Let me start off this post by saying that I'm 95% certain that I will never again use this blog as a political platform, so readers, all 2 of you, please bear with me through this one rant and I promise to stop beating this particular dead horse.
I don't know much about politics, especially small town politics, and if I'm being completely honest, I've really never cared. I don't research the issues like I should before voting, and I have left a few ballot boxes blank when I don't know anything about any of the candidates running for a particular position. Granted, this is probably just as bad as blindly choosing one, but at least then I can continue to do my civic duty and complain when the city/county starts going to crap and say that it wasn't me who elected that particular idiot to office.
I am probably not setting myself up to be a very credible person to take on this topic, but I really don't see how that makes me any different from most of the ignorant people who get on a soap box when election time comes around, so in that case I plan on plunging full throttle ahead.
I've known Rodney Archer, I mean really known him, for approximately a year, maybe a little more. Not long at all. But in the time I've gotten to know him, I can speak to the fact that his character and personality are more than substantial to hold a public office. In fact, growing up in Clinton, it seems to me that most of the small town leaders in our county possess a lot less true character than even my little pinky. Some of the leaders in Anderson County (and please note, I'm not saying all, I'm saying some, and I'm most certainly not naming any names) are career politicians who have found a comfortable seat where they can sit back and do the bare minimum, if not be flat out lazy and still earn an income well above the median in our county, and far, far above the poverty line. Rodney is not one of those people. Rodney works for his salary, and he puts tax payer dollars to good use. Rodney is solely responsible for taking the way our property taxes are available to us into the 21st century by making them available online 24/7. He's been known to hand-deliver and pick up bills and payments to citizens who can't make it out of their homes or don't have access to the Internet.
His opponent, Jeneva Moseley, might be the most unqualified political candidate to ever run for an elected office. Wait, let me take that back. It seems that many campaigns are built around mudslinging and making false accusations, so qualified I guess she most certainly is. But deserving and competent she is definitely not.
Ok, ok, let's just call a spade a spade here and get this out of the way right off the bat: Tyson and I are friends with Rodney. My whole family is. So admittedly, I might be a little biased. But here's the deal. Whether I knew Rodney personally or not, in this particular election, you couldn't pay me to vote against him.
Moseley's entire campaign has been juvenile from Day One. She has accused Rodney and his staffers of stalking her, she herself has been accused (allegedly) of destroying Rodney's campaign signs, and she has made it common practice to twist words and scenarios in order to publicize completely fabricated rumors. Exhibit 1-A: Moseley released a statement to the press that Rodney used his position of power in the community to strong-arm a local bank into approving him for a mortgage of 128% of the value of his home, emphasizing that in today's economy, many county residents are hard-pressed to get approved for 80%. In reality, when talking about Rodney's home's value, Moseley was actually referring to it's purchase price ($265k), which WAS low because he bought it out of foreclosure. The truth of the matter is that mortgages are given based on a home's APPRAISED value, not its purchase price. Rodney's mortgage was obtained at $339,997. The home's appraised value is $400,000. Do the math, and you find that the home was, in fact, financed at 85%.
You know what the really sad thing is in this particular example? Jeneva Moseley is a former college-level math instructor AND real estate agent. So the real question here is this: is she seriously that ignorant, or did she knowingly manipulate the situation to make Rodney look crooked in the hopes that most voters wouldn't know the real rules of home lending, or even care enough to find out the facts? And if she WASN'T playing dirty, would you really want someone who is that misinformed in charge of county assets and collecting YOUR property taxes?
This is just the most recent of many examples of her childish guerrilla campaigning tactics. Whether you know Jeneva or Rodney personally, I think this speaks volumes about Jeneva's moral character (or lack thereof).
Early voting is going on now through July 31st, and Election Day is August 5th. I'm not here to tell anyone who to vote for, but I do feel it's important to get the word out when you find a candidate worthy of support. If you want to make sure Anderson County's Trustee's Office stays in capable hands, do us all a favor and re-elect Rodney Archer on August 5th.
For more information on Rodney's campaign, visit the Archer for Trustee website or become a fan of his Facebook page at facebook.com/archerfortrustee.
*Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Rodney's re-election campaign. Neither Rodney nor his campaign staff endorse this post in any way, shape, or form. Any and all comments related to this post should be directed to me and not Rodney or his campaign staff. If I have offended anyone......too bad.
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