David T. Gildart
I am 37 yrs. old., originally from Memphis, TN. I have lived in Gainesville for almost three years now. I moved here with my beautiful wife, Shelly, and my two wonderful childen, Jackson, age 10, and Ashton, age 5. I was transferred here with my job as the Assistant General Manger of TGI Friday’s on Archer Rd. I have spent most of my life around politics. From about 3 years old, I was involved with my first Presidential and Senatorial campaigns in Tennessee, not that I could do much. I was involved with other local, state, and national campaigns in the years that followed. In high school I was selected to the Memphis Mayoral Classroom and received an honorary appointment to the City Council. Later I was selected as Head Delegate to the Collegiate United Nations in New York. I did a brief stint as an intern to then Senator Albert Gore Jr. and proceeded to run for the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2006. I have found a new life and a new calling since our move to Gainesville, and I sincerely hope that this may be my stepping stone to larger things in public service. It is my firm belief that the majority of voters are moderate in their points of view and do not subsribe to the labels of liberalism and conservatism that currently plague our political system. There is now, and always has been, a balance and compromise to the very foundation and structure of what has made our country, state, county, and municipality. Too often that moderation and compromise is disregarded in the name of political or financial allegiances. We need leadership as we forge into this millenium that is understanding of the needs and wants of their constituency as well as sympathetic to diligence and foresight of those who brought us here. There was, and will hopefully be again, that balance, that moderation, that compromise that not only made this country, but made it the most wealthy and powerful one in the world. I hope to be that voice of what was, is, and will be.
Hello David and welcome to Gainesville. We have been here for 19 years. All my family are from west TN, about an hour east of Memphis. Let’s hope you’re right about moderation and compromise. Al Gore is the most underestimated statesman we have had in this century.
1You’re a candidate for the Soil and Water Conservation Board. Is that board a highly politicized one in need of moderation? I’ve never even heard of it until this year.
2Thanks Don. Yes it Soil and Water Conservation Board, and it all has to start somewhere. We’ve enjoyed a few good conversations regarding the position and I would gladly educate further if necessary. Thanks for forum and all that you do.
3Thank you Sarah. I spent many wonderful years in Tennessee, but now Gainesville is my home and it is my aspiration to make a difference, even on a smaller scale. I agree that Al Gore was a very bright and dedicated statesman as well as person and I feel I learned alot in my brief time in his service. While I didn’t always agree with his position, I always admired his intensity and he was always genuine.
4I am sincerely upset with the way the country US of A is being destroyed by corruption…
5I want to vote for you,but need assurance that you will root out corruption if elected..
please email or post a response to this before I vote by mail friday…
rakkasan333……disabled vietnam vet…101st Airborne Division
Combat Artillery
Thank you for your comments and I appreciate your concerns. Unfortunately, in today’s political envivornment, corruption and a driving force toward self preservation and self promotion has greatly hampered as well as hurt our government institutions and the people they serve. I think we can all agree that “politician” is a word and an occupation that is not held in very high regard these days. The actions of some in public service, their’ underhanded dealings, immoral or illegal dealings, have greatly garnered the publics’ mistrust of the majority of people in public service. I believe it will take a new generation of public servants, such as myself, that have the integrity, political courage, intelligence, conviction, and dedication to their’ constituencies to turn the tide and make ours an honorable profession again and keep this country truly the grreatest in the world.
6Glad to see you are interested in running for a newly formed
7office, but what exactly are the duties of a soil and water conservation board representative.Please explain… Hope this position is not creating a bigger government to tell long time land owners what they can and cannot do with their land and natural resources.
This is not a newly formed position, but it’s the first time in memory that it has been competitive. Usually, whoever signs up is “elected”.
8Dear Mr. Gildart: Soil and water conservation are specific scientific specializations, requiring academic training and, preferably, on the job training. I do not see how working for TGI Friday’s or back in Tennessee prepares you for this job. At the very least this job requires someone familiar with present and past agricultural practices and human water use. The U.S. Soil and Water Conservation Service started in the 1930′s dust bowl years under Franklin Roosevelt, for the purposes of getting humans to make less of a destructive imprint on ecosystems in the U.S., especially in the west. It is a very important a-political effort to conserve water and soil, on which all humans depend for food. Talking about politics without a clue about soil and water is why the dust bowl happened in the first place. I hope Todd Martin has better qualifications!
9Dear Mr. Gildart:
10I agree with David Auth. The decision to bring cattle from out west during the dust bowl caused various problems for the cattle industry in Florida. Handling the conservation of soil and water are so important to each state. Without being familiar with the past and present agricultural practices and human water use as David said, how can you feel you are qualified for this position?
I am not sure why Todd Martin is not featured on this guide but he is definitely more qualified as he has BS in agricultural operations management from UF and has worked with the Marion County Farm Bureu. In fact I can not even understand why Mr. Gildart is even running for this particular position based on his qualifications?
11http://www.marioncountyfarmbureau.org/newsletters/sept2006.pdf
Mr. Martin is not featured because he has decided not to post any information here. I invite ALL candidates to post here. I give them a username and password, but I do not force them to come out of their holes. I have called Mr. Martin and I told him that he was sent a username and password to his email address, which I got from the Supervisor of Elections.
In defense of Mr. Martin, he is no worse than 90%+ of the candidates that I contact and opt out of participating. In defense of Mr. Gildart, he has cared enough to expose himself to scrutiny by participating here.
This is an elected position. If you don’t reach out to the people who are going to select you, who can you blame? Those of you who are touting Mr. Martin are the first voices to campaign for him here. Unfortunately, it comes the week before the election, while Mr. Gildart’s information has been here since July 1st, about 25,000 site visitors ago.
12Thank you Mr. Marsh for this forum to reach voters and our potential constituents. While I appreciate the concerns of those who have made recent comments, I sincerely feel that most people really don’t understand the function and purpose of this position. Secondly, while my education and background don’t lend solely to “agriculture” and “environmental” studies, I feel I have a very grounded and extensive amount of exposure to environmental causes and far better understand the political and business ramifications to those actions. As with any newly elected official, there will definately be some on the job training, however, I am quite acclimated and successful at such endeavors. Thank you to everyone for their’ time.
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