Where are the statesmen?

Pre-election considerations if you haven’t already voted:

Where are the statesmen and stateswomen? Where are the visionaries? … Capital flows where it is welcome. … “That government is best which governs the least …”

While examining and assessing the candidates on the Manatee and Sarasota counties’ primary ballots the past few weeks, if you have been around here, say, for 30 years or more, you could get a little nostalgic and think: Why don’t we have commissioners anymore like Pat Glass in Manatee or, say, Nancy Detert in Sarasota? 

Glass was a remarkable public servant. Yes, public servant, not a politician who craved the political power rush. The first woman elected to the Manatee County Commission, Glass was elected eight times and served 28 years. 

Integrity was part of her core. She also saw the broader picture while embracing the details to do the right thing for individual taxpayers and the long-term good of Manatee County.

In Sarasota County, Detert was known for her independent mind and blunt, direct and instinctively logical assessments of issues. Much like Glass, she was driven to do what she perceived to be right; be a steward of tax dollars; and care little about which way the political popularity polls were blowing.

But now, who among the candidates for county commissions in both counties has a greater vision to offer than “Stop Overdevelopment,” ban rezonings or call for moratoria? 

Sarasota County Commissioner Mark Smith, for instance, blubbers in his re-election mailer: “It’s Sarasota citizens vs. Big-Time Developers … “Mark has won against developers before … He’ll do it again.” The puffed-up “I’m your guy, I’ll fight for you” cliches.

As we wrote July 16, this is the tactic of how the worst get on top: Create a hatred for an enemy.

Indeed, that’s the overarching theme of this summer’s campaigns — SOS, same ol’ story: Focus on making developers the devils. And any candidate who accepts a dollar in developer contributions is a developer dupe who should be scorned and rejected.  

Consider commission contests in Manatee: Candidate John Calovich is hoping he and candidates Edward Bailey Jr. and Glen Gibellina can win their Republican primary races so they can stop development in Manatee altogether. “We all believe in it,” he says.

And he says he wants to “… return the Manatee County government back to the people.” Or, here’s another repeated refrain: “Put the people first.” 

It’s remarkable how all these hate-developer types (candidates and voters) fail to look in the mirror and realize, uh, “Ya know, you also contributed to what you oppose when you moved here.” And when they say “put the people first,” what does that mean? Mob rule? The homeowner association ranks ahead of you, the individual, and your property rights?

Just by virtue of their jobs as commissioners and school board members, they must weigh every decision in the context of the law and the effects of laws on individuals. That’s putting people first.

We all get the hue and cry: Infrastructure before development! Burt ask the owners of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Hi-Hat Ranch or Neal Communities how many tens of millions of dollars they risk and invest in water and sewer pipes, electric lines, wetlands protection, subdivision roads and flood control before they pour a foundation on the first home.

The issue is getting governments to move faster. According to Engage Estero in Lee County, “Housing subdivisions typically can be built in two to four years. It takes 10 to 20 years to complete major road expansions.”

Government always lags behind the private sector.

Meantime, people keep moving to Manatee and Sarasota, and they need affordable places to live. The candidates who say urban boundary lines must be inviolable; that eastern farmland must be forever protected from development; and that “in-fill” is the answer are delusional.

When capital flees

Which brings us to: Capital flows where it is welcome. Or, conversely: What happens when capital goes elsewhere.

In the early 2000s, Longboat Key had the reputation as the worst place in the region to do business. Its zoning laws and business restrictions were onerous; Town Hall reflexively said “no.” 

It was that way on purpose. A citizens group, the Public Interest Committee, openly opposed tourism and commercial enterprises. Members of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce were banned from joining the organization.

This was during the great condo conversion, — when many of the Key’s older resorts were converted to condominiums. 

The results were disastrous. Tourism dried up; restaurants and retail shops shuttered. Commercial areas deteriorated because it made no sense to reinvest. Property values began to stall. Longboat Key was a ghost town in the off-season.

Capital was not welcome. It went elsewhere.

Fortunately, a few of Longboat Key’s elected commissioners recognized this economic disaster and eventually reversed course. Longboat’s voters even approved a referendum allowing resort owners to add more units to bring back and encourage tourism again and to rebuild at existing densities in the event of destruction.

Longboat revived; the town government even reformed, becoming friendly to deal with.  

Moral of the story: When capital is not welcome, when moratoria are adopted, economic decline is guaranteed. Beware of the candidates who campaign to put up more regulatory barriers. That doesn’t end well — at all.

Rein in the spending

Thomas Jefferson, of course, was author of “That government is best which governs least …” 

The second part of Jefferson’s wisdom was “because its people discipline themselves.”

Many Manatee and Sarasota voters are calling in this election cycle for much more discipline — spending discipline. 

Indeed, to a significant extent, this year’s county commission elections are referenda on the incumbents’ lack of spending discipline.

We all know they were dealing the past two years with post-hurricane recoveries. But in the accompanying table, you can see the dramatic growth in spending and borrowing in both counties. Manatee’s commission tops the offenders; the Sarasota commission is close behind.

Both counties’ spending grew more than two times faster than a common measurement of fiscal responsibility — the combined growth in population and inflation over the four years from 2022-2025.

For a detailed report card on the dismal records of Sarasota County incumbents, Commissioners Smith and Joe Neunder, check out: sarasotacountyfacts.org.  

This spending data present a dilemma for voters: Throw out the incumbents in both counties? It’s not as simple as that. In Manatee, the alternatives would be worse. But there is a strong case for exactly that in Sarasota.

Altogether, herewith are summaries of the races in the two counties.