Politics Blog

Tim Mahoney (D) who wants to go to Congress to represent Florida-16 likes to tout the following on his website along with pictures of him and his horse:

As a father, rancher and business owner, I have spent my life solving tough problems and creating jobs with a future for all Americans.

Just like Tim Mahoney, my civilian profession is closely intertwined with the “financial services industry” and I got a belly laugh that he was touting his ranch. Do you know why?

UNIQUE TAX BENEFITS OF HORSE OWNERSHIP
by Stephen A. Drake, Ph.D., CPA and CFP

Introduction

Have you ever thought about the unique tax benefits available to horse ownership? The industry has many tax benefits that other industries can only dream about. There are likely many reasons why the horse industry has these benefits. We know that agriculture was the industry that founded this country and for many years the US was an agrarian society. This is changing but the roots of agriculture still are very important in our society, The American Horse Council estimates that the equine industry adds $112.1B in total impact to the overall US economy. Because of this, as well as lobbying efforts by the equine industry, preferred tax benefits are part of the advantages of being in the horse business.

OVERVIEW OF THE TAX BENEFITS AVAILABLE TO THE HORSEMAN

Hobby Losses

In most industries, the IRS considers a business to be a hobby unless it makes a profit in 3 out of 5 years of operation. The rule for horses, is 2 years out of 7 years of operation to show a profit.

…….

Guys in the financial services industry become “horse ranchers” for one reason.

As soon as it is official, Joe Negron who is an “average Joe” needs to release his tax records and goad Tim Mahoney (D) into doing the same.

– Oak Leaf

This is going to get much uglier before it goes away. The republicans holding the House is becoming more and more like a fantasy then a certainty:

Prominent conservative leaders are demanding the immediate resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and any member of the GOP leadership who knew of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley’s inappropriate, perverse and illicit communications with teenage pages and failed to report it.

“Speaker Hastert had knowledge of Congressman Foley’s inappropriate behavior and chose to protect a potential pedophile and powerful colleague over a congressional page,” said David Bossie, president of conservative advocacy group Citizens United.

“This inaction demonstrates a lack of leadership on Speaker Hastert’s part, and calls into question both his judgment and character. If Speaker Hastert was willing to sacrifice a child to protect Rep. Foley’s seat and his own leadership position, then he surely does not share our American and conservative values,” says Mr. Bossie.

Speaker Hastert’s calls for an investigation are too late; he has already failed in his
duty to investigate and prosecute this matter before it became a public relations problem. This lack of leadership is not only morally repugnant, but it may cost Republicans the House in November. Mr. Hastert should resign immediately,” continued Mr. Bossie.

Michael Reagan agrees:

Michael Reagan, nationally syndicated radio show host and chairman of Citizens United’s Faith and Family Project, is also calling for resignations. “Any member of Congress who was aware of the sexual emails and protected the congressman should also resign effective immediately. I was sexually abused by a day camp counselor at age eight and also made to be part of child pornography,” Mr. Reagan stated.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Minutes ago, I received an e mail that Florida Republicans have made it official:

Joe Negron will be the next Congressman from Florida-16.

Ooops, I should have added the “next Cuban American Congressman.” And yes, his new district has a good sized Cuban American population.

The democrats have been making a lot of assumptions lately and in the military we have a saying about assumptions.

UPDATE: This is a PSA to our Democrat readers. Did I mention that Joe already has a warchest of $1,000,000 and $600,000 of it can be spent on direct political campaigns and $400,000 can be spent on “non-partisan voter education” to splain how to fill out ballots that have the wrong name on it. Did I mention that Mahoney only has $350,000 and owes $250,000?????

— Oak Leaf

In the Michigan Senate Race there are various polls out that I am confident no professional Democrat Pollster believes:

A mid-September Detroit News/WXYZ-TV poll showed Republican Bouchard trailing Democrat Stabenow 34 percent to 53 percent. It’s a tough reality for a candidate who’s used to winning.

“His biggest problem is name recognition,” said analyst Ed Sarpolis, vice president of the EPIC-MRA polling firm. “There are still a large number of people who don’t know who he is.”

Sarpolis says Bouchard’s problem is “name recognition” but that is only true outside of the “tri-county” area.

The “little secret” is that Mike Bouchard has favorable name recognition that far outstrips Debbie Satabenow in Oakland County Michigan. Unlike Debbie, who has run in her former Congressional District and once statewide, Sheriff Bouchard is a proven and extremely popular vote getter in Oakland County. Sheriff Bouchard is a real “hands on” guy and if there is an event, he is there shaking the hands and he has been doing it for years.

Here it Polipundit.com, our friend Jayson Javitz educated myself to the democrat “vote by rote” voters. Well here we have the reverse that will take place. Oakland County voters are used to and comfortable marking the ballot for Bouchard. Hey, I am convinced that there will be some voters who will leave thevoting booth, after voting for Bouchard, wondering why Stabenow is running for Sheriff!!!

Just how good is Bouchard a vote getter?

2000 General Election (Oakland County)

Gore 281,201
Bush 274,319

Abraham 277,180
Stabenow 268,853

Bouchard 352,014
Carson 67,235

2004 General Election (Oakland County)

Kerry 319,383
Bush 316,623

Bouchard 361,092
Mitchell 238,368

In the 2000 General Election (Michigan Statewide) Stabenow defeated Abraham by only 67,232 votes. At the same time, farther down the ballot in Oakland County, Bouchard received 83,161 more votes than Stabenow countywide.

There is no reason to believe that Bouchard will perform worse than Abraham did Statewide. There is every reason to believe that Bouchard will perform significantly better than Stabenow in Oakland County where the “Bouchard Vote By Rote” voters live. Because of the dismal state of Michigan’s economy, Stabenows performance in 2000 will be her high water mark. Further, unlike 2000 which was an energized Presidential election, this is a deflated Governors election where last minute decision voters will say that a “new guy” can not do any worse.

If the 2006 Michigan Election is simply a repeat of 2000 and Bouchard holds his Oakland County base, he wins. This is what traditional “polling” can not flesh out. Debbie Stabenow however knows this and it is showing in her recent Senate voting. Michigan Republicans are energized to sacrafice a democrat, Michigan Democrats are not happy with any of their choices.

— Oak Leaf

Does anyone think the old media would check out a statement like this before they write it?

Though Florida ballots have already been printed with Foley’s name and cannot be changed,

Guess what a simple phone call to two Election Offices in Florida revealed this morning? They do not have the “ballots” back from the printer.

— Oak Leaf

Aw, they did it for the children:

Never has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age. The casino is in effect brought to the home, office and college dorm.

“Children may play without verification, and betting with a credit card can undercut a players perception of the value of cash, which too easily leads to bankruptcy and crime,” Leach said.

Stuff like this is appalling as these people have no business being moral scolds to the rest of us. When I see Republicans acting in this manner it becomes difficult to be enthusiastic about re-electing them.

— The Ace

He just wasn’t their kind of homosexual:

“I first started to report on Foley in March 2003,” said Rogers, who is gay. “The reason why - he’s antigay. He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and has not renounced that vote. He refused to acknowledge that he supported the repeal of `don’t ask, don’t tell.’ He would not sign on as a co-sponsor. He should be held accountable for not supporting that or co-sponsoring.

Democrat has advice for republicans:

Finance writer Andrew Tobias of Miami, who is gay and treasurer of the Democratic National Committee said:

“I hope the Republican Party continues to evolve so it’s not so difficult to be an openly gay Republican.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

You get caught doing something wrong, blame the liquor and enter rehab:

I strongly believe that I am an alcoholic and have accepted the need for immediate treatment for alcoholism and related behavioral problems.

On Saturday, with the loving support of my family and friends, I made arrangements to enter a renowned in-patient facility to address my disease and related issues.

So, if these emails didn’t come out, would he still be boozing it up? The problem is these emails are from last year, no one noticed his drinking problem then, or through the year ?

Congressman Patrick Kennedy enters rehab for pill addiction:

WASHINGTON – Less than 36 hours after he crashed into a checkpoint barrier near the Capitol, US Representative Patrick J. Kennedy announced yesterday that he is addicted to pain medication and checked himself into the Mayo Clinic for treatment. It was his second trip to the renowned Minnesota rehabilitation center in six months.

And in New Jersey, real estate developer Charles Kushner, a huge democrat fundraiser, was jailed for tax-fraud and campaign violations. Half way through his sentence, he woke up one morning and claimed he was a drunk:

The feds in Jersey are fuming that rogue real-estate mogul Charles Kushner is being transferred from prison to a cushy halfway house a year early — just because he claims to be an alcoholic.

……Kushner shaved time off by claiming to be an alcoholic so as to be eligible for a residential substance-abuse treatment program. The program is the only one in the federal prison system that lets inmates earn credit against their sentences.

No one else saw that he was a drunk:

………the prosecution and the FBI are trying to prove that Kushner faked his way in. They’ve interviewed liquor-store owners as well as his doctor and former employees of his to determine whether he perjured himself by claiming to be addicted. At sentencing last March, the defense gave the judge hundreds of pages of documents and letters of support — yet none mentioned a drinking problem.

The problem is not democrat or republican, it’s a problem of privledge. These pampered rich elites think they are above the law and can do whatever they want and never take personal responsibility when they are caught.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Would you trust the man that took this company public and has ran it every year since…

… to sit on the House Committee on the Budget, House Committee on Education and the Workforce, House Committee on Financial Services, House Committee on the Judiciary, House Committee on Small Business, and the House Joint Committee on Taxation??

Well, if Tim Mahoney (D) is elected to Congress from Florida’s 16th Congressional District he will get the opportunity to do to the Nation what he did for vFinance, Inc…..LINK HERE

Moving from the “financial services industry” into politics is not a good idea especially when the company that you own and are touting has a track record like that.

Pssssstttt… I have a message for the resident trolls. That dismal stock performance occurred under the watch of President Clinton. But hey, you will probably balme it on the fact that all this happened when Tim Mahoney (D) was a registered republican, right?

— Oak Leaf

Updated/Bumped From Sunday

Right now the Florida Republican Party is going through the “motions” to find a nominee:

The most likely scenario involves a statewide “super board” of 40 Republican Party officials picking the nominee in a telephone conference from Central Florida early next week.ÿ Republican Party of Florida spokesman Jeff Sadowski said Saturday the selection process was still a work in progress.

“The nominee is going to have to get his name out there and differentiate himself from Foley and the Democratic candidate,” Sadowski said.

Veteran state Representative, Joe Negron, R-Stuart, is convinced it can be done. He was busily calling super board members on Saturday to convince them he’s a logical choice to replace Foley.

“I think the voters are very smart and sophisticated, and they care about who their congressman is,” Negron said. “It was very shocking and disappointing, but the election process has to move forward.”

Foley’s meteoric fall from grace would appear to make Democrat Tim Mahoney’s job a cakewalk, but Negron sees cause for Republican optimism.

Foley’s 16th Congressional District leans slightly Republican. In 2004, President Bush defeated Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry with 54 percent of the vote. Many of the Democrats in the district’s western rural areas are conservative.

“That is a district with a lot of Republicans who are ready to vote,” Sadowski said.

Negron also points to his party’s ability earlier this year to retain the seat of disgraced former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California after he was forced to resign amid a bribery scandal.

Negron recently dropped out of the race for attorney general, is flush with $1 million in campaign contributions.

Joe Negron is an “average Joe” and unlike Tim Mahoney (D) is a lifelong Florida resident who grew up in the district:

Joe Negron, State Representative, District 82, State of Florida. Joe Negron is a native Floridian born in West Palm Beach and is a lifelong resident of Martin and Palm Beach Counties. He received an undergraduate degree from Stetson University, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, and a law degree from Emory University. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in November, 2000, from House District 82. His district serves Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie Counties. Representative Negron has concentrated his legislative efforts on environmental issues, education reform and insurance issues.

Joe was born in 1961, is married to Rebecca (a maternity nurse), and has three children David, Jonathan, Becca.

What attracted Tim Mahoney (D) to move to Florida in the first place?In 1998 Mahoney moved to Florida to help a Scotland-based company with a spinoff. Hmm, that will be fun to splain.

The South Florida Sun Sentinal gives Joe five stars as they wrote in May 2006:

Negron is a disciplined fiscal conservative. But he’s not a stodgy budget cruncher. Negron made friends among Democrats and Republicans as the affable House budget chairman who opened the state’s wallet for major increases in school and courts funding. Thanks to a revenue windfall, Negron found it easy in the $71.3 billion budget to meet legislators’ hefty election-year spending requests. He authorized millions for hometown projects. He also tried to satisfy Gov. Jeb Bush’s push for tax cuts and savings. As the former chairman of the Palm Beach County legislative delegation, Negron steered money to dozens of local schools, roads, water treatment projects and law enforcement training.

Where does Joe stand on the issues? Well, you can go to “Project Vote Smart” and check. I can say that the Christian Coalition has recently given him a 100% rating that will be of great importance in mobilizing the homeschool community and the loacl church groups:

2005-2006 Representative Negron supported the interests of the Christian Coalition of Florida 100 percent in 2005-2006.

A few words: from Joe when he was running for Attorney General that will appeal to ones libertarian instinct:

Rep. Negron believes that our rights and freedoms do not come from the government, but instead are granted to us by our Creator through our Constitution. Rights are not self-executing; it is the responsibility of the Attorney General to be a guardian of our individual liberties. Rep. Negron will safeguard our right to bear arms, our right to worship or not worship as we see fit, our right to dissent, our right to bring up our children as we see fit and our right to be left alone. We live in a representative democracy. The people are sovereign and the government is in place to serve and protect, not to control.

In addition to being an “average Joe” that does not live in a gated community (unlike his Democrat opponent), Joe has a proven track record as a politician, has funding and has already served the people in his community.

UPDATE: Longtime reader and fellow Floridian, “Another Thought” sums up this race exactly:

All Republicans/conservatives need to rally behind Negron and push this guy to victory to send a message.

There’s no reason to punish Negron for Foley’s sins. And there’s every reason to punish the Dems for holding this story back until now, and not really caring about justice or the welfare of those interns.

– Oak Leaf