From Mike Lameyer
The following is why I am a candidate for the Florida State Senate.
Controversial Votes and Positions by Senator Bogdanoff
• Senator Bogdanoff Was a Signatory to a Protest Letter to the US Department of Transportation Re: High Speed Rail http://southflorida912.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2-17-11-letter-to-lahood-from-florida-senators.pdf
February 17, 2011
The Honorable Ray LaHood U.S. Department of Transportation 200 New Jersey Ave, SE 1
Washington, DC 20590
Dear Secretary LaHood, In December of 2009, members of the Florida Legislature voted to create the Florida Rail Enterprise and the Florida Statewide Passenger Rail Commission. The enterprise could have the ability (pursuant to s. 341.822, Florida Statutes) to independently move forward with Florida’s plans for high speed rail. Please give us the time necessary to work with the enterprise prior to re‐allocating Florida’s funds to another state. This project would create real jobs, cleaner and smarter transportation, and true economic development for Floridians. The international consortiums who have been investing time and money while waiting for the chance to respond to a request for a proposal deserve that opportunity. Politics should have no place in the future of Florida’s transportation, as evidenced by this letter of bipartisan support.
Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff, 25th District
• SB 318: In a little-noted vote during the 2011 Legislature, five Republican senators supported a bill that would have awarded in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens.
Voting for SB 318: John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville; Anitere Flores, R-Miami; David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs; Garrett Richter, R-Naples; and Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.
See: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/blog/5-florida-rinos-joined-democrats-supporting-state-tuition-illegals
• Voted Against a Requirement for Mandatory E-Verify for all Employers
Again, Bogdanoff said, the choice was between satisfying one Republican constituency (people passionate about cracking down on illegal immigration) and another Republican constituency (business).
Bogdanoff chose business.
“I did my research on E-Verify. It sounds good. It makes it sound like we’re tough on immigration,” she said.
Bogdanoff said E-Verify is complex and expensive and requiring its use would impose a big burden on businesses and even individuals who hire domestic workers. And for all the pain, she said, it wouldn’t stop the hiring of undocumented workers because people who want to hire people here illegally will do so anyway, despite one more law.
See: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/07/caught_between_business_and_so.html
Note that Bogdanoff received $5200 from Associated Industries between 1998 and 2011. She also received $4,500 from the Florida Chamber of Commerce between 2004 and 2011. They opposed E-Verify.
• Killed the Texting Ban
"I'm not saying my personal opinion was the only thing that mattered. They happened to send the bill to my committee, and yes, I killed it," said Bogdanoff, a Republican from Fort Lauderdale who is now a state senator. "It goes against my philosophical position that government shouldn't tell us how to conduct our lives from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night."
Support for the Bill is coming from AAA and the solid waste industry, which sees it as a safety issue for their drivers and workers who ride on the backs of trucks.
But in the past, their support has been no match for opposition to the texting ban from the giant telecommunications industry. From 1998-2011, according to the Florida Department of State Division of Elections Bogdanoff received a total of about $8,500 from various PACs associated with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
• Opposed Higher Contributions from Legislators’ Salaries to be Paid for their Rolls Royce Health Insurance Coverage Plans
Negron filed an amendment that would have hiked lawmakers monthly premiums from $8.34 to $50 a month for individuals and from $30 to $180 a month for families. The change would have brought lawmakers’ health insurance costs in line with what state workers, who’ve gone for six years without a pay raise, pay, which Negron called a bargain.
“To me there’s just no rationale for it,” Negron argued. “We should all be treated equally. Legislators shouldn’t have richer benefits than the people that we work with.”
Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, called Negron’s proposal a “political statement” that could make discourage Floridians who aren’t rich from running for office.
“It’s very difficult to vote against it. But I don’t think it’s good policy,” Bogdanoff said.
• Meanwhile Bogdanoff had a net worth of $740,000.
See: http://www.postonpolitics.com/2012/02/senate-panel-kills-effort-to-hike-their-own-health-insurance-costs/
See: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-legislature-home-to-dozens-of-millionaires-1603602.html?printArticle=y
See: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2010/07/ellyn_bogdanoff_carl_domino_fi.html
• Senator Bogdanoff Philosophically Opposed a Bill for Mandatory Coverage of 9/11 in Curriculum
Schools would be required to teach about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 under a bill that passed out of a Senate committee Tuesday.
Teachers often skip that chapter of American history because it's so recent and they run out of time, said Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, sponsor of SB 1422.
While the 'yes' vote was unanimous, Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff said she's not sure it's a good idea for the Legislature to micromanage school curriculums.
• Supported John Huntsman for President (The Most Liberal Republican Candidate There Was in the 2012 GOP Primary Race)
Bogdanoff said she was impressed by Huntsman's resume, which includes a stint as ambassador to China during the Obama administration.
"The fact that he has been sought after by more than one president simply because of his skill and ability, that should impress anybody," Bogdanoff said in an interview on Thursday. "I believe he is electable across party lines because of the career he has led and the issues he has championed."
Huntsman has been branded a moderate by some conservatives in the party, which will not help his chances.
"I'm not sure where they get `moderate,'" Bogdanoff said. "They also called John McCain a moderate. There's nothing about this man (Huntsman) that strikes me as a moderate."
"Number one: I don't think that's a curse word. And it's not reflective in the things he has done."
McCain had little campaign money and not much of an organization in Florida four years ago. But he did have connections toBogdanoff, then-Sen. Mel Martinez and then-Gov. Charlie Crist.
"The (early) polling never showed McCain ahead," Bogdanoff recalled. "McCain was never the top guy. If you polled South Florida, it showed (Rudy) Giuliani number one."
Huntsman is a China appeaser. See http://www.issues2000.org/2012/Jon_Huntsman_Free_Trade.htm
See: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-18/news/fl-bogdanoff-backs-huntsman_1_bogdanoff-jon-huntsman-straw-poll
and
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/10/10/huntsman-warns-of-trade-war-with-china/
• Senator Bogdanoff Supports Gambling as a Job Generator, Then Changes Position to Supporting More Government Bureaucracy
See: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/ellyn-bogdanoff-focus-need-gaming-commission-less-casino-jobs-claims
(Important Article)See: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/florida-casino-bill-would-grow-gaming-and-government
(Important Article) See: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/rick-scott-casino-tool-or-economic-leader
See: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/3-billion-casino-planned-for-miami-waterfront-1859756.html?printArticle=y
State Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said the focus needs to be on the effort to create a commission that oversees gambling -- from the Florida lottery to pari-mutuels -- in the state, not unsubstantiated job claims that have accompanied those hoping to benefit from the prospect of three 5-star casinos at $2 billion each.
See: http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/110922/story2.shtml
We're trying to create integrated resorts," combining large hotels and other facilities with casinos," Sen. Bogdanoff says. "We don't want to build our economy on gambling. However, gaming is growing and unless we harness it for the benefits, it's just going to proliferate in other states."
They (Bogdanoff and Rep. Erik Fresen) say their bills would bring gaming more out into the open, control it and reap its benefits, including thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in added state revenue when the economy is suffering. They maintain the benefits would far outweigh any drawbacks.
See: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1198859.ece
The bill favors the international casino industry over homegrown Florida businesses. Bogdanoff and Fresen would tax casinos at 10 percent but force the state's parimutuels to still hand over 35 percent. The bill would also take all limits off the casinos built by the Seminole Indian Tribe, which would no longer have to contribute roughly $230 million to state coffers over the next three years. And it does nothing to regulate Internet cafes, the scourge popping up in strip malls across the state.
* The Sun-Sentinel reports that as lawmakers put the finishing touches on a destination casino bill, the 1st DCA did its part to pave the way for them, ruling that the Legislature could expand gaming without voter approval. From the story: Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, and Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, could file legislation as early as today that would allow three destination resort casinos – minimum investment: $2 billion each — in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Gaming giants like GentingMalaysia, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts have been pressing for such a bill. But getting a court ruling that allowed the Legislature to expand gaming was a crucial first step.
• Senator Bogdanoff Voted Yes for Red Light Cameras/Voted in House on April 23, 2010
Description:
General Bill by Reagan (CO-SPONSORS) Ambler; Anderson; Brisé; Ford; Frishe; Heller; Homan; Hooper; Horner; Hudson;Jenne; Kriseman; Pafford; Porth; Rader; Roberson, K.; Roberson, Y.; Rogers; Schultz; Steinberg; Tobia; Van Zant
Uniform Traffic Control: Preempts to state use of cameras to enforce traffic laws; authorizes counties & municipalities to use traffic infraction detectors under certain circumstances; creates Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program; authorizes DHSMV, county, or municipality to use traffic infraction detector to identify motor vehicle that fails to stop at traffic control signal steady red light, etc.
See: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=42624
According to the Florida Department of State Division of Elections, Senator Bogdanoff received $2,000 to her campaign from American Traffic Solutions based in Arizona since 2008. This company specializes in red light camera and photo enforcements of traffic infringements.
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