Kevin Van Ostenbridge's big and little lies
Manatee County commissioner leans on xenophobia and rewritten history to make the case for re-election. He also wants your money.
When I went to the mailbox on Saturday and I saw the thick yellow envelope imploring me, “DO NOT DISCARD,” I thought, “Great, more junk mail.”
But the envelope also said, “Your personalized 2024 ballot petitions are enclosed, please review and reply A.S.A.P.” My journalistic curiosity got the best of me, so I opened it up to find a “Dear Marc” letter from my county commissioner — “my” in the sense that I live in his district, not “my” in the sense that I own him like some real estate developers own him — Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
“A signature can be a very powerful thing,” KVO starts out. “I need You to lend me yours to keep the Manatee County Commission conservative.”
He then spent four pages making the case for 1) his re-election this fall; 2) my signature and those of at least 552 other District 3 residents on the petitions included in the mailing so he doesn’t have to pay an almost $6,000 filing fee; and 3) a financial contribution to his campaign.
Even before I started reading, I was a “no” on all three asks.
Ideologically and temperamentally, Van Ostenbridge and his like-minded colleagues on the commission — which is everyone now in office, except for George Kruse over the past year or so — have been bad for Manatee County as they have given free reign to developers, a sorry record they are always eager to distract from with the bread and circus of the latest culture war diversion. Anyone who is not part of their right-wing, Trumpist base — like, LGBTQ+ residents, library patrons, women in need of health care and non-real estate developers — is none of their concern.
Van Ostenbridge last fall showed himself unworthy of re-election when he attacked as “communist pawns” residents, including children, who unsuccessfully lobbied the commission to not roll back protection of wetlands in Manatee County.
Not surprisingly, his despicable comments were not part of the pitch that showed up in local mail boxes over the weekend. But the letter is still filled with an assortment of half-truths, obfuscations and other fancy words for “lies” that pretend a reality far different from anyone who has been paying attention the past four years.
For example, did you know that before he was elected in 2020, Manatee County had “one of the most liberal governments in Florida,” run by “liberal bureaucrats and Communist rubber stamps.” Or that Van Ostenbridge “spearheaded efforts to raise fees developers pay to cover the costs of new growth.”
For good measure and to make sure the red-hat brigades and the Tuesday night gatherings at Mixon’s hear his message, Van Ostenbridge instills his appeal for our signatures, money and votes, with bad old-fashioned racism, by decrying the effects of what he called “Joe Biden’s open border policy that has allowed illegal aliens to invade our community.”
No, the county commission does not have anything to do with immigration policy in the United States. But the easiest way to tell me you’re a racist — or at least willing to appeal to racists for votes — is by trying to dehumanize undocumented migrants as “invaders.”
You can read the whole awful thing at the link below.
Van Ostenbridge, who already has raised more than $200,000 for his re-election, doesn’t need your money for his campaign, nor your signatures. He probably spent on the mailing much more than the $6,000 it would take to bypass a petition drive and buy his place on the ballot. He’s just test-driving slogans and lines of attack for what looks to become a competitive campaign this summer and fall.
Instead, consider supporting local nonprofit organizations that do the work or help the people Van Ostenbridge is so eager to condemn.
The Giving Challenge, a biannual online fundraising drive for hundreds of local nonprofit groups, runs from noon Tuesday to noon Wednesday. Among the worthy groups you can support include Suncoast Waterkeeper, which led the campaign to maintain wetlands protections in Manatee County; and Catholic Charities or Lutheran Services Florida Inc., which, among things, provide food, shelter and other services to immigrants in the community. (The Patterson Foundation will match the first $100 of each contribution.)
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If he’ll lie about his record or fear-monger about immigration, of course, Van Ostenbridge will lie about much less significant things, like who gets and sends his mail.
In the letter, Van Ostenbridge writes he will be “checking my mailbox everyday” to see if I return a signed petition — even though the envelope included in the mailing is addressed to a business address used by his political consultant Anthony Pedicini.
And back to the yellow envelope, the return address on the top left-hand corner — “P.O. Box 1000, Bradenton, FL 34206” — belongs not to Van Ostenbridge, his campaign or his campaign manager. It belongs to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office.
(After originally publishing this, I’ve heard the address is also used by the county government and the local state attorney’s office.)
Who else is running in District 3?
Six questions for Manatee County Commission candidate Talha 'Tal' Siddique
Six questions for Manatee County Commission candidate Diana Shoemaker
Van Ostenbridge has not responded to The Bradenton Journal’s questions.
Marc R. Masferrer, previously a newspaper and digital editor in Bradenton for more than 16 years and a journalist for more than 33 years, has received multiple awards for his writing, including a first place for commentary writing in the Florida Press Club’s 2022 Excellence in Journalism Competition and a second place prize in the 2023 contest for work published in The Bradenton Journal. You can reach him at Marc.R.Masferrer@gmail.com. You can also like The Bradenton Journal on Facebook.
Great column, Marc! I so appreciate "the easiest way to tell me you’re a racist — or at least willing to appeal to racists for votes — is by calling undocumented migrants, “invaders.”" I have been saying the same thing about Trump supporters for years - the easiest way to tell me you're a racist - or at least OK with racism - is to support having a racist President. I don't mean to hijack your great column into a futile and non-productive debate about Trump (No one is going to change their mind) - but I think the media, in general, is afraid to call out the common denominator among MAGA, and that common denominator is racism - not always blatant, it's more pronounced in the undercurrent of racism-related fear and fear mongering. Anyway, I too got the Dear David letter and went through the same process at considering whether to toss or open the envelope. Once I opened and saw what it was, like a lot of people, my mind immediately ran through options of how to send this garbage back to him on his own postage. High on the list involves the content of a doggie poop bag. And what to write on the form? What would the Real KVO do? There should be a contest and a prize given to the best response sent back to KVO in his postage paid "Process ASAP" envelope.
The corruption in plain site that occurs in Manatee County government is breath-taking. And the ability of the politicians you mention to control the outcome of elections is equally impressive. Objective awareness of their behavior, as made possible by the legitimate professional media, clearly reveals the lies and corrupt behavior they continuously engage in. Yet the people consistently vote them into office.
I think that partisanship and loyalty to the “tribe” must skew thinking away from the truth and toward the stories the politicians tell. Republicans outnumber Democrats in Manatee County by almost 2 to 1. Because of the attention and bias habits that all humans cannot help but fall victim to, and the way media has changed so drastically since the advent of the Internet and social media, it is reasonable to suspect that the overwhelming majority of Republican voters are paying attention only to the stories told by the GOP tribe, through the sources on social media and the Internet they habitually subscribe to. It’s possible that most voters are aware only of the stories told by their tribe, and have no idea what is being reported by the legitimate professional journalists. They may be voting for what they sincerely believe is right, but their beliefs have been informed by a pack of lies, and they don’t know it. It’s a revolting development.
Thanks for giving voice to the truth as a professional journalist. Unfortunately, you professional journalists are outnumbered a million to one by all the corrupt propagandists on the Internet. Years ago, only well-funded news organizations put out a product that had credentials and presented an authoritative persona. Today, any mischievous teenager and sociopath with a computer can create something that people perceive as a reliable source. I do not know at this time how to correct this disordered situation. I wish I did.