Despite mounting corruption complaints against the Daytona Beach City Commission, including a failing grade in a state audit that revealed multiple ethics violations and widespread misuse of taxpayers funds, Commissioner Dwayne Taylor is running for election to the Florida House of Representatives.

Taylor's record at the City Commission is abysmal, he has approved every measure that raised the tax burden of Daytona Beach citizens while awarding millions of dollars to multi-millionaire campaign contributors and friends to fund various pet projects and personal hobbies. This waste is one of the main reasons for the current financial crisis the city is undergoing.

Another distressing subject of controversy is his refusal to abstain from voting on items that personally benefitted him and his friend, Commissioner Rick Shiver. See article: Daytona Public Officials Conflict of Interest: Shiver and Taylor...

Read the rest of this article published in The Daytona post: Dwayne Taylor seeks election for the Florida Legislature despite atrocious record and failures at the Daytona Beach City Commission

Multimillionairess Therese Doan, a well known political supporter and key campaign financer in Daytona Beach sold a 20-foot strip of land to the city for $320,955.

The City Commission's unanimous approval of the purchase was not done at a public meeting; it was adopted quickly through the consent agenda on 5/7/08 without public discussion after Commissioner Dwayne Taylor made the Motion to Approve which Commissioner Rob Gilliland seconded.

Items on the consent agenda are not discussed nor open for public comment and are regularly adopted in group. This method of effecting substantial expenditures by the City Commission has been widely criticized in the past as showing a lack of transparency and circumventing Florida sunshine laws.

Read the rest of the article in The Daytona Post: City of Daytona Beach buys 20-foot strip of land from campaign financer for $320,955

The unemployment crisis in the Daytona Beach area has worsened according to the latest numbers from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Today, the Daytona Beach News Journal reported that this was the worst unemployment situation since the recession of 1992 (See Local workers losing jobs, Unemployment worst since 1992).
The July figures continue a trend of negative year-over-year job growth that has battered the business climate of the city. More than 21,000 area residents are unemployed according to the state report issued Friday.

The economic depression of the Daytona Beach area is palpable anywhere you go, and while political supporters have reaped huge benefits in selling overvalued assets to the City (See City of Daytona Beach buys 20-foot strip of land from campaign financer for $320,955 )  the population has suffered. Even the city's own elected Commissioners have personally benefited over the largesse. Take for example Commissioner Rick Shiver's sale of his personal residence to the City for over twice its just value, which his fellow Commissioners supported unanimously.

The City demolished the home soon after amid complaints for an investigation. Despite formal criminal complaints filed by a local resident, State Attorney John Tanner has not yet announced an investigation into the matter...

Read the rest of The Daytona Post Article: Daytona Beach Job Woes Worsen