Lloyd “Buddy” Atkins
Candidate District #4
County Commissioner
Lloyd “Buddy” Atkins is a candidate for District #4 Lake County Commissioner, and the central theme of his campaign is that he successfully operated his real estate business, Atkins Realty, for 33 years in Lake County. Atkins has said over and over again that what the County Commission needs is a business man like himself to turn the economy around. Obviously, his peers in the realty community don’t agree that he’s the right person for the job.
In a stunning rebuke, the Realtors Association of Lake & Sumter Counties, Inc. (Realtors Association) did not recommend Atkins to the post of District #4 County Commissioner; instead, they’ve chosen to recommend NPA candidate Wolfgang Halbig. Atkins has spent his life in the realty business, and this recommendation should have been a slam dunk; however, the people who know Atkins the best did not stand up for him. Citizens for Better Government, L.L.C. contacted Bill Deese, Chairman of the Screening Committee to ask specifically why Atkins wasn’t recommended. Deese responded by saying, “Being a realtor is not a consideration for the recommendation, and the group felt that Halbig answered our questions the best.” Deese wouldn’t offer any further comments on Atkins.
Atkins, a lifelong resident of Lake County, has taken very pro-realtor positions such as encouraging incentives to have seniors fill foreclosures and a plan re-establishing Lake County as a retirement destination. Halbig, on the other hand, is a naturalized American citizen from Germany who has lived in Lake County for less than six years. Halbig has not established any public position on housing in Lake County, which is why the Halbig recommendation by the Realtors Association can only be described as a slap in the face to Atkins.
What’s also bizarre about the recommendation by the Realtors Association is they’ve skipped recommending any candidate for the District #4 Republican primary on August 24, 2010. They’re not offering any guidance on who to vote for in the primary, and they’ve decided to put all of their eggs in the Halbig basket. No matter what Republican comes out of the August 24th primary, it will be extremely hard for a NPA candidate like Halbig to win in a Republican county with no party apparatus.
In the race for District #2 Lake County Commissioner, the Realtors Association decided to make a recommendation for the Republican primary, and they chose Sean Parks. In their news release the group said of Parks, “following extensive questioning, [we’ve decided] Mr. Parks is the best qualified for the position.”
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Its pretty bad when the Realtor’s Union won’t support one of their own! If you don’t believe they are a union in a rght to work state try having a broker join them. They require every license in that office to belong to the “board” union. If one don’t they will shut down the whole office until the broker fires that one. Sounds like they know your Buddy to well don’t it? He though his connections with the sheriff and his volunteer work and his son in laws connections with the county along with a little money would parlay him into the front runner spot. The words out on the street about whats going on with the sheriff and his Buddy’s and the voters don’t like it. They also don’t like the millions and millions in waste for toys at the SO. Every deputy and corrections officer gets a free cell phone that we pay per minute use for! Thousands of dollars in bill’s for joking and texting each other. Maybe since Buddy is such good friends with the sheriff he could check this out all this waste and abuse of tax dollars we are fast running out of for us! Many governments are laying off firefighters and police officers while here in Lake county our government is still living in la la land and playing silly games just to keep all the kids happy while the corruption skims a little off the top.