Peter Nehr Town Hall - Part Two

Other topics from the Town Hall this past Wednesday that in large part where not fully explored, include some of the following:

Internet cafés-  In the past year Representative Nehr has been prominently mentioned in numerous articles regarding his ownership of internet cafes.  This was a topic that was not discussed at the meeting.   There are many who oppose this idea, Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats has moved strongly against internet cafes.  I have to wonder why Representative Nehr is not proactively addressing the concerns of many people in the area.

Employment and job growth- During the meeting the point was made that since January of this year, 80,000 new jobs have been added to our state‘s economy.  However, a more complete look at the state shows that the labor force has declined by some 40,000 jobs.  Also no consideration has been to the quality of these new jobs.  Do they provide a reasonable wage, what is the cost of health insurance, are they temporary of permanent positions?  Are a few of the many questions that should be asked. There was no consideration given to underemployment of population.  Looking at the most recent Gallop poll on employment shows a significant gap in the level of underemployment.  Not long ago I was in one of the big box stores and got into a conversation with an employee.  That person told me that they has a degree in accounting yet they can not find a position locally.  The person is employed, but at full capacity?

Privatization of state government-  The concept from Honeymoon Island of privatization, certainly was pushed back and Representative Nehr was among the vocal opponents.  The idea of privatization appears to be a driving force in the thinking of state government.  There are many of areas of much larger concern with the on efforts to privatize governmental functions.  One area that certainly has created significant concerns is private state prisons.  The savings that have been promised have been questioned, which certainly Rep Nehr has done.  I would feel that there are other significant areas of concern in this drive to privatize that has been historically a sole function of the state.

Voting rights- Again this another topic that was not touched on. To my mind there are two issues here restoration of felon rights and third party voter registration.  Should an individual be convicted of a felony obviously they will be removed from society, they will go to prison for a set period of time.  Among other things they forfeit is their right to vote.  After the person has been released from prison the person may petition to have their civil rights restored.  Ninety five thousand have applied for a pardon and so far one hundred and fifty three of these requests have been revived with only one person given a pardon.

When the legislature in the last session reviewed third party voter registration, much was said about the potential for voter fraud.  To my knowledge there was little if any significant evidence presented showing that this reasonable concern was widespread.  Seemingly the net result of this action will be many third groups that worked in the area of voter registration will no longer be doing community outreach to register people to vote.  This includes, as I have read in the media, some church groups and the League of Women Voters.

State regulation of private business- For the most part this was another area that Representative Nehr was silent on.  The state historically has functioned in a capacity of protecting the citizens from unscrupulous merchants.  There is little argument that all to often there are overlapping , duplicate and confusing regulations.  Certainly there needs to a coordinated effort to review the multiple layers of regulation and the enforcement of those regulations.  The intent being that a business owner should be able to make reasonable decisions in a efficient manner.  Unfortunately there are moves afoot to strip reasonable regulation of commerce to the profit of a few at the expense of the powerless.

I would hope that people would find effective methods of reaching out to their various elected officials and expressing to them their points of view on topics of concern.  Once more hat is certainly off to Representative Nehr for his open door policy.  In closing I would loudly support Peter in his comment about the current political climate being very divisive - “if its not my idea its not a good idea.”