Lake County District 2 Commissioner Elaine Renick Decides to Run for Re-Election

Tavares, FL

This could also be sub-titled "Reasons for Republicans  NOT to Re-elect either incumbent Linda Stewart (District 4) or Elaine Renick (District 2) to their positions on the Lake County, FL Board of Commissioners.

There was a Lake County Commissioner candidate forum on Saturday at the Legacy for candidates for the two of five Board positions up for re-election.   Until then, only Linda Stewart (District 4) had been active in conducting a re-election campaign.   The other open seat is for District 2, and is held by Elaine Renick, but she had not filed to run for re-election until apparently late last week, then she showed up at the forum.

So, the three Republican candidates who had been running to  replace her weren't too happy when she showed up and now is running.  That throws a whole new picture on the race, since incumbents, even ones that are not popular, can get up to 30% of votes just because they are an incumbent.   So, now the new District 2 candidates, Dave Yeager, Sean Parks, and Mark Saunders will face the same problem that Linda Stewart's four District 4 opponents have (myself, Buddy Atkins, Paul Williams & Leslie Campione).   That is, with so many people running, they split the vote and the unwanted incumbent gets just enough votes to win.   We all learned that problem of vote splitting when Ralph Nader ran for President, or when "the little general" ran for President.

Stewart and Renick are registered as Republicans but are considered RINO's (Republican in Name Only) since they have filled committee positions with known Democrats and pushed through the 350 page Comprehensive Plan which takes property rights away and will be extremely expensive (in staffing and litigation) to implement.  Research by others show they constantly communicate by email with known Democrats and environmental activists, and I have seen them consult with with the Dems during Board meeting breaks about issues.

HERE is a link to a report written by another blog, "Right Side of the Lake", that analyzes all the dealings that Renick and Stewart have had with environmental lobbyists regarding the County LPA (Land Planning Agency) which formulated the 350 page Comp Plan.  The Right Side report says :

"The current nine-member panel of the Land Planning Agency has six like-minded environmental extremists - Rob Kelly, Peggy Belflower, Keith Schue, Vicki Zaneis, Terry Godts, and Cindy Barrow, who all appear to be communicating frequently via improper channels to skirt Sunshine laws.  Many emails have what appears to be personal and secondary email addresses on them, and it also appears LPA members who do not share the same view are not included in such communications.."

"There is a corruption, which has entered this building, and it is in the Trojan horse of the environmental movement, which seeks to add more regulations and more studies so their member groups and associates can make money.  Not unlike a developer who seeks to make money through land transactions or home construction, these environmentalists seek to use the government to build dollars with new studies.  Notice every ordinance that Keith Schue writes requires that some environmental study to be done - that’s how his crowd gets paid- it is all about the money."  (Note:  This is also my contention based upon my experience in California where once environmentalists got regulations in place that mandated government actions, then they sued the government for not implementing all the steps. vj)

Also, when Stewart and Renick were running for office four years ago, they came to many Republican events, but once they won, I never saw them appear at any Republican event again.

Stewart and Renick should change their party affiliation to Democrat, but they haven't.

So, since none of the new candidates (all Republicans) want Stewart or Renick to be re-elected, it will be interesting to see who takes a dive in the near future and leaves the campaign to avoid vote splitting.  

Note:  You can find the current "Candidate List" of all candidates for local elections HERE, and below are the names just for the two open County Commission positions as of today.  (Note: Ronnie Caggiano dropped out in early 2010).  This is a partisan race, so two Democrats have also filed to oppose the Republican primary election winner for District 4.

vj

David W. Yeager	P. O. Box 391		Minneola	Fl	34755		321 228-2334		REP	County Commission District 2
Elaine Renick	1974 Brantley Circle		Clermont	Fl	34711-2900		352 241-0571		REP	County Commission District 2
Mark Saunders	P. O. Box 560444		Montverde	Fl	34756	[email protected]	407 616-4033		REP	County Commission District 2
Sean M. Parks	17739 Sugar Pine Way		Montverde	Fl	34756	[email protected]	352 988-7099		REP	County Commission District 2
Bill Smalley	25628 Hawks Run Lane		Sorrento	Fl	32776	[email protected]	352 383 1392		DEM	County Commission District 4
E.K. Emery	35544 Estes Rd		Eustis	FL	32736	[email protected]	352-357-7104		DEM	County Commission District 4
Leslie Shamrock Campione	342 E. 5th Avenue		Mount Dora	Fl	32757	[email protected]	352 383-9020		REP	County Commission District 4
Linda Lee Stewart	33611 E. Lake Joanna Dr.		Eustis	Fl	32736		352 383-5659		REP	County Commission District 4
LLoyd (Buddy) Atkins Jr.	P. O. Box 7		Mount Dora	Fl	32756	[email protected]	352 383-2121		REP	County Commission District 4
Paul Williams	2227 Pico Lane		Mount Dora	Fl	32757	[email protected]	352 434-1112		REP	County Commission District 4
Ronni Caggiano	2574 Tremont Dr.		Eustis	Fl	32726	[email protected]	352 267-2001		REP	County Commission District 4
Vance L. Jochim	18950 US Hwy 441Ste 205		Mount Dora	Fl	32757	[email protected]	352 638-3578		REP	County Commission District 4