The Bradenton Journal endorses ...
Here are our picks for the Manatee County Commission.
The Bradenton Journal is endorsing candidates running in the primaries on Aug. 20 for one simple reason: Too much is at stake in this election, especially in the races for seats on the Manatee County Commission, and the differences between candidates are too stark. In most races, one candidate is clearly a better choice for Manatee County.
In each of the four Republican nomination races for seats on the Manatee County County, voters have a clear choice between a candidate who has chose to run a grassroots campaign marked by their willingness, if not their eagerness, to engage with voters.
On the other side of each contest, there is a developer-funded candidate who doesn’t even pretend to care about voters, unless they have a cell phone number or mailing address to which they can send their misleading messages.
On Aug. 20, The Bradenton Journal urges voters in each race to choose the former.
District 7
In District 7 (at-large), The Bradenton Journal endorses George Kruse.
Van Ostenrbridge lost any chance he ever might have had of winning our support last October when he viciously and thuggishly attacked residents, including children, who had opposed the county loosening its protection of wetlands from encroaching development. He even suggested they were communist pawns!
The tirade, which is on video for anyone to rewatch, was disqualifying, highlighting Van Ostenbridge’s total disrespect for the public. As commission chairman, he ended the practice of allowing residents to call in with comments during commission meetings, and he went along with the decision, apparently by the county administration, to block the public from commenting on the county’s extensive social media posts.
Kruse, however, does not win our support simply by default.
Kruse, the closest thing on the commission to someone actually interested in governing, is a thoughtful, engaging and yes, conservative leader not easily intimidated from the many complex challenges facing the county, especially related to development and affordable housing. His campaign to make rides on MCAT buses was one of the best ideas to come from the commission in recent memory.
Kruse also is not intimidated by the public. He responds to emails and text messages, and he regularly holds town hall meetings with his constituents, not an easy task when you represent all of Manatee County.
Kruse’s record is not spotless. He was part of the new conservative majority that forced out former county administrator Cheri Coryea, which enveloped the county into a chaos that has not fully subsided. It’s a vote, Kruse told a local podcast recently, he wishes he could take back And by his own actions, his personal life has become public in ways that were embarrassing to him and to Manatee County.
But even in politics, redemption is possible. Kruse has taken his second chance to show the public what a good commissioner can be and do. He has disavowed the developer support that helped him get elected four years ago, and he has shined, regardless of how many times he is on the losing side of 6-1 votes.
Kruse has more than demonstrated that he is deserving of voters’ grace, especially considering the alternative on the primary ballot.
The winner of the primary will face Democrat Sari A. Lindroos-Valimaki in the general election.
District 1
In District 1 (Palmetto, Ellenton, Parrish, Myakka City), The Bradenton Journal endorses Carol Felts.
A longtime civic activist from Myakka City, Felts is not only running for a seat on the commission, she is campaigning to raise the public’s awareness about their rights and the importance of residents engaging with their local government — and vice versa. She also is a tireless advocate for the interests of Myakka City and other rural communities in the county.
Felts’s opponent Steve Metallo is a Manatee County teacher who developers and their bagmen apparently plucked from anonymity to their bidding as a candidate and presumably, if he is elected, as a county commissioner. Almost all of the more than $97,000 he has raised — a remarkable sum for someone who previously had little public profile, other than as a teacher — has come from large landowners, developers and others with ties to the real estate industry.
We don’t begrudge Metallo for the nature of his support, but it does raise questions of who he would actually serve: The special interests funding his campaign or the residents who are dealing with the consequences of that rapid development they are bringing to Manatee County, especially in District 1.
The District 1 seat has been vacant since April, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed James Satcher to be the county’s elections supervisor. The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Glenn Pearson and no-party-affiliated candidate Jen Hamey in the general election on Nov. 5.
District 3
In District 3 (West Bradenton, Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, Palmetto, Terra Ceia), The Bradenton Journal endorses Talha (Tal) Siddique.
When he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the District 3 seat, Siddique seemed to relish the opportunity to challenge incumbent Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, perhaps the most polarizing member of the commission. Perhaps worried about what his pollster was telling him about District 3 voters, Van Ostenbridge cut his potential loss and filed instead to run for the at-large District 7 seat held by George Kruse. (More on that race below)
Siddique is a conservative Republican — he was the first commission candidate to publicly endorse Donald Trump for president, which could hurt him with the party-switching Democrats and independents he might need to win a Republican primary. But he is not running to pontificate an ideology, which Van Ostenbridge often does, but to serve the residents of District 3.
In an interview earlier in the campaign, Siddique criticized Van Ostenbridge for the growth of county government during his tenure as commissioner and for wanting to build a parking garage in Holmes Beach, despite opposition from the city. Siddique said his priorities as District 1’s commissioner would be to improve traffic flow districtwide, add trails and sidewalks on Anna Maria Island, promote attainable housing and “to serve as a check on overdevelopment.”
Siddique is running an energetic grassroots campaign, focused on meeting as many voters as he can and listening to, and responding, to their concerns.
That’s in stark contrast to his opponent, April Culbreath, who, with massive contributions from developers and other special interests, is running as a “conservative cop” — whatever that means — and ignoring her extensive, scandal-plagueed disciplinary record as a former Manatee sheriff’s deputy and her divisive tenure as chair of the local Republican party. In neither capacity has she demonstrated the experience nor the temperament to be an effective county commissioner.
Voters must not ignore Culbreath’s past. She is unfit for public office and undeserving of Republicans’ votes.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Diana Shoemaker in the general election.
District 5
In District 5 (Lakewood Ranch, East Manatee), The Bradenton Journal endorses Robert McCann.
We are most impressed by McCann’s appreciation for the fact that if elected, he must serve the interests of all his constituents, not just the developers and other special interests.
“The commission needs to legislate policy to protect the health, welfare, safety and quality of life of Manatee County residents and stop the urban sprawl,” McCann said in an interview with The Bradenton Journal. “When it comes to the current Manatee County Commission, all the money comes from special interests, and those “interests” seemingly control the county commission and its votes.”
We’re disappointed that McCann publicized that he had won the endorsement of former Army general and MAGA hero Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador in 2016 just as he was preparing to become President Trump’s national security adviser. Flynn, who now lives in Sarasota County, was fired after it was revealed that he also had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about those contacts.
But in a Republican primary in Manatee County, that is not likely to hurt his chances.
McCann is challenging incumbent Republican commissioner Ray Turner, who since his appointment to the commission after Vanessa Baugh resigned last year, has become a reliable advocate for the interests of the development community. Developers have rewarded him for his support by providing almost all of the $73,000 his campaign has collected from donors. (A former planning commissioner, Turner is a local real estate broker.)
Why doesn't anyone talk about the $200 million in impact fees that wasn't collected. Of course developers are paying for this election. Will it be half a Billion in another 4 years? Local elections are the cheapest to buy.
I am not opposed to development. But the infrastructure it has to be paid for by developers not existing residents.
An accurate assessment of each of the candidates.
It is imperative to vote for McCann, Kruse, Felts and Siddique in the August 20th Republican primary.
By doing so, voters will reject spectacularly unqualified (on multiple levels) developer puppet candidates: Culbreath, KVO, Turner and Metallo.
Vote as if your quality of life in Manatee County is at risk….because it will deteriorate and diminish if the Developer Puppet candidates manage to fool the electorate.