Under-the-radar governor candidate Arth meets Rick Scott
by George Bennett | August 16th, 2010
Arth (center) with Scott
Rick Scott didn’t attend an Aug. 11 debate with Republican primary rival Bill McCollum, but he ended up making a joint appearance of sorts with another gubernatorial candidate, no-partyite Michael E. Arth. Arth attended a Scott event and posed for a picture with the GOP candidate.
“Despite campaigning since June 2009, Arth was able to mingle unnoticed at the Scott event,” says an Arth press release that describes the encounter.
Tags: Michael E. Arth
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August 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
The most substantive and knowledgeable candidate on the issues in the entire race next to one of the several “major” ones who is not. I love it!
Case and point in the press release:
At the event Arth got a chance to ask the Republican primary candidate, who is spending some $33 million of his own money on the campaign, a serious question on crime and public safety. Prefacing the question, Arth pointed out that the prison population is now 8 to 15 times higher than in the rest of the developed world, having spiked 525% since Nixon due to the “War on Drugs”, imprisonment of the mentally disabled due to “de-institutionalization”, and minimum sentencing laws. In Florida this consumes a significant portion of the state budget. Due to the fact that half of drug related arrests are for marijuana, which has no documented cases of overdose, Arth believes this has resulted in “a war on poor, destroying families, creating contempt for the law, and vastly increasing the level of gang activity, organized crime, and violence.” Arth backs his point by citing the fact that “tobacco, alcohol, and prescription drugs kill 650,000 each year in the U.S.” Arth also noted in his question that a negative consequence of these policies has been the creation of 800,000 gang members in the U.S., 30,000 of whom are in Florida. He then asked Scott, a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative, how he would “lower the huge prison population, and lower the rate of violence and crime that has been associated with drug prohibition.”
Scott danced around the issue talking about special needs children taken care of by his second daughter and about the need for parents to be able to choose which school they can send their child to. He said that education, both inside and outside prison, was important, as was job training. Despite the nice sounding phrases, it was a non-answer. He remained silent about the drug war, gang problems, the rising contempt for the law, de-institutionalization, and minimum sentencing.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
“Arth also noted in his question that a negative consequence of these policies has been the creation of 800,000 gang members in the U.S., 30,000 of whom are in Florida.”
Interesting when someone prefaces a question with inaccurate facts. Gangs aren’t created because of the drug regulations. What a ridiculous comment from someone who has no knowledge about gang life, or the communities that breed them.
Scott is woefully inept at some of the more detailed aspects of governance for sure, and dancing around issues is what politicians do.
I weep for our state that has to choose between McCollum, Scott, or Sink. None of them are worth a lick as Governor. But then again, neither is Charlie.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Gangs may not be created by drug regulations but it is a fact that the money associated with drugs has coincided with the rise and expansion of gangs, not just in the U.S. but on the continent.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.
By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model – the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous and ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Thus, the allure of this reliably and lucrative industry, with it’s enormous income potential that consistently outweighs the risks associated with the illegal operations that such a trade entails, will remain with us until we are collectively forced to admit the obvious.
A great many of us are slowly but surely wising up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco, clearly two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant and irrational minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to your absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.
There is therefore an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. Anybody ‘halfway bright’, and who’s not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand. If you are not capable of understanding this connection then maybe you’re using something far stronger than the rest of us. So put away your pipe, lock yourself away in a small room with some tinned soup and water, and try to crawl back into reality A.S.A.P.
Because Drug cartels will always have an endless supply of ready cash for wages, bribery and equipment, no amount of tax money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safe again. Only an end to prohibition can do that! How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?
If you support the Kool-Aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, tortured corpses, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, economic tribulation, unemployment and the complete loss of the rule of law.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Here is an interesting article of a real case study that in many ways backs Arth’s points:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization
August 16th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
the nuts and bolts of survivalism has gone way past a bunch of Hari Krishna’s and soul searchers trying to save the US of A. Its down to to the real survival and they don’t get it! They are still living off mom and dad and mortgaging the homestead with reverse mortgages or 40% loan to value. But, they know everything! Just AX ‘EM they have the answer to all things as long as you vote for and support their culture of corruption.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
The honest people of Florida support RICK SCOTT for governor of Florida. Honest hardworking people are tired of the hold the political corruption has on our state and they are ready to give an outsider untrained to government ways and corruption oa chance! Since jeb Bush took over Florida politics its been corruption and spreading corruption everywhere! We the people must stop this at the polls! Vote of RICK SCOTT and give him a chance to stand up to the culture of repub corruption led by McCollum and Crist!
August 17th, 2010 at 9:05 am
Which is why instead of supporting a shady corporate tycoon whose company defrauded their tax dollars, they should support an innovative independent whose knowledge of urban planning and policy analysis saw the revitalization of a crack filled slum into DeLand’s Historic Garden District. The results speak for themselves, vote for a wealthy and shady corporate tycoon who has no knowledge of issues such as crime and punishment or an urban designer and policy analyst who is well versed on various issues and isn’t afraid to offer the creative and pragmatic solutions necessary to resolve them. Voters would be better off with Michael Arth.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Ironic fact: Florida spends $2.4 BILLION on corrections and $2.2 BILLION on universities. Self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Scott will do nothing to lower the cost of corrections by stopping the over-imprisonment of non-violent offenders. In this article Arth has showed he has the more fiscally responsible position and the data to back it up. The lesson: don’t be fooled by the commercials, compare the positions they are willing to take and if they offer and real solution based on facts, which none of the “major” candidates do.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Tallahassee Is The New Tammany Hall
http://www.practicalstate.com/2010/08/17/tallahassee-is-the-new-tammany-hall/
Cheers
August 17th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
RPOF Goes All In For McCollum
http://www.practicalstate.com/?p=1971
Cheers
August 18th, 2010 at 7:56 am
As a CEO myself with HMA we do what we have to do for the bottom line to keep bed full, produce revenue that we make a profit, get our stock options and the bonus we deserve. It is better to defraud and get caught and then only pay back a portion of what we received from the government, then to let the company bottom line suffer. That’s our job. We don’t pay back the bonus we received; and the company pays back only a portion of what they received, never all of what we received goes back to the government. its lost and forgotten, a write off of the government and we write off the payback on our company earnings financials as well. Using Rick Scott as the example; is he honest and the best to the job? Hell no but he knows how to manipulate the system so well you have to admire him. He is what healthcare is all about.
This is how it is and how it shall remain, so everyone out there needs to get used to it and stop dreaming of things that it will never come or change. You don’t want it to change, you need and want us out here.
David McCormack – FL
August 20th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Make a crooked politician cry – Vote ARTH for Governor in 2010.