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Sarasota | Opinion

    By
  • Observer Staff
  • August 26, 2010
OUR VIEW: The attack plan failed

The saying goes, "All is fair in love, war and politics." But as we have witnessed in this year's Republican gubernatorial election, "fair" does not equate with right and proper, and it certainly doesn't equate with integrity.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • August 19, 2010
OUR VIEW: Move the city's election date

Voter turnout has come to the forefront of Sarasota city politics, not because of next Tuesday's primary election, but because a group of engaged citizens frustrated with the city's lack of elected officials' leadership are convinced one of the cures is making it easier for voters to participate in the process.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Rod Thomson
  • August 19, 2010
MY VIEW: Why school accountability fails

The cuts in the Sarasota County School District's funding from the state and predictable tax hike by the School Board and school administration are the symptoms of a broad systemic breakdown in Florida education funding.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • August 12, 2010
OUR VIEW: Elections 2010: We recommend ...

This is the year. These are the elections to sweep out the status quo and start anew. Stop doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • August 5, 2010
OUR VIEW: A change of view on exemptions

Our friends in the Sarasota business community are not going to like what you're about to read: Our inclination is to vote "no" on the Economic Development Ad Valorem (Property) Tax Exemptions on the Aug. 24 primary ballot in Sarasota County and the city of Sarasota.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 29, 2010
OUR VIEW: Welcome to school board politics

Kathy James, a first-time candidate for public office, in this case for the Sarasota County School Board, has obtained quite a real-world education these past 14 years as the mother of four children. But not much of that experience prepared her for the sleaze she has trudged through while campaigning for office.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Jon Thaxton
  • July 29, 2010
MY VIEW: Amendment 4 will stymie our economy

It's completely unrealistic to expect voters to understand the often-arcane issues in comp-plan amendments. That's why we elect representatives.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 29, 2010
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Sarasota Observer gives priority to letters of local interest and about local issues. The Observer will print all letters to the editor if it feels they are of general interest, but only if the letter is signed and the author's street address and phone number are given.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 22, 2010
OUR VIEW: Indoctrination by the state

Let's be blunt: Segments of Sarasota's political and intellectual elite - liberal and conservative alike - often regard Dr. Rich Swier (a doctor of education administration) as a conservative gadfly-extremist. And that's being polite.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Joe Gruters
  • July 22, 2010
MY VIEW: Obamacare taxes will destroy medical industry

The new excise tax on medical-device makers is a blatant strategy by the Obama administration to create a single-payer system.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 15, 2010
OUR VIEW: Get rid of a dumb law; vote 'yes'

The late Nobel economics laureate Milton Friedman once wrote in his famous book, "Free to Choose," that even though business executives espouse the virtues of free enterprise, when it comes to seeking favors from government, business interests are always the first in line.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
  • By Rod Thomson
  • July 15, 2010
MY VIEW: Bust the incentives addiction

There are cycles, there are vicious cycles and then there are local government incentives to attract businesses.

  • Sarasota
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 14, 2010
OUR VIEW: Rick Scott for governor

If you cut through all of the Bill McCollum and Alex Sink character-assassination attack ads; if you discard the standard operating procedure of the daily newspapers and their editorialists - which is to discredit anyone who has been a success in business; and if you judge Florida's gubernatorial candidates on their professional accomplishments, the choice for governor is overwhelmingly clear.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • July 14, 2010
Scott explains what happened

Florida's daily newspapers and Rick Scott's gubernatorial opponents have rushed to paint him as an unethical profiteer. And everything they present you is through their filter. We're reprinting Scott's own explanation of the Medicare fines that his former company paid in 2000 and 2003.

  • Longboat Key
  • Opinion
    By
  • Observer Staff
  • June 30, 2010
OUR VIEW: The birth of Spirit of America

To know where you're going, it helps to know from where you came.

  • East County
  • Opinion
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