David Machuga challenging Deb Denys for dis 3 County Council seat in 2014 elections

Incumbent silent on growing advertising authority controversy and her role in it

David Machuga challenging Deb Denys for Volusia County Council 3 / Headline Surfer®

David Machuga files to run for dis 3 County Council / Headline Surfer®County Councilwoman Deb Denys / Headline SurferPhotos for Headline Surfer® /
David Machuga is shown here in front of the historic Volusia County Courthouse where he filed paperwork to run for the district 3 seat on the County Council against incumbent Deborah Denys , shown in the inset, in the 2014 elections. Machuga's name appears on the qualifying list with the Supervisor of Elections as shown above.
 

DAYTONA BEACH -- Citing Abraham Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people and for the people," David Machuga of New Smyrna Beach announced his candidacy today for the district 3 seat on the Volusia County Council against first-term incumbent Deborah Denys who finds herself in the midst of a media firestorm over her handling of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority.

"During this campaign season, I encourage all residents of Volusia County, to share with me your values, thoughts, and wisdom of what is right, and what is wrong, in Volusia County government and how we become a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people," Machuga said in a press release this afternoon announcing his candidacy.

"During this campaign season, I encourage all residents of Volusia County, to share with me your values, thoughts, and wisdom of what is right, and what is wrong, in Volusia County government and how we become a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people," Machuga said in a press release this afternoon announcing his candidacy.

After listing President Lincoln's manta, Machuga, 66, introduced himself: "I am David Machuga, and proudly announce my candidacy for Volusia County Council, District 3."

Machuga filed Thursday with the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections at the historic Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand. 

Denys did not return calls for comment on Machuga's candidacy. Because Machuga and Denys are both Republicans, she will cease receiving party support because her opponent is in the same party and any monies she has received from the Republican Party has to be be given to her opponent Machuga as well since this is a non-partisan race.

Denys has raised $26,188.77 to date, according to the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections, but moist of that was in September and October and little since then as her decision-making on the dais and behind-the-scenes maneuverings continue to dog her, especially as they pertain to her push to have Palmer Wilson removed from the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority in October in a clear case of politics and the continuing controversy and growing scandal since then.

There could be others besides Machuga entering the race against Denys. Justin Kennedy, a former Edgewater council member, who ran in 2012, has not yet decided whether he will run again. And Wilson has not ruled out a possible run either, though he has said he likely would not run if Denys had an opponent.

Neither Wilson nor Kennedy could be reached for comment this afternoon.

District 3 encompasses New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill and southern Port Orange on the seven-member County Council.

FAST FACTS: David Machuga

Candidacy: County Council dis. 3 seat
Age: 66
Family: Married, wife, Marcia, two sons,  a daughter
Career: Motivational speaker
Contact the candidate: DavidMachuga@gmail.com or 386- 846-0974 with suggestions, questions, volunteer support, or to arrange a speaking engagement. 

Did You Know?

The text for "government of the people, by the people, for the people," comes from Abraham Lincoln'a Gettysburg address, delivered the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn., 4 1/2 months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. Here is the text of the address:
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.