Mike Yost to Take On Corrine Brown for U.S. Congress in 2012 – Florida District 03

Pictured to the left is 2012 Congressional candidate Mike Yost,  with wife Debbie, whom is running against long-term incumbent Democrat Corrine Brown in Florida’s District 03 race. This race boils down to a very simply-defined characterization:  Mr. Yost is a solidly conservative candidate who firmly believes in our Constitutionally mandated form of limited government while Corrine Brown represents not the people, but special interest groups who fund her career, and the irresponsible big government debt spending commonly found in the Liberal ideology of today’s Democratic Party. Mike Yost is basically a Patriotic concerned citizen and former neighborhood mechanic, while Corrine Brown is a career special interests funded politician, as you will see below.

First, let’s take a closer look at nine-term Congresswoman Corrine Brown. Right from her start in Florida politics, Corrine Brown has been embroiled in corruption controversy as detailed here  , and is currently trying to continue her long time district gerrymandering-to-retain-power agenda, when she filed a lawsuit against Amendment 6 ( The  Fair District Amendment of FL 2010) which was voted into law in the 2010 elections,  here.  Corrine Brown represents everything that is wrong with our government today, as you can see in the above links. The people of Florida voted for The Fair District Amendment and Corrine Brown basically tells them to go to hell by filing a frivolous lawsuit in a blatant attempt to ignore the will of We The People.

Florida’s  congressional District 03 shows us just what Corrine Brown’s pattern of gerrymandering district lines- to-retain-your-house-seat looks like in the following map.

 

Look at the district lines there!  District 03 currently contains portions of  Alachua, Duval, Clay, Lake, Marion, Orange, Putnam, Seminole and Volusia counties. No wonder Corrine Brown doesn’t bother to actually hit the pavement much to talk to the people in that district, but instead relies on Church gatherings,  BBQs, and other already put together social events to garner her votes. Also of note is the fact that Brown’s campaign office sits right on top of a polling station. This district was created in 1903 ( and gerrymandered ever since) and has never had a Republican win this seat. EVER.  108 straight years of Democratic rule. This could explain why this has been one of the poorest districts throughout Florida’s history, year, after year, after year.  Conservative  Republican candidate Mike Yost would like to change things for the better for all Floridians in district 03, mainly by creating a business friendly environment that will lead to more jobs and prosperity for everyone. That means less of the big government nanny-state agenda, of which Corrine Brown has had Florida’s District 03 mired in for almost two decades.

Corrine Brown isn’t working for the people of Florida, in fact, as we see here,  she is beholden to special interest groups such as CSX railroad.

From our friends at propublica.org: The Hidden Hands in Redistricting: Corporations and Other Powerful Interests  About half way down in that article we see this section: Florida, railroads and friends, with a picture of Congresswoman Corrine Brown, whom Mr. Yost plans to unseat in 2012:

Congresswoman Corrine Brown, an African-American Democrat from Florida, appears to be a case in point. Brown represents one of the most irregularly shaped districts in the nation. It is 150 miles long but only the width of a highway bridge at its narrowest point and scoops heavily African-American neighborhoods out of Orlando, Gainesville and Jacksonville. The result of a deal between Republicans and minority representatives in the state legislature, the district and ones like it helped elect a more diverse congressional delegation but also ensured that the remaining districts would be whiter—and more Republican—because minority voters, who tend to vote for Democrats, had been carved out. Redistricting professionals call that ‘bleaching’.

 

Then the article goes on to show how Brown created a group called Protect Your Vote, in which this is disclosed: Though Protect Your Vote had little support from representatives of the minority groups whose rights it was supposedly trying to protect, it had a lot of support from corporate donors, who gave nearly $800,000. Last year, Honeywell International PAC gave Protect Your Vote $25,000. The same year, the PAC gave Corrine Brown’s campaign $10,000. Also in 2010, Honeywell hired a former Brown aide as a lobbyist, according to federal lobbying disclosures. And many of the company’s government contracts fall under the purview of Brown’s membership on the Transportation and Infrastructure and Veterans’ Affairs committees. Another $25,000 donation to Protect Your Vote came from CSX Transportation Corp., a Jacksonville-based railroad and trucking company. Brown championed the controversial SunRail commuter rail project, using her position on the subcommittee to help secure federal funding that made the $1.2 billion project possible. The SunRail deal is worth more than $600 million to CSX.

 

Corrine Brown represents everything that is wrong in politics today, and I,d like to introduce you to the person who would like restore honesty, integrity, and true representation of the people in Florida’s district 03 in 2012,  Mr. Mike Yost.

I recently interviewed Mr. Yost here in Florida to discuss why he decided to run for Congress, what he would represent if elected, and just how he plans to unseat the heavily entrenched Congresswoman Corrine Brown in the 2012 elections. For a detailed look at just who Mr. Yost is, and what he stands for,  please visit his website at https://yostforcongress.com/ .

 

In  my first question for Mr. Host, I asked him to define his conservative principles.  Mr. Yost stated that he believes conservative principles to mainly consist of three main components: 1- Restoring America to the  principles defined by the U. S. Constitution, Bill of Rights. and the rule of law. 2- Scale back our government by operating under sound fiscal policies that line up with  the same way American households do:   Spend less than you take in, budget wisely for the betterment of all in the household/country and the strict avoidance of irresponsible  debt-spending that leads to bankruptcy/insolvency. Mr Yost also stated that this is more common sense “household economics” than it is “Harvard elitist Keynesian economic theory.”  One has proven to work in countries throughout the world, the other has resulted in the total collapse of economies of once-powerful countries that experimented with the failed European Socialism model.

Next up, I asked Mr. Yost for his views on the present tax rate hikes proposed in the current “Tax the Rich scheme” of President Obama and his liberal minions in Congress today, and how he would  address the apparent problems within out current tax code structure.   Mr. Yost stated that he supports a Fair Tax policy in which  the income tax is abolished and goods are taxed at one steady rate of  an all inclusive 26%. This would prevent politicians from being influenced by corporate lobbyists who seek to influence legislation that includes tax code loopholes and subsidies for the entities they represent.  Mr. Yost also stated that The Fair Tax plan would open up the true free market system by encouraging competition, and which most economists estimate  would double the U.S  estimated GDP in a very short time when implemented properly. Mr. Yost explained the fair Tax plan this way:  The fair tax would consist of an all encompassing consumption tax of 26%, thereby eliminating the personal and corporate income tax completely. Mr. Yost explained that big corporations are effectively buying legislation that provides tax loopholes for the entities they represent, in exchange for political contributions and other favorable treatment. The fair tax ends that charade immediately. When you tax consumption and not production, it opens the door for more competition which in turn creates a better economic environment and more jobs, all the while keeping prices affordable. With the implementation of a fair tax, Mr. Yost explained,  politicians would not be so easily coerced into prostituting their principles in the form of forcing bad legislation onto the people just to remain in office by appeasing lobbyists. As a final note on the fair tax, Mr. Yost explained that we already pay an embedded 22% tax on everything we buy today, and that the 26% Fair tax would leave people with a lot more money in their pockets if their paychecks did not have the income taxes taken out of them, which in turn leads to more spending, which also leads to more revenue across the board. Eliminating the corporate taxes would encourage growth in the economy simply by making more working capital available for expansion and innovation. This would also reverse the massive trade deficits we currently run,  as Mr. Yost pointed out the fact that we have now become a country that is more of an importer than an exporter.  ” We have become a service economy, moving money from one sector of the economy to another, instead of the worlds leading producer of  exports,”  Mr. Yost explained.

Mr. Yost currently serves as his own campaign manager, and when I asked him about it, he stated that he has one picked out, but at the moment does not have the finances to bring them on board. That led us into a conversation about campaign finances in which Mr. Yost informed that he neither received any support from the RPOF, nor the RNC in 2010, when he also ran for the Fl-03 House seat.  ( Republican Party of Florida, and Republican National Committee) Not a dime of  support for a true conservative candidate.  Their main excuses for not helping Mr. Yost unseat Corrine Brown was the usual negative attitude that he can never win that seat because she she is too heavily entrenched in a gerrymandered district that has never voted Republican. Times are changing, and Mr. Yost just happens to be the exact kind of candidate that can unseat Brown in 2012.  How about showing a little can-do attitude like the voters did in the two special elections recently  held, where Democrats were drummed out of office by Republicans in New York and Nevada?  Mr Yost is showing the courage and tenacity  to take on Corrine Brown a second time, so how about the RPOF and RNC helping him out here and doing the same thing ?  Mr Yost stated that he did receive support from Dick Morris and several Tea Party groups in 2010, and when people actually get to know Mr. Yost and his unwavering conservative principles of limited government, his belief in our Creator, and American exceptional-ism that leads to freedom and prosperity for all based on the U.S. Constitution,  he will be seen as a Marco Rubio-type Tea Party candidate and is very electable.

While discussing the topic of campaign finances,  Mr. Yost said he would like to see serious campaign financing reform enacted that would stop the special interests from influencing our elected officials through unlimited funding through super PAC’s, non-profits and lobbyists. ( Community organizers will surely hate to hear this idea)  In Mr. Yost’s own words he simply put it as,  “If you can not vote, you should not be allowed donate to political campaigns.”  Individual voters can show support for their candidates with campaign contributions, while big corporations, Super PACS and lobbyists buying politicians poses a serious threat to our Republic.  G.E, just to name one, is not a registered voter, and therefore should not be allowed to donate to political campaigns, period.  Likewise for all the fake non-profit political action committees and assorted special interest groups.  As Mr. Yost stated, “Imagine the kinds of legislation that would get enacted if politicians were not beholden to any special interest groups, but instead were beholden to “we the people” to remain in office, as our founding fathers intended?

Mr Yost and I also discussed the topic of Federal subsidies using taxpayer dollars for political gains. He proposes a phase-out of ALL federal subsidies  by a 20% reduction  a year for five straight years, thereby eliminating them all together. The federal subsidy scheme is nothing more than a pay to play vote buying scam for certain politicians to remain in power by handing out tax dollars to special interests in their states. Mr. Yost also pointed out that no where in our Constitution are federal subsidies authorized, and how it also stymies true competition which works against our free market principles. The free market and competition should decide what businesses succeed or fail,  not the U.S. Government. To quote Mr. Yost, ” We need to get our government out of our free market economy, and a true free market economy regulates itself.  Government involvement and over-regulation of businesses only serves to stifle the free market, leading to the current negative-growth economy we see today.”

In summary, Mr. Yost is a true Reagan conservative, and he closed our interview with the following quote from the President Reagan himself:  “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”  To which Mr. Yost added his own quote:  “This {election} isn’t about Mike, this is about our children and grandchildren and the future of America.”

I found Mr. Yost to simply be a very knowledgeable, informed concerned citizen whom would like to see America restored to  the freedoms and prosperity that was envisioned by our founding fathers by following our very own founding document, The U.S. Constitution and enhancing our prosperity-inducing free market system. As one writer wrote during the 2010 elections when Mr. Yost challenged  8-term incumbent, Democrat Corrine Brown, that this battle indeed seems to be a David vs. Goliath episode in Florida politics. While that still holds true in describing the upcoming Florida U.S. House District 03 2012 election battle between these two candidates, it could be better described as a simple example of what is right ( Mike Yost) vs. what is wrong, (Corrine Brown) in American politics today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rich Mitchell

Rich Mitchell is the editor-in-chief of Conservative Daily News and the president of Bald Eagle Media, LLC. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Bald Eagle Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and

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2 Comments

  1. Oh I hope he can pull it off. I grew up in jax, (thankfully not in her district, which has always been gerrymandered) but it would be so nice not to have to deal with her. She has come cloase to losing that seat in the past. 1994 was VERY close for her

  2. He looks like a solid conservative to me Brian and I have had numerous discussions with him about the issues facing America today. It is Davis vs Goliath, but by election day I,m hoping with some fair exposure David will have some back-up in the form of several thousand informed voters here in Florida. Get the TRUTH out and then let the chips fall where they may.

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