Hello everyone it has been a while since I have written a blog, but I will gladly join in. I would like to thank the CAN for putting on the debate in the interest of the people of Clay County. I would like to answer some of the questions that have come up on the blog. That I did not seem prepared, I……… had no idea what to expect and did not have the questions in advance. Some of the questions such as the one on cost of a campaign, I did not do a good job replying. If you have never been involved in a campaign I was very hard to follow. Money is important but not the most important thing whether it’s a local or state issue, the CTLAC would have you believe money is the only issue. A successful campaign is more than money,it is work, work, work.  You have to walk the neighborhoods, make the calls, etc., etc.   Locally we have had candidates win with little or no money, in fact just recently in St. Johns county a CC was elected that did not raise anywhere near the money the incumbent did and  the incumbent lost.  If you look to Washington State there is a lady running that has nothing and is second in the polls. There are many other examples.  Speaking of St. Johns County they followed the proceeding of the CRC very closely and they are currently trying to become a Charter County such as ours. It was interesting that one of the bloggers noted that they did not want a 5/2. It would be nice if he or she also noted that St. Johns voted in 5 single member and two years later voted out single member and went back to 5 at large because it gave the citizens more say in their gov't. The CC is now 100% accountable to people. This is what we had until the CTLAC went to work to limit the accountability of the people of Clay County to just one CC or 20% of the people that make decisions for us. I have been citied for supporting bigger gov't. What I, as part of the CRC, was trying to set up was a gov't where the people were in control, where the people had more people to call or complain too that were also accountable to them. Under the 5/2 the people have 3 people in which to say I won't vote for you if you vote a certain way on an issue. Under single member you only have one. It has been a while since I was involved in a debate such as the one the CAN hosted  and I can assure you that the next one will be just as much fun and I look forward to it. Oh, just a side note the petition process is difficult, they must be written and abide by all the laws, I have noticed some real problems with the petitions of the CTLAC, story to follow later. Roy Lyons