Florida - October 2022

Lottery WInners (FL)

Opinion: Same Sex Marriage (FL)

Presidents, VPs and Congressional Members Trivia Quiz - Fun Facts

Should patients be mandated to get the Covid vaccine in order to receive an organ transplant? (Congress)

Should the Department of Labor be reviewing top secret clearance candidates for federal positions? (Congress)

What does and for other purposes mean in bills?

Please enjoy a sampling of photos throughout the mag that provide a glimpse of the beauty of FL. None of the photographs deal with the subject matter on the page they are found.

About me, mag & contact info

I m Lisa Vallone. I have been involved with politics & government since my pre-teen years. The majority of my involvement centered around my role as a consultant to help various Party Chairs learn how to run more effective campaigns based on issues as well as training candidates on how to communicate constructively with those in their district. This led me to running for office myself, winning and proudly becoming the voice of my constituents. All of my experience has led me to this platform as I believe it is time we all more extensively educate ourselves on what bills are being considered for law on the State and Federal level. Afterall, we Americans need more than broad stroke concepts with no real meat of the issue for us to digest. We value the efforts of those elected officials and candidates who reach out with Town meetings and other measures to let us know what they are doing or plan to do in office. And we believe they are in the majority. But, we must seek out every avenue to let our Representatives hear our voice so they can better represent us in government.

Based on my background in government, teaching and communications I believe in 3 pillars as the foundation for any discussion (1) Educate yourself, (2) Communicate with others, and (3) Reciprocate respectfully. If we follow these pillars - if we educate ourselves, let our voices be heard in an environment of mutual respect for those in office, those seeking office or those with differing opinions, then we can make a more perfect union.

A couple of notes . . . In this magazine I intentionally leave off the name/ Party affiliation of the person who introduced the bill as we are more than our Party we are Americans looking for responsible government that represents us. Too often when we hear legislation has been proposed by the opposite Party we close our ears or immediately discount it. I do not want that to happen. Only during my podcast will this information be revealed. Here is to the power of people to have the knowledge to know how hard their representatives work to represent them in government.

Email: KnowTheIssuesWithLisaVallone@gmail.com

Podcast on Most Platforms: Know The Issues With Lisa Vallone Website: KnowTheIssueswithLisaVallone.com

Presidents, VPs & Congressional members trivia quiz

1. Which Presidential candidate ran for office while in jail: a. Eugene V Debs b. Richard M Nixon

2. The first Native American Congressman was: a. Charles Brent Curtis b. Thomas Ellicott

3. Which President named the “White House” the “White House”? a. Theodore Roosevelt b. Barack Obama

4. In Presidential elections having a height advantage seems to help a candidate as the taller candidate usually wins a. true b. false

5. This Congressman is the only Congressman to have a #1 hit on the Billboards Hot 100 a. Joe Walsh b. Sono Bono

6. Two archrival Presidents died on the same day. Were they a. Adams and Jefferson b. Adams and Washington

7. Glover Cleveland’s first name was actually “Stephen” before he changed it.

a. true b. false

Did you win the Lottery?

Wouldn’t it be nice to say you won the jackpot! But then again if you did say it, how many people would be knocking at your door with ways for you to spend your money.

A bill in Florida’s Senate in 2022 was introduced to create a temporary exemption from public records for the names of lottery winners who won a prize over $250,000 for a period of 90 days from the date they claimed the prize, unless the winner prefers their name is released.

After 90 days the name of the winner will no longer be confidential.

What do you think of this bill?

If you would like to be on the podcast write knowtheissueswithlisavallone@gmail.com

Photo courtesy of Luigi Comba

Featured PhotographerRyan Clow

Ryan Clow has been involved in photography nearly his whole life. A graduate of Binghamton University and a hockey goaltender himself, Ryan served as team photographer and videographer for Vestal Senior High School s hockey team as well as for SUNY Broome and Cortland State s hockey teams. He has also photographed interior home designs for various design magazines. Ryan greatest love, however, has always been photographing the outdoors and the beautiful combinations of colors nature produces. His photographs of the ocean, dolphins and sunsets have won many awards and have been featured in magazines such as NC Edge, and Topsail. The North Carolina Tourism Department is currently using many of his photographs in their tourism and travel magazines & many realty agencies are using his photographs in their advertising flyers. Ryan is currently experimenting with underwater photography and action photography using GoPro. He is looking forward to having his photographs displayed in an exhibit at Water Street Brewery in Binghamton in the upcoming months and particularly excited to have his waterfall photo featured on the cover of the very first issue of Know the Issues, NY edition.

We at Know the Issues are proud to display Ryan s work and we are pleased he agreed to allow us to use a few of his photos in our Florida edition, including the cover photo. We highly recommend him and ask that you reach out to him at rclow@stny.rr.com

Should Patients be mandated to receive the COVID vaccine in order to receive or give an organ transplant?

Cleveland Clinic, University of Colorado Hospital and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospitals are just 3 of a host of hospitals denying organ transplants to patients who have not had the COVID vaccine. Congressional bill S3985 was introduced to prohibit denying an individual from donating or receive an organ because of their COVID-19 vaccination status, It would also prevent Medicare and Medicaid providers from denying services to individuals based on their COVID-19 vaccination status.

The bill is called the Give Life Act (Doss’s Bill - named after a “teenage Texan who was denied a kidney transplant because had had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.” Of note the same Senator who introduced this bill also introduced S3974 to end discrimination in Covid-19 treatments in determining eligibility for monoclonal antibody doses distributed by the Federal Government.

How do you feel about thiswant to be my podcast guest? Email: KnowTheIssuesWithLisaVallone@gmail.com

Photo courtesy of Gautier Salles

What does and for other purposes mean in the bills I read

If you have seen the title of a bill in Congress you may have noticed most say and for other purposes . For example, HR6549 reads To provide debt relief to developing countries with unsustainable levels of debt, and for other purposes. The phrase means all of the title could not fit so they shortened it. It should alert you to the fact that you should always read the entire bill to understand it completely. In this bill for example the and for other purposes includes such elements as standards for equitable burden sharing among all creditors with material claims on each participating debtor; robust debt disclosure; expanded eligibility criteria to include all countries with unsustainable levels of sovereign debt; standards for comprehensive creditor participation consistent with robust application of the policies of the International Monetary Funds relating to lending into arrears; and consistent enforcement and improvement of the policies of multilateral institutions relating to asset-based and revenue-based borrowing by participating debtors, and coordinated standards on restructuring collateralized debt. And that is just a small part of the and for other purposes . So it is important when discussing a bill take the time to read it all.

Should the Department of Labor be reviewing top secret clearance candidates for federal positions?

HR 6419 is titled Fair Chance Improvement Act and it was crafted to “revise provisions regarding the prohibition on federal contractors, including defense contractors, inquiring about applicants' criminal histories prior to conditional offers of employment.” The cost to implement this change would be negligible, according to the Representative introducing it.

With this bill there are at least two parts to contemplate (1) should applicants criminal histories be reviewed prior to conditional offers of employment? And if you believe it should be then (2) should this task be switched from the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to the Department of Labor as the bill states it will be.

Is the Department of Labor equipped to investigate contractors with top secret clearances for national safety concerns? Will this change the mission of the Department of Labor? Will this actually add cost to train and hire people qualified for reviewing potential federal contractors with top secret clearance?

Photo courtesy of Lance Asper

Answers to trivia quiz

1. Which President . . .:

a. Socialist candidate Eugene V Debs was in federal prison when he ran for office and although he lost he still received 900,000 votes (3.4% of the vote)

2. First Native American Congressman . . . .

a. Charles Brent Curtis starting in 1893. (Native American on his mother’s side) He was also the 1st and only Native American VP, having been on the winning ticket with Hoover. Interestingly enough Native Americans were not given the right to vote until the Snyder Act of 1924.

3. Which President named it the “White House” . . .

a. Theodore Roosevelt officially named it the White House. Prior to him taking office, the White House had different names including the “President’s Palace,” which sounded a bit like a throwback to England’s royalty, the “President’s House” and the “Executive Mansion.”

4. Taller candidate . . .

a. true. In the thirty-one presidential elections between 1900 and 2020, twenty-one of the 31 winning candidates have been taller than their opponents. In the JFK-Nixon televised debate voters are said to have thought JFK won the debate due to not only has tanned and relaxed look but also because of his height advantage.

5. This Congressman is the only Congressman to have a #1 hit on the Billboards Hot 100 b. Sonny Bono holds that title with his hit “I got you Babe” which stayed at #1 for 3 weeks.

6. Two archrival Presidents died on the same day. Were they a. Adams and Jefferson. The feud between these two Presidents is said to have begun over a disagreement regarding the Declaration of Independence. Adams thought the day to celebrate should be July 2nd as that is when the actual vote for Independence took place. Jefferson however argued that July 4th should be the date to celebrate as that is when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Jefferson won that argument. Oddly enough both Presidents died on July 4, 1826 - 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration.

7. Grover Cleveland’s 1st name was actually Stephen. . . a. True. Does Stephen Cleveland have the same ring to you?

Photo courtesy of Joel de Vriend

Editorial: Spread love not hate

Back in 2015 the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Yet, the Florida State legislature, to date has yet to repeal the state statues that prohibit the recognition of same sex marriages. In 2022 SB 168 was introduced but was not passed that would delete the prohibition on the recognition of same sex marriages. My question is why? Why does Florida continue to hold onto state statues which are discriminatory. All citizens should be treated equally under the law. And the US Supreme Court in 2015 held that the 14th Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by discriminations and therefore it granted same-sex marriages stating that marriage is “a fundamental right that all couples are entitled for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family […] They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The [US] Constitution grants them that right.”

Marriage is a legal witness to the loving bond between two people in a safe environment. With all the hate in the world why would a state put roadblocks to love?

As the Beatles said “Love is all you need”. Why not recognize the commitment two people, of the same sex, have for one another?