Primary Results: It’s Your Nickel!
Why did your favorite candidate(s) win or lose? There were a few “surprises” in the primary results.
Give us your political analysis!
Let us hear from you.
posted by Blog Master @ 10:03 PM
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Give us your political analysis!
Let us hear from you.
Previous Posts
- STRAW POLL: FINAL RESULTS
- “ELECTION CENTRAL”: Comments On All Elections
- New Thread: School Board Elections (Continued)
- Local Elections: Complete Our Straw Poll
- Open Thread: CANDIDATES ONLY
- It’s Official: Townley vs. Kelly!
- Happy Birthday Politically Homeless!
- Winning An Election: Fat Wallet Required?
- No Issue For June: School Board Election Still A "...
- School Board: Golden Opportunity For Dems?
111 Comments:
Surprise, Surprise!!!
Joyce Romanski is going to be a problem for Mr. Crawford in a runoff election. She ran a quiet, hard-working campaign. Give her a couple of more months of campaign experience and Crawford is in trouble. And if Thurow throws his support her way...it's all over for Crawford.
If you don’t think political consultants can make a difference, take a look at Sarah Riterhoff Williams' results. Roger Austin was involved, and that my friends was a deciding factor!
Landt ran too traditional a campaign. Sarah ran a professional one.
I would like to take this opportunity Say a BIG Thank you to everyone on this blog who continuously supported me and spoke such kind words. I monitored the blog often and during this gruling campaign it was always nice to know there were people out there who truly knew the truth and were willing to go to battle for what's best for the Children and Taxpayers of Marion County. Some of you took some heat for me and I greatly appreciate that!
PWF you are my HERO and always will be, your wisdom is amazing! Edisrevir, Older vet, Drewman, Critic from Bell , Ann, Liz & Bobby D Thank you , Thank you so much I wish I could shake each of your hands and Thank you in person.
I would like to publicly apoligise to CHIP MORRIS unfortunatly my emotions overroad my mouth tonight, for that I am sorry! Your brother -in -law was vicious at times and some times down right cruel and there is no need for that in any race. Had he stuck to the issues he would have done much better. Chip I took it out on you and I should not have done that, again I am sorry!
Once again, I know I've missed so many people I would like to thank by name but from the bottom of my heart I thank each and everyone of you for all of your love, support and prayers!
Blogmaster you are the best, and truly a wonderful man!!!
Nancy Brill I couldn't have done it without you!
Many Thanks to all and may God Bless each of you!
Sue Mosley
Unfortunately for Dave Alvarez he hitched his wagon to the wrong horses! The Kelly’s brought you down Dave. Mosley stayed on target and didn’t engage you in your dirt throwing. If you run again, stay away from your bro-in-law and Kurt Kelly and his mama.
Think about this. If Sue Mosley's campaign ad had spelled "judgment" correctly, the margin of victory over Alvarez might have been 75% to 25%!
PWF: This probably applies to you.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." (Quote by Winston Churchill)
Looks like Ocalaslim may be eating crow this morning.
My nominations for the best and worst local campaigns.
BEST (Three-way tie):
-- Sarah Ritterhoff Williams
-- Sue Mosley
-- Joyce Romanski
WORST (Two-way tie):
-- David Alvarez
-- Ron Crawford
Crawford had better turn up the volume on his campaign or he is likely going to get creamed in the runoff!
WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THUROW'S CAMPAIGN? THOUGHT THE GUY WAS A SERIOUS POLITICAL PLAYER.
That is the problem my friend. There were only 2 of you who thought that. Mr. Thurow and yourself.
Whew!! Now that I've waded through all of the vitriol maybe I can get a word in edgewise.
First I would like to thank everyone who cast their ballot for me. I can never express my appreciation enough. Thanks to night owl for the kind words.
I would also like to send kudos to all of the candidates, because this takes guts! Salute!
Finally and this will suprise most of you, I would ask everyone who voted for me to support Ron Crawford.
While Ron was never personable to me, he ran a good clean campaign and I respect that. Ron has made some mistakes in his tenure but I think he has learned from it and will put his knowledge to good use for our children.
I am throwing my support to Ron because he (like me) had support based on what we believed and what we offered. This is very important to me in a political race.
Ron and I spent collectively over $ 30,000.00 to get our messages out. Ms. Romanski spent none. Very few got her message. If they had the vote would have been substantially different.
I will offer one bit of friendly advice for Ron: Go raise some money and start shaking peoples hands!
See you all back out on the campaign trail and thanks again!
Christopher,
You're a very good sport and I respect your statements. Also, you gave some excellent advice to Crawford in endorsing him. He better start getting in touch with the voters or even your support won't help him.
CT is so correct about voters not getting the message during Romanski’s campaign. I did and the taxpayers better have big checkbooks to pay for her “Restore the Dream” platform! I’m with CT on supporting Ron Crawford.
Sue Mosley's record spoke for itself on election day. Mr. Alvarez didn't have anything positive to offer and the voters recognized that. Good luck Sue on another four years!
Since Chip Morris opted out of entering the “pick the winners” contest, we are going to award the Bob Evans $20 gift certificate to PWF. He did do a very commendable job in picking the winners!
PWF, click on our e-mail address on the main page and give us the address where you want us to send your gift certificate.
There was an "Anonymous" posting between the one from "Liz" and mine above. I inadvertently deleted it. Please post again.
Sorry about that.
An excerpt from a Tampa newspaper article. Is it possible that the politically homeless, as well as more moderate voices may get more listening time and action from the politicians?
Tuesday's election results suggest Republican politics in Florida may be evolving. And the post-Jeb Bush leadership is far less disciplined in subscribing to conservative ideology.
The evidence from Tuesday's results:
- Crist won nearly two out of three Republican votes despite a campaign platform that differs sharply in key areas from Bush and the conservative wing of the party - the voters credited two years ago with delivering Florida for President Bush's re-election.
- Florida's Senate probably will have a divided Republican caucus come November after a bitter effort, endorsed by Bush, narrowly failed to unseat moderate Republican Sen. J. Alex Villalobos of Miami. Villalobos was targeted for defeat by his own party after he bucked Bush during the 2006 legislative session by voting against school vouchers and a plan to weaken the state's class size amendment.
- Even Bush stepped toward the middle of his party earlier this year when he endorsed moderate Republican state Sen. Jim King of Jacksonville in a primary against Randall Terry, a well-known abortion opponent. King easily won Tuesday night.
The developments suggest that if Crist is elected in November, the heyday for social conservative Republican politics in Florida could be ending. At the very least, they won't enjoy nearly the same influence as they did under Bush.
AGREE!
Interesting that even conservative Marion County went for Crist.
I still want to know what happened to Bob Landt. His campaign wasn't any less active than Ritterhoff's. He had the visibility. He had the signs, and the TV, and the print, and the direct mail. The message really wasn't any less powerful than Ritterhoff's.
I don't credit her consultants with any of this. Her commercials were awful. Her direct mail wasn't special. Her signs were blah, and an awful lot of them were half falling over.
Mosely won big because she was the better candidate and Alvarez went dirty and it backfired. Morley won big because she was much more visible than Wynn and Wynn had some pretty serious skeletons (domestic violence allegations). Landt and Ritterhoff were pretty evenly matched, spent about the same money, and both really worked to win. Why the 2-1 margin?
Ask Bob why he ran around saying he sued Jeb Bush over the establishment of the judicial seat he was running for.
My not have been the smartest thing in a jeb bush county.
Beacause the trend right now is to vote for WOMEN. Come on, it's so obvious, here and everywhere else.
More on this later.
The two things I heard was
(1) from women, they did not like Bob's wife and her representation of friends in some cases. Women talk and men listen.
(2) her message about jurt trials (her 200 trials to his 0) was a str9ong statement about experience in a courtroom.
I was surprised at the margin, however.
The 200 to 0 trial experience mailer from Sarah was a powerful statement. Relevant or not...since most people don't know that it isn't that important. It convinced my cousin.
I wouldn’t say Mosley was a better candidate she had absolutely no platform to run-on her record is enough to think all she does is keep the seat warm. I think it had to be the woman’s advantage in that race. Unless I am wrong, can somebody unbiased explain why anyone would vote for her, based on her record, or what she did? Maybe its there and I just missed it.
We haven't heard from Bobby D in awhile. Perhaps he can explain Mosley's win.
That would be nice his radio show only provided reasons not to vote for Alverez but did not provide a reason to vote for Mosley.
why did sue mosley win? good question. my opinion, well i believe it was a few things. first i think the voters in marion county are well educated. between the paper, blogs, and 5 local talk shows, people get a chance to hear a lot of different opinions, this helps people make better educated decisions. because of this i believe that people saw through the negative campaign that mr. alverez ran against mosley. i actually believe that the whole herring door/ kelly thing was purposely started so alverez would have something negative to say against mosley, because they had nothing else. i say that because kelly voted with herring before and there was never any problem before with herrings closed bids. with all the challenges with the school system why would kelly make such a big deal about a nothing issue if they didnt plan on using it in the future. second mosley ran last time on tough discipline,
she was on dr. phil with the sex braclets and stood strong on other discipline issues, which people like, remember most of the voters in marion co. have been paddled in school. alverez blew it with the vangaurd thing and since he was associated with kelly, great minds think alike, when the 357 magnum thing came up, though alverez had nothing to do with it, its guilt by association. third mosley has a strong presence with the pro life community. the old ladies on the 200 corridor love her, especially the little old italian ladies from up north. she came to two spag. dinners at queen of peace and they were all over her, hugging her and sitting with her. forth, more diversified marketing, billboards, t.v., local papers, star banner, good direct mail and good old fashion shaking hands campaigning. i didnt see one alverez tv comm., no billboards no paper ads, nothing in small local papers. only direct mail. fifth, on the chamber thing, alverez read
his intro, and gave nothing answers to the questions and mosley did everything off the cuff. but the biggest reason is that she went on the bobby d show and alverez did not. oh so did sarah williams and landt didnt so did crawford and romanski and thurow didnt. LOL... but the real biggest reason is that you just cant beat up a lady in politics. when hillary ran against lazio for the senate, he was ahead big in the poles until they debated and lazio walked across the stage and got in hillarys face, by the next day he was toast. you just cant try to intimidate or bully a women. like i said a month ago. alverez would do everyone a favor and drop out, give back the money he got from the locals, that he spent in new port richey and stay retired. but he didnt take my advice, too bad for all those people who gave their hard earned money to help a consulting firm in new port richey. mosley spent her money here, big plus. thanks for wanting my opinion, im flattered, i would have taken the challenge against pwf, maybe next election.
What you missed was the fact that Alvarez never gave the voting public a break from hearing how he was more ethical than Mrs. Mosley.
The more he talked the more the margin grew.
Obvious supporters of Alvarez because your posts on this blog sound just like his campaign. It is beyond me how you can be shocked at the ass-whooping your boy took. He felt a negative, "below reproach", "vote for me cause I ain't Sue" campaign was the was to sell his "I am more ethical than her" persona.
Your right, you missed it my friend but 65% of the people didnt!!!
Why Sue won...
1. She ran a positive campaign and was "above reproach" in the mudslinging.
2. She promised in her original campaign that she was strong on discipline and she held up to that promise by constantly upholding the disciplinary standards in our schools, sometimes to her peril. Example, look at the heat she took because of the kids Kurt got out of jail. People were accusing her of violating the law by getting the police report.
3. She is fiscally conservative. She has fought with the system about over spending on the bricks and mortar of the new schools. SHe complained and did something about the overspending during the construction at Forest High School. She has worked hard to obtain the property needed to build the new schools and has been instrumental in obtaining those properties.
4. She has created open communication and cooperation with the School Board and other community groups such as the City Council, County Commission, Chamber of Commerce, Veterans Association, to name a few.
5. She began the discussion and has pushed for an impact fee for developers earmarked for the school system.
6. She is smart, well informed, and she truly cares for our children. She understands the problems and issues that face the kids and parents on a daily basis. She is a mom who has children and at some point grandchildren in the system. She has readilly admitted that she had some diciplinary problems with one of her kids and that she wanted the schools to do more to hold her child accountable, instead of doing anything she could to have the system ignore the problem.
7. She is not afraid to admit when she is either wrong or does not know the answer to something. That takes extreme courage and is the mark of a true leader. A famous philosopher once said "a fool is someone who thinks they know everything." A trait held by her counterpart Kurt.
8. She believes taht the School Board should not make parental decisions. In other words she does not subscribe to the theory of "the vision of the annointed" which means that I know best for you than you know for you because of who I am. Another trait held by Kurt.
Those are some of the reason that I voted for her.
Billy
The reason I voted for Sue Mosley had not much to do with her record but quite a bit to do with her approachable personality and dedication to our children and schools. The alternative of Alvarez was an arrogant know it all who misrepresented his great “CEO” experience to us. It was an easy choice for me and many of my friends. We already have one arrogant twit on the school board, we didn’t need another. And that’s why she won.
DITTO FOR ME.
Anonymous said, "I wouldn’t say Mosley was a better candidate she had absolutely no platform to run-on her record is enough to think all she does is keep the seat warm. I think it had to be the woman’s advantage in that race. Unless I am wrong, can somebody unbiased explain why anyone would vote for her, based on her record, or what she did? Maybe its there and I just missed it.
Well, PWF says, admittedly, I will be considered biased, but as an old newspaperman, I learned early on there are two sides to every question, and I believe I have the JUDGEMENT or is it JUDGMENT (actually, for those who said I mis-spelled it, Webster’s says "Judgment or Judgement . . . " so once again, you were not right . . . anyway, I have the judgement to analyze a situation and finds the good and bad points for each candidate -- else, as someone who works in campaigns I would be useless.
1. Sue does have an outstanding record, the best record of any school board member in perhaps 25-30 years. Unlike most who merely vote on the recommendations of the Superintendent, she did delve into the bowels of the system, and she has made a difference. She was willing to take on sacred cows, she worked to solve the problems of the public, he worked to protect your kids, and she deserved a second term.
2. She was not afraid of political fallout and she did take stands on controversial issues. Some she was wrong on (in my opinion) mostly, I would have voted with her.
3. As a small business person, she understands what it takes to make a payroll on Friday, and that made her attractive to budget minded people and to the fiscally conservative Republican base -- the party she has been a member of all of her life. Her opponent was the manager (so they gave him a title) of a relatively small manufacturing company where major decisions were made by the head honchos who passed the word down. As a small business person who has had to work to make that Friday payroll, and to try to have something left after utilities, labor and taxes for my family, frankly I prefer the small business person to the small manufacturing plant manager.
3. This is a non partisan race, but politics does make a difference, and the word spread rapidly that her opponent had been a Democrat who it appears switched parties to run as a Republican. Certainly, he had never been involved in any party activities.
So, why you might ask, would a few of the female "leaders" of the party support this person who only a few months before had been a Democrat, although as far as I can determine, never active politically in either party?
I suspect it is because they recognize Sue is more of a leader than are they and they do not want to risk the competition. In other words, petty jealousy.
4. She did a far better job of marketing her campaign. Chip Morris tell me her opponent is a fine, upstanding family man and brother-in-law, and I am sure he is. His campaign did not show it. His pictures were bad. He fell into the consultant's view that nothing matters except mailings which they control. His consultant does not understand Marion County and its people, and his mailings reflected the attitude of "I am right, and you are unethical if you disagree with me." I make mistakes in campaigns, but this campaign was on the road to defeat from the start, and my biggest job was making sure Sue stayed on target, marketing her campaign as one of a "hard working, involved, interested-in-your-point-of-view candidate who listens to your concerns and tries to solve your problems."
5. On school academic and discipline issues, she was right on every one of them, and her opponent presented the wrong approach on every one.
6. A major factor, was the effort to censure the cop who arrested the brilliant (and they are brilliant) kids who made a mistake in an effort to have some fun, and were nailed trespassing on the campus with spray paint at midnight. Her opponent's lack of judgement was something that people like me can only pray for, and the opponent came through for me.
7. I can not over play the role Kurt Kelly played in this campaign. His obvious effort to gain control of the school board and run it his way was apparent to so many people and they all talk and tell their neighbors about the effort to embarrass others, Kurt's total failure of judgement in getting the kids with the guns from Forest released from custody because he had been praying with them had the criminal justice people talking -- even some deputies who were made at Sue were having second thoughts. I have never understood the view that Kurt is something of a political genius. His record does not show that.
Kurt is claiming that he had nothing to do with the campaign. If that is true, there are a number of people who say they were called by Kurt, or were introduced to her opponent by Kurt, who are not telling the truth. You believe who you want.
Anonymous, if you will look at her record without your dark glasses, you will find a truly outstanding record. If it were not so, I would not have told you it is. A poll showed that seven percent of the people questioned "hate her guts". I hope you are not one of those seven percent, but the voters have spoken and said 65 percent believe she deserves another term. That, my friend, is better than saying that 65 percent believe her opponent did not deserve a first term, but both are true.
And if you will look at Mr. Kelly's actual school board record, you will find it is blank on both sides except for his pushing the Hammet Bowen School naming -- something that first started with Mrs. Mosley and he then grabbed and ran with it -- and does a good job it and agreeing with other board members as they made stands, but his stand against Steve Herring has destroyed his (Kelly) ability to serve, and frankly, he should resign.
Call me wrong if you like, but you can do it to my face, because I sign my postings. Wish everyone would.
--pwf
Kudos to Christopher Thurow for the very gentlemanly way he handled his defeat and comments about Ron Crawford. You got some major points with me.
You want to know what happened with the Landt vs. Ritterhoff-Williams race? Landt was out-worked. He was outworked from a retail politics standpoint. Sarah Ritterhoff Williams shook more hands, met more people, engaged the public more. She went into a room of 100 people and said hello to the three she knew and made a point of introducing herself to the 97 she didn't know. Landt simply hung around the three he knew.
Please don't misunderstand, Robert Landt is a fine man and a good attorney, just a bad campaigner. The one thing Robert Landt didn't count on was Ritterhoff-Williams' incredibly strong worth ethic. She did not just work the phones...she was holding signs on the street corners and out there at every opportunity introducing herself to the public. Whether it was a Bingo hall on SR 200, a restaurant in the Villages, or a Friday night high school football game, she was there with her hand out introducing herself and asking for their support.
Some of the precincts she went door to door,i.e. Spanish Oaks (Landt 34; Ritterhoff Williams 116), St. Pauls (Landt 163; Ritterhoff Williams 445), Grace Pres (Landt 253; Ritterhoff Williams 396)...She won dramatically. What was Landt doing all those Saturdays Ritterhoff Williams was walking door to door?
Why did she win 3 to 1 in the Villages? Because she spent a great deal of her time focusing on the people who have a history of voting. She won OTOW 3 to 1 also. Again, she spent time meeting the voters.
I would submit to you that her message was more powerful than her opponents. She spent the past 20+ years in the courtroom, obviously 64% of the voters in Marion County agreed with me.
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hey blogmaster:
you have done a favorite radio host, a straw poll during the election. now that they are over and it is obvious who the most liked school board member is why not do: what school board member do you dislike the most, then do the same for the county commissioner in oct or nov. just an idea.
HOW ABOUT THEM GATORS
With UCF, Fla Atlantic, So Florida, etc they dont have to go to East Montana State CC for an easy opponent.
OUCH! THAT REALLY HURT.
If you are not happy with either of the Governor candidates, check out Max Linn, Reform Party.
www.maxlinn.com
Neat TV ad on the website!
hey max:
i hope you listened to max linn on the bobby d show on friday. he was on for 2 hours and took 37 calls from the people of north central florida. though i like a lot of the things he says im a little concerned about his views on the social issues. but he made some interesting comments about the rule of law that were interesting. i will be talking to him tomorrow again and will try to arrange another interview in october. i will keep you guys posted.
Bobby D,
Good ideas on polling. We will do some more polling as we get into the swing of things in the general election cycle.
PWF- I think you are wrong about Mosley I really do. The first issue, her discipline, she stated over and over again years before the election that she could not control her own child. And amazingly issues that she had trouble fixing with her daughter appeared as school board dress code not because it was a problem in marion county but because she did not want to tell her daughter no. SO she made the school system have to try to take the parents role. Sex was always a punishable offence in the school Sue Mosley did not end sex in the school. Her campaign was not above reproach she brought Vanguard children as a key component of her campaign in which anyone who really knows what happened there knows that it was a miscarriage of justice. She brought children into a campaign and for that she should be ashamed. PWF, the elections over, your not being paid to do advertising for her anymore. Take a really good hard look and see if there is anything that she stands for that’s good. Anything that we would want in an elected official. Last but not least the kids are not doing well in reading how can anyone argue with the 70% cant read on grade level by god does that not scare you... AND that that’s been around for years and didn’t come up until this election cycle who has blinders on now how the fuck do you miss that as a board member. Go ahead argue how she had an excuse not to know about it, and how she had an excuse not to be yelling and screaming trying to fix it.
You really need some anger management classes! Also, your use of the f-word isn't too appropriate. Are you one of those Kelly Christians I've heard so much about on the blog?
The election is over, get a life. You can try again in four years to remove Ms. Mosley.
To anyone running for local politics in Marion County; be sure you have a blog set up to dish the dirt for you; be sure you belong to the Christian Coalition, The Right to Lifer's, and have plenty of money. So glad the good 'ole boy inbred system is still going strong in Ocala. By the way, you so called "Christians", what part of the Ten Commandments does not apply in your Bible?
Anonymous (and with the courage to disparage Sue, surely you have the courage to use your own name!) . . .
I will respond to only one of your baseless charges and that is this:
You said "Her campaign was not above reproach she brought Vanguard children as a key component of her campaign in which anyone who really knows what happened there knows that it was a miscarriage of justice. She brought children into a campaign and for that she should be ashamed."
She did NOT bring children into the campaign. She pointed out what everyone else in this county now recognizes was a terrible move by Mr. Kelly and Mr. Alvarez. If my son had been caught on a school campus at midnight, I would have expected him to be arrested for trespassing. I would have stood by him during the walk through the system. I would NOT have tried to censure. The children and their lack of judgment was not an issue. They have quietly handled their problem, and I am proud of the way they handled it. It was the lack of judgment of Mr. Kelly and Mr. Alvarez that was in question. To discuss that was not improper, in fact it was one of the biggest issue of the campaign.
AS for your effort to denigrate Sue, I write that off as sour grapes. I am proud of her campaign, and I am proud of her as a school board member. We do have problems with reading writing and arithmetic. Her efforts to push academics are well known. Frankly, you sound like a Kelly person who thought you were going to control the school board and maybe get some jobs for your people. At one time, I would have assumed you to be a male since you resorted to the use of the f-word, but unfortunately, with society going in the dumps, I can not make that assumption any more. This was not the good ole boy system at work, else Kurt's buy David would have won. And if you think I am part of the good ole boy s, how wrong you are. I have had too many clashes with them over the years.
Go take an aspirin and get some sleep. You will feel better in the morning.
As always,
--pwf
Who exactly are the "good old boys?"
I hear them talked about often, just curious if I either know one of them or if by chance I am one of them.
Billy
Billy, I'll take my best shot.
When I came to Ocala in 1958, I heard about the "good ole boys" who ran Ocala. There were a dozen or so prominent men who, if you wanted something to happen, you had to have the support of at least one who would then lobby the others. If it was good for the community, fine. If it was good for them, even better. They were "good ole boys".
But then when they lost on issue, it was the "good ole boys" who snuck in behind them and won the battle.
I have been called a "good ole boy" until I wrote against them, then I was an SOB.
I have looked for the network who runs Ocala for the last 40 years, and there is no such network. One change from the "good old days" is there is no really strong segment that can get much accomplished.
The biggest shift in education policy came when Whit Palmer (whose Dad was a "good ole boy", i.e. one of those guys you approached to get something accomplished 50 years ago, Mack Dunwoody (who was thrown out of office by the "good ole boys", Mike Hill, Jim Schneider, and several others (including the then Publisher of the Banner, Chip Stout) banded together and raised their own money to fund an unbiased survey of education, and then asked -- no, that's not strong enough -- they demanded that the Superintendent change the curriculum to do the remedial work necessary to get us and our children back on track. That then led to the election of Jim Warford as Super, he installed some controversial programs -- some worked, some didn't, and when Jim left to take his evangelistic message of education to the bureaucracy in Tallahassee (he was doomed from the start), Jim Yancey took over and has carried those programs forward with some measurable progress.
Frankly, I use the term "good ole boys" with lots of people -- sometimes it is a term of endearment, sometimes a term of derision. But there is no such group organized and operating. Most of the time, it is a figment of imagination. Usually it is used when someone loses an election or an issue and they then claim the "good ole boys" did them in.
But then, aren't you a "good ole boy"?
--pwf
PWF,
Thanks for the history lesson.
Whew, I was concerned that I was one, but I am happy to announce that I am not one of the "good old boys" nor am I a descendant of one.
They still sound like mythical creatures to me, just like Nessie, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snow Man (person) for the politically correct people.
I know, from now on lets blame "Nessie" for all of the wrongs in our community. It makes just as much sense as blaming it on a group of old men.
"Nessie" is the reason Sue won, "Nessie" is the reason Thurow got beat, "Nessie" won't let children read on grade level, "Nessie" is monitoring the books in the library, "Nessie" is the cause of cancer....
Billy
While there is no one group that controls the community, there are about half a dozen clusters of people who damn sure try.
The problem is they cross borders of interests and often end up fighting. The relationships in Marion run from friendly to downright hateful, as we have seen recently. Fortunately for most of us the dynamics are now constantly shifting and these groups no longer can gain any traction. Thank goodness for that!
Billy why the cynical Jab at Chris? He has been a absolute gentleman in his defeat. What gives?
No jab at Thurow, just a jab at those lost souls who want to blame everyone else for thier lot in life. I've no problem with Thurow, never have. Just figured that Kelly and the boys were upset about Crawford still ebing in the race.
Billy
Ok but in case you missed it Chris has offered to work to get Ron elected. ABR!
Anyone But Romanski
To Anonymous: Kudo's to you for sharing your thoughts. It's a travesty that our children can't read and even more embarrassing that an elected School Board Member can't spell (publicly apoligise) and does not know the difference between a "public" apology and a written one. Must have been too many celebratory glasses of champaign(e). Anonymous, let's start our own blog! In case you haven't read through all this stuff, it's only dedicated to the "we love Sue Mosley/hate Kurt Kelly" blog.
To Anonymous: Kudo's to you for sharing your thoughts. It's a travesty that our children can't read and even more embarrassing that an elected School Board Member can't spell (publicly apoligise) and does not know the difference between a "public" apology and a written one. Must have been too many celebratory glasses of champaign(e). Anonymous, let's start our own blog! In case you haven't read through all this stuff, it's only dedicated to the "we love Sue Mosley/hate Kurt Kelly" blog.
Oh yes Puffer aka Paul Ferguson the man who does no wrong. Me eat crow? Yes sir! Please pass the mayo! My guys loose I'm a big girl, but only in the social sense, otherwise I'm a looker. Can't say that for you, and for you being around, whats your point?
Your picks were right but the numbers were so far off it was a joke you claiming to be correct. Ha. All of us here are fairly tired of all of the old newspaper man stories can't you come up with something new and fresh? Until next time Puffer I remain OcalaSlim.
PS You will NEVER EVER know my identity old fella. Oh and take some Viagra and a nap, you'll feel better. Can ya take it baby?
ANON Wrote:
"Anonymous, let's start our own blog! In case you haven't read through all this stuff, it's only dedicated to the "we love Sue Mosley/hate Kurt Kelly" blog."
Not at all true!! you obviously don't read everything on the blog and are totally "fixated" on Ms. Mosley. Perhaps you should start your own blog. It is easy. Just go to www.blogger.com. Let us know when you have it set up and maybe some of us will come visit your "love Kurt--hate Sue" Blog!
Let's be a bit nicer to each other.
OK, anyone willing to make a County Commission prediction? Fitos or Harris? Payton or Darleen? And by what percentages?
Harris and Payton win...both by similar margins 52 to 48.
I think you are going to see some interesting people supporting Harris who have not done so in the past.
Weesner/Payton could be a closer race than what I predict.
Fiscal Conservative, you wrote, "I think you are going to see some interesting people supporting Harris who have not done so in the past." That's interesting, you feel Randy will appeal to something stronger than just his "core" supporters, especially given the rapid population increase in Marion County since the last election? Will growth problems be a drag on his support given he has been in office for 12 years? Already in the primaries we've seen incumbents and the "old guard" in other races (nearby Counties) get thrown out of office.
Since this is the Politically Homeless blogsite, does anyone see a voting backlash against incumbents (especially Republicans and males), even local ones? When there are problems or the perceptions of problems isn't that to the detriment of the current office holders?
hello ocalaslim
again no response to anything i ask you, why? you dont want to met for lunch, you dont want to engage in conversation. if you really truly want to make a difference in the county you really need to stand up and be heard. until we know who you are your comments arent taken serious. we read them, say ok and then say she is not willing to put her money where her mouth is so they get ignored. its a shame because you are probably a nice person and if you are real looker why dont you run for office. all the dems need in this race would be two intelligent women, who dont dress like 60's regects, who stay away from the library book issue and the enviroment issues, who can find the one local issue that sets them apart from the rest, pound away on that. and show up at All events without fear and they could win. not that i would want them to, but the dems keep on running the same people, who lose everytime they run, with the same ridiculous signs and the same issues (?). so ocalaslim for the good of your cause please run, i know its too late now but start getting ready for next year.
No doubt that a backlash against males is here. The funny thing about all of this is the women candidates are taking credit when they hav'nt done much of anything except show up. In the long run as always it will come back and get them. Another cycle coming full circle.
Darleen Weesner, Barbara Fitos? Stop and think.
You bet! Stop and think on Weesner and Fitos.
Dear Slim,
You are certainly entitled to your opinions; but remember, they are just that-your opinions, not necessarily accurate and not necessarily of interest to anyone but yourself.
It's time to move on.
*Slim,
Just because you need medication to enjoy life does not mean others do, even if I am twice your stated age. Do not judge others by your own ability or lack of it.
--pwf
Well it looks like the issue of government consolidation is heating up again. Today’s S-B editorial discussed the topic (copy and paste):
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060912/OPINION/209120333/1008/OPINION
Consolidation was a blog discussion item several months ago. Go to “Archives”, November 2005 and read the comments posted at that time on the November 1 thread, “Countywide Services: A High Priority?”
With the general election approaching, it would sure be good to know the position of our County Commissioner candidates on the consolidation possibilities. Think they will take a stand?
PWF is absolutely right I doubt sue Mosley would have a campaign manager who needed pills to perform how obnoxious would that be when it came time to pay the bill.
derob how right you are. Move on dude.
I can't state and re-state this enough: I will not tolerate any one person attempting to steer public opinion. if Puffer (pwf) wants to do that then fine, I will retaliate at every chance. I will meet and beat him every step of the way, lockstep. I want to talk politics without the imposed pomposity of individuals such as him. Marion has moved beyond that. Puffer will learn Marion has grown up and away from him. No one needs him any more. Boo Hoo
From his distorted view the only "truth" in politics comes from him, he does no wrong he makes no mistakes. Bull Hockey
BobbyD I repeat, I have NO interest in public office. There are however a BUNCH of new candidates coming up soon. Stay tuned baby cause we're rolling this county over and shaking it out.
OcalaSlim your point is well taken, Paul does preach and we could use less of it. He does make mistakes and he plays favorites. Less would be more in my opionion.
So whats it gonna be folks Payton and Harris or Fitos and Weesner?
OK, on the election, Payton but not by as much as some might think. In an even closer race Fitos will outpoll Randy only because his negatives are so high and 12 years are long enough for anyone.
As to consolidation it has to happen because we can't afford to support the City of Ocala and the County and the County is where the growth is. Unfortunately it will have to be a grass roots effort as City elected egos will not give up without a fight. Start with something relatively benign like parks and move up to fire and then maybe law enforcement.
Ocalaslim,
Can't wait to see all your new candidates who are going to turn things over in the county! We sure need it.
6:17 Anon: A total ditto from me!
7:38 Anon: Oh what fun it will be!
I also believe and have heard that Harris is going to pick up some support from some folks that are going to be real "shockers" backing him.
Fitos and Weesner are just not up to the task. If they were more in the stature of Sarah Ritterhoff Williams, Sue Mosley or Michelle Morley they might have a chance. These three ladies are some hard working campaigners.
Consolidation is good in some areas, however it is a bad idea for Fire and Law Enforcement. Look at the fire departments, which would you rather have serving you? The county, who has had numerous problems responding in a timely manner or the City who has a much better department. Of course the answer is the city department if you live in the county. But the rblem is when you spread that department out you lose service.
As for Law Enforcement, who would want to give that idiot Dean that much power. Look at the crap he has pulled at the Sheriff's Office and the amount of money he waists on all kind of stupid stuff. Someone needs to crawl through that agency and make soome changes.
Look at the amount of money he spends on his command staff. He currently spends almost $500,000 on his Chief Deputies alone.
As you can tell I am a city resident and do not want to lose my police and fire service.
Plus I reccomend, if you haven't already, attend both a city council meeting and then a county commission meeting. Look at both with an objective eye and I challenge anyone to admit that the county is run more efficiently than the city.
Consolidation is a bad idea. Many studies has shown that in order to maintatin teh same service level that is expected, it actually costs the taxpayers more money.
It may be a good idea in a location where there are 30 municipalities, but here there are only three and the county. Come to think of it, go to all of the city council meetings, not just the Ocala Council and see who you would rather have making decisions for all of the citizens.
We need to spend our time talking about something more important.
Oh, by the way, ocalaslim, you are as pompous as you claim PWF is and jsut as you suggest that no one wants to hear from him anymore, I would suggest taht most are tired of you too. I know I am.
In about two weeks, there is scheduled a joint city-county meeting, at the Library. I think it is at 11AM. I am pretty shur it is on the 27th , a Tuesday.
Call either office and they will confirm.
Shocking!
That describes my reaction to how much personal money the judges had to use to get elected. So is this position becoming one that only the moneyed lawyers can aspire to? That seems wrong to me.
I would assume that there is a direct correlation between moneyed lawyers and successful ones. Heck I am not sure I’d want an attorney as a judge who was unable to make it as an attorney.
So tired of hearing from OcalaSlim... Soooo soooo tired.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thats a convincing argument against Slim. Not. Whats your point? What are you so tired of?
Not sure the big money a lawyer makes is a good reason to elect them. I know some average paid lawyers who are that way because they donate quite a bit of free time to cases. I would bet they are just as good as some of those moneyed folks that got elected...perhaps better than some.
Here is what I said about consolidation of government services back in November of last year, and I still stand by my comment:
"I hope Jim Payton and Dan Owen team up on this. They both have the balls to tackle something controversial like this. Most other politicians will just sit on the sidelines and do nothing."
Consolidation is a concept the Star Banner will never see get off the ground. It should but it won't.
You've got to be kidding about the library being better off. Look at the whole book scandal that the commission injected themselves into. I don't remember there being an issue like that when the city ran the Tri County Library.
Consolidation, if you look at all the facts, is not a good idea. If it was, why wouldn't more places be doing it. History has shown that very few of these beginning with the New Orleans consolidation back in 1805 have passed. Look how well that city has done over the years.
The areas that have consolidated are large cities, not small ones like ours.
Good points. Me thinks the Stir Blunder is just trying to stir up something to write about during the elections. Doubt this will fly with most people as an issue.
Headline in USA Today: “Neanderthals Lived Longer Than Scientists Thought, Study Says”.
We knew that here in Ocala....some are still living. What about our CAVE Society, as PWF refers to them?
Anonymous . . .
The CAVE Society excists, only under new "leadership".
*slim is the new is in charge.
--pwf
CAVE society. Whats that?
Citizens Against Virtually everything.
--pwf
Should have said
Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
--pwf
You mean like John Lund on one side and Darleen Weesner on the other?
Not sure what either of them is for.
There is a difference in being for something and being against everything.
--pwf
If Jim Payton looks in on the blog, you may want to check out your website. I went to the one you have on your campaign signs and got an advertisment for several different organizations. Somethin ain't working right!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post above was removed.
If your going to make foul-mouthed comments like the one you made, then sign your name.
ah so the blog master cares when someone attacks there pet but has no qualms about the odveous slander on this site... seems to me like someone needs a libel suit thrown at them.
Whos the pet? I gotta know!
Read the paper this morning, Marion Oaks wants to become a city, why do you ask, because the county is not taking care of their needs and they want a say in what happens around them.
SO if consolidaiton is such a great idea, then why are people trying to divorce themselves from the government that would be in charge of all of us under consolidation?
Look at all of the Cities in Marion County. They are all run better and more effecient than the county.
Perhaps consolidation of couty functions into the city/municipal govt. structures might be a better option. Expand the scope of city government and reduce the influence of the county.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.
Current county leadership has shown they could not handle consolidation. That is no reason to throw the idea out.
Good luck to Marion Oaks. They will have a revolt down there when their propoerty taxes go thru the roof. No problem with wanting to control your own destiny. It just comes with a price. Take a look at the voting results from Marion Oaks over the last few years and see who they are putting in office at a county level.
Who are they putting in office? Whats the overall trend?
Focus on what is broke, and fix that. No reason to waiste a lot of time consolidating when the county has so many problems now. If the Fire Department is broke, fix it. If the parks are broke, fix it.
Don't make many people suffer because someone else can't lead. Change the leader.
To Anonymous: "ah so the blog master cares when someone attacks there pet..." You hit the nail on the head! Don't bother to post anything negative about their pet or you will be censured. Has happened before, even when the post was true. Blogmaster, why are others allowed to post their "foul mouth comments" and not sign their names? Seems to me at least 90% of your posters are Anon. Is it because they are financially supporting this site? Or is it because Bobby D may blast their names on his "National Enquirer" show? By the way Mr. D; since when have infomercials for political candidates become legal for non commercial educational stations? Just curious.
Isn't the problem at Marion Oaks the fact that the community tends to be on the losing side of candidates for most elections? The winners then ignore the community. Just a thought.
Sorry someone feels we are giving special treatment to one of our bloggers. Not true! If you saw some of the posts we have removed because of vile, obscene and/or profanity-laced comments, you would not make this statement. Several bloggers (yes, even Ocalaslim) have been “protected” from language that would make a sailor cringe. So folks, please post comments with a bit more personal sensitivity. My parents taught me that “foul language” is rude and not necessary to communicate. We apply that principle to this blog.
Seems a good principle to me.
Blog Master, who are you anyway?
hey anon
we have an open door policy on the show so all politicians have the same opportunity to get on the radio. informercials are paid for. no politician pays for being on the radio. why some politicians chose not to come on is beyond me, its free. ask joyce romanski who spent $12.86 on her campaign and recieved about 10,000 votes and publicly attributed so many votes to getting on the show, where she was able to get her voice heard and the listener then could make a more educated decision. then take thurow, no show on the show, spent $25,000.00 and got less votes then romanski, go figure and then there was mosley, came on the show, open door policy, 65% of the votes alverez 35%. both spent about the same amount of money the difference, alverez no showed the show mosley didnt, and by the way when she was on she got hammered, but people like politicians that can take the heat. then there was ritterhoff williams and landt. both spent about the same amount of money, williams showed up landt no showed the show. ritterhoff williams 65% of the vote, landt 35%. then there was tom gallagher. in the state gallagher got 33%, marion county 43%. ask yourself this, why would max linn, who is the reform party canidate for govenour, fly from st. pete to ocala, for the soul purpose of being on the bobby d show, he is pro choice, pro gay marriage, pro gay adoption, and he knew exactly what the format of the show was and that it was a christian station. why would he come on and go through all that trouble to come in, all he had to do is call. because he wanted to take the calls live and take the heat because thats what good canidates do, and you watch he will get votes in marion county because of it. say what you want, and disagree with me all you want but be honest with yourself, i have never not let anyone on the radio and have always welcomed everyone. if fitos and weisner knew what was good for themselves they would come in also. i told mike sizemore himself to have them come on and he said he would tell them. im having james walker at the lunch bunch with baxley. so say what you want but those who come in and take the heat show strength and thats what wins elections. and i forgot, 30,000 watts, coast to coast from st.johns county to orlando, lots of listeners, and if you listened most dont agree with me.
Will Silver Springs Shores be the next community to join Marion Oaks in applying to become a city?
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