Subj: RE: Stafford: Follow-up Coulter article 
Date: Thursday, November 10, 2005 9:07:24 AM
From: sjones@<removed>
To: LydiaCornell@<removed>

Lydia, thanks for writing.

You already know what we paid Ann Coulter.  It is on your blog, so I am not sure why you are asking that question.  We made about $20,000.  That is not and never was a secret.  In fact, it was reported in the local paper.
 
Your blog portrays the event it as “school children on a field trip.”  That is not accurate.  It was a county party fundraiser geared toward adult party supporters.
(I was talking about actual university students here; he misinterpreted me. LC)
 
I just can’t get sidetracked on your debate about what you are willing to accept and not accept as satire because I have work to do that is much more important to me.  We are trying very hard to change Alachua County for the better.  Alachua County has been run by Democrats as far back as we can remember, and what we have to show for it is:

     A poverty rate that is almost twice our state average
     A minority business ownership rate that is about half our state average
     A median family income that is about $7000 less than our state average
     Almost half of the kids in our public schools are on free and reduced lunch programs
     We have a child poverty rate of about 20%

The Democratic leadership in Alachua County has so suppressed economic opportunity that we have a severe shortage of jobs in the $25,000 to $50,000 range as compared to the state average.  This is the range in which young families and individuals should be kicking off their professional careers, but the opportunities simply don’t exist.
 
Just the other night, the liberal elite in Alachua County staged a “homeless night out” so that they could “experience” the plight of the homeless.  Well, their homeless night out included tents, sleeping bags, lawn chairs, clean and fresh water, thermoses full of whatever hot liquid they desired and to top it all off, a live concert by Bo Diddley.  When they decided that they had enough (whether they made it through the entire night or not), they went back to their warm homes, their showers and their beds.  And the whole time that they were there they had the comfort of knowing that they had a warm place to call home.  When do you think the last time was that Bo Diddley wandered off into the woods and found a campfire with some homeless people around it and serenaded them?  It was nothing more than a camping trip with great entertainment for liberal, preppy elites organized by local, liberal elected officials.  If you ask me, such an event is an absolute slap in the face to those that truly are homeless and must live that lifestyle day in and day out.
 
While the liberals in Alachua County are holding fund raisers to restore an old building called “The Cotton Club” to be some kind of high arts center, Republicans (in a project headed up by a police officer who happens to be a Republican) are working hard to get the new Reichert House up and running (an after school and summer center on the disadvantaged side of town for children that don’t have anywhere else to go).  Don’t get me wrong, Democrats have worked on this project, too, but there is a disconnect between the liberal elite in this community and real priorities and real community action.  To them, community action means passing a new tax and then turning the problem over to government which invariably makes it worse.
 
This, Lydia, is what I care about.  This is what is important to me, right now, and so I am sorry that I can’t be of any more help to you and your quest, but I am on a quest of my own.
 
Good luck with your quest, Lydia.
 Stafford Jones