislation that was being objected to. There are several articles in the Sayfie Review covering this legislation which can be found here:

http://www.sayfiereview.com/

Representative Schwartz claimed that it was in response to an implication that the governor would veto the present bill. At the same time, the ACLU was increasing the pressure to continue efforts to defeat the bills:

http://fl.aclu.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=42741.0&dlv_id=46381

On April 23, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho who is non-partisan and has been in office for over 20 years issued his opinion of the legislation posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yES-jaVyrwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn7ny1craJ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuGBBjE1EU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5azNfRCTISA

The Florida House is expected to vote on Friday afternoon, April 24 on the modified election reform bill.

For an impact statement on Senate Bill 956 follow this link:

http://www.flsenate.gov/session/index.cfm?BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Mode=Bills&ElementID=JumpToBox&SubMenu=1&Year=2009&billnum=956

Health Care, the looming battle

April 27, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

As submitted to The Huffington Post 4/16/09

Jerry Waxman

*Author’s note. The best way to get legislation passed is to be in constant touch with our legislators. Here in Orlando we have two freshmen legislators who are committed to change and the House leadership is letting them do things that freshmen are not supposed to attempt. I’ll be reporting on them frequently as they are the best thing to happen to Orange County and environs in a long time. I sincerely hope my editors give me latitude. Remember this-If we truly want the change we seek we must actively work for it. We can’t just leave it to our elected politicians.

What is your senator or representative doing during this legislative session break? In Central Florida freshmen Representatives Alan Grayson and Suzanne Kosmas are meeting with many civic and public interest groups holding town hall meetings on several legislative issues. Bill Nelson is out of the country with other members of the Senate Armed Forces Committee. Grayson and Kosmas are both on tight schedules meeting with several groups on any given day. Kosmas has the more difficult district which runs from Daytona Beach to the north and just up to Cape Canaveral to the southeast and into Orlando to the west. Her district includes parts of Orange, Brevard, Volusia and Seminole counties. Geographically it is huge and it keeps her very busy.

Tuesday evening, April 14 at 6:30 PM, there was a town hall meeting regarding the Health Care crisis at the Englewood Community Center in Orlando. Kosmas had other commitments, but her office representative was there. The meeting was organized through the efforts of ACORN and the Service Employees International Union Florida, both entities having a vested interest in Universal Health Care. The Moderator of the evening was Van E. Church, Political Director of SEIU. The panel consisted of Maggie DeVane who is on the staff of Congresswoman Kosmas, Orange County Commissioner Bill Segal, Barkari Burns, CEO of Healthcare for the Homeless and Congressman Alan Grayson.

The only two members of the panel to speak at length were Burns and Grayson. Grayson told the assembled of his childhood. His parents were teachers and sometimes were not working if the union was on strike. Health care was important because he needed expensive medication as a child, and there were times when getting his medication was a problem. He is a staunch advocate for affordable health care and is supporting the Obama Administration plan. Burns operates health care facilities for homeless people as well as the uninsured and destitute. He operates several facilities in the area and they are available on a walk-in basis.

The consensus of the panel was that Universal Health Care is vital for helping to get the economy under control by significantly reducing costs and unnecessary duplications of effort. They all agreed that health care today is a necessity and not a luxury; it is no longer a commodity that can be operated for a profit.

Guest speakers told of their problems with the current system and the difficulty of getting Medicaid for their families, leading to the death of one child due to the lack of proper prescription medications. Grayson predicted that the proposed bill will pass the House of Representatives , and eventually will pass the Senate sometime later in the year, although there will be a lot of arm twisting and wheeling-and-dealing involved.

The meeting concluded and Grayson, DeVane and Segal all had other meetings to go to and they were all running a little late. There will be many more town hall meetings and our freshmen representatives aren’t going to let any grass grow under their feet.

JUST SAY NO IN ORLANDO

April 27, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

Teabag Party in Orlando 4/16/09

Jerry Waxman

as submitted to the Huffingon Post 4/16/09

If you are walking south on Orange Avenue toward City Hall the first thing you see is massive wall of signs with the familiar sloganeering about too many taxes, too much spending, throw out the spenders and the all too familiar anti-Obama language. The crowd was perhaps 1000 to 1200 people at most, but crowded into the small courtyard it seemed overwhelming. It seemed that one out of every three people was carrying a sign. Many of the teen aged and pre-teen children were carrying signs that their parents made for them. Some of these signs took a whole four minutes to make, and some were professionally done at a print shop. It was a well behaved group looking and acting mostly like college Republicans and their immediate families. The crowd was noteworthy for two reasons:

1. It was all white middle class

2. Lots of anti-this and anti-that tee shirts

The whole event had the feeling of planned spontaneity, yet there was virtually no media coverage that I could determine; even channel 13, the all local news 24/7 channel covered larger events in Brevard County rather than this one. This was also a 6:00 PM event so there should have been many more people there. It was too disciplined and too on cue with crowd reactions. There were no shouts of “Burn The Books” or “Brainwashing”, and no one got out of hand. The speakers of the day all carried the same message that this government was too big, too irresponsible and it’s sacrificing our kids’ financial future. The remedy that they all recommended was the Fair Tax, which would magically solve all of the country’s ills. Every speaker spoke in measured and simple phrases for maximum reaction from the crowd. The most conservative radio talk station in the area, WORL AM 660 announced that the organizers of the event will now have their own talk program beginning Saturday. They also announced that there will be a future rally planned for July 4.

This Sheriff Doesn’t Ride a White Horse

April 14, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

As submitted to The Huffington Post April 6, 2009

*Author’s note-When I started this assignment in February ACORN was heavily in the news. Since that time we’ve heard less about foreclosures due in part to the Government’s asking for a moratorium and some banks actively working to modify their mortgages, however, the crisis is about to heat up again as the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae moratoriums ended on March 31. The other players in this drama are the mortgage bankers, who as of this posting have not responded to my request for an interview, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office acting as officers of the court. We know who the bankers are and basically what they do, but very few people know what a modern day sheriff does, so I thought this would be of interest.

Author’s Update:

Huffington Post published today 4/14/09, however they did a heavy edit and lost some of the flavor of this article.

When we think of the Sheriff most of us evoke images of the Wild West and with good reason. Early 50’s television made icons of Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickock, Pat Garrett and Wyatt Earp among others who actually were lawmen that made their reputations with their guns. In the 30’s through the 70’s John Wayne made a slew of movies where he either played a sheriff or marshal and some movies where he actually exposed the sheriff as a crook. These films usually showed the evil banker who holds the mortgage on the ranch and his accomplices (usually a corrupt businessman, in most cases the saloon owner, and a crooked sheriff) who steal the cattle and then foreclose on the property, sometimes with the help of a corrupt judge, because the rancher can’t pay. Normally the reason is because the railroad is coming through and all these corrupt people are looking to cash in at someone else’s expense. It appears that, given the situations, some things haven’t changed all that much. The concept of the evil or corrupt sheriff comes from the many stories of Robin Hood where the evil, plotting and mostly inept Sheriff of Nottingham still gets his due on the screen. Our concept of small town sheriff is permanently etched in our memory from The Andy Griffith Show. Reality Check: these Wild West Sheriffs did help bring law and order to the West. The Sheriff of Nottingham is based on a real person, most likely William de Wendenall, and Sheriff Andy Taylor is not unlike his modern day counterpart in our less populated counties.

History of the Sheriff

The word sheriff is actually a contraction of two words, shire and reeve. Prior to the Norman invasion of England the King appointed someone, usually a lord, to be the chief legal official (Reeve) of each shire. This person had the responsibility to keep the peace, collect the taxes and sometimes settle legal disputes between parties. As the English language evolved the title became Sheriff. When Great Britain first colonized the North American continent the separate colonies appointed their own sheriffs to uphold the law. After the American Revolution the sheriff became an elected position. The Sheriff, in most cases, is the highest law enforcement officer in his county and has control of the county prison system. In the northeastern US the Sheriff doesn’t normally have to be the law enforcement arm. They are responsible for prisoner transport and for serving warrants and writs. State Police and city police forces take care of the law enforcement. In southern and western states where there are fewer big cities, less population and more territory to cover the Sheriff’s office plays a larger role. The Orange County Florida Sheriff’s Office is a perfect example of a modern day operation. The office now has 2400 uniformed, non-uniformed and clerical employees, serving over 1,000,000 residents and 45,000,000 tourists annually. They patrol the entire county as many of the Orange County municipalities are too small to have their own police force so they sign contracts for that protection. They have criminal, investigative, undercover, narcotics, and civil process units and act as any large municipal police force with the added responsibility of running the county prison system, serving writs and handling a number of civil duties.

My interview with the Sheriff’s Office

I contacted the Sheriff’s office on Feb 27 as a follow up to the articles we were doing on ACORN home defenders. I felt it was only fair all that sides were presented and had the opportunity to explain their positions. It took almost a month to get a response, and then it was the wrong person and wrong department. Capt. Tina Gordon who is in command of an enforcement unit called me as my request had filtered down to her. I explained my position to her; I wanted to talk to the people who actually do the foreclosures to get their side of the story. She apologized to me. Why? I don’t know. It wasn’t her fault. She did offer to find out who I should talk to and, true to her word, two days later Lt. Robert Corriveau called me to set up an appointment.

Robert Corriveau looks like he played fullback in the pros. He is solidly built and rugged with a mustache that is beginning to turn gray. He’s been in law enforcement for 27 years, 25 years in Orange County. For many years he was a street officer and spent time in the Drug Enforcement division. He entered the civil unit on 9/9/01 which was tantamount to a baptism by fire. My first question to him was “What is it exactly that your department does?” He named a bunch of duties including transporting prisoners, extraditions, serving the writs of possession and intervening in domestic disputes, all within the jurisdiction of the courts. His division does not choose what actions to take; it is ordered to do so by the courts. I asked him how he felt about the record number of evictions that his division participates in. His answer was that it is not pleasant and no one in the department looks forward to it, but it is part of the job and it needs to be done. He emphasized that the Sheriff is a public servant who is an impartial third party. He acts under court order and not at the direction of the landlord or the mortgage company. He is there to insure the orderly transfer of possession. When I asked how many foreclosures his department was handling he told me that there is no specific number. Foreclosure sales are not handled by the Sheriff’s Office-they are handled by the County Clerk’s Office at the courthouse. He receives a Writ of Possession from the court that is served on the property. It may be from a landlord or from a bank and there is no way of knowing until the actual writ is received by his office. All Writs of Possession are handled in the same manner. He offered instead the figures from 2001 through 2008 plus the first two months of 2009.

In 2001 his office handled less than 1000 eviction orders. By the year 2006 that number had increased to 7,180. In 2007 the number increased again to 8,400 and in 2008 alone there was a 26% increase to 10,243. Figures for Jan-Feb 2009 are even higher. January had 1089 scheduled evictions and February had 891. At the same time, Corriveau noted that his domestic violence unit had 13% less activity for 2008 but he stopped short of asserting that there is clear correlation in those figures. That would probably take a separate study.

Lt. Corriveau arranged for me to travel with one of his deputies during his normal shift so that I could get a feel for what his department does. This is not something special because it is a service that is offered to any county resident who requests it, as long as they fill out an application and pass a background check, which I had to do. The specific date was Wednesday, April 1 at 7:00 AM.

When do we stop for donuts?

Back in the 1980’s there was an episode of Hill Street Blues that featured a local TV news crew following officer Renko on his daily rounds. The agenda of the reporter was to point out all of the time wasted by Renko at coffee shops or lunch counters making it seem that most of the time he wasn’t on the job. I know it’s a distorted picture, but I can’t help thinking back to that episode every time I see a uniformed officer doing exactly what we all do at coffee break time or lunch, especially since Charles Haid’s Renko character was a dedicated cop who was seriously wounded in the line of duty. I didn’t want to have any preconceived ideas about what was about to take place. I met Master Deputy Stan Spanich at the courthouse just before the appointed time. He was dressed in gray slacks and dark blue plaid sport shirt just like any other civilian, although the nine millimeter automatic on his hip and the handcuffs gave me a clue that he was in law enforcement. Physically he could be a stand-in double for Governor Crist. We introduced ourselves and went to his car, a late model Chevy Impala. Any prior ideas I might have had were quickly put to rest now that I’m with a regular guy riding in a family sedan getting ready to do the peoples’ business.

Stan Spanich has been a policeman for 35 years. A native of Chicago, he spent 15 years on the force there as a street cop and in other units including narcotics, investigations and a stint as a mounted policeman. He’s been in Central Florida for 20 years and has been in the civil division for 5 years. He is capable of handling any situation that arises, and as I discovered during the day he is strictly by the book, and a gentleman at all times. His territory covers Orange County west of John Young Parkway to Lake County and south of US Route 50 to Osceola County. It’s a large territory that encompasses wealthy communities like Windermere as well as Universal Studios, The Greater Orlando Convention area and Sea World. Today he has 22 postings that include some evictions and notices to vacate. He always starts in the southern end in order to clear the tourist areas before the traffic gets too heavy. He remarked that today is a lighter than usual day, but he expects things to get busier soon due to the lifting of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae moratoriums. Our day starts off at the upscale Northbridge Apartments which is a large complex that boasts a few Orlando Magic players and other personalities that should be well able to afford the rent. Some people, however, have fallen on harder times and have fallen behind. He has three final notice postings in this complex which means that either he or one of the unit’s process servers have been there prior to now. Once this notice has been posted he will return within 72 hours to assure that the tenant has vacated. He also leaves his secret mark on the door (which I will not divulge) to avoid any tenant’s claim that they were never notified.

This is a definite route. Every security guard and maintenance man is on a first name basis with him at every complex we visit. He is probably in these places at least twice a month. The only foreclosure eviction he had today was at a complex where there are apartments as well as condos. This one was a little complicated because the tenant had been paying on time every month, but the owner was not making the mortgage payments and this was the day that she had to vacate. A property management firm was there to change the locks; however the tenant was not fully moved out and needed some more time. Spanich intervened and diplomatically convinced the representative to give her some extra time. There was no screaming, no histrionics and no pressure. In this case there had been a lengthy legal proceeding and the tenant had found another place to live. Spanich felt satisfied that it worked out.

Spanich had cleared the tourist areas by 10:30 and we had also managed to get through two thirds of his postings for the day. I offered to buy breakfast so that we could talk for a while without the radio or any other official stuff happening. He intimated that today was the first time in years that he forgot to bring his own lunch, and he never takes the time for a coffee break, however he was far enough ahead that it would be OK.

During our conversation I learned that the Sheriff’s Office encourages all of their personnel to be involved in community affairs. Sheriff’s deputies are involved in homeowner associations, little league, community theatre and all the things that people do who aren’t in law enforcement. This was also told to me by Lt. Corriveau. We compared pictures of our grandchildren and we discussed the economy and the effects it has on his department. He told me a humorous story that happened to him about a month ago during an eviction in Windermere. As the tenant was vacating the 3,000,000.00 property he told Spanich “I just can’t afford the $14,000.00 per month rent anymore.” Well, some people have their priorities. I also asked him what he would do if anyone ever refused to vacate. He answered that he would have to warn them that if they don’t vacate he would have to arrest them and put the cuffs on them. He said that it has never happened to him in the civil division and he has never had to draw his weapon in a domestic situation. When I pressed him about ACORN’s home defenders, he said that he’ll do what’s necessary when faced with that situation, and he obviously will not act on his own. He hopes that the situation will never arise.

Keep on truckin’

The further north we travelled there was a definite difference in the quality of property we visited. These were smaller units that were definitely not upscale. The rents were lower and the maintenance budgets were less expensive. Needless to say, there were no swimming pools or tennis courts as in the units further south. A few people had already abandoned before the final notice was put up, however, in one complex two people scheduled for final notice had actually paid the back rent, late charges and court fees and were not leaving. This brought a smile of satisfaction to Spanich’s face. The last two postings were in public housing projects. These are not part of his district and he is covering for an associate who was on vacation, and it’s on his way back to file his reports and set appointments for tomorrow and Friday.

Other people’s trash

It’s really amazing what people leave behind when they leave their property. What happens is that after the formal eviction the landlord takes whatever personal property is left behind and puts it on the sidewalk for anyone to recover. The tenant has no legal right to the stuff anymore but it’s there if they want to reclaim it. If not the scavengers will get it. There’s always broken furniture or kitchen gadgets left behind, but in one particular apartment there was a Bendix entertainment unit from 1949 in the living room that housed a 7” TV, radio and 3 speed turntable in a beautiful wood cabinet. The unit, whether working or not should be worth something to a museum or curio dealer. In other units there were working television sets, vacuum cleaners, blenders, blankets and sheets, etc.

Once Spanich was off the route we parted company as I didn’t need to witness his phone calls or reports. He promised to call me if he had a hot foreclosure coming up so that I could meet him and see how he handles it. Summing up it was a learning experience, informative if not exciting. Since I didn’t really know what to expect I wasn’t disappointed, but I did wonder if the other deputies in his division had similar days in their areas, and if they ever had to draw their weapons. That might be a follow up question for Robert Corriveau. Frankly, I walked away with a positive view of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The ACORN office is located about four blocks from the courthouse, so I decided to go see Meredith Adrion and tell her of my day. Acorn had requested a meeting with Sheriff Jerry Demings around the same time as I did. Adrion said that he has not met with them so far and she doesn’t know if or when he will. She’s also going to inform me of any future actions Acorn will be taking.

Lieutenant Robert Corriveau

Lt. Robert Corriveau

ACORN launches Home Defenders in Orlando

February 26, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

It started to rain at 1:30 Thursday afternoon, unusual for Central Florida in February. The press conference was called for 2:00 PM in front of Inez Batista’s Avalon Park home. Tiffany, an ACORN organizer said “somehow, it always rains when we do things like this.” ACORN volunteers, being fully prepared, handed out disposable ponchos to any in the crowd who requested one. Slowly, the group assembled as more people came until the crowd reached about forty, not counting the Batistas or the organizers or the press. Considering the weather, it was a sizable crowd.

William Moore, Chairman of the Anti-Foreclosure Committee for ACORN, spoke briefly about the nationwide initiative to keep people facing foreclosure in their homes. He then introduced Travis Munnerlyn, whose successful efforts to save his home through bold action with ACORN garnered national attention last year. Munnerlyn spelled out the principles of keeping people in their homes and working to get President Obama’s initiatives passed through Congress.

Moore then introduced Inez Batista whose foreclosure is scheduled for March 19. Batista explained that they had bought their home in 2003 and for several years they were making timely mortgage payments, however, business reversals in her husband’s construction company necessitated them to refinance. Their business never recovered and they are now faced with much higher payments than their original mortgage, even after mortgage modification. Inez Batista is ACORN’s first initiative in the Orlando area, which is, according to Moore, the highest foreclosure rate in the country.

Avery Salkey, whose story was reported previously in this post, was a special guest who told the assembled that her home was scheduled for that day, but through a last minute effort by ACORN her service company granted her a sixty day extension. There were several people in the crowd who were also facing foreclosure actions and were seeking help from ACORN. Carlos Saenz, who worked for an architectural firm was laid off from his job, had tried to work with his bank. He had gotten a 90 day forbearance which ended in December 2008, but he had not gotten another job so he asked the bank for an additional 90 days and at the same time he would go into his retirement account and bring his mortgage current. The bank refused his offer.

After the interviews Tiffany rallied the crowd with cheers and chants such as “Hey hey, ho ho, predatory loans have got to go” and “The people, united will never be defeated.” As the crowd dispersed the sun broke through.

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub.

February 26, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

Avery Salkey has spent many sleepless nights over the last year or more in apprehension of what’s to come. She doubtlessly will spend many sleepless nights in the future, but for the next sixty days she’ll be safe in her home. She went to court on Tuesday and filed a motion to delay the sale of her home. Yale Mortgage finally agreed to give her sixty days to work things out. She and ACORN are doing whatever they can to bring the mortgage company around to work with her. For the next several nights she can sleep more easily than she has in the past and maybe she’ll even have some pleasant dreams, but until things can be worked out in her favor she’ll have this sword of Damocles hanging over her bed.

On the street where you live On Monday and Tuesday teams of ACORN volunteers walked the neighborhoods enlisting community support for the Batista family. Many of the houses that were visited were vacant with For Sale signs on the property. The Avalon Park Neighborhood Association had all the foreclosure signs taken down so it was difficult to determine which properties were in foreclosure; that is until you talk to the residents. One resident asked “where were you a month ago when the people next door had to leave?” The people they were able to talk to were mostly sympathetic and signed the petitions. Some of them expressed interest in attending the demonstration scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Some people wouldn’t answer their doors even though the dogs were barking and the kids looked through the venetian blinds. One resident told why; there had recently been a rash of break-ins all over Avalon Park resulting in robberies, vandalism and worse. On Monday night a resident had been raped, and the neighbors are up in arms. Things like that are not supposed to happen in Central Florida’s version of Stepford, where everything is neat and clean, and all the grass is neatly mowed and all the garages are in the rear of the house hidden from street view.

The original purchase price of the Batista house was $390,000.00. Despite a large down payment and a few years of paying on time they needed to refinance because of business reversals. With all of the penalties and interest owed the Batistas now owe $410,000.00 and they’ve been living in the house for several years. An identical house across the street sold recently for just $200,000.00 so under the current system the Batistas can never get whole, and neither can the banks. ACORN thinks it is in the bank’s best interest to work with the Batistas. Property values aside, the neighborhood doesn’t need another vandalized or vacant house. Nor does it need another property off the tax rolls, and Stepford needs to save face.

ACORN to lenders: “Prey no more!”

February 26, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

Avery Salkey is about to lose her house. It’s similar to a lot of stories throughout the country and it affects millions of people. She purchased a new home on December 4, 2003 and that’s when her troubles began. The purchase price on her house at 1502 Running Oak Lane in Royal Palm Beach was $234,550.00. At the time she was living in New York and made the decision as a single mother to start her life anew in Florida. She paid a substantial down payment, and secured a mortgage from Bank United that cost her $1500.00 per month, including taxes and insurance. She said that she could afford it.

What she didn’t count on was the time it took her to find another job in Florida that would allow her to continue her payments and live her life. She was late on some mortgage payments and at some point the bank threatened to foreclose. She then went to a mortgage broker who steered her to a hard money lender, Yale Mortgage. Yale gave her a variable rate mortgage however the terms of the mortgage were, in her opinion not the terms she was quoted. Her broker suggested that she pay the mortgage on time for six months, which she claims she did, while they continued to look for another lender with better terms. Her payment to Yale was $2800.00 monthly, almost twice what her payments were to Bank United. Additionally, Yale does not report to any credit agencies which adversely affected her credit, and if she were able to find another lender there would also be a huge prepayment penalty. She finally found ACORN who has been working with her to avoid foreclosure on her house. She and Yale Mortgage have been at odds since August, 2007. Her house was originally scheduled to be foreclosed on in November, 2007. She has been interviewed on NPR, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89856332, and was referred to on Good Morning America, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5459044&page=1. Salkey claims that as a result of her NPR interview Yale Mortgage refuses to deal with her. Her home is scheduled to be taken Thursday, Feb. 19.

The ACORN training session

The ACORN headquarters are located at 120 Colonial Drive in Downtown Orlando. The meeting room was filled to capacity. Many of these people were either in or being threatened with foreclosure. William Moore chairs the Foreclosure Committee for ACORN in Orlando, Florida. He cited that the State of Florida is number two nationally behind California in the number of foreclosures and, given the two populations, it is number one on a per capita basis. Orange County leads all other areas in the state, so the nation will be focused on what happens here. Monday, February 16 starts an initiative called Home Defenders. Moore explained that ACORN members and volunteers will be visiting the neighbors of homeowners threatened with foreclosure to enlist neighborhood support. On Thursday, February 19 there will be active teams in place to prevent city or county officials from taking possession of the property. These teams are designed to offer non-violent resistance to any and all people trying to force people out of their houses. Certain team members are also designated to go to prison if the situation arises. These tactics have been used recently in Baltimore and Oakland and they worked. According to Moore the bank had auctioned off the foreclosed property and as a result of ACORN’s actions they withdrew the acceptance and renegotiated with the original owner. Moore intimated that the banks really wanted to do the “right thing”; they just needed a little push in the right direction with ACORN’s help. The key is the number of people that can turn out in support of ACORN’s efforts. “The more people, the more homes we can save” says Moore.

Moore is no stranger to predatory lending techniques used by the banks. His parents are also victims. Moore has an MBA and a law degree and still needed ACORN to accomplish what he needs to. His parents owned a dry-wall installation business and were getting ready to retire. They wanted to make improvements to their home and enjoy their retirement. They were not sophisticated in the world of finance and wound up in the hands of a predatory lender. By the time Moore got involved it was almost too late. Moore was also hampered last year by life threatening surgery which rendered him ineffective for a long time. His experiences led him to ACORN where he is an active member of the organization.

You can do something about it

Travis Munnerlyn fought back and won. Munnerlyn and his wife raised their children in the same house and were preparing to make improvements in order to raise their grandsons. They wanted to add a bedroom. Their lender was Countrywide, a now failed bank that specialized in predatory loans, was taken over by Bank of America. The interest rate on their mortgage ballooned at the same time that his wife, Patricia, was laid off after seventeen years with the same company. Munnerlyn also had health problems. Munnerlyn sought out the aid of ACORN and worked with several officials including Governor Charlie Crist to reverse his situation. Last year he received a lot of attention nationally. He was profiled in AARP Magazine http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/personalfinance/articles/millions_of_americans.html and made appearances on Good Morning America http://acorn.org/?4316. His story is on Youtube in his own words www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2hEjNcbpNI.

A brief history of ACORN

ACORN was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas by Wade Rathke, an organizer for George Wiley’s National Welfare Rights Organization. The goal was to unite welfare recipients with working people in need around issues of free school lunches for schoolchildren, unemployed workers’ concerns, Vietnam Veterans’ rights and hospital emergency room care. Thus, an idea of low and moderate income community activism was born that would grow and adapt, thrive and flourish, and become a powerful movement from coast to coast. ACORN quickly became a powerful force in Little Rock and Arkansas politics and grew within ten years to active chapters in twenty states. The 1990 ACORN convention in Chicago focused on the fast-breaking housing campaign. The convention also included the ACORN Elected Official Conference which developed strategies for independent electoral organizations.

In 1991The housing issue was still a constant sore point. ACORN fought back against bank lobbyist efforts to gut the CRA. ACORN members staged a two- day takeover of the House Banking Committee hearing room to be sure their voices were heard by Congress. They stood in line overnight and took seats normally occupied by bank lobbyists. As a result, they won the Congressional vote to preserve the CRA in a power move that got national attention.

ACORN has continued to grow and is now in 42 states with over 400,000 member families. It claims responsibility for registering over 100,000 new voters in the state of Florida for the 2008 election. ACORN continues to build community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice, and continues to take action on thousands of issues.

Home Defenders prepare

Inez Batista is scheduled to lose her house on March 19. She lives in Avalon Park, east of Orlando. Avalon Park is a planned community with single and multi-family homes, apartments and retail enterprises. The publicity for the area advertises the benefits and spaciousness of small town living. Home prices range from the low 200,000’s to the high 500,000’s. Inez’s husband had a construction business and in 2003 the business was doing well. They had three small children and Inez was a stay at home mother. They bought the house in 2004 and for a short while life was good, that is until the downturn in the construction industry. Inez and her husband both got jobs, but they seriously fell behind in their payments and received notification of foreclosure in August 2008. The Batistas then hired Advantage Mortgage of Miami who claimed that they could help get a modified agreement with Countrywide. Advantage required an immediate payment of $1500.00 up front in certified funds. The Batistas paid the money and waited. Unfortunately for them, Advantage never contacted Countrywide about refinancing-they talked to them about selling the property. The Batistas then called Countrywide directly to see if they could get a modification and were told to contact a firm called The Home Team. They also went to court to get an extension, which will keep them in their house legally until March 19. When the modification documents were delivered to them they were for a lot more money and monthly payments than the original mortgage. The Batistas refused to sign so they are now facing foreclosure.

The first Home Defenders project will be to rally around and protect Inez Batista and her family. Monday and Tuesday ACORN will be walking the neighborhood to gather community support, and Thursday the kickoff event will take place at the Batista house starting at 1:00 PM. There are several thousand homes in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties that are being foreclosed on. This is only round one.

Inauguration Blues

February 26, 2009 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

Orlando, Florida Jan 20. I can’t adequately describe the feeling inside me. It’s not merely joy, pride, relief or any range of those emotions. It’s rather a combination of some degree of them all tinged with a little apprehension for the work that still lies ahead. Of course this is an historic event and we should celebrate it, all in our own style. I chose not to attend the inauguration; I watched and have recorded the event to DVD so my grandkids can have it. The trip wouldn’t have cost me much because my daughter lives in the area. No, I chose to be here where it all started.

Our group in East Orlando was a driving force in taking Orange County by over 80,000 votes. We are hosting our own celebration and we have vowed to stay together to become a political force here. We are in the process of forming a Democratic club through either a state or county charter. The point is that we are staying involved. Statistically, Democrats did not do well in local, county and state offices. We also failed to defeat Amendment 2. Local politics has to be an important priority now. The 2010 elections are around the corner and we can’t afford Charlie Crist again in any elected office. Jeb Bush and Mel Martinez wisely saw the future and left the field open. I for one do not want to prove them wrong, so my apprehension is whether or not we will let this opportunity pass.

Watching on TV is frustrating because I can’t stand the constant chatter from the same talking heads. Sometimes their perspectives are so out of kilter that I wonder if I’m watching the same event they’re describing. Some people I never need to see again are Pat Buchanan, Peggy Noonan, Wolf Blitzer, George Will James Carville, Mary Matalin, Chris Matthews and others too numerous to mention. As far as I am concerned they contribute nothing except their own hot air. Not a fresh perspective in the bunch.

I really wish we could get past this race thing as much as I wish we could get past gender and lifestyle issues. People should be measured by their abilities and accomplishments and nothing more. Perhaps this inauguration is the beginning of the end of that kind of biased thinking, but it struck me as I watched the ceremonies on our 50” high definition screen that I wanted to throw a shoe at Rick Warren as he spoke. I might have too if the economy and our business income were better-it’s too expensive to fix or replace right now. Another curious thought occurred when Aretha Franklin was singing; why did they choose My Country Tis of Thee which is really a British song, God Save The (King/Queen) with different lyrics? I would have preferred God Bless America written by Israel Baline, a Russian Jewish immigrant whose name was changed to Irving Berlin. It is much more appropriate for the occasion. How wonderful it would have been for Marian Anderson, or Paul Robeson, or Nat King Cole to have had the opportunity to contribute to earlier inaugurations, all of them compelling performers who were on the front lines of the civil rights battles since the 1930’s. Their vindication came today.

So, tonight I’ll celebrate with my kindred spirits and tomorrow we’ll go out into the trenches and wage the battle for 2010. There’s a lot more work to be done.

Campaign Journal:Can We Go Home Now?

November 11, 2008 by Jerry Waxman Leave a Comment

*Note: This was just Submitted to Huffington Post and is awaiting publication.

By Jerry Waxman

Tues. Nov 4 5:30 AM. The office opens. At least, I think it does. I’m still asleep. It’s not necessary to be there since we won’t start canvassing until 9:30, so there’s no real rush, and I have to get today’s school programs ready to go.

7:00 AM. The song, Ooh My Feet! My Poor, Poor Feet! from Frank Loesser’s brilliant folk opera, The Most Happy Fella, comes to mind as I get out of bed. Of course, I could say the same about my back, neck, knees and lumbars too-it just doesn’t rhyme as well.

9:00 AM. “What’s today’s agenda?” I ask, fully expecting to be driving people to the polls since I have a seven passenger van. I’m told by our organizer that we are again canvassing and this time we are not just dropping off reminders to vote, we are talking to the residents and if they have not voted we’ll arrange to get them to the polls. It takes a little more time, but so far, everything we’ve been doing has been effective.

1:00 PM Finished up my walk pack and returned to the office. There is time enough to walk another pack as long as I don’t eat lunch. This pack has over 100 addresses and at that rate I won’t get back until 6:00. Almost everyone that I talked to had already voted and the others were waiting for their spouses to come home. That’s a good feeling.

5:45 PM The office is now calmer now than at any time since last Friday. Reports are coming in about the long lines at the poles and we are ready to go there with cases of bottled water. I went to four polling places where there were no long lines at all. Then the call came in to get to UCF where the estimated wait in line was about three hours.

7:30 PM The polls here are closed but our work isn’t done. We are now calling New Mexico and other Western states urging those that haven’t voted to get out and do so. Those of us not on the phones are tracking the results on our computers through various websites.

9:00 PM New Mexico polls have closed. Someone has brought in a wide screen TV so we can all track the results together. I stay at my computer. Every time favorable news happens we erupt into cheers. I was on the Florida Dept of State website getting updates frequently. We were ahead from the beginning and it looked like it was going to be a cakewalk, but with memories of 2000 still fresh in our collective memory everyone was hesitant. When Pennsylvania and Ohio and New Mexico were declared we knew the election was in the bag, however, we wanted our work to be validated. They finally called Florida at about 11:00 PM and then abruptly called the election for Obama. In an earlier column I stated that Central Florida was the key to winning the state and that East Orlando was the key to winning Orange County and Central Florida. Our East Orlando offices did the job. The vote difference in Orange County was 80,000, almost half the difference in the state. Last election the Democrats won Orange in a1000 vote squeaker. Because of this we were also able to send two new Democrats to Congress. The only drawback to the whole evening was the passage of Amendment 2, which denies gays the right to marry.

I opted not to go downtown to the victory party. I’ve developed an aversion to the noise and mayhem. I’ll celebrate my own way and in my own time-with my family.

Wed. Nov 5 Lots of work to do cleaning up the office and returning all of the rented and leased equipment. My organizer, Erin, lost her car keys last night, and someone took her laptop computer, which had to be reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Security has not been a problem until now-I hope she gets it back.

One of our volunteers, Lyman, is hosting a party for our three field offices tonight. That one I’ll go to. This is a crowd of people as diverse as can be from all walks of life who, for two months, came together for a common purpose. People whom I would have never met otherwise and now have common bonds with. We have all agreed to stay in touch and stay active. Many of us signed up at the party to go to Georgia and work in the runoff election. I even volunteered to go to Minnesota if they wanted me. What we have in place now is a support system for anyone in this area if they choose to run for local political office. That’s a nice feeling to have.

Thur. Nov 6 Reality sucks. All the time I spent on the campaign has taken its toll. The house is a mess. Our supply room is totally disorganized and lacking in things we need for today’s programs. There is a load of mail that has yet to be opened and the lawn hasn’t been touched in five weeks……….ugh!

To answer the title question, perhaps, but not for long. There’s too much work to do. Yes, we can physically enter our houses, but we can’t relax our guard. We need to start getting candidates together for next year’s local elections. We need to start running someone against Charlie Crist in two years as well as those congressional Republicans who held on to their seats. We need to challenge them now in order to keep them from being more obstructionist than they have been. We can go home, but only to get a little sleep.