Reply to FlemIslResident

NOT! but everybody and his brother has a real estate license.

Yeah - I even held a license briefly and let it lapse years ago.  Right now the only real estate interests I have are at 2254 Trailwood Drive - my place of residence! 

"Winners walk out laughing; losers cry, 'Deal again!'" - Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Tom Platt, Republican, for County Commission, District 1.

Could we please talk about what your plan is and what your going to do for our county.  Instead of trying to bring up something so low as the real estate agent card!

As a matter of fact the real estate agents probably have a better handle/feel on the growth or lack of growth of the county over you.  They are right at the pulse.

 It almost sounds as if you are jealous that these individuals have worked hard to get where they are and you just want to belittle their occupations.

Fellow Clay Countians, let's stop the trash talking bashing and talk about the real issues of our great county.  Let's move forward and make this county better.

Fellow Clay Countians, let's stop the trash talking bashing and talk about the real issues of our great county.  Let's move forward and make this county better.

What a great post Packy and a wonderful idea.  Thank you.  It certainly would be nice, since we all have the common bond of living in Clay County, if we could all bounce ideas around regarding improvement of our county.  Many of us have different interests and ideas.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Jealous?  Nope!  I tried the real estate profession after retirement from 24 years in the apparel industry, and did not particularly enjoy it as much as teaching in college. One cannot be jealous of something that they do not want any part of, right?  If my effort to clarify the correct names and positons held by candidates for public office offends you, I'm sorry.  I don't believe you will find a single critical statement in my blog of any individual candidate - just a listing of their employers.  In fact, my closing statement asked the reader to draw their own conclusion - as a former realtor I have drawn my own, which I will not comment upon here.

However, since you requested it, I'm happy to share my plan with you!

I plan to CONTINUE to fight for taxpayers against the special interests who continue to raid the public treasury to financially benefit their industries.  Examples of what I have done in the past are an absolute predictor of what I will do in the future, so here's a partial list:

1. I successfully sued the county to stop it from taxing land already owned and paid for by Clay county taxpayers - we won at the trial level, the appellate court level and at the state supreme court! (Both my current opponents were silent on this)

2. I led a county-wide political movement against the utility tax pushed through the BCC by the same industry that now does not want impact fees.  (The utility tax was proposed to stave off impact fees). I was proven right in my position that this tax was unnecessary because the new sheriff returned over a million dollars a year for the next two years (both my current opponents were silent on this issue)

3. I was the ONLY public candidate opponsed to the appointment of an unqualified person to Public works director, citing the $90K he had already cost the county in a lawsuit prior to his appointment; the $9 million dollar mistakes he made after his appointment proved me right (both my current opponents were silent on this issue)

4.  I led a group of homeowners in their battle to prevent Reinhold Corporation's plan to run the Big Dig Tollroad through taxpayer-owned conservation land near their homes.  I was proven right because the state Department of Transportation agreed it was the wrong route (both my current opponents were silent on this issue)

5. I organized and led a group of taxpayers to protest the state agency misnamed the Clay County Utility Authority proposed gift of $25k to pay for dinners for developers, upgrades to computer software for the private group known as the Chamber of Commerce - chaired by the owner of Reinhold Corporation.  The board ignored the largest protest in the history of the state agency, and both my opponents were silent on this issue.

6. I was the only citizen at the public hearing held by the Transportation Advisory Committee - chaired by my opponent realtor Wendell Davis - who asked questions that the committee could not answer - you can see the transcript of this - too long to go into here; suffice it to say that if you read the proposed enabling legislation creating the new state agency to be called (another misnomer) the "Clay County Transportation Authority" you would see that it was a boondoggle with unlimited powers with no controls by Clay county over it once created - Mr. David McCall did not appear at this meeting to ask any questions. 

That's my track record: asking questions, representing taxpayers' interests.  What have my opponents done?  NOTHING! 

If you go to the Supervisor of Elections' website you will see that Mr. Wendell Davis is bankrolled by the same interests that financed Mrs. Fitzgerald's campaign four years ago - our two resident Clay county lobbyists, and the PACS of the organizations opposing impact fees, and the same old families who have run this county for decades. These interests opposed impact fees for decades and are the cause for our overcrowded roads, schools, etc.  As our professional county manager has said publicly, if we had had impact fees on new growth twenty years ago, we wouldn't have the school and road problems we have today.

If you go to the American Family Forum and read the District One candidate's answers to questions, you will find that my other opponent Mr. David McCall gave answers on issues that are clearly more in line with the national Democratic party than mine, which are solidly conservative Republican in every instance. These include issues such as abortion, gun control, affirmative action, expansion of government programs and expenses, etc.

By contrast, a review of my contributors show that 91% of them are retirees and businesses not in the construction or real estate industry (with the bulk of that group - retirees - making up 58% of contributors)

If elected, I will continue to ask the hard questions that lobbyists and the special interests they represent do NOT want asked, such as "why do spend scarce taxpayer dollars to pay a county employee to go around measuring the diameter of new trees being planted on private property, and the height of new shrubs being planted on private property" when we need to allocate these shrinking dollars to critical public services such as safety, fire and emergency medical services?  I get a lot of "blow-back" from the special interests when i raise that specific question.

I will ask my fellow commissioners to adopt the same ordinance that Orange county BCC uses to require PAID lobbyists to register with the county to make transparent whose interests they are representing.  I've been to too many meetings where people were wearing too many hats for the public to understand whose interests are being advocated.  We need transparency in our government.

At the center of my list of questions will always be these (at a minimum): why are we being asked to do this? is this the proper role of government? and who should be paying for it?

The interests opposing my candidacy have one consistent criticism of me to offer: "Tom Platt is divisive."  No criticism of my positions on issues or the leadership I have provided to citizens' opposed to raids on the county treasury.  My answer to my critics is: you are absolutely right!  I have taken stands that highlight the dividing line between taxpayers and the lobbyists' paid to promote the interests of those who want policies benefiting their own narrow interests.  The division is there already - I'm just drawing attention to it and they're rather have a candidate whose approach is to sit around the campfire and sing "Cumbayah" and distract voters with "Bubba"-style recitations of their "good-ol'boy" record of where they went to high school, how many kids they have and how hard they have worked in their job - studiously avoiding any discussion of issues affecting the taxpayers.  That was hilariously evident at all the candidate forums held through the county over the past several months!

I hope that gives you a measure of who I am, what I stand for and how I will perform as a commissioner.

Thank you for asking!

"Winners walk out laughing; losers cry, 'Deal again!'" - Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Tom Platt, Republican, for County Commission, District 1.

Amie:

See my suggestions to packy! 

"Winners walk out laughing; losers cry, 'Deal again!'" - Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Tom Platt, Republican, for County Commission, District 1.

I forgot to respond to your comment that realtors would probably have a " better handle/feel on the growth or lack of growth of the county over you.  They are right at the pulse." [quote from your blog]

Packy, I can't be a good judge of whether they would have a better feel/handle on growth or lack of growth than I would have.  Only the voters can make that call.  However, I bet none of them have served as an urban planner for several years for local governments in NY and Tennessee as I have done - I've developed master plans, subdivision regulations, capital plans,etc for local government.  I'm uniquely qualified to evaluate amendments to the county's comprehensive plan - and identify who will benefit and who will pay for such amendments - None of the real estate agents running for county commission have that experience in dealing with growth - or lack of growth.

Just thought I'd provide you with a little more insight into my background and why I'm better qualified than my opponents: a realtor and a firefighter.

"Winners walk out laughing; losers cry, 'Deal again!'" - Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Tom Platt, Republican, for County Commission, District 1.