Our public affairs reporting class has opened up my eyes to much of what is going on within our county. From the bussing issues to the lack of funding crippling area schools, education is clearly suffering from various deficiencies. The opportunity to cover Election Day on our campus showed me how unconcerned Buddy Johnson was with registered voters and the several problems that arose during his term in office. And throughout the semester my attendance at several public meetings taught me about various issues as well attending a public trial.
Our county, like any other small government has problems. The clearest sign of this is our decaying educational system. Middleton Middle was covered in the tribune asking for volunteers to help tutor students due to the extreme deficiencies in their school. Then budget cuts that had closed down three public schools in our area last year have now threatened to shut down even more schools, schools like Palm Harbor Elementary which is and ‘A’ rated school. The school boards on going bussing dispute have also reflected very poorly on Hillsborough County. As I said before, it has been for far too long that we allow education to only be an afterthought rather than a priority.
Buddy Johnson’s term in office speaks volumes about our county as well. We allowed a man to retain a position of power even though he continued to abuse it; the TBT reported that Johnson had mishandled ballots in not one, not two but three different elections. This makes me wonder why he was not removed from office prior to this general election where he yet again had pollers counting vote’s days after Election Day to determine whether he won re-election. On election morning Buddy Johnson sent poll workers a memo informing them that there were new rules for media, extending the perimeter from the actual building premises rather than the poll boxes. Not only did Buddy Johnson decide he had the power to change existing rules the morning of Election Day, but he felt he could disregard student voters registered at USF with bringing an inadequate amount of polling boxes into our campus.
The Citizens Advisory Board meeting teaches us about the effects of our economy here in our area. There are many homeowners struggling to make ends meet and whose homes are in danger of being foreclosed. This has led for the development of the neighborhood stabilization act which will help those people in our area struggling. While there may be new business coming into the area surrounding USF there are also others being forced to close its doors. We have seen the closeout sales for stores like Steve and Barry’s in University Mall and Linen and Things right off Bruce B. Downs.
I find it odd that in a time when we allow schools to cripple we are debating a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, who although may have a slightly outdated field in regards to their recent success, don’t really have a dire need for a new one. Another situation that seems confusing is TECO’s announcement of higher rates when the gas prices have started to go down. Homeless tent cities sprout up, and county officials put their best effort forward to have them removed. I don’t understand what it is that makes people fight so fervently against the miserable, and yet allow for businesses, schools, and Election Day practices to suffer. It seems that our local government extends its power without dissent because many aren’t speaking up and because our officials aren’t being reprimanded. I wonder what our county would look like and what issues would arise had people actually shown up the public meetings I attended. We let problems continue up until the point that they can’t be ignored and this is far too long.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Ed Homan: District 60
Edward Samuel Homan Jr. was born on August 10th, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to his resume, Homan spent his undergraduate studies at the Louisiana State University where he graduated with a bachelors in biochemistry in 1964. Four years later he earned his doctorate at the Louisiana State University Medical School. Homan interned at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans while in school and later did his residency at the same hospital in the orthopedic surgery unit. While doing this research I discovered a brief lapse in his residency and later learned that the lapse could be attributed to the two year term he did in the US Navy. He was a Lieutenant Commander in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from 1970-1972. Upon finishing his residency in 1975 Homan then moved to Florida. He has lived in the Tampa bay area ever since.
Certified in the Florida State Board of Medical Examiners in April of 1975, Ed Homan is an orthopedic surgeon and practices at the University Community Hospital. Not only is he the chief of orthopedics at UCH, but he is also an assistant professor of orthopedics in the USF Orthopedic and Sports Medicine program.
Homan and his wife Carol reside in Temple Terrace. He married Carol Ann Hodges on October 8th, 1992. Carol is also in the medical field, practicing internal medicine at the VA hospital. They have three children together, John, David and Mark. In my research I was unable to find any real estate taxes paid under Homan’s name, and instead found that there were taxes paid on tangible property by him. The Hillsborough County Tax Collectors website lists his as having property on 13801 Bruce B. Downs, I researched this address and it listed some medical offices. The property appraisals site lists it at a value of $12,000 which is the amount mortgaged by Homan in June of 1982. I did find real estate taxes paid by Carol for a home in the temple terrace estates estimated at a just value of $268,402. All of the taxes for this home have been paid on time yearly.
Residing in temple terrace, Homan has remained a very active member of the community being part of the Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce as well as serving in the Hillsborough County Medical Association. He served as the president of the HCMA organization from 1999 to 2000 and has maintained memberships in various other organizations such as: the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Florida Orthopedic Society, and the American Medical Association.
Homan’s resume includes a lengthy list of several awards he has received from various organizations. Some of these awards include the : 2001 Physician of the Year by the HCMA, 2001 & 2003 Physician Political Leadership Award by Florida Medical Business, 5 time Outstanding Clinician Educator award, and 2004 Ed Annis, MD Award for Political Activism by FLAMPAC.
With his dedication to his work in both the medical field and education, Homan’s campaign website states that he aims to work toward improving the state of both of these in Florida through his terms as senate representative. Republican Ed Homan is a member of the state senate and has represented district 60 since 2002.
As a Florida State Representative, Ed Homan has a long list of accomplishments as well. His website has a very long list of bills that were either sponsored or co-sponsored by him and passed during his term in 2002-2008.Homan currently serves on the committee on health innovation, as well as the committee on audit and performance where he is chair and the government efficiency and accountability council. In the past Homan also served on the health care committee, the local government and veterans affairs committee as well several others.
Ed Homan ran unopposed in the 2008 general election and looking into his campaign expenditures as well as contributions you can learn a lot about him. Homan filed $158,996 in monetary donations from April 2007 to October 2008. His total expenditures from that period were $124, 160.47. That leaves around $35,000 unaccounted for and I was not able to reach anyone who could discuss this matter with me. Looking into who contributed to his campaign, it is reasonable to infer that he is well liked in the medical community. He has contributions from a variety of medical organizations, ranging from the Children’s Health Center to the Reproductive Medicine Group. Homan’s supporters were not merely medical organizations however. Much of the contributors were private individuals and he also had the support of different business such as Bank of America, Brighthouse networks, and Southern Wine and Spirits which interestingly enough is in South Carolina as opposed to much of his Florida contributors. In fact, the only other contributor not within Florida was Pfizer. I found this donation of the pharmaceutical company particularly interesting because it is big businesses like these that often have lobbyists and whose contributions sway a politicians voting. In looking at the breakdown of his expenditures I learned that Homan spent over $96,000 in the services provided him by Doug Mcalarney Political Consulting. I found this number to be a bit exorbitant only because Homan ran unopposed and therefore was sure of winning, and this makes me wonder what he would of spent had he not been guaranteed this.
In my public records search I did find something that I did not expect to find, while there were no arrests or warrants or any sort of negative records for Homan, I did find that there was action brought against him in the past. I found that there was a case brought against him by Patricia and Patrick Keefe. The case was voluntarily dismissed in January of 2004 and therefore it was hard to find much more information. Homan’s office would not speak to this case and the number for the Keefe’s lawyer was no longer a working number.
It seems that much of Homan’s time is dedicated to his medical career and his involvement in different professional organizations and the awards they’ve honored him with, attest to this. Though being a state representative must be very time consuming, it seems that he truly enjoys being a part of the senate as well as practicing medicine. Outside of his political and medical career, both the senate website and his personal website list some of his recreational interests. Not surprisingly, they are health related activities that he and his wife take part in, such as triathlons and mountain climbing.
In the end, although there was a small negative patch on Homan’s lifelong career with the discovery of the action brought against him by the Keefe’s, it was ultimately voluntarily dismissed and Homan seems like a pretty likeable guy on paper. Of course however, there can be much else to learn had I actually met Homan or been around him for some time. That is not to say that people can’t be good, it’s just very rare to find someone whose persona on paper and in day to day life match up.
Certified in the Florida State Board of Medical Examiners in April of 1975, Ed Homan is an orthopedic surgeon and practices at the University Community Hospital. Not only is he the chief of orthopedics at UCH, but he is also an assistant professor of orthopedics in the USF Orthopedic and Sports Medicine program.
Homan and his wife Carol reside in Temple Terrace. He married Carol Ann Hodges on October 8th, 1992. Carol is also in the medical field, practicing internal medicine at the VA hospital. They have three children together, John, David and Mark. In my research I was unable to find any real estate taxes paid under Homan’s name, and instead found that there were taxes paid on tangible property by him. The Hillsborough County Tax Collectors website lists his as having property on 13801 Bruce B. Downs, I researched this address and it listed some medical offices. The property appraisals site lists it at a value of $12,000 which is the amount mortgaged by Homan in June of 1982. I did find real estate taxes paid by Carol for a home in the temple terrace estates estimated at a just value of $268,402. All of the taxes for this home have been paid on time yearly.
Residing in temple terrace, Homan has remained a very active member of the community being part of the Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce as well as serving in the Hillsborough County Medical Association. He served as the president of the HCMA organization from 1999 to 2000 and has maintained memberships in various other organizations such as: the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Florida Orthopedic Society, and the American Medical Association.
Homan’s resume includes a lengthy list of several awards he has received from various organizations. Some of these awards include the : 2001 Physician of the Year by the HCMA, 2001 & 2003 Physician Political Leadership Award by Florida Medical Business, 5 time Outstanding Clinician Educator award, and 2004 Ed Annis, MD Award for Political Activism by FLAMPAC.
With his dedication to his work in both the medical field and education, Homan’s campaign website states that he aims to work toward improving the state of both of these in Florida through his terms as senate representative. Republican Ed Homan is a member of the state senate and has represented district 60 since 2002.
As a Florida State Representative, Ed Homan has a long list of accomplishments as well. His website has a very long list of bills that were either sponsored or co-sponsored by him and passed during his term in 2002-2008.Homan currently serves on the committee on health innovation, as well as the committee on audit and performance where he is chair and the government efficiency and accountability council. In the past Homan also served on the health care committee, the local government and veterans affairs committee as well several others.
Ed Homan ran unopposed in the 2008 general election and looking into his campaign expenditures as well as contributions you can learn a lot about him. Homan filed $158,996 in monetary donations from April 2007 to October 2008. His total expenditures from that period were $124, 160.47. That leaves around $35,000 unaccounted for and I was not able to reach anyone who could discuss this matter with me. Looking into who contributed to his campaign, it is reasonable to infer that he is well liked in the medical community. He has contributions from a variety of medical organizations, ranging from the Children’s Health Center to the Reproductive Medicine Group. Homan’s supporters were not merely medical organizations however. Much of the contributors were private individuals and he also had the support of different business such as Bank of America, Brighthouse networks, and Southern Wine and Spirits which interestingly enough is in South Carolina as opposed to much of his Florida contributors. In fact, the only other contributor not within Florida was Pfizer. I found this donation of the pharmaceutical company particularly interesting because it is big businesses like these that often have lobbyists and whose contributions sway a politicians voting. In looking at the breakdown of his expenditures I learned that Homan spent over $96,000 in the services provided him by Doug Mcalarney Political Consulting. I found this number to be a bit exorbitant only because Homan ran unopposed and therefore was sure of winning, and this makes me wonder what he would of spent had he not been guaranteed this.
In my public records search I did find something that I did not expect to find, while there were no arrests or warrants or any sort of negative records for Homan, I did find that there was action brought against him in the past. I found that there was a case brought against him by Patricia and Patrick Keefe. The case was voluntarily dismissed in January of 2004 and therefore it was hard to find much more information. Homan’s office would not speak to this case and the number for the Keefe’s lawyer was no longer a working number.
It seems that much of Homan’s time is dedicated to his medical career and his involvement in different professional organizations and the awards they’ve honored him with, attest to this. Though being a state representative must be very time consuming, it seems that he truly enjoys being a part of the senate as well as practicing medicine. Outside of his political and medical career, both the senate website and his personal website list some of his recreational interests. Not surprisingly, they are health related activities that he and his wife take part in, such as triathlons and mountain climbing.
In the end, although there was a small negative patch on Homan’s lifelong career with the discovery of the action brought against him by the Keefe’s, it was ultimately voluntarily dismissed and Homan seems like a pretty likeable guy on paper. Of course however, there can be much else to learn had I actually met Homan or been around him for some time. That is not to say that people can’t be good, it’s just very rare to find someone whose persona on paper and in day to day life match up.
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