When the Downtown Council of JAX Chamber invited political consultant and pollster Bruce Barcelo to the group’s meeting Friday at The University Club, they probably didn’t expect to be surveyed by the guest speaker, but that’s what happened.
“I listen for a living,” Barcelo said.
He asked his audience what local, national and international issues were on their minds and the council members came up with a wide-ranging selection.
One of the hot topics was public education. Comments included the lack of discipline and leadership in the classroom, spending too little on each student based on the public school’s annual budget and eliminating wasteful spending in the school system.
Barcelo said he expects there will be “a lot of political energy focused on the school board this year,” based on there being four school district seats up for re-election.
Government waste in general and spending money to store obsolete equipment and supplies was brought up by the group.
Barcelo shared a story about a company he worked with several years ago. He said it was spending $2.3 million a year for rent and utilities for a warehouse to store $860,000 worth of product the company no longer needed.
“That’s a human management issue, not a government issue,” said Barcelo.
The high cost of running political campaigns was another topic brought up by the council members. Money was described as the “biggest problem” in politics.
“I disagree. You can never have too much money in politics,” Barcelo said.
Other concerns in the survey were gridlock in Congress and Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign to reduce the state budget for some popular programs, such as education.
After reviewing the comments from his audience, Barcelo said the meeting reminded him of one he had several years ago in Kiev, Ukraine.
“It was in a room a lot like this with about 50 people. They were concerned about food and the government turning on the heat later every year, because the government ran the steam plant that provided heat. They were worried that one week in the summer with no hot water would become three weeks in the summer with no hot water,” Barcelo said.
“We live in a blessed country,” he said.
Barcelo also shared some of his personal history and told the council why he decided on politics as a career.
“My love of politics started in the first grade. I was going to Catholic school in 1960 when John Kennedy was running for president. He was Catholic, so I liked him,” said Barcelo.
“But I was fascinated by his little brother, Bobby, who ran his campaign. I’ve been fascinated by politics ever since.”
Barcelo also shared some of his philosophy about his professional life.
“I always try to be fair, but I’m never impartial,” he said.
He also gave the group his opinion on the state of America and its citizens.
“We are the best at what we do. We need to stop beating ourselves up and start talking to each other to find solutions,” said Barcelo.
The Downtown Council’s next meeting is scheduled at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 3 when Jacksonville Community Council Inc. Executive Director Ben Warner is invited to speak to the group. For details, visit downtowncouncil.org.
356-2466