Chairman Tom Gooding of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce said that the Chamber was opposed to government adding hidden taxes, and Roy Taylor can be heard going “Amen!”. Yet both of them back the Chamber and CUEE’s school “unification” referendum, which would raise taxes for everyone in Valdosta and Lowndes County plus making conditions more difficult for business. None of the school consolidation proponents seem to see the irony.

Gooding’s talk about the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee spelled out the Chamber’s theory of local government, which is all about helping business, and apparently not about anything else. He didn’t say a word about government providing public benefits for the common good. Which is the tail and which is the dog?

Also, Gooding promised at least three times (1 2 3) that there would be discussion about both referendums on the ballot, yet nobody spoke about the Sunday alcohol sales referendum.

Still, as I pointed out to the VDT:

I also noticed now that the pro-consolidation speaker got to speak for 8 minutes while the candidates were only able to speak for 5 minutes.

For that matter, nobody showed up to speak against the school consolidation referendum.

For that matter, hardly anybody showed up at all. As I told the VDT,

My first impression was, where was everybody?

And that was my continuing impression. None of the candidates showed up except the three Valdosta Mayoral candidates and one Valdosta City Council At Large candidate. But that’s just as well because David Rodock put it in the VDT,

A few dozen citizens came out

Two years ago was also an off year, but many more people showed up.

Could the Chamber be damaging its own popularity with its bogus school consolidation referendum? Maybe people are getting the impression that Chamber events are all dog and pony shows to push school consolidation?

More people have already signed up to march on the Chamber Friday than showed up at the Chamber’s event last night.

-jsq

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