Extensive interview with Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus

Julie Marcus is the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections (SOE). In an effort to educate voters about what the job of an SOE entails and election integrity in general, we asked Marcus for a long-form interview, which she agreed to during this busy election season. We asked Julie Marcus a dozen questions. Without further ado,…

Paying $1 million to the NFL: how would your county commissioner vote?

After the election, the Pinellas County Commission will be voting on whether to pay $1 million to the NFL for a “Super Bowl marketing deal.” Given the divisive organization the NFL has become, we asked all four Pinellas county commission candidates how they would vote on this symbolically and fiscally important issue. We asked the…

3rd campaign financing violation – what afflicts the Janet Long Campaign?

Two weeks ago, Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long’s re-election campaign sent out mailers to voters without the “paid political advertisement” notice required by Florida’s campaign financing law. In other words, the campaign broke the law. Now the campaign has added a disclaimer to its most recent mailer, but that disclaimer says “Paid by Janet Long,…

The open and shut case of Commissioner Pat Kemp’s Florida Bar violations

Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, who is on the ballot, is facing almost certain disciplinary action from the Florida Bar. This after a bar complaint was filed against her last month. The issue at hand is Kemp has referred to herself as an “attorney” or a “lawyer” at least 17 times during Hillsborough county commission…

Janet Long breaks Florida’s campaign financing law for 2nd time this year

Voters received a mailer from Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long yesterday. It was a typical mailer, but one thing stuck out like a sore thumb to one of our readers because of the absence of the “paid political advertisement disclaimer” on Long’s mailer. That disclaimer is required by Florida’s campaign financing law. Long and her…