Comment

I received this comment to several of my previous postings on the Government Gone Wild seminars from Blaise Ingoglia. In the interest of fairness on this issue, I am posting his comment below so it can easily be viewed by the public, instead of it appearing in the pop-up window.

Ms Covell,

I have just read your blog about "following the money trail". I assure you that nobody is funding these seminars except me. (If you would like, you can come by my office and I will show you the cleared checks). The costs to date are in excess of $12,000 and ALL of it was funded from my personal bank account. It is my way of "giving back" to the community. Hernando County is my home and I cherish it. I want to get it back to where it used to be. As far as who I am representing, the answer is very easy...I represent the tax payers of Hernando County, nothing more, nothing less. Not once did I divulge my party affiliation, and will not do so here either. That is because this is bigger than parties or group affiliations. It is bigger than you or me.I am the author of the power point presentation although I did get help on the content. Hernando Today had nothing to do with it. In fact I never spoke to reporter Mike Bates until after the presentation was finished. I don't know why they were giving out free 2 week subscriptions, but I didn't get one!! (Remember, its a free country).Regarding the Chamber of Commerce comment disavowing the seminars... THEY DID NOT DISAVOW THE SEMINARS. The press release from the chamber said no such thing. This was an error and will be clarified by the chamber soon!In your "evening of change" blog posting you claim that I said the average earnings was $46,843. This figure, as STATED AND SOURCED in the presentation is the average for BOTH Pasco and Hernando counties. I realized this slide confused people and has since been omitted from the slide show. As far as the derivation of the AVERAGE of the salaries, it IS quite fair to lump the lowest and the highest paid employees, for that is what AVERAGE MEANS! In fact, the 17 department heads' salaries dont skew the numbers that much beacuse of the sheer number of employees!!The undertone of the presentation was to enlighten people to how our government has been operating ECONOMICALLY, not just on a taxing basis, and how the county's decisions affect us in everyday life.One last thought on this blog entry...You eluded in this blog that I needed a "basic understanding of business principles". I am fully aware these principles. I came to Hernando in 1996 with $1600 in my pocket. Last year my company constructed over $40 million worth of homes. I own three businesses in town and I am on the verge of purchasing a large stake in a bank. Some people would say I have a VERY GOOD understanding of budgets, business, and economics.You are an upstanding citizen in this community.I would rather have you ON OUR SIDE, than against it.

Blaise Ingoglia