by Yomin Postelnik, Republican Candidate for Florida House District 91: Over the past day I’ve received word that after 6 months of indecision, Chip Burpee will be entering the race on the Democratic side. I believe this means that his boss, retired Senator Bob Graham, will be campaigning against me. My reaction is simple: Bring it on. This is exactly what we need to mobilize all South Floridians who want real solutions and who know that the time for lifelong political hacks has long past and that now is the time for real solutions.Political hacks should satisfy their ambitions by raising money for career politicians and taking whatever cut they want of it. When they decide that they themselves can become legislators, that’s when they become dangerous. It’s because of career politicians that there are so few new ideas in politics. Chip Burpee, a lifelong staffer, hasn’t offered up a single constructive idea in his life and his supposed decision to run is an insult to the District. Our state needs solutions, not blatant power grabs.
It is clear that Bob Graham still wishes to exert influence and control on the political scene. Accordingly, the logical step would be for him to run for office. Having a lackey, one who served him in a very junior capacity until after he retired from office, now run on his behalf is shameful – and no good can come of it for our state.
While Bob Graham may have had a long and diverse career in politics, Burpee is a man who has never dealt with the public that he now wishes to serve. And while Graham’s career has certainly been overrated - after all, as Governor he was best known for his failure to stop the Mariel Boatlift and for his signing of an unprecedented number of death warrants, 153 to be exact - he was always well liked, personable and in touch with the needs of constituents. Burpee is anything but.
Burpee embarked on his path in life as a political hack at the age of 18, serving as a staff assistant and deputy scheduler in Bob Graham’s office. During the six years in which he worked on and off for then-Senator Graham, the only position of semi-importance that Burpee held was for less than five months.
Burpee’s entire experience outside of political hackery was as a manager of an uppity, pretentious restaurant. Yet he calls this “business experience.” He’s currently the “Chief of Staff” for a long retired politician. And he calls that a job!
Even his education was large on style but utterly devoid of substance. Burpee received his education in Paris, France, where he studied “diplomacy.” Those whose sole area of study is “diplomacy” will generally tell you that that’s a nice way of saying “how to lie nicely.” Burpee has no background in education, ethics, business or any experience or first hand knowledge of anything that could be of benefit to his desired constituents. The last thing that Florida needs is someone whose entire field of study centered on mastering the art of political spin.
His latest decision to run after two other members of his party announced months ago and have formulated campaigns is a disservice to his own party. Their supporters must undoubtedly be upset by the intrusion and by Bob Graham stomping all over their primary. One even switched parties just to be able to run in this race. All jokes aside, why South Florida voters would want a representative who, essentially, wasted everyone’s time with his indecisiveness is beyond me. And Senator Graham’s attempt to belatedly insert himself into the race, walking all over two Democratic campaigns in the process, is uncalled for.
Among political hacks, Chip Burpee is among the least creative. He’s a man who has yet to offer up a single idea at any time during his lifelong career as a second rate staffer.
Should Bob Graham wish to tarnish his legacy and recruit political hacks who offer no new ideas for the District and who have never done anything for the people of Florida, then he should rethink his strategy. The recruitment of Burpee is the worst form of political payback and is designed to give Graham power and influence by putting an incompetent in an important position where he will make decisions that affect education, small business and Florida families.
The people of District 91 will not stand for it. We deserve better and we will demand nothing less.
Democrats have long promised that District 91 would be “the largest battle in South Florida.” If by that they meant that this election would finally expose the Jimmy Carter-like incompetence of the otherwise likable Senator and former Governor Bob Graham, then I’ll have no choice but to oblige. It certainly is interesting that Bob Graham’s biggest failure, the Mariel Boatlift, is one that Jimmy Carter is still trying to live down to this day.
I will not attack the puppet. I’ll go after the puppet maker who still controls the strings. People in District 91 know the difference – and no one appreciates a retired politician trying to control his party’s legislative agenda by proxy, through a third rate political hack who has yet to offer up a single substantive idea in 12 years of political machine grinding.
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Visit Yomin Postelnik Campaign Site: A Better Florida Yomin Postelnik offers Florida the opportunity for a solid conservative to work through the critical economic issues facing Florida created by the unfunded mandates of the Obama administration and the declining return of revenue collected by Florida but retained by the Federal Government. The Editor of America's Best Choice and National Political Director Conservative Solutions ("Let's Get This Right"), Dr. Bill Smith, has endorsed Yomin Postelnik as "the best choice for Florida's future in House District 91.
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