Randy Langley to challenge Jim Brown

Randy Langley, who lost his first race for Town Commission to incumbent Ed Zunz in District  5 earlier this year, will try again in the March 2019 election against at-large incumbent Jim Brown.

Langley lost to Zunz 52% to 48% but had a majority in the Manatee County voting district. Voters in Longboat cast ballots in all races, islandwide.

When asked why he's running again, Langley, 52, said variety in public office is necessary.

“They need a new voice,” said the general contractor who has been a resident of Longboat Key since 2007. “All they do is rotate.”

Incumbent commissioners George Spoll, District 2, and Jack Daly, District 4, are unopposed.

Langley said it is important for the town to get its zoning reset for future development projects, a process the town is navigating now. A new proposal for zoning and redevelopment codes is scheduled to be heard in December and could be enacted in January. 

Langley also said he wants to see roles clearly defined in Town Hall.

“I want the commission to be concerned with policy and have (town manager) Tom Harmer run the town,” said Langley, who has a degree in health service administration from the University of Central Florida.

Langley grew up in Clermont, a once-small town about 20 miles west of Orlando. His late father was a longtime member of the state legislature.

In 2010, Langley and a partner bought the mortgages for The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort from Bank of America before the resort closed. Two years later, Langley and his partner, David Siegel, sold their interests in the Colony to Unicorp National Developments Inc. for $22 million. 

At the age of 18, Langley was arrested on charges of felony grand theft auto. He said he’d gotten wrapped up in a racket that snatched cars for owners who owed more than they could afford to pay. But by the time police arrested him, Langley said he had quit the operation.

“I admitted to everything, there was no trial,” Langley told the Longboat Observer in late 2018.

According to state records, Langley had his civil rights restored in 2017 by the Florida Office of Executive Clemency.

Election day is March 19, 2019.