This election season, Sarasota County has a group of challengers to the incumbent commissioners.
None of these challengers is accepting developer handouts. All deserve to be better known.
Voters deserve sustained, illuminating, in-depth discussion of issues and of the very values we as a community wish to embrace at this critical time. We deserve journalists asking hard questions, not puffballs, and digging into the received ideas that have gained currency due to massive PACs and campaign funding.
The current Board of Sarasota County has developers builders, Realtors, attorneys and more all contributing to their re-election campaigns.
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Some of the local PACs that fund propaganda for industry insiders
Yet as of this writing, no public candidate forums are planned by our corporate media.
The Herald Tribune will not be holding forums or debates, but will partner with the League of Women Voters (see below).
And there's no word as of yet from WWSB-Ch 7, or the Observer, or any other corporate media as to how, or whether, they'll cover this important election.
Two local groups, Tiger Bay and the League of Women Voters, are organizing Zoom Forum events. Their schedules are at the links.
In the absence of journalistic scrutiny, the politicians backed by well-heeled interests will flood our mailboxes, computers and TVs with only what they want us to believe. But those candidates who refuse to be funded by Pat Neal, Carlos Beruff, Jim Gabbert, Rex Jensen, or Randy Benderson -- will they be heard?
If you feel that we the people deserve to hear all sides of critical issues equally from all candidates, please sign and share this Petition: