Letters to the editor: School board election, ‘Red Tide Rick,’ Donald Trump and ‘mafia’ politicians | Bradenton Herald

Stokes helped students excel

Joe Stokes was the best of the eight principals for whom I worked in my 34 years as a Manatee County Schools guidance counselor. Our faculty was skeptical when he was appointed to head King Middle School, but Joe’s leadership style quickly won us over. Joe led us through two difficult years of reconstruction of King when we were forced to travel across the county from Northwest Bradenton to Braden River High School.

Although King consistently earned “A” grades from the state, Joe backed teachers’ efforts to help students excel beyond those minimum standards. Joe Stokes has the skills and experience to be a tremendous school board member.

John McDonald

Palmetto

‘Red Tide Rick’ hurt environment

Rick Scott has spent millions on attack ads against Senator Nelson PolitiFact rated false to draw attention away from his administration.

Scott bulldozed a record of environmental protection that his Republican and Democratic predecessors spent decades building, siding with polluters. He defunded popular conservation programs, diverted Amendment I money approved by 75 percent of voters in 2014 away from land and water projects that could have helped reduce harmful runoffs and undermined the enforcement of water, air and climate protections. He cut the budget of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts. Scott signed into law weaker standards for toxic chemicals that flow into Florida’s rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. He repealed a law requiring that septic tanks be inspected for leaks every five years. Sewage leaks along with runoff from fertilizer and animal manure into water bodies help fuel toxic algae blooms. When Scott put his assets into a blind trust, he included his shares of Mosaic, the phosphate strip mining/fertilizer company with numerous environmental violations.

Residents along Florida’s coasts and water bodies are upset over the cruel death of marine mammals, turtles and fish, calling Scott “Red Tide Rick.” Tourists have stayed away, causing enormous losses to our businesses. Scott’s proposal for more red tide “research” isn’t a cure. The only way to begin reducing the severity of toxic algae blooms is to stop pollution that feeds the algae at its source. Andrew Gillum, running for governor, emphasizes prevention and stronger environmental policies.

Forget party and vote for candidates who protect our water and environment. Senator Nelson deserves to be re-elected. He earned a 95 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, works hard on issues important to Floridians, and recently has been endorsed by Florida’s largest newspapers.

Linda Lee T. Jones

Sarasota

Vote for Trump’s ‘jobs’

Mobs and jobs are not compatible. Mobs are people who go into restaurants and start harassing Republicans, who are trying to have a leisurely dinner, getting into their faces and yelling and screaming until the Republicans leave the restaurant. Mobs are people who follow around Republicans, get in front of them, turn around and start yelling and screaming at them. Mobs are people in Berkeley, Calif., who broke glass windows and doors, then many got together, and start fighting with Trump supporters. Mobs are people who go through the door of the Supreme Court, and try to pull the door open with their hands.

Mobs have no agenda of how to govern the United States.

President Trump has created millions of good paying jobs for every segment of the United States. He has brought unemployment down to 3.7 percent. Everyone, including Walmart, has been given a substantial raise. All companies are doing well for their employees. More women are employed now then there had been, for a very long time.

He has made the world safer, their are no missiles flying over the Sea of Japan now. He has gotten many nations paying the United Nations that never did before. Negotiating trades with China and other nations has got us where we are not being ripped off. Fairness has come to our exports and our imports.

Who would ever vote for open borders, where terrorists could just walk in, and start making plans to start murdering American citizens?

Carl Jackson

Bradenton

Vote out Trump’s ‘enablers’

As of this writing pipe bombs continue to fill the mailboxes of a growing number of prominent people who have one thing in common: Their criticism of President Trump and his policies.

It is Mr. Trump who has said “Second Amendment people” might have to “do” something if his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, got to pick judges they did not like. At a rally in Montana he praised a congressman who pleaded guilty to a felonious attack on a reporter, gleefully imitating on stage how the reporter had been body slammed onto the ground.

In addition to the race hatred and lies he spreads on a regular basis he has encouraged direct violence against the media and has called journalists “scum” and “enemies of the people.” Coming right on the heels of the bombing attempt at CNN, Mr. Trump ominously warned the media “had better get its act together and fast,” as if telling the truth was the cause of the violence.

Needed: a massive turnout of voters on Nov. 6 that removes from office all the Republican enablers of Trump.

Robert Phillipoff

Bradenton

Most politicians are crooks

I am so tired of all the negative ads about the candidates. Every one of the ads talks about some criminal activity each of them has committed. How is it that all these politicians have broken the law yet they are not in jail, do not have criminal records and yet we still vote them into office? I am sick to death of seeing this.

Not one of these candidates has said what they will do for Florida or the country. Not one of them has had a clean record. Not one of them cares about anything except how much money they will make from either being in office or by once again screwing the rest of us. In my opinion ALL of Congress and ALL of the senators along with many current governors should be removed from office, and they should not get retirement pay once they leave office. There should be term limits and an age cutoff making it mandatory to retire at a certain age.

It’s no wonder people are angry. Our politicians are the biggest mafia of all time, organized crime at its worst. We the American people do not deserve to have any of these Democrats or Republicans in any type of office. Most should be in jail for the travesties they have all committed against this country. Insider trading, taking bribes, paying off people to keep them quiet for sexual and who knows what other acts of misconduct. If anyone is dividing this country it is them. I hope to God they can get their act together and starting working for the American people like they were put in place to do and not themselves like they are currently doing.

Lise Brown

Bradenton