PLEASE GO VOTE TODAY FOR BOB FORD!! … We Need Reform at City Hall!

Help Rid City Hall of the Incompetent & Corrupt Allen Green Administration …

JUST A FEW REASONS WHY BOB FORD DESERVES YOUR VOTE:

BIG LIES HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT BOB FORD BY SONYA LANEY AND MAYOR ALLEN GREEN. HOW CAN WE STOP THE GREEN MACHINE? BY RE-ELECTING BOB FORD.

 
First Big Lie:
That Bob Ford’s decades of public service are somehow inherently dishonorable and are of less social worth to our community than her/his work in the private sector.  Her/his extension of that argument seems to be that she is in no way “sullied” by any connection to government or the benefits it confers.   I beg to differ big time on that one.  More about that later.
The truth: Doctor Bob Ford, PhD, has been honorably and very competently engaged in government service in the following capacities and he entered these respective fields for altruistic reasons. So do most people who become cops, fireman, teachers, soldiers and social workers.  They have a desire to serve humanity. And yes, this country and this community have benefited from Bob’s work here.
Councilman for District I from 2010 to 2014.
University of Central Florida, Criminal Justice Regional Coordinator, Associate Lecturer, 1999-Present.
Chief of Police, City of Port Orange, 1986-1999.
Commissioner of Central Police Services, Eire County (Buffalo), New York 1984 – 1986
Chief Deputy for Operations, Erie County Sheriffs Department, 1977-1984
State University of New York at Buffalo, Assistant Professor, 1969-1977

Decades of service to our country and Port Orange. 
So here is my question to Bob’s opponents: When did “government service” and “government employee” become dirty words?
I am a graduate of the University of Central Florida, a former Florida State Child Abuse investigator, I worked in Domestic Abuse for years, am the child of a 45 year Florida State teacher and Navy Wave WW II veteran, am a recipient of Social Security (paid into that single zero all my working career), am a recipient of Medicare, am an aunt to a nephew who is a proud Navy Rescue swimmer and a friend to many whose children served or died in Vietnam or Iraq.
I am a woman who has desperately needed EVAC lately when it arrived at our door when my wonderful mother was struggling to breathe.  A woman whose mom was recently treated at a local excellent hospital emergency department where her life was probably saved.
So here is my question:  Do any of these scenarios resonate with you? These ways we as human beings are connected to our government and the entities that serve us.   Who out there is not benefiting from government in some form?  If you are receiving Social Security, Medicare, Disability, if you have a blue disabled sticker hanging on your rearview mirror or are getting any services from government, if you have a family member working in government, an aging parent in a nursing home, then you need government. If you are a business owner deriving any financial benefit from government contracts of any kind, or getting a subsidy, like the Chamber of Commerce, then you need government.    Sonya your father, Frank Flagg, works for the city of Port Orange in a $60,000 part-time job with health benefits, then you are benefiting from government.   If you have one single client who works for government or is military, then you are benefiting from taxpayer dollars.
Have there been some excesses in government in some areas?  Absolutely.  I agree 100%.  And those excesses must be fixed.  But to say that anyone who has had a career in government service is “dishonorable” or is a “taker” in any way, wrongs ever cop, fireman or soldier and sometimes teacher who put their lives on the line for us every day. And sometimes die. Do we remember 9-11, 2001?   I do.    
Let’s get real about the value of government and our government employees.  We need them and I am grateful for them. I like what Bob Ford always says “Government is a neutral. It’s the proper management of government that is always the challenge”.

Second Big Lie:
Bob Ford is somehow responsible for the $40 million unfunded pension problem in Port Orange.
Laughable. Bob Ford inherited the $40 million unfunded pension problem from previous councils. Councils that included our 4-term mayor, Allen Green, Bob Pohlman, George Steindorfer,  Mary Martin,  Dennis Kennedy, etc. Allen Green is the constant in Port Orange government. For 35 years now.
Since 2011 the unfunded amount has gone down over $5 million dollars, late in 2012 City council approved contracts that dramatically reduced pension benefits for our employees, and Bob Ford was part of the vote that reduced pension benefits. This was negotiated between the city and the employee groups. City council does not sit at the negotiating table.
 
A quote below from David Harden, an honest man:
Harden said Port Orange recently has increased the amount of years employees need to be employed before retirement, increased contribution levels by employees to the pension fund, and the city started contributing more than the minimum amount needed for the fund.
“The city did what it needed to do,” he said.. . .
 
Third Big Lie
“The only people going door to door for Bob Ford are union members”.
Laughable.  The door-to-door group includes supporters and Bob’s neighbors. I know because my husband, Mike, and I have walked with him.  All of us are either long-term business owners or employed in the private sector. We, as well as many union members, all support Bob Ford as the best candidate to continue to  bring fiscal accountability to Port Orange.  Based on Bob’s actions and votes on council.    And since when was “union” a dirty word?  Teachers, electricians, firefighters, all may belong to a union – it doesn’t mean they are not good employees or interested in the common good!
 
So I would ask that we all engage in some self honesty here, acknowledge that we all need and benefit from government, not buy into the lies of Bob’s opponent.
Sonya Laney and Mayor Green and his cronies have spent close to $40 thousand dollars to get her elected.   I don’t know about you guys but that scares the hell out of me.  Something’s up and it will not be good for taxpayers wallet. Those “investors” will be looking for a serious return on their investment.  Watch out Port Orange.
If you want clean transparent government and have not voted yet, please: Go vote for Bob Ford today.
Dianne Gardner
 
Dianne Gardner via bounce.secureserver.net