You may have missed the festivals but we’re concluding Sunshine Week here in America, the time we all celebrate open government. I can bore you with facts about public records, open government meetings and how they work for us, that sort of thing. You know I can. I’m a weirdo about this stuff. The thing about bombshell stories is you never know when they’re going to drop. It was an ordinary late Wednesday afternoon when a friend sent me a text with the governor’s tweet about Rep. Ralph Massullo running for re-election instead of the Senate. I responded, “By golly, that’s big news!” — or something like that — and away we went. My weekly email search randomly landed last week on Commissioner Scott Carnahan. After the brouhaha over the county administrator’s job, I figured things would calm down some and they did. I found three emails, however, that probably don’t rise individually to blog material but taken together, well... Ended a hectic government week on Friday by sitting down with my old friend Katie Myers to talk about the latest with Citrus Mem–... Whoa, wait just a minute! No more Citrus Memorial Hospital? The very cool thing about this new career is the absolute autonomy over what appears on the Just Wright Citrus website and Facebook page. I alone make those calls each day and Sunday through Thursday nights, as I’m doing at the moment, when I put the blog together. Let’s end the week with a little encouragement because we sure need it. Feels like every day’s an uphill climb for some folks. Someone is nasty, someone is negative, someone is trying to find dirt just to find it — at one point, it gets too much. Spent a wonderful 30 minutes Tuesday speaking at the annual luncheon of the League of Women Voters of Citrus County. I enjoy public speaking, especially when the topic is Citrus County politics. And on Tuesday, as is often the case, someone asked whether I’ll ever run for office. You’re probably as tired of reading about the Randy Oliver drama as I am tired of writing about it, so let’s have one more go and move on. First off, he’s staying. After the 4-1 vote denying Oliver’s request for the separation-with-severance agreement, I sent Randy this email: There’s a standard I try to follow: I was born at night, but not last night. It’s from years of writing about politics and government. Meaning, there are few coincidences and if something makes me stop and pause there’s probably a good reason for it. There is no single bigger job in unelected public service than administrator. City manager, county administrator — those are the people who rarely get the accolades they deserve, but always the headaches whether deserved or not. So when the county government is faced with the county administrator leaving Tuesday under not so pleasant terms, and there is no one in the wings to take his place, it’s a bit of a concern. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
April 2024
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