An email from a Sarasotan who has watched county campaigns for well over a decade:
Joe Neunder Mark Hawkins
Two GOP candidates have filed to run in District 4.
Joe Neunder opposed Single Member Districts, is supported by developers--- currently has a huge donation advantage over opponent Mark Hawkins. (See donations below.)
If no Democrat files to run, the August GOP Primary should be open to all District 4 voters.
So why is there a potential problem?
In 2012, when Jon Thaxton ran for Superintendent of Elections (SOE) against Kathy Dent—the GOP Primary was open because no Democrat filed to run.
Thaxton had a good chance to defeat the incumbent controversial SOE.
But Victoria Brill, 23 year old daughter of Jack Brill, filed as an NPA write-in candidate to close the GOP Primary.
Dent won handily and Brill withdrew from the race. So in 2012, the SOE was re-elected by only a fraction of voters from one political party.
With write-in another end run around universal primary law -- Herald Tribune, 2012.
Isn’t Jack Brill the current Sarasota County GOP Chair? Be prepared for the same thing to happen in District 4.
A shill candidate may file as a write-in to close this key BoCC primary, then withdraw when the preferred candidate wins.
The BoCC candidate qualifying deadline is June 17, 2022----write-ins and otherwise.
Is a Democrat going to run in District 4, or could this be déjà vu?
If the GOP Primary gets closed, is Mark Hawkins a viable candidate for County Commission?
Many county residents worked long and hard to twice secure SMD for Sarasota County Commission—direct representation and accountability.
If the August GOP Primary is closed, thousands of District 4 voters could be disenfranchised. Hope this doesn’t happen--again.
2022 District 4 BOCC Candidates:
Contributions Cash In-Kind
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For more on campaign funding, see how Joe Neunder, a Venice chiropractor, was anointed by the developer Machine last September:
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