Message to Speaker Ralston

Opinion

Opinion by Joene DePlancke:

I attended the GOP meet and greet in Ellijay last night and wished that you had stayed around to mingle after the individual speeches so that we could ask questions after hearing what you and others had said.

But one thing you said that greatly troubles me was your statement that “there are going to be paid individuals coming into the 7th district to campaign for my opponent.” I think that was a very mean-spirited statement to begin with. I think you are correct that some people will be coming here to campaign for Sam Snider as I, too, learned that people from surrounding areas are coming to Gilmer and Fannin counties to help go door to door on behalf of Sam Snider, but for free.

But apparently you have forgotten how grassroots organizations work. They work hard for what they believe in, but they don’t get paid to campaign, they campaign for values. Maybe you pay people to campaign and that is where the problem lies.

You have received hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions from people all over the country, big corporations into our little 7th district. What is all that money for? It certainly isn’t to help Gilmer and Fannin. You have received money from almost every hospital corporation, every pharmaceutical company, oil companies, it goes on and on and on and then you stand up there last night and try
to malign Sam Snider because he MIGHT get some people to take their time FOR FREE, and their hard earned $50 contributions to try and get someone elected that will spend time here in the 7th District instead of in Atlanta.

I felt like I was watching a bully trying to intimidate someone that had a better idea. I really thought last night that I would have seen a man that realized that he had lost touch and try and win us back, not
someone that resented having to come to some stupid little po-dunk meeting. I have always voted for you, and I, like so many others, was proud of the fact that our representative was Speaker of the House until I realized that I, like most everyone I speak to, would draw a blank when someone would ask who our representative is. You know you are never around. And the look on your face and your body language last night made it very apparent that you resented actually having to campaign, that it seemed beneath you.

We need representation. There are so many things happening at our state legislature that need changing. You would think that by having the Speaker of the House as our representative that we could get bills out
on the floor that need addressing instead of our representative being the very person preventing the people’s needs and wants, the laws representing the grassroots values our State was built on AND STILL
STANDS FOR, from ever getting voted on.

I guess all that war-chest money does someone some good, wish it was the 7th District.

Joene DePlancke
Ellijay, GA

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