Stark Differences Between Whitmore and Wonder at Palma Sola Forum

BRADENTON — The grand finale of the Whitmore-Wonder debates concluded Tuesday night at the Palma Sola Botanical Gardens during the Annual Conservation-Environmental Summit, co-sponsored by Manatee Fish and Game Association, Inc. and Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club. There were few additions to the candidates' doctrines. But what stood out to many in the audience of the nearly 70 attendees was Whitmore's fear of litigation and her articulate talent to delude fact.

Apart from the opening and closing statements, the questions asked by the moderator were unlike those in the previous two debates. 

Wetlands; growth; sea level rise; sea grass; water quality; phosphate mining; the county's Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan were the debate subjects.

It's good Politico didn't have a truth buzzer present at the event, because the carefully crafted responses by the candidates, to the pre-submitted list of questions given to both two days prior, would have driven many from the room.

Such an annoyance would have appeared bias, because Wonder was there to announce what she would do differently if elected, and Whitmore was confessing to her historical record as commissioner. 

When Wonder expressed her concerns to how threatened the county's remaining wetlands are, casting blame on the decision-making process exercised by county officials, Whitmore's only reply cited how the county is taking the once drained cow ponds, and returning them to the small wetland they used to be. That seemed to clearly make Wonder's point. 

It would take decades to return these old cow ponds to functional wetlands. The county is now practicing the method in and around Duette Preserve, for the sole purpose of mitigating (destroying) perfectly healthy and functional wetlands elsewhere in the county. 

It is understandable how Whitmore comes to some of these conclusions. Carlos Beruff, when Chairman of SWFWMD (Southwest Florida Water Management District), once bragged at a Manatee County workshop about the high number of wetlands created under his leadership. The developer was speaking of a the large number of retention ponds built into the interstate system. I asked Beruff if he considered retention ponds equal to wetlands. He responded, "Not really, but they are close." This from the chairman of a board that exists to protect our water resources?

Wonder's stated apprehension over the on-going "deep well injection site" across U.S. 41 from the port, at Piney Point, was well founded. Whitmore said she is opposed to the well, but puts her support behind DEP's responsibility to protect the county. "That's why I want DEP to accept 100 percent of the responsibility should anything happen." 

Should anything happen? 100 percent of what? One cannot fathom the cost, damage and reputation that would follow the breach of an aquifer. Ask any farmer, and then think about drinking from a faucet or taking a shower.

The first time Whitmore expressed approval for the well was early last year, when Chris Klena, DEP Deputy Director of Water Resource, presented the project to the BOCC. Klena couldn't answer any of the soft questions – let alone the hard ones – leading to an embarrassing climax where Klena admitted, "Sorry but this isn't my field of expertise."

I tried to catch Klena when the presentation was over, but she wouldn't comment. For the following week, I called her office three times and she never returned my calls or my emails.   

Wonder was smart to ask about the Ground Water Modeling and if, in fact, it was being done. Florida sits on a fault and any seismic shift of plates could very conceivably compromise our aquifers.

It was the misrepresentation of the Ground Water Modeling in Bronson, Florida, 19 months ago, at the Duke Energy NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) hearings that grounded the proposed nuclear power plant.

CH2M Hill was found in error for not performing the Duke Energy work correctly. It is CH2M Hill that is doing the engineering work for the Piney Point deep injection well.

Commissioner Whitmore's concerns seemed very limited given the scope of such an endeavor. Wonder definitely seemed to have the better grasp of the process and its potential dangers.

Wonder was accurate when she stated the need to protect the County's Comprehensive Plan and rigorous enforcement of it. 

For over three years I have attended and reported on every Planning Commission and BOCC Land Use Meeting. I cannot recall one, not one meeting, that didn't sway away from the stated Comp Plan or Land Development Code procedures, by approving a special request or a specific approval request. The entire process seems to exist not to consider applications, but facilitate them.

This is also the process of county politics that create the biggest potential for boondoggles. Consider this: you own a large plot of land that is zoned agricultural and allows you to put one house on every five acres. You sell it to a politically connected developer who goes before the BOCC and convinces them to change it to three houses on every acre. On just 30 acres, that's 84 additional units he can build, that you couldn't have. In one vote, they've potentially put millions of dollars into his pocket before he's ever built a single house, just by changing the development potential.

Sometimes it's 3 houses per acre to four, squeezing in an additional dozen units on a project. Sometimes it's increasing density to allow condos in an area that previously wouldn't have. Every time this happens there are costs such as increased impact on infrastructure and calls for service to law enforcement and EMS, few of which are ever discussed. Understanding this, you start to see why mega-developers routinely spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on getting friendly faces elected to the board without blinking an eye.

When special requests are approved, they set precedence, and if something is given to one applicant and not another, it often results in the threat of a law suit.

Tuesday night, Whitmore consistently used the "law suit" factor as an excuse for not reacting to problematic situations. The truth is, if so many specific approvals weren't handed out, there might not be the need to frequently amend the Comp Plan, or for so many county attorneys. 

By far the majority of specific approvals go to Neal Homes (Pat Neal) and Medallion Homes (Carlos Beruff). Between the two, they have almost one hundred companies, and ironically, both developers contribute the largest chunk of election capital to county commissioners' campaigns.

Whitmore defends her position by saying, "I don't favor anyone. In fact, I have voted against my own son-in-law." I have reminded Whitmore in the past of F.S. 112, when she makes her "I voted against my son-in-law" speech, but here it is again; and the Statute stands whether one votes for or against a relative. 

112.3143 Voting conflicts.—

(c) “Relative” means any father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law.

Commissioners in this position are to disclose the conflict and abstain from voting. 

When both candidates were asked about sea level rise and the significance of sea grass, Whitmore had little to say, other than, "It might be different if we could find funding to buy the land from its owners to protect it from development." 

Again, Whitmore cited the problem as being the threat of a 'law suit' and how many developers would be happy to "take the money and run" if the county could afford to purchase their property.

The same reason was given by Whitmore for not having any resolve to the problems caused by phosphate mining. Tuesday night she said, "People forget that Mosaic sued the county for $619 million." The suit was later dropped after the BOCC permitted the project.

It all becomes theatre. Had the BOCC refused the bogus pseudo-science Mosaic postured before them, instead of rejecting the overwhelming highly-qualified professional science delivered at the dais, the grounds for the Bert Harris Act suit Mosaic filed against the county would have been moot. 

There is always a reason, always an excuse why Whitmore's hands are tied when special interests win out over everyday citizens, yet she always finds time to express praise and thanks for Beruff, Neal, Mosaic and the other pay-to-play customers having their way with Manatee County.

If Whitmore loses her seat to Wonder, the county might not change much, but what has migrated into a special interest club of deep pockets ringing their way with county resources, will start to change. 

I have no doubt that a Wonder victory will send a message to the many highly talented citizens and employees of Manatee County, that change is coming, and the door will then be open for the talent which sits in the shadows of the elite running the show. 

Whitmore has out-spent Wonder five to one. A Wonder win in itself offers encouragement for the many citizens qualified to lead this county, and protect and uphold the fine quality of life that has escaped many who made Manatee their home for that very reason.

Tuesday night we heard their stories. Don't take my word for it, check the facts. Vote for the one you think will really be working for us all, not just the chosen few.