Please Vote | And tell your friends!

[Taylor Strasser]

You, me, and pretty much everyone else on this forum: we get it. We've got it. We are paying attention to what's going on in our city. We really care about what's going on in our city.

Whether it's the stuff that we're embarrassed by: like Mike Hogan and Jerry Vines and their seemingly infinite talent for making our great city a nationwide joke; or the stuff we're inspired by: like Audrey Moran's mayoral campaign; we pay attention and we care.

We care. We vote. And we're not messing around.

And don't think that I'm taking the smart, informed, literate, and interested minds for granted. Just because we care, doesn't mean we're all on the same page here. I know that you might be thinking about voting for a Dem, voting for a write-in no-party candidate, not voting, moving away, or any number of ways to change the status quo. I know. I have thought these things too.

But some things are bigger than just that. This election is one.

This time, we actually have a chance to elect great a person to an office that greatly and directly impacts our daily lives. We have a chance to vote for a candidate that can transform our city. And she will actually win.

So here it is. I'm not pitching for you to vote for Audrey. I've already made that argument and I'll probably make it again. I'm not appealing for you to vote. I already know that you're going to vote. If you're reading this forum, you will take the time to research candidates and vote for the best one.

I'm asking you to ask your friends to vote.

You know you have friends who don't vote. Whatever the reason, some people just don't vote. They're tired of the same lame candidates. They're tired of voting for good people who never win. They're just tired of politics.

We're going to see our friends and we're not going to bother them with our ideas on the mayoral election. We're going to talk about football, baseball, cars, fishing, food, whatever. That's what we do. Hell, I like talking about these things too.

But we can't leave those votes on the table. Not this time.

In the next 4 weeks, we are going to talk to our friends and relatives about the mayor's race. We're going to convince at least a handful of our buddies to pop in the Supervisor of Elections' office and vote early for Audrey Moran. Early voting starts March 7.

We are going to convince a handful of our friends that this election really matters.

Are you going to be able to go fishing for reds and trout in the creeks off Heckscher Drive if there are condos there? Mike Hogan has proposed selling parts of the Preservation Project to pay the city's debts, instead of tackling the broken pension system.

Will we be able to attract new business and fresh progressive ideas to Jacksonville if we allow Peyton-era business as usual continue to leave our schools poor and our people disillusioned and angry? If Rick Mullaney has a plan to fix Jacksonville, where was it for the last 8 years as he sat at the table for every Peyton administration initiative? Was he saving these ideas for later? I call bullshit on that.

Oops, it looks like I'm pitching a candidate now.

Audrey's the one. She's a tough leader with the brains, the integrity, and the steel to make the tough decisions to fix this city. No other candidate has these qualities. No other candidate deserves the office.

Tell your friends.