The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Sun Tzu
I realize this is very long but I feel it is crucial for everyone that is interested in the Sheriffs race to read. It is jointly to Mike Taylor and to the good citizens of Clay County.
Before I go any further let me say this, if you or anyone else can convince me why I should support you and not Sheriff Beseler I will immediately withdraw my support from him. If you or anyone else can prove anything Sheriff Beseler has done wrong and therefore damaged the integrity of his office, I will immediately withdraw my support from him and vigorously support you. I will encourage everyone I know to do the same. I will remove the Beseler signs from my yard and my vehicle and replace them with yours. I will use my Rick Beseler T shirt as a polishing rag and proudly display one of yours. That sir is a guarantee. However, do not give me OPINION or FEELINGS about something he has done wrong. Do not point out something that you or someone else does not like. Do not try to use twisted statistics, opinions, feelings rumor, hearsay or gossip. I have some statistics of my own and as you well know and you have already done, you can manipulate statistics to reflect just about any view you want to portray and we all know about opinions. Provide verifiable evidence, Mr. Taylor, of what Sheriff Beseler has done to damage the integrity of his office and you will have won another supporter.
Mr. Taylor, if it were not for the Fraternal Order of Police LABOR LODGE, I do not think anyone in Clay County would even know your name. By the way, just personal perception but I do not think the labor lodge could possibly care less about Mike Taylor, who Mike Taylor is or what Mike Taylor represents. They would support Donald Duck if he were running just so they would have a PAWN to play in their chess game with Sheriff Beseler. Oh, and the fact that you are endorsed by the unions in Clay County is not really anything to brag about. Of course, the FOP is endorsing you, they are upset because Sheriff Beseler will not kowtow to their every whim and anyone with any understanding of how unions operate should know if one endorses a candidate, the others will follow suite. Clay County has never been very big on unions Mr. Taylor and I doubt very seriously that their endorsements will carry much weight. For the record, I was once a very staunch labor lodge supporter and still would be if I did not know what is really going on. The labor lodge is not about the men and women of the Clay County Sheriff's Office; it is all about the labor lodge and what it can ram down any particular administration's throat. The labor lodge is about the labor lodge and its members. It is not about the citizens of Clay County.
During your vision for Clay County video, you repeatedly pointed out what kind of Sheriff the citizens of Clay County deserve. Well let me tell you this Mr. Taylor, the citizens of Clay County DO NOT need a Sheriff that was bought and paid for by a UNION!
Folks, when you vote on August 26, keep that in mind. Sheriff Rick Beseler owes his loyalties to the citizens of Clay County and he is already accountable to us. A Sheriff Mike Taylor will owe his loyalty to the UNION that put him in office. Citizens of Clay County do you want a Sheriff that is loyal to you or do you want a Sheriff that is loyal to a UNION? THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU GO TO VOTE!
You have stated, Mr. Taylor, that in the past three years very important homicide investigations, SWAT call-outs resulting in death and internal integrity investigations have been “BOTCHED” due to inexperience and integrity issues. You stated these in the plural Mr. Taylor. Were you at any SWAT call-outs? Were you a part of any homicide investigations? Were you a part if any integrity investigations? No, of course you were not. You have nothing more than an opinion sir and again, we all know about opinions. What verifiable evidence do you have Mr. Taylor, that these things were botched? Tell us sir; tell the citizens of Clay County with verifiable facts, exactly what operations and investigations have been "botched". Again, not your OPINION or someone else's OPINION or someone's FEELINGS but hard, verifiable evidence. If you cannot support that statement with verifiable evidence, you should immediately issue a public retraction and a public apology to Sheriff Beseler and his administration. If you got it, show it. If not, I respectfully encourage you to do the right thing and admit your error, retract the statement and issue a public apology. I have no doubt in my mind that if Sheriff Beseler were to misrepresent you, you would be demanding his apology. What about it, Mr. Taylor, do you have the testicular fortitude to do that sir?
You also stated that property crime, violent crime, gang and drug activity is increasing at an “alarming rate” while the percentage of the crimes that are being solved is decreasing. What statistics are you using Mr. Taylor. What constitutes an “alarming rate”? Let us see the cold, hard numbers Mr. Taylor, not what you want to portray.
You said that the citizens of Clay County deserve a nationally accredited agency. National accreditation is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on law enforcement Mr. Taylor. It is a complete rip-off and anyone that knows anything about the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement (CALEA) knows that it is a rip-off and that is one of the reasons, in my opinion, why Sheriff Beseler got rid of it. Prior to Sheriff Beseler taking office everyone I know was clamering to get rid of CALEA because it is too costly and everyone knows it is a rip-off. You also said in one of your videos that you were concerned about the limited budget. So, let me get this straight Mr. Taylor, in this time of budget cuts and spending restraints you would once again perpetrate this fraud upon the good citizens of this county and waste their hard earned money? That’s a good plank for your platform Mr. Taylor. Please, keep it.
By the way citizens of Clay County, the Clay County Sheriff’s Offiece is accredited. Mr. Taylor conveniently failed to tell you that. It is accretited by the Commision for Florida Law Enforcement Accredition (CFA). CFA standards are virtually the same as CALEA and it does not coast near as much. I don’t know folks, sounds like getting rid of CALEA and going with CFA is good fiscal judgement to me
In one of your videos you state that 48% of the men and women of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office have left since Sheriff Beseler took office representing over 250 “ experienced law enforcement professionals”. Your statement is very misleading Mr. Taylor! When you say experienced law enforcement professionals, I think you would agree that the average reasonable thinking citizen would assume that you mean over 250 sworn law enforcement officers have left and that is not the case. Since I am not sure where your statistics came from I am going to provide you and the citizens of Clay County with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) statistics and I’m not going to twist them as you did, Mr. Taylor, I am going to give you the and the citizens the raw numbers. According to FDLE, only 238 people total have left the Sheriff’s Office since Sheriff Beseler took office, not more than 250 as you stated. Of those 238, 62 were part time employees and volunteers. That leaves 176 full time employees. What you did not tell the deserving citizens of Clay County Mr. Taylor, is that some of those people that left were the former Sheriff and his cronies and you did not mention that many of those people have either retired or they were terminated for cause or didn’t make it through training before washing out. If you are going to use numbers and statistics Mr. Taylor, don’t you think the citizens deserve to know the true numbers and not how you twisted them around to portray Sheriff Beseler in a negative way? Folks, do not take my word for it or especially Mr. Taylor’s, go to the FDLE website and look it up. It is www.fdle.state.fl.us/cjst/cjap [1]. You can look up all the numbers yourself.
By the way, Mr. Taylor, former Sheriff Lancaster is supporting you very heavily, isn’t he? I mean, I don’t know for sure. I just heard that he is. I’m just asking. Hey folks, you voted Sheriff Lancaster out for a very good reason. Do you honestly want someone he supports, particularly if he is being so silent about it, to be your next Sheriff? Mr. Taylor, if someone is supporting you why not just come right and say it just as you proudly proclaimed the UNION support? That is, unless you think something might rub off. Let’s see, being supported by a UNION and by the former Sheriff that if he were the average Joe Blow, would have been indicted. Wow, did I say that? Sorry Scott, truth hurts. What about it Mr. Taylor, will you proudly proclaim Scott Lancaster’s support and that of all his little minions. Of course, I could have been misinformed and he is not supporting you. I certainly know he is not supporting Sheriff Beseler. So, I wonder whom is he supporting? Anyone that knows Scott Lancaster knows he is supporting someone so if it is not Sheriff Beseler, it must be Mike Taylor.
In one of your videos, you said that the men and women of the Sheriff's Office are endorsing your candidacy. That is a blatant falsehood Mr. Taylor. The men and women of the Sheriff's Office have not endorsed you nor are they collectively supporting you and you cannot HONESTLY make the statement that they are. You are about honesty are you not? Fraternal Order of Police lodge 104 has chosen to endorse you, not the men and women of the Sheriff's Office. Lodge 104 speaks for Lodge 104 and Lodge 104 only. It does not speak for the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office. I am a Sheriff's Office member and a Fraternal Order of Police lodge 104 member, I AM NOT supporting you, and I strongly resent being misrepresented for your political gain. Mr. Taylor, if you are truly a man of integrity and not just a politician that will use misleading and false statements to accomplish his purpose, please immediately correct that blatant falsehood. It’s that testicular fortitude thing again.
In the what you are concerned about video, you talked a lot about all the things you are concerned about but you never really said anything and then said, “Let me assure you, I have a plan and a vision to address each and every one of these issues.” What you gave us, as examples of what you are concerned about are misrepresentations and distortions and saying, “Let me assure you that you have a plan and a vision” without telling us what that plan and vision is, is nothing more than cheap talk Mr. Taylor. It is just like saying the check is in the mail or I will still respect you in the morning or, what is that third one Mr. Taylor.
In your vision video you rambled on and on about the citizens of Clay County deserving a Sheriff that is involved in local government, projects and plans for the future, values experienced personnel and welcomes their input and agrees to be held accountable. You are right Mr. Taylor; the citizens of Clay County do deserve such a Sheriff. They already have one, and more, Rick Beseler.
In that same video you mentioned the citizens deserving a Sheriff that is committed to Community Oriented Policing (COP) and will put deputies in the areas where they live, play and worship. Mr. Taylor, you laud yourself as being an experienced law enforcement officer yet you don’t have a clue what the concept of COP is about if you think that it means assigning officers to patrol areas where they live. COP has nothing whatsoever to do with assigning Deputies to patrol areas where they live, play and worship.
Some of the things you say on your videos call into question Sheriff Beseler’s integrity. It is one thing to disagree on policies and procedures but to call a man’s integrity into question is an entirely different matter. Integrity is the one thing in life that no one can take away. Integrity must be surrendered. Either provide the evidence Mr. Taylor, that Sheriff Beseler has relinquished his integrity or stop attacking it. To do otherwise will most certainly call your own integrity into question.
Before ending this, I would like to take just a moment to address Adios Sheriff and your little sidekick. Dang boys, why are you so angry? After all, didn’t the Sheriff give you nice cushy jobs and don't you work for a supervisor that will let you take time off at a moments notice to go put up Mike Taylor campaign signs. Not everybody working at the Sheriff’s Office has such privileges. I mean, what more could a man ask for guys? Tic Tock is right boys. Tick Tock, Tick Tock. Enjoy it while you can.
In closing, Mr. Taylor, if you cannot win this election with truth, honesty and decency and on your own merit but instead must resort to distortions, falsifications and misrepresentations as you have done so far, you do not deserve to be the Sheriff of Clay County and you do not deserve to be my boss.
Citizens of Clay County, I leave you with this last thought in mind. Do not listen to distortions, misrepresentations and political rhetoric. Instead, spend a little time seeking out facts, arm yourselves with the truth and make an informed voting decision. Vote for whom ever you chose but please, arm yourselves with the facts before you do and ask yourselves this question; who better represents the interests of the citizens of this county; someone that has already proven himself or some unknown who is bought and paid for by a UNION.
Thank you for your time.