Tuesday night was the culmination of the election of a lifetime, and not just because it was a realignment. Sarasotans were involved and engaged as never before, sporting T-shirts and bumper stickers, waving signs and knocking on doors, turning out en masse to see both presidential candidates here and voting early in record numbers.
And how they partied on election night, especially at the Democratic Party celebration at Marina Jack. There were television screens in every room and on the decks as volunteers and supporters packed in to watch returns. When ABC-7 returns showed Obama leading in Sarasota, City Commissioner Fredd Atkins was jubilant, shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes!” while Dr. Washington Hill, who had spent the day knocking on doors in Newtown, was reflective.
Fredd Atkins and Dr. Washington Hill
“It’s a great day, a day that will make America better,” Hill said. “I’ve been impressed by the diversity of crowds for Obama.”
As Obama made history, so did Carolyn Mason, who was elected to the Sarasota County Commission despite raising less money and winning fewer endorsements than frontrunner Jono Miller. Mason’s life story began in segregated Sarasota, and now she has become the first African-American to be elected to the county commission. Here, Mason makes a call from the Supervisor’s office after finding out she is in the lead.
Carolyn Mason
The Supervisor’s office was teeming with precinct clerks, poll watchers and observers, the canvassing board and even Boy Scout troops 103 and 895 as they helped unload polling material from cars that pulled up to front doors. Despite warnings that our election system was too untested to enable us to have a smooth election, we did it, as did most of Florida, with only minor problems reported. Kathy Dent was beaming with excitement. “It’s been the most incredible election of my lifetime,” she said.
Kathy Dent and family
The Hyatt Regency Sarasota ballroom was packed with Vern Buchanan supporters when he took the podium to make his victory speech. “What a difference two years makes,” an elated Buchanan said. “Last year we won by 369 votes. I don’t know what the total count is, but I think it’s going to be higher than 369 votes.” He laid out an aggressive platform for his next two years, but he got the loudest cheer when he stated that it was time to make English the official language of the U.S., which appeared to be a real hot button issue with this crowd.
Vern Buchanan
Back at the Democrats’ party, the local results were not what the party leadership had hoped for, as the Democrats made few gains. But newly re-elected Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates, who was for decades the only Democrat to hold local office in Sarasota, reminded the crowd that in her early days, they couldn’t even get a picnic of Democrats together here. “We’re just getting started,” she said. “If they don’t win tonight, we’ll be back.”
Rita Ferrandino and Barbara Ford-Coates
Oh, what a night, made possible by all the campaign volunteers and the voters, but mostly by the candidates. Win or lose, they put their hearts and minds out there before us, and gave Sarasota the election of a lifetime.
A Sarasota-area political pundit says our state is too close to call.
By Kim Cartlidge
Dr. Susan MacManus lives and breathes electoral polls and data, but one week before official voting day, she won’t call the presidential election for Florida. The candidates are in a dead heat, she says. MacManus has analyzed recent daily polls that show Barack Obama ahead of John McCain in the state, and she’s found their margin of error renders the slight leads statistically insignificant.
“We’re in a giant poker game in Florida,” MacManus said at a League of Women Voters luncheon on Monday. “Those younger independents are very swayed by who comes to town. The last candidate here may well be the one who gets the votes.
In 2004, both George Bush and John Kerry held Tampa rallies two days before the election. Here in Sarasota, both presidential candidates will have visited within two weeks before the election, and their running mates and surrogates have crisscrossed the state almost daily.
“Will we see McCain and Obama in Florida one more time? You bet,” she predicted, as news was breaking of an Obama visit to Sarasota this Thursday.
Voters distrust the national media, but tend to trust the coverage of their local television anchors, MacManus said. The national campaigns understand this, and will call to schedule local interviews, offering reporters five minutes of access to presidential candidates for exclusives on the evening news.
One woman at the luncheon asked how Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would impact the Florida vote. “Palin is a plus for McCain in Florida because he needs suburban and rural women just as Obama needs the young vote,” MacManus said. Another asked about Joe the Plumber. “Joe the Plumber works better in Florida than in other places,” MacManus responded. “Florida is an anti-tax state. We’ve never defeated a tax relief amendment. We have a high number of small businesses.”
As the election strategy shifts to voter turnout, Obama will have the greater challenge getting first-time voters who support him to the polls, she noted. However, due to the Obama campaign’s registration efforts, there are now more registered voters under the age of 35 than voters older than 65 in the state. Women comprise 54 percent of registered voters in Florida, but they are not a cohesive voting group, she said.
Some women feel the campaign has set them back. “What is disgusting about this election is the vulgar treatment women candidates have received. I am very offended as a woman,” MacManus said. Women over 50 are especially upset, MacManus said, because for some, it has been like reliving the era when they were first breaking into the professions. “It reminds them of that feeling and that they haven’t made a lick of progress,” she said.
Referring to the recent flap over Palin’s wardrobe expense as an example, MacManus said, “If you’re going to talk about clothing expense for one candidate, have spreadsheets for all the candidates.”
Voting advocacy groups that are sounding alarm bells, warning that voting systems are unreliable and making public their plans to station lawyers at the polling places may well have the unintended effect of discouraging turnout, MacManus said. “That is not helpful getting first time voters to the polling place. An expanded electorate is good for democracy,” she said. “Scaring people is not.”
If you were out this weekend at all, you saw them donning campaign t-shirts and buttons, energetically waving signs and marching down Main Street Saturday morning. McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden supporters tried to out-chant each other at the downtown farmers market, and lively political debates could be overhead at the outdoor café tables. The town is pumped up with election fever, which is only heightened by the fact that we’re located just across the Skyway Bridge from a swing region, the I-4 corridor, of a major swing state. John McCain himself visited our humble Robarts Arena Thursday. The campaign handed out 6,000 tickets to fill the venue, but another 6,000 supporters downloaded tickets online. The line began forming at 11 for McCain’s 6 p.m. appearance, and stretched several blocks to Tuttle Avenue.
The folks that didn’t get a seat inside staged an impromptu rally of their own outside. They were happy just to be with like-minded people, several said. “It’s almost surprising how popular John McCain is,” says GOP Chair Eric Robinson. “You think, ‘I’m not alone’. When you read the papers, you think everyone supports Obama.”
A few had accessorized with plungers, in a nod to Joe the Plumber, but it was the handmade signs that drew the most attention outside.
This fellow, Amoss Jerome, said people look at him and assume he is an Obama supporter. So he made his own T-shirt.
At the campaign gear booths, this t-shirt was one of the top sellers of the day.
I had to photograph this sweet woman, who stood along Fruitville with other counter-demonstrators, and who said with a smile she’d been flipped off or given the thumbs down by drivers only a few times.
Yes, Sarasota is raging with its own brand of election fever, and thank goodness we’re in the home stretch.
Taking to the streets over a busy political weekend.
By Kim Cartlidge
The perfect fall weather this weekend drew residents and visitors alike downtown to peruse the arts and crafts fair on Main Street, mingle at the farmer’s market, and, given the season, express their political views. The Women for Obama-Biden Bridge walk drew a much larger crowd than expected—5,000 according to organizers’ counts—who crossed the Ringling Bridge on foot, waving signs and interacting with auto travelers along the way.
Here are aerial photos of the march, taken from a helicopter by photographer Detlev von Kessel.
The Women for Obama-Biden Ringling Bridge walk spanned the bridge Sunday.
And at Five Points Park on Saturday, teens not old enough to vote presented a modern dance to encourage citizens to vote on their behalf during this critical election. It was a collaborative effort between the Booker High School Visual and Performing Arts program and the young Moving Ethos Dance Company, which has performed in cities around Florida and at the Asolo. “This election is a big one. Just because they can’t go to the polls doesn’t mean they aren’t affected by it,” says Moving Ethos co-founder Courtney Smith.
Booker VPA Dancers encourage spectators at Five Points Park to vote.
The modern performance incorporates gestures presidential candidates use during the debates, attack politics and a vision of participation and unity. The group will perform this Saturday, Oct. 25, at Westfield Southgate and on Saturday, Nov. 1, at St. Armands Circle. E-mail movingethos@hotmail.com for more information.
Janet Guttridge, a retired journalist, and Cynthia Craig, a massage therapist, are political neophytes, Guttridge says. But two weeks ago, their conversation about the presidential campaign hatched an idea that has generated more support than either expected. It’s also introduced Guttridge to the founder of the international Obama Bridge Project and connected her to Obama-Biden supporters across the country.
Janet Guttridge and Cynthia Craig
The two are organizing the Sarasota Women for Obama-Biden rally across the Ringling Bridge on Oct. 19. The event wasn’t even in the works until about a week ago, and they’ve just received their permits and hammered out the logistics. Already, they have heard from 200 women, and a few men, who have committed to show up. One woman, who Craig met in line at a post office, handed out 300 flyers and came back for more. “Wherever we turn, we run into somebody who wants to help,” Guttridge says. “It’s as though there was this untapped feeling that people didn’t have a way to express.”
It’s a 2.5 mile walk and Sarasota’s first political event to span the Ringling Bridge. One woman who lives in a condo near the bridge has invited friends to a brunch before they walk downstairs to wave signs. The Vets for Obama and a group of Hillary Women for Obama also plan to participate.
The bridge metaphor of unity has resonated with Obama supporters abroad, who have taken their photos on bridges to send to the Obama Bridge Project. As Guttridge was researching the idea, she learned of the project and contacted its founder, Meredith Wheeler, an expatriate living in France. Wheeler conceived of the project to encourage the 6 million Americans living abroad to register and vote, Guttridge says. The project had spanned five continents and 36 countries when this “Yes We Span” video was produced:
Guttridge has since learned of bridge rallies in Hawaii and Sebastian, Fla., and she is in contact with organizers planning a rally in Columbus, Ohio.
Guttridge and Craig hope not only to show support for the Obama-Biden ticket, but to highlight differences between the two candidates’ platforms. “We are concerned about the women’s issues. I think that’s why so many women want to take part in this. There’s a huge difference between the parties,” Guttridge says.
It's crunch time to register voters for the November elections.
By Kim Cartlidge
Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent is preparing for a little Midnight Madness.
It lasts into the wee hours, and she and her gang have always done it a few weeks before election time.
I can sense the wheels turning in the minds of conspiracy theorists, but it has nothing to do with voting machine voodoo.
I’m glad she has the time, given that a reported 500 to 1,000 registrations are flooding her office each day. One would think we’re going to register tens of thousands of new voters before the election.
But we’re not. Although the Obama campaign has turned in the most, an estimated 5,000 according to staff estimates, we’ve added only 2,525 new voters so far this month and 1,743 in August.
Most of the registrations are information changes. But everyone who sends in a change gets a new card. When I was in Dent’s office today, I saw the stack of 1,000 new voter cards that were printed this morning from yesterday’s work.
And even though the Obama campaign is turning in the most registrations, Democrats are slightly outnumbered by a third group—those that don’t register under either major party.
In the months of August and September, Sarasota gained 1,590 newly registered Democrats, 1,087 Republicans, and 1,591 in the third category.
And who knows which way that group, who haven’t been regular voters to begin with, will cast their ballots? Or if they will have trouble voting on the optical scan machines? In 2004, Sarasota County had the highest turnout in the state, at nearly 82 percent, and Dent predicts an 85 percent turnout on Nov. 4.
advertisement
Dent has hired four temp workers to process the new registrations and the walk-in changes and updates. (“The only place in town that’s hiring,” quipped one registrant.) Although the service groups and campaigns have been promoting registration since before the primaries, traffic has only picked up over the last month.
Procrastination? “We all do it,” says voter service coordinator Traci Wolfe. That’s why Dent is keeping all three offices open until midnight on Oct. 6, the very final day to register in order to vote this November. If you’ve any friends or acquaintances who haven’t registered to vote, now is the time to pull them out from under their rocks and help them get registered. You can make a party of it, because Dent’s office will be open for the Midnight Madness.
Visit www.srqelections.com for registration information. The Sarasota office at 2001Adams Lane can be reached at 861-8600, the North Port office at 13640 Tamiami Trail at 423-9540 and the Venice office at 4000 Tamiami Trail S. at 861-3760.
A quiet county commission race gets a little more vocal.
By Kim Cartlidge
Maybe Carolyn Mason, an African-American working grandmother and candidate for local office, should compare herself to a pit bull. Perhaps environmentalist Jono Miller should suddenly advocate drilling for oil in the Gulf.
Compared to recent election headlines, Sarasota’s race for an open county commission seat is attracting little more than a ho-hum. It may remain quiet, without personal attacks or headline-grabbing scandals, because all three candidates are refreshingly focused on the issues, their community experience and their philosophies.
Jono Miller
Jono Miller, head of environmental studies at New College of Florida (currently on leave), is known as Sarasota’s go-to advocate for environmental policy. He was a leading proponent of the environmentally sensitive lands acquisition program, by which Sarasotans voted to tax themselves to purchase properties for conservation. But he’s also tackled affordable housing and voting systems as an appointee to numerous boards over the past 30 years. He’s a smart-growth advocate and a Democrat, yet Miller has raised the most money in this election, much of it from the business and legal communities. His Web site is www.jono08.com, and his blog is at www.Jono08.blogspot.com.
Carolyn Mason
Carolyn Mason is a former Sarasota mayor and commissioner, a lifelong resident who was born into segregated Sarasota in Overtown (now the Rosemary district). She’s a Democrat-turned GOP who has ties to the governor’s office through the Newtown Front Porch Revitalization committee. She has promoted herself as a consensus builder, although consensus has often eluded Newtown in its redevelopment efforts. “It’s a work in progress,” Mason says. An issue that haunts Mason, she says, is the division between North and South County, and she would work to bring those governments together. Mason is currently employed by Habitat for Humanity, and her Web site is: www.carolynjmason.org
John Mullarkey
John Mullarkey is the transplant running as an independent, a mortgage broker and contractor who devours newspapers and cites how other communities have solved some of the same problems Sarasota faces. He served in the Navy and managed an auto business in New York City before moving to Sarasota in 2002. By virtue of the depth of community experience of both of his opponents, he is the long shot. Mullarkey rails against the growth in local government spending and staff. The stadium proposal and increased funding for public transportation, Mullarkey says, don’t pass the test of providing good return on investment for the taxpayers. His Web site is www.mullarkey08.com.
The candidates agree that boosting the economy and creating jobs are the top priorities this election. Mullarkey says all the county needs to do is call up companies such as Nike, Intel and IBM and ask them to come and build here. “It’s that simple. If they’d build a factory east of I-75, I’d drive the bulldozer,” he says. Miller would build upon Sarasota’s reputation for sustainability to grow high-tech, green industry and jobs. Mason would work more closely with the Suncoast Workforce Development Board, “look at the feasibility of some tax incentives, and maybe streamline the building permit process,” she says.
advertisement
Yet none of these candidates can get behind the Red Sox stadium proposal. The county would spend less and give tourism more of a boost by opening Midnight Pass, Mullarkey says. Miller says, “I would really like to support the baseball stadium, but it’s getting harder and harder. We need to have appraisals, and they need to justify the expense. I think it should be a more transparent process.” Mason’s question is, “Why has nobody gone back to the people? Why are we ignoring the fact that we had a referendum and it was voted down? It’s incumbent on the city and county to ask the people what they think.”
It may have been a quiet race, but they’re not so quiet after all.
The Democratic vice-presidential candidate attracts a crowd.
By Kim Cartlidge
Vice Presidential Nominee Joe Biden’s campaign stop in Sarasota looked and sounded like the political rallies we’ve been watching on television all summer. But for Sarasota, it was monumental. On short notice, it drew a packed full house of lively, enthusiastic and diverse Democratic supporters in this historically red county.
It was also the first presidential campaign rally of the season, since Floridians were shut out of access to Democratic candidates during the primaries. So these Obama-Biden supporters were ready to make some noise
The Obama campaign staff got a call late Friday that Senator Biden would visit Sarasota to speak the following Wednesday. They had to find a venue, distribute tickets and organize security over a holiday weekend. Media and campaign supporters learned by e-mail on Labor Day afternoon that free tickets would be available at 9 a.m. the following day. The tickets were gone within a few hours and the 2,000 more people who called or dropped by for tickets and had to be turned away, chairman Rita Ferrandino said
You don’t often see long lines in Sarasota, especially on a September afternoon in the sun, but the Sen. Biden crowd stood patiently outside of Booker High School, many of them smiling and joking with each other, as all 1,700 or so went through security scans and bag checks. They ranged from retirees who had listened to Sen. Biden’s Fort Myers speech on the radio that morning to high school students who won’t be eligible to vote this election.
A dressed-to-the-nines Obama supporter.
The Booker High School gymnasium was transformed with blue curtains, banners, folding chairs, stage lights and risers for the camera crews in the back. Volunteers wearing campaign t-shirts were posted in twos and threes indoors and out, while young, well-dressed campaign staffers purposefully directed the crowd and the media.
Sen. Joe Biden speaks to the crowd at Booker High School.
The doors opened at 3 p.m., but Sen. Biden did not speak until after 5. His message was focused on the dinner table conversations and the concerns he hears from middle class Americans, who he says are losing sight of the American dream because of health care costs, rising college tuition and job losses. In 29 years in office, Biden said, he has “never seen a time when so many people have been knocked down and the government has done so little. In fact, they put obstacles in their way.”
But he received his most thunderous applause after his response to a question that reflected a different dinner table conversation, but a common one in our affluent community. A woman stood up and told Senator Biden that her friends who make more than $250,000 a year are worried about the Obama campaign’s tax proposal, which would raise their income and Social Security taxes. What can she say to those friends, she asked.
"Tell them it’s time to be patriotic," Biden responded. The crowd rose to its feet and cheered.
Even after spending hours in their seats, people stuck around for a chance to shake Senator Biden’s hand. Because so often in Sarasota, candidates visit with everyday voters only when they’re on their way to the big donors who live among us, I asked a staffer where Biden was going after the rally. “Virginia Beach,” he replied. He was catching a plane after the event.
This time, the voters themselves were the destination. George Bush won by a comfortable margin in Sarasota County the past two elections, but this election year, Sarasota truly is in play.
Sarasota County Republican Party Chair Eric Robinson is brimming with confidence about local GOP candidates. Their name recognition, experience and ability to draw donors put them at an advantage despite hard-fought primaries and intensified Democratic opposition, he says. That’s why there hasn’t been a need for Republicans to go negative—yet.
Eric Robinson introduces Gov. Charlie Crist.
“We’re holding people back,” he says, referring to state party officials and candidates who are ready to take the gloves off. But with some Democrats filing elections commission complaints and running negative ads already, he asks, “How long can I keep them at bay?”
He’s especially incensed that the Christine Jennings congressional campaign has capitalized on the lawsuits filed by former employees of Congressman Vern Buchanan’s auto dealerships over alleged fraudulent business practices, and their allegations of campaign finance violations. When Jennings failed to pay payroll taxes for her campaign staff for more than a year, “nobody made political hay out of it,” Robinson says.
SarasotaCountyRepublican Party Executive Committee Treasurer Tom Solomon, Chairman Eric Robinson, Vice-Chairman Bob Waechter, and Secretary R. Peter Rice.
Robinson had the results of a poll of Sarasota County voters conducted by Tarrance Group of Virginia this month on his desk. When asked, “How important is it to you that a candidate run a positive campaign?” on a scale of 1 to 10, 88.5 percent of respondents said it’s extremely important or very important.
Thirty-two percent said Jennings was running a more negative campaign, as opposed to 8 percent who responded that the Buchanan campaign is more negative.
The hottest races this year, aside from the Buchanan-Jennings race, are the open state senate seat race between Republican Nancy Detert and Democratic newcomer Morgan Bentley, and the state representative rematch between Republican Laura Benson and incumbent Keith Fitzgerald.
The state party has been sifting through attorney Morgan Bentley’s previous cases for negatives, but “Detert has such name ID,” Robinson says. “I have no desire to drag him through the mud. I think Detert can beat him on the issues.” Candidates with the highest name recognition are less likely to resort to negative campaigning, Robinson says.
But in the rematch between former school board member Laura Benson and New College Professor Keith Fitzgerald, who is completing his first term, Robinson can’t resist taking a few digs, saying, “Fitzgerald is weak and vulnerable. He didn’t pass a single bill in his entire time in office. He’s long-winded in committee meetings and hasn’t been able to attract the state backing he had hoped.”
“That’s just flat out not true,” responds Fitzgerald. “That’s typical low road stuff. I wouldn’t have the endorsement of the Florida Chamber and the AFL-CIO and everybody in between if they didn’t think I was a major player in Tallahassee. I’m very happy to run on my record."
Can we hope that campaign will focus on issues as well?
Judging from last week’s low voter turnout for the primary, we’ve been focused on keeping our jobs, businesses and houses, avoiding hurricanes and squeezing in our summer staycations—anything but the local races. During the summer, most primary candidates ran somewhat civil, friendly campaigns. But with nine weeks to go until November 4, it’s clear that on the ground level, the battle is well underway.
Our local hospitals are feeling the financial pinch.
By Kim Cartlidge
Sarasota and Manatee hospitals are treating growing numbers of uninsured patients. They’re being squeezed by decreasing Medicare reimbursements. And they’re facing competition from specialty clinics and hospitals that don’t offer high-liability, low-profit emergency room services.
By the time four hospital CEOS had rendered a dreary economic landscape at last week’s Tiger Bay meeting, I was ready to offer each a $100 aspirin.
Robert Meade
Sarasota Memorial Hospital's Gwen MacKenzie, Manatee Memorial's Moody Chisholm, Doctors Hospital's Robert Meade and Venice Regional Medical Center's Melody Trimble are competitors. But like a divided family that bands together when faced with an outside threat, they spoke with one voice at the dais--mostly.
Over the past couple of years, substantially greater numbers of uninsured patients have put a strain on the entire system. Sarasota Memorial writes off $90 million a year, and Manatee Memorial, $54 million. Doctors Hospital spends 21 cents of every dollar on uncompensated care, up from 12 percent last year.
They are required by federal law to stabilize and treat any patient who presents at the emergency room regardless of their ability to pay. Venice Regional Medical Center has taken to paying for some uninsured patients’ prescriptions, so an acute problem won’t become a chronic one that leads to more ER visits, says Trimble.
This year, Gov. Crist promoted eliminating the state’s certificate of need process, by which new hospitals are authorized to open, in order to stimulate competition. But specialty hospitals would drain away the procedures and patients that are profitable, says Meade. Doctors Hospital, for example, offsets some of its uncompensated care through its high volume of orthopedic cases.
Their operating margins, the difference between the cost of treating patients and reimbursements, are lower than ever. Doctors Hospital’s margin is 1.5 percent, which leaves little money left over to reinvest in updating equipment and facilities.
A Florida Hospital Association data brief for 2006 reported that one-third of acute care hospitals in Florida were losing money. Their average operating margin that year was .08 percent. Florida hospitals operate below national margins even after all their other sources of income, including investments, are added.
Close to 75 percent of hospital patients in our area are covered by Medicare, which is higher than the national average. “That large Medicare population is typically low reimbursement,” says Meade.
A growing doctor shortage here—Manatee County is short 100 primary care physicians, says Chisholm—is attributed in part to the fact our area is on the lowest end of the scale for Medicare reimbursement.
In Sarasota, we’re pretty demanding health care consumers. We expect accessible, convenient, high-quality care—and we’re vocal watchdogs of our only tax-supported hospital, Sarasota Memorial.
We’ve benefitted from intense competition among the hospitals. Our local hospitals remain competitors, but with four relatively new administrators, “There is more of a renewed sense of collaboration,” says Meade. “A lot of our competition wasn’t sitting at that table.”
Americans don’t trust politicians, but a candidate fair last week showed me a lot to like about our local candidates.
By Kim Cartlidge
What compels a person to throw his or her hat in the ring during an economic downturn, when every elected official faces budget slashing sure to provoke somebody’s ire? I thought about that at a League of Women Voters candidate fair last week featuring more than 20 local office seekers.
It’s a crowded season this year, with incumbents who had previously been reelected without contest defending their records, and with smart newcomers challenging the status quo.
It’s a hotly contested state Senate race, but opponents Nancy Detert, Michael Grant and Morgan Bentley are still smiling.
Yet they greeted each other warmly last week, joking that they have memorized each others’ speeches. They buzzed about that day’s Tiger Bay performances by State Senate competitors Nancy Detert, Michael Grant and Morgan Bentley, and Republicans admitted that Democrat Bentley had charmed the audience and kept comedic pace with Nancy Detert’s wisecracking candor
We should hold elections in winter, quipped Circuit Judge Candidate Connie Mederos-Jacobs as she reached for a paper fan that bore her image. And it would be easier to avoid the August heat, to stay inside and follow the sound bites in the news. But without face-to-face encounters with candidates, we miss out on the spirit behind it all--their humanity, their optimism, and the highly developed sense of civic duty or simple desire to give back that compels them to run.
Circuit judge Gilbert Smith asks for votes.
If I hadn’t faced the August heat, I would not have learned that four-time Congressional candidate Jan Schneider has been defending public housing clients pro bono, or that County Commission candidate Richard Redding helped establish Newtown’s public library. I would not have witnessed Democratic candidates glowing with excitement over their party’s resurgence—22 candidates in all—this season, or learned that a number of long-term Republicans are upset over their party leadership’s unseemly meddling in the primaries, pitting one Republican against another and circumventing the spirit of the open primary law with write-in candidates.
Local elected officials are traditionally the most trusted of all politicians. A Pew Research Center study released in May reported that while Americans’ opinion of federal government is at a low point, 63 percent of us still hold a favorable view of local government, and 59 are favorable toward state government.
The candidates understand the hazards of running for office, of the background investigations conducted by opposition, the loss of privacy, the untraceable political action committees that can conduct last-minute smear campaigns, the financial risk of investing their savings, and the potential loss of livelihood. Despite the risks, we’ve an abundance of everyday citizens—patrol officers and retired entrepreneurs, teachers, lawyers and activists—putting forth their ideas and experience and asking for your vote.
Early voting for the August 26 primaries begins today. A few races--for school board, county commission and circuit judge--will be decided by August 27. It’s time for the rest of us to honor their endeavor by casting our ballots. If you’ve still got a bit of homework to do, the League of Women Voters has posted a helpful guide to candidates on their website, www.lwv-sarasota.fl.org and on the Supervisor of Elections website, www.srqelections.com.
With several resignations in the air, what's going on at the Arts Council?
By Kim Cartlidge
Martine Collier, the upbeat, energetic executive director of Sarasota County’s Arts Council, abruptly resigned nearly two weeks ago. Early last week, she underwent jaw surgery that, although successful, renders her unable to speak during her recovery. Members of the board, out of sympathy, outrage or loyalty—one could only speculate—remain tight-lipped as well. Meanwhile, the Arts Council’s communications director, Nicole Sherbert Brown, left her position Thursday to move with her family to Texas.
Martine Collier
I did speak to Jean Trammell, chairman of the Arts Council board, today about what happened. Collier announced her resignation at the end of the July 16 board meeting. “She did not tell anyone ahead of time,” Trammell says. “We excused her from the room and we sat and discussed for a few moments that nobody saw this coming.” They also agreed to promptly begin a new search.
Any conflicts or dissension between the board and Collier, Trammell says, were no more divisive or intense than one would expect from a nonprofit organization in transition. “A lot of the board members really respected her and appreciated her approach. She was very businesslike,” says Trammell.
But meanwhile, three board members, including vice president Sophia LaRusso, Jeff Moredock and John Fischer, have resigned this month. The popular annual Arts Day event, a showcase of performing groups in the middle of downtown, was also canceled for 2009.
“We’ve been undergoing a transition and have reviewed every project and program, holding it up to our new mission statement” as well as the board’s fiscal responsibility, Trammell says. “Arts Day was one of the first projects held up to that measure.” In an organization with a $661,000 budget, Arts Day lost more than $30,000 this year.
The new direction of the Arts Council will include stronger advocacy efforts. “Now with so many attacks on arts and arts education, we have to pick that up,” Trammell says. “We also want to strengthen bridges between the arts community and business even more. The new Web site will give everybody access to what everybody is doing in one place and provide links to organizations.”
One point of contention in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s reader posts following the resignation story was the $89,000 Community Foundation grant the Arts Council obtained to upgrade its Web site. Having searched it myself, I find the current Web site miserably out-of-date, an insufficient and inadequate reflection of a community where the arts are a vital, diverse industry. The grant money will be spread over several years, Trammell says, and fund both development and a staff person to maintain it. Local arts organizations will have passwords and eventually take charge of updating their information.
Collier did give six weeks’ notice, and once she recovers, she’ll be focused on wrapping up Tourist Development Council grant work, but she still won’t be able to speak.
Trammell says that even before the board had formed its search committee, the resumes began flowing in. She doesn’t expect to undertake a national search for a new executive director. “We’re going to keep it localized. In the current economy, there are readily talented people in the area looking for work.”
The new Arts Council mission was adopted April 9, 2008
The mission of the Sarasota County Arts Council is to enhance the connection between our community and regional arts and culture.
How: We do this by strengthening cooperation among business, community and elected leaders, audiences and the public.
Values: The Arts Council actively pursues its mission through the values of Collaboration, Inclusiveness, and Service.
Why smart cultural groups are courting a younger generation.
By Kim Cartlidge
I interviewed the CEO of the Florida West Coast Symphony last week about exciting, evolutionary, even scandalous changes (blue jeans, clapping between movements, and even—gasp--cartoons!) planned for their new season. Kudos to Joseph McKenna and his organization for understanding that younger generations aren’t going to reach a magic age when they look themselves in the mirror and decide it’s time to act like their parents, dial their rotary phones to purchase season tickets, and schedule their evenings out 10 months in advance.
Judging from the conspicuous lack of younger people—meaning younger than 60ish—among local arts audiences, Sarasota’s arts organizations have missed the train. The boomer generation, which broke tradition to forge its own path in so many ways, is now demanding that traditional arts organizations adapt as well
Quality performances abound, but 10 years from now, who will be watching? It’s a riddle arts organizations across the country are trying to solve.
And local organizations haven’t all buried their heads in the sand. They’re battling it out at the board level, the stalwart, older patrons versus entrepreneurial boomers who are accustomed to looking at the bottom line and measuring results. Patricia Courtois knows it well. Her firm, Clarke/Eric Mower and Associaties is the go-to company for those who want to capture boomer market. As a board member of both the Arts Council and the Community Foundation of Sarasota, she fields calls from arts and non-profits alike that know they have to change.
“There is definitely a distinct difference between the long loyal donors and the boomers who question the status quo,” says Courtois, “We’re seeing a tipping point where we will not survive and be fiscally sound. We talk about cocooning the mature audience because we want to pay respect to what they have done in the community, but here’s a huge clash between the boomers and the matures.
Generational conflict “is a real trend that we have to be able to deal with and work through. It’s very painful. It’s a deep, soul-searching, stressful change. It’s not for the faint of heart,” Courtois says
If your favorite organization is undergoing growing pains, it’s probably on the right track. The greatest generation, those who created Sarasota’s finest institutions, won’t be able to fill the seats and the coffers forever, and Sarasota’s organizations have to be prepared. But younger folks have to step up, too, by demonstrating their support. Times are tight everywhere, but that’s exactly why purchasing a ticket to a local performance is an act of civic engagement. Our older generations felt a moral duty to support the arts community by showing up; it’s a worthwhile tradition we should strive to retain.
Plummeting real estate values are drying up small businesses’ access to funding.
By Kim Cartlidge
In Sarasota, too many of our locally owned small businesses have closed doors, and even more are teetering on the edge, hoping to survive until the economy picks ups again. Vanessa Baugh, owner of Vanessa Fine Jewelry, is taking their case all the way to Washington, D.C. In late April, she testified before the House Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Finance and Tax, which includes ranking member Sarasota Rep. Vern Buchanan, about the small business credit crunch.
Rep. Vern Buchanan and Vanessa Baugh converse during a break in Washington, D.C.
In addition to managing her own store in Lakewood Ranch, Baugh is chairman of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council. She’s also recently been invited to serve on the U.S. Chamber Small Business Committee in D.C.
Small business owners can’t get loans or lines or credit without collateral; and for many, the only collateral a bank will accept is real estate—the equity in their homes or office buildings. “It’s almost a subject that no one wants to talk about, but it’s the norm for small business,” says Baugh. Plunging real estate values have left entrepreneurs with little access to bank credit to survive the economic downturn or to expand and fuel vital economic growth.
At a Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance meeting last week, worried small business owners talked about tapping into their retirement funds. Some are borrowing against their 401ks, but those with older IRA accounts can’t access their retirement savings without paying stiff penalties.
“In past years, you didn’t hear people talk about that unless they were starting up a small business. Nowadays, you hear about people trying to get retirement money for cash flow,” says Baugh.
In her testimony, Baugh advocated holding the line on tax increases and enacting more incentives for business expansion and job creation. She asked for tax incentives for banks to expedite small business loans. Baugh also addressed health insurance rates, the federal procurement process and liability reform to curb unfair lawsuits.
“I was very impressed with (Subcommittee Chair) Congresswoman Melissa Bean and Congressman Buchanan. I really felt they understood what small business is going through,” says Baugh. Last week, they invited Bradenton CPA Byron Shinn of Shinn and Company, P.A. to testify about tax law changes, including IRA account access, that could help business owners survive. The hearings are posted on YouTube under “Credit Crunch and Small Business.” Baugh’s testimony is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwrtQsQpaw&feature=related and Rep. Bean’s and Buchanan’s opening statements are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vm5aQGfOQw.
Baugh and other members of the Chamber’s Small Business Council will meet with Buchanan again in September. She’s seeking feedback, stories and reform ideas from more local small business owners before her next trip to Washington; they can contact Baugh at vandon@aol.com. “If we can get enough people involved, maybe we can get some legislation passed and get some things changed,” she says.
This November’s proposed vote on slashing property taxes could drastically change the state.
By Kim Cartlidge
Florida’s voters will decide whether or not to vote themselves a 25 percent property tax cut in November. Already, proposed constitutional Amendment 5, also known as the McKay or “tax swap” amendment, has local educators worried.
Manatee School Superintendent Roger Dearing has said that the amendment could put school districts in a perilous position. Sarasota’s School Board Chair Kathy Kleinlein says if the amendment passes, “Every district will be in an untenable situation. People aren’t going to see the savings they think they are going to see.”
School Board chair Kathy Kleinlein has expressed deep concern about the effect Amendment 5 could have on school funding.
Placed on the ballot by the powerful Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, and championed by former Senate president John McKay, Amendment 5 would prohibit the Florida legislature from requiring school districts to levy required local effort property taxes, the local tax that goes into the state pool and is redistributed among districts. The legislature would have to replace the $9 billion in education funds with other revenues.
Just how that money would be replaced was left somewhat open-ended to give the legislature flexibility. Local district officials, battered by this year’s $900 million in education cuts and feeling betrayed by Governor Charlie Crist’s promise to hold harmless school districts as he campaigned for Amendment 1’s property tax relief in January, aren’t of a mind to cross their fingers and hope for the best from state officials.
The commission has recommended replacing the funds with a one percent increase in the 6 percent state sales tax, the repeal of sales tax exemptions (while protecting exemptions for food, prescriptions, charitable and religious institutions, sales of real property, and more), and other revenues as created by the legislature. Florida State Senator Mike Haridopolos has stated that if passed, the amendment could result in the biggest tax increase in Florida’s history. Already educators, industries opposed to a potential services tax and advocacy groups are drawing the battle lines, raising funds to oppose it.
Former Senator McKay has long advocated creating a more stable tax base in Florida. The amendment would also lower the cap on annual property assessments (other than homesteaded properties) from 10 to 5 percent. He and proponents will argue that the reform will help stimulate the economy and create more stability for school districts. But they’ll do so just as dismal sales tax collections are causing greater-than-anticipated budget woes across the state.
Amendment 5 could have greater impact than any other vote in Florida this year, but it will be a values call for voters. It’s not one to take lightly or to scan in the voting booth. Before voters select “yes” for tax relief, they’ll have to rely on their own wisdom to decide if Amendment 5 will help or harm their pocketbooks, their schools and Florida’s economy.
A Chinese doctor in Sarasota hears heartbreaking news from home.
By Kim Cartlidge
Dr. Ron Wang of Sarasota phones home to check on his 80-year-old mother and sister in China, and the calls are heartbreaking. Wang was born in Bazhong in the Sichuan Province, the area devastated by the earthquake on May 12.
China’s earthquake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, left a staggering 55,000 dead and more than 5 million homeless and unable to rebuild on unstable terrain. The Chinese government has made an international appeal for tents for the homeless.
When Wang heard news of the earthquake, “My first reaction was helplessness and sadness, and I was terrified about the possible consequences,” he says. It took hours to get through to family in China, who sent text messages to each other to report that they were not injured.
Wang’s sister is vice chairman of the Bazhong Industry and Commerce Federation in their hometown, which is located about 180 miles from the epicenter. She is organizing rescue and support for tens of thousands who are without shelter. She tells Wang that road damages have left the counties partially isolated and business has come to a standstill.
The aftershocks, one of which occurred as Wang was speaking to his sister, have left many sleepless and too nervous even to eat, she reports. “My mother and sister are terrified of aftershocks, some of which have measured 6 on the Richter scale. Their spirits are tired,” he says.
Wang’s alma mater, Bazhong High School, was also damaged, and students who are preparing for China’s National College Entrance Exams have no place to study.
His 26-year-old nephew is one of tens of thousands volunteering in Dujianyan, where the world-renowned Dujianyan Irrigation System, one of the earliest in the world, is located.
Dr. Wang moved to Sarasota in 1995 after completing his PhD in neuroscience at Iowa State. He lives here with his wife, a Chinese doctor, and two sons, and works as a telecom and medical systems consultant. He is also vice president of the Gulfcoast Chinese American Association in Sarasota, a non-profit educational and charitable organization founded here in 2005. Its membership includes Chinese American families, families with children from China and members of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association.
The Gulfcoast Chinese American Association is raising funds to send directly to earthquake victims though China’s Red Cross. “China’s Red Cross is the best shot we have to have this money distributed. It’s not as tightly controlled by the government as it was a few years ago,” says Wang, noting that the government is making a public an account of how the funds are spent. “China’s media has responded positively and the government has as well,” Wang says. “The response is the best in the history of China.”
Volunteers for the Gulfcoast Chinese American Association help raise funds for earthquake victims in China.
Wang himself is sending camp tents to his mother and sister and money to his former high school. The GCAA will set up collection boxes around town this week for those who want to donate cash, gift cards or items to be auctioned to raise funds.
Sarasotans interested in joining the effort and contributing aid to the victims can visit www.gulfcoastchineseamerican.org for updates or to learn about locations of collection boxes. In addition, they can reach the GCAA at 941-966-0890 or send checks to 1109 Millpond Court, Osprey, FL 34229. Businesses willing to host a collection box or hang a poster can contact Wang at tigerinw@yahoo.com.
Florida’s economic woes are shrinking local arts budgets.
By Kim Cartlidge
Martine Collier, executive director of the Sarasota County Arts Council, is so upbeat that she even sees a silver lining in drastic state cuts in arts funding. The reductions are forcing Sarasota’s arts and non-profit organizations to put serious effort into partnerships and collaboration, she says.
But after a little more questioning, Collier admits tracking arts funding this past legislative session was exhausting, a roller coaster ride, especially just after Easter weekend when advocates learned of a discussion to eliminate Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs altogether.
Had the division been eliminated, there would have been no state agency to distribute NEA grants, matching funds for capital and endowment campaigns, or operational funds. “That’s just shooting yourself in the foot,” Collier says. “Fortunately, it didn’t fly.”
It didn’t fly because the Florida Cultural Alliance and its members, including Sarasota’s Arts Council, launched an intense lobbying effort, bombarding legislators with opposition. As it ended, the division remained, but with a line item budget reduction to $6 million in state funds for the next fiscal year. That’s down from $32.6 million in 2006-7 and $12.5 million in 2007-08.
If Florida’s leadership is serious about its intent diversify the economy and improve the quality of education, the state should support arts funding says Sherron Long, president of the Florida Cultural Alliance. Long could muster little positive to say about the outcome of the session. “It was a challenging year for everybody,” she said.
“It’s important that the state realize that we are part of the solution of economic diversification, especially in this creative economy,” Long said, noting that dynamic arts programs boost tourism, revitalize communities and improve student achievement. “Any vibrant community is going to have cultural amenities.”
According to a 2004 study, Sarasota’s arts are a $123 million industry with 3,000 full-time jobs. Arts organizations spend $68.6 million and generate an additional $54 million in audience spending. “Arts and culture is an enormous economic engine,” says Collier. “Every dollar invested brings back $7.”
The state’s cultural facilities grant program is one of several that received zero funding this year. In Sarasota, that will result in a loss of funding to arts groups including the Asolo, Ringling Museum, Florida West Coast Symphony and Florida Studio Theatre. But the full impact won’t be clear until next season.
“It was so volatile and changing over the past month,” says Collier. “We all knew funding was going to be cut dramatically. I think people are just now getting their arms around what’s happened, so I haven’t seen people making the hard choices about this.”
The lesson for Sarasota’s arts lovers is one that administrators and long-term advocates like Collier already know. “I totally recommend that no organization ever count on government funding,” she says.
P.S. The Florida Cultural Alliance lobbied on behalf of arts funding for Sarasota’s cultural institutions, yet the group doesn’t have strong member representation here in Sarasota. To join the alliance and receive updates about the status of arts legislation and funding, visit flca.net.
My mother and mother-in-law have taught me a lot—including how to live with loss.
By Kim Cartlidge
On Mother’s Day weekend 2007, my father left home after 44 years of marriage. He’d met someone, he said, fallen in love, and the marriage was over. My parents, who grew up in the same rural town in Minnesota, met in kindergarten. They teased and cajoled like schoolmates into their 60s, and appeared destined to be partners for life. My father remarried in January 2008, and remains maddeningly oblivious to the shock that still reverberates—he even took me to task for not skipping down the garden path to meet his new bride.
My mother is visiting this week, and I haven’t told her yet how proud I am that she’s lived through her abandonment and loss this year, her first of living alone and defining herself without reflection from my father’s eyes.
Two years ago this month, my father-in-law died after a long illness, leaving behind his heartbroken widow and confidante of 55 years. They met just after World War II in Sarasota on the Players Theatre stage. He was an artist, a sculptor, professor and mentor to a multitude of New College students throughout the years. She was his helpmate in all matters, from executing stained glass designs to keeping books to feeding the budding artists and lost souls who sought their open doors for comfort, enlightenment and unconditional acceptance. I understood it well, having first passed through those doors as a bit of a lost soul myself.
My mother-in-law has lived with us since October, confronting health problems, including a mastectomy in December, with courage and stoicism born during the hardship of the Great Depression and World War II. It seems unfair that she also faces loneliness, a trial of the heart.
On Mother’s Day, we picture mothers with arms wrapped around their babies, or arms opened wide when grown children return with new extended family. We envision mothers who champion good causes on behalf of their families and communities. Always, the image plays of mothers with busy hands, in a flurry of doing, caring and nurturing. Rarely do we imagine suffering.
But when those hands slow down and arms grow weak, our mothers do something else for us that isn’t about doing at all. They pass through life crises of loss and abandonment and aging. And in their living, in waking up every day, in breathing and looking into the mirror and not giving in to despair but still showing interest in those around them, they’re demonstrating that one day we, too, will suffer life-altering loss. And we will survive.
Sometimes my mother and my mother-in-law apologize that they can’t do more for me to ease the relentless pressure of managing my own family, household, work and volunteer obligations. We mothers tend to be list makers and taskmasters who measure value in each accomplishment. This week, I want to convey to both their worth to me in opening their hearts to each sunrise, in smiling and channeling encouragement with a glance, and in facing loss with dignity and grace.
They’ve taught me what to do. Now they’re showing me how to be.
Even in wealthy Sarasota, too many students fall behind. Teachers and leaders want to change that.
By Kim Cartlidge
Even in an era of deep budget cuts in education, children with tremendous potential who lack community or family support show up in classrooms every day. Last Friday, more than 200 Sarasota school district and civic leaders rolled up their sleeves and spent most of the day challenging themselves to understand what makes these students tick and how to reach them.
Friday also marked the 25-year anniversary of the release of the landmark “A Nation at Risk” report that revealed flaws in the American educational system and guided major reforms of the past two decades. But as Edward Fiske, author of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, wrote in a New York Times guest editorial Friday, the United States still has a disproportionate number of low-performing students, too many of whom never graduate.
The Sarasota district, for all of its wealth, community support, and large numbers of high-achieving students, is not immune from this problem. Last week, I asked Superintendent Lori White what she perceives as her greatest long-term challenge. She didn’t hesitate.
“My passion is student achievement,” she said, noting that the district has not made enough progress across all socioeconomic and cultural groups. “When I see the graduation rate for some of our students, it breaks my heart.”
The participants in Friday’s symposium examined how to bridge the cultural divide between these students and classroom expectations. They noted, with both Lori White and Gary Norris present, that the most challenging classrooms are often staffed with the least experienced teachers.
Assistant Superintendent Hal Nelson organized the symposium. “School districts fail in well-intended efforts because they fail to recognize critical cultural and social issues,” he said. “We’re at a stage of building a model that is fully community collaborative and based on best practices, expert opinion and current literature, and to hard-wire it into the district achievement plan.”
Both Belinda Williams, psychologist and editor of Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices, and Dr. Ronald Ferguson, Harvard economist and author of Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap, presented findings ranging from how black teenage males perceive getting good grades to what types of teachers best communicate high expectations.
The attendance was capped at 200, and the response was overwhelming, Nelson said. Some of the participants don’t know where they’ll be teaching next year, or how district cuts will affect their schools. Despite those challenges, they put they put aside personal concerns to focus on their own roles in improving student progress. Their openness to change and refusal to be deterred by economic clouds bodes well for the students who will need them the most.
Political analyst Susan McManus on this year’s bumpy road to the White House.
By Kim Cartlidge
Forget everything we thought we knew about politics this presidential election, Dr. Susan MacManus, USF professor and one of Florida’s most-quoted political analysts, said Friday.
Dr. Susan MacManus
MacManus spoke at the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County’s annual meeting about how conventional political wisdom is being challenged in this unconventional campaign.
“Campaigns evolve,” she said. “That’s what makes it so dangerous for some one like me to say I know who is going to win in November. I used to say the person who is going to win will be the one with the most votes,” MacManus said, but now people like to shoot back, “but you’re from Florida.”
The generally neutral professor expressed low regard for the national Democratic leadership’s management of Florida’s delegate dilemma.
“There’s no leadership in the party. This is really eating into people’s ideas about the
Democratic party and making every vote count,” MacManus said. “Florida is again in the eye of the storm. We’re the starting point and we’ll be the end point.”
MacManus’ Top Surprises this Political Season.
The length of the campaign. We’ve generally known who our nominees would be by the end of Super Tuesday. “Instead, we have the longest presidential campaign in history in terms of intensity, and the first billion-dollar election,” MacManus says.
The source of most contentious competition. The Obama-Clinton race outcome may be decided in the courts, MacManus says. “After June, we’ll see a legitimate lawsuit filed” over Florida’s primary vote delegates, she predicts, possibly a minority voter claiming disenfranchisement under the Voting Rights Act.
The draw of the debates. “Who would have imagined that the debates would have drawn more viewers than regular television shows?” asked MacManus.
The high-touch nature of the campaign. Early primary states Iowa and New Hampshire have been known as the last bastions of retail or shoe leather politics, where people can greet candidates face to face. However, “the length of the campaign has resulted in a huge number being able to go to events and see candidates,” MacManus says.
Primary voter turnout. Traditionally, primary turnout is low, but “we have had record turnout in our primaries,” says MacManus.
The role of religion. “Religion has played a role in a very different way,” and in a discriminatory way,” says MacManus “If you’re a Mormon, you’re crucified,” while Obama was accused of being a radical Muslim, and Huckabee was tagged in most media stories as the Baptist preacher.
The targeted group. “Who would have expected to read that the targeted group this election cycle is not women, not blacks, but white males?” says MacManus.
As a Distinguished Professor at USF, MacManus studies generational voting patterns, which are also in a shake-up this election. Obama’s candidacy has aroused such enthusiasm among youth that some say it could produce what Reagan’s candidacy achieved for the Republicans—a realignment election that locks in partisan change.
When it all plays out, MacManus won’t be observing from an ivory tower. She’ll attend both party conventions this summer as a political analyst for WFLA.
MacManus appears on “Decision 2008: The Road to the White House” every other Sunday morning at 9:30 on WFLA Channel 8. The next show will air on May 4.
In mainly Republican Sarasota County, Democrats are beginning to have a fighting chance.
By Kim Cartlidge
For years, election nights for Sarasota County’s Democrats were somber, stay-at-home affairs. There weren’t backs to slap or hands to shake because so few Democrats ran for office. Republican incumbents were reelected without opposition or in Republican-only primaries before the open primary law took effect. The Libertarian Party, with its lively, off-the-wall candidates, generated more opposition and debate in local races.
The pendulum is swinging, says Sarasota Democratic Party Chair Rita Ferrandino. During the presidential election of 2004, local Democrats fielded Jan Schneider for Congress, long-term incumbent Barbara Ford-Coates for tax collector and Frank Peterman for the four-county, gerrymandered state district 55. Ford-Coates and Peterman won as George Bush was reelected.
Rita Ferrandino
Over the past two years, Sarasota’s electorate kicked out incumbents on both the Venice and Sarasota City commissions and replaced them with Democrats. Even though city races are non-partisan, both councils have Democratic majorities now.
This year, Democratic candidates have filed in 14 races, providing the first true, two-party contest in decades. “We are kicking butt. Our strength is we’re fielding a set of candidates that are highly skilled and qualified to not only win the election but to excel in the job, and that is how you create systemic change,” says Ferrandino.
Registered Republicans comprise the majority in Sarasota County and in most of the state legislative districts. But a strong Democratic turnout combined with the independent vote could sway local races and alter the landscape, even in long-term, Republican-held offices.
The state Democratic Party has taken notice. “Sarasota is the golden child at the moment because we have the ability to go from red to blue. We can pick up state seats,” says Ferrandino.
Florida’s Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman concurs, adding, “Florida is thirsty for change, and that's why people are electing Democrats in every corner of the state, including Sarasota. It's absolutely one of the most important areas to Democrats in the 2008 election.” State party reps landed in town this week to woo potential candidates for the open Florida Senate seat.
Sarasota’s Republicans now have Democratic opponents for all the Florida House Seats, Public Defender, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, County Commission, the City of North Port, and Charter Review Board. Ferrandino expects candidates to file for Florida Senate and Property Appraiser soon.
But Eric Robinson, chair of the Republican Party, says the Dems are fielding shadow candidates who haven’t raised enough money or support to win. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s part of the Democratic process and it helps Republicans because it closes the primaries. If you think about it, it closes out the Democrats from having input in who their elected officials will be.”
Ferrandino says most have just filed this month, and that fundraising has only begun. She’s counting on Democrats and Independents who desire change. But in the end, it’s the quality of the candidates that will determine the Democrats’ success. “If you have good candidates, there’s a much higher probability they will vote,” she says.
Sarasota’s Democratic candidates will be out in full force, meeting and greeting the public at Oscar Scherer’s Earth Day celebration this Sunday, April 20 from 10-3. For more information about party events and candidates, visit sarastoadems.org and rpos.org.
A new foundation aims to revitalize Sarasota’s parks.
By Kim Cartlidge
When I pulled up to the Payne Park auditorium to attend the inaugural community meeting of the Sarasota Parks Foundation, I expected to see a few dozen well-intentioned park lovers. I had no idea I would find so many heavy hitters who already support the organization. It all began only four months ago with a young person’s plea at a public meeting.
Sarasota's Payne Park.
Dr. Lawrence Miller, economic development coordinator for the city’s planning and redevelopment department, grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx. “Mentors would come forward and keep us out of trouble,” says Miller. “I went to Robert Taylor Park [in Newtown] for a community meeting and kids were pleading for programs that would keep them off the street. It went to my heart. I knew the connection between economic development and the parks. The park is a symbol of what the community stands for. If it’s well done and attractive, there’s an active and alive community,” Miller said.
Miller contacted Brenda Patten, former county attorney, who drew in General Rolland Heiser, former head of the New College Foundation, and enlisted guidance from David Rivel, executive director New York City’s CityParks Foundation.
Today’s board members are: Tim Clarke, DeWanda Smith-Soeder, Diana Grandy, Larry Fineberg, Jeff Maultsby, Casey Colburn, Mark Famiglio, Roxanne Joffe, Millie Small and Robert Johnson. Rolland Heiser is chair, Lawrence Miller is president and Brenda Patten is secretary and treasurer. Michael Saunders, Ian Black, Phil Delaney, Jeff Lawenda, Dennis McGillicuddy, Graci McGillicuddy and Randy Benderson serve on the advisory council.
Heiser compared the effort to his involvement in the first Offshore Grand Prix. “If we do this right, we’ll have 49 parks that will be first rate and a credit to the community.’
They had invited Rivel to present the history of New York’s CityParks Foundation and the scope of its activities. The 29-year foundation was originally a fiscal sponsor for a private donation to New York City’s park system. It has grown into a $10 million program and the city’s largest provider of arts performances, drawing more than 340,000 attendees to more than 1,100 performances a year. CityParks also works with more than 4,000 support groups, ranging from dog walking associations to sports leagues, and 65,000 volunteers. CityParks derives 90 percent of its revenue from private funding, which is evenly divided among corporations, foundations and individuals.
“When times are tough, there’s a real temptation to get private citizens to fund government functions, but it’s a slippery slope. You really have to have a sense that you’re an independent entity,” advised Rivel.
Rivel’s caveat to the group was to clearly delineate the mission from the start. Especially in an era of budget cuts, a parks foundation might be asked to fill government funding gaps.
The Sarasota Parks Foundation has incorporated and filed for 501(c)3 status. The first priority parks are Robert Taylor, Payne Park and Mary Dean Park at 15th and Central Avenue. Payne Park, said Miller, could become Sarasota’s Central Park and the heart of the city with more community support.
Could Payne Park become Sarasota's Central Park?</
