The Villages' Developer Tries To Expand Power

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
Posted on August 20, 2004

If you live in Sumter County,  you better watch what you wish for! If you want your county to represent your interests -- and not that of the developer of The Villages -- you better vote NO on Sumter One. Having already the VCCDD as a personal kingdom, now the powers that be want to run the whole Sumter County as well. This is a typical example for "Taxation without Representation." Our founding fathers fought the Revolutionary War to eliminate this unjust system. Now it sneaks into our society, without most people even realizing that they have no say into how their money is spent -- or how much they have to pay. And being lured in the kingdom with promises like "Gated Community"?

 

Recent events and discussions -- and votes -- during Sumter County Commission meetings have shown that not all commissioners are willing to bend to the developer's will. 

 

Some Sumter commissioners opposing the commands from The Villages' leaders is in my opinion the reason for creating the One Sumter petition. 

 

And if you think the powers behind these proposed changes are doing it for the welfare of YOU, the citizens, please rather read the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. They openly admit they are fairy tales!

 

VOTE NO on ONE SUMTER if you want your county government to stay independent.

 

If you haven't figured out what is really going on, please read today's Sumter County Times and see who finances the ONE SUMTER campaign:

Groups continue to collect money

Article Courtesy of the Sumter County Times Online

By Bob Reichman
Published August 19, 2004

 

Donations continue to be collected by three political action groups attempting to bolster their causes in the Sumter primary on Aug. 31.

The three political committees are One Sumter, Stop One Sumter and Villagers for One Sumter.

Two of the political groups, One Sumter and Villagers for One Sumter, are attempting to change the way voters elect their county commissioners. Stop One Sumter is aimed at maintaining the current voting system.

As of the latest reporting date to the Sumter Supervisor of Elections Office (Aug. 6), here is how successful the groups have been at receiving contributions promoting their causes.

One Sumter leads the pack with an accumulation of $18,100 in contributions. A substantial amount of its contributions come from contractors, investors and construction-related businesses from northern Sumter County, The Villages and neighboring counties.

Stop One Sumter is next in line with a total of $9,258 in contributions. A substantial amount of that comes from residents from central and southern Sumter County.

Villagers for One Sumter has raised the least amount of money through contributions. The group has raised $3,564, according to the Aug. 6 filing report. Most of its contributions come from residents of The Villages.

One Sumter successfully launched a petition drive last year intent on letting the voters determine if they want to continue with single-member district voting or change to at-large voting. The group has strong affiliations with The Villages and has promoted changing to at-large voting.

At the polls, voters will decide if they want to continue with the current system of electing county commissioners in single-member districts with only the voters within a particular district electing their commission representative or if the voting system should be changed to at-large voting with voters throughout the county electing all county commissioners regardless of the district they represent.


VOTE NO ON ONE SUMTER

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