Ben's Two Faces: What Unfinished Business???

Over the weekend, people were talking about how Ben Winston was purchasing support for his bid to become District 2 Supervisor of Lamar County. There were some that were concerned how I would feel about the matter but if Ben Winston has sunk to a new low by paying for support then allow us to see another side of his flawed character. Why would anyone that running for office find it necessary to pay crackheads and crackwhores to campaign for him? Ben has pulled out all the stops. He's preying I mean paying anyone that needs a few dollars to support his cause; even if they don't support him. Most campaigns are filled with people that volunteer because they believe in the candidate. Ben is so desperate to gain support or give the illusion of support that he's allegedly paying people to put the Help Ben Win signs on their cars, trucks and in their yards. Personally, I don't care who supports Ben but I can not and will not put a sign in my yard if I don't support the candidate; regardless of how much they're paying. That's like me posting a Donald Trump for President sticker on my car but telling everyone I'm voting for Hilary Clinton. The reason people put campaign signs in their yards or place of business is to show other's that they believe in and support that candidate. At this moment, I'm concerned about the source of these funds that's being used to essentially buy votes. It was just revealed that the City of Lumberton has defaulted on a loan; a loan that payment was approved for every month but for some reason, the loan payment was not getting paid. How did that happen?

I know there are people that think I spend a lot of time blogging about Ben Winston and that is true. He's the superintending authority for the City of Lumberton and therefore, he's responsible for the default of any loan. If the loan payment was not getting submitted, then he should have known. If Ben Winston was not seeking another position, his actions wouldn't matter but if a person is not capable of successfully managing a city with a $1.2 million dollar budget then how can they properly manage a multi-million dollar budget. As a minister, Ben is aware of the bible passage that says "he that is faithful in the least is also faithful in the much." Well, Ben Winston has shown that he's not capable of managing a small budget; therefore it is reasonable to surmise that he wouldn't be able to manage a larger budget. A few months ago, Ben Winston said he wanted to return to the position of Lamar County Supervisor because he wanted to finish what he started. After digging around the internet, I think I stumbled on the unfinished business Ben Winston was talking about.

It seems that when Ben Winston was District 2 Supervisor in 2011, he was looking into gerrymandering as a way to keep his seat on the County Board. Based on articles posted on WDAM, Winston wanted to create a major-minority district while supervisor. Is this the unfinished business Winston was talking about? In another article, Winston was so adamant about creating a minority district that he didn't feel that the new political lines could be determined by in house personnel. An excerpt from the article is as follows:

"...Winston made a motion to consider hiring an outside law firm who the board consulted with earlier in the week but his motion was denied. Winston said, the census numbers show a large percent of minority residents reside in his district and a portion of district one. He feels the county could possibly create a majority-minority district..."

Again, I would like to know if redistricting is part of the unfinished business Ben Winston want to address if he's elected to serve as Supervisor?

According to a couple of Winston's biggest supporters, he is not concerned about getting votes in Lumberton. If that were true then why is he paying for support in Lumberton? The people in Lumberton know about Winston's shady deals, the time he sued to City of Lumberton to keep from paying taxes on the trailers he was selling, the fact that he went to court to have an elderly woman put out of the church he was pastoring, the fact that we basically have no police protection because of cuts made by Winston and now we are going to lose our 2016 sales taxes because the City of Lumberton has defaulted on a major loan under the leadership of Mayor Ben Winston. Based on these facts alone, Winston does not seem qualified to lead anything...not a church, not a city and definitely not a county. According to one of Winston's supporters, he is relying on votes from residents in Purvis, Oak Grove and Hattiesburg to get into office. So let me get this straight, the people Winston didn't want in District 2 in 2011 are now the people he's relying on to get into office? In an interview

Winston said, he is also worried that once new lines are drawn, District 2 will be spread out so wide because of the growth in the Oak Grove area, he feels that may negatively impact the residents in the Southern part of District 2.

Interesting. Based on his behavior and his continued assault on the City of Lumberton, Winston has proven that his political agenda has not changed.

The people of Lumberton, Purvis, Oak Grove and parts of Hattiesburg may not be concerned about the continuous decline of Lumberton but I'm sure they're concerned about a candidate that want to create a minority district in an effort to secure his position on the County board. I'm still trying to figure out why Winston think this is needed. Lumberton's Board is comprised mostly of black board members or am I supposed to say African-Americans? We see how that's working. We have African-Americans serving as judges, attorneys, mayors, legislatures and we even have an African-American president but we have a black mayor that wants to get into a county position to turn District 2 into a minority district in order to secure a black representative on the board. He's the problem. I'm sure Winston think creating a minority district will help him remain in office but my vote is not being cast based on color; I'm casting my vote based on competence and Winston is far from competent in a role of leadership. Next week, he and his cohorts are going to court in an attempt to stop my blog because they don't want this type of information to be revealed to the potential voters of Lamar County. For the past few months, Ben Winston has dangled the Army Corp of Engineer Grant in front of the citizens of Lumberton but he refuse to admit that the City of Lumberton does not have the $625,000 in matching funds to secure the grant. The story regarding the funding has changed almost every month. At the last board meeting, Winston claimed that the City of Lumberton is in line to get a windfall of $4 million dollars in grants. Ask yourself, if Mayor Winston thought that much money was coming into the City of Lumberton why is he so eager to get out of a seat he sought to fill? There you have it. Winston has accomplished nothing as Mayor of Lumberton, he's allowing the city to fall apart, he went to court to put out the elderly, he will be in court next week to try and take away my first amendment rights, he's left the city of Lumberton without police protection (one officer per shift), the City of Lumberton has not had an audit since Winston took office, and he has plans to push for redistricting Lamar County. Now you decide, is this the person you want representing you in Lamar County?