On March 6, Jared Grifoni, Chairman, Libertarian Party of Collier County (LPCC), messaged me through the Sparker’s Soapbox Facebook Page. He wrote, in part:
I have recently noticed that some of your blog posts contain a good deal of factual inaccuracies. I think you are mischaracterizing some of the Libertarian positions vis-à-vis local control/common core/SB864/etc in an effort to lump everyone you disagree with together. Perhaps it’s easier to create a monster when dealing in generalities instead of specifics?”
He then pointed out several statements that I would like to correct:
In a post on February 1 and again in a post on March 5, I said that representatives of the Libertarian Party of Collier County (LPCC) urged the Board of County Commissioners to support the Florida Education Stakeholders Empowerment bill. The LPCC has never endorsed the bill.
In a post on February 1, I said Jared Grifoni is a past chairman of the LPCC and a regular public speaker at School Board meetings and workshops. Mr. Grifoni is the current Chairman of the LPCC, not a past Chairman. And according to Mr. Grifoni, the first time he addressed the School Board was in January 2015 and he has not spoken at or attended a school board workshop to date.
In a post on February 9, I said, “The Resolution [petitioning Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature to enact legislation to ‘restore the local School Boards’ control of educational standards, curriculum, and student assessments’]” was initially put forward at a Board of County Commissioners meeting by Mr. Grifoni, Peter Richter, Vice Chairman of the LPCC, and Keith Flaugh, who leads the Southwest Florida Citizen Alliance. The Resolution was read into the record at the BCC meeting by LPCC Vice Chairman Peter Richter, not all three people mentioned.
In a post on February 16, I wrote, “Don’t let a very vocal but small group led by the Southwest Florida Citizens Alliance, Libertarian Party of Collier County and Parents ROCK disrupt the way our District is run.” According to Mr. Grifoni, “No officers of the LPCC have spoken at any of the book review workshops yet you have lumped the LPCC in with the SWFL Citizen’s Alliance and Parents ROCK as part of that effort.”
I would like to thank Mr. Grifoni for pointing out that I conflated the actions and interests of the Libertarian Party of Collier County, the SWFL Citizens Alliance, and ParentsROCK. While this was unintentional on my part, he is correct. The groups may share positions on some issues (e.g. opposition to Common Core), however they do not necessarily share positions on all issues.
I appreciate that Mr. Grifoni took the time to provide his feedback. I encourage other readers to do so as well.