Voters urged to make informed choice for Board of Supervisor posts

Editor:

On November 2nd, the citizens in district two will vote in a special election to fill the position of supervisor in Pearl River County. Folks, I appeal to you to make an informed choice. With so many candidates, please consider the facts before making your decision. Local elections are just as important as state and national elections.

It goes without saying that we pay far too much attention to sports activities and entertainment than we do to the decisions made by our Board of Supervisors. Overall your favorite professional sports team or television entertainer really doesn’t affect your life, but your supervisor’s decisions certainly do.

To many, the office of supervisor doesn’t seem important. Many people see local election results as having very little impact on their daily lives, but the opposite is true. The decisions of the person elected in November will affect the lives and personal finances of all the citizens of Pearl River County. The supervisor of district two doesn’t spend only the money collected from district two taxpayers; his vote helps to spend everyone’s money, including the residents within the city limits. When viewed in its proper perspective, the office of supervisor is extremely important and everyone in the county has a stake in this election.

Because the supervisor’s decisions have such a profound impact on our lives, we should change our attitude about how we choose our office holders. Traditionally, Pearl River County voters only consider candidates who are: someone with name recognition, a friend, a friend of a friend, a relative, a friend of a relative and my favorite; he is a good person and needs the job. It’s more than just a job. It’s an important temporary loan of public trust that should be awarded only to the most qualified and principled candidate. If we cast aside the traditions that have probably eliminated many qualified candidates in the past and focus on each candidate’s message and qualifications we can achieve the goal of electing the best qualified candidate who will spend our money responsibly. I don’t vote in district two but it’s certainly favorable to me and the county to have the most qualified person serving in all districts.

The voters must examine every candidate’s campaign message to obtain the important information required to cast an informed vote.  We must ask ourselves; why should I vote for this person? Where does he stand on the issues that are important to me? Does he understand our system of government well enough to recognize the difference between funding truly legitimate functions of government, versus funding what is considered legal plunder under the color of law? Will he research the issue and ask these three important questions before casting a vote: Is this a legitimate function of government, if so, do we need it and can we afford it? Will he make his own decisions based on facts, or just follow the crowd? Last and most important, has he outlined a plan explaining how he will try to bring about the much needed change we desperately need, or simply scattered political signs throughout the district and repeated the vague campaign rhetoric we hear every four years?

Whether you agree or disagree with the views I have presented, it is important and certainly beneficial to the entire county for the citizens in district two to vote in this election.

Jeff H. Smith

Citizen