Questions for the Needelman campaign
August 11, 2008 by Matthew Nye
This is a copy of a request I submitted through Mr. Needelman’s web site this morning.
Mr. Needelman, I frequented the Florida Today forums regarding your race this weekend, and a couple of questions arose that I would like to see answered.
You said on Bill Mick’s show last Thursday you have been in business since 1997, and your campaign workers on the forum have consistently made the case one of the reasons you are qualified to be Clerk is because you have been a small business owner for years. A quick trip to the State’s Division of Corporations web site doesn’t quite bear this out, however.
I would like to know what Needelman & Associates does, how that business experience is relevant to the management of the Clerk’s office (how many employees did you manage, etc), and why the four year gap between the expiration of the fictitious name and the incorporation of an entity by the same name in 2007. I also note you weren’t added as a director until May of this year – perhaps you could elaborate on that as well.
More importantly, I was wondering if you could explain how you arrived at a value of $595K for your residence on your Form 6 candidate financial statement completed in June of this year, while the property appraiser shows a market value of $247K and an assessed value of $155,830 for 2007.
Your supporters on the forum have indicated you “own real estate and understand what is happening with the market here in Brevard County”, and you have indicated that you will be able to effectively budget and manage the very complex Clerk’s office, much of which’s revenues are tied directly to the real estate market.
Yet you assigned a value of more than *twice* what the Property Appraiser shows on their web site to your own residence on the financial statement you turned into the state and signed as “true, accurate and complete” under oath.
Given the recent criminal investigation at the Property Appraiser’s office you could see how the voters of Brevard County might find this troubling. I know I do. Please explain this very large discrepancy.
Thanks for your time. I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Matthew D Nye
Hmm… not so sure about this. I’m no huge fan of Needelman (and will be voting for Ellis in this race), but this strikes me as a bit below the belt.
There’s some issues I have with this article.
1. It was posted prior to getting Needelman’s response. I might also point out that he need not respond at all, but I suppose after a reasonable amount of time, one could post this anyway. But I don’t think candidates should be held hostage to respond to every attack (or “question”) just because we all now have the power to frame the question as we see fit and post it to an internet site somewhere. I think we can be better than that. Even if these were legitimate concerns (and I’m not convinced all of them are), both candidates in this race are busy working full-time jobs while campaigning. They aren’t exactly waiting around for emails to answer all day. Giving the guy 3-4 days to respond seems only fair and reasonable. Else, it becomes really nothing more than an attack.
2. I really think the reference to the now-complete investigation at the Property Appraiser’s office was over the top. The whole county is now aware that one man, for what ‘ere reason, was responsible for the shenanigans that happened there. Even then, he hasn’t been convicted yet. And whether or not folks want to hold Ford responsible from the standpoint of leadership and oversight is their call, but we all know Jim had nothing to do directly with the problems that led to the investigation. However, my concern over this reference is that there is something insinuating about the remark. I think it behooves all of us, as good and decent citizens not to toss such concerns about so lightly. There is a hint here, however innocent or passing the remark may be, that Needelman better be careful because he might be doing something wrong. If Mitch or one of his supporters wrote a similar “question” to the Ellis campaign, I would think folks would be up in arms about it.
3. I would be curious to hear some of Mitch’s responses to these questions, but I can say a few things. I think the $595,000 is probably the anticipated selling price of his home. The “market value” of any property appraiser’s office is usually way off, often by 20 – 50% from the actual selling price, and certainly even more off from the Replacement Cost, depending on the market at any given time. As I’m sure Scott would agree, the only fair way to assess a piece of property would be through a certified appraiser. It’s highly possibly Mitch has had an appraisal on his home that indicates something closer to the $600k. It’s also possible that he’s had improvements done (or is in the process of them) to the home not yet reflected on the property appraiser’s database (improvements can often take up to 18-24 months to be added).
Still, even if he didn’t, I’m a bit confused as to why claiming a higher value on his home would be construed as fraudulent (as you are clearly implying here). I’m no expert on campaign law, so what am I missing? He may have had his insurance agent tell him sometime ago that his house was “worth” that amount and so that’s what he put. Again, it’s hardly a charge he should have to defend himself against, but even if he felt compelled to do so, it would seem only decent to give him an opportunity to do so in private before implying publicly that he had done something wrong. The form is just a public financial conflict of interest form – a publication of all of a candidates possible conflicts of interest. The only concern I would have, based on my limited understanding of this form, is if he or a candidate were omitting or reducing their financial interest in something, particularly if they were vying for a position in which they could significantly influence a particular upcoming issue. For instance, if the City of Melbourne were considering building their new city hall near the intersection of Melbourne Ave and Babcock (near Mitch’s home – which, for the record, they are not), and Mitch were claiming his home was worth less (i.e. $50,000) to try and minimize his interest in that area in the eye’s of voters, and he were running for Melbourne City Council…. well, all that could be “troubling”, as you put it. But he’s running for Clerk of Courts and, if anything, he’s bumping the value of his home a bit (although we can’t be sure since we don’t know yet). I don’t see any real concern here.
4. You mention he said he claimed he was a small business owner for “many years” on Mick’s radio show. Then, you dispute exactly what he did, who he managed, why there was a “lapse” in his business filings, when he incorporated, etc. Okay, so maybe you don’t “dispute” it, but you definitely are pressing him on a few things beyond your quote of what he said.
If he said he was a small business owner, those Div of Corp filings simply bear that out. We all know that he wasn’t running a team of employee for the past ten years (he’s been in the Florida House for the past 8 years as a full-time employee of “us”). And he did say “small business”, which could be just a sole proprietorship. I don’t think he was saying that running a small business means he can manage large teams of people (although he probably could) – it just means he knows a bit about the pain of dealing with the Div. of Corp’s, filing extraneous tax forms, marketing and advertising, ups and downs, etc. I didn’t hear the show, so I’m only going by your quote here, but gee, give the guy a little break, eh? I’ve run a small business too, but if someone were to take that statement a bit overboard and try and insinuate that I was claiming to be a leader among me or some kind of business guru genius, I’d kind of wonder.
5. I think questioning him (or any candidate) about what some of their crazy supporters say on some forum is also unnecessary. Supporters are a breed of people that have a tendency to say a bit more than factual at times. They aren’t bound by election law. I would think even a cursory glance at Ron Paul forums throughout the net would be sufficient evidence of that. (He’s not the only one with some very nutty supporters, but, ah…. just sayin’). It’s unfortunate that sometimes over zealous supporters (like Paul’s, Hillary’s, Pat Buchanan’s back in the day (ahem!)) can sometimes do more harm than good.
However, I’d rather question a candidate about his/her own claims. On Mitch’s campaign site, he doesn’t say he “owns real estate so he understands what is happening here in Brevard”. He doesn’t make that claim. He might think he can do a good job as clerk (although I would disagree when compared with Ellis), but I didn’t find any reference to such a claim. These are just supporters leaping off their chairs a bit too early. Both he and Scott have pretty much owned their primary residence in Brevard “forever”. Neither is questioning the other over it – I don’t think we should either. And I don’t think we should give credence to nutty supporters (on either side). Not unless there is something more substantial than just simply remarks on an internet forum.
Speaking of his website, Mitch (like Scott) is pretty forthright about what’s he’s been up to the past 20 years. I remember when Mitch first started poking around the Rep party meetings when nobody knew (or cared) who he was. Most informed voters are aware of who he is and who Scott is. If they aren’t, they can get a quick brush up at their respective websites. But, I don’t think we need to intone that there are underlying concerns that, frankly, aren’t really an issue (if they even exist at all).
There really isn’t need for these sorts of things. The issues alone are more than enough to evaluate these candidates. And if not, the history of these two men should be more than sufficient to determine who the best candidate for the job is. Good people may disagree on who to support, but the “sparks” (for lack of a better word) that have been flying back and forth between Ellis and Needelman address more than enough issues for voters to chew on. If they can’t decide after all that, I don’t think they could be helped any more by stirring the pot (i.e. muckraking).
Two caveats: I repeat I’m supporting Ellis (and would argue long and hard that he’s the only candidate that will hold the County Commission’s feet to the fire from bankrupting this county), but I repeat it again here because after this long quasi-defense, I’m sure some troll will accuse me of being a Needelman drone. It’s the nature of the internet to make unwarranted attacks, so I’m tossing out this fact again for those who skim read all the way to the bottom. (I might point out, though, that if Mitch were running for something else, I’d consider supporting him (especially if he’d stop being so, uh, schmoozy. Is that a word? I think it is). If he loses this election, we’ll have to find him something to do, because I think he’s an otherwise decent asset for Brevardians. But I’m not convinced he’ll rattle the Viera cages loud enough as CoC.)
Second: I’m really psyched and hopped about Space Coast Politics and I think that, overall, it has been doing a smokin’ job so far, and I’m hoping it will continue. In fact, there’s a decent chance that the reason for the length and intensity of my remark here is directly attributable to the fact that I care. I care about this new website and hope it will succeed, so I’m leaning hard against this type of post for fear that these types of things will degrade the other very worthy information posted here thus far. So, please take my comments seriously, but realize I “come in peace”.
Lawrence, first of all, I appreciate the kind words and you taking the time to write this. Without the context of the vicious personal attacks against Scott on the Bill Mick Live show and Florida Today forums, I can see how this might seem extreme.
This message to Needelman is a direct response to one of his campaign workers on the FT forum. I do not expect a response, which is why I posted this the same time I submitted the questions. He made the same assertions regarding his qualifications on the radio; if you have only viewed his web site, you aren’t playing the game with a full hand (and I am sure that is exactly what he is counting on in he big picture).
A couple of other notes:
Maybe I watch too many TV cop shows, but SOP is net a little fish and use him to roll on the big fish. I understand the state attorney says they are finished with their investigation, I just don’t believe it. There are still unanswered questions surrounding Mr. Ford’s management of that office, and I just don’t think we’ve heard “the rest of the story” yet.
The value Mitch listed for his home on his campaign financial statement is an issue. I am working on a separate post to explain why.
Finally, Mitch’s entire campaign has consisted of nothing more than mudslinging and propagating outright lies about Scott. He does this because he counts on voters to take everything at face value and to give him the benefit of the doubt, which is kind of what you are doing here. I have done nothing but ask specific questions about apparent discrepancies between what he and his staffers have said publicly and the documents I could find in the public record.
Have we really reached the point of moral relativism and political correctness where the guy that asks questions based on facts is regarded as the “heavy”, while the guy that spins tales out of thin air is regarded as the “victim”? It would sure seem so…
Ummm, this one is a real easy…called renovations! As a realtor, you understand the difference between market value and actually raw cost for construction. If I am not mistaken, this is the only property the Needelman’s have ever own in Brevard. What property does Mr. Ellis own? Oh wait, he doesn’t actually own land in Brevard (per http://www.brevardpropertyappraiser.com)! The questions you ask are almost as futile as asking Mr. Ellis why he has two failed marriages. Does it need to get so personal?
The REAL question I haven’t seen answered or even addressed: Why can’t Mr. Ellis stay within his own budget? The state gave him 2.77 and he ONLY returned 410,000. Honestly, this issue alone is my deciding factor. Please explain…