Deep Something

Cartoon of Elected School Superintendent

The Ballot-Box Bureaucrat: Why Electing School Superintendents Is a Governance Nightmare

July 10, 2026July 10, 2026 B. John 141 Views 0 Comments public education rankings, institutional accountability, Florida Politics, Home Rule, Michael Owen, elected superintendents, local preemption

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

The push to force a partisan elected superintendent referendum onto Hillsborough County isn’t a grassroots movement for voter empowerment; it’s a deliberate structural hijacking. In our latest piece, we look at the reality behind this cynical effort to turn a highly specialized, professional administrative role into a hyper-partisan popularity contest. The data is clear: electing the top executive of a massive metropolitan school system has zero statistically significant impact on student achievement. What it actually delivers is a microscopic local talent pool and a system-wide governance nightmare of locked-up school boards and parallel legal counsels.

The hypocrisy of this legislative push is laid bare by its chief sponsor, State Representative Michael Owen. Owen has built a career voting to strip cities and counties of their home-rule authority through state-level preemption bills, yet he suddenly claims a deep devotion to local voter control when it comes to controlling a metropolitan school system. If Owen and his allies want to argue that a partisan knife fight is the secret sauce for academic excellence, they are arguing against the entire map of American education. The states that consistently deliver top-tier results treat school administration as a profession, while the only two states that stick to elected superintendents—Alabama and Florida—rank 43rd and 24th in public school quality. True accountability isn’t a row of campaign signs along a highway shoulder; it’s a system run by qualified professionals who can be held to high standards and removed when they fall short.

Tampa Politics Legislature Society Crack Pots Featured Places

Is Karen Gonzalez-Pittman Representing South Tampa or Tallahassee?

June 29, 2026 B. John 205 Views 0 Comments housing policy, infill redevelopment, school boards, wage recovery, South Tampa, Karen Gonzalez Pittman, Home Rule, local control, Tallahassee preemption

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Karen Gonzalez-Pittman represents South Tampa, but her voting record raises a fair question: is she representing this community, or carrying Tallahassee’s agenda back home? Again and again, she has voted for bills that take decision-making power away from local governments, local school boards, and local voters.

From housing and tenant protections to infill redevelopment, school policy, civilian oversight, and local employment standards, Gonzalez-Pittman has sided with state preemption over home rule. For South Tampa, where traffic, flooding, housing pressure, schools, and neighborhood character are intensely local concerns, that record deserves much closer scrutiny.

Featured Places Tampa Politics Legislature

Josie Tomkow’s Record Shows Tallahassee Comes First

June 26, 2026June 26, 2026 B. John 258 Views 1 Comment South Tampa, Senate District 14, Hillsborough County, Josie Tomkow, Brian Nathan, Home Rule, local control, Tallahassee preemption, Public Schools

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

This entry is in the series Florida Legislature

Florida Republicans love to talk about freedom, but their voting records often tell a very different story. Over and over again, Tallahassee politicians have voted to take decision-making power away from local communities, local governments, and local school boards. Josie Tomkow’s record in the Florida House is a clear example.

Tomkow is now running again against Brian Nathan in Senate District 14, asking Tampa-area voters to send her back to Tallahassee. But when she served in the House representing Polk County, she repeatedly voted for state preemption over local control, including on housing, zoning, infill redevelopment, civilian oversight, and public schools.

That matters here. Tampa and Hillsborough County deserve representation rooted in this community, not another vote for Tallahassee control. The question for voters is simple: if Tomkow voted this way in the House, why should anyone expect her to vote differently in the Senate?

Featured Politics Election Legislature

Tallahassee Keeps Telling Local Communities to Sit Down

June 23, 2026 B. John 268 Views 1 Comment Florida Legislature, heat safety, Tallahassee, zoning, Home Rule, Preemption, local democracy, Hillsborough County, worker protections

This entry is in the series Florida Legislature

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

There is a word in Florida politics that sounds dry enough to cure insomnia but is quietly reshaping life in our communities: preemption.

Preemption is what happens when Tallahassee tells local governments they are not allowed to solve local problems. In recent years, the Legislature has used it to block local worker protections, weaken local control over zoning and development, and shift more decisions away from the people who actually live with the consequences.

My latest article examines this growing pattern, including Florida’s ban on local heat protections for outdoor workers, recent development bills that override local planning, and the legislators who keep voting to shift power away from communities and into the state’s hands. This is not just a procedural fight. It is about whether local democracy still means anything when powerful interests want it out of the way.

Crack Pots Featured Places Tampa Politics Legislature Society Crime Corruption

Why Josie Tomkow is Wrong for Tampa

March 17, 2026 B. John 689 Views 0 Comments Public Education, Josie Tomkow, Tampa Politics, Home Rule, SD 14, Preemption, Local Autonomy, Voter Suppression

This entry is in the series Florida Legislature

This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

For decades, the “Home Rule” philosophy was the bedrock of Florida governance—the common-sense idea that the people who live in South Tampa and Northwest Hillsborough are better equipped to run their communities than a bureaucrat in a distant capital. But after the 2026 Legislative session, that principle isn’t just under attack; it’s being systematically dismantled. At the center of this power grab is Representative Josie Tomkow, a Polk County resident now seeking to represent Senate District 14. While her campaign paints a picture of “common sense” leadership, her voting record tells a different story: one of a reliable “yes-man” for a Tallahassee establishment that views your local autonomy as an obstacle to be cleared.

From voting to strip your city council of the power to host local cultural festivals to supporting state-level takeovers of local zoning boards, Tomkow has consistently prioritized state authority over your backyard reality. Whether it’s placing barriers at the ballot box for USF students or diverting your tax dollars away from public classrooms, her record is a blueprint for centralization. Senate District 14 doesn’t need a proxy for the Governor’s office; it needs a champion for its own streets. We’re taking a deep dive into the specific “preemption” bills Tomkow supported and why her vision for Florida is a direct threat to the independence of the Tampa Bay area.

[Read the full analysis here: The Death of Home Rule and the Rise of the Polk County Proxy]