BRADENTON – As part of an ongoing influence campaign, the group "Manatee Concerned Citizens" sent out an email this week attacking Republican County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, accusing the "Never Trumper" of masterminding the public records fiasco that has ensnared several of her fellow Republican board members.

There is currently a criminal investigation into the alleged violations of several county commissioners who are suspected of coordinating an effort to fire county administrator Cheri Coryea that may have violated Florida's Government in the Sunshine law. The statute says that any time two elected officials meet and discuss business that is either before the board or may reasonably be assumed to come before the board, it is a public meeting and needs to be properly noticed, open to the public with a recording or transcript kept.

There is also a civil suit filed by public records watchdog Michael Barfield, which alleges that some of the commissioners have not fully complied with his request for records related to the alleged violation. Manatee Concerned Citizens has been sending emails that support the actions of developer-sponsored Republican candidates Kevin Van Ostenbridge, George Kruse, and James Satcher, while attacking fellow Republicans Whitmore and Misty Servia as "RINOs" (Republican in Name Only).

It is suspected that the group is developer-driven, however, it has skirted rules that require electioneering campaigns to be registered with the state, so there are no public records of its finances. A proxy service was used in order to keep the owner of the domain private.

The group's address is listed as 824 Manatee Ave West in the email, which is the address of the downtown Bradenton post office (a previous email used an address that belonged to a recently-constructed apartment complex in downtown St. Petersburg). A notably-similar campaign in late 2020 that supported and attacked largely the same figures was financed by developers and used in an effort to manufacture public outrage over a public land purchase. Van Ostenbridge then tried to use the issue as the basis for firing county administrator Cheri Coryea.

The email, which mostly targets Barfield, also zeroes in on Whitmore.

"Many believe powerless Never-Trumper, Commissioner Carol Whitmore has been using Mike Barfield as a personal attack dog to perpetuate her personal vendetta against Conservative Republicans on the Manatee County Commission," it reads. "Especially since she is now on an island by herself continually rallying against the Conservative mandate, shrinking the size of government and eliminating wasteful government spending. It’s the same playbook Nancy Pelosi used to twice impeach Donald Trump.

Whitmore jokingly said that she was flattered the group thought she was powerful enough to set into motion all of the events that led to the investigation and lawsuit but that she couldn't take credit for something she had nothing to do with.

"My passion is elder care, animal welfare, healthcare issues, pushing for jobs, and getting our citizens assistance through the CARES Act maze," said the board's most experienced commissioner. "That's what I focus my energies on, getting things done for my real constituents, the people of this county. It seems that if anyone has an agenda and ulterior motives, it's whoever is behind this group."

Normalizing Insanity