Not Jumping In

Last week, I mentioned publicly that I was considering jumping in to the County Commission race and running against incumbent Rebecca Bays. I told everyone that I would decide by the end of this week. Here we are.

In short, I will not be running against Rebecca in this election.

The reason comes down to a few things.

1) Family - My family loves where we live and does not want to move. Can't say I blame them. But due to state law, I have to live in the district upon election... which means moving before November. They would support the decision either way, but at the end of the day, it is a big ask... and one I didn't want to ask.

2) Platform - Since starting this, the reach has exploded. As of today, we have almost 2,000 followers in less than a year. We are getting 100's of thousands of page views each month. Pretty impressive... but this also means people value what I am doing and it is an important role. I could do similar as commissioner, but more limited. Not sure that benefits the county at this moment more than what I am doing now... although some feel I am not helping the county at all. Most though disagree with that.

3) Influence - For lack of a better word, I will use this one. Since starting this, I have made changes in the county. There are conversations in this role that I can have with people that I cannot have as commissioner. That helps make changes. Not everyone always agrees all the time of course, but these are conversations I may not have been able to have prior to this role. The goal is to help move Citrus forward. I have a voice in that from here... maybe that becomes less on a board of 5.

I encourage you all to read to the end to see the full plans for this page in the future.

I ran a survey over the weekend to gauge interest from this community. I wanted to see what you all thought. The results there were 2-1 in favor of me running for county commissioner. There was a lot of feedback there and a lot of support. Much different than what I saw in 2024 as a newcomer to the political world. I appreciate all of you and made this decision that much harder because I did not want to disappoint you all.

However...

Beyond the family conversations, I had several conversations with some prominent people over the past week. Much like regular readers here, I value their opinions and suggestions on what I should do and those discussions helped lead to this decision. I wanted to see where they thought I could better serve Citrus... and that has been my goal here.

Do I help this county more as a commissioner over the next four years or as someone who talks about the issues, demands transparency and helps offer solutions?

These discussions showed me something. There is great need for what I do. The overwhelming majority of these people mentioned that no one has ever shown the issues in the way that I show them. They respect the fact I will provide the research for you all to see rather than just putting out pure opinion.

The prevailing thought was this:

"You provide more in-depth conversation than anyone else out there and that is what makes you different."

In all these discussions, I talked about my plans for either option. What it would look like if I ran for office.. What it would look like with me as a county commissioner... What it would look like if I stayed on the outside and focused on the Citrus Insider. I put everything out there and had deep conversations about these things.

While acknowledging they appreciate what I am doing here, they also acknowledged that I would make a good commissioner and told me if I felt it was best for me and my family to run, then to go that route. Many said they would support me financially if I went the commissioner route... again, something that was missing in 2024.

It is good to know that people value the plans I have for the future of this page and what I am doing... None of them thought my ideas were crazy, so that was good.. haha.

So what are those plans you ask? Well I will gladly share them. While I do not have full details ironed out, here is the gist.

1) Video Series - I am going to introduce a video series where I interview elected officials (maybe staff) about various topics. These would be public education pieces where we help educate the public on various things regarding the community. We will talk about upcoming projects, workshops, dive into things like the budget and so on. Topics that we need to talk about but sometimes do not understand. The goal here is to help keep people informed and help get a better understanding of what is going on and how it all works.

Look for the first interview later today. I have another scheduled for next week.

2) Election coverage - This will cover a few different things that we do not have here currently.

a) Candidate interviews - These will be video interviews with candidates. I will discuss the issues with them and go in depth into their thoughts. But more importantly, these are not your typical interviews we are used to around here. These will be 60 minute style interviews where I challenge them on the issues and dive into voting records and all of that.

Expect these to start rolling out in April/May as we get closer to the election. The full race will be released at the same time. For instance, all those running for County Commission District 4 will have videos released at the same time, so one candidate does not have an advantage of seeing how the other candidate did.

Questions will not be provided in advance and the discussion will be on the fly. The community is interested about the issues and I will ask the direct questions and challenge them on their stances. No softball questions here.

b) Candidate debates - I plan on hosting at least one candidate debate, ideally two... but not like we are used to. These will be actual debates that I moderate... similar to presidential debates. I want the candidates to tell the public why they are better than their opponent for the seat and why people should vote for them. We need that type of debate in this county and let the candidates challenge one another on various topics.

How a candidate handles a bit of pushback from an opponent can give insight on how they will perform as a commissioner. But more importantly, someone (me) is there to challenge them when they say something that is not correct.

I would like these to be June/July timeframe. They will be streamed live and saved as a recording for those who can not watch live. There will be a live audience as well for those that desire to be there in person.

c) Get to know your candidates - these will be your traditional type interviews where we discuss who they are as a person.. their role in the community... and so on. This gives voters a bit of insight into who they will be voting for.

d) Candidate event notifications - Not sure exactly how this will work just yet, but I want to create a way for people to know about candidate events. I know people miss things here and there during the election cycle... they didn't know this candidate had this meet and greet or that candidate was at this location.. So I want to put those out there for you all to see and attend if you desire to do so.

3) More detailed county conversations - expect to see more of the same. Detailed conversations about county issues with research to back it up. This format has worked well and will continue.

I appreciate you reading this far... Almost done.

The reality here is that all this involves a TON of time. I do not mind doing the work, but the more I work on this, the less I work on the photography business that pays the bills. Like I said, my wife loves our house... I don't want to lose it because I am spending too much time on this.

That requires a way to generate revenue. I created the subscription option to help generate revenue. This allows individuals to contribute yearly or monthly to help keep this running.

I have had several of you already jump on board and I greatly appreciate it more than you know... but in all honesty, I need more subscriptions. I am not looking to get rich from this at all, but again, I want to keep my house. I have a very modest goal in mind for this and we are not quite there.

So if you are so inclined to contribute, there is a subscription option available for you. There is also an option to leave a one time contribution under the "buy me coffee" link at the menu at the top of the page.

If you are a business that may be interested in sponsoring the video series, the debates, or the page in general, reach out to me and we can discuss what that looks like. I have a few ideas that may be of interest. We can also keep the names private as well if desired.

All that to say this... I appreciate each and everyone of you who has supported me either for a commissioner race or this page... or both. I am not going away and will continue to be a voice in the community. We will see what the next election cycle brings where I do not have to move :)

Have a great Friday and weekend!