Good vs Evil: The Endgame

End the Takeover August 20!

I’ve spend the past month posting about the upcoming primary. I can’t stress enough how important August 20 is for Manatee County. As I was quoted in The Islander,

“This is just effectively good versus evil at this point. This is the people versus the special interests.”

Anthony Pedicini, Kevin Van Ostenbridge and their very, very small circle of hangers-on and supporters want you to believe their side are “real conservatives” who will look out for your best interests. They say so with their $100s of thousands of dollars in mailers. They say so on their fraudulent voter cards. They want you to believe it with their questionable endorsements from Governor Desantis (who has publicly announced all his state endorsements except for his three Manatee/Sarasota SIMWINS picks…odd).

They want to make this election about their warped definition of “conservative” rather than your best interests.

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This primary is not about Republicans vs Democrats. It’s not about conservatives vs liberals. This primary is one final decision from you, the public, about whether you want to cede absolute control of your government and your lives to wannabe feudal lords to rule over you like serfs. These elected lords, granted their authoritarian rights from the Medallion Monarchy, will gleefully wield power over you once they have full control.

These special interest candidates pretend they care. They say asinine things like “developers just believe in me” or “I’ll be my own person on the dais”. But we all know that’s not true. Even well-meaning candidates will fall into a deep trap once they take the easy route to get to victory. Believe me, I know.

In 2020, I had no prior political experience. I didn’t know Anthony Pedicini from Anthony Sabitini. I was offered the help from a consultant who wins and funds from a developer “just wanting what’s best for the board”. I did win and I was ready to make a difference. That’s when the calls start. That’s when you’re brought into meetings to explain why you should agree with a decision they wanted you to agree with. That’s when you hear about it if you don’t vote the “right” way. That’s when it’s explained how easy re-election can be or how hard re-election can be depending on how quiet and complicit you are for four years.

That’s not hyperbole, that’s just the facts.

If you vote for the special-interest, developer-backed candidates, you will not be their priority. If you vote for candidates with SIMWINS on their expense report, your calls will not be taken. If you vote for candidates taking the easy way through the primary - sitting on their couch, not speaking to you, not even attempting to campaign on issues - you will lose your county and your voice permanently.

They will have chosen evil. They will put themselves and their bosses ahead of you.

The voters of Manatee County need to break this cycle of unethical, fraudulent campaigns once and for all. You need to chose the side of good and stop electing these incompetent lackeys willing to sell their votes and their souls for a paycheck and a nice Christmas party.

There is an entire slate of positive, grassroots candidates on your ballots. Our funds and our support have come from the community as a whole. Developers don’t want us to win because they will lose their power. If their side listens to THEM due to their support, then our side will listen to YOU due to your support. The public will have its own advocates on the dais. There will be a slate of commissioners and other elected officials “in the publics’ pocket”.

Once the cycle is broken, and the public has elected representatives who put them first, the developers and the special interests will be just like you. And they know how miserable they’ve made “being just like you” can be. They can’t stand the thought of actually waiting their turn. Or allowing you, the citizens of our county, to have an equal vote and equal time. The game they worked so hard to rig will become an even playing field.

THAT’S why they’re spending millions of dollars to win these elections. It’s not because they “believe” in these bought candidates. They know their handpicked plants aren’t qualified.

These elections, for these special interests, are not about making Manatee County a better place to live in the future. These elections are solely about making Manatee County a better place to fleece in the present. And once they’ve milked it for all it’s worth, they will leave us with our endless floods, our broken infrastructure and our empty bank account and move on down the road to the next county they can buy.

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Manatee County needs to end this complete takeover. You’ve seen the destruction. You’ve seen the votes. You’ve seen the future. And the future is not good if we continue in the direction we’re heading.

I said it in a previous substack,

They used you in 2020 and 2022 to get power and control. They are trying to use you in 2024 to get absolute power and control. Once they have it, they will not need to use you again because they will no longer have any use for you.

Take It Back Before It’s Gone

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We collectively have one chance to stand together and save this sinking ship.

You may not like all my votes. Hell, you may not like me. You may not agree with all the positions of all the grassroots candidates on your ballot. You may think some of them are “too extreme”. You may think some of them are “too liberal”. You may believe some of the false mailers and tv ads. Some of them may actually be true.

So what.

This election, this primary, transcends all of that. There is no subjective gray area on your ballot.

This election, the only decision on your ballot is right versus wrong. Public interests versus special interests. Your voice versus their control. Good versus evil.

For the sake of our community, we must all collectively set aside our minor differences and vote as if Manatee County’s future depends on it.

Because it does.

Vote early or vote August 20…but please, vote wisely!