Democracy Has Prevailed.

July 18, 2007

DeSantis Responds

Yesterday, Mark DeSantis issued a press release responding to Mayor Luke's press release of the day before.

“Transparency and honesty in any campaign is not a ‘tactic’, it is an obligation. I would hope that Mr. Ravenstahl would feel the same way,” said DeSantis.

Act 47/Budget

“I am very aware of the meaning and requirements of Act 47. My pledge is designed to ensure that each candidate has a clear grasp of this enormous challenge,” said DeSantis.

A few questions for Mr. Ravenstahl in that regard: 1) Has he implemented the Act 47 recommendations?; 2) Has he met the cost reduction target?; and 3) Does his budget have realistic assumptions?

DeSantis further elaborated that making a realistic budget plan is about effective city leadership. “Leadership is not about meeting some minimum legal requirement. It is about far exceeding the minimum requirements,” said DeSantis. Mr.DeSantis believes that public officials and those seeking public offices should try to work out the best plan possible.

It is true that Mr.DeSantis has not worked with council on a budgetplan. However, Mr. DeSantis is not currently a public official and therefore is not charged with the task of preparing a budget. However, Mr. DeSantis has expressed his willingness to develop a plan for this city.

Gift/Gratuity

This pledge is taken from Section 197.07 of the city charter.

Debates

Mr. Ravenstahl sent a letter asking for two debates. Mr. DeSantis responded by asking for eight. There is precedent for eight or more debates as evidenced by the 2005 mayoral race. Bob O’Connor squared off against his democratic challengers on more than eight ocassions. In 2003, Jim Roddey and Dan Onorato took part in more than twenty debates.

In addition, both campaign have already agreed to and scheduled a mayoral forum set for September 27, 2007. Mr. DeSantis’ debate coordinator has also been actively working with media organizations to schedule debates.

Mr. DeSantis is available for further comment.

As The Burgher wrote, it's good to see a back and forth this hearty this early on. If anything, it shows the need for more debates.

1 comment:

EdHeath said...

Did anyone catch the channel 4 report at six. The Mayor is saying he called several times and (I believe) left messages, and DeSantis has not responded. Its not clear to me, but it looked like the Mayor was implying he personally had called. Maybe he asked for DeSantis personally, at time when DeSantis wasn't available. DeSantis, for his part, says he has some one working full time on debates, so if the Mayor's campaign called they should have gotten someone who could have immediately set up debates.

This is taking on a bit of the he said/she said vibe. I guess when the Mayor and DeSantis do finally get together to schedule debats, the Mayor will suddenly be too busy.