Letter: Brunson running for the right reasons

Dear Editor:

How important is your vote tomorrow?

Voters have selected our County Commissioners in the past in two steps but that is not the case this year.

Since all four candidates for the District 2 race are Republicans, under Florida election laws a “universal primary” is declared which means that everyone gets to vote at the same time – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all registered voters.

It also means that your one vote has never been more important than it will be tomorrow. The highest vote getter tomorrow will win their race, even if it is only by one vote. No run-off, no-General Election in November.

I am pleased to see four county residents offering to serve in this position, but, once again, I am disappointed that our representatives in Tallahassee couldn’t foresee the consequences of their decision when they passed this election law.

By not taking the top two percentage winners and putting them into a runoff in the November election, this position could be “won” with as little as 25.01 percent of the voters that vote in this primary election.

I am voting for and recommending Randy Brunson for County Commission District 2. My feelings and opinions are that we have tried two of the present candidates; one served and then lost her bid for re-election, presumably because the majority of the voters wanted to try someone else.

However, from my observations, the incumbent treats and responds to people in a way that he will not receive a vote from me.

Another candidate is a former administrator, a likeable enough person, just not the best choice in this election.

Brunson has previously served our county as a commissioner on the St. Johns County Airport Authority. The position didn’t “go to his head” as he continued to treat everyone respectfully and even got along well with all the other board members while still excelling at his job.

Brunson also has experience with our local housing market. Like Ron Sanchez, Brunson is a licensed building contractor, but he only builds one “affordable” house at a time.

Brunson has extensive business and management experience that this county can especially benefit from in this economic climate.

The amount of work and hours that he has volunteered to a wide variety of organizations would make any Boy Scout envious.

If you don’t want to repeat the days when every developer’s request received blanket approval, Comprehensive Plan changes were made behind closed doors and the existing residents of our county were forced to pay for the required infrastructure of all the developments, then I strongly recommend that you vote in the upcoming Primary election.

Don’t let 25.01 percent of those that vote elect someone that will affect 100 percent of us.

Let’s get someone on our County Commission who is running for the right reasons.

Gary McMahon
St. Augustine, FL