Final Observer recommendations

Here is why U.S. elections should revert to occurring only on election day: Things happen up to the last day that can change voters’ minds. Such is the case this cycle.

In some races, where the choices appeared clear — candidates whose political-economic philosophies aligned with liberty and freedom for the individual; whose competence and experience appeared suited for the office; and whose integrity was solid — incidents and campaign shenanigans later skewed our views. Or, as some of the campaigns progressed, voters also learned more about the candidates.

In particular, we’ve vacillated on the two Republican primaries for Sarasota County Commission District 1 and District 3; and the four-way race in Manatee for Florida House District 72. 

At the same time, the campaign shenanigans and controversies continue to swirl in the campaigns for Manatee County Commission, in particular the race for District 3, which includes the Manatee portion of Longboat Key.

In the two Sarasota County Commission races, three of the four candidates — Teresa Mast (District 1) and Tom Knight and Neil Rainford (District 3) — let their campaign tactics sully their candidacies and integrity. We repeatedly have noted the constant truth twisting and sometimes outright lies in their mailers; and the refusal, mostly of Mast and Rainford (as well as School Board candidate Karen Rose), to appear at candidate forums — a disrespectful snub to voters. It’s enough to sway you to abstain on those races. 

But if you feel compelled to vote for someone, when you evaluate and make a judgment on who likely would perform most competently for taxpayers, we’ll go back — reluctantly — to our initial arguments and recommendations — Mast and Knight.

In the House District 72 primary in East Manatee, we noted that this race is a rare instance when all four candidates could serve the district well. We gave the edge to “Bill” Conerly, former longtime Manatee Planning Commission chair.

But for those voters who haven’t voted yet, we’ll urge you to do more last-minute homework. Richard Green, while not widely known but with nine years as an administrative law attorney, is on par in legislative astuteness and knowledge of Florida law with the district’s predecessor, Tommy Gregory.

While Conerly can be regarded as the establishment candidate, Green is the emerging newcomer and, truth be told, more independent and more suited for Tallahassee. 

For the District 3 County Commission seat in Manatee, the race has been brutal. Thirty-year-old Tal Siddique has been getting a fiery  baptism into the nasty world of election campaigns. He is running against April Culbreath, former Manatee sheriff’s deputy and chair of the Manatee Republican Party Executive Committee. Newcomer versus establishment. 

Culbreath and her team have been barraging voters with false accusations of Siddique being associated with Black Lives Matter and a Biden Democrat. (He is a former registered Democrat.) And last week, they circulated documents showing Siddique saying “while in the Air Force” and listing his employment as the U.S. Air Force. Culbreath’s team says he’s lying. In truth, he has not served in uniform.

Siddique’s response: “I was a civil servant who worked for the U.S. Air Force helping it lead software teams to better protect our troops and our country … In addition to being a civil servant working with our U.S. Air Force within the Department of Defense, I also worked with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies in patriotic service to our country.”

As Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and former presidential candidate John Kerry found out: Never, ever lie or even slightly fudge military service. In Siddique’s case, that should not derail his candidacy.