DAYTONA BEACH -- Let me be perfectly clear about this: HeadlineSurfer.com will have a say-so in the Nov. 4 elections in Volusia County.
This is the age of the internet and digital media has arrived. And our endorsements are well read.
In fact, we are the only media outlet that does candidate endorsements.
We can bring you news anytime day or night. Yes, print media has online resources, but what good are they if the news operation quits for the night after the final pages have been sent to the presses for the morning delivery with yesterday's news.
And print media charges for digital access. We don't. Having published since our initial launch on April 7, 2008, we have long since arrived.
Yes, we are extremely limited with resources, but we are not beholden to what has clearly become a corrupt county government with overpaid administrators, inept part-time elected officials and a well organized network of political and business insiders who have become used to getting what they want.
Being beholden to government is not something print media (Halifax Media-owned Daytona Beach News-Journal) can claim with its dependence on taxpayer-funded advertising, upwards of $3 million a year, including but not limited to the county government, municipal government general funds (as well as CRA districts), the three regional advertising entities (directly or indirectly through merchants), the three indigent care hospital districts and Daytona State College.
As has been demonstrated time and again, government can't be trusted as shown with scandals like the American Music Festival fiasco, the administration of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority and the recent County Council-sponsored Waverly investigation.
The taxpayers are clearly fed up with what is happening. The $2.5 million owed to Daytona State College in the wake of the AMF remains unpaid two years later with the college forced to raise tuition as a result.
Having already spent $150,000 on the Waverly investigation that resulted in a joke of a report with rumor and innuendo, the sad affair continues unabated.
With that said, Headline Surfer® remains committed not only to reporting the news, but also taking an active role as a public advocate in reporting wrongdoing to the State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI in Jacksonville.
Headline Surfer® made initial endorsements on the eve of the primary, something new. Still, some candidates and incumbents complained they were late in the process. We also held two public candidate debates -- on two consecutive nights in Oak Hill in June that drew 130 people from across the county for at-large and district 3 County Council contests and the second in New Smyrna Beach in early July for the district 3 council race that drew 45 people.
With absentee ballots set to go out at the end of the month, Headline Surfer® hopes to have all its endorsements published this Sunday and next Sunday for Volusia County-based races. That also includes races for statehouse and governor.
Here is a breakdown of the endorsements so far (again with full write-ups planned for Sunday, if not sooner):
County Council at-large: Incumbent Joyce Cusack over challenger Patricia Northey
In move unprecedented in countywide elections in Volusia County, district 5 term-limited County Councilwoman Patricia Northey challenged at-large incumbent Joyce Cusack for her seat in the 2014 elections, even though both are Democrats for the non-partisan seat. No Republican or Democrat has ever done this, at least not in the past 30 years.
Northey was among the proponents of the so-called Waverly investigation, which has proven to be a disgraceful exhibit o the worst in government policing itself.
Northey's campaign has seen a massive infusion of insider funding, which we find disturbing as well, including Mori Hosseini, the influential home builder and Hyatt Brown of Brown and Brown Insurance. Even Republican insider Stanley Escudero is openly supporting Northey.
County Council district 1: Challenger Andy Kelly over incumbent Pat Patterson
Pat Patterson of DeLand was elected to County Council following his overwhelming victory in the 2012 elections.
But he has proven to be a major disappointment in the past two years, often voting in a 4-3 bloc with Deltona's Pat Northey, Ormond Beach's Doug Daniels and New Smyrna Beach's Deb Denys, often without explaining his votes.
Andy Kelly was the district 1 office holder, but he opted instead to run for the Supervisor of Elections post in a crowded field in 2012, with incumbent Anne McFall prevailing in the primary.
Kelly, often passionate on the dais, is sorely needed to bring an infusion of experience and credibility to county government.
County Council district 5: Primary winner Rich Gailey over fellow candidate Fred Lowry
Fred Lowry is going to need a massive infusion of campaign funding from the insiders who have supported in this election cycle, if he is to have any chance of upsetting the district 5 County Council primary winner, Rich Gailey, on Nov. 4.
Lowry has another major obstacle to overcome. The registered Republican s not on the Volusia County GOP ballot mailed out to the voters.
Why? Because the members of the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee, led by Chairman Tony Ledbetter, decided who they wanted to support, even though the County Council races are non-partisan.
Gailey received the endorsement of Headline Surfer® published the day before the Aug. 26 primary and he won it with 40.33 percent of the votes, with Lowry finishing second with 36.55 percent and Phil Giorno third and out of the running with just over 23 percent.
While Gailey was the endorsed candidate of the internet newspaper, Giorno, a former county chair, was recognized as a secondary endorsed candidate.
School Board district 3: Primary winner Linda Cuthbert over fellow candidate George Trovato
Linda Cuthbert, recently retired teacher from New Smyrna Beach High School and an Edgewater resident, won the Aug. 26 primary with former Deltona city attorney George Trovato finishing a distant second.
Cuthbert received 46.38 percent of the votes over Trovato with just over 29 percent and incumbent Stan Schmidt finishing third and out of the running with 24.41 percent of the overall votes.
Schmidt was endorsed by Headline Surfer® with Cuthbert recognized with a secondary endorsement.
But Schmidt was hurt by his own Republican party in the non-partisan race because the Volusia County GOP executive committee, led by Chairman Tony Ledbetter opted to send out a mailer countywide that listed select candidates. Ledbetter and company selected Trovato and left out Schmidt.
Trovato is a career candidate who has yet to win elective office while Cuthbert, a registered Democrat seeking elective office for the first time, has lots of valuable experience in the classroom.
Daytona Beach City Commissioner Carl Lentz, IV over challenger Ruth Trager
Daytona Beach City Commissioner Carl Lentz, IV, saw his re-election bid nearly derailed in the Aug. 26 primary, which was won by challenger Ruth Trager with 47.46 percent of the votes.
Lentz finished a distant second with 27.52 percent of the votes, just ahead of the 25.02 percent Andrew J. Moore received in finishing third and subsequently out of the running.
Trager has run multiple ties for a seat on the commission and never came close, until now. That's because of the voter pushback for Lentz' boorish behavior at a Daytona adult nightclub earlier this year when he was issued a trespass warning by Daytona Beach cops.
A misdemeanor battery charge was later filed by the State Attorney's Office accusing Lentz of throwing a drink in the face of a bartender. It should be noted that Lentz is presumed innocent until or unless adjudicated guilty in a court of law. He was notified of the misdemeanor in a mailed notice from the State Attorney's Office. No trial date has yet been set.
What hurt Lentz more than anything were still images from a surveillance video from Club Topic showing him stuffing dollar bills into barely-clothed strippers. With that said, Lentz has gone into counseling for alcohol abuse since the incident while maintaining his innocence on the misdemeanor charge. Lentz, who has no criminal record, has proven to be one of the most conscientious and hardest working municipal leaders in his two years on the city dais.
Jake Sachs over Steve Sather for New Smyrna Beach city commissioner
The choice in the race for city commissioner in New Smyrna Beach boils down to one major component: Integrity.
In 1992, Sather, an impish figure desperate to buy a large enough quantity of cocaine to get a cut of profits with some street pushers and even skim some of the white powder off the top to feed his own unquenched habit, was way in over his head. As bad luck would have it, the seller even more unsavory in demeanor and looks than even Sather himself, turned out to be an undercover New Smyrna Beach cop who had been working with the feds in Orlando.
Sather, appointed to the city's planning board two years ago with help of his friend, lame-duck Mayor Adam Barringer, pleaded no contest in open court to a reduced charge and adjudication of guilt was withheld, but not before completing home detention and probation. His arrest has not been sealed from the public record.
Sachs, a retired firefighter from South Florida, has not commented on Sather up to this point, preferring to run on his own merits.
Sather ran for a city commission seat in 2009, but finished dead last after the internet newspaper published a story on his no contest plea.