State Senate District 18 – My Vote
This is the contest between Dana Young and Janet Cruz. I’m not jumping-up-and-down happy with either of these two candidates but they are worlds apart on the issues important to me. Janet Cruz gets my vote for State Senate.
Janet Cruz is term-limited out of the House where she was the minority leader. I think this gives her the political chops to accomplish some things in Tallahassee.
You all know I don’t vote for anyone for local office I haven’t talked with. I had a productive conversation with Janet Cruz yesterday. She gave me nearly 45 minutes on the phone, and I questioned her about some issues from the negative ads that troubled me. A big concern was her endorsement of School Board Member Susan Valdez who is seeking Cruz’s House seat. Valdez has always been a strong supporter of Charter Schools. She promised Cruz she’d back off that support, but then took money from Charter School lobbyists. I pointed out that leopards don’t change their spots. Cruz felt duped and said she wouldn’t fall for that again. We had a long discussion about gun control. We are mostly on the same page, but I think that, while a ban on assault rifles would be good, the likelihood of passing that in Florida is slim, and I have ideas about how to decrease the lethality of those weapons without fighting the battle to ban them. She was open to the suggestion and admitted it might be a better approach.
I asked direct questions about her personal taxes and where she lives (there’s been some question about whether she is in this district or not). I’m satisfied with her answers and verified the address issue.
Dana Young, on the other hand, is a huge supporter or defunding public schools and has an A+ rating from the NRA. She has a zero rating on women’s reproductive and health issues from Planned Parenthood. When she was in the house she voted for a bill that required women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound. In a meeting with her discussing a range of issues, I asked what she thought the public benefit to Florida was for that bill. She said I’d need to ask the bill’s sponsor. I pressed explaining I expected her to have weighed the benefits of the bill before voting on it, else I had to assume she just voted the way the party bosses instructed her. She didn’t like that and really didn’t appreciate intelligent and informed questions on issues. It became clear to me pretty quickly she’s used to getting by on platitudes, vague statements, and outright bullshit.
On her website, she claims to be a Methodist, but when I pressed about which Methodist Church she attends, she didn’t have an answer. Dana Young is just not a good person, even as politicians go, and doesn’t deserve anyone’s vote…especially given her animosity towards public education.
On top of that, she never returned any of my four phone messages and three contact requests from her website. I’m voting for Janet Cruz.
