One Sumter/Reverse One Sumter
I’m really surprised that I’ve not seen a discussion yet on “One Sumter.” There has been a couple of articles in the Daily Sun with the usual slanted reporting which will not help new comer’s to TV. The Editorial in today’s paper did seem to have the facts correct as to how bad the Sumter County Commission was prior to One Sumter.
I can’t argue with the fact that TV was footing most of the tax bill and not getting much in return for it. I also can’t argue with the fact that a couple of the Commissioner’s just didn’t seem to know how to handle money and were doing things which were not in the best interest of TV. We did have some representation with Hoffman and Francis on the commission but with only 2 of the 5 Commissioner’s, they were constantly being out voted. We were not in a good situation. But we did have representation and as TV’s finishes the build-out we most likely would have gained another Commissioner (assuming that the districts were properly divided).
Then came One Sumter and we were allowed to vote for all Commissioners, regardless of which district they were in. Soon after, two of the Commissioner’s from down south were up for re-election. Both were voted out of office by a large majority. I believe that their replacements were essentially elected by TV.
In both state and federal government; we vote for representatives from our district/state. It is their job to represent us, the people from their district/state. We don’t get to vote for representatives from Miami nor do we get to vote for senators from other states.
Question: Why then are we voting for Commissioner’s who job it is to represent people living in other parts of Sumter County?
Question: Who is responsible for getting Hoffman, Francis, Gilpin and Breeden elected? Where did their campaign money come from?
OK, it’s open for discussion. Is One Sumter/Reverse One Sumter good or bad for Sumter County?
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