In-person voting in the primary election starts this Saturday, Aug. 13. The past several months have involved long hours of campaigning for the Residents-First candidates. The Residents-First candidates are:
- Reed Panos MD
- Andy Bilardello
- Jeff Bogue
- Dan Myslakowski
They have been facing an uphill fight as they strive to return control of the County Commission to the residents, as they campaign against candidates backed by The Villages Developer (“the Developer”). These Developer-First candidates, who will undoubtedly put the Developer’s financial interests first, are: Ulrich, Gilpin, Morris, and Wiley. It is an uphill fight for the Residents-First Candidates because the Developer-First candidates have the tremendous advantage of being backed by the financing and influence of the Villages Developer, by his political machine, by his full-time “political fixer” Gary Lester, and by Developer-owned Daily Sun “newspaper.”
The Developer-owned Daily Sun has been the Developer’s most effective weapon in his effort to maintain control of the County Commission. As you probably noticed, the Daily Sun has been waging a nonstop propaganda campaign to support the Developer-First candidates. That campaign consists of a series of propaganda-filled pieces that are full of lies, half lies, and misleading statements that are thinly disguised as news articles. We expect those “articles” to continue until election day.
THE MAJOR ISSUE IN THE COUNTY COMMISSION RACE
Despite efforts by the Developer-First candidates to divert attention from it, there is really only one major issue in the County Commission race. All voters (be they Republican, Democrat, or independent) should focus on it in deciding whom to vote for. That issue is NOT (contrary to the Developer-First ads) abortion, the Second Amendment, immigration, or a picture with Governor DeSantis. None of those have anything to do with County government. The major issue is simply: Who will the County Commission serve– the residents or the Villages Developer?
THE DEVELOPER-FIRST CANDIDATES
With the Developer’s support, the Developer-First candidates have been able to prepare slick ads which are designed to divert attention from the major issue in the race. Ulrich’s marketing material was even printed at the Daily Sun. You have to wonder if the Daily Sun, in addition to printing her campaign material, actually writes it? Voters need to look behind the advertising and focus on the major issue in the County Commission race. Here are a few facts about the Developer-First candidates that you will not read about in the Daily Sun, but which indicate how the Developer-First candidates will be voting if they are elected:
Ulrich: Ulrich is a pawn in the scheme to drive Commissioners Oren Miller and Gary Search (who were elected in a landslide) out of office after they dared try to increase the Developer’s sweetheart impact fee so that our 25% tax increase could be rolled back. Ulrich was obviously appointed to her position on the Commission at the behest of the Developer to replace Gary Search. At the POA’s candidates’ night, she lied about the identity of her largest donors, claiming they were just friends. At the same meeting, although she says she has a degree in mathematics, she showed herself incapable of doing simple arithmetic when she claimed that our tax hike was not really 25%. She takes credit for commission actions as her own achievements, even when the votes were taken long before she took office. Cleaning up the arcades for example was passed in February, a month before she took office.
Gilpin: Gilpin, notorious for sleeping at Commission meetings, is the sole surviving Developer puppet who voted for our 25% tax increase. He has rubber stamped every single thing the Developer has ever wanted. When he and the other Developer puppets constituted the County Commission, every vote on the Developer’s wish list got approved by a 5-0 vote. He is employed by T&D Industries, the number one contractor for the Developer. What do you think his salary at T&D is dependent on?
Morris: Morris is an executive at Cemex, a Mexican company that is a major producer of cement. Whose interests do you think he will represent? Do we really want a commissioner who supports building more mines approving zoning amendments for more mines? Do you think his salary will be reduced if he is elected and thus no longer works full-time for Cemex? Finally, take a look at his campaign finance sources, which are available on the County website.
Wiley: Like Ulrich, Wiley is a pawn in the scheme to drive Commissioners Miller and Search from office. He obviously was appointed to office at the behest of the Developer after the Developer’s first choice, Diane Spencer, resigned claiming a “medical emergency”. (Was it a conscience attack?) In his past District government positions, Wiley always toed the line for the Developer. He apparently got rewarded for that good behavior with his appointment to the Commission. Furthermore, his drone-flying video business is dependent upon his maintaining a good relationship with the Developer. He has called the previous commissioners, including the current County Commission Chairman Craig Estep “filth and scum” showing a lack of ability to understand how to work with a commission. He even has difficulty with neighbors who have called the sheriff’s department about him several times. While on PWAC, he has voted against the wishes of his own CDD 10, including voting to remove the amenity fee cap. He will be another clear puppet for the developer regime and not represent the residents.
THE RESIDENTS-FIRST CANDIDATES
Fair Government for Sumter and the Property Owners Association support independent candidates who have no ties to the Developer. We are not anti-development. We merely want to ensure that the plans and actions by the Developer are in the interests of the residents of Sumter County and that the playing field is even in Sumter County for all businesses. In conversations with many companies trying to move their businesses to this county the number one issue is not costs, not impact fees, it is the Developer that oppose any business not in his pocket. This is supported by the Developer puppets who support these actions. We oppose increasing taxes, including the independent fire district proposed by the district management that will significantly increase all resident’s taxes. The fire and safety services in The Villages and Sumter County are one of the best in the nation. Let’s leave them alone and continue them as they always have. The only thing the independent fire district will do is to increase your taxes, significantly! The Developer first candidates all support the independent fire district, which is designed to minimize taxes for the commercial property owned by the developer by capping the market value of commercial property to $10,000, shifting costs to the residents
We hope that the voters of Sumter County will fact check everything said above, will cut through all the BS being published in the Daily Sun, and will vote for Residents-First candidates: Reed Panos, MD; Andy Bilardello; Jeff Bogue; and Dan Myslakowski.
Reed G Panos, MD is Chair and CEO of Fair Government for Sumter, Inc.
