Whatcha think about him now :-)

[dolphinatic]

Tax breaks are way diffrent than welfare, if you didn't know.

WOW....see what I get for working too much. I miss good posts like this one My advice: If you don't want to piss in a cup to get a paycheck, try working for yourself. There are many days that you wish you did drugs and drank heavily It's tough right now for sure. Still wouldn't trade it for an office job if I can help it. Been there, done that.

Also, PA IS THE MAN and Barhopr is my hero!!!!!

[mojokoko]

I can't see how it would be possible for them to operate on a smaller budget. It would be cheaper to just pay state IT workers
a lot more so the good ones don't leave. You also have to understand that SSRC will be housing an insane amount of
switches, routers, and servers. So far with dealing with these idiots, they have screwed up my connection, and various
other issues. Hiring private industry to manage all this equipment could end up costing the state more than just paying
state workers. (I'm a big fan of private industry and hopefully plan on entering it shortly). But, if a typically state worker in IT
let's say is making 42k a year (I know not everyone makes that). You could hire 2 state workers for the price of one consultant
from private industry. You're also going to need to know the inns and outs of the network for which each individual state
agency operates out of. They have tried this several times and every single time they try it fails. So it's only a matter of
time before this fails as well.

[Reel Cowboy]

Mojo, you're just not getting it.
Private industry is, by and large, more adept at running with in a budget due to the fact that they HAVE TO TURN A PROFIT to keep the doors open. State agencies do not. If they run low, they just raise taxes or take the money from somewhere else. There is no incentive to trim the fat or operate in a lean manner.
That's just how the deal works.

[big bend gyrene]

Doing my best to avoid this thread as it makes my blood pressure go way too high... but just can't bite my tongue any longer. Here's my dadgum thoughts:

1) Have met Gary Droze (back when I was running much more regularly) and think he's a fine fellow. Struggling to understand as a coach, though, how he thinks hard work shouldn't reap rewards? If one runner gets up at the crack of dawn and runs disciplined workouts each day to beat a potentially more gifted runner that sits on the couch, smokes weed, and gets fat eating twinkies, I'll pull for the hard worker every time and celebrate his/her victories.

2) Don't know what tax breaks Gary is talking about... paid 6 figures myself this past year and did it at top bracket. Didn't use any breaks to avoid giving the gooberment an excuse to audit me. Know lots of other hard working wealthy folks that do the exact same. That's not to say that Trumps of the world AND hypocritical pols like Allen Boyd, who's one of the record Florida farm subsidy recipients, don't work to beat the system... BUT they are so slippery you try and skin 'em and they'll go somewhere else to protect their assets. Besides, even if you could trap them (and you won't) there is not enough of those type mega-cheats to finance our country's skyrocketing welfare system.

3) Pam and I haven't changed our lifestyle significantly with success... haven't gone to movies in years and have only taken a weeks vacation each of the past three years... that's the sacrifice it takes to run a business. Truth be known, if the government hadn't taken six figures from us I would have LOVED to give even bigger raises to our employees. We've been giving up to 10% increases to many of our employees regularly, but I want to pay the ABSOLUTE best that we have the BEST that I can so that they help us be BEST, and as a result we BEST our competition... that's called free market capitalism and it's a way that customers get continually better products/services. Let the gov take over a system and it turns into cattle farm service... go to the Centerville post office at lunch if you doubt me and see an unmotivated belligerent single employee slowly deal with one customer at a time while 40 zombies wait in line.

4) I've worked with small private businesses, large corporations, and several government businesses over the past 25 years and HATE the way I repeatedly saw government contracts handled. Each government section does it's best to spend every last cent it's allocated AND MORE in order to justify more dollars being handed to them the next year. Private industry on the other hand usually makes departments prove (through thorough cost benifit analysis) that monies will be relatively responsibly spent and if at all possible budgets kept UNDER what is allocated. Private business employees are best rewarded when they operate efficiently versus irresponsibly. Work years with both systems and you'll know I speak the truth.

5) With the ton of new FS folks flooding the board, I'll try to lower the blood pressure by saying any of you need dermatology care from an excellent & fiscally conservative provider unafraid to fight Obamacare, just google my wife's name "Pamela S. Kennedy, MD"!

[mojokoko]

I understand private industry just fine. But the state is wasting millions of dollars in tax payer money, by moving most IT infrastructure to SSRC as well as constant support. I've
seen those people make up charges out of the blue to charge people with. All this Infrastructure was working fine, without any problems, so how is it saving money to move all
this somewhere else as well as paying people to support it? Also, as far as I know the private industry is not even supporting anything at SSRC unless it comes to MFN connections
which Hayes and or AT&T usually manage. The NSSRC and SSRC are all state jobs. So it's not like the private sector is really taking over anything.

[red_yakker]

Mojo, you're just not getting it.
Private industry is, by and large, more adept at running with in a budget due to the fact that they HAVE TO TURN A PROFIT to keep the doors open.

Yeah, exactly! I mean, look at Goldman Sachs, American Express, GMAC, AIG, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Columbia Banking, Ameris, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chrystler and GM!

In my opinion (as if anyone really cares) drug testing wellfare recipients is a noble idea, but we will just have to wait and see what sort of difference it will really make. The mandatory "random" drug screening for state workers does seem a little bit over the line to me. They already have the authority to test someone who is suspected of drug use, so why waste 20 bucks a pop on mandatory quarterly drug tests for 1,000's of state workers every year when we're really supposed to be cutting the budget?

I don't know about you guys, but when my wife makes more money, it benefits me. I don't care whether the interest in Solantic is in his name or his wife's name, it's a conflict of interest.

As much as I hate it (as a government employee on the state retirement system), I hate to see an extra 3% of my salary going to be paid in addition to what the state was already paying on my behalf. In other words, (and this is the part most people seem to miss) the state is not reducing the amount of money it puts into my pension, they are simply requiring me to pay an additional 3% on top of it, without increasing the benefits. In fact, many of the benefits were cut.

This isn't cutting the state budget, this is increasing state revenue (specifically for the FRS). He has managed to raise taxes on people who subscribe to the state retirement system (which includes local city & county employees plus all the state workers), while making it look like a budget cut.

I'll admit that he's a genius, but that makes him no less shady.

[mastercaster]

Now we know why Gary is so at peace wading out with the gators...420 bud...

JK Gary

I did hear that the ACLU is suing Scott over this law. I never did realize that welfare was a civil liberty...

Last I checked, they are suing over the drug testing of state workers, not welfare recipients.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/06/a ... g-testing/

[lonesouth]

Now we know why Gary is so at peace wading out with the gators...420 bud...

JK Gary

I did hear that the ACLU is suing Scott over this law. I never did realize that welfare was a civil liberty...

Last I checked, they are suing over the drug testing of state workers, not welfare recipients.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/06/a ... g-testing/

I never did realize that a state job was a civil liberty...

[mastercaster]

Now we know why Gary is so at peace wading out with the gators...420 bud...

JK Gary

I did hear that the ACLU is suing Scott over this law. I never did realize that welfare was a civil liberty...

Last I checked, they are suing over the drug testing of state workers, not welfare recipients.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/06/a ... g-testing/

I never did realize that a state job was a civil liberty...

I left out an important part in my statement, it should have said "random" drug testing, as that is what is being challenged. It's already been upheld that random drug tests are a violation of your right to privacy. So I ask why change this when they already had the right to test employees for suspicion of being under the influence of drugs while on the job, my guess would be to get some more money.

[MudDucker]

I left out an important part in my statement, it should have said "random" drug testing, as that is what is being challenged. It's already been upheld that random drug tests are a violation of your right to privacy. So I ask why change this when they already had the right to test employees for suspicion of being under the influence of drugs while on the job, my guess would be to get some more money.

In what case has it been held that random drug tests are a violation of any right to privacy. Quite to the contrary, every case I've seen says just the opposite. In fact, government encourages random drug testing.

[TallyFish]

Look no further than this thread to see that divide and conquer is succeding as a viable plan to keep the people of the United States looking the other way as politicians have their way with our country.

[ferris1248]

Look no further than this thread to see that divide and conquer is succeding as a viable plan to keep the people of the United States looking the other way as politicians have their way with our country.

They're good at it, aren't they?;)

[SHOWBOAT]

To Showboat,
As an Independent who considers the Republicans and Democrats equally corrupt, my problem with Scott's ruling is very precise. Specifically, he has targeted the least powerful of those benefitting from government handouts. If you are a welfare recipient or low-level state worker, you must pee into a cup. If you are a corporate beneficiary of a lucrative tax exemption (I challenge you to convince me how this differs from welfare), or if you are a Florida senator or representative, you get a pass.
Bottom line: those with clout have nothing to worry about. Business as usual.

Mr Droze, no need to challenge, as that is not the issue. I completely agree with you and will gladly sign a refferndum requiring politiciations or others receiving "government handouts" to submit to drug testing. Maybe this is a means of building momentum for future legsliation that would address those additional beneficiares but whom will certainly create greater resistance. This is a start in the right direction (limiting government), and I hope it expands. It will allow for money to remain with the wage earner so that invidividual can support whatever iniciative he/she wants, indifferent of whehter the beneficiary is a drug user. Additionally, it will prevent the government from giving the wage earners money to a cause he/she may not support, at least if that beneficiary is a drug user.


You coming to Carrabelle tomorrow? What about this evening race I've been hearing about?

[Gumbo]

Here's a Washington Supreme Court case addressing random drug tests. Hard to see how Gov Scott's executive order is going to pass constitutional muster. And given that this State was dinged for $150,000 in damages in 2004 when one DJJ employee sued over random drug testing, it could be an expensive loss.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/media/pd ... Ruling.pdf

[wevans]

While an interesting read random drug testing of student athletes "which is what this ruling deals with" is considerably different than testing employees or welfare recipients