Sarasota County Tax Collector: Jim Bender

Age: 67

Hometown: Sarasota

Political Party: Republican

What qualifies you for this charter position? 

I have led men and women from platoons to battalions in the U.S. Army.  I believe in the creed: lead people and manage organizations.  I have helped lead organizations of up 135 people , organizations with budgets in the billions of dollars and trained in excess of 1,000 men and women.  I have the skills and talents to run the Sarasota County Tax Collector's office.  

If elected, what would be your top three priorities after you are sworn in? 

First priority would be a good hard look at an office which has been run by one tax collector for 32 years.  I will create immediate transparency.  I will bring to the Sarasota County Charter Review Board a request to limit the tax collector to no more than two terms.  I will motivate and train the staff of the tax collector's officer.

How would you make the department more efficient? 

I would focus on team building, individual training and delegation and responsibility across the board to increase motivation and reward achievement.

Why do you think voters should unseat an incumbent to elect you? 

The incumbent has been in office for 32 years.  That is not the intended purpose of four years terms.  The Sarasota voters, at least 200,000 of them have been disenfranchised for four of the elections since 1984 — three times because they didn't have a candidate to vote for, and once because the governor of the state appointed the current incumbent.