Another ugly headline? Time for Osceola clerk Ramirez to go
I don’t often make endorsements. But I do sometimes share who I think doesn’t deserve your vote. Today is one of those days.
Good people of Osceola County, you need a new clerk of court.
Armando Ramirez’s tenure in office started stinking shortly after he took office in 2013 and has only gotten stinkier since.
Don’t take it from me. Just take a peek at a sampling of the headlines generated by the 85-year-old Democrat during his first two terms in office.
“Osceola clerk promotes son’s girlfriend as new chief deputy” … “New clerk in Osceola: I’ll pay my $7,000 debt” … “Osceola clerk finance chief quits, rips Ramirez” … “Fired attorney warned clerk against breaking law”
And if you consider all that old news, here’s a new headline from last week: “Outside review
found pattern of misconduct at Osceola clerk’s office.”
Keep in mind: That review was requested by the clerk’s office. Ramirez basically said:
Hey, come tell me what you think.
And the investigator he hired said: Yo, I think things are messed
up. (It took her 35 pages to detail all the ways.)
The report said the abundance of employee complaints “suggested a pervasive pattern of inappropriate activity.”
Enough already.
The Sentinel’s editorial board endorsed school board member Kelvin Soto as a replacement.
But there are three strong challengers, all of whom could give Osceola a fresh start.
ACLU tactics
If you’re a Democrat in Orange or Osceola counties, you’ve probably been bombarded with mailers from the ACLU of Florida touting Monique Worrell as the group’s next pick for state attorney.
The front of one mailer says “BEING POOR CAN MAKE YOU A CRIMINAL” and then lists Worrell as the only candidate vowing to “END PROSECUTION OF POVERTY CRIMES.”
I like the constitutional values that the American Civil Liberties Union stands for. I do not like these ads. For two reasons:
1) While the nonprofit claims that its supposedly separate political committee isn’t endorsing any one candidate, it clearly is. Their argument would be like me saying: “Vote for good candidates. Sally is the only good candidate. How dare you say I suggested you vote for Sally?”
It’s disingenuous at best.
2) The ads are misleading. Several say Worrell is the only one who has said she wants to
“stop prosecuting low level marijuana possession.” That’s just not true. I moderated a debate among all four candidates — Worrell, Deborah Barra, Belvin Perry and Ryan Williams (all strong candidates, by the way) — and all four said they favored ending that penny-ante prosecution for the most part. And here’s the kicker: I know the ACLU is aware of their answers at that forum … because the ACLU was one the debate’s sponsors.
Who’s running for what?
A few headlines from around the state:
“DeSantis squelches talk of a White House run” - This Politico story said Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed the idea of running for president in 2024, but didn’t rule it out down the road.
“Governor Eskamani? Progressive lawmaker not ruling it out” - This Florida Politics piece noted that the “Draft Anna Eskamani For FL Governor 2022” Facebook page was gaining steam.
“Florida man once bitten by alligator is chomped by 8-foot shark” – OK, so the man featured in this Fort Myers News-Press piece isn’t running for any public office, but he should be running from any creature with sharp teeth.
Selective editing
Last week I highlighted a misleading ad for Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh — one where the Democratic incumbent had lifted a few, choice words from an Orlando Sentinel editorial that made it look like the editorial board was a fan of his. In reality, the editorial asked voters to toss him out of office and vote instead for Amy Mercado.
Singh used creative and misleading editing. But now a darkmoney group attacking Singh has done something similar to him.
A new mailer from a group that calls itself “Floridians for Honest Government” features Singh’s picture over a giant quote that says: “strippers, excessive travel, wasteful spending and destroyed documents — all culminating in a criminal investigation.”
I recognized the quote because I wrote it. I also recognized it had been selectively edited.
The mailer lopped off all the words I’d written before and after that phrase — words that stressed all those things were just accusations not yet verified by an investigation. And the mailer ignored the fact that the investigation concluded with state officials levying no charges against Singh.
Singh has given voters plenty of reason to rethink his tenure in office. But the takeaway is the same as it was last week: Don’t take any campaign ads at face value, especially if they’re coming from a group you’ve never heard of. Check reliable sources. Speaking of which …
Readers rock!
Let’s end with a good-news item.
Often, the most-viewed stories on orlandosentinel.com are silly, lurid or fluffy — stories about nudity, weird crimes or maybe theme parks. (Combine all three, and you get internet gold.)
But for the past week or so, one of the pages attracting the most attention is Sentinel’s voters guide — which I find really encouraging. (Especially since nudity isn’t mentioned once that I recall.)
The guide is packed with issue-based stories and videorecorded interviews with candidates in 49 different primary races, plus a roundup of the endorsements from the editorial board.
None of that stuff is sexy. But it is important. And tens of thousands of people are seeking it out — which seems like a good sign for democracy.
Check it out for yourself at www.orlandosentinel.com/ voterguide