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La Gaceta’s Endorsements for the August 20 Primary Election

TO READ OUR COMPLETE ENDORSEMENTS TO DATE, CLICK HERE

Republican Primary
U.S. Senate
John S. Columbus
Congress District 14
Ehsan Joarder
Congress District 15
Laurel Lee
Congress District 16
Vern Buchanan
Clerk of Court and Comptroller
Victor Crist
County Commission
District 2
Ken Hagan
District 4
Christine Miller

Democratic Primary
U.S. Senate
Stanley Campbell
Congress District 16
Jan Schneider

All Voters
Hillsborough County Judge
Group 11
Christine Edwards
Group 21
Matt Smith
Hillsborough County School Board
District 1
Nadia Combs
District 3
Jessica Vaughn
District 5
Henry Washington
District 7
Lynn Gray

From As We Heard It, by Patrick Manteiga

► Here are some of our endorsements in the upcoming primary election on August 20.
Races for All Voters
School Board District 1
Incumbent Nadia Combs is being challenged by Layla Collins and Julie Magill.
Magill is a general contractor, real estate investor and broker. She is passionate about making government more transparent and responsive to taxpayers but doesn’t seem to be passionate about public schools or well informed on current school policies or issues. She has bought into the story that public schools are indoctrinating kids and that pornography sits on every other bookshelf in the media centers.
Layla Collins is a U.S. Army veteran who served her country from 1994 to 2014. She is married to State Senator Jay Collins. Her many contributions read as if she is running for the State Senate. That’s because the PACs and people who support her are mostly doing so to gain and keep favor with her husband. She is who the governor is backing to take out Nadia Combs.
She has avoided public forums and we were unable to meet with her. She is presenting her campaign as if it has a moderate agenda, but it’s a Moms for Liberty agenda and she is part of the DeSantis efforts to direct more tax money to private and charter schools.
School Board member Nadia Combs is an unapologetic advocate for public schools and the children they serve. The Tampa Bay Times wrote in its endorsement of Combs this week, “Nadia Combs is one of the best Hillsborough School Board members to have served in decades. She is student focused, open and accountable, moderate and forward-looking …” That is high praise and well-deserved.
Combs is a fighter for her teachers and school staff and is unafraid to support the tax millage increase for their pay increase. She knows that in our schools, which serve low-income areas, keeping well-trained, fulltime teachers is becoming impossible as we face a teacher shortage and Hillsborough County teachers are being poached by surrounding counties that can pay more. She supports closing underpopulated schools so that limited resources can be better spent. She is smart, strong and holds the administration accountable.
La Gaceta endorses Nadia Combs for School Board District 1.
District 7
Incumbent Lynn Gray is being challenged by Karen Bendorf, Johnny Bush and Jen Flebotte. This is the only countywide School Board race.
Gray and Bush support sending a referendum to the voters to increase millage so that teachers get an extra $6,000 and support staff get an extra $3,000. This tax has been passed by surrounding counties and they can now pay their teachers more than Hillsborough. That puts us at a disadvantage. Flebotte and Bendorf don’t support the tax. Bendorf didn’t respond to our outreach for an interview. She appears to be the DeSantis candidate and if you read between the lines, seems to be a big supporter of charter schools and private school vouchers. We want more passion for public schools.
Flebotte is an architectural engineer who attended local public schools. She is well informed and wants the district’s budget to be more transparent – so do we. She is involved in the community.
Johnny Bush is a lifelong educator who served as a principal at Plant and Robinson high schools. He is retired but volunteers at Jefferson High School. He is a passionate advocate for public education and wants to improve the classroom experience for students and teachers. He would be a strong voice on a School Board but would need a little time to acclimate from leading a school to driving policy for a school district.
Lynn Gray is the best choice. She is very knowledgeable of the district’s successes and failures. She has institutional knowledge and wants to fix long-festering problems, such as having staff who are better qualified for their jobs, i.e. construction and real estate. The next few years are going to be tough and we need someone who is ready to continue the fight today.
La Gaceta endorses Lynn Gray for School Board District 7.
County Court Judge Group 11
Linette “Starr” Brookins ran for judge in 2018 and 2022. This is her third try. Christine Edwards is running for the first time. The seat is open; there is no incumbent.
Brookins is a senior trial attorney for Allstate and a hearing officer dealing with licenses for taxis. She has also worked as a public defender. She says she would be a judge who is respectful, down the earth and would avoid embarrassing the attorneys in front of their clients.
Edwards manages her own firm and practices criminal defense, family law and civil litigation. She also serves the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel and is a court-appointed counsel for Marchman Act court, where she works with individuals who suffer with drug abuse and mental health disorders. Her caseload for Marchman is 300, which has given her experience in handling a high volume of work and keeps her in the courtroom every week. She also volunteers for the Innocence Project.
We feel Edwards is best prepared to handle a busy docket and help people who appear in her court.
La Gaceta endorses Christine Edwards for County Judge Group 11.
Republican Primary
Clerk of Circuit Court
and Comptroller
Victor Crist and Melony Williams are vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat incumbent Cindy Stuart.
Crist is the clear choice over Williams. He is knowledgeable of the workings of the clerk’s office due to his time in the Legislature, where he chaired committees that oversaw the budget for the Florida justice system and helped reform the court system.
He also understands the relationship between the clerk and county government, having served as a county commissioner.
He believes he can more effectively lobby for better funding for the clerk’s office in Tallahassee and that he can expand services and reduce costs.
La Gaceta endorses Victor Crist in the Republican primary for Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller.
County Commission District 4
County Commissioner Christine Miller, who was just appointed to the job by Governor Ronald DeSantis, is being challenged by Cody Powell.
Powell advertises that he is “PRO-GOD, PRO-TRUMP.” His top issue is to “Ban woke books from schools and libraries and stop the transgender indoctrination.” We were hoping the Commission could fill some potholes.
After you get past the religious fervor and the false narrative, Mr. Powell has a good understanding of county government and planning. He has served on the Planning Commission, Hillsborough Transportation Board, Hillsborough Affordable Housing Board and the list goes on.
Christine Miller is the president and CEO of the Plant City Chamber of Commerce and understands the needs of the East Hillsborough business community. She wants to invest in better infrastructure, keep taxes low, control growth and preserve our agricultural lands and green spaces. Miller is smart, seems open to listen to diverse opinions and is personable.
La Gaceta endorses Christine Miller in the Republican Primary for County Commission District 4.(to read more, buy a paper)

From Chairman of the Bored, by Gene Siudut

► … I don’t know many Dems who would ever vote for Trump and I don’t know many Reps who would go with Harris, but the wild card is people who were disappointed in Biden are back in the fight and are being supported by a group that was never involved.
Is this enough to put Harris over? Maybe. I feel a lot better about her today than I ever have and even though we are constantly let down by our youngest voting block, maybe hope springs from Harris.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” I can’t think of a more ironic, karmic and enthusiastic prospect than Donald Trump losing an election to a Black woman.
It’s a long shot at the moment, but I’m not seeing any negatives from the Democratic side about Harris. I see some Republicans ripping her for such sexist denigrations as “sleeping her way to the top,” whatever that means. That comes from the same people who turn a blind eye to a man who has not been faithful to one woman, let alone any of his wives, concubines, or attorneys for that matter. …(to read more, buy a paper)

From The Reasonable Standard, by Matt Newton

► On May 4, 2024, Florida’s Republican Party passed a resolution concerning proposed Constitutional Amendment #3. This is the amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana use under state law.
The Republicans’ resolution declares that Amendment #3 would “benefit powerful marijuana special interests, while putting children at risk and endangering Florida’s family-friendly business and tourism climates.”
Last week, Governor DeSantis explained the “business climate harm” when he addressed Florida’s delegation at the Republican National Convention: “You go to places like Denver and it smells like marijuana. It’s not been good for quality of life. And that’s just reality.”
This was not the first time he complained about the smell of cannabis. In 2022, DeSantis said that “[i]t smells so putrid,” and that he “[c]ould not believe the pungent odor you would see in some of these places and I don’t want to see that here. I want people to breathe freely.” … (to read more, buy a paper)

From In Context, by Doris Weatherford

► … I spent last weekend responding to questions about the presidential campaign and looking at my murky crystal ball to decide what to write in my next column. By Sunday, I could breathe fresh air, as President Biden decided to end his long and highly successful career with dignity rather than fatigue. I still think he might have prevailed, but his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris makes it much easier for us to preserve democracy.
A couple of points that generally were overlooked: Not once did I see a pundit make reference to the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which mandates detailed instructions on how to handle the issue of an incapacitated president. It is the law, dear reader, not a guessing game spun by people who should know better. A long amendment with four sections, it was adopted in 1965 in the aftermath of President Kennedy’s assassination. Constitutional scholars had been studying the problem for decades prior to that, after Woodrow Wilson was disabled by a stroke in 1919. Some things are settled by our most sacred document: please remember that when invited to pitch fantasy. …(to read more, buy a paper)

From Silhouettes, an interview with Ronnie Oliver, by Tiffany Razzano

► Ronnie Oliver grew up in Alabama, where he was raised in a single-parent home by his mother. He saw how she struggled with four children and knew he wanted to do something with his life that would not only make her proud, but would also help lift her out of poverty.
A star athlete in high school, he dreamed of playing professional football. He thought this could be a good way to uplift his family.
Oliver was awarded a football scholarship to Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Before he finished his degree, he was offered an opportunity to try out for professional football teams, so he left university.
“But it didn’t work out for me,” he said. “I came to the realization that it was time for me to leave that profession alone and try to get my degree and start working with kids.”
Even amidst his pro athlete dreams, Oliver knew one day he wanted to work with children. He knew firsthand the impact mentors could have on a child.
“I came from a single-family household. I had a lot of relationships with coaches and teachers at my high school. I didn’t have a father figure in my life,” he said. “My coaches and teachers kind of raised me a little bit. They taught me right from wrong. I had a twin brother, and they did that for him too. They were like, ‘Hey, we want you to go the right way and not the wrong way.” …(to read more, buy a paper)

From Líneas de la memoria, por Gabriel Cartaya

► El 15 de enero de 1945 murió en La Habana Dulce María Borrero, a los 61 años de edad. Aunque es una figura imprescindible en la historia de la literatura y pedagogía cubanas, apenas aparece su nombre –y mucho menos sus propuestas pedagógicas– en el ámbito escolar de las últimas décadas, cuando su utilidad formativa debería no solo aprovecharse en su país, sino desbordar sus fronteras.
Probablemente, hacia las décadas de 1970-80 los maestros cubanos escucharon más el nombre de Nadezhda Krúpskaya –ajena a la tradición pedagógica de la Isla– que el de Dulce María Borrero, cuando ella ocupó un lugar muy visible en el ámbito pedagógico de la primera mitad del siglo XX de su país. La también poetisa y bibliógrafa nació en La Habana el 10 de septiembre de 1883, en una familia de reconocidos intelectuales, como lo fue su padre Esteban Borrero (médico, pedagogo, poeta, narrador) y su hermana Juana Borrero (poetisa modernista y pintora).
Dulce María, al nacer en un ambiente en que sus padres simpatizaban con la independencia de la Isla, tuvo que salir al exilio muy temprano y a los 12 años está viviendo en Cayo Hueso, donde se integra a la efervescencia patriótica que caracterizó a sus compatriotas emigrados. Allí, en revistas cubanas dio a conocer sus primeros versos. Más tarde se trasladó con la familia a Costa Rica, donde vivió hasta el regreso a La Habana en 1899, recién concluida la Guerra de Independencia. … (to read more, buy a paper)

From Briznas culturales, por Leonardo Venta

► La ópera Carmen es una de las obras más célebres del compositor francés Georges Bizet. Se trata de una pieza tragicómica en cuatro actos con libreto de Ludovic Halévy y Henri Meilhac, basada en un relato de Prosper Mérimée. Se estrenó sin gran éxito en la Opéra-Cómique de París el 3 de marzo de 1875.
Entre una fábrica de tabacos y un cuerpo de guardia del Regimiento de Alcalá, se inicia la trama. Don José, un apuesto cabo, es embrujado por la hermosura de Carmen, quien hace su entrada triunfal con la interpretación de la célebre habanera, para luego retirarse bajo el acoso de extasiadas miradas.
La atmósfera se torna convulsa. Un grupo de agitadas cigarreras le informan al teniente Zúñiga que Carmen acaba de herir a otra cigarrera en la cara. Don José, obedeciendo órdenes de Zúñiga, la detiene, pero ella le promete que si la deja en libertad se reunirá con él en la Taberna de Lilas Pastia.
Al comenzar el segundo acto, en la susodicha taberna, Carmen se entera de que don José, quien había estado preso por haberle viabilizado la fuga, ya disfruta su libertad. El torero Escamillo, en su primera entrada en escena, queda infatuado con la belleza de Carmen; mientras, cumpliendo a su cita, don José llega a la taberna. Allí, en un diálogo aparte, la cigarrera le propone a don José que se vaya a vivir con ella a la sierra. …(to read more, buy a paper)