The Tallahassee Democrat‘s editorial-board endorsements

Nina Ashenafi Richardson

Leon County Court, Seat 5
Nina Ashenafi Richardson, a native of Ethiopia, has the edge over challenger Sean Desmond in this nonpartisan judicial contest primarily because of her extensive volunteer and pro bono track record. Besides having been staff legal counsel for the Florida Education Association since 1991, the 44-year-old attorney has served for five years on the Legal Aid Foundation board, for example, and on the steering committee of Whole Child Leon. It’s important for the judges in the “people’s court” to be familiar, as she is, with the challenges facing citizens in everything from small claims and landlord-tenant disputes to minor criminal offenses.

Amendment 1: Repeal of alien land law. This eliminates antiquated language authorizing the Legislature to prohibit “ineligible aliens” from owning property. Florida, to its credit, never used this anti-Asian, anti-immigrant authority, but such outdated, discriminatory language should be out of our constitution. Vote Yes.

Amendment 2: Gay marriage ban. Initiated by a citizens’ group, Florida4Marriage.org, the amendment would ban gay marriage and all civil unions. It also puts at risk health insurance and other benefits extended to domestic partnerships regardless of the age, gender or sexual orientation of the parties. Florida statutes already prohibit same-sex marriage — language echoed in this amendment. The federal Defense of Marriage Act also protects states from having to recognize gay marriages contracted elsewhere. Amendment 2 is a duplicative, unnecessary means of privately objecting to cultural change and nontraditional families. Vote No.

Amendment 3: Hurricane and energy tax break
Homeowners, including those who own rentals, second homes or vacation homes, would get a small tax break for making storm-hardening improvements or for renewable energy systems such as solar. Under this amendment, the improvements couldn’t affect the assessed value for purposes of property taxes. Homeowners might also save on better insurance premiums and lower utility bills. Vote Yes.

Amendment 4: Conservation land tax break
This tax break creates a complete property-tax exemption for conservation easements when a private landowner agrees to permanently set aside and not develop land. It also allows lawmakers to create a new tax-break class for landowner-managed “conservation” property that is similar to the “greenbelt” exemption for agricultural land. It should help sustain agriculture in Florida by providing an alternative to “selling to development” at the same time preserving wilderness areas that are essential to the well-being of the state’s natural resources. Vote Yes.

Amendment 6: Working waterfront tax break
In our Gulf Coast region, this could be a blessing, providing a tax break for struggling marinas, boat yards, commercial fishing facilities and waterfront fish houses or restaurants. It would ensure that property is assessed according to its current use instead of by its “potential” use. Mom-and-pop owners of waterfront businesses wouldn’t feel pressured to sell to keep up with “highest and best use” tax bills, and some of Florida’s old charm, beloved by residents and appealing to tourists, could be retained. Vote Yes.

Amendment 8: A new sales tax for community colleges
This allows a tax increase rather than tax breaks. It would give a county the option of increasing its sales tax to support community colleges, but with a five-year expiration date. If a college served more than one county, all of the counties would have to agree to the same tax increase, and the state already limits local-option taxes to 1.5 percent total, so counties that are already at that limit couldn’t chip in.

Community colleges do serve an important work-force function — extra important during times of economic distress — but financing public education is one of the state Legislature’s fundamental responsibilities. It ought not shove another burden back to counties. Vote No.

Circuit Court Judge, Group 7
Frank Sheffield brings long experience and daily familiarity from his 37 years of handling every type of legal case, civil and criminal, in the circuit. In this nonpartisan race against Lisa Raleigh, he has the edge because of his participation in hundreds of trials and his ability to hit the ground running given the retirement of three longtime judges and the overcrowded docket that a new judge will have to wrangle with immediately and effectively.

State House District 9
Republican Peter Boulware has the advantage of ready access to leadership in the Republican-dominated House over Democrat Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda. A businessman with high name recognition statewide from his years in professional football, he stands the better chance of bringing attention to this district, its state employees and universities whose concerns increasingly have played second fiddle to those of South and Central Florida.

Leon County Commission at-large
In this nonpartisan race, architect Akin Akinyemi is quite simply a more credible candidate than incumbent Ed DePuy, a lobbyist whose term on the board has been marked by questionable judgments and behavior that outweigh his familiarity with the issues. His angry public outbursts, reluctance to acknowledge even possible conflicts of interest in voting in two instances and questions surrounding a sexual harassment complaint by a local-government employee have damaged his reputation as a once-moderating influence on the board.

U.S. Congress District 2
Democrat Allen Boyd, the incumbent, simply has the experience over Mark Mulligan, a Panama City Republican with an academic background, in dealing with complex fiscal and monetary issues that are now overshadowing virtually every other issue in Congress. Boyd has a long record as a conservative “Blue Dog” Democrat and steady hand who is in sync with this large and largely rural North Florida district.

State House District 8
Democrat Alan Williams, with his extensive record of community leadership and involvement, is the superior choice over Robert Maddox, a no party candidate from Quincy who has run an almost invisible race for this seat. District 8’s representative is so important as an advocate for not only the public employees and universities of Leon County but also the low-income residents of Gadsden County. Mr. Williams is known as both a “worker bee” and generous leader who can build consensus.

State House District 10
Democrat Leonard Bembry simply brings a deeper and more far-reaching sense of the people in this 10-county district than Republican Don Curtis, a forester and former manager at Procter & Gamble, Buckeye Cellulose. Bembry, from a fourth-generation farming family in the district, built and runs University Homes in Tallahassee and has experience in insurance, real estate, housing, agriculture, business management and the business of meeting a payroll that should serve this district well.

State Senate, District 3
Republican Charlie Dean, the incumbent, has a background in the House that has given him a familiarity with state issues so critical to Florida. He has demonstrated independence from party lines when necessary to work effectively for the state employees and universities. His challenger, Democrat Suzan Franks of Citrus County, served in the New Hampshire Legislature for eight years and brings a lively public spiritedness to the campaign. But we see no reason to unseat an incumbent who has shown himself to be effective and hardworking for the citizens of this diverse district.