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Jim Tucker

Beach Fanatic
Jul 12, 2005
1,189
497
If I could figure out how to screen shot my inbox, it would show that the email request was from "Fancy Hands". That's all I saw until I had time to look at it closer, and then saw the request made in such a silly way. Why not just send a professional email? We also didn't think answering this request would make a difference either way, and the only people who seemed to see it received it via email, and that email list (I saw it), had people with minds already made up. Team Yes is making plans and moving on- stay tuned for news! Voter turnout in this election went up to 24%- an increase, but really pathetic . It's pretty safe to say you have the referendum to thank. Now I hope 9821 who made the effort to vote on the referendum, especially the NOs, now make the effort to find some real solutions for the problems of our school district.

Regarding Fancy Hands being a well- respected service, maybe if I had known anyone else that had ever used it, or ever seen it in my in box, I wouldn't have been so suspicious and irritated in the silly method used to request information about something I and others took very seriously.

Don't worry we all know who serious media is. This is their most popular youtube vid...

[video=youtube_share;VtwCze8U8Gs]http://youtu.be/VtwCze8U8Gs?list=UUy9OvqShM61P1RgaWrAh6JA[/video]
 

30A Skunkape

Skunky
Jan 18, 2006
10,286
2,312
53
Backatown Seagrove
You would have done much better if you had articulated a clear message about why an appointed superintendent would be superior. I'll bet a lot of people don't really even know what a superintendent's duties are. You ought to address that first, get people really up to speed. Too many assumptions were made about people's depth of knowledge on this subject, but it's a "no-brainer" right? Then when you have major mouthpieces calling people ignorant and stupid (or implying) for not knowing these things, voters are not going to be too eager to ask a whole lot of questions. That doesn't help the cause at all.

We tried. But when your major means of communication are via letters to the editor, limited to 225 words, it is tough. I think the autopsy of the situation demonstrates that we did articulate the message south of the bay and all the articulating in the world in the rural north wouldn't have changed anything.

As I noted above, the only other thing we could have done different was go door to door for votes. Otherwise, our only other tactic that could have been used, and some wanted to but we didn't because we wanted to take the high road, was to take off the gloves and play dirty. That may have garnered a few more votes, but in retrospect, I'm glad we kept it a clean effort we can be proud of. Unlike many in the 'no' camp, politics isn't our lifeblood, so we didn't see a need to be jerks and divide the county further.

What would you suggest we could have done?
 
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Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
The time frame began 3 weeks before Aug 26th to those contacted and jdarg were also offered an opportunity to come on camera when we talked at Vue.
Fancy Hands emailed me on Tuesday, Aug. 19th, one week from Election Day. No mention of any on camera stuff, request said an "article", printed questions provided.

Who got 3 weeks' notice?
 
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Danny Glidewell

Beach Fanatic
Mar 26, 2008
725
914
Glendale
Jim Tucker:

Considering that I am the only local candidate that posted information here, and how I did in South Walton, I don't think this is where the majority come to look for information. Sure did not seem to help me any. But I would love to know where they do get their information.
 
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Bob Hudson

Beach Fanatic
May 10, 2008
1,066
739
Santa Rosa Beach
Fancy Hands emailed me on Tuesday, Aug. 19th, one week from Election Day. No mention of any on camera stuff, request said an "article", printed questions provided. Who got 3 weeks' notice?
And "Fancy Hands" never contacted me nor did any employee of 30a Television. I was listed as a non respondent .
 
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Andy A

Beach Fanatic
Feb 28, 2007
4,389
1,738
Blue Mountain Beach
Let me preface what I'm about to say with this. I love the SoWal website! I spend a lot of time on it now that I am single again and alone. While I am sure there are a lot of viewers of the site I feel the impact of those posting here on any issue is minimal at best. It was obviously ignored by all candidates except Danny. I feel sure it has no impact at all on the Northern part of the county. SoWal is a fountain of useful information but is also full of a lot of misinformation, inuendo and blab. That, also, is expected and one can seperate the wheat from the shaff. In retrospect, I do not feel SoWal had the impression on the public regarding the election that I gave it credit for. That is not to take away from SoWal! I still love it.
 
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Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
Let me preface what I'm about to say with this. I love the SoWal website! I spend a lot of time on it now that I am single again and alone. While I am sure there are a lot of viewers of the site I feel the impact of those posting here on any issue is minimal at best. It was obviously ignored by all candidates except Danny. I feel sure it has no impact at all on the Northern part of the county. SoWal is a fountain of useful information but is also full of a lot of misinformation, inuendo and blab. That, also, is expected and one can seperate the wheat from the shaff. In retrospect, I do not feel SoWal had the impression on the public regarding the election that I gave it credit for. That is not to take away from SoWal! I still love it.

You would be very surprised at the number of readers on the site, especially the forum. As with any platform online or in print, readers listen, learn, ask questions, debate, maybe do their own research, and form their opinions.
 

rapunzel

Beach Fanatic
Nov 30, 2005
2,514
980
Point Washington
Someone directed me here to look at Skunkape's comments on the referendum. I wish I hadn't because this thread is really disheartening.

I was one of the original three people to file the paperwork. I feel sure no one thinks of me as arrogant. And yet I see comments that make me think people made this decision based on personally not liking the people behind it.

We, none of us, had ever worked on a political action committee. From reading the law, filing the paperwork, teaching the bank how to open this type of account, trying to boil the message down to its essential message, creating websites, compiling complex weekly electioneering reports (did you know a cashier's check is cash in Florida?) writing letters, talking to everyone we could think of and explaining as best we could. We spent Fourth of July at Lake DeFuniak painting hundreds of faces and trying to engage north Walton parents in conversation only to hear things like, "you don't understand our hometown values."

I, along with five or six others, have spent the vast majority of our waking hours thinking about how to communicate the issue, how to most effectively spend the money we raised in small donations from people who love in this community, and how to reach across the bay to build our network.

Let me go back -- a few years ago I was more in to politics and I realized that I would need to not just be involved in the south Walton community, but also north Walton. I did everything I could think of -- joined Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists, worked on the Morrison Springs Park, volunteered at the open pantry in Bruce, tried to learn the community. I did my best to make friends there, and can tell you no one really seemed open to the idea. I always fly like an outsider.

When this campaign started I sent a letter to all of my contacts in Walton County, and none of those in the north responded. Two did later tell me that they were scared to get involved. The one person from north county was attacked by his tea party colleagues for being a liar for daring to tell people that 1) there were not lawyers from Birmingham behind this and 2) we did not receive all our money in one $10,000 donation (that was actually the opposition and they spread that lie at the Liberty forum, which we weren't invited to attend). They also would not return our calls for the Red Bay forum.

Finally, let me tell you my "agenda". A friend of mine from high school moved here with her daughters last year. She came from Columbus, Georgia which has good schools, not great schools. They aren't making any national top ten lists. The schools were a couple of years behind what her daughters had been doing in Columbus. She asked me to introduce her to other moms so she could figure out what to do. There weren't good options--sending them fifty miles away wasn't a option for her. She and her husband took their small business back to Georgia. At this point I was interested in why such a well funded school district wasn't better. I attended a teacher contract meeting and saw a barracuda of a lawyer hired by Carlene Anderson at great expense chew up and spit out the teachers' representative. He tricked the educators into accepting a partial settlement that he realized would obligate them to take the whole settlement meaning no raise and not even the whole bonus from the governor. For the fifth year in a row. Any one in business knows you don't step on the neck of your employees just because you can. If you are a good executive, you want the most competent staff with good morale, you want to retain your highest performers. That was when I began to suspect the superintendent was the root of the problem. I looked at her management of district funds and the fact that year after year she has to borrow from the general fund, I saw that most of the teachers were scared of her and that their fears of retaliation were not unfounded. I saw how much money went to the administrative staff. These are high paying jobs that are only advertised on the school districts website and seemed to be filled by political cronies. These are not the practices of a good executive but the actions of a politician.

This feeling was confirmed in conversations with school board members who repeatedly used the excuse that they had no authority over the superintendent because she was elected. No one would be held accountable.

It seemed to me the most efficient way to improve school district would be to make it like every successful company and public entity in the country -- a board that has authority over a highly competant administrator who is not having to run for office all the time. 88% of Florida's students are already in hired school systems. I fail to see how coming to this conclusion makes me arrogant. Maybe wrong, but not arrogant.

What seems arrogant to me is that this issue was never really discussed on its merits. It immediately became a populist message of losing your right to vote even though it would have been a vote to make the politicians accountable, and then personal attacks, and then lies about agendas and funding.

What seems arrogant to me is spreading your message in two different ways north and south of the county. It seems arrogant say you must elect a superintendent because you can't trust people in the north to elect a decent school board. I think it's arrogant to lie to a room full of first responders about the other side getting an untraceable $10,000 donation knowing it was in fact your own PAC that did that. I think it's arrogant and illegal to send untraceable electioneering materials with no disclaimer about who paid for it full of lies and personal attacks. It is arrogant to shut one side out at forums. But mostly, it is arrogant to refuse to entertain an idea because the people who came up with it live in a different part of your community. It is arrogant to make them feel like they should somehow feel ashamed for bringing the idea up at all, as if their tax dollars are good enough but not their opinions. It is arrogant to reject the messenger instead of the message.

Finally, I promise that WINGS was a completely transparent and open operation. We were constantly asking for volunteers on our website, Facebook page, and even on this very forum. It was always the same small group who showed up. We did the best we could with the resources available to us. We invited input.

And speaking for myself, I always tried to be respectful.
 

Misty

Banned
Dec 15, 2011
2,769
752
Cuff wrote:
I agree that it is difficult to find information about the candidates . I have lived here for 1 and 1/2 years and have yet to find a newspaper or tv station or web site that provides information about the candidates or other important civic issues.

You haven't lived her long enough to know that most of the smut posted on this board about the candidates (for the most part) is pretty much factual information. You also have to realize who the players that support the smut are. Jay Odom = Cecelia Jones (BCC, elected again). Odom did 6 months in prison for campaign contribution violations. Ms. Jones and her husband are notorious for their campaign ethics or SUBSTANTIAL lack thereof, not to mention the Camacho scandal, veiled threats to voters and other nefarious acts. Her and her husband both have been players on the political scene around here since Moses was a kid and not much has changed about their tactics.

Catalano (WCSB elected) also = Cecelia Jones.

Eddins (WCSB elected) = the State Attorney's son who has had his own run-ins with the law, a history of bad check charges, traffic violations, and court records indicate he was somehow involved in paying someone to have someone beaten to a bloody pulp. He is also best known for his associates including Jay Odom and Ray Sansom. You can google Ray Sansom, his political reputation is legendary and anything but stellar.

I guess all you really need to know about most of the candidates is that Walton County doesn't kick the garbage to the curb and leave it there for pick and disposal, we re-cycle it!!
 

Misty

Banned
Dec 15, 2011
2,769
752
What seems arrogant to me is that this issue was never really discussed on its merits. It immediately became a populist message of losing your right to vote even though it would have been a vote to make the politicians accountable, and then personal attacks, and then lies about agendas and funding.

When attempts were made on this forum to ask legitimate questions those of us sitting the fence on the issue were insulted, had short yellow bus images and other caricatures posted here by one of your leaders (Bob Hudson) and pretty much told how ignorant we were. Certainly didn't endear me to vote YES.

This feeling was confirmed in conversations with school board members who repeatedly used the excuse that they had no authority over the superintendent because she was elected. No one would be held accountable.

That's the lie the Board has told the Community for the last 25 or 30 years. When the shi* did hit the fan, no one held them accountable because accountability would mean the people had been lied to for the the last decade.

we did not receive all our money in one $10,000 donation (that was actually the opposition and they spread that lie at the Liberty forum, which we weren't invited to attend). They also would not return our calls for the Red Bay forum.

You don't need an invitation to a public forum
 
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