A Message From Craig Bickley About Saturday's TRWD Board Election

This morning there were a couple emails telling me I had once again been "tagged" in Facebook. I think I have accurately deduced that being tagged means your Facebook name has been mentioned in a Facebook post.

This time the "tagging" was in a long list of others who were also "tagged" asking us who got "tagged" to share that which you see here, and the message included with the picture.

The message is from the tallest guy in the photo, Craig Bickley, who, knock on wood, I suspect on Saturday will break Mary Kelleher's record for most votes in a TRWD board election.

I believe I was supposed to share this on Facebook, but since a lot of other people were already doing that I figured I'd share Craig Bickley's message in this venue....

Here in the last few days of the campaign, leading up to election day, I want to thank our many volunteers and supporters for all of their hard work. None of this would be possible without you. I have watched in amusement as the highly paid "astroturf" supporters hired by the other side sit in a chair for 6 hours under a shade tree, not talking to a single voter. Or show up an hour before the polls close, stay for 16 minutes, and then leave. Or in some cases, just telling voters to vote for us! This is what happens when you don't have real support.

I've noticed that apparently the incumbents are winning the vote among vacant lots and medians because that is where you find all of their signs. To those of you that have proudly displayed our signs in front of your house, on your personal property (so many that we had to make 3 follow up orders), Michele and I thank you. Know that we will fight tooth and nail to end eminent domain abuse so that you never have to worry about a water district taking that property in order to turn it into an entertainment venue.

The water district will now be YOUR water district. Not one controlled by a small group of cronies seeking to use your tax dollars to reward their friends and family members. You will be invited to ALL meetings. We will make them accessible. We will come to you and your community to address issues that concern you. We won't create loopholes in the open meetings act or hire a team of lawyers to swat away your information requests. We will put the focus on the future of this great county, and the future of your kids, and their kids.

The tide is turning. The people have had enough. And your support is making it happen. You have a chance to be part of a historic election with record turnout. We thank you for sweating in a hot parking lot spreading the message. We thank you for cutting through the panicked, desperate, mud-slinging by the opposition, with the strings being pulled by a consultant who receives $1.5M of your money from the water district as a kickback. We thank you for knocking on doors, making phone calls, showing up to candidate forums (even when the incumbents back out), for writing letters to the newspaper. All of these things you do add up, and on Saturday night we have a chance to hammer the message home.

Please share this status on your Facebook. Tag every friend you know that lives in the voting area. And then if you have already voted, add a comment of support like "I voted for Craig and Michele to clean up the water district!". If you haven't voted, then vote first thing Saturday morning (before the rain) and then come back and post your message. If you need help finding your polling location, let us know.

With your help. We win.

Thank you so much,
Craig Bickley