Commissioners' Covenant: A Bold New Direction for Lee County

EDITOR: Reposting - Because it's just worth it!

Originally published September 12, 3:14 pm 

Have you seen this?? Man this is bold. It's fresh.  And it's needed.  Frankly, I  like the ideas presented.  Some of our sitting leaders believe we work for them, not the other way around.  This is a start to building trust again.  Thank God somebody has the guts to do something "bold and fresh"!  Here's my take:

A challenge to sign a, “Commissioners’ Covenant with the Citizens of Lee County”,  has been issued to all the Board of Commissioner candidates by a newly formed group, The Coalition for Responsible Government in Lee County.  

Below is a copy I received from Frank Del Palazzo, BOC candidate and who feels this is worthy of his signature.   And to boot...every single candidate running for the Lee Co. Board of Commissioner open seats has been invited to sign the covenant too.  Will they?

 FYI – I looked into the coalition.  From my research, the group appears to be independent citizens consisting of representation from all demographics, professions and affiliations (I, D,R).   And the chair is listed as an independent! 

Their stated purpose is:

To promote principled governance that our elected official and candidates for elected office should pledge to support.

If Mr. Del Palazzo received his copy today, as he stated, the others probably will too.  

Recap:  This looks like a challenge to this blogger.  A challenge to promote responsible government and transparency, to lower taxes for all,  to provide safe responsible drilling for shale gas (already has blessings of our current Governor),  to encourage economic growth development across the board for all businesses (not just who some deems necessary),  and a challenge to implement the recommended changes from the Evergreen audit (to the tune of $14.5+ million) across the county including LCSS.

This document has  strong and bold statements that encourage participation among the parties to begin to deal with our high unemployment and to start building trust with the citizens again.  We have seen far too often the will of the people in our own county, not just in Washington, has been overthrown, overlooked and cast aside.  

There's even a challenge to hold meetings at appropriate times to encourage citizenry participation.   As there should be!  In other words, "We the People" should be able to be engaged in our government's business.  Making the meetings fit the people's schedule and not the leaders' is part of that.

I ask:  How can Lee County citizens lose (no matter what party affiliation or demographic or stance in life),  if all of our candidates, Democrats and Republicans, pledge to sensible government? They can't.  This is a win-win solution.  You either want responsible government, to have the means to take care of the citizens when they need it, to take care of our kids, and to be able to provide future security for the citizens of Lee Co...or you don't.  

I am confident Kirk Smith and Max Dolan, BOC candidates will sign the “Covenant”.   I know them well.  But honestly, there's nothing here that should stop Amy Dalrymple, Ricky Frazier and Ron Hewitt from putting their stamp of approval on it either.  These solutions are a good start to putting Lee County on the path to permanent fiscal responsibility. And unless they want Lee County’s unemployment rate to stay in the 12% range and refuse to really govern by the will of the people, all six candidates need to embrace this.  Thank you to the coalition!

I sincerely hope the references to God do not deter the Democrats.  Hopefully, they do not agree with the Democratic Platform on display last week at the DNC.  

I guess time will tell who does and who doesn’t care about “We the People”.  It should never be “We the party”. All our candidates, right and left, speak about America’s greatness.  Sign the Covenant,  BOC candidates!  Put your campaign money where your mouth is.  Walk the talk you talk.

Here’s a personal challenge to the Sanford Herald:  Print every word of this Covenant.

Not tidbits.  Not sensational keywords.  Every single word.  Your readers deserve to know the entire story.