I am somewhat a supporter of the EDC (funded by Brevard County goverment), I like the concept of "selling" Brevard County as a hub for attracting employers.  I believe all of our citizens will benefit from some moderate growth.  I understand that local cities also want to mimic what the EDC does as well, sell their city as a viable location for businesses  move/expand to. 

I dont understand Scott Ellis' deal, why does he have a vendetta for the EDC and the local cities fishing for new business and economic growth? 

I realize Ellis had a bone to pick with Mitch Needleman and his bribery deal, but he seems to be on a tirade to every elected County/City official.  Recently throwing City of Melbourne into the mix. 

Thoughts?  Enlighten me. 

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/guest-columns/2014/08/20/scott-ellis-clarifying-war-ideas/14354867/ 

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Ummmm, , , , well, , , , the basic premise of the EDC, and such, is all fine and dandy and, as such, has been a good thing.

But, , , , Scott is just saying that he sees way too much "back scratching" going on with the new crop of "movers-and-shakers". Swinging a "such-and-such deal", let's say for Melbourne, is, on the surface, a good thing. But, behind closed doors, it boils down to a lot of old style cronyism. Wherein; "nothing is going to happen unless my wife's company gets a contract, , , ,".

Scott is a "straight up" guy, and there are lots of "politicians" around here that just plain hate him. He deserves to be listened to.

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Dora Hates You

Ah hah!  I follow you. 

So why doesnt he cut to the chase and call out the people getting the kickbacks? 

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Most legitimate thread on NSR in five years.

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Capitalism is based on the ridiculous notion that you can enjoy limitless growth in a closed, finite system.

In biology, such behavior of cells is called "cancer".

Know a little bit about this . There are some issues there.

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I :heart; Q

Cronyism is alive and well; Scott taking trip from Big Sugar, McDonnell in Virginia, The Florida Toll Authority....

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I was right.

Yep....cronyism is alive and well:


Reid's Sale of Mining Rights Revives Allegations of Cronyism
Democratic Leader blocked regulations on mining companies represented by Reid's family
BY: Lachlan Markay
June 12, 2014 12:05 pm

Decades of legislative work by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) on behalf of Nevada's gold mining industry culminated this week when he sold the rights to a number of mines and moved to Las Vegas.

Reid pulled down $1.7 million on the sale, which included the mineral rights to 10 mines and 110 acres of land in Searchlight, Nev.

Reid has worked for decades to preserve the carve-outs for mining companies in the General Mining Law of 1872, allowing those companies to forego an estimated $100 million to $200 million in annual royalty payments to the federal government.

Debate over the laws governing the mining industry was heated in the mid-1990s, when Reid squared off with Sen. Dale Bumpers (D., Ark.). Bumpers decried the lack of royalty payments from the industry and its influence in Congress.

"They own enough people in the United States Congress; they know they don't have to pay a royalty and never will," Bumpers said at the time.

It was in the midst of this debate that Reid introduced the Mining Reform Act of 1997, which would have increased payments to the federal government for the sale of federal mining land from $2.50 per acre to a "fair market value."

However, the calculation of "fair market value" excluded any land that actually contained minerals - the most valuable portions of the land. If passed, the law would have been a boon to the mining industry.

But the bill died in the Senate. Two years later, the Bureau of Land Management looked to implement more stringent environmental regulations on mining activity on federal land. Reid fought the proposal tooth-and-nail.

President Bill Clinton also sought rules limiting the amount of federally owned land that could be used for dumping, milling, and other activities associated with mining. Reid introduced legislation exempting existing mines from the regulations. The bill died in committee.

The Clinton regulations that made it through initial bureaucratic hurdles were delayed when Reid pushed for extended public comment periods. The regulations went into effect on Clinton's last day in office.

When President George W. Bush took office, he rolled back many of those regulations, with Reid cheering on the effort.

That rare turn of bipartisanship continued into the Obama administration, during which Reid has continued to block efforts to more stringently regulate mining on federal lands and to increase royalty payments to the federal government.

Despite decrying efforts by congressional Republicans to block revenue-raising tax provisions in late 2010, Reid was cool to Obama's proposal to increase royalty payments and tax hard-rock mining operations to pay for the reclamation of abandoned mines.

Reid said he was "willing to consider any proposal for mining reform that protects the mining industry, doesn't kill jobs, and shares revenues with the state."

Obama's proposals petered out in early 2011.

"Congress has talked for years about reforming this law only to have the effort blocked by Western senators," said a New York Times editorial faulting Reid for the effort's failure. Reid, the editorial went on, "has long been the leading opponent."

Reid has seen a dramatic increase in the value of his mining rights since he began working to ensure lax regulatory treatment and favorable royalty rates for the industry.

The mineral rights he sold this week were worth between $200,000 and $415,000 in 1995, the first year for which his personal financial disclosure forms are publicly available. By 2012, those rights were worth between $315,000 and $900,000.

Reid's allies attribute that increase to the steady rise in the price of gold over the same period.

Additionally, all four of Reid's sons - Rory, Leif, Josh, and Key - have worked for the Nevada firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins, which represents a number of the state's mining companies.

Reid's daughter Lana is married to Washington, D.C., lobbyist Steven Barringer, who has represented the National Mining Association, Barrick Gold, Placer Dome, Newmont Mining, Coeur D'Alene Mines, Hecla Mining, Echo Bay Mines, Independence Mining Company, Battle Mountain Gold, and Homestake Mining.

Barringer had "earned as much as $3.7 million lobbying for mining interests," Mother Jones reported in 2009.

"In Nevada, the Name to Know is Reid," a Los Angeles Times headline on the family's extensive political clout in the state declared.

Recent controversies have revived allegations that Reid has used his official position to his family members' benefit.

Reid came under fire earlier this year when his campaign bought more than $30,000 in jewelry from Ryan Elisabeth Reid, his granddaughter.

Her father, Reid's son Rory, has represented a Chinese company that won public plaudits from the majority leader before a county commissioner in Nevada sold the company a large plot of land on which to build a solar farm for a sixth of its appraised value.

Another Chinese company represented by Rory Reid was looking for financiers through a federal program frequently criticized for its susceptibility for fraud that awards U.S. visas to foreign investors. The company was rejected due to security concerns, but Reid the elder intervened, and the Department of Homeland Security agreed to reconsider the rejection.

Critics see existing federal laws and regulations, which exist as they do in large measure of Reid's consistent advocacy on behalf of Nevada mining companies, as maintaining favorable treatment for that industry.

"Congress has gotten rid of all of the other land giveaways, from eliminating the homestead laws to charging for coal, oil, and gas. But companies still get to mine gold for free," a spokeswoman for environmentalist group Earthworks told Mother Jones in 2009.

UPDATE 1:03 P.M.: Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Reid, said in an email, "Senator Reid is proud of his work fighting for the mining industry and Nevada jobs and appreciates the Free Beacon highlighting his work on this issue. However, the argument that the value of Senator Reid's sale of private land to a gold mining company is somehow tied in any significant way to his work on predominantly public lands - and not, say, to the historic spike in the price of gold, which has more than quadrupled over the period discussed in the story - is rather tortured. Points for effort I suppose, but there's a word for jerry-rigging reality to fit a preconceived worldview and it's not 'journalism.'"


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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Any chance we can keep this on the topic of Brevard County? 

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...

No kidding.

Fishy, if you have nothing to add to the topic start a new thread.

I know Ellis has a problem with the city of Satellite Bch trying to pay back a fraction of the community redevelopment funds it used illegally [to pay salaries for extra police and fire department personel.]

You cant blame him for that, the Satellite Bch. city council is a picture of non-functionality.

Tell that to your pal Coleslaw!



He's talking about Rick Scott...not Scott Ellis.

...and McDonnell is former Governor of Virginia!

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/29/...nnell-trial/index.html

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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Edited: 08/31/2014 at 09:53 AM by Fish Killer

I like the fact that someone is upsetting the applecart in this County. Good ole boy network is still alive after Wenner, Wickham and the boyz divided up the county for their purses. I hope more like him show up and more like them get shooed out.

qft!

 

Makes about as much sense as the mayor of a town and two other council members making decisions about the airport authority "in the city's best interests" when they was sitting on that board as well.  Not naming any names.. Thank God rest his soul