Sheriff hits mark with local Tea Party

Historic City News editor Michael Gold was in attendance last night as St. Johns County Sheriff David B. Shoar addressed a full house of members and guests of the St. Augustine Tea Party during their regular meeting held at the Village Inn.

From the moment Tea Party Chairman Eric West introduced Shoar, he held the attention of the diverse group which included both men and women, black and white, young and old, working and retired — each person eager to hear what the man who controls one of the largest components of the annual operating budget of the county was going to say.

West prefaced his introduction with a reminder of Tea Party values; largely focusing on smaller, limited government, more accountability from government officials for fraud, waste and abuse, and minimum restraints on the rights of the individual and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

Shoar delivered a thirty-minute lecture that included his views, not only from the perspective of a local resident and elected official, but also as a student of history and government on a state and national level.

Shoar was candid in his remarks — he didn’t mince words. He praised the audience for overcoming what Shoar sees as the single greatest threat to our constitutional republic; civic apathy.

Shoar referred to a recent article in The Economist whose subject was the foundation of our structure of government; the sheriff doesn’t favor a “direct democracy” where everybody votes on every government issue. However, he warned the group to stay actively engaged and involved so that the outcomes of government service are representative of the will of the people.

He gave a example in Duval County who recently held an election for mayor — the new administration will face perils that could “make or break that city”, according to Shoar. “Do you realize that only 22% of voters went to the polls in that election?”

Although he didn’t give any opinion on term limits for specific offices in Florida, he did see the fallacy of federal officers holding a “position for life”; pointing out the lack of incentive for the official to serve the will of the people, at all.

“Can you imagine someone serving as sheriff for life?”, Shoar asked rhetorically. “It would be a lot easier for me, but, I don’t think you would be too happy about it — and, I’d run out of bullets at some point.”

“The representative form of government is best,” Shoar opined. “But the right to vote; that myself, Commissioner Miner, and every other serviceman and woman has risked their life to protect, must be exercised regularly or it will be lost.”

Shoar stopped occasionally to respond to remarks and after his presentation. He took questions from the audience relating to many of the points of his lecture and specific questions about local and state government, unfunded mandates from Tallahassee and Washington, DC, his thought process in hiring new personnel, attitudes he has observed from the law enforcement community, his personal experiences in overcoming a growing population and shrinking budget, as well as answering questions about his vision for the near future in terms of the size and cost of government.

By the time Shoar turned over the microphone so that West could continue the business meeting, Shoar brought the audience to their feet with applause, words of encouragement and an invitation from the Chairman to return again to address the appreciative group.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer