With a plurality of 20,000-plus votes, Republican and Iraq War veteran Jason Davis of Edgewater, easily won the race for the County Council seat over Carl Persis in the Nov. 6 general election. Davis is shown here on the right being interviewed by Headline Surfer Publisher Henry Frederick. Previous coverage from that interview is posted below.
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- A little over two years ago we Republicans began to take a serious look at our county and its governance. What we saw was a county which had been run by the Democrats for over a generation.
Consequently it is overcommitted to a tax and spend approach which, inter alia, burdens Volusia with unsustainable debt and commitments to greater debt.
The county labors under tax and regulatory policies which, compared to competing counties, make it seriously unattractive for business to locate or even remain in Volusia County. And it follows an environmentalist course which is extreme to say the least.
Moreover, the County Council’s actions are so nearly opaque that interested citizens cannot fully inform themselves even by going to Deland and sitting through interminable and poorly organized Council meetings.
Worse, while a great many people seemed disgruntled by all of this, they felt that they had no meaningful voice to effect change. We Republicans set out to give the people that voice. And we succeeded on Nov. 6.
While Obama won Florida and the presidency for four more years of socialist hell, Volusia voted for Romney. Volusians elected Republicans to federal, state, county and local offices in unheard of numbers. As a result, Volusia has the chance which our nation has denied itself to return to rational growth and prosperity.
Since the election there have been a number of articles in the local media analyzing the hows and the whys of the Republican rearrangement of the political landscape in this county.
They have focused on influences such as the Tiger Bay Club’s perceived insult to war hero and then Republican candidate Jason Davis, the complacency of the Democrat Party and its allies in the political/economic establishment and the widespread organization of a party which had been little more than a series of social clubs.
Since the election there have been a number of articles in the local media analyzing the hows and the whys of the Republican rearrangement of the political landscape in this county. They have focused on influences such as the Tiger Bay Club’s perceived insult to war hero and then Republican candidate Jason Davis, the complacency of the Democrat Party and its allies in the political/economic establishment and the widespread organization of a party which had been little more than a series of social clubs.
All of this, they say, helps to explain the rise to “dominance” of the Republican Party in Volusia County. While it may surprise the press, and certainly the Democrats, we Republicans in Volusia are not seeking dominance. We never were.
In fact, we believe that even Republican dominance, sustained over decades, would risk leading our county into the same degree of excess, but from the right rather than the left, that prolonged Democratic dominance has done.
What we are seeking, and what we have achieved where there was none, is balance. We remain convinced that this balance was absolutely necessary to give those many Volusians who felt themselves disenfranchised an influential voice in county decisions.
And we are absolutely convinced that policies and measures reflecting and incorporating the voices of "all" Volusians can only be achieved through compromise.
We seek mutually acceptable change to the policies which we believe preclude Volusia from rational, more productive growth, an expanded tax base and thus reduced taxes and spending. Of course change, if it is to take place in Deland, will require compromise since the Council remains split 4 Democrats to 3 Republicans.
But it’s much more than that. In a republic such as ours, government at any level must devise and follow policies which respond to the needs of all the people.
Our Founders recognized this and, in their wisdom, set up a system of checks and balances which, to avoid extremism, mandates compromise. The system in Deland may be structured differently but as to compromise, if at the federal level, why not at the county level?
As the new County Council is sworn in, we Republicans are very much looking forward to working with our Democratic colleagues to create more business-friendly and people-friendly conditions which are responsive to the concerns of all Volusians.
Editor's Note: Here is the post-election interview with County Chair-elect Jason Davis...
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