No-Show Politics

Mast won't debate Coe

Last night the League of Women Voters had an online candidate forum planned for the District 1 and District 3 County Commission primaries. All four candidates were invited: Alex Coe and Teresa Mast are running for the GOP nomination in District 1, and Tom Knight and Neil Rainford are running for the GOP nomination in District 3. Only two candidates got back to the League of Women Voters: Coe and Knight. Mast and Rainford didn’t even respond. The League of Women Voters cancelled the forum.

Coe accepted the League’s invitation. Knight declined, seemingly due to his opponent’s lack of participation. Both Coe and Knight replied. Could Mast and Rainford’s lack of response have been an oversight, or is it their strategy?

Both Mast and Rainford list Eric Robinson’s email address at his accounting firm, Robinson Gruters, as their campaign e-mail contact on the Supervisor of Elections website. When I emailed Mast’s invitation to appear on my radio show to Robinson, he responded immediately and asked me why I was contacting him. I told him his email is the contact email for Teresa Mast listed with the SOE (can he really be unaware of this?) He told me to get in touch with the candidate. I replied that his email is the only contact email that Mast has made available. Her website public interaction is limited to a donation button, and a volunteer form, but I did not see an email for the press or public to send her a message.

Upon further inspection , there is a teeny-tiny email address for both Mast and Rainford on their websites. It is buried in a disclaimer which warns citizens that if they provide their phone numbers, they are giving express written constent to get text messages and robo calls. If citizens need help or support regarding these messages, they can send a message to the email address they give. It’s hardly an invitation to voters or civic groups to get in touch, ask questions, or extend an invitation to the candidate. It’s sounds more like tech support.

Both Rainford and Mast clearly aren’t interested in facilitating public and press contact with their campaigns. And Eric Robinson, their listed contact, certainly doesn’t seem to believe it’s his job to facilitate campaign communication.

The League of Women Voters isn’t the only group that has gotten the brush off from Mast and Rainford. Sarasota Tiger Bay (the club in north Sarasota County) has never gotten a reply from Neil Rainford to participate in their candidate forum on August 1st. Mast agreed to show, but then sent a message cancelling on July 13th.

Rainford did show up at South County Tiger Bay to debate Knight and Shari Thornton. Shari Thornton is the NPA candidate in District 3 who will face the winner of the Knight/Rainford primary. At least District 3 voters got to see one debate between Knight and Rainford (although a mid-day Tiger Bay luncheon is NOT a forum which is conducive to wide public participation).

District 1 voters have not (it appears they will not) get any opportunity to see a debate between Coe and Mast.

Why do Neil Rainford and Teresa Mast believe they can win their respective races without any meaningful participation in public candidate forums?

They must believe that their mailers, text messages and robo calls will be enough. They must believe that voters will not notice or care that they choose to be no-shows for candidate forums. Why?

The Rainford/Mast political consultant, Anthony Pedicini, is well known in Manatee County for working to elect some of the worst County Commissioners that Manatee County has ever seen. Since February 2020, Pedicini’s firm, SIMWINs, has been paid over $33 million for his political services. Those payments do NOT include payments from candidates running in County or City races, like Manatee’s Kevin Van Osterbridge, or Sarasota’s Teresa Mast and Neil Rainford. So Pedicini’s gross intake is even higher than what state campaign finance records show. Pedicini is known for in-your-face hardball political tactics. Mailers attacking Tom Knight are among the worst seen in local politics. Rainford and Mast are clearly buying into Pedicini’s advice.

Disregard and disdain for the public is consistent with the attitude of the current Sarasota County Commission toward residents. Mast and Rainford are displaying that same disregard and disdain by refusing to participate in public forums. Can they win without showing up? That’s up to District 1 & 3 voters.