BRINGING YOU SUNSHINE TODAY

Good morning First Coast Tea Party members and supporters. Today is a great day for the tea party movement. We’re bringing you sunshine in a world that seems to have lost its way.

We have recently come off a very “taxing” local mayoral and city council races. We worked side by side with our members to help our candidates in their campaigns. We were very successful in many of the City Council races and we were disappointed in the local mayor’s race. Our candidate did not win.

We come from a place that most in the world do not understand. That place is this – “We give thanks in all things” including when our candidate does not win. We believe all things work to good and sometimes we don’t always get what we want. Because what we want is not what is best for us.

We took last week off to rest up and to evaluate where the local tea party will be heading in the future. The board has met numerous times to review where we’ve been and where we’re going. Last night was a break-through night for our tea party and we are seeing Sunshine today!

We can’t share our thoughts with you just yet but we wanted to reach out and let you know – “We’re still here!” Good stuff is happening and here are just a few:

City Council: The new City Council members soon to be sworn in will be looking out for our best interests as taxpaying residents
Mayor: The new Mayor will have his work cut out for him and we plan to be keeping a close eye on his decisions
Membership: The First Coast Tea Party has had a surge in new members and we welcome you and hope to see you soon at a meeting near you! Please look for a “Neighborhood Tea Party” in your zip code and join up with local tea party neighbors at the monthly meetings. These are great groups to get to know your neighbors, hear from a speaker and learn about City Hall, State and National happenings. Go to http://www.fctpcommunity.org/groups and look for a local Neighborhood Group to sign up and start receiving information about the next local meeting.
Event: David Beamer, father of Todd Beamer – an American hero from the 9/11 tragedy, will speak at a First Coast Tea Party dinner event on Tuesday, June 7^th. For those of us who experienced 9/11 in front of a television screen, we remember the feeling of fear and the surge of patriotism that took place inside each of us. Mr. Beamer will share how this tragedy changed the lives of his family and changed him forever. This is a special evening with a great American. Please bring your family members or friends to this special night. RSVP online at: http://www.fctpcommunity.org/events/a-special-evening-with-an
Event: Pete Hoekstra, former Congressman who served as Chairman of the House Committee on Education will be our guest at a luncheon on June 20^th. His topic will be: “Education Reform, A Novel Idea: Parents.” Our education system is in shambles. The educational futures of our children and grandchildren deserve to be in your hands and not in the hands of those who have distorted history in textbooks and who hate American traditions. We promise this will be a hearty lunch at Maggiano’s and a hearty discussion with Pete Hoekstra. Bring anyone you know who has a special interest in reforming our educational system. RSVP at: http://www.fctpcommunity.org/events/luncheon-with-pete-hoekstra
Today: ETHICS ALERT… If you can be downtown at 1:30 in the City Council Chambers – please be there. The City Council is chipping away at the Ethics Bill and making it worthless (shameful council members!). They are afraid the committee will initiate complaints about their own.
FUN: A suggestion from Cord Byrd – one of our members. “If you want to have some fun, call Congressman Corinne Brown’s DC office at (202) 225-0123 and ask this question –
- “Why does drug testing welfare recipients amount to an extreme and illegal invasion of personal privacy but the actions of TSA are not?”
- Post what the office says when you call. You can post them at: http://www.fctpcommunity.org/profiles/blog/show?id=4150782%3ABlogPo...

The Board will issue some important information soon. In the meantime, get involved in the local tea party with some of the events noted above. Join your neighborhood group too for more information about the future of the tea party.

2012 is coming and don’t think for a moment we are sitting this one out! Not happening!

There may not be a whole lot of sunshine in the news – but we’ll tell you the truth – it isn’t over yet ‘cause Americans are the best of the best when it comes to surviving through tough times.

Here’s some Sunshine for our fellow tea party members! Thanks to Marcia for sending this Sunshine video today. It was perfect to go along with this blog. Have a great day. We’ll see you soon.

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Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 2, 2011 at 3:54pm: Tamara, I disagree with you. If someone is a healthy able bodied human being, and they are on welfare and food stamps, there is generally a reason. I think it is very important to eliminate drug use to start with. If they are on drugs, and the taxpayer is supporting them, it should be stopped immediately and they should be referred for treatment for the addiction. What you are talking about allows these folks to stay on the public dole forever and that has to stop, because pure and simple, we can't afford it. Now as far as the other groups you mention, no. If you apply for a job, there is always a chance you will be asked to take a drug test. I don't know about you, but, because I don't use drugs, I don't have a problem complying at all. If someone does, they shouldn't be hired! PERIOD.

Comment by tamara stephenson on June 2, 2011 at 3:30pm: If we are to drug test welfare recipients, then we must drug test bright future scholarship winners, employees and owners of private entities who win state contracts, contractors who win city/county contracts when some of that money comes from the state, state workers, parents of children in public schools, parents of children in private schools who receive any public funding, children in public schools, and the list goes on. When one class of citizens is picked for drug testing because they receive state money, and those citizens just happen to be poor, that smacks of discrimination. On a practical note, how much money will this cost the taxpayers if we are to pay back any individual who tests clean? Couldn't we have spent that money on Healthy Start instead? And, i'm just curious, how again is this related to jobs?

Comment by robert love on June 2, 2011 at 10:02am: thank you for your up date and staying on top of thing.

Comment by J.R. on June 2, 2011 at 9:28am: I tried to delete the below to correct a spelling error and thought the deletion had occurred, but the system is no longer allowing a commenter to delete their own comments. In the last line of my comment, the word "they" should read "the."

Comment by J.R. on June 2, 2011 at 9:19am: Ethics is not a comparable word. Either a person's behavior is ethical or it is not. There are no gray areas. So, why would the City Council want to water down and weaken the ethical standards Council members must live up to?
We have a perfect example of witnessed unethical and illegal behavior by Tony Kemmerly, a member of the Jacksonville Planning Commission, who recently took signs that belonged to candidate Matt Schellenberg and dumped them. The JSO deemed the offense to be "grand theft" and requested an arrest warrant in the case from the State Attorney's office. The JSO request sat on an Assistant State Attorney's desk until after the election and may very well still be sitting there and not acted upon. To my knowledge, this action by a Planning Commission member has not been reported by the Florida Times Union or any other news outlet.
Grand theft is a felony, according to Florida Statutes. This situation gives the appearance of selective enforcement of state laws and that preferential treatment is being given to an appointed member of the Planning Commission. I believe this situation screams for the City to have a very strong ethics code and Mr. Hemmerly should be removed from the Planning Commission and prosecuted for his witnessed "grand theft." The JSO does not seek an arrest warrant unless they believe they have probable cause.
The City Council's Subcommittee, and all Council members should be informed that we expect them to ensure that all Council members operate under the very highest Code of Ethics and that we will be carefully watching to see if that is what is reflected in the final version that they full Council approves.

Comment by J.R. on June 2, 2011 at 9:17am: Ethics is not a comparable word. Either a person's behavior is ethical or it is not. There are no gray areas. So, why would the City Council want to water down and weaken the ethical standards Council members must live up to?
We have a perfect example of witnessed unethical and illegal behavior by Tony Kemmerly, a member of the Jacksonville Planning Commission, who recently took signs that belonged to candidate Matt Schellenberg and dumped them. The JSO deemed the offense to be "grand theft" and requested an arrest warrant in the case from the State Attorney's office. The JSO request sat on an Assistant State Attorney's desk until after the election and may very well still be sitting there and not acted upon. To my knowledge, this action by a Planning Commission member has not been reported by the Florida Times Union or any other news outlet.
Grand theft is a felony, according to Florida Statutes. This situation gives the appearance of selective enforcement of state laws and that preferential treatment is being given to an appointed member of the Planning Commission. I believe this situation screams for the City to have a very strong ethics code and Mr. Hemmerly should be removed from the Planning Commission and prosecuted for his witnessed "grand theft." The JSO does not seek an arrest warrant unless they believe they have probable cause.
The City Council's Subcommittee, and all Council members should be informed that we expect them to ensure that all Council members operate under the very highest Code of Ethics and that we will be carefully watching to see if that is what is reflected in the final version that they full Council approves.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 2, 2011 at 7:13am: Thanks for posting Billie. Love Cord's suggestion; great idea and should leave Corrine's helpers sputtering! Will be going to the ethics commission meeting today, and hope to see others there. Wondering how they are getting away with trying to gut this, and we should be taking names and organizations they are involved with. If anyone gets city money, they are suspect I would think. Why would they not want an ethics commission if there is no wrong doing on their part????

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