Originally published in the Jacksonville Observer

I am tired of men like Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad and especially the President of the City Council, Jack Webb pretending that they are Republicans and voting like Nancy Pelosi.

Let me say this publicly so no one will be surprised when I repeat it at the Republican Executive Committee or at any other Republican meeting I attend. All of those boys who voted for the tax increase need to get out of Republican politics. If you are a fellow Republican, you should be saying it too, everywhere you go. They have either been paid off by big money contributors, or think that they are able to buy votes by giving other people your money. Maybe it is just that they have become closet Socialists, or simply don’t give a darn about the people whom they represent and what they want. Maybe they are just too dim-witted to understand their duty.

Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb are an embarrassment to every decent Republican who believes in smaller government and lower taxes. Just listen to them talk now! Listen to them blow smoke, and I don’t mean smoke rings in the air. They drone on about the process, how difficult and complicated it is, and how vast and diverse a constituency they have. Normally we are resigned to have to listen to this political double-speak and move on. But we simply cannot afford it any longer. These men are lying, plain and simple and they can no longer be allowed to speak in such a manner.

They are the ones who voted for the budget and they could have voted against it. Clay Yarborough voted against it, because as usual he was too honest to do anything else. Glorious Johnson, who doesn’t have enough sense to register as a Republican, still had enough sense to vote against it, because all the padding and patronage in it goes against her basic sense of patriotism. The Republican rock of the City Council, Don Redman voted against it. Republicans Bill Bishop, Richard Clark, and even Ray Holt voted against it. What is wrong with the other Republican men who voted for this onerous tax increase?

These men knew what needed to be cut and it wasn’t police or fire or any of the other utilities. In fact they were given a list of sixty-seven million dollars of possible budget cuts from the attorneys and accountants of Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, a group whose sole motivation is to prevent government from stealing our money.

When city officials take our money by taxing us and spending it on special interest projects or to redistribute income they are committing the crime of robbery. Taxation without representation is robbery and the men who do it are criminals, highwaymen pretending to be Republicans. Besides the CTDC, citizens and other organizations showed up in droves to the hearing to tell the council not to vote for taxes and to tell them specifically what they should cut. Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb had a clear choice and plenty of options and the one they chose was to screw the citizens, again. They screwed their fellow citizens and their fellow Republicans who voted them into office. They make Republicans look bad and now the time has come to vote them out.

It is just beyond the pale to think that they will be allowed to come into the Executive Committee or Republican club meetings to be honored and recognized and politely applauded for. No, instead they need to be cat called, booed and shown the door so that in the future no Republican candidate in his right mind would ever consider taking the actions that these men have taken while in office. My fellow Republicans should not shirk from making their displeasure known, nor should they be afraid of offending the party “elite.” I mean what’s the worst thing that can happen; you won’t be invited to the next fund raiser?

Dick Brown, Mike Corrigan, Ronnie Fussell, Kevin Hyde, Stephen Joost, Art Shad, and Jack Webb must understand they will not be elected to office again unless and until they have proven by their actions, not just by their speech, that they have got their minds right. Next time I see them in person, you can be sure I will tell them how I really feel. I hope you do too. In the meantime I urge them to stop pretending to be Republicans and to go and register as Democrats, so that they can strut and preen upon the stage hugging Barney Frank and kissing Hilary Clinton while they assure everyone they are willing to take your money to provide for the needs of everyone and anyone who will vote for them.