The big news over the past 18 hrs or so has been the emergence of a new Republican candidate in the GAGOV race.
His name is Raymond Otto Boyd, goes by Ray Boyd, and he is a real estate developer who has instantly catapulted himself to among the top of the field in at least one category:
He has $2 million in the bank, ready to be spent on his campaign.
Boyd has accepted no campaign contributions, and doesn’t intend to accept any. The $2 million is entirely his own money. His story is classic Americana – started out picking cotton as a boy for a penny a pound, later joined the Air Force -where he got both of his degrees and emerged as a Captain-, went on to found his own company, and how is living debt free. He says he is pissed off at the current crop of Republicans, who he says are all either ethically challenged or career politicians.
But how does this fit into the title “Lesson Learned”?
Several weeks ago – perhaps when I found Kira, along with John Barge and Sandra Scott towards the end of February, perhaps a bit later, I saw that some guy named Raymond Otto Boyd had filed to run for Governor. I even tweeted about it, asking if anyone had ever heard of him.
A few days ago, I saw that this same Raymond Otto Boyd had filed his disclosure with zero contributors but $2 million in the bank. I thought this was rather impressive, but still didn’t say anything about it because I hadn’t heard of him and his site was still not operational.
Yesterday, Aaron Sheinin of the AJC’s Gold Dome Live reported that John Oxendine had reported more than $2 million in the bank on the disclosures that are coming in today. When I saw the tweet as I was driving to Ft Walton Beach, I tweeted him back that “so does Otto, but that doesn’t mean either will win the race”. When he asked me who Otto was, I told him “Not where I can look him up again. On road. Check SEC site. Think name is “Raymond Otto B_____”".
That tweet set off a storm, with Jim Galloway picking up the story, followed by Peach Pundit, who picked up the story via GPB and the AP, who picked up the story when Boyd told them about his candidacy yesterday – and yet this is the first post on this site about it, even though I knew about the guy arguably before anyone else.
In my defense, when I first heard about Boyd, it was before he had filed his disclosure. At that point, he was just some random guy who intended to run for Governor. It was only when he filed his disclosure and began talking to the media that he became the story he currently is. All I had at the time was that some guy had filed to run for Governor, and that I had never heard of him. This isn’t uncommon, because there are about a half dozen or so other candidates that have filed in that race that next to no one has ever heard of.
So here’s the lesson learned: When you see something, report it. You never know if it will become “the next big thing”. I’ll try to remember that next time I see something I don’t think anyone else knows about.
And yes, I’m working on my vacation.
[CORRECTED] My initial post said Boyd picked cotton for a dollar a pound. It was actually a penny, per the Galloway article linked above, and I have now corrected this error. Yes, I’m still on vacation. 
I think he may have started at picking cotton at a dollar a day not a pound. Cotton is currently trading around $.82 per pound.
Wilson:
Sorry, I was writing that particular line as I was doing the rest of the research. He actually said “a penny a pound”, per Galloway. I’ll update the article to reflect this momentarily.
I think the “new guy” to politics should not try to paint ALL republican candidates with the same broad brushstroke. Not all the candidates are ethically challenged. He must not have ever heard of Austin Scott. I would love to challenge him to find anything unethical about Representative Scott. Good luck, Mr. Boyd.
State Representative Mike Keown admitted to voting to repeal the Homestead Exemption Grant which cost the average homeowner $300 last year and again, this year, and so on for the foreseeable future. This vote cost me $315 last year.
To make matters worse, he also voted to raise all those fees this year. And, after the bill passed to raise $270 million in fees, he quietly went up to the Clerk of the House and changed his vote to a “No”. We don’t need that kind of politician in Congress – that is what the Tea Party and Taxpayers Association and Freedom Works are all about.