County Commission candidate asks for 'fair fight'

Manatee County District 5 candidate Kathleen Grant has filed a complaint against her opponent, incumbent Vanessa Baugh, saying that she has violated the Florida Code of Ethics.

Grant said Baugh sought to “corruptly influence” voters in the Braden Woods and River Club subdivisions by promising a group of residents she would vote against a proposed rezoning project near their communities during a resident meeting June 28.

“I am disappointed that Commissioner Baugh felt it necessary to violate the ethics rules in order to get votes, “ said Grant, who opposes the project.  “She could have simply voted as she saw fit when the application came before the Commission. Therefore it is clear that the only reason she came out in opposition to the rezoning application was to gain favor with voters.”

Grant said she cannot promise a vote to constituents. “All I want is a fair fight,” she said.

She references Florida Statute 104.061(2), specifically. It states “No person shall directly or indirectly give or promise anything of value to another intending thereby to buy that person’s or another’s vote or to corruptly influence that person or another in casting his or her vote.”

Baugh said she was not aware of the complaint, but it is not founded on facts.

“I checked with the county attorney who said I would not be in any violation of any laws,” Baugh said of the attending. “I told the residents, and the developer who attended the meeting, that as the project now stands, I could not support it.”

Baugh said when the project, called Myara, comes before the county commission for approval, she will have to divulge her ex parte communications and talk publicly about her attendance and participation at the neighborhood meeting.