| ASKED AND ANSWERED |
| I have been asked plenty of questions, and here are some of those questions and answers below. If you have questions of your own, please feel free to e-mail me jeff@thatpilottech.com or call 423-447-7765 (cell) or 423-949-6526 (home) |
Answered on Dunlap Tattler
Questions BOLD and answers in RED
Q. Are you willing to release your personal financial records to public examination?
A. To the extent of tax returns.
Q.To what charities, causes or civic organizations have you contributed more than $200 over the past
year?
A. Dunlap United Methodist Church, in the course of regular giving to our home church
National Rifle Association (NRA), also this year in obtaining a life membership
AOPA-Air Safety Foundation. As part of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Purpose of this
group is to promote safety in the aviation community
Q. What can be done to institute notification of neighbors when a registered sex offender is in their
neighborhood?
A. The state already has a searchable database Click Here . Beyond that, the easy fix to this would be a
“new additions” section in the local newspapers, online media and by e-mail notifications. This would not
be that difficult to set up, but would require the public to request this information by way of providing e-mail
addresses, and the willingness of the papers to publish that information. This is a project that should be
worked in conjunction with local law enforcement. For citizens who do not have access or would like a
printed list, I could make this information available on request at the county executive’s office. This would
also be a question that should be directed at the sheriff’s department (and city police) as the principal law
enforcement in the county as they are likely to have more up-to-date information. I do not want to take over
a job that should be the responsibility of another department in our county, however, I would provide the
published information to the public on request as a service of the county executive’s office.
Q. Should any individual or group of individuals be able to control, determine, or direct the actions of
others?
A. NO! “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness…”
I BELIEVE in the sanctity of PRIVATE PROPERTY
I BELIEVE in a small and limited government
I BELIEVE in the rights of people to determine their own destiny
I BELIEVE that people should be secure in their homes and possessions.
I SUPPORT severely limiting eminent domain.
I SUPPORT the right to keep and bear arms.
I SUPPORT the right of the people to be heard and protest their government.
Q. What companies or businesses do you own, or hold a greater than five-percent stake in? On what
corporate boards do you or have you served?
A. With my wife, we are 100% owners in CSO Contracting, LLC. Outside of this, we only own stock in a few
publicly traded companies. I have not served on other corporate boards.
Q. What are your professional qualifications for the office you seek?
A. I have built a successful business that has involved working with many individuals and corporations in a
wide variety of industries. Mostly, we provide hardware (and related software) support for network systems
for a wide variety of applications, from the energy sector to retail. In this line of work, I bid projects, create
plans and scope of work documents, provide a budget, supervise a crew, and provide end customer
support for my clients. In addition to this, I have had a successful past track record in outside sales and
direct customer service.
Q. If you have been or are engaged, married or divorced – to whom, and when?
A. I have had only one wife, Melissa (Skidmore), we were married August 31, 2002 in Dunlap, and we are
still together.
Q. What can county government do to prevent dog attacks such as this one involving a small child?
http://www.dunlaptattler.com/?page_id=1730
A. At the county level, the county can and should work with law enforcement to enforce the existing laws,
while examining what (if any) new laws should be enacted by the commission at the county level to ensure
that children nor adults are the victim of such a viscous attack.
Q. Which amendment to the constitution do you consider to be most important and why?
A. Answering this question is unfair, it is the same in the sense of asking which arm or leg do I favor over
another. The truth is that the US Constitution is the greatest frame upon which a government has ever
been built. Saying this, I believe that our constitution is in jeopardy and is under attack on several fronts.
Activist judges who are legislating from the bench, as well as the erosion of state’s rights and personal
liberties place the very core of our government and constitution in danger.
The constitution, as well as the amendments, supports one another. Many have been abused by
legislatures and judges alike. The first, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth amendments generally apply to
personal protections, such as freedom of speech, association, speedy trial, etc. The ninth and tenth
amendments are supposed to limit the federal government, and reserve rights to the states or the people.
I believe that the second amendment (the right to keep and bear arms) is the great protector of the
constitution.
The 16th amendment creating an income tax was one of the worst mistakes ever made in the constitution.
Q. Would you be willing to set up a citizens review committee for the county law enforcement agency
and why or why not?
A. I would support the idea in conjunction with law enforcement.
Questions BOLD and answers in RED
Q. Are you willing to release your personal financial records to public examination?
A. To the extent of tax returns.
Q.To what charities, causes or civic organizations have you contributed more than $200 over the past
year?
A. Dunlap United Methodist Church, in the course of regular giving to our home church
National Rifle Association (NRA), also this year in obtaining a life membership
AOPA-Air Safety Foundation. As part of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Purpose of this
group is to promote safety in the aviation community
Q. What can be done to institute notification of neighbors when a registered sex offender is in their
neighborhood?
A. The state already has a searchable database Click Here . Beyond that, the easy fix to this would be a
“new additions” section in the local newspapers, online media and by e-mail notifications. This would not
be that difficult to set up, but would require the public to request this information by way of providing e-mail
addresses, and the willingness of the papers to publish that information. This is a project that should be
worked in conjunction with local law enforcement. For citizens who do not have access or would like a
printed list, I could make this information available on request at the county executive’s office. This would
also be a question that should be directed at the sheriff’s department (and city police) as the principal law
enforcement in the county as they are likely to have more up-to-date information. I do not want to take over
a job that should be the responsibility of another department in our county, however, I would provide the
published information to the public on request as a service of the county executive’s office.
Q. Should any individual or group of individuals be able to control, determine, or direct the actions of
others?
A. NO! “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness…”
I BELIEVE in the sanctity of PRIVATE PROPERTY
I BELIEVE in a small and limited government
I BELIEVE in the rights of people to determine their own destiny
I BELIEVE that people should be secure in their homes and possessions.
I SUPPORT severely limiting eminent domain.
I SUPPORT the right to keep and bear arms.
I SUPPORT the right of the people to be heard and protest their government.
Q. What companies or businesses do you own, or hold a greater than five-percent stake in? On what
corporate boards do you or have you served?
A. With my wife, we are 100% owners in CSO Contracting, LLC. Outside of this, we only own stock in a few
publicly traded companies. I have not served on other corporate boards.
Q. What are your professional qualifications for the office you seek?
A. I have built a successful business that has involved working with many individuals and corporations in a
wide variety of industries. Mostly, we provide hardware (and related software) support for network systems
for a wide variety of applications, from the energy sector to retail. In this line of work, I bid projects, create
plans and scope of work documents, provide a budget, supervise a crew, and provide end customer
support for my clients. In addition to this, I have had a successful past track record in outside sales and
direct customer service.
Q. If you have been or are engaged, married or divorced – to whom, and when?
A. I have had only one wife, Melissa (Skidmore), we were married August 31, 2002 in Dunlap, and we are
still together.
Q. What can county government do to prevent dog attacks such as this one involving a small child?
http://www.dunlaptattler.com/?page_id=1730
A. At the county level, the county can and should work with law enforcement to enforce the existing laws,
while examining what (if any) new laws should be enacted by the commission at the county level to ensure
that children nor adults are the victim of such a viscous attack.
Q. Which amendment to the constitution do you consider to be most important and why?
A. Answering this question is unfair, it is the same in the sense of asking which arm or leg do I favor over
another. The truth is that the US Constitution is the greatest frame upon which a government has ever
been built. Saying this, I believe that our constitution is in jeopardy and is under attack on several fronts.
Activist judges who are legislating from the bench, as well as the erosion of state’s rights and personal
liberties place the very core of our government and constitution in danger.
The constitution, as well as the amendments, supports one another. Many have been abused by
legislatures and judges alike. The first, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth amendments generally apply to
personal protections, such as freedom of speech, association, speedy trial, etc. The ninth and tenth
amendments are supposed to limit the federal government, and reserve rights to the states or the people.
I believe that the second amendment (the right to keep and bear arms) is the great protector of the
constitution.
The 16th amendment creating an income tax was one of the worst mistakes ever made in the constitution.
Q. Would you be willing to set up a citizens review committee for the county law enforcement agency
and why or why not?
A. I would support the idea in conjunction with law enforcement.
Questions BOLD and answers in RED
Q. Why do you want to serve as County Executive?
A. I want to serve as county executive because I know that I will play a role in the budgetary process. A budget is supposed to be
designed as a "road map" to guide us through the day to day operations of our county. In order for this to happen we must begin with a
solid, realistic budget. I must say that it is concerning to me that budgets will be drawn up using wishful thinking when they are
adopted and then money will be quietly shifted around to cover the shortcomings. I will insist on a real budget with realistic numbers
and I will publish those budgets well in advance for the world to see. Secondly, I want to end the sort of "reactionary" style of
government. It takes a plan, thought out, written, and transparent to be successful. Too many times our county is blindsided by issues
that come up that apparently our leaders had no idea were coming when a little homework would have prevented the issue. A prime
example would be the 27th payroll issue. And then there is the issue of economic and job opportunities. In order to get these
companies to start here, relocate here, or expand here takes perserverence, tenacity, and the drive to get out there and meet with these
companies and convince them that we have a great opportunity here for them. Everyday in my business life I work to find new
business, I never stop prospecting. As a result, while the recession has been all the rage, I am having my best year in business, ever. I
want to put these skills to work in the county government as county executive because I know that when the county prospers, we all
prosper.
Q. Some politicians use their post for personal financial gain. How do you plan to avoid this?
A. I loathe those that use a public office as a means for personal financial gain. I do not own any property in the county, outside of my
house, and my business is not adaptable to anything in the county (meaning that I do not own a retail, restaurant, etc, and I very rarely if
ever have a customer in the county). My business primarily deals with commercial entities in the energy and retail sectors. For
example, my latest project is placing digital advertising systems in larger shopping malls. I won the contract to place these systems
into select malls in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Columbus, OH. I have a 7 member crew that I employ, half
are based in Nashville and the other half in Atlanta. I have also won contracts for network services on wind turbine farms in the plains
and Montana and oil and gas production facilities throughout the US as well as a couple in Europe and West Africa. To avoid any
implication that I would use the office to gain personally, I will not be buying properties or opening businesses in the county during my
tenure as county executive
Q. What is your vision for Sequatchie County, and how do you plan to achieve this?
A. My vision for the county is to grow it economically while fighting to preserve the rights of the residents and property owners. I will also
stand up and stop wasteful spending that serves only to drive up taxes. To achieve this I will become an active member in the
communities across the county, and I will actively search out economic opportunities and work with other elected officials, business
leaders and volunteers to help bring business and industry here. I want to give the residents the choice and the chance to spend their
money and work here in Sequatchie county if they choose. I am tired of seeing our sales tax revenues go to Hamilton county to further
their county and educate their children.
Q. What legacy do you want to leave behind in your life?
A. I want my legacy to be that I was a great father to my child(ren), a loving husband to my wife, a valued member of my community and
a servant to God.
FROM "DARLENE" on the pages of TOPIX......
1.Do you intend to quit the job you have right now and devote your time solely to the Mayor position?
1. I will devote my time to the job that I am running for, its only fair that I devote 110% to it. How else could I campaign on "its YOUR
government, TAKE IT BACK?" Is that to say that I would NEVER have anything to do with the continuance of my business? NO. I have
made the conscious decision to shift the operations of the company over to two key employees and to Melissa (my wife). Becoming
county executive or not, it was a business move that needed to be done as most of my time is spent bidding on jobs and looking for
new business, and I needed to get out of the day to day physical part to continue to grow. To use a current example, Since January, my
crew has completed over 600 network upgrades in Wal-Mart stores in 11 states, I have worked only 4 days in support of that effort. The
interesting thing that may come from all of this is the fact that Melissa will get to go out and do the bidding on these sites located all
over, leaving me to stay home and work as county executive, and generally become Mr. Mom. Melissa and I often tease each other
about how easy each others "jobs" are. It will be interesting.....
I am not sure that it would be wise to get out of business entirely. Over the years, I have managed to develop a sizeable rolodex of
contacts in my industry and related industries. Some of these companies are in a position to expand. To give a more specific example,
we work with a European company who I have helped gain a place in the US market. As time goes on, they are going to need to have a
physical presence here. Why not Dunlap? You can bet the farm that when the time comes to open their NOC here in the good ole USA,
I will be leaning hard on them to come to Dunlap. I intend to use my business contacts to help bring business here, it will be nice to
have the time as county executive to be able to do that. Recruiting industry is the part of the job that I am looking forward to.
In any case, I would not have run for this position if I do/did not intend to devote myself to making it a success. I trust that my wife will do
equally as good, and probably better, running our company.
2. When you came to my store you ask about the dog situation and you seemed all for it,now I have heard that the animal problem
is not important to you any longer. What do you intend to do to help the growing stray animal problem?
I feel that you cannot work a job and handle the mayor position without something suffering.
2. I don't know what you have been told in regards to my support or lack thereof on the issue of the stray animals, but the issue is still
just as important to me today as it was the day I met with you. You and I discussed at length the problems with opening a shelter, and
the alternative to the shelter being a low cost spay/neuter program. I want to work to find a workable solution to this. If we go the shelter
route, I will stress the need to couple that with the spay/neuter program as well. There are grants available to finance most, if not all, of
the project. It takes the time and dedication to go out and find these grants. For a shelter to be successful (and a shelter seems to be
what others are pushing for) we have to educate people on the need to stop the stray problem at the source, and doing that means
making a way for the pet owners to have spay/ neuter services available at a price that they can afford. Once elected, I am going to
count on people like you and others who have more "expertise" on the matter than I do to help me come up with and present a
solution, I am certainly willing and I intend to do the leg work to make this happen, your help and that of others will be greatly
appreciated.
Q. Why do you want to serve as County Executive?
A. I want to serve as county executive because I know that I will play a role in the budgetary process. A budget is supposed to be
designed as a "road map" to guide us through the day to day operations of our county. In order for this to happen we must begin with a
solid, realistic budget. I must say that it is concerning to me that budgets will be drawn up using wishful thinking when they are
adopted and then money will be quietly shifted around to cover the shortcomings. I will insist on a real budget with realistic numbers
and I will publish those budgets well in advance for the world to see. Secondly, I want to end the sort of "reactionary" style of
government. It takes a plan, thought out, written, and transparent to be successful. Too many times our county is blindsided by issues
that come up that apparently our leaders had no idea were coming when a little homework would have prevented the issue. A prime
example would be the 27th payroll issue. And then there is the issue of economic and job opportunities. In order to get these
companies to start here, relocate here, or expand here takes perserverence, tenacity, and the drive to get out there and meet with these
companies and convince them that we have a great opportunity here for them. Everyday in my business life I work to find new
business, I never stop prospecting. As a result, while the recession has been all the rage, I am having my best year in business, ever. I
want to put these skills to work in the county government as county executive because I know that when the county prospers, we all
prosper.
Q. Some politicians use their post for personal financial gain. How do you plan to avoid this?
A. I loathe those that use a public office as a means for personal financial gain. I do not own any property in the county, outside of my
house, and my business is not adaptable to anything in the county (meaning that I do not own a retail, restaurant, etc, and I very rarely if
ever have a customer in the county). My business primarily deals with commercial entities in the energy and retail sectors. For
example, my latest project is placing digital advertising systems in larger shopping malls. I won the contract to place these systems
into select malls in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Columbus, OH. I have a 7 member crew that I employ, half
are based in Nashville and the other half in Atlanta. I have also won contracts for network services on wind turbine farms in the plains
and Montana and oil and gas production facilities throughout the US as well as a couple in Europe and West Africa. To avoid any
implication that I would use the office to gain personally, I will not be buying properties or opening businesses in the county during my
tenure as county executive
Q. What is your vision for Sequatchie County, and how do you plan to achieve this?
A. My vision for the county is to grow it economically while fighting to preserve the rights of the residents and property owners. I will also
stand up and stop wasteful spending that serves only to drive up taxes. To achieve this I will become an active member in the
communities across the county, and I will actively search out economic opportunities and work with other elected officials, business
leaders and volunteers to help bring business and industry here. I want to give the residents the choice and the chance to spend their
money and work here in Sequatchie county if they choose. I am tired of seeing our sales tax revenues go to Hamilton county to further
their county and educate their children.
Q. What legacy do you want to leave behind in your life?
A. I want my legacy to be that I was a great father to my child(ren), a loving husband to my wife, a valued member of my community and
a servant to God.
FROM "DARLENE" on the pages of TOPIX......
1.Do you intend to quit the job you have right now and devote your time solely to the Mayor position?
1. I will devote my time to the job that I am running for, its only fair that I devote 110% to it. How else could I campaign on "its YOUR
government, TAKE IT BACK?" Is that to say that I would NEVER have anything to do with the continuance of my business? NO. I have
made the conscious decision to shift the operations of the company over to two key employees and to Melissa (my wife). Becoming
county executive or not, it was a business move that needed to be done as most of my time is spent bidding on jobs and looking for
new business, and I needed to get out of the day to day physical part to continue to grow. To use a current example, Since January, my
crew has completed over 600 network upgrades in Wal-Mart stores in 11 states, I have worked only 4 days in support of that effort. The
interesting thing that may come from all of this is the fact that Melissa will get to go out and do the bidding on these sites located all
over, leaving me to stay home and work as county executive, and generally become Mr. Mom. Melissa and I often tease each other
about how easy each others "jobs" are. It will be interesting.....
I am not sure that it would be wise to get out of business entirely. Over the years, I have managed to develop a sizeable rolodex of
contacts in my industry and related industries. Some of these companies are in a position to expand. To give a more specific example,
we work with a European company who I have helped gain a place in the US market. As time goes on, they are going to need to have a
physical presence here. Why not Dunlap? You can bet the farm that when the time comes to open their NOC here in the good ole USA,
I will be leaning hard on them to come to Dunlap. I intend to use my business contacts to help bring business here, it will be nice to
have the time as county executive to be able to do that. Recruiting industry is the part of the job that I am looking forward to.
In any case, I would not have run for this position if I do/did not intend to devote myself to making it a success. I trust that my wife will do
equally as good, and probably better, running our company.
2. When you came to my store you ask about the dog situation and you seemed all for it,now I have heard that the animal problem
is not important to you any longer. What do you intend to do to help the growing stray animal problem?
I feel that you cannot work a job and handle the mayor position without something suffering.
2. I don't know what you have been told in regards to my support or lack thereof on the issue of the stray animals, but the issue is still
just as important to me today as it was the day I met with you. You and I discussed at length the problems with opening a shelter, and
the alternative to the shelter being a low cost spay/neuter program. I want to work to find a workable solution to this. If we go the shelter
route, I will stress the need to couple that with the spay/neuter program as well. There are grants available to finance most, if not all, of
the project. It takes the time and dedication to go out and find these grants. For a shelter to be successful (and a shelter seems to be
what others are pushing for) we have to educate people on the need to stop the stray problem at the source, and doing that means
making a way for the pet owners to have spay/ neuter services available at a price that they can afford. Once elected, I am going to
count on people like you and others who have more "expertise" on the matter than I do to help me come up with and present a
solution, I am certainly willing and I intend to do the leg work to make this happen, your help and that of others will be greatly
appreciated.
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