Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, is also in the GOP primary, as is Wyman Duggan, a Jacksonville lawyer with the Rogers Towers firm.

Copyright © 2011 News Service Florida Political blog

“I give Aaron my complete support in his bid for the Florida Senate,” said CFO Atwater. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent.  We need a conservative, like Aaron, to represent Northeast Florida in the Senate.”

“It is an honor to have CFO Atwater standing in support of my campaign,” said Bean.  “My heart is devoted to public service and I believe government can always do better.  I am committed to making sure our local economy and job market continues to grow.  We must put a stop to raising taxes on hardworking Floridians, and we must reduce government waste and spending.”

CFO Atwater joins former Governor Jeb Bush, Senator John Thrasher and Senator Steve Wise in endorsing Bean for Florida Senate District 4.

This article first appeared in SaintPetersBlog on May 18, 2012.

© 2012 SaintPetersBlog

Former state Rep. Aaron Bean got a big boost for his bid to win a state Senate seat on Friday when he unveiled the endorsement of state CFO Jeff Atwater. Bean is running in the Republican primary to represent parts of Duval and Nassau counties and has strong opponents in the primary, including Rep. Mike Weinstein and attorney Wyman Duggan.

“I give Aaron my complete support in his bid for the Florida Senate,” said Atwater. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent. We need a conservative like Aaron to represent Northeast Florida in the Senate.”

“It is an honor to have CFO Atwater standing in support of my campaign,” said Bean. “My heart is devoted to public service and I believe government can always do better. I am committed to making sure our local economy and job market continues to grow. We must put a stop to raising taxes on hard-working Floridians, and we must reduce government waste and spending.”

This article first appeared in Sunshine State News on May 18, 2012.

© 2011 Sunshine State News

Outgoing state Rep. Bill Proctor, R – St. Augustine, is backing state House candidate Travis Hutson.

Hutson is running for a newly drawn district that includes Flagler, St. Johns, and Volusia Counties.

“Travis is an excellent conservative choice to become a new member of our Northeast Florida delegation,” Proctor said in a release.

Here is the full release:

Businessman Travis Hutson today announced that State Representative Bill Proctor (R-St. Augustine) has endorsed him in the race for the newly-drawn Florida House District 24 seat that includes parts of Flagler, St. Johns and Volusia Counties.

“It is with great honor and pleasure that I endorse Travis Hutson in his race for State Representative today,” said Representative Proctor, who currently represents House District 20 that includes parts of Clay, Flagler and St. Johns Counties.  “Travis is an excellent conservative choice to become a new member of our Northeast Florida delegation. His real world business experience is just what we need in the legislature.  He understands the policies needed to free up small businesses to create jobs and lead our economic recovery.”

“I want to thank Representative Proctor for his endorsement today, but mostly, for his years of service to the communities of Northeast Florida,” said Hutson. “He has been an example throughout his years as an elected official and his support in my bid for State Representative is invaluable.”

Hutson currently works at the Hutson Companies, overseeing charitable foundations as well as property and agricultural management. He also sits on the board of directors for HandsOn Jacksonville and on the development committee for St. Augustine Youth Services. In 2010, Hutson worked for Ambassador John Rood with the Vestcor Companies and specialized in sales and acquisitions, as well as analyzing financial data for incoming and outgoing investments. Huston has been a member of the board of directors for EPIC Community Services in St. Johns County, as well as serving on the finance teams for many candidates, including, Governor Mitt Romney, Governor Rick Scott, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar, State Attorney R.J. Larizza, State Attorney Angela Corey and Representative Daniel Davis. Hutson graduated Lafayette College in Pennsylvania in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and business.  As early as high school, Hutson was noticed for his exceptional character by receiving the Character Counts Award from St. Johns County during his senior year, which is given to individuals throughout the school district that represent the six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

First appeared in the Florida Times-Union. Jacksonville.com ©2012.

CFO Jeff Atwater Friday endorsed GOP state Senate candidate Aaron Bean.   “I give Aaron my complete support in his bid for the Florida Senate,” said CFO Atwater. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent,” Atwater said in a news release.

Bean is running for a seat that includes all of Nassau and portions of Duval County. Other GOP candidates in the race include attorney Wyman Duggan and state Rep. Mike Weinstein, R – Jacksonville.

Here is the release:

Conservative Republican Aaron Bean, a small business owner and former Florida State Representative, today announced that Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has endorsed him in his candidacy for the newly-drawn Florida Senate District 4 seat, which includes Duval and Nassau Counties.

“I give Aaron my complete support in his bid for the Florida Senate,” said CFO Atwater. “Aaron is a true conservative candidate who has a record of cutting property taxes and holding government accountable for every dollar spent.  We need a conservative, like Aaron, to represent Northeast Florida in the Senate.”

“It is an honor to have CFO Atwater standing in support of my campaign,” said Bean.  “My heart is devoted to public service and I believe government can always do better.  I am committed to making sure our local economy and job market continues to grow.  We must put a stop to raising taxes on hardworking Floridians, and we must reduce government waste and spending.”

CFO Atwater joins former Governor Jeb Bush (R-Florida), Senator John Thrasher (R-St. Augustine) and Senator Steve Wise (R-Jacksonville) in endorsing Bean for Florida Senate District 4.

Aaron Bean currently works for Shands Jacksonville as the relationship development officer and is the co-owner of 8 Flags Insurance Company and he owns and operates Putt-Putt of Fernandina Beach with his wife Abby and their three young sons.  Bean served eight years in the Florida House of Representatives, including a stint as chairman of the Duval County Legislative Delegation in 2008.  During his tenure in the Florida House, Bean received numerous awards and recognitions for his effective, conservative leadership and additionally was trusted by then-House Speaker Marco Rubio to serve as the chairman of the House Health Care Council, which handled all health care policy in addition to the appropriations of about one-third of the state budget.  Prior to being elected to the Florida House, Bean served as a Commissioner and Mayor of Fernandina Beach.  Bean’s extensive record of public service includes serving on the First Coast YMCA Board of Directors, Big Brothers & Big Sisters and the United Way.  Bean received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Jacksonville University, and was the city president of Compass Bank for 10 years (1998-2008).  Bean and his wife, Abby, reside in Fernandina Beach, Fla., with their three sons, where they attend Memorial United Methodist Church.

First appeared in the Florida Times-Union. Jacksonville.com ©2012.

Most of the state’s settlement — $7.6 billion — is earmarked to provide borrowers with loan modifications, including principal reduction, and other direct relief.

The settlement agreement also provides about $334 million for Attorney General Pam Bondi to administer. That money is supposed to help avoid preventable foreclosures, ameliorate the effects of the foreclosure crisis and to enhance law-enforcement efforts against financial fraud.

There is no shortage of useful ideas for spending this money. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, has proposed funding for:

Counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those counselors help homeowners learn how to restructure or pay off debts, so they can make their house payments — or advise them on the best ways of handling their financial crises.

Florida’s ‘Hardest Hit’ initiative. This program provides direct aid to unemployed or underemployed Floridians, so they can stave off foreclosure.

This week, the Sadowski Housing Coalition, a nonpartisan group of 24 statewide organizations, proposed that settlement funds be directed toward:

The State Housing Initiative Program and the State Apartment Incentive Loan Program.

SHIP can be used for down payment assistance and the rehabilitation of foreclosed homes. SAIL finances the construction or rehabilitation of affordable rental units and can be used to support HUD-certified housing counseling agencies.

All of these ideas are sensible. A better destination would be Florida’s legal-aid organizations.

These nonprofit entities help Floridians who cannot afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in civil matters, such as foreclosures, debt collections and family-law cases.

This article first appeared in Lakeland Ledger on May 10, 2012.

Copyright © 2012 TheLedger.com

Florida will receive $8 billion as part of a $25 billion multi-state settlement with five of the nations’ largest banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial. The vast majority of those funds will go toward principle reduction on mortgages, cash payments for victims of suspicious foreclosure practices and refinancing for underwater homeowners. But the state also will get $300 million in discretionary funds to spend on housing.

Members of the Sadowski Coalition, an association of business groups and charities for the poor and elderly dedicated to securing funding for affordable housing, met with staffers for Attorney General Pam Bondi last month, urging them to spend at least $100 million on affordable housing programs like the State Housing Initiative Program (SHIP) and State Apartment Incentive Loan program.

“Putting a portion of that money into the SHIP program would be an effective and expedient way to stabilize the housing market,” Sadowski Coalition facilitator Jaime Ross said.

That $100 million is a little more than the $98 million in document stamp funds — a tax on real estate transactions and other legal documents –  that were swept from the affordable housing trust fund by the Legislature this year – a common practice for lawmakers even before the recent recession led to budget shortfalls. The money from the foreclosures settlement represents a second chance for the affordable housing programs to receive funding.

But Ross will have competition for the money. Bondi’s office put out a news release last week asking for public input on how to spend the discretionary settlement money, and so far has received more than 1,000 comments. The period for public comment ends Monday.

Unlike other states that have spent settlement funds to fill budget holes and special projects, Bondi’s office says there are parameters on how this money will be spent: It will only go to aid the housing market in Florida that was ravaged by rampant foreclosures resulting from the burst of the housing bubble in 2008.

And that could include spending on beefing up law enforcement capabilities to fight foreclosure fraud, housing counseling, legal assistance, anti-blight programs and foreclosure mediation and assistance hotlines.

“Anything that’s housing-related,” Bondi spokeswoman Jenn Meale said. “Any type of program that would ameliorate the foreclosure crisis.”

This article first appeared in The Florida Current on May 7, 2012.

Copyright © 2011 LobbyTools, Inc.

The funds were part of a court-approved, $25-billion settlement that Attorney General Pam Bondi and 48 of her counterparts in other states managed to wrest from five of the nation’s greediest banks and mortgage servicers to clean up the robo-signing scandal that delivered grief to tens of thousands of homeowners across the country.

The settlement requires the banks to pay $20 billion in mortgage relief and $5 billion to state and federal governments. Most of that money goes directly to aid the banks’ victims, including refinancing loans that are greater than the homes are worth. Because Florida was ground zero in the predatory foreclosure crisis, the state received the lion’s share of the settlement, about $8 billion.

It sounds like a lot of money, but then the scope of the wrongdoing was immense. The amount includes $170 million for Floridians foreclosed on from 2008 to the end of 2011, according to Ms. Bondi, who expects the amount will cover 85,000 separate payments of about $2,000 each to Floridians. However, the number of foreclosure sales in Florida in the covered period stands at some 445,000. By some reliable estimates, Florida homes are underwater by more than $100 billion.

Nonetheless, Ms. Bondi and her counterparts deserve kudos for making the banks pay for their wrongdoing. In their eagerness to foreclose, bankers violated fundamental rules of mortgage servicing and routinely ignored procedures designed to protect the public from voracious lenders.

Now Ms. Bondi has had the good idea of asking Florida consumers to weigh in on the use of $300 million in “discretionary” funding that comes with the settlement. According to an online site her office has set up to deal with this topic, the money can be used for a variety of purposes, including housing counselors, foreclosure assistance hotlines, foreclosure mediation programs, legal assistance, and others.

Through 5 p.m. on Monday, May 14, the public can make suggestions to the Attorney General’s Office by submitting the form on the site, http://myfloridalegal.com/Contact.nsf/NationalForeclosureFeedback. .

The Sadowski Housing Trust Fund should be at the top of the list of worthy recipients.

Established by the Legislature in 1992, the fund gets its money from documentary tax fees and, over the years, has garnered roughly $4.6 billion. In the last few years, however, Tallahassee lawmakers have raided the fund and diverted $1.3 billion to general revenue. The cuts have been devastating, particularly in a state as hungry for affordable housing as Florida.

The Sadowski fund helps Floridians buy or fix up foreclosed homes that have been abandoned so they can be re-sold. It helps to build or rehabilitate apartments for affordable housing. Most of the money is distributed in block grants to counties to allow flexibility in how to target local housing needs.

The fund offers an existing program that needs no new bureaucracy. It works, and it gives local communities a say. Other permissible destinations for the money are worthwhile, including counseling and legal assistance. But turning abandoned, dilapidated housing into affordable and liveable homes is the best solution, and the best destination for the bulk of the state’s $300 million discretionary allotment.

This article first appeared in Miami Herald on May 8, 2012.

Copyright 2012 Miami Herald Media Co

Bean, a former state representative, faces competition from Jacksonville businessman Wyman Duggan and Rep. Mike Weinstein for the Republican nomination.

“We need a strong, conservative like Aaron to represent the communities that I hold so dear in the Senate. Aaron’s record of accomplishment in the House and at the local level speaks for itself, and I know he has what it takes to continue to go to bat for his local area in Tallahassee,” Thrasher said.

* Former Rep. Kevin Rader jumped into the already-crowded Senate District 27 Democratic primary race this week, instigating a dash for endorsements. The Palm Beach Post notes that Rader joins the race with the endorsement of U.S. Rep.Ted Deutch. Current Reps. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth and Mack Bernard of West Palm Beach touted their own endorsements from local officials this week, with several school board members and local city council members backing Bernard, and the mayors of Greenacres, Lantana and Palm Springs, among others, endorsing Clemens.

* Businessman Travis Hutson, who is running for the House District 24 seat that runs from south St. Johns County to northwest Volusia County, scored the endorsement of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Adam Putnam this week.

“Travis’s experience in small business and creating jobs is just the kind of leadership we need in the Florida House. I am happy to support him, and I know he will stand up for sound conservative policies we need to grow Florida’s economy.  I look forward to working with Travis in Tallahassee,” Putnam said.

* Candidates who wish to qualify by petition have until noon on Monday to submit them to the Division of Elections. Those who got a late start were pressing this week to get all their signatures, but were aided by being able to collect petitions from all over Florida, instead of just within their district due to redistricting this year. Candidates who fail to qualify for the ballot by petition must pay a qualifying fee.

One of the candidates who made it on time was former state Sen. Al Lawson, who is running for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District.

* Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, announced this week that he would not seek reelection to the House this year. He was drawn in the same district as fellow Orlando Republican Rep. Stephen Precourt and decided against a primary battle. Here’s his op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel.

* Taxpayers First, a political action committee backed by the Florida Association of Realtors, released a video ad in support of Amendment 4 this week. The amendment, which requires 60 percent voter approval to pass, would place lower caps on commercial property assessments and give lawmakers authority to address the “recapture” provision in the state’s current homestead exemption, under which homeowners can see their tax bills rise even as their property values decrease.

* Realtor Dane Eagle pulled in the endorsement of Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, this week in his bid for the House District 77 seat in Cape Coral. He already has the backing of former Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp.

* Rounding out the Northeast Florida campaign news this week, Brett Doster, a veteran political consultant and adviser to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, will now be helping the campaign of Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, who is running for reelection.

This article first appeared in The Florida Current on May 4, 2012.

Copyright © 2011 LobbyTools, Inc.

“We need a strong conservative like Aaron to represent the communities that I hold so dear in the Senate,” said Thrasher. “Aaron’s record of accomplishment in the House and at the local level speaks for itself, and I know he has what it takes to continue to go to bat for his local area in Tallahassee. I support Aaron in his bid for Senate District 4.”

“I am thrilled that Aaron is running to represent Duval and Nassau counties in the Florida Senate,” said Wise, who is facing term limits and bowing out of the Senate. “Aaron is passionate about serving his local community and I am confident that he will stand strong for us in the Capitol. He has my full support of his campaign.”

“I am honored to receive the support of Senators Thrasher and Wise for my campaign for Senate District 4,” said Bean. “Their continued leadership of our local issues in Tallahassee has been unwavering, and I look forward to the opportunity to be the voice for our local community in the Senate.”

Bean does not have an open shot at the Republican nomination for the seat which represents parts of Duval and Nassau counties. Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, has also filed to run, as has Jacksonville attorney Wyman Duggan.

This article first appeared in Sunshine State News on May 3, 2012.

© 2011 Sunshine State News