Chamber Breakfast

About 50 people attended for a West Boca Chamber breakfast meeting. Upcoming chamber events include a Women in Business luncheon (men apparently not welcome) on May 16th at Boca Greens Country Club, and an After Hours Networking event at the Jimmy the Greek Taverna on May 24th at 5:30 pm. Also notable is the October 5th golf tournament to be held starting at 1 pm at Boca Greens.

Judges Ron Alvarez and James Martz led the pledge of allegiance. Both are running for reelection in August. Apparently someone doesn’t like Judge Martz, but we suspect that’s just sour grapes. Alvarez has some competition for his seat, according to WPTV, but the last name Goodman isn’t going to help at the moment. For more on the judicial race, see this article in the Palm Beach Post.
Attendees introduced themselves to the room, describing briefly what they do. The attendees were a wide array including attorneys (many attorneys), accountants, insurance, investment and real estate professionals, candidates, contractors and so on.
Next meeting will have meteorologist Kate Parker. I did not hear the date and it’s not on their website.
Capt. Eisenberg reports an increase in car break-ins and residential burglaries.
Don’t leave anything in your car. The criminals seem to target shopping plazas during the day and your driveway at night.
Put your alarm on during the day. This appears to be a quasi-professional organized effort going on all over South Florida. Call the police if you see something suspicious.
Rep. Steve Perman spoke about the state legislature. He described four major issues during the past session, including the budget, redistricting, destination gambling, and insurance reform.
The new District 81 will be entirely within Palm Beach County, mostly west.
Destination Gambling: Perman discussed the pros and cons. The proposal did not have enough support and was withdrawn.
Budget: State budgeting now tends to push costs down to the counties.
Perman opposes cuts to education, including taking $350 million from Bright Futures.
Insurance Reform: Citizens Insurance program is oversubscribed. Private carriers leaving Florida. Majority solution was to move people into “surplus lines” that are based in other states, using an opt-out approach. Opposition wanted opt-in. The measure did not go through.
Perman suggests encouraging carriers in other places to do business here but wasn’t completely clear how that would work.
Change in PIP. Reduction in PIP benefits for most claimants from $10K to $2500. Turns on whether patient seeks emergent care, not including chiropractors (Perman is a chiropractor), podiatrists and a couple other fields. The part that reduces premiums was removed.
Your correspondent asked: Would you cut spending or raise taxes?
Perman criticized a corporate tax deduction for contributions to private schools. He later admitted this would not be enough money to cover the amount he wants to spend.
He spoke at length about philosophy but did not answer the question of where he would cut or where he would add taxes.
He spoke philosophically asserted that government services are more transparent and accountable than private services (like schools). A couple attendees groaned in disagreement.
There was a good discussion about the negative effect of testing on the schools. Perman blamed the GOP supermajority and at least one audience member blamed Gov. Scott.
Perman stuck around after his talk and engaged in conversation with attendees. He was personable and pleasant. While he did not have great answers for questions about the budget, few Republican candidates provide adequate answers.
Paul Tocker is running for County Commission, District 5. He is strongly supportive of the Inspector General and feels the Democrats are not supporting this key effort for ethics and accountability. He pointed to evidence that Democrat insiders have been trying to use their influence improperly, such as this story in the Palm Beach Post. In the article the current commissioner, Burt Aaronson “said he has ‘always supported a system where we don’t go against sitting judges.'” This is a disturbing attitude, since it denies the whole point of having elections. It also appears dishonest, since the article continues: “For months before McAuliffe resigned, Aronberg had planned to challenge him in the Democratic primary with the backing of Aaronson and other prominent political figures.”