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ECUA District 5: Incumbent’s Money 10 To 1 Over Challenger
August 2, 2008
The race for the District 5 seat on the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority is has one candidate’s finances leading his challenger 10 to 1, but it is still an interesting race.
It is Barry Tweedie’s third attempt for the seat on the utilities board. He first ran for the position in 2000 when incumbent Larry Walker ran for the Escambia County Commission. He lost to Robert Tegenkamp.
In 2004, Tweedie ran again against Tegenkamp, but both men lost to Walker.
Now, in 2008, Tegenkamp is in the race for Pete Gindl’s District 5 place on the Escambia County School Board.Tweedie is once again facing Walker for the seat on the board that governs, as the name implies, utilities in Escambia County. South of 10 Mile Road, ECUA provides trash service. They also provide water and sewer service for those residents as well.
In North Escambia, ECUA is reponsible for the trash franchise with Allied Waste, a franchise agreement that expires in 2010…in the middle of the term for whichever man wins. Walker has tried several times during his tenure to give Allied the boot and end the franchise early.
Through July 18, the last required reporting period, Walker had raised $10,505. Tweedie’s total came in at just $1,100. Of that $1,100, $1,000 was a loan from Tweedie himself. The other $100 was a single campaign donation from one supporter.
It is worth noting that Walker did contribute to his own campaign as well, but it was just $520. The rest of his contributions have been from 50 supporters in amounts ranging from just $20 to the legal maximum of $500.
On July 18, Walker had a balance of $6,383.58 in his campaign account. He had spent $4,121.42 on his campaign, mostly for miscellanous promotional materials like signs, coffee mugs, and t-shirts.
Tweedie had spent $353 on his campaign as of July 18, giving him a $747 balance. His money went toward signs, printed handouts, and a ballfield banner.
Walker, who has served a total of four terms on the ECUA, will face Tweedie on primary election day, August 26.
Comments
15 Responses to “ECUA District 5: Incumbent’s Money 10 To 1 Over Challenger”
I had trouble with Allied Waste billing. My dumpster “crawled” downhill from the usually placement. Each time it was dumped and replaced to the ground, it was an inch or so down hill. Over a year this added up and the dumpster was too close to the drive lane. I requested of Allied Waste to have it returned to the proper place. They charged me a “RELOCATION FEE” of $75! No amount of letters, phone calls or emails could get Allied waste to understand. Only after I contacted Mr. Walker, did Allied Waste admit they had coded the charge incorrectly and eventually removed it from my bill. THANK YOU LARRY WALKER. Truly you are for the common taxpayer and citizen.
I’m voting for Larry Walker for District 5 ECUA based on his proven track record and his responsiveness to an issue I was having with Allied. I had been having problems with Allied Waste and was getting nowhere calling them directly. All it took was one email to Larry Walker – not only did he quickly return my email, he got the problem resolved immediately. And he even followed up with me a couple of weeks later to make sure the problem remained resolved.
Larry Walker has set an example that all our elected officials should follow.
I really don’t know Larry Walker but I do know what he does and what he is about. Living in his district here in Scenic Hills, I do know he was responsive to us following Hurricane Ivan and made several trips to the neighborhood to help resolve debris removal. As well, he is most likely the most responsive civil servant I have know in my 70 years on this planet. Yes, I am the guy that wrote the News Journal on the curb side toilet that was picked up by Larry within in 30 minutes of my call to him. I am retired military myself and do not believe that alone qualifies you for a management position on the board of ECUA which Mr. Tweedie proposes. I prefer to keep our knowledgeable and seasoned incumbent, Larry Walker because he is one of those rare individuals who is not only highly educated but also has a lot of walking around sense.
I have attended one meeting of the ECUA board. My issue was Allied Waste billing and client services. I discovered Mr. Walker has been right on top of this issue and was more than accommodating in answering my concerns. I discovered that unless we keep Mr. Walker in his present position we will be losing a major player in getting a more competitive waste pick up system. Presently we are at the mercy of a single waste management system. The rates will keep going up and the service will remain unchanged. Mr. Walker is someone out there that understands the system and the problems between ECUA and the county. ECUA has no control over what the Perdido landfill has to accept. The recycling program will never work unless we keep Mr. Walker in there and keeping us informed on all the pending changes.
Dr Larry Walker does not need the any of the financial wherewithall that the position pays. Actually, the citizens of the county need Dr Larry Walker to confinue in the position for as long as possible. He has provided honesty, integrity, and professionalism that is much needed to the ECUA. With the migration of the main sewage water treatment to the Cantonment area, it is absolutely vital that we have a dependable, proven overseer to make sure that costs are kept to a minimum as well as high standards are maintained with the sewage treatment(s).
Dr Walker is a proven commodity. Why try out someone we have little knowledge of? Let’s go with the good stuff!
I have been truly impressed with Mr. Walker’s dedication to his position on the ECUA Board. I have, on several occasions, had to contact him for issues with AWS, as they are the company that removes our trash here north of 10 Mile Road. Unfailingly, Mr. Walker has returned my calls, and in some instances showed up at my front door to investigate the problem first hand. How many “public servants” do you know that will do that? He is extremely proactive in his pursuit of excellence as an elected member of the ECUA and as a Public Servant. You can do no wrong by voting for him to continue his membership on the board.
I’m voting for Walker. I would think that the amount of money Mr. Walker collected reflects the level of honest service that he provides the community. He is prudent with public monies and does his homework before commiting to a project. He attends churches and public functions throughout the district so that all constituents have an opportunity to discuss problems with him. When a constituent calls upon him, he responds. He has rendered outstanting service to District 5 and I look forward to his remaining in office so he cn continue to do so. Arnold Seligman
Mr. Walker has always been diligent in performing his duties as my ECUA board member. We live in a rather out of the way neighborhoor north of Quintette Road and have had numerous problems with first BFI and then Allied Waste. We pay for and expect to receive the same service that other Escambia residents receive. Everytime we have had problems Mr. Walker has been quick to respond to my phone calls and help with obtaining the service we pay for. My daughter who lives in Molino has also had problems with service from Allied Waste and Mr. Walker has helped both her and her neighbors. We will, naturally vote for and support the candidate that is true to his word and gets the job done . That man is Larry Walker.
Years ago Larry returned a level of honesty and efficiency to the ECUA. Remember the prior scandals and problems? I DO and am voting for him AGAIN!
Larry Walker, who is running for the Board of Directors of ECUA, has been a friend for a few years.
He has spoken and attended meeting of the IP retirees and brought us up to date on issues with ECUA and offered to attend our neighborhood meetings to explain same. He is a good Christian man with a heart for our community. I support him.
Larry is honest… he personally responds to request and answers our concerns…
Larry has 16 years experience… Mr. Walker has stood and won four times against worthy opponents… Larry must be doing something right…. !
GO LARRY – I’M VOTING FOR YOU AGAIN ON AUGUST 26…!
I have known Larry Walker for a number of years. He has always been fair and honest. He will give you a straight answer to any question, something you seldom find in a polititian. With Mr. Walker on the ECUA board as our representative, I know there will be no back room, underhanded tactics used.
Mr Walker’s opponent might be a good guy, but I don’t know that. I do know Larry Walker. I will be voting for him.
To LDA:
In 2004, I was widely considered the leading contender for the District 5 county commission seat, but I chose to return to the ECUA because that was where my true interest lay, after twelve years of previous service on ECUA.
As it turned out, the ECUA contest was by far the more difficult, because Mr. Tegenkamp spent more than $40,000 of his own money in attempting to hold on to the seat, whereas, I was able to raise and spend less than one-half that amount. If I had chosen the easier race, it would have been the county commission race.
In 2008, I have again been urged by many to run for the county commission seat, but I am seeking reelection at ECUA. Yes, I know that the county commission paycheck is twice as much. My heart is in contributing to a sound utilities authority and to good public service by ECUA.
Incidentally, $10,000 is not a large amount to raise and spend on an ECUA race. In 2004, Mr. Tegenkamp spent more than $40,000 of his own money, and I raised and spent $19,000. I have made no attempt to overwhelm Mr. Tweedie fiancially: $10,000 is just what has been received through limited fund-raising efforts. Larry Walker
Re: PLEASE give us more information about what the candidates have to say
There will be much more election coverage to come from NorthEscambia.com as August 26 gets closers, including information on where each candidate stands on the issues, interviews, etc.
I’m voting for Tweedie. I really DON’T care about their money raising abilities. From what I read about each candidate in the PNJ article, Thursday July 31, they are both qualified. Tweedie, however, is only interested in running for the ECUA position and always has been. He seems to genuinely care about it. Alot of these other politicians seem to run for any county position available, (county commissioner in 2000-Walker; and school board 2008-Tegenkamp).
PLEASE give us more information about what the candidates have to say, rather than how many signs we can expect to see beside the road because they have raised more money.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion.