Fiscal Rangers

Lake County (FL) Commission Might Learn Lessons from Palm Beach "Corruption" County

Palm Beach County and their commissioners are in hot water. Three commissioners were imprisoned from being corrupt, and the County has become known as Corruption County. One reason could be lack of oversight, and apparently it was so poor the public and local businesses have pushed through the establishment of a completely independent Inspector General for the county. Additionally, in the future, the IG authority will be expanded to cover all the cities in the county, AND other Constitutional Officers, such as the Sheriff. How does that compare to Lake County? The local "County auditor" really works for the elected County Clerk, Neal Kelly, and currently does not perceive the auditor has enough authority to initiate audits of the County operations or other Constitutional officers. Now, professional auditors don't only ensure financial statements are accurate, but they do reviews of regulatory compliance like grants, plus reviews to ensure operations are efficient, economical and effective. That is the kind of auditing I practiced for 18 years when I was a corporate and government auditor. So, below is an editorial in the Palm Beach Post about how bad it can get when you don't have good oversight. Lake Countians might start asking... Read more →

Florida's Lake County 8th Congressional District Candidate Patricia Sullivan on Fox News

Sarah Palin was in the Villages and Orlando at book signing events this week, and after Fox News interviewed Palin, they interviewed local Lake County resident Patricia Sullivan about her campaign for the 8th Congressional district position currently held by Alan "My Congressman is Nuts" Grayson. Here's the link to Patricia's interview November 25th on FoxNews Fox & Friends, in case you missed it, or want to send it to some of your friends. Enjoy. http://patricia-sullivan.com/patricias-newest-video/ Have a great Thanksgiving Day! Vance Read more →

Water Issues - So you think Lake County has water problems? Read this about China

I found this 2003 article on the water crisis in China and it is quite interesting...when they have to hire guards to patrol the banks of lakes to prevent people from stealing water out of the lake, you know there is a shortage: READ It HERE from Asia Times vj Read more →

FiscalRangers Official Car, Author and, oh yes, Ralph Smith Featured on Channel 9

A couple of months ago, Channel 9's WFTV reporter Berndt Peterson asked me (Vance) and Ralph Smith ( Radio Show host on WLBE and general political nuisance) to be interviewed about the Lake County's $20-million 8 floor parking structure boondoggle, and so they finally posted the article and video. This is NOT the County parking structure! See the Channel 9 WFTV online video segment of us and the official yellow FiscalRangers staff and parade car here: http://www.wftv.com/news/21500440/detail.html PS: I did find another use for the parking structure. If you go to the very lowest level, there is a very nice concrete backwall at the bottom of the lowest ramp, and I have practiced tennis in there, using the concrete wall to return the ball, and if I miss it, it rolls up the slanted floor, then rolls back down to me... you don't have to chase the ball. Also, as a tidbit of news, the traffic "speed bumps" at each level are NOT speed bumps, but were added to hide electrical cables that run across the floor and not under it. And my yellow mustang hits each bump because they are so high, they hit the exhaust headers. vj And,... Read more →

Disabled Marine David Hedrick to Address Supporters of Patricia Sullivan for Congress

Disabled Marine David Hedrick to Address Supporters of Patricia Sullivan for Congress This Friday at 8am in Mt. Dora Eustis, FL, November 11, 2009 - Disabled Marine Veteran David W. Hedrick will address supporters of Patricia Sullivan for Congress at a 8am breakfast in Mount Dora on Friday. Mr. Hedrick will be sharing his experience from a previous Congressional town hall meeting which was earlier viewd by millions on YouTube. At that earlier August meeting, he verbally battered Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) for comments made earlier in the meeting. Mr. Hedrick's strongly-worded advice to Congressman Baird was to step away from increasing the government's role in his everyday life. He warned the Congressman to "Stay away from my kids!" among other comments. In an impassioned speech, later featured on national news and receiving millions of video views on the internet, Mr. Hedrick informed his Congressman that government is overstepping its role in the everyday lives of citizens. He specifically opposed initiatives regarding education and health care reform. His original speech on August 18, 2009 received heavy applause from the local audience. As a result of his dissatisfaction with Mr. Baird, David Hedrick has announced his intention to run for Congress... Read more →

New FiscalRangers.com Page on Lake County, Florida's 2010 Elections

Tavares, FL - The 2010 Lake County, Florida State and Federal Election cycle is ramping up, so I created a separate page to track the incumbents, candidates, issues and media sources. It is titled "Elections 2010 for Lake County, FL" and is in the "Pages" section in the right hand column, or you can reach it with THIS LINK. I will be adding details on the candidates as it comes, and will later rank the candidates and make recommendations regarding their support of fiscal conservatism and initiatives they have taken to improve efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government operations. I plan to create a vetting process with interviews to also extract background on fiscal skills of incumbents and candidates. A candidate who does not even know how the budget works for the agency they are running for will receive an F. Vance Jochim Chief Fiscal Watchdog... [email protected] Read more →

What Does Bernie Madoff & the North Lake County Hospital District Have in Common

Answer: Neither the District Board or Madoff's Regulator, the SEC, exercised any oversight on how collected funds were spent. Were the funds spent to benefit taxpayers or Madoff's clients - no oversight existed to ensure exactly how collected funds were spent. My comments on this follow Marilyn Bainter's recent op ed article in Sunday's Lake section of the Orlando Sentinel. Marilyn Bainter, a member of the North Lake (FL) Hospital District Board, submitted an Opinion Article to the Orlando Sentinel's Lake section and it was published yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 1 in the Lake Section "My Word" page (which was NOT published on their website). However, Marilyn sent me the text of the article and it is below. Read her editorial about problems with the Florida State regulations mandating the 1 mill tax ( it costs you $100 for every $100,000 in property valuation ) on all North Lake property owners, then my following comments. Here is Marilyn's editorial: MY WORD By Marilyn Bainter Independent hospital districts were created many years ago to fund health care for the poor and the needy. Also, many years ago, non-profit status was awarded to hospitals that agreed to provide that care. That meant hospitals... Read more →