Florida Today - Omitting Facts and Deceiving Readers Since 1966

Sunday, 17 July 2011 08:42 | Last Updated on Sunday, 17 July 2011 21:09 | Written by Matt Nye

I had a lively conversation Saturday morning with some great folks at local talk show host Bill Mick’s house. During the conversation the Florida Today’s name came up.

Some of the people there didn’t understand how the Florida Today could fail to ask some pretty obvious questions when it came to local government stories like the proposed North Brevard Economic Development Zone and the Satellite Beach CRA fiasco.

In short, a couple of them appeared to have come to the conclusion that Matt Reed and his fellow “watchdogs” were incompetent because they weren’t pursuing the truth with the same zeal and asking the same common sense questions us ordinary taxpayers were. Alas, if this were only the case, Brevard County and the world would be a much safer place.

After becoming politically active in late 2007 and interacting with the Florida Today in a myriad of capacities during the last four years - including as a candidate for the District 4 commission seat - I have reached the conclusion the editors of Florida Today aren’t incompetent at all; they have an agenda, they know exactly what they are doing, and if the truth gets in the way of the agenda they will just edit it right out. You need only look at today’s “Our Views” column for (more) proof. In the column in regards to another millage increase for the county budget this year they state:

“The rollback is certain to be controversial, as it was in 2010. But two of the three commissioners who approved the rollback last year — Republicans Chuck Nelson and Mary Bolin — easily won re-election in GOP primaries against tea-party opponents who sharply criticized their actions.”

I have always said there are sins of commission and there are sins of omission – the Florida Today editors are masters of the latter. Note how the editors rewrite history in just a couple of paragraphs by omitting some important facts regarding the 2010 budget process and elections:

1)      In 2010 both Commissioners Bolin and Nelson along with the Florida Today succeeded in covering up the fact the millage rollback was actually a tax increase for one third of the residents in Brevard County. The Commissioners and the Florida Today repeatedly insisted that the rollback was not a tax increase because government revenues would stay the same; acknowledgment of the fact it was a tax increase for at least one third of Brevardians didn’t begin until the end of September, after the primaries were over. The Florida Today could have obtained the proposed tax roll via public records request before the election as at least one grassroots volunteer did, but they didn’t bother to perform this most basic level of common sense inquiry because it would have obliterated their narrative that a rollback wasn’t a tax increase.

2)      Property Appraiser Jim Ford helped to perpetuate the fraud on the electorate prior to the 2010 primary by not mailing the TRIM notices until the last possible date allowed by statute, thus putting them in the hands of voters one day AFTER the primary election – literally a day late and a dollar short for anyone to make an informed voting decision. To my knowledge there was never any mention of this amazing "coincidence" by the Florida Today – ever.

3)      Commissioner Bolin stated explicitly in the Florida Today Voter Guide that “raising taxes is not an option”, yet she had already voted to increase the millage when the guide went to print; the Florida Today never called her on it. To this day I don’t believe I have ever seen a single mention of the fact she explicitly lied in its very own voter guide. Do you think Florida Today would have overlooked something like that had Commissioners Anderson or Infantini said it?

To recap: at least one of the two Commissioners who “easily won re-election” flat out lied to the Florida Today and the voters of Brevard County by masquerading as a fiscal conservative who pledged in writing to raise taxes, but now we are told the voters wanted more taxes and spending because she was re-elected? If that is truly the case why did Commissioner Bolin go to such lengths to campaign as a fiscal conservative? I have screenshots of her web site and copies of post cards she mailed – not a single one mentions increasing taxes to pay for more services, so how did the Florida Today arrive at its conclusion the voters wanted more of taxes and more spending? It’s a non-sequitur of enormous proportions.

Now that the damage is done and we have 3.5 more years of Commissioners Bolin and Nelson – which means four more years of tax hikes (“rollbacks” because property values are still declining) – the Florida Today now holds itself out to be the voice of reason and objectivity and points out that the issue was settled in the 2010 election when there was NEVER an honest discussion about it when it counted: before the primaries.

The next time you read a story in the Florida Today that omits an important fact or angle don’t ask “how could they miss that?”, ask WHY they left it out. Odds are it wasn’t an accident.