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 |