...........Or at least that's the way it usually works, but not always. One exception happened last night right here in Alachua County, Florida where Commissioner Mike Byerly successfully defended his position and was the victor in the Democratic Primary which is tantamount to re-election in November. Byerly was targeted by the Chamber of Commerce-supported political action committee (I'll call it ChamberPAC) with large financial support for his opponent, Reverend Kevin Thorpe. Weyerhaueser, the owners of what used to be called the Plum Creek property in East Alachua County, expected Thorpe to eliminate Byerly as the major "thorn in their side" in their push to development a "City in the Swamp" in the Windsor area.
A large coalition that was created to oppose Plum Creek continued to stand tall, voting in sufficient numbers to garner over 52% of the vote for Byerly despite the heavy advertising and commercial support for his opponent. Being a Republican who was willing to switch parties for the primary to help Mike, this writer lost a number of Twitter and Facebook followers over this issue but the issue was just too important to remain silent. And since being involved in the Stand by Our Plan coalition for over three years, it was important to hold this position and Mike is the most outspoken and knowledgeable advocate for our land and waters which are under assault.
Even in our own area, the springs are showing signs of stress and algae formation as is the Saint Johns River, much like South Florida finds today as the earth is showing its reaction to the abuse it takes. Politicians generally just give this lip service while the over development and sprawl continues as desired by the big money folks, but Byerly practices what he preaches. We are fortunate to have this man in office to fight for the rural land we have left and maintain a development process that is not one-sided for the developer and against the people. And that position isn't liberalism, folks, it's real conservatism as in conservation of what we have on God's green earth.
So congratulations to Mike Byerly on his successful campaign and it was a please to stand with him since we know he will always Stand by Our Plan. We will look forward to working with him for another four years.
A large coalition that was created to oppose Plum Creek continued to stand tall, voting in sufficient numbers to garner over 52% of the vote for Byerly despite the heavy advertising and commercial support for his opponent. Being a Republican who was willing to switch parties for the primary to help Mike, this writer lost a number of Twitter and Facebook followers over this issue but the issue was just too important to remain silent. And since being involved in the Stand by Our Plan coalition for over three years, it was important to hold this position and Mike is the most outspoken and knowledgeable advocate for our land and waters which are under assault.
Even in our own area, the springs are showing signs of stress and algae formation as is the Saint Johns River, much like South Florida finds today as the earth is showing its reaction to the abuse it takes. Politicians generally just give this lip service while the over development and sprawl continues as desired by the big money folks, but Byerly practices what he preaches. We are fortunate to have this man in office to fight for the rural land we have left and maintain a development process that is not one-sided for the developer and against the people. And that position isn't liberalism, folks, it's real conservatism as in conservation of what we have on God's green earth.
So congratulations to Mike Byerly on his successful campaign and it was a please to stand with him since we know he will always Stand by Our Plan. We will look forward to working with him for another four years.
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