After reading if you're so inclined drop him some help.
Jeff Taylor
I've given, admittedly a very modest amount, but I'm sure that a number of small donations can really help Jeff, FR's own Skeet, in his campaign.
Go Jeff!
Posted on 09/18/2009 12:40:58 PM PDT by The Shrew
Jeff Taylor describes himself as a “behind-the-scenes guy” who got a little push.
When he had a couple of people ask him about running for alderman earlier this year, he gave it some thought. But in July, when Dana Outlaw “seemed to waiver” about whether he would run again for alderman in New Bern’s Sixth Ward, Taylor decided that the time for thinking was over and that “somebody needed to step up.”
And, suddenly, Taylor was behind the scenes no more.
By the time Outlaw decided to file again for alderman, Taylor had already put out a news release, started work on a Web site and was going “full-steam ahead” with research and with the blessing of his wife Suzanne and their two young daughters.
“I cannot improve what I don’t understand,” Taylor said. “So, I have spent a lot of time just doing research, talking to people and digesting the history of some city decisions. That’s really the key to getting started.”
Soon, Taylor started talking about his “lean government concept,” one of the central issues in his campaign.
A manufacturing coordinator in Bosch and Siemens’ laundry division, Taylor says he models his lean government concept after a lean manufacturing concept he uses in business.
“Lean government is about lowering New Bern’s operating expenses without cutting services,” Taylor said. “A lot of people hear ‘lean’ and they think, ‘Oh, I’m going to lose some service I need.’ That’s not it at all. Lean government is about keeping what you need, but looking at the whole picture and always looking for efficiencies. There is always a way to make an operation more efficient.”
Taylor was born in Kinston. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he served six years in the Air Force. He rose to the rank of captain while serving as a missile launch officer.
Seven years ago, he moved from Washington, D.C. to New Bern to raise his family.
“We’ve done plenty of traveling, and I wanted to give my girls a home base,” he said.
Still he preferred to be a behind-the-scenes man, volunteering where he could, being involved with Temple Baptist Church and concentrating on his family.
And whenever Bosch had international guests, Taylor would bring them home for dinner. His pork ribs, with a Kansas City dry rub, have become famous among German executives, he says.
But Taylor, who is 48, says he believes this is an important time for him to step away from his behind-the-scenes approach.
Among the multiple candidates who have called for moving New Bern’s election from October to November, Taylor has perhaps become the leading voice.
He has written letters and made calls and set up appointments with legislative attorneys.
He says he won’t mind if his campaign turns into a “referendum” for moving the election to increase voter turnout.
“There’s nothing we can do about it this year, but there’s no reason that we can’t get it done before the next election cycle,” Taylor said. “Changing the election will not take an act of God. We have advice to suggest that we can do this under home rule, possibly without having to get special legislative approval.”
Taylor also says that if he is elected, he will maintain a Web site for Ward 6 residents, to “ensure that government is accessible and responsive” to the people it serves.
In the meantime, he says, he will keep pushing especially for the election-date change.
And no matter how his ward race turns out, he says intends to accomplish that particular mission.
And if he does that, he says, he’ll likely be known in New Bern for more than his pork ribs.
After reading if you're so inclined drop him some help.
Regards,
TS
PING!
I haven’t been much of a fan of New Bern since they attacked Jericho. They definitely need new leadership.
Bump and (New Bern) NC ping!
Ha.
Man, I miss that show.
I’d rather see LESS government than “lean” government.
A Freeper-running-for-office ping.
If you go on a diet and lose 50 pounds, is there less of you?
Go skeet!
BTTT
If you go on a diet and lose 50 pounds, is there less of you?
EXCELLENT analogy! If I went on a diet and lost 50 pounds, I'd gain it back once I went off the diet because the diet only addressed the symptom, not the cause. It's why everybody from Rush to Oprah are always going on diets. Diets ignore the cause and do battle with the symptom.
Sorry, but making government "lean" the way this guy describes it is ignorning the cause and addressing the symptom. It's a temporary fix. The CAUSE is too damned much government. God, I pray for a Limited Government Conservative movement that COMPREHENDS the concept!!!!!!
I'll be more impressed when a candidate comes along whose aim is to hack away at overgrown government, NOT to make the overgrown government that's there "leaner" and more efficient in its oppression.
Some ole FreeperFarts on this thread!
Good Luck, Jeff!
Sad to see only 12 replies.......ah, the good, ole days.
Sorta like reading “The First Annual Freeper Convention” threads.......I know I am getting older but I seem to remember some other Freeper conventions way back when.
I like the way you changed my analogy from "go on a diet and lose 50 pounds" to "losing 50 pounds and gaining it all back again." I wonder what else I really meant to say that I forgot to type.
I agree that government needs to become smaller, at all levels. Jeff's lean government / lean manufacturing concept isn't a bad way to get started.
Thanks for the ping!
You're right to a point. But understand that there's a fundamental difference between making government leaner and making it smaller.
There really is.
The principle of limited government is not to make it leaner, but to DISMANTLE and DISCARD that which interferes with our rights. Get rid of it so that it ceases interference in every aspect of our lives. That is different from making certain operations use less money. The principle and goal must be to get rid of certain operation altogether. Not leaner, GONE. All I'm saying is that I am watching out what I'm really being asked to vote for, and hope you will do the same.
Reading this piece -- and admittedly, I didn't read deeply, but it looked to me like his philosophy and his presentation, his principle, is not about shrinking anything but budgets through better efficiency and management. The government stays in place.
Bear in mind that a city Alderman has limited ability to dismantle large chunks of the existing government structure.
My check is in the mail!
All we have to do is elect FReepers, and the problems are solved, right?
I hope this will be the beginning of a long and successful conservative political career!
Best wishes to the Taylors.
Leni
Thanks for the ping. Efficiency IS a radical concept for any level of government.
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