Individual merit bestowed upon VTR co-founders Margie Patchett & Maureen France & numbers-crunching guru Ed Connor
Photos for Headline Surfer® / Margie Patchett and Maureen France, left and right, respectively, are the co-founders of Volusia Tax Reform, which does what it can to hold county and municipal governments accountable for spending.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Volusia Tax Reform, a grassroots organization established to challenge municipal and county government spending, is recognized by Headline Surfer® as part of its 5th anniversary celebration for VTR's political activism and government watchdog standing.
"We started with 25 people in my house on July 26, 2006, and within six weeks we had over 10,000 signatures on a petition and over 600 people attended the County Council meeting," Patchett told Headline Surfer®.
That year alone, we pressured the county to go to the roll-back rate, which was unprecedented and we pressured Daytona Beach to reduce its budget as well," Patchett recalled in a recent interview with Headline Surfer®. "That year alone we saved the taxpayers of Volusia County more than $34 million. Because there was not any organized efforts throughout the state, the movement went statewide. We helped House Speaker Marco Rubio to push through his tax swap."
Volusia Tax Reform, along with its co-founding members Margie Patchett and Maureen France, and its numbers cruncher, Ed Connor, are recognized by Headline Surfer® as part of the award-winning 24/7 internet newspaper's 5th anniversary.
That year alone, we pressured the county to go to the roll-back rate, which was unprecedented and we pressured Daytona Beach to reduce its budget as well," Patchett recalled in a recent interview with Headline Surfer®. "That year alone we saved the taxpayers of Volusia County more than $34 million. Because there was not any organized efforts throughout the state, the movement went statewide. We helped House Speaker Marco Rubio to push through his tax swap."
Patchett said little did she know she'd still be pushing Volusia Tax Reform's aggressive stances all these years later just as she had from the inset eight long years ago.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ed Connor of Volusia Tax Reform crunches the numbers to expose waste in government spending.
"More people have become involved in holding their elected officials accountable," Patchett said. "In 2006, we were the canary in the coal mine, warning our government of its out-of-control spending."
In 2010, Patchett, herself, took the plunge into elective office, in the campaign for the County Council's at-large seat but former State Assemblywoman Joyce Cusack of DeLand was too strong.
Cusack, who was a state representative for eight years, garnered 53 percent of the overall vote.
Though the election was non-partisan, Cusack, the longtime Democrat, received strong party support. Likewise, Patchett did well with GOP voters.
Editor's Note: What follows is the endorsement the 24/7 internet newspaper wrote on Nov. 1, 2010, in support of Patchett's candidacy when Headline Surfer® was known as NSBNews.net:
OUR ENDORSEMENT: Tax Reform founder Margie Patchett would get the job done if elected for the Volusia County Council at-large seat
The race for the Volusia County at-large seat is the most important race countywide because of the implications: Polar opposite candidates with clear-cut agendas and though this is non-partisan, party affiliation is very pronounced and won't be ignored at the ballot box.
With that said, NSBNEWS.net "strongly," and we can't emphasize that word enough, strongly endorses Margie Patchett of Port Orange. Joyce Cusack, term-limited from the state House two election cycles ago, is a veteran politician who enjoys tremendous popular support, especially in Deltona. And yes, she's the Democrat, and a liberal one at that.
Cusack is intelligent, a a real consensus builder and she cares about people. Patchett, a conservative Republican, is the epitome of being a "fighter" and she's proven that over the last half decade, creating the grassroots Volusia Tax Reform and lobbying here, Tallahassee and elsewhere in Florida, which has been hit hard by the recession with record job losses and home foreclosures.
While strong-willed, Patchett, also is very intelligent, insightful and keenly aware of the job that needs to be done to make Volusia County government a leaner and more productive entity for all residents, the wealthy who pay high taxes, the middle class struggling to make mortgage and car loan payments, and the poor who rely on social services to get to the next day.
Regardless of tax levels, Patchett will be the first to tell you that it's not necessarily the overall cost that is the problem. It's the way the tax money is being spent. Of course the unions are supporting Cusack.
Why wouldn't they?
Cusack's given them what they've wanted over the years as have the current entrenched council members who know their bread is buttered with union-bloc voting. In our own deliberations over this endorsement, Peter Mallory groans about the union impact. Of course, he's of that old-guard conservative thinking.
I am a strong supporter of unions, especially in law enforcement, because the membership speaks up for strong wages, better equipment and job security. But the union leadership will tell you the retirement system is very burdensome and the system needs to be changed.
Patchett would actually benefit the law enforcement and fire unions by pushing for drastically needed cuts in non-essential programs. That certainly would free up money to provide for the essential services.
No one on the council has stepped up to the plate. Patchett certainly would. And though she's been portrayed in this campaign as divisive, it's the other candidate who threw a big rock through her glass window by complaining to the Daytona Beach News-Journal that Patchett was essentially a deadbeat, whose rental properties were foreclosed on.
But let's be real about this.
Patchett is right in her response to the newspaper that Cusack has made a living through the years with public monies.
Quite frankly, we are surprised that she would take such a major step back from elective office at the state level for this job. Cusack was strong in the primary with nearly 41 percent of the vote in a four-way race, but Patchett was a respectable second with just over 28 percent. Plus, Patchett likely would have had a much better showing from the greater Port Orange had Port Orange Vice Mayor Mary Martin, who garnered 18 percent of the vote had not run.
Regardless, the general election has two strong candidates in Cusack and Patchett. Now it is up to the voters to decide. NSBNEWS.net endorses Margie Patchett for Volusia County at-large in Tuesday's general elections.
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