Dear Friends;

My campaign to become the next State Representative in District 83 is in high gear. We are running a strong grassroots campaign and are raising the funds to implement a winning strategy that will lead us to victory in November.

Our Republican friends have nominated their candidate, Pat Rooney, Jr. Now, we must get my message out to the voters and distinguish my platform from his.

I entered this campaign over a year ago, aware of the challenges that lay ahead. I remain steadfast in my dedication and commitment to this campaign. I have no doubt that I can be victorious in November, but I can’t do it without your help.

If you have not yet visited my website, please visit www.votemarkmarciano.com. There, you can learn more about my positions and plans to help move Florida in the right direction. You can follow our campaign on Facebook as well.

If you have not signed up to volunteer for the campaign, or wish to donate, please do so today. With your support, we can win this campaign!

I look forward to seeing you during the next 9 weeks.

Sincerely,

Mark

Please click here to contribute to my campaign.

Did Rooney resign to avoid voting on U.S. Sugar deal?

In reference to The Post’s blog about Florida House 83 Republican nominee Patrick Rooney Jr.’s July resignation from the South Florida Water Management District governing board, your story left readers wondering what really motivated the Charlie Crist appointee to leave the board so abruptly just before a critical vote.

Mr. Rooney was appointed to the board in 2007. In June 2008, Gov. Crist announced his plan for the water district to purchase all assets and land from U.S. Sugar Corp., under the guise that doing so would restore the Everglades by creating a more natural water flow from Lake Okeechobee south to the Everglades. Recently, however, some citizens (members of the South Florida Tea Party) have labeled the deal a “U.S. Sugar bailout.” It seems Mr. Rooney wanted to avoid a difficult vote.

While he may have had a legitimate reason for resigning, voters should question his motivation for shirking his responsibility as a board member and to the public. That raises another question. If Mr. Rooney was willing to walk away from this vote, what other votes will he walk away from if elected?

DR. MARK MARCIANO

Palm Beach Gardens

Dear Friends,

My campaign to become the next State Representative for Florida’s 83^rd District is going extremely well.

As many of you are aware, I will be unopposed in the Democratic primary election so you will not see my name on the ballot on August 24^th.  This is not stopping me from continuing to work hard raising money and running a strong grassroots campaign.

My legislative priorities are clear.  We must continue to encourage the expansion of the biotechnology industry throughout Florida and particularly here in northern Palm Beach County.  We must make a true commitment and investment in renewable energy sources instead of relying solely on expanded oil drilling off our shores.  And, I firmly believe we must reduce our dependence on standardized testing in our public schools, so we can allow our talented teachers to actually teach our children instead of being told to teach to a test.

I have no doubt that I can win this election on November 2^nd.  Everywhere I go my message as a fiscally responsible small business owner resonates strongly.  Voters that I talk to understand that as a doctor and family man, I am running for office in order to make a difference for ALL Floridians.  As one who was inspired to run for office in order to challenge our State’s leadership instead of blindly following the politicians in Tallahassee, I am confident that I can do more to make a positive difference.

To date, I have raised close to $110,000!  This is a tremendous accomplishment and one that has made my campaign not only legitimate, but will allow me to run an effective marketing campaign in October.  However, I am not there yet.

I thank all of you for helping me keep up the momentum.  People are paying attention to my campaign and with your help, I will win in November.

Please click here to contribute to my campaign.

Dr. Mark Marciano

I am excited to announce that I have officially qualified for the election for State House of Representatives, District 83.  I am also pleased to share that I will be unopposed for the Democratic Primary election on August 24.  Even though I will not appear on the ballot on August 24, rest assured my campaign is in full gear and the momentum is building for the General election on November 2nd.

I am scheduling meet and greet events and would be happy to add more to our calendar. If you would like to host an event or be part of a group event in your community, please contact me at mark@votemarkmarciano.com.

I will continue our door-to-door walking, so kindly let us know if you would like to volunteer.  My campaign is also looking for volunteers to help with phone banking and doing some day-to-day activities, so please let me know if you are available to help out!

Together, we can work to create high-paying and sustainable jobs in Florida, improve our education and healthcare systems and improve our environment by making a real commitment to renewable energy sources.  Please join my campaign today so we can make Florida better tomorrow.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Mark

Please click here to contribute to my campaign!

When the South Florida Tea Party invited me to a debate between the candidates for House District 83, I was happy to attend. As a Democrat, I certainly wondered what kind of reception I would get. But I decided to attend because, if elected, I will be responsible to represent all constituents of my district. And the truth is, I agree we need more fiscal responsibility in government. That really should be an issue to be addressed seriously, not as a partisan football, and both parties have fumbled it.

And to be quite honest, my candidacy is based on my frustration with our Florida legislature and the lack of accountability that our elected officials face.  I was inspired to run for office because I believe that I can bring a real sense of fiscal responsibility to our legislature.

I firmly believe in Democratic principles when pertaining to environment, education, energy policy, and health care.  But as far as fiscal principles, I believe I am a true conservative with a real understanding of the concerns of the homeowners and small business community.

At any rate, I will let the video speak for itself.

Nancy Cardone

Audio Muted

The event was held in April and I decided to upload it to YouTube. If you watched the unedited version, as it was given to me by the photographer for the Tea Party group, you would see long stretches of video of two of my Republican competitors with no audio and the words “AUDIO MUTED FOR CANDIDATES PROTECTION” superimposed over their pictures. I am happy to have anyone hear me speak and learn about my position on the issues without the need to edit my comments as did my competitors. I left just a little of that in my version, just to let everyone know that I have nothing to hide.

My approach was just to answer the questions as best I could, with honesty and integrity. I hope that all voters, including members of the Tea Party will keep open minds and open hearts when deciding who they choose to vote for come November 2nd.  I believe we owe all voters straightforward answers to their questions.

Take a look, and let me know what you think.

I am very proud of all the hard work my campaign put into getting over 1,400 petitions signed and turned in to the Supervisor of Elections office before the noon deadline on Monday.  It was an extraordinary effort and I thank everyone who helped out.  I never would have thought it would have been so difficult to gather so many petitions.  I had spent many weekends at local green markets, car shows, baseball and soccer tournaments, and even going door to door to gather the required petitions.  Not only that, I recruited many volunteers and asked everyone I knew in my district to gather some petitions as well.  For this, I am proud and exhausted!  I am also proud to say that I was the only candidate in the district to turn in enough petitions to actually qualify by petition.

Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that over 200 of our petitions did not qualify with the supervisor of elections office for various reasons.  The persons signing the petition either did not live in the district, they were not registered voters, their address, date of birth or signatures were not correct, or some other reason.  We needed to have 1,229 verified petitions and we only had 1,196; 34 petitions short.  So close, but yet so far…

Normally, there is an 8-10% rejection rate.  We had almost 14% rejected.  This is probably due to the fact that we spent more time talking to complete strangers instead of mailing petitions to likely voters.  Certainly we could have paid to have people go out and get signatures, or tried to mail 10,000 petitions to voters with the hopes of getting a 10% return and thus have a lower rejection rate.  But in my mind, that defeats the purpose.  I would not have talked to voters and would not have developed a strong grassroots effort.  One other candidate attempted to do this and still did not get the required number of petitions signed.  Not only a waste of money, but he still did not talk to the voters, and this is why I am so optimistic.

With this being said, I, along with any other candidate, will now have to qualify for the election by paying a fee.  And I will do this and will work even harder to make sure that come election day, I do not fall 34 votes short!  I now have a great data base of likely voters that I can communicate with and hope to encourage to come out and vote for me come November.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement.  And although this is a minor setback, it will not deter me from my goal of winning this election come November.
Talk to you soon.

Dr. Mark Marciano