DePratter and Boyd make last
stand at 9-12 Project
Part II – Rep Debbie Boyd
Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov 01, 2010 06:00 am)
Rep Debbie Boyd
This past Thursday evening, October 28th, Representative Debbie Boyd, candidate for State Representative, District 11, appeared for the last time before the public in Columbia County to make her presentation and answer questions.
Defending her seat in the Florida State House, Newberry's "down home girl" showed the polish of two terms of experience.
Representative Debbie Boyd
Representative Boyd's introduction could have been taken right off her campaign literature. She began:
I just want to tell you a little bit about my background
I am a sixth generation Floridian.
I've been involved in agriculture all my life.
I really enjoy the job that I was elected to do and it has been my honor to serve you, the people of our district.
What matters is that I listen to my constituents.
I said yes to putting our citizens back to work.
I sponsored a bill this year that would help create jobs for North-Central Florida.
I said yes to protecting our water and keeping our water in North-Central Florida.
The "inflamed masses"
Rep. Boyd's advertisements
quote Elizabeth Porter calling folks "inflamed masses."
The real story
Miss Porter's remarks were made when she was a Columbia
County Commissioner and were made as a result of folks
coming to a budget hearing and complaining about their
taxes.
When Ms. Porter, the Commission Chairperson, was
questioned about why the County Commission never
listened to the taxpayers, Ms Porter's response was that
the County Commission knew best and it was not its job
to listen to the public when they acted like inflamed
masses.
In Columbia County the "inflamed masses"
don't attend budget hearings anymore.
During her conversation Rep Boyd said, "I'm not going to tell you I know something if I don't."
Judy Thacken commented about circuitous route bills travel through the Florida Legislature and the difficulty understanding the Florida Administrative Code.
Rep Boyd attempted to explain the process.
The Observer asked about the much hyped Inland Port and job creation.
Rep Boyd: "My very small part was to designate less than a square mile an Enterprise Zone."
Rep Boyd explained that she understood there would be 300 jobs created.
Sharon Higgins
Sharon Higgins asked about establishing an e-mail list so that folks would know what was going on.
Representative Boyd said that her staff was working on a data base.
One gentleman asked how one finds out about what's going on in the legislature.
Rep Boyd said she thought the best way was to search for a bill by its number using the Internet.
John Knapp mentioned that Rep Boyd said that Ms. Porter called folks "enraged masses" and that he was one of them.
Mr. Knapp asked Ms. Boyd if anyone in Tallahassee ever thought of not passing bills for a while and instead going back "to look at the junk they have been passing for the last 15 years."
Ms. Boyd took on all questions. Dorman Clayton, Jr. asks
about jobs.
Rep Boyd: "Your point is well taken and I tend to agree with that."
Mr. Dorman Clayton, Jr. asked: "What can you do to bring jobs and business into Florida?
Rep Boyd: "I'm working on making the 14 counties in north-central Florida more competitive by regulatory reform and I have supported legislation to help with that."
One person said that government is trying to regulate every aspect of our lives and asked, "Is there any way to cut back on that?"
Rep
Boyd said this could be done by cutting funding and said
that if you took away the money this would help to
alleviate some of the problem.
The Observer mentioned that Florida has the highest rate of Federal indictments of public officials in the country and that it doesn't seem that Florida can keep its own house clean. "Do you have any idea why there's so much public corruption in the state of Florida?"
Rep Boyd: "You've got me there. I have no idea why there is so much public corruption. All I know is that I keep my nose clean."
Representative Boyd concluded by asking folks to vote for her and thanking the 912 Project for the opportunity to be there.
