Jax Daily

Sarah Lovett is a Republican candidate for State House of Representatives in District 14 and will face the winner of the Democratic primary (either Mia Jones or Pat Lockett-Felder) in November. Mrs. Lovett took a few moments to answer some questions for JaxDaily…

JaxDaily: Why did you decide to run for State House? Is this something you’ve thought about for a long time?

Sarah Lovett: Actually, this isn’t something I have thought about a long time, maybe a lot in a one year period, but not something I planned on doing.  The past few years I have become increasingly involved in local government activities and groups. 

During the primaries I became inspired to get involved and try to do something that would preserve the freedoms I realized many of us have and are taking for granted.  Though it would be nice to continue on about my daily business and life, I realized it was time for some of us “regular”folks to get our hands dirty and begin the process of restoring our republic and constitutional government.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: I feel that I have a great chance to win! Part of the reason for running is that our officials need to participate in the process as servants of the people.  At one time the parties served as a great checks and balance system for our governmental process, currently I am not convinced there is much difference in many of the politicians running nor their platforms, thus it is imperative that all voters vote for the person that best represents their philosophies.  It’s about the people not the party.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: I am unsure what reform if any has taken place.  If you are referring to Amendment 1 then I would have to say that this legislation was unable to provide the property tax relief necessary to those of us with the most need.  This legislation only encouraged local municipalities to find other ways of levying taxes. 

We saw this in Jacksonville with the current storm water fees.  Additionally, there were no caps put in place on millage increases, so the local governments have no incentive not to raise millage rates.  Further, there is some issues surrounding portability that interferes with local authorities.  I find it all the way around poor legislation.  Real reform would likely stem best from removing property tax burdens all together.  Philosophically people should be taxed little to nothing on their property, there are other more equitable ways of levying taxes.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: Not particularly. There are a few concepts that we can support but this change needs to come from the local level.  The sheriff has an incredible amount of power when it comes to enforcing laws, budgeting for more officers and removing undo restrictions. 

Additionally, the people will need to elect the proper State’s Attorney, Public Defender, and School Board to help immediately change some of this trend.  Ultimately, the State Legislature should be ready and willing to move out of the way so that these locally elected officials can do their jobs without unnecessary burdens or mandates.  

Taxing people from their homes, or from their families, will not solve this problem.  Removing funding instead of poor administrators  from schools will not help this problem.  Ultimately more money will not solve this problem, this has to come from the people.  People solve problems not money.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: This depends, are we in anyway manipulating the St. John’s River so that it is kept from flowing freely throughout the state?  Generally, you would hope that when resources are low that people would move to where resources are plentiful. 

There are several things surrounding this issue that are complicated.  There is a possibility of desalination, using aqua fer storage tanks, and shipping in bottled water etc.  We may want to ask ourselves if we want people and crops to go thirsty, we are talking about other human beings and our food supply here.  Additionally, we may also want to ask what sort of tax burden would this implicate on all of us?  If Central Florida’s water cost goes up, then all of our cost go up.  Either way this is not a cut and dry issue, we must ask ourselves if it is the legislator’s responsibility to ensure drinking water to people and farms or preserve drinking water for people and farms? 

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: I tend to think that I am quite the individual and celebrate that we are each unique in our own accord.  However, I will say that Thomas Jefferson had a keen understanding of limited government, favored the farmer (small business, working class), had various interests and hobbies.  He reduced the size of government as the third president, I would like to think I could certainly model myself in this spirit and make considerable strides toward restoring our republic.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: I enjoy the Sushi Cafe in Riverside. 

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg and The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul…both excellent reads.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: Socializing, working on the house, cards, pool, karaoke: I’m awful, but it’s fun.

—————————–

Sarah Lovett: It is time to redefine the role of government in our lives. We are at a very interesting crossroads, and ultimately the people will have to make a concerted effort to truly decide which type of representation that they would prefer: the politician who over-promises all sorts of unreasonable “perks” and never delivers? Or the politician who decides that the role of government should be extremely limited in order to preserve freedom and allow individuals to solve their own problems? I tend to fall among the “preserving freedom” group - I entrust that many of the voters in District 14 fall into this group as well.