Me and the Republican Party

I have always found myself voting republican even though my political stance is more in line with those of the constitution party. I mainly remain republican because of their views on abortion, gun control,smaller government involvement and also I like to be able to vote. My problem is that here lately I find myself becoming disenfranchesed with them on a local, state and federal level because except for on those items that I mentioned the republican party is working against me and my family. Take FRS for instance. I am not a participant in FRS but I find it ridiculous that Florida is considering getting rid of one of the most solvent and well run pensions in the entire country.

On the local level, even though I am in the DROP and are not affected, city officials would like to get rid of the fire pension which again is on par with FRS in solvency and efficiency. The city knows that getting rid of the fire pension will not save them money but they dont like the perception of the public of them paying retirements in this economy.

Methinks that they are looking at other pension programs that see the handwriting on the wall. Other municipalities are afraid that pensions will become a budget-killer in the future, taking a higher and higher percentage of their budgets. Maybe it is indicative of future problems with the FRS... maybe not.

I have been drawing from the FRS for 13 years (after 22 years of employment) and am glad to get what I can while I can.

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T-Rex, stand by your guns, politically. I wasn't happy with the party choice of Romney, but I liked other Republican presidents of the past. This country needs opposing views if only to keep things in check.

I agree completely Eric, and I would love to see a Rubio/ ? ticket in the future although according to seaoat, a republican president next time is virtually in the bag because of the way key states are changing their electoral voting rules. Works for me

Finding that more alligned with the libertarian/constitution parties also...registered as a republican forever simply because the democrats are so far to the left that's not even a possibility...Feel the same way..have voted for the republican not so much that it's enthusiasim but rather the lesser of two evils..but the last couple of election cycles the 'media' has become way too powerful in shaping the candidates and/or giving help to one side...the last debates were clear examples of this and the candidate (cowh) having the reputation for being so smart and the greatest communicator since Reagan was found to be weak without his teleprompter which resulted in the moderators throwing him lifelines by repeatedly interrupting and changing the topics...Not that I am or was a supporter of Gingrich but I did admire the way be went after the moderator and refused to allow the 'gotcha' questions...

I am impressed with Gingrich... a smart dude!

Even smarter than me...

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Seriously, I would have voted for him!

Pension reform plan put on hold

By Michael Van Sickler
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- House Speaker Will Weatherford’s push to close the state’s $136 billion pension system to new state employees is on hold.

A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans.

Instead, the report was deemed incomplete. Weatherford said Monday he wants the missing information before he can decide his next move, and that won’t be until at least March 1.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has made ending pensions for new employees one his top priorities of the coming legislative session. He says change is needed because the state’s current pension — which has about 145,000 current and future beneficiaries — is unsustainable and will require a mammoth taxpayer bailout sometime in the future.

Unions oppose the move because they say it shifts costs and risks to workers.

A report released Friday by Milliman, a Virginia actuarial firm, concluded that closing the state’s pension system to future employees would endanger the benefits of those currently enrolled in the pension plan. The problem: Because Weatherford’s proposal would turn away new workers, the pension plan would be forced to rely on a shrinking payroll base on which contributions to retirees are made.

To make up the shortfall, either workers or taxpayers would chip in more, the report stated.

Weatherford said he wasn’t surprised that the $70,000 report, which he had ordered, concluded it would cost more money to reform Florida’s retirement system.

“We know that doesn’t come free,” Weatherford said.

But what the report didn’t include were costs associated with keeping the pension plan intact, making it difficult to compare costs between reform and status quo.

Weatherford said he didn’t know why that estimate wasn’t included.

“We do need, I believe, to have that baseline so that we can give the citizens of Florida and the Legislature all the information necessary to make a decision,” Weatherford said.

Ben Wolf, a spokesman for Florida’s Department of Management Services, said as soon as the report was received, state officials notified Milliman that the study was incomplete. He said another study, this one costing $25,000, will be sent to the state explaining how much the current pension system will cost.

So far, at least, Senate President Don Gaetz hasn’t publicly matched Weatherford’s enthusiasm in reforming the retirement system for state workers, teachers and college and local government employees.

The Senate is preoccupied instead with reforming smaller pension systems that are run separately by local governments. Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, who chairs the Senate committee that is handling pension reform, said he doesn’t see a pressing need to reform the state pension plan.

“With municipal pensions, there’s a legitimate need for reform,” Ring said. “But the Florida Retirement System is a completely different discussion because it’s difficult to define the urgency. I don’t believe moving to a 401(k) system is a bad thing. The challenge, however, and it’s a big however, is that it could be a bad thing in terms of how much it could cost to close down.”

Ring said he’s received little guidance from Gaetz on the issue.

“And that’s because he wants to wait for all actuarial reports to come out,” Ring said. “Ultimately, he’ll have to get engaged and give us some direction.”

But with the confusion over the Milliman report, that would have to wait.

Gaetz’s spokeswoman, Katie Betta, said in an e-mail he was reviewing the study and couldn’t comment.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/18/3241440/pension-reform-plan-put-on-hold.html#storylink=cpy

I guess if I could see any substantial difference in the results of the party policies I might be one or the other.

T-REX wrote:

Nice!!!!!!.....

I liked that one too, nh. As a general rule, I do not put bumper stickers on my pickup, but make an exception for one small round GOA (Gun Owners of America) membership sticker, which most people wouldn't recognize from a distance anyways. But if I DID put bumper stickers on my rig, this one would probably make the cut!

Mama likey!

I usually stay away from politics having become so jaded on it all. But the things Romney said after he lost really defined him. A person is more defined by how high they bounce after they lose more so than the times we win. It was really kind of pathetic.

Helped my daughter do homework last night. The work was on finding logical fallacies in the 2008 Palin/Biden debate. There are about 15 different categories of logical fallacies and they both showed examples of all of them multiple times. All politicians lie.

Newshound wrote:

Finding that more alligned with the libertarian/constitution parties also...registered as a republican forever simply because the democrats are so far to the left that's not even a possibility...Feel the same way..have voted for the republican not so much that it's enthusiasim but rather the lesser of two evils..but the last couple of election cycles the 'media' has become way too powerful in shaping the candidates and/or giving help to one side...the last debates were clear examples of this and the candidate (cowh) having the reputation for being so smart and the greatest communicator since Reagan was found to be weak without his teleprompter which resulted in the moderators throwing him lifelines by repeatedly interrupting and changing the topics...Not that I am or was a supporter of Gingrich but I did admire the way be went after the moderator and refused to allow the 'gotcha' questions...

Exactly! I'm a hard core Libertarian, but vote precisely as you do because I won't waste my vote on a 3rd party candidate who has no hope of winning.

Vector posted on the other forum that a new "straight to right leaning" news channel was coming. We and Fox could surely use a little support!

Gingrich is an intelligent man and awesome speaker. His personal life would never allow him to get ahead sadly as the media would crucify him.

stormwatch89 wrote:

Exactly! I'm a hard core Libertarian, but vote precisely as you do because I won't waste my vote on a 3rd party candidate who has no hope of winning.

Vector posted on the other forum that a new "straight to right leaning" news channel was coming. We and Fox could surely use a little support!

Gingrich is an intelligent man and awesome speaker. His personal life would never allow him to get ahead sadly as the media would crucify him.

Oh, I am the opposite! You know that I am also a dyed in the wool Libertarian and that we agree on many/most things politically, but I cannot find it in myself to vote for someone in whom I do not believe. I actually wrote-in Ron Paul last year because I didn't like Gary Johnson well enough to vote for him... It was either that or vote for no one, which I didn't have the stomach to do. Now that RP has hung up his hat, I don't know WHAT I'll do in the next election cycle!!