Out and about on Election Night (Part 2): The after-parties

Sarasota has its own version of March Madness: the City Elections that take place in the spring of odd-numbered years, when two at-large or three district city commission seats are up for grabs.

When covering the local madness, the places to be are the Supervisor of Elections office and the after-parties that follow.

As expected, the March 12 City Elections produced no candidate with enough votes to win a commission seat outright. What we got instead was the top three vote-getters (Chapman, Atwell and Dorfman) advancing to the May 14 run-off election and the bottom three vote-getters watching their campaigns end.

Having contacted all six candidates earlier that day, I knew that the under-funded Pete Theisen had nothing planned---not even a pizza party.

First-time candidate Kelvin Lumpkin would learn his fate while gathered with supporters at the Toasted Mango Café on Tamiami Trail.

Gillespie Park resident Linda Holland and her supporters would be at The Broadway Bar on the north end of downtown.

Richard Dorfman (the “downtown candidate”) and his supporters would be at Patrick’s 1481 on Main Street.

Mayor Suzanne Atwell (the “centrist” candidate) chose Caragiulos on Palm Ave.---an establishment partially owned by City Commissioner Paul Caragiulo and geographically positioned between the Dorfman event and the Chapman event.

Susan Chapman (the “neighborhood candidate”) gathered with her supporters at the neighborhood-friendly Word of Mouth restaurant, a mile or so south of downtown.

These election night gatherings are where the candidates and their supporters await the election results. There’s usually a TV in the vicinity tuned to ABC 7 or SNN 6 and most of the candidates have a supporter at the Elections Office calling in results as they come in and become final.

From a reporter’s perspective, after-party coverage is dictated by two things: the final results and the proximity of one party to another.

The polls close at 7 p.m. and it usually takes an hour or less to tally the results. The after-parties then last another hour or two after that, leaving a limited amount of time to catch up to the candidates (with the losing candidates usually shutting it down early).

In addition to speaking to the candidates, it’s always interesting to see who attends their parties.

Chapman in Good Company

Working in order of the election results and knowing that I’d never make it to all five stops, my first stop was Word of Mouth to visit leading vote-getter Susan Chapman.

When I arrived around 8:15 p.m., the place was packed. I found Susan chatting with Sarasota Democratic Party Chair Rita Ferrandino and longtime community activist Gretchen Serrie.

When Susan had time to chat, her first comment was, “I’m very grateful for all my supporters and I’m very grateful that 80 percent of my campaign contributions came from city voters”---a veiled verbal shot at Richard Dorfman.

When asked what it was about her campaign that resonated with voters, Susan said, “Twenty-three years of service in this community, including working a lot of different issues for a lot of different people---not just in city politics, but in the neighborhoods, on mental health and with the Women’s Legal Fund. All of those things gave me the goodwill to get over the negative campaigning I had to face.”

After speaking with Susan, I glanced around the room and spotted quite a few former city commissioners, many of whom also served as mayor, as well as current Vice-Mayor Willie Shaw.

My first thought was, This would make a good photo. My second thought was that having the support of former commissioners Lou Ann Palmer, Richard Clapp, Fredd Atkins, Elmer Berkel and Kelly Kirschner reflects well on the Chapman campaign and the issues she stands for.After snapping the “money shot,” I asked Kelly why he supports Susan and her campaign.

He said, “I think collectively you have 200 hundred years of residency here in Sarasota in that photo you just took. I think that speaks to our belief that Susan would certainly represent the continuity of the history of this community and what makes it special. She also has the commitment to continue working to address the problems we have too.

"We want to put Susan to work with the other four commissioners to get back to addressing a number of fundamental issues facing the city that have not been given the attention they require over the past four years. As someone who has worked with Susan Chapman for 10 years, I certainly think Susan deserves one of the two votes in the run-off election and I think she will serve our city well.”

When asked if he had any other election observations, Kelly said, “The media coverage on this election in general, with a few exceptions, has really been lacking in terms of educating voters on the issues and the candidates.”

All’s Well with Atwell

When I arrived at Caragiulos around 8:40 p.m., I found Mayor Atwell enjoying a glass of red wine with friends and supporters gathered in the lounge area. Some of her supporters had gravitated to the dining room and others had gone home, making for a more subdued affair, but the mayor and her remaining supporters were in good spirits and happy about what transpired earlier that evening.

“I’m feeling really good about this,” Suzanne said. “As we move forward I’m going to be the centrist. I’m governing right now and I am the sitting commissioner. I can look at both sides, be the consensus builder and work toward bridging the gaps between the neighborhoods and the business community---that’s my task. Over the past four years, I’ve had to make some tough decisions and I’ve built consensus as mayor. That doesn’t mean everyone agrees with my votes, but we’re talking about governing with civility and collaboration and involving everybody in the city. That’s what I stand for and the voters voted on my record.”

Commenting on her campaign strategy moving forward, Suzanne said, “I can run the centrist position that takes in the whole town. Downtown Sarasota is a neighborhood; it’s part of the whole city. It’s one city, many neighborhoods.”

Community activist and former commission candidate Diana Hamilton then weighed in, saying, “I think we showed that being a centrist in this city does work in your favor. Certainly there were certain votes Suzanne made that everybody wasn’t crazy about, but overall her votes have been very balanced and represented the greater interests of the majority of residents in the community. Suzanne has a lot of integrity and I think she really works well with the other people at the table, not as an individual, but as a teammate. She’s a really good team player and I think that’s what the vote reflected today.”

Looking ahead to the run-off election, Diana said, “With the three candidates we have remaining, I think there’s going to be a clear distinction for voters in what they want for a governing body. As the only incumbent, Suzanne is going to be pushing more strongly on her centrist position because you’ve got two polar opposites on either side of her.”

Dorfman's Downtown Delight

I arrived at Patrick’s shortly after 9 p.m. The Dorfman party was still going strong and the Republican-heavy contingent was pleased by their candidate’s performance.

After excusing himself from his supporters, Richard said, “I’m very excited. Being able to do as well as I did against very well-established candidates---our mayor and an activist who's been working in the city for 30 years---and being able to get within a few percentage points of them and getting into the run-off is just fantastic. The message I’ve been giving all along is let’s push Sarasota forward. Let’s go out and try to reach our potential in regard to opportunity, job creation and giving our young people a future and something to do. I think that resonated with the voters.”

Looking ahead to the run-off, Richard said, “It’s still about reaching the voters and getting the message out.”

When asked if anything about the campaign surprised him, Richard said, “The veracity of the campaign and some of the vitriol … that surprised me.”Sitting at the bar enjoying a beer, local developer and longtime city resident Andy Dorr said, “I thought we had a great election today. The results were what I expected. We now can go forward over the next six weeks and try to better define the issues between these three candidates and choose the best two people to lead our city forward.

“I support Richard because he stands for a vibrant downtown. He realizes that we have a fiscal deficit of about $140 million that we have to make up and that one way out of that problem is to grow Sarasota. I think Richard is compelled to do what’s right for downtown, which will ultimately be right for the city. Richard will define himself as looking for a vibrant downtown that leads the rest of our neighborhoods, while not overlooking those neighborhoods. I think the question the voters have to decide in their own minds is whether we want a downtown that flourishes and grows with little or no inhibition or a downtown that is held back.”

When asked what a developer wants from a city commission, Andy said, “First of all we want predictability. We want somebody who will read the rules and regulations of the city and react in a predictable manner,” citing the recent Wal-Mart denial as an example of this, in his opinion, not happening.

Holland Graceful In Defeat

Around 10 p.m., Linda Holland arrived at Patrick’s after winding down her own gathering.

Reluctant at first to speak so soon after the loss, she opened up a bit after being asked if she was disappointed.

“I think anybody who gives as much as I do to a race and doesn’t win---it’s human nature to be disappointed,” she said. “So yes, I’m disappointed, and surprised.”

Expressing appreciation for those who supported her, Linda said, “They were great. They believed in me so much and I’m sorry to disappoint them. I’m sorry it didn’t work out because they all know I was a damn good candidate---it’s just too bad the rest of the city voters didn’t. It’s real puzzling. I don’t know what else I could’ve done. For 30 years I’ve given everything I have to this community and it’s surprising that it wasn’t enough.”

As far as endorsing another candidate, Linda said, “I don’t know, I have to think about that.”

Learning Experience for Lumpkin

Speaking on the phone two days after the election, Kelvin Lumpkin reflected on his first political campaign. “It was a tremendous experience running for city commission,” he said.

“Of course, it’s disappointing to come out on the losing end because you invest so much of your time and your energy trying to win. It stings when you’ve lost, but I have no regrets at all. I learned so much and met so many great people---even people I didn’t agree with philosophically---and I found that most of them love our city even if we don’t agree on how it should move forward, how it should grow and what is the preferred style of governing. That’s refreshing to know.”

When asked about his political future, Kelvin said, “I wouldn’t rule out or rule in anything at this point. We’ll see what happens.”

Kelvin is expected to endorse fellow Republican Richard Dorfman, but as of March 21 that endorsement had not been made public.