If you ever want to know how I spend my days, it’s this: Attend candidate forums. That’s where I was Tuesday in Pine Ridge listening to County Commission candidates. I have another one on my calendar this week (though I may skip it), and a few others scattered about. I’ve attended candidate forums for a very, very long time. They are not my favorite activity, truthfully. While I very much appreciate community organizations that host candidate forums, the candidates themselves have polished answers to most questions.
Or, they have no clue. Saw quite a bit that Tuesday with challengers who don’t think it’s necessary to understand the government job they’re seeking or the communities they want to represent. When I continue to hear the same tired ideas (“Hey! Let’s increase the sales tax. Tourists will pay for it. They use our roads.”), it concerns me. Is that coming from a candidate for office or a Sound Off caller? Voters should see the difference. I never was so rigid about this. Political reporting rarely went too deep during my Chronicle days. Candidates knew if they got my attention for anything other than their viewpoints, that wasn’t necessarily good. Plus, I played a role in the election news gathering. Editors, reporters, and photographers shared that role. While I led the election coverage for three decades, I didn’t own it like I do at Just Wright Citrus. That’s probably why I’m so direct in my views on incumbents and challengers. I really appreciate those who sacrifice their spring and summer to run for office. It’s a grueling process. I ran into a School Board candidate Tuesday who showed up in Pine Ridge because 50 voters were in one room. Even though the candidate wasn’t speaking, she didn’t want to miss any opportunity with voters. But, only my opinion here, we’ve coddled challengers for far too long. We’re so happy to have alternatives to incumbents that we’ll fawn over anyone. We have pretty big fish to fry in this county. Don’t we want people who know how to fry fish, who have had experience frying fish, who have worked with others who fry fish, and who have success in frying numerous species of fish? Or do we want people who have attended a fish fry and claim to be an expert in frying fish when, in reality, all they’ve done is watch others fry fish. Opinions are not enough. Knowledge isn’t either. The combination of knowledge and vision breeds the basis for conversation that gets somewhere. Frankly, I’m hearing and seeing very little of that with the commission challengers. Very little. Janet Barek knows a thing or two about residential road resurfacing, and Curtiss "CJ" Bryant understands the Land Development Code, but I haven’t an idea the kind of commissioner they want to be. Then there’s Jesse Rumson. Sigh. He qualified for the ballot by getting the necessary petition signatures. Other than that, his qualifications for county office are — make sure I get this right — nonexistent. Zero. None. You have to REALLY like Rumson and REALLY dislike Commissioner Holly Davis to make that call. I’m not just saying that because he’s "Sedition Panda," a convicted federal felon. Though, that would be a good enough reason, right? Fortunately, he’s given us so much more. A sampling from Pine Ridge: — “I didn’t ask for money when I give speeches.” Um…what? — A promise of town hall meetings. Right out of the Candidate 101 handbook under the chapter entitled, “Ideas for the Candidate with no Ideas.” — “My entire life I grew up here.” OK, great! That should mean a TON of community service. Instead, until he grabbed that panda head, few outside of his high school classmates knew much about Jesse. — We need to preserve our trees. Buy what you want to buy and build what you want to build. (I realize the above statement is contradictory. Welcome to the Jesse Rumson message.) — The county hires too many experts. Well, you get it. Look. Candidates are applying for a job. They need experience, references, and know-how. We, who are doing the hiring, should hold them to a high standard. That’s how I see it. Have a jubilant Juneteenth, friends. Join the discussion on our Facebook page. Enjoying the blog? Please consider supporting it at Venmo, PayPal, or Patreon. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
November 2024
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