Gloves off! Speak and ye shall be heard.

Gloves Off!

Today, March 5, 2011, I (not the Sylvia Poitier campaign for re-election) posted a letter from a former Deerfield Beach Firefighter, Joe Langlois.  Mr. Langlois sued the city and won about $2,000,000.00 back in 2005. (Clearly, documented by reputable news sources)   It has been mentioned that Mr. Langlois attempted to purchase space in a local paper to print his letter to inform the people of Deerfield Beach District 2 about one of its candidates.  He was denied that space.  Mr. Langlois felt strongly that this information should be known and since no newspaper would accept his money to publish his paper he decided to take another route to get his message to the people.  So the letter was copied and distributed in the community, as well, as on this very blog.  As my goal is to see that the citizens of D-2 get all the information so they can make up their own minds, why wouldn't I post it and support its distribution.  My question to any "unbought and unbossed" individuals out there is why is that wrong.  Why don't you want this information distributed?  If you really care about the community, then you should support any effort to get out information related to any individual running for office.  Why is it you can post information against a particular candidate and spout off about how it’s your 1st Amendment right and that the people need to know, but then be all upset and bothered when information related to the candidate you have apparently selected to back is distributed, in kind?  This is the height of hypocrisy, if not lunacy. 

The real question now is why the Preston camp and others affiliated with it getting so bothered that we now have counterpoint information to his message of being a man for the employee and the people.  If I am not mistaken, this happened before when Mr. Preston was asked about his relationship(s), or lack thereof, with the black community in D-2 prior to his bid for election.  What does he have to hide? Why is “his” camp trying so desperately to keep this information from getting out to the public?  Why are they name calling and disparaging the people distributing it? I am no one’s attack dog, except maybe my mother (love you ma).

 It brings my mind back to the Bush campaign against “terrorism”.  Do you remember there was a time, not that long ago, when you couldn’t question the former President Bush on his motives or actions, without being labeled a terrorist or un-patriotic.  Well, look what happened because people chose to be quiet, instead of speaking up against him to get to the bottom of issues.  No child left behind, which in my opinion has had devastating effects on the black community with regard to Florida’s FCAT and our kids being effectively left behind because they can’t pass it and our schools being inadequately equipped and/or closed as a result.  We had people losing their Constitutional rights, just because the Patriot Act allowed government to call you a terrorist without real proof and then you could be detained.  Heck, without giving another example I know that you already know the result of the tactics of that campaign and it’s political machine.  Because we weren`t allowed to question, no we didn`t question Bush`s motives and methods that we are now in the situation we are in (recession, high unemployment rates, especially in our communities and well, you know). 

Well, some are saying that I am being divisive in the D-2 community for distributing information about candidates.  I think right now, I am being very patriotic by exercising my 1^st Amendment rights and performing my civic duty by posting to this blog and distributing information that any concerned citizen should deem pertinent.  But it would seem that certain people have adopted the Bush administrations technique and are using it right here in the City of Deerfield Beach.  I do not know if they are part of the Preston campaign and I really don’t care.  It is not my job to care about their scare tactics, but it is my responsibility as a concerned citizen to arm each of D-2’s residents with information, so they can make an informed decision.  It is my job to help them see through the rhetoric of those who would sell D-2 out, just to ensure that their own position and those of their numerous family members is secured within the city.  I’ve looked in the mirror and I like what I see.  What I see is someone who is truly “unbought” and “unbossed”. 

D-2 cannot afford to elect someone without a proper inquiry into their past, especially an unknown.

To touch on the subject that was broached on another blog today about the information about one of the candidates that was handed out.  I think certain individuals need to check their facts, because non-partisan individuals in that neighborhood witnessed and heard the incident being so erroneously referenced by your blog.  Unlike you, I know firsthand what happened because I was there and it’s funny that one, who will not be named, initiated a conversation with me from inside their house.  I was asked what I was passing out and when I advised them the content of Mr. Langlois’ letter.  I was advised that the information was wrong and that they knew it was wrong because they attended all the commission meetings. Now I thought in my head “ok, I just read information on this case on an online newspaper and it’s obvious that some of the facts in the letter are true”.  The person indicated that they did not want the information as they were supporting another candidate.  I said “thank you” and turned around and walked away, returning to one of the other campaign workers and we continued to distribute our information.  I made it all the way down the street, when I

noticed that the two workers with me were not around.  I turned around and saw the strangest thing.  The individual from above was sitting there in her car verbally lambasting my coworkers with information about Sylvia Poitier.  This person told stories of personal information that we should not have been privy too because it does not concern us and has no bearing on the candidates political life.  They gave a litany of accusations against Poitier, which I will not mention here because, the information came from an individual that D-2 knows has a personal grudge against her.  Oh, by the way this is a self-proclaimed Christian who is out spreading vicious personal rumors about a candidate.  Some Christian, huh?  When they realized that the information they were spouting, denigrating Ms. Poitier was falling on deaf ears.  They changed their tactic to “ya’ll are not going to get me to change my vote because I am voting for change”.  “Well”, we asked, “what change is that?”  They kept repeating that they are voting for change, but could not give a reason as to what that change was.  This is really funny that the whole campaign is “spouting” that they are voting for change, but not one of them not even the candidate can articulate what change they could bring about.  Now, they are spreading vicious lies under the guise of “smear campaign” tactics.  It is unfortunate, too because these people are hiding behind the banner of “we want change” it is robbing the community of the chance to actually get to know all the candidates.  They are  effectively robbing us of the chance to properly review information regarding the people who are looking to us to vote for them. 

And in any case, the letter was not from the Poitier campaign it was from a clearly documented individual disputing statements made by one of the candidates.  That is not a smear campaign, that is the disseminating of information.  Why does the Preston campaign not put out literature about his past dealings in D-2?  It is own the minds of all of us.  We want to know our candidates we are not fooled by your attempts to discredit fact finding missions by hiding behind a smoke screen of “attack”, “smearcampaign allegations, or any other excuse you give for not providing us with the much needed information.

If you spent more time helping me to find information to provide to the public, you claim to care about, so that we can make informed decisions instead of brow beating us with apparent attempts to endorse a single candidate, then we would be united.  So maybe it’s time you looked in the mirror and maybe you’ll see what I see when I now look at you and that is someone who has been bought and is bossed.  Well unfortunately for you, we in D-2 are not buying it.  Certain individuals in Highland Commons may blindly follow your biased rhetoric, but the rest of us will decide for ourselves.  On March 8, D-2 will decide who is best for us and whoever that person is will have me in their corner and looking over their shoulders to ensure that D-2 gets the City Commissioner that we need and deserve.  Now, it’s your job to help me make sure that happens, instead of trying to block the process at every turn with your smoke screen accusations and misleading accounts of events.

 Act Out, Speak Up, and VOTE!