Normalizing Insanity

Last week’s column was titled A Scandal of Epic Proportions, and while I opined that our county commission seems to have reached peak insanity, I did predict that even though the board’s chair had rendered our county a national laughing stock by way of Vaccinegate, it could and would get worse. And in just one week, it already has gotten much, much worse.

After covering this board for the past 11 years, I'm usually surprised by its actions far less often than most. However, I probably watched on Tuesday with my jaw as close to the floor as the rest of you. I mean, yes, it was very difficult to imagine a pathway for a different outcome, but still, how could someone elected to represent citizens of a community survive such a blatantly self-serving act as putting herself, friends, and supporters onto a special list to receive the COVID vaccine ahead of other people who'd signed up in our community and then rig the random lottery by limiting it to two zip codes in her district–zip codes that are among the three whitest and wealthiest in the county and with some of the lowest COVID numbers!

Well, they can serve in Manatee County, it seems, where the partisan divide runs so deep that it blinds tribal factions to anything that might otherwise cause them to cast an introspective eye toward one of their own.

Three commissioners did the right thing, and they did it in a bipartisan manner, but justice and equity still came up one vote short. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy (D-district 2), Misty Servia (R-district 4), and Carol Whitmore (R-at-large) voted to remove County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh as board chair after she refused to heed loud calls from the community for her resignation, and after the governor, who is the only person who can remove her from office for such malfeasance, declined to act.

In all fairness, Gov. DeSantis may have been busy coordinating the lowering of flags to half-mast to honor a man who turned being a misogynistic, bigoted blowhard into a half-billion-dollar enterprise, though he did find time to fundraise off the scandal, sending registered Republicans an email that urged them to send him money so that he could fight back against the fake news (by fake, he must mean wholly accurately portrayals of exactly what happened).

If Baugh wasn’t going to resign, there was no way she was going to abstain from voting. It turned out she would cast the deciding vote in her own favor after newly-elected commissioners George Kruse, James Satcher, and Kevin Van Ostenbridge failed to raise their hands on the motion to strip her of the role, presumably because no one had pulled the strings that seem to be attached to their arms when it comes to politically-sensitive votes, which is to say issues that are important to the developers who bought them their seats.

In the irony of all ironies, the four commissioners quickly pivoted away from forgiveness mode and got their knives back out to do the bidding of those developers, firing county administrator Cheri Coryea for no other reason than that’s the way the Big Development wants it to go.

Despite not having a plan in place to move forward, they were able to coax one of the deputy county administrators who hasn’t yet resigned into taking the job, though she agreed to do it for no more than 30 days and with the caveat that she automatically be returned to her deputy county administrator position which protects her from being exposed to the same fate, as the board can only hire and fire two employees: the administrator and the county attorney.

It was thought that former Sarasota County Commissioner Charles Hines would be given the role of interim administrator. However, Servia, Whitmore, and Bellamy made the critical mistake of supporting that idea, which had been floated by county attorney Bill Clague when it became clear that no plan existed, and that bloc’s support was likely more than enough to make sure it didn’t happen. To be fair, Clague having negotiated a lavish contract with an eight-month guarantee and $2,500 housing allowance atop of a $192,000 salary certainly didn’t help the item’s chances of getting four votes.

The plan going forward was for Clague to put together a one-year contract that the board finds acceptable and for the board to consider Hines; Van Ostenbridge’s stated preferred candidate: school board member Scott Hopes; and Big Development’s preferred candidate, Dom DiMaio, who heads a pro-development business group in Lakewood Ranch. Hines, however, seemed to see the writing on the wall at Tuesday's meeting andwithdrew his name from consideration.

Sources in county government told me in 2019, when Coryea was hired, that Medallion Homes CEO Carlos Beruff had pushed commissioners aggressively to hire DiMaio and that the board’s refusal to acquiesce is what led to the developers funding a campaign to sack Coryea that began immediately after their candidates swept the November elections. Sources then told me this week that Pat Neal of Neal Communities, who was also involved in the efforts to oust Coryea, has been lobbying hard for DiMaio and that at least three of the four commissioners that will decide the next administrator seem to be on board.

While Van Ostenbridge appeared to be stuck on Hopes and dismissive even when it came to DiMaio, I suspect that’s little more than a feint so that he can ultimately pretend like he’s compromising on DiMaio, who will end up as the next county administrator, in which case it’s likely that the board will decide that it doesn’t need to conduct a national search after all once we get close to that one-year mark.

Satcher has pushed hard for former Manatee County Schools Superintendent Rick Mills and while I think all parties would be considerably less qualified than Coryea, Mills, a retired Army colonel who was a top administrator in the Chicago and Minneapolis school systems before being hired in Manatee, would certainly be a big step up from the other names being discussed, but given that he does not seem to have received the blessing of Big Development, that nomination is probably dead in the water. Given Van Ostenbridge’s affinity for Manatee High football, Mills’ very public feud and legal battle with beloved former coach Joe Kinnan would likely be another stumbling block. Beruff and Neal seem to want DiMaio, so that’s the most likely outcome.

That surprises me just a little bit, given that Beruff’s previous desire to see DiMaio hired was so well known and that this outcome has been suggested so often since the bullseye showed up on Coryea’s back. I figured he and Neal might find some other equally pro-development replacement to at least give the majority faction a little bit of cover, especially after the coordination on policy between Beruff and Van Ostenbridge heading into the first attempt to ax Coryea had been so well-established in the sunshine statute scandal. However, Van Ostenbridge expressing a preference for Hopes might have been the only such latitude we’ll see exercised.

It seems the days in which everyone kind of knew that developers were running the county have transitioned into the days when they no longer even make the effort to hide it or even give cover to commissioners. In fact, it seems as though they actually want everyone to know who’s pulling the strings if only to keep all parties in line. If this cycle proved anything, it's that so long as they’re willing to spend enough money, they can get anyone elected in Manatee County, no matter how superior their opposition’s credentials are, rendering the candidates themselves completely expendable as some of the newly-elected ones are now learning.

You’re either with 'em or against 'em, and so long as they continue to find members of our community who are willing to carry their water, even when it gets as embarrassing to do so as it did on Tuesday, their plan seems pretty solid. Welcome to Manatee County 2021, folks, where we no longer even pretend like there is a duly-elected governing body that represents the interest of the citizens. There’s Big Development, Big Phosphate, and enough money, power, and empty-suits to make sure everything else either gets out of the way or gets run over.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of ourweekly podcast. He is also the host ofPunk Rock Politixon YouTube. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County governmentsince 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Clickherefor his bio. His latest book, Burn Black Wall Street Burn, is scheduled for release in late April. His other books are availablehere.