Kevin Van Ostenbridge's bundles of campaign cash

Big Development puts its money behind Manatee County commissioner's re-election campaign.

Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbrudge (Manatee County Government photo)

Some of Manatee County’s largest real estate developers are all in on county commission Chairman Kevin Van Ostenbridge’s re-election campaign — even more than only a cursory review of his campaign finance report might suggest.

You’re right to be impressed by the haul of campaign cash Van Ostenbridge reported Monday for the month of June: Donations of the legally maximum $1,000 each from 170 donors, for a total of $170,000. It’s enough to give pause to anyone predicting Van Ostenbridge’s political demise or considering challenging him in next year’s election.

None of this should surprise anyone, as Van Ostenbridge has been one of the commission’s loudest advocates for as few restrictions as possible on growth and development in the county.

However, if you look closely at Van Ostenbridge’s latest campaign finance disclosure report, as posted on the county election administrator’s website, you’ll see it’s not as it first appears.

Yes, Van Ostenbridge did collect $170,000, an impressive tally — more than $40,000 than he raised during all of the 2020 election cycle. But it wasn’t like 170 different individuals and businesses donated. Instead, the bulk of it came from large real estate developers and landowners — and here is the big asterisk to remember — as well as firms and individuals associated with them.

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The giveaway is that while each donor has a different name, several of them share addresses with developers like Pat Neal, Carlos Beruff, Benderson Development and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch. That kind of bundling of donations is entirely legal and way too common in Manatee County politics, even if it might distort the actual level of support enjoyed by Van Ostenbridge and other politicians.

The report notes that the donations were dated either June 23 or June 30. No campaign-related expenses were detailed in the report.

So with that in mind, here is a breakdown of some of Van Ostenbridge’s biggest donors with ties to development and construction in Manatee County:

Pat Neal

Pat Neal’s flagship, Neal Communities, is headquartered at 5800 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., in the Sarasota County portion of Lakewood Ranch. Twenty-one firms listing that address as their office, with names like Blackhawk Capital Management and Lakota Partners LLC, donated a total of $21,000 to Van Ostenbridge.