you make your own bed
tommyThe proposed change to the county charter to elect a County Mayor is ridiculous, and should be voted down. Many voters are fed up with various decisions made by the Hillsborough County Commission, and this proposed solution was created for - and really amount to nothing more than - a way to inhibit the current and recent makeup of the HCBOCC (Taking Back Hillsborough says as much).
The proposed amendment to the State Constitution known as Hometown Democracy is ridiculous, and should be voted down. Some folks say that too many local governments simply rubberstamp changes to growth plans, and the citizens in those localities don’t really want unchecked development. This proposed solution again simply ties the hands of your local governments, such as the Hillsborough County Commission.
To be sure, the current leaders are scared to death of these “solutions,” and will do just about anything to derail them. That in itself makes you want to consider these as viable solutions.
But in reading all of this, you can see that your local elected officials are the cause of this angst. In Hillsborough, your current makeup of the BOCC is downright shameful. So the appropriate way to address local problems is to replace these people on the board. Our elected leaders should reflect the desire of the citizens, not someone who is beholden to any special interest group - that goes for tree-huggers as well as wetlands-pavers.
You elected those folks. Ernest Hooper says If you don’t like it, don’t just sit back and complain:
Stephen Dibbs and some fellow developers angered people by scheduling political fundraisers for Hillsborough County Commissioners Ken Hagan and Brian Blair just weeks after the commission scaled back county wetlands protections.
But I’m asking those who are upset, as Sean Connery did in The Untouchables, “What are you prepared to do?”
I’m not endorsing opponents of Blair or Hagan. But I am saying if you’re really mad about the role developers and their deep pockets play in local politics, do more than vent.
If they get 30 developers to pay $500 each for a country club fundraiser, you have to get 500 people to donate $30 each at a spaghetti dinner. If they pull a knife, you pull a gun. If they send one of yours to the hospital … well, you get my drift.
Yep - that’s all he’s saying. Developers have gobs of money, so you have to fight with what you HAVE got. Let me clarify. YOU have to do something. YOU are responsible for what’s happening.
What are YOU prepared to do?
You are currently viewed as uninformed:
- …over 40% of Florida residents could NOT name the three branches of government.
- “You know and I know people push a button and they don’t know what they’re voting for.” - ex-commissioner Tom Scott.
- “…the voters are stupid.” - Dan Ruth
- “voters… don’t even know what’s going to be on the ballot!” - Tommy Duncan
YOU must become more knowledgeable. YOU must convince your friends and coworkers of the importance of this stuff. Don’t tell them what to think, but do tell them what is happening. Ask them if they care, and suggest they pay attention. YOU have to bring it up in conversation. Yeah - you will get some blank faces. But you will reach some of these folks.
What else can you do? I think you ought to consider running for local office.
Look at our upcoming choices for the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners: Tom Aderhold? Ed Wonder? Don Kruse? Kevin Beckner? Who are these people? No - I’ve never heard of them either, but those are your candidates that have applied for Hagan’s and Blair’s seats. Joe Redner? Yeah - he got votes (and endorsements) last time around, but consider that a bit further, and tell me if you really think that’s a good idea.
If you know someone who would make a good candidate, you ought to point them to this post. Even if you send it to them anonymously. We need more choices, and we need better choices. (clarification: It’s certainly possible one of these people mentioned above would be a great leader, we simply don’t know yet.)
And if you were sent here by someone, give the idea some consideration. And should you decide to move forward, here are your step-by-step instructions on how to run for office in Hillsborough County.
What are YOU prepared to do?
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October 13th, 2007 at 7:50 am
What about you Tommy? Are you going to run? Step up to the plate!
I nominate Tommy.
Is there a second?
October 13th, 2007 at 8:06 am
“We need more choices, and we need better choices.”
YES YES YES!
Great post Tommy. One thing that I’m hoping we get an opportunity to vote on in the 2008 election is to both add more county commissioners and to get rid of this ‘county wide’ nonsense. Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Patrick Manteiga outline the current proposal. Having 2 more BOCC seats and no county wide seats presents a great opportunity for us to then have a county mayor. A county mayor who can run on a vision and platform that will guide this area to its next level of greatness.
Keep up the great work Tommy.
October 13th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I think Tommy would be a great candidate, I second the motion.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I fully confess to being both lazy and stupid when it comes to politics in general, but especially regarding local politics and issues. (Although I can certainly name the three branches of government!)
Nice post, Tommy! You’ve inspired me to pay more attention. (This is a much larger accomplishment than it might seem at first glance.)
I think Mariella would also be a good candidate. I’m not sure if I’ve got her name right, but you know who I’m referring to…the woman who wrote so passionately about the wetlands thing. (And yes, “wetlands thing” is the best I could come up with…I really wasn’t kidding about the stupid and lazy comment.)
October 15th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Dusty, GJR - That’s very kind of you both.
FilmFan - you are 100% correct - it does take some time and energy to pay attention to what’s going on - it’s difficult to keep on top of it all. Here in the sticks, we will do what we can to help keep everyone informed…
Lee - I don’t want to get into all of the effects of a county mayor right here, but imagine your least favorite local politician getting elected to that spot. That worst-case scenario is a bad case indeed.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Tommy- I also think you should run.
October 17th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
The only problem with community activists running for office is that they would have to give up much of their activism once in office. Correct me if I’m wrong, if Tommy were elected he’d have to give up SOF because of the Sunshine Law, etc.? Our area definitely needs more agitators for positive change, not less, and honestly I think sometimes more can be accomplished as a grassroots activist agitator than as an elected official who is (supposedly) a representative of “all constituents”.
Thoughts?
October 17th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Think of how much better off we would be if everyone had to:
1. live in a really poor country for awhile
2. run for public office
Things would be considerably different if that was the case.
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