"An Open Letter To The Citizens Of St. Petersburg..."

This post is directed at a particular demographic: those folks who reside in my home town, St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the year that the citizens of St. Petersburg elect a new mayor for a four year term. It is my hope that the following letter of endorsement for my candidate of choice, Mr. Bill Foster, will serve to persuade a number of my bolg followers and fellow city residents to not only vote for Bill on election day, but be willing, as am I, to lend their time, talents and monetary contributions to assist in Bill obtaining the final election victory.

"The field of candidates who aspire to become the next mayor of St. Petersburg is encouragingly crowded with a slate of well qualified individuals, each of whom envisions applying their unique brand of leadership for the next four year term on the ever evolving fortunes of our city. There exist an incessant plea from the electorate that the overall campaign will be absent of partisan politics and a hoped for expectation that the individual candidates will diligently shun the temptation to utilize personal attacks against their fellow candidates in order to deliberately demean and damage their opponent's community achievement accomplishments and personal reputations. In this disheartening era of "dirty politics," such vitriolic strategies serve only to debase the character of the individual who utilizes such tactics while placing in the shadows the issues for which genuine and honest debate would productively illuminate. Our mayoral candidates would do well to remember that the employment of such antics serves only to bring into question the character flaws of the offender as possibly being void of the attributes and abilities of desired leadership that would warrant otherwise a positive vote cast in their behalf.

I support a candidate who will without hesitation disdain any thought of conducting a negative campaign, but will put forth for voter evaluation his consistent and unwavering strength of irreproachable character and spirit of servanthood faithfully demonstrated throughout his decade long history of documented achievements accomplished through his unselfish dedication to public service to this city and citizens of St. Petersburg. Bill Foster is a person of high moral and ethical fiber, who loves St. Petersburg and who admires and desire to further serve, as their mayor, the thousands of men and women who, like him, work tirelessly every day to maintain, promote and enhance further the quality of life for which this city has established such a well deserved reputation.

There have been in the past and will unfortunately continue in the present those individuals that would discount Bill Foster's worthiness to serve as mayor, believing that his professed and closely held Christian faith somehow interferes decidedly with his ability to separate matters of city affairs from the personal affairs of the heart. To those likeminded skeptics I would point out that a person of religious faith possesses no less of an inherent ability to govern fairly and without prejudice than does the individual who hold no religious precept other than his own sense of ego. I would much prefer a government official who stands on a firm personal and uplifting faith so that he or she does not fall prey to a self-prescribed belief that the weight of making fair and impartial decisions that effects the greater good lies solely with their frail human ability to render same. Give me a candidate that ponders first in heartfelt prayer the decisions which affects the fortunes of family, friends, and community over any individual that believes that personal ethics are singularly the product of mankind's DNA.

In these most trying and strenuous times of economic turmoil, the citizens of St. Petersburg need a mayor who will not succumb to the Washington and Tallahassee decrees of doom and gloom, where partisan philosophy too often trumps fiscal practicality, who will look instead to the grassroots of self-determination that is prevalent among the citizens of this community, and who will forge a renewed spirit of seeking a better future and a common sense approach of taking care of our own. These present difficult times, if left to fester without solid leadership to evaluate and proactively address, will only serve to defeat us. Our city's and citizens' difficult times can instead serve to define us a municipality that rose to meet the challenges head on. Bill Foster, as our city's next mayor, is the candidate that possesses, in partnership with the citizens of St. Petersburg, the desire, the experience, and the requisite leadership skills and abilities to meet those challenges."

To learn more about Bill Foster, the individual, the family man, his community service achievements and record, his "Foster Formula" plan for governing St. Petersburg in the next four years, and how you can become personally involved in Bill's campaign, please visit the campaign Web site at: http://www.BillFosterformayor.com/ I hope you, like me, will embrace Bill's candidacy and make it is personal priority to become involved in the future of St. Petersburg by becoming personally involved in Bill Foster's campaign.