Pay no Attention to Those Spewing FEAR!!

A week or so ago I posted a blog talking about civility and keeping things positive, yet here I am again. As much as I continue in leading the county party with the goal of civil campaigning, I am always amazed at the mud that is slung and the fear that is spread in the midst of an election.

This is a normal part of campaigning for some folks in order to literally “scare” up votes for one particular candidate over another. I would like to say this is rare; however, this type of fear-mongering is a little too common for my taste, and for most of the voters as well.

Remember, NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING DOES NOT WORK IN SMALL COUNTIES……..PERIOD!!!

In the normal course of an election I speak with all the candidates, especially those in contested races. Without exception, I feel fairly certain that I have a good idea of what to expect once the winning candidate is sworn into office.

This year is no exception.

I will make this as general as I can as I don’t know all of the specifics of the situation; only what I was told.

This weekend I was asked by several folks if it was true that there would be mass firings in one of our county offices if a particular candidate won the race.

The quick answer is this, NONE of the current crop of GOP Candidates in Milam County have expressed any interest in mass firings should they win their respective race. To do so once they took office would be the most ignorant and self-destructive act imaginable for a newly elected office holder.

For Instance, how many people actually know the workings inside an office such as the county Tax Assessor-Collector’s office? With such a small number of people understanding how to handle the work in this office, it would make no sense for someone to win election and then step into that office and fire the individuals who know how to do the job in hand.

I don’t mean to pick on the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office because the same can be said for a Commissioner’s office, the County or District Clerk’s office, or any of the other county office. Yet it seems like every election there’s one candidate, or one of the candidate’s surrogates, that makes this claim that there will be mass firings should a certain candidate get elected.

For the record, Mass firings didn’t happen in 2010, didn’t happen in 2012, didn’t happen in 2014, and I don’t see it happening in 2016 just because one candidate is elected over another candidate.

As a matter of fact, from what we have seen in the past, regardless of party affiliation, elected department heads have fought to keep the jobs of those working for them and increase their pay rather than let them go.  It’s doesn’t always work, but I have yet to see one locally elected candidate (of either party) who walked into office on day one and fired everyone.

So when you go to the polls. please don’t let the nay-sayers and the Doom-and-Gloom folks get to you. Go to the polls and vote for the candidates who you feel are the most qualified and who you think will do the best job.

Thanks for your support.

Bill