Manatee County Commission: District 6: Carol Whitmore vs. Sundae Knight

BRADENTON – The District 6 Manatee County Commission race will see two very different candidates square off in the county-wide vote for one of two "at-large" seats on the seven-member board. Incumbent Carol Whitmore, a political veteran with two decades of public office under her belt, faces newcomer Sundae Lynn Knight, an engineer with a background as a land-use plans reviewer in county government.

Carol Whitmore

Whitmore has proven herself to be one of the more devoted members of the BCC, leaving her job in health care to devote herself full-time to the board when she was elected in 2006. Prior to her election, Whitmore served 16 years in Holmes Beach, first as a councilwoman and then as mayor of the small island community of around 5,000 residents.

Whitmore clearly spends time reviewing matters before they are presented, something that might seem elementary, but is all too often lacking among commissioners. She is both inquisitive and forceful, never afraid to firmly state her viewpoint or argue a point with a fellow member – and among the more articulate commissioners when doing so. She is also a regular at just about every local government and board meeting. In short, she is a student of her field -- not the most common trait in a government official.

While Whitmore did not seem to possess a tremendous amount of knowledge on BCC issues when she first took office four years ago, her work ethic has served her well. She has been a quick study and seems to have an adequate understanding of most issues. However, her service has not been without controversy. Whitmore has been criticized for too often voting for applications favored by the developers that have generously supported her campaign and also for her close ties with County Administrator Ed Hunzeker, who has been accused of circumventing the board and the public process by lobbying individual commissioners.

In truth, Whitmore tends to fall on either side of land-use issues pretty close to a 50-50 spilt, which she says should be expected of a self-described moderate Republican. If anything, Whitmore's votes have seemed no worse than inconsistent in that regard. On the recent controversial Robinson Farms comp-plan amendment, Whitmore originally voted for the increased density last June, later switching her vote, before the measure ultimately passed 4-3 and also sided with development on a recent measure opposed by local landowners in the Cortez F.I.S.H. Preserve.

With the current board composition, developers have been able to rely on unwavering support from Commissioners Brown and Bustle, along with fairly solid support from Commissioners Hayes, Getman, Chappie and Whitmore to get four or five votes on nearly every controversial issue. None of the latter four have been able to distinguish themselves as reliably sensitive to the will of the citizens, seeming to almost switch-off on the occasional irrelevant nay vote. Nonetheless, Whitmore can make the case that there are certainly commissioners that have proved to be more developer-friendly than herself.

Commissioner Whitmore demonstrated tremendous passion during the Cafe on the Beach/Manatee Concession issue, but failed to articulate the most viable argument, opting instead for an emotional appeal that included entering pictures of herself pregnant on the grounds decades before (prior to the current tenant even being sub-contracted) and pleading for the other commissioners to consider more than just money, rather than convincingly arguing the more pertinent case that they'd been denied a fair bidding process. That was perhaps her biggest spotlight moment of the term and she could have stood to come off more as an astute public official -of which there were too few -- and less of an upset resident -- of which there were plenty.

On her relationship with Hunzeker, Whitmore says that the department staffs run much more efficiently since the commissioners have had to go through the county administrator and that he still has no indication as to how they are going to vote prior to BCC meetings and that the same goes for developers. Whitmore argues that much more of her contributions have come from her former field, health care, and is disappointed that development, being only one of many areas that the BCC oversees, gets so much attention. This is a valid point and the fact that development is near the front of most voters' minds might hurt Whitmore, whose record is stronger in other areas.

"I spend much more of my time working with constituents who are in need of access to medical care or have transportation issues," the commissioner told me. "That's really where my passion is and when a constituent calls me or emails, they can be certain I'm going to get back to them and do what I can to make sure that they get the services that are available. I think that voters are going to re-elect me because I've proven that I'm competent and that I'm going to work for them, not because of who does or doesn't support me."

Whitmore said that voters can count on her to continue running a clean campaign and that she has no intention of attempting to smear her opponent. "I think voters don't respond to that and quite frankly, I think they are tired of politicians who sling mud at each other," said Whitmore. She also said that she had no knowledge of any PACs or other soft-money groups that were planning to run negative attacks on her behalf.

Sundae Knight

Sundae Knight feels that Whitmore lacks the sort of real world experience from which such conclusions are best drawn. Having worked at nearly every point in the process from carpentry to project manager to plan reviewer, Knight also has the advantage of being an engineer and I got the impression while speaking with her that she would be much more knowledgeable and have less of a learning curve at least when it comes to land use issues, though I'm not sure she can come close to Whitmore's broad array of experience in other areas.

Knight's background as a third-generation veteran and her Air Force service is also a deeply ingrained part of her character. Though not nearly as gifted an orator as her opponent, Knight conveys tremendous sincerity when speaking of integrity and her commitment to a job well done. Knight also has some very progressive thoughts when it comes to the local economy and building a sustainable labor market that is not so dangerously concentrated in development and tourism.

Knight was able to articulate several ideas relating to the continued development of Port Manatee as a major employment hub in Manatee and gives the impression that she would be an asset on that board as well. Commissioner Whitmore, to her credit, has also taken an active interest in Port matters and is a much more enthusiastic and educated advocate than she was earlier in her term, when she was admittedly new to such business.

Whether voters will be drawn more to Whitmore's composed message and familiarity or Knight's message of change will depend largely on how they feel the board has done in the four years since Whitmore has been elected. I suspect that those who are satisfied with the status quo will likely vote to retain Whitmore, while those thinking the county is in need of a change of direction will buy into Knight's candidacy. In that regard, this county-wide race could end up being as much a referendum on the BCC as a race between these two individual candidates, and with so few of the most controversial seats up for election this term, Whitmore could bear the brunt of that frustration whether she deserves it or not.

Both candidates were invited to be interviewed on TV for our coverage. Ms. Knight accepted, while Ms. Whitmore declined. A video of that interview is available here.