Being an incumbent has a distinct set of advantages. Start with name recognition. Unless you are a serial killer, you have all the advantages of having had your name before the voting public every week whether you are smart or not so smart. The Daytona Beach news Journal never seems to have an opinion but it will print your name in a useless “news” article. It also means in New Smyrna Beach in particular that you have the advantage of having handed out favors and money to your friends. These three incumbents have handed out almost $600,000 to the golf club last year to about 350 members---close to $1,750 each.

In a small southern town where almost all those who hold power are able to put their friends or relatives on the public payroll, and this is very true here, this is a big advantage. Then there is the intertwined control of the money pots controlled by your friends. That includes the Community Redevelopment Agency, Utilities Commission, and the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority all of which take money from taxpayers and hand it out to their friends. And all of which are so incestuous that it gives a new meaning to the term. Randy, for example, needed support for the anemic Surf contest which was more like a free beer event. The advertising authority gave them money. The bars need some extra money, so the CRA supports New Smyrna Beach Uncorked which was also a bust. The merchants along Canal Street want a plastic Christmas tree, so you buy one with City money. And then look at the votes bought by incumbents through subsidizing the water taxis with grants for management and fancy bookkeeping. Do not even think of the kayaks. Certain developers with too many unsold houses like incumbents if they promise to delay granting building permits to competitors. Moreover, the incumbents can promise an easy track for building a gasoline station say on Pioneer trail and Williamson.

O.K. The incumbents have advantages. But these groups of incumbents, particularly the three that are running for re-election, have refused to reduce any of the City employee pay, pensions and benefits. They are protecting the base they have bought and managed with taxpayer money. But they have done it so poorly that it is evident to all taxpayers that they are misspending money. Stated another way, they are so beholden to the City employee voters that they have bought off that they refuse to fix the glaring problem of overpaid and overcompensated City employees. Many of these employees now make more than three times in salary alone than the taxpayers who pay for their services. Even Randy must know that the $64,000 a year pension his wife receives is out of sync with reality. He wants to raise your taxes to pay his wife’s pension.

Vallejo, California, filed for bankruptcy to get out from under an “out of reality pay and pension” system for its fireman and other City employees. We are now in the same boat. Vallejo has settled with both its police department union and other government employee union for a rollback to 2001 pay, pension and benefit package. The International Association of Fire Fighters has thrown in the towel in Vallejo and will settle shortly. If it does not, the Bankruptcy Judge will throw out all of these bloated pay, pension, and benefits packages. These three Commissioners cannot even reduce mandatory four hours overtime hours for the fire department or turn down a 2% pay rise last year for all City employees last year.

Then look at the lack of oversight of the bloated and mismanaged Utilities Commission. Its CEO said that fiber optics could not work, and now both Bright House and AT&T are installing fiber optics as fast as they can. $80,000 a year secretaries and all those meter readers. And an inadequate garbage burning plant secretly is negotiated for a location between Sugar Mill and Venetian Bay. And do not forget the Utilities Commission paid Clay Henderson in an open ended $250,000 contract for “legal” services. He is the so-called environmental lawyer who wants to put a huge housing development in the wetlands west of 1-95 in Edgewater and it looks like the Utilities Commission paid Henderson for the time that he spent putting a ring in Randy’s nose. SEE LINK

The worst recent purchase made by the Commission was not Esther Street where they overpaid $2,000,000 for 43 parking spaces on the beach. No, it was the purchase of the Dunn Lumber property where Sally led the pact in buying that unneeded dog and said they should overpay because the City should not ”quibble” over the price. She voted to pay $37,000 more in cash than the last contract that fell through because no lender would put money up for a contaminated piece of property. They are now going to use at least $200,000 of Federal and State money to clean up what was the responsibility of the prior owners before they bought it. That $200,000 is your tax money too.

As bad as we think that Sally has been, Randy and Jack have been worse. Both have voted for each bad expenditure. Both have protected the bloated and mismanaged police and fire departments. Both have supported insane ant-growth zoning. But special mention must go to Jack for his open support of the Angler's Club and its rip off of City resources. They would never let him join, but they certainly have him in their pocket. It is hard for the Shadow to think of anyone other than Randy as the shallowest elected official, particularly seeing how he was led by the nose by the “ environmentalist” Clay Henderson pushing a development in Edgewater in the wetlands. Well maybe both deserve to be called "worst". Sally gets a separate award for not knowing how to run a Commission meeting.