seabolt
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Posts posted by seabolt
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Well, I called Larry Ragsdale last week and he answered almost all the questions I had. I thought it a much better contact than posting on a message board what he felt.
Some of you might want to try that.I like that. If anyone wants to ask me questions, they are more than welcome to telephone me.
678-386-4197
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There have been many questions asked of me. I will explain what I want to do on the BOC.
I want an Ethics Board put in place to bring honesty to our local government. An Ethics in Government Statute was approved in the 1990s, but never empowered. I would like this to happen and I think this is important to the citizens that I have spoke to.
I have promised to hold quarterly Town Hall Meetings for Post 1, meetings where citizens can ask questions and receive answers from their elected officials. I think that many people are not able to attend the BOC meetings and would like to know what is going on in the county. I would like them to have the opportunity to meet with the elected officials and discuss the issues.
I want to see controlled growth and address the traffic sprawl and other problems which have been created by the current board of commissioner’s open zoning approvals given to their local developer campaign donors. This is something that I know will need work, but if we control the growth instead of overloading the sewer system, we can do this. There is not much we can do about what has already occurred but we can prevent more issues by working with the citizens and working together.
I want to work for the citizens of Post 1 to see real industry and high paying local jobs move to Paulding instead of just building more houses, restaurants and big box stores to sit empty.
I want the voters of Paulding County to have the privilege to vote for every bond issued the taxpayers have to pay for. The current BOC approved $65million+ for the new courthouse complex without a vote.
The current BOC built the airport even after the voters said “NO!”, but here we are still waiting for our Richland Creek Reservoir. I feel like if the citizens vote no on something, that needs to be respected. If your employer says no, then you are supposed to respect that. The BOC is employeed by the citizens.
I will ask to put all county issued bonds out for competitive bids. The current BOC simply authorizes Regions Bank/Morgan-Keegan to issue the bonds without a bid. Region’s management are major donors to Larry Ragsdale.
I will fight for the senior citizens of Paulding with abated property taxes much the same as Cobb; cap the taxes, remove taxes from our senior citizens at 62 years of age and increase the homestead exemption to $5000. This was discussed before and the citizens seem to want it.
I will work to see that property value assessments are performed on an as needed basis over 3 years as mandated by state law instead of every year as our current BOC has been doing to increase the county tax digest every year.
I will work to add the Fire Department back into the county budget plus the Fire Tax so we can have a fully staffed department prepared to battle fires when they arrive on the scene instead of having to wait for additional firefighters. I think that public safety deserves to be a priority on BOC. These people work hard for the citizens and deserve the respect and the funds necessary to do their job efficiently.
I might not have every answer that you want but at least I am putting myself out there for criticism and I am letting you what I want to do. I am not gonna pretend to know everything, but I at least want you to know the basics of how I feel about the issues.
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I simply want to get to know you as a person and you might as well get used to that as if you are elected, you do become a public servant and fair or not, your personal life does come into play.
As for me saying you are not welcome here, that is about as far from the truth as it possibly gets. I do not own this site and that is absolutely not up to me to decide. I do respect the fact that you are on this public forum, I just would like to see the questions answered.
I, once again, am not the one running for office so your questions to me are irrelevant. If I could offer you one bit of advice right now it would be to get used to public ridicule. It will happen whether you deserve it or not. I can pretty much assure you that if you are elected, you will get questions much harder than the ones that I asked of you. Good luck with your campaign Joey.
Thank you for the advice and I agree it will get more difficult if elected. I do not mean any disrespect as from what I have been told you are a great supporter of Paulding and you do many things in the community. I will say that I have decided if I am elected or not I want to do my part also. I want to be more involved with the community and help out with anything I can. I know that this is a great place to live and I want to help continue that.
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As I stated in another post, it doesn't appear that Larry Ragsdale has chosen the path of campaigning on paulding.com and you have, thus the reason for my questions to you. I did send you ONE of the questions listed above in a PM and you did not give me a specific answer. I will be glad to copy and paste that PM if you would like me to.
As for all your questions to me, I am not the one running for office - you are. I am asking questions of a political candidate that chose to come on a public forum and campaign. If I recall correctly, you have stated several times on paulding.com that you would welcome our questions.
If you want to ask questions that are pertinent to my stance, that is fine. If you want to try and get off the issue I will not do that.
It seems to me that you are trying to say that I am not welcome on here.
I have stated my stance on the issues. You avoid that because you like them but don't want to admit it though.
It is ok to agree with me. Many republicans have sent me support to.
I respect your concerns. I just want to keep on topic. That is tax increases.
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I have some questions for you Joey if you don't mind talking the time to answer them individually. I respectfully request that the answers come from you Joey and not from the "peanut gallery". As irrelevant and simple as some of these questions may seem, I can assure you that I have very valid reasons for asking each and every one of them. My questions are as follows:
1) How long have you lived in Paulding County?
2) When did you register to vote in Paulding County?
3) Did you vote (on at least 2 occasions) in Cobb County when you actually were a resident of Paulding County?
4) Approximately how many Board of Commissioner's work sessions and meetings have you attended in Paulding County?
5) Approximately how many Paulding County Board of Education meetings have you attended?
6) Do you support the "general" ideas of the Democratic Party?
7) Which tax increases specifically are you speaking of relating to the Board of Commissioner's?
8 Do you agree that an airport will help in bringing more industry to our county? Can you please tell me specifically how much the airport will cost the taxpayers of Paulding County?
9) Have you ever met with any of the leaders of our county to discuss issues that are important to you?
10) Have you ever been involved in any civic or chairitable organizations within Paulding County and if so, which ones?
11) Do you have children attending school within the Paulding County School District?
Again as I stated earlier, competition is ALWAYS a good thing in my humble opinion and I certainly appreciate your concern for our county and you taking the time to run for the post commissioner spot.
I am glad you are helping to support my statements that there has not been one thing said on here to support your candidate with facts. You instead change the subject. I have spole to you about those questions and you seemed satisfied with what I said.
I don't believe that you need specifics as you already know the many TAX INCREASES because of the votes of the BOC.
If you want to believe the airport will not cost the taxpayers any money, I respect that.
Were there any votes by the citizens on this issue. If there were, did the BOC vote as the citizens did. I am asking this.
As for your questions. Once again I will say that I meet the qualification to be on the ballot.
Do you think the people on here are not supposed to speak unless they have attended as many meetings as you. If they do not have kids in the schools, do their votes not count either.
I am asking that you please answer the questions that I have asked. If you disagree with the topic of this thread, please use FACTS to support your candidate.
I believe that the people want to know more about the candidates stance on issues and not opinions. It is obvious that your opinion is that the Commissioner has done a good job and I respect that. If you could use facts or talk about the issues I might decide to vote for him to.
I would like to know some facts.
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I'm not D-Dawg but I am pretty certain he is probably working right now - I'm quite sure you will hear from him.
Thank you BeachBum. I definitely know how that is, work.
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I am waiting to here from you D-Dawg. I ask you several questions on here today but I have not heard anything from you. I will ask again.
Do you disagree with the facts that those votes of the BOC have increased our taxes. If you disagree with that then let just say it. Please use some facts to support your argument about this.
Do you disagree that the airport is or will cost the citizens money. If you feel that this is wrong, please let us know.
I only ask that you use some facts to support your comments. It seems that you only want to use comments against me instead.
Please let us know what the candidate you support has done and what he stands for on the issues.
You have been ask this before but you have not said anything. You instead have changed the topic to confuse people.
I want to know if I am wrong or if the posts on here are wrong about this. Please use FACTS instead of your opinion though.
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Thank you. I have been open about the issues that I support and have been available to people. It is obvious that some people are not happy with that. They would rather offer lies and try to confuse people. Talk about trying to cahnge the thread. If they disagree with the posts on here, they have said anything about that. Not one person has disagreed on here about what the facts in this thread. It seems like they could not argue with the facts but instead change topic though. I applaud there efforts but it does not change the facts though.
I believe Larry Ragsdale is probably a good person who has dedicated much of his time and efforts to his district. I thank him for that because after some of what I have dealt with I know how difficult it is. If he is elected again, I respect that and I will offer to anything he needs to help if he would like. It baffles me how people get upset because someone wants to help but them.
I thank you again.
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Mr Seabolt, I see you still want to skirt around my questions. And I wonder how you would treat the public in the future if by chance you do win. But your lack of experience is showing, and your lack of knowledge about local issues is showing also. How you you really expect to serve the public by walking into a buzz saw and not know anything of what's going on? On The Job Training does not float for public office! This is something I give David Austin a tremendous amount of credit for doing before he decided to run for office.
Mr Seabolt, you are running for the Post district I live in. I have asked you a public question, in a public forum, in a thread you started about your competition. Four simple questions that anyone who is running for office should have known BEFORE they went public about it.
You say you want to do good for the people in your district, but you avoid questions from those people and you are not even in office yet. And you know very little about the issues you will be dealing with if you were elected to office. How is this helping the public? I know I'm being harsh on you, but I expect more from those who represent me! I would hope others would also.
I agree that we need change, but if there is a change I want it for the better! Not just for the sake of change. Otherwise, I know what to expect from what we have currently!
Whitey, if you want to start a new thread to ask all of your questions, I'll be glad to answer them when I have a moment. This thread keeps going off track with other issues and I will not participate in that any more. As for meeting and talking with Joey at the BOC meeting, sure. I may have a conflicting meeting that morning, but if that does not happen, I will be there.
I agree with you on much of what you are saying. You stated that you have already voted and obviously have a alterior motive for what you are doing.
I had two Meet and Greets last weekend, I have been to more previously, I have offered to meet with you and not only ask me questions but let me learn from you and hear your concerns personally, what more do you want.
If you are that concerned with the answers to what Mr. Ragsdale has voted in regards to tax increases, I would suggest two things. One, read the entite thread as I feel each of your questions have been answered on here. I am going to copy the same things that have already been said though. You could ask your Commissioner if you are not satisfied with what you have read here.
The thread was started to inform the people of the voting record of their Commissioner. It does not matter who posts the facts about this or not, it is there. I am not going to entertain your attempts to confuse the members what this thread is about though.
If you want to support your current Commissioner, that is good, I respect that. Why don't you try to speak about what your Commissioner has done to improve your district or why you decided to support him. You talk about skirting the issues, you have been asked on here to dispute the posts that have been written. You have not once disagreed with these posts about the votes that have resulted in tax increases.
The fact is that the people on here could not argue with the posts, they then decided to put lies and slander about me.
I have been respectful to everyone on here and I have offered my feelings on the issues. If people disagree with that, fine but try to offer some facts about why to vote for another candidate. That is what is great about Pcom. We can offer and get many opinions. I respect that.
Thank you for the questions.
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Truth is he started as a Republican but realized that he wouldn't have a chance so he changed parties. Have to question someone who flip flops parties to just get elected. JMO
I was never on the ballot or qualified as a Republican, although there is not anything wrong with that.
When I decided to put myself on the ballot it was the last day of qualifying and since no one else had decided to do this, I thought I would give the voters a choice then. I then decided that with the races such as Commission Chairman that I would get pushed aside during the primaries. I also decided that to most people Republican or Democat is not a concern in local governments. I thought that with that the thing to do was put myself on the ballot as a Democrat. .
I have been told that most of our local elected officials were Democrats but then switched to Republican also.
I have to say that no matter who is elected, we habe to work together to reach the same common goals. I would like to do my part to help out no matter who is elected. I have definitely learned many things and respect how much many of the citizens on here do their part to help wether they disagree with me or not though.
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I forgot to answer the disclosure question. I do not have any disclosure forms that I have not filed. If I have then I have not been told about that.
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And if I asked you about all the controversy you had when you filed to run for office, would you answer? If I remember the news report correctly, you claimed that you have lived in Paulding County for 8 or more years? Is that correct? But you registered to vote, and voted in Cobb County 2 or 4 years ago? How was that possible? How can someone live in one County and vote in another?
I'd like to know the answer to these questions as well?
Isn't there a case pending against you for voter fraud? You stated you were living in Paulding County yet voted in Cobb County over the last 8 to 9 years. In fact, this will be the first general election YOU have ever voted in in Paulding County. In fact, didn't you only register to vote in Paudling County one day prior to stating your intentions to run for this position?
Also, why have you not filed the appropriate forms of disclosure that are required?
And, the day after you paid your fees to run for office you went back to get a refund. Why was that Mr. Seabolt?
Just questions that I, as a concerned citizen and voter, would like to have clear answers on prior to the election. And in fact, since there is already early voting taking place, I believe the answers to these questions are long over due.
You may have good answers to these questions. But the fact that these allegations have been made stating that you were willing to lie in order to vote in a district that you did not live in makes me worry about what else you would lie about.
Also, why did you ask for this trial to be postponed until after the election? Wouldn't it have been better have it cleared up prior so that voters would know that truth before they vote?
I qualified to run for Post 1 Commissioner in Paulding County and the Republican Party challenged that qualification. There were comments stating accusations and I was told that if I would remove my name from the ballot that those accusations were not to be public. I refused to remove my name from the ballot and the Board of Elections had a hearing about this. It was determined that I was eligible to run for this as I did meet the qualifications. There is no case pending against me for voter fraud as I know. This was a formality that was from what I have been told a tactic used by the Republican Party to deter a candidate from campaigning. I have not postponed anything.
I am sorry that there are some who might not agree with me and I know that I can't please some of you. I only ask that you give me the chance to do this.
As for Republican or Democrat I have stated before and will say it now that should not be a issue with local government. if I am not elected, I have learned much about local government and want to continue involvement with it and do what I can to help better my community. I am doing this to try and do some good and try to do my part to.
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D-Dawg, BeachBum, Madea, NewsJunky, QuickQuisine, and anyone else with questions.
I must say that I have been learning a lot just from reading the posts on this website and I have to admit that I might not have all the answers, but I am trying to get them, I appreciate your concerns and I thank you for giving me this opportunity.
I am undecided on many races, just like some of you probably are, but I have been trying to read as much as I can about the candidates and attend functions to learn about each of them, Republican and Democrat. I have never voted a straight ballot for one party or another, instead I vote for each candidate that I feel will represent me the best. We are lucky to have this many choices this year, and I know that whoever is elected will have my support as they try to do a good job. I can say that I do not support Socialism, as some have put it.
What I plan to do if elected is have an open forum with the citizens and be available to them. If I am asked questions, I might not know the answer, but I will work to find it and answer the concerns. I would like to do the same with the questions that have been asked of me on here. I invited each of you to the different Meet and Greets that I attended last weekend, but I know you might have been busy or unable to attend. I would offer to meet with each of you either on one occasion or different occasions and answer your concerns. These are complex questions, and I feel that if we sit down and discuss them, not only could you get to know me, but I could learn much from each of you. Please PM me about this if you would be interested.
I have said previously that I will be available to the citizens and what better way to start than meeting with you now. I am available at your request, and again I want to say thank you for the questions.
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D-Dawg, BeachBum, Madea, NewsJunky, QuickQuisine, and anyone else with questions.
I must say that I have been learning a lot just from reading the posts on this website and I have to admit that I might not have all the answers, but I am trying to get them, I appreciate your concerns and I thank you for giving me this opportunity.
I am undecided on many races, just like some of you probably are, but I have been trying to read as much as I can about the candidates and attend functions to learn about each of them, Republican and Democrat. I have never voted a straight ballot for one party or another, instead I vote for each candidate that I feel will represent me the best. We are lucky to have this many choices this year, and I know that whoever is elected will have my support as they try to do a good job. I can say that I do not support Socialism, as some have put it.
What I plan to do if elected is have an open forum with the citizens and be available to them. If I am asked questions, I might not know the answer, but I will work to find it and answer the concerns. I would like to do the same with the questions that have been asked of me on here. I invited each of you to the different Meet and Greets that I attended last weekend, but I know you might have been busy or unable to attend. I would offer to meet with each of you either on one occasion or different occasions and answer your concerns. These are complex questions, and I feel that if we sit down and discuss them, not only could you get to know me, but I could learn much from each of you. Please PM me about this if you would be interested.
I have said previously that I will be available to the citizens and what better way to start than meeting with you now. I am available at your request, and again I want to say thank you for the questions.
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You've endorsed two candidates in this thread. And yet you respond to my question with the above quote. Now you choose to be vague. I still haven't voted. I asked your candidate Seabolt some questions in his thread (that he modified his OP in after I asked my questions). I felt his answers were somewhat vague. But I had intended to re-visit them when he returned. Now I'm getting vague from you. Hmmm
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Response?
I absolutely know that there are SOME tax increases neccessary, but I also know that there are many that could have been prevented by using a little bit of forethought and using the planning suggestions given to the BOC.
The current BOC has been Tax and Spend. There are larger tax bases than residential building, such as industry that would help support the Paulding County needs.
I am simply saying, ask yourself what has Larry Ragsdale done for the citizens of Post 1 and Paulding County in 8 years. We need to be represented and we need someone who will stand up and ask questions instead of doing everything the chairman has told them to do.
JoeyI like your idea of town hall meetings, but unless you have it managed well it will turn into a free for all. Just as the BOC requires you to sign up and state your reason for talking, and be put on the agenda. The BOC is just an organized town hall meeting, although somewhat disconnected from the general citizens. After the 1st meeting I'll bet you will do something to restrict and direct the discussion so it can stay on topic. Make sure you restrict it to one or two topics, example, "Tax assessments" Or "Fire Tax" so you can actually have a discussion or it will end up being about "my neighbors barking dog". I just cannot see several hundred persons attending a town hall meeting without a restricted agenda. It would take all night and the discussion would go everywhere. Where will you hold it? I suggest you hire security. Who's going to pay for the costs of the space and security?
I guess what I'm getting at is, Pcom is a great tool. Have pubby set up a (bocguy) (was done before sort of) thread and people can send you things to discuss with the board. There may be some open meeting laws to consider also. Is your county attorney going to be there to make sure you don't commit to something that you cannot do. Use the chat feature and do your "town Hall" meeting online. I cannot wait to watch the BOC meeting on TV when you start bringing up each issue and question from the general public. Should be more entertaining than the other stuff on the tube.
Good luck, I'll attend the 1st one.
Those are good suggestions and I will use them. I like the idea of a chat forum also. As for how this is done, I would have to say that it 100% possible as there are many counties that already do this. Thank you for the comments and I will hold you to attending that.
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When have we ever had "ethics" on the BOC ??????
There was ethics statute passed in the 1990's but has never been empaneled by the BOC. This is something that I will encourage each of the BOC to do. We deserve ethics with the decisions of the BOC. I believe if elected, this will be something that is easy to do, as I know ethics is important to David Austin also. We have the opportunity to give the citizens a voice on the BOC, please help with your vote.
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I could've swore when I first read this topic it concerned the SPLOST and Fire Dept. Am I missing something?
You are not missing it. I edited it because of the way I had described it was a bit confusing. There are many topics that I want to put out there, but I am trying to just put what the concerns are of the people I have spoke with. I decided that this was just as important and it is something that we continue to read about.
I will explain a bit more about the fire tax in another topic though. It is definitely important and needs to be discussed.
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What will you do differently?
The first thing I will do is represent the people of Post 1 and of Paulding County. I will handle the citizens concerns with respect.
I have stated that I intend on having Town Hall Meetings for the citizens to attend and ask questions where they will actually get answers. I know that every citizen can't attend every BOC meeting and that is why we will offer these during the evening. It will be an open forum to discuss concerns in Post 1 and in Paulding County. Why have we not had Town Hall Meetings before. Are the current BOC's that worried about talking to the citizens. I believe the citizens deserve to be heard instead of just those who donate campaign contributions. The business of Paulding County needs to be done in public with transparency and not in closed sessions or backroom meetings.
I have also stated that if the citizens have a question for a board meeting and can't attend, I will let them send me that question and I will ask it at the board meeting myself without saying who the citizen is or why the question is being ask also.
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Are you aware that Larry Ragsdale has voted to increase taxes on the citizens of Post 1 every chance he has been given.
Did you know that the citizens voted NO to the Paulding Airport but here we are getting it anyhow. Larry Ragsdale decided that he along with the BOC knows better than the citizens.
Have you tried to question Larry Ragsdale about this. There are many people who have only to be ignored. We deserve to be represented in Post 1 and in Paulding County. When Larry Ragsdale was questioned with the BOC by a citizen about a tax increase recently, Mr. Ragsdale did not respond to the citizen and sat queitly while the citizen was disrespected by the BOC. Is that the BOC you want to represent you. What if you have a question or concern in Paulding County.
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Let us know what you find out. We have many pets already but have been looking for a little grey and white kitten.
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Thank you for your support and I will do that. I think that with the additions of David Austin, Tommy Graham, and hopefully myself, we will definitely be able to get things done for the people of Paulding County. It requires independent thoughts as well as teamwork and that is something I think each of us contains. I can definitely say that I will be working for the people of Paulding and will be completely transparent and available to everyone. It is time we have someone representing us instead of only themselves and their friends.
Phil Gingrey is the ONLY conservative running in the 11th district. Voted against the bail out and had over a 98% conservative voting record. Pro military, PRO VET, pro life, and fiscal conservative. Thanks for your service to our country Mr. Gammon but the 11th district is well repersented!!Good Luck Joey and I hope you clean up the BOC and stay conservetive if elected!
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I am excited to meet and talk to people at this event. Please be there to show your support.
I am excited to meet and talk to people at this event. Please be there to show your support.
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We will be having a Meet and Greet this Saturday evening from 6 PM til 9 PM I would like for everyone interested to please attend and get to know some people and enjoy a good time.
Please come by and talk to me about my plans for Paulding County government and if you can, make a donation to my campaign. Larry Ragsdale has already raised more than $13,000 from his developer buddies and their associates.
Support and vote Joey Seabolt into the Post 1 commissioner’s seat and bring ethical government to Paulding County.
Going west on 278 towards Dallas from Hiram, after going through the traffic signal at 120/Bill Carruth Parkway, make a left hand turn onto Palisades Parkway. Follow Palisades to the Traffic Go-Round and bear to the first right onto Berwick’s Crossing. At the stop sign take a left onto Berwick’s Way. Our driveway will be on the right with the Joey Seabolt signs. The house is set back 500’ from the road and only the galvanized roof is visible over the privet hedge.
Please RSVP if possible to 770-445-6415 or surepip@aol.com
PAULDING COUNTY TAX INCREASES
in General Countywide News (archive)
Posted
I will answer each of these questions for you. I do need a few mins. as I want to respond with accurate answers wether they are what everyone wants to hear or not. Thank You.