Broken Vow

It was rather amusing to read this morning's edition of the Hernando Today's article titled, "Candidates cough up campaign cash". It looks like Diane Rowden really snookered Michael Bates. He stated in his article that Rowden had lived up to her vow not to accept money from possible companies or individuals who may have business with the county.

I think Mr. Bates needs to sharpen his pencil and do his homework over again to review Ms. Rowden's campaign contributions. Numerous doctors in our community contributed large sums of money to her campaign and are business owners.

The Teamsters Union gave big money to Ms. Rowden. In fact, Teamster Union, Local 769 gave $500.00 on August 12, 2008, and gave an additional $500.00 on August 15, 2008. Her campaign records list these two-$500.00 contributions from the Teamsters Union by using different addresses for the same Local 769. This combined total from Teamsters, Local 769 is $1,000.00 and appears to be a violation of the maximum limits of campaign contributions. The Teamsters Union is also the organization that is currently attempting to rally the county employees into a vote to become union members.

One more contribution that is noteworthy is the contribution from Hernando County Fire Rescue employee, Jason Brazinski who gave $500.00. I believe he is the president of the local union that represents the employees of the HCFR.

Each of these entities have a vested interest in our community and it looks like Ms. Rowden stretched the truth with her vow. This commitment by Ms. Rowden to not accept money from companies or persons that may do business with the county isn't worth the paper it was written on...