Latest / Palafox Media Network / Meet the Candidate: Dominique talks deeper about local politics and the landscape
Transcript
- speaker-0: mean, right now in this race, I think you're having a company you're running against right now. Is that right? speaker-1: Now I don't believe he's vile. Sorry, had to play. speaker-0: Okay. I think right now you're the one who's filed. And so do you know if they're going to be running at all or have you had any communication with them at all or? speaker-1: I did. I got to meet with them. had some lunch or dinner actually, because it was after I got off of work. And you know, there was some talk about there's three open seats right now, two city commissioner and the mayor. So there was talk about like who was running for what race. And so I wanted to just meet with him. What's your thoughts? What are you thinking of? And he was saying that he's like 80, 90 % sure he actually wants to rerun for his position. So we got to talking about things that he felt were big and important and like relevant. in the city, because he's been in this seat for a while. He's been in municipality work for a while. But he himself pointed out even in that conversation that the look of local leadership for Altamont Springs hasn't looked any different for as long as Altamont speaker-0: But the committee has. The committee has changed a lot over last few years. speaker-1: Community does not look the way it did before. He said the community looks like you. It looks like someone who probably has a nine to five job, right? Monday through Friday like I do, but who wants to start a small business, who has a small family, who still has to be able to see progress where they live. he's like that perspective would be really nice to have joining local government. It's really like this double thing. He's like, yeah, probably gonna be running again, but also we need some new faces. speaker-0: Exactly. What's interesting because I know there's also a scuttlebutt out there, but you possibly ring from mayor. So is that card on the table anymore or? speaker-1: I hadn't thought about it, but he mentioned it to you while we were talking. So I'm just gonna, I think when I ran last time, I realized the proper way to do things is to go to the person each time and have a discussion. So when I can reach out and talk to the mayor, to anyone else that I had heard was already planning on running or might, no one has filed for that one either. So it definitely became a thought. speaker-0: Okay. Right, so is it so-thought or? speaker-1: It's still a thought until I can meet and talk with the current leadership. Local elected officials. Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: Is this your first time? I know you said you ran before. So what did you run for before or whenever? speaker-1: So two years ago, I ran for House District 38 first. that's, I jumped into that race. There was a lot going on. Yeah, there was a lot going on that year. I just finished my first year of law school and I was trying to decide if that was actually a route for me. I've got kind of a go-getter personality. as you're running law, you're thinking, is it better to argue law? Be a judge. Is it better to decipher law? speaker-0: That's a very deep water race. speaker-1: No, I think it's better to like fight for it, create it, legislate it, you know? That same year after that summer, there was this massacre in Buffalo, where I'm from, and two of my family members were killed in that top shooting. so a lot of us got to go to ⁓ and we got to go sit front of Congress, we got to sit in front of the House. That was one of the first moments that hit me, that I meet people every day who are more intelligent than the ones making decisions. In the United States government, I was like, totally bet people that could probably decipher, break this down and find a more amicable solution than you guys. It's kind of like you don't even want to. It's such a big level. thought. speaker-0: To raise the money, to raise the money, I'm not creating a solution. speaker-1: I mean, it's kind of like, y'all don't want to find it. So this is a little big for me. Let me go home and let me see what I can do at home where I live, where my daughter will grow up, where all my friends are, my nieces and nephews. And I had a lot of people behind me at that time, a lot of mentors and like different lawyers I had done my internships under. And they were like, jump in the race. We're taking you to telehassem. And I was like, you know what? They said, Dominic, are you going to keep crying? Are you going to step up? Are you going to do something? You're smart enough to learn how to do it if you went up there and saw them. Anyone can really, if you decide to, jump in and make some changes if you think it's for the betterment of the majority of the populace who wants it.