Rhetorical questions!

There has been an interesting trend recently... I am starting to get challenged on how I do things around here. It is not unexpected because I am beginning to shake trees that have never been shaken. We all know that there is a "circle of influence" as I call it in this county that has largely driven Citrus County politics. As their influence dwindles with their preferred candidates losing elections, they begin to get louder and start to question things.

Case in point... someone has created a fake social media profile and just talks about how wrong I am all the time and creates AI images to drive that point home.

I have to admit, the images this person creates are pretty funny. I printed one out and put it on a tshirt to wear to meetings.

Then last week, the Chronicle editor wrote an editorial on how bloggers need to do a better job getting information before posting stories and whatnot. That was in response to my article where I was asking questions about Commissioner Davis' trip to Denver.

Yesterday, I posted a teaser that someone high up in the Citrus County government has been fired. I get questioned on putting the cart before the horse and not waiting until I got sourced people to go on the record with a comment.

Ummm.. I am not media. I write things about local government that I find. I do not have a formula for how all this works. I find something, I verify it myself, I share it with you all. I do not call for comment. I do not reach out to the people involved. I get the information and share it.

The fact is that I know the name of the person. I am giving the county a chance to make a comment. If they do not, then I will share it anyway. I posted it with the vague information because I wanted it known that I know. The county has recently been trying to find ways to reduce the information that I get... or at least slow it down.

So my guess is that this will get leaked to the Chronicle or other sources for publication first... so I wanted to get out in front of it and show that I know and their efforts to slow information are not working.

Same with the Commissioner Davis trip. She spoke with the Chronicle and gave them some information to refute some of what I said. She sent them the video of her project... which is now a county project somehow.

But did she tell them the full story? Did she tell them how North Florida Land Trust got involved in Citrus County? Did she tell them who helped her navigate all of that? Did she tell them that the original purpose of it was to derail the sales tax (side note, it worked)?

No, of course not.

But I know all of that because I was involved in it. I will write the full story to this later, but the point here is that I know these things. When I ask questions on this page, generally I know the answers. They are rhetorical questions to make people think... I then come back with more details in the future as a follow-up.

Sure, that can lead to wild speculation. That can lead to people assuming things that may not be true... fair point.. However, that happens whether I mention something or not.

So today's rhetorical question.... What does the NFLT have to do with the sales tax?

Let ya think on that one a bit. Have a great Tuesday!