First of all, I am sorry for the delay in getting this out. It’s a long story, which I will spare you. What it boils down to is that I had a planned trip out of town and had too many more pressing matters pile up in advance of it. For what it is worth, here is the guide, in a somewhat abbreviated form.
The only races on the ballot are municipal matters in Auburndale, Lakeland, and Winter Haven. If you live in any other city, or in unincorporated Polk, you have no election. If you are not sure, look up your precinct at the Polk Elections site. Still here? Skip ahead to your section:
Auburndale
Download the Auburndale Sample Ballot
Commission Seat 1
Candidates
- Keith A. Cowie – no web resources found
- Carrie L. Griner – no web resources found
- Kimberly Hyde – no web resources found
More Information
Commission Seat 2
Candidates
- Dorothea Taylor Bogert – Facebook
- Rick Brauckmuller – no web resources found
More Information
My Opinion
There are seven candidates for city commission, and I could locate a Facebook or web page for only one of them? This is utterly ridiculous. It’s as if they aren’t even trying. Kudos to Ms. Bogert for at least taking some modicum of effort to inform voters who were born after 1970 and know what the internet is. To all the rest, are you even really trying? Do you intend to put such a little amount of effort into your actual service?
I would hate to make a final decision on a candidate based only on the level of effort put into the internet side of the campaign. You shouldn’t either. But if I lived in Auburndale, Ms. Bogert would begin in my deliberations with an extra point in her column. Thank you for at least pretending to try to give me some way to reach out to you. I note, however, that upon reviewing your Facebook page, I still don’t really have any idea where you stand on anything.
If you live in Auburndale, maybe you could contact Ms. Bogert and ask her where she stands on things that are important to you. She has conveniently made it easy for you to do that on her Facebook page. As for the others, you should contact them, too, but how? Beats me.
Commission Seat 3
Candidates
- Timothy J. Pospichal (incumbent) – no web resources found
- Michael G. Wiener – no web resources found
More Information
Charter Amendments
Information
- Auburndale’s published summary – this is a very well-done document, albeit a little technical. It’s a must read for any A’dale voter.
- Existing Auburndale city charter
- Ledger write-up about the amendments
My Opinion
Most of these, with one exception, are pretty straightforward technical fixes and cleanups. This is not so for Amendment 4, which would eliminate run-off elections for city commission, a pretty significant structural change.
Consider a situation in which the incumbent commissioner has done a terrible job, and two worthy candidates file to oppose him. A majority of the residents want him gone, but are split on whether challenger 1 or 2 is the best choice. The incumbent gets 40% of the vote, and the challengers split the remaining 60%: 35% to 25%. If this amendment passes, the incumbent gets elected with only 40% of the vote! A plurality vote is used in other municipalities (Bartow, Frostproof, Lake Wales, Polk City, and Dundee), and it does save a significant amount of money in run-off election costs, but it favors terrible incumbents who are more likely to draw multiple challengers over merely modestly bad incumbents who are likely to draw only one. Therefore, I would vote NO on Amendment 4 and YES on the others.
Lakeland
For the Lakeland races, there is already a ton of great information out there from the CityZenShip blog and Lakeland Now. Rather than duplicate their efforts, for the most part I will link to them. Well done, Michael McGuire and Barry Friedman.
Download the Sample Ballot
Mayor
Candidates
- Christopher Diaz – Website, Facebook, Ledger profile
- James Green – Website (none?), Facebook, Ledger profile
- Patrick Shawn Jones – Website (none?) Facebook, Ledger profile
- H. William “Bill” Mutz – Website, Facebook, Ledger profile
More Information
- Candidate comparison on the issues (from Lakeland Now)
- Candidate Videos
- Mayor Candidate Forum – (I had to un-mute it manually.)
- CityZenShip links to various resources – Start here. There are a lot of good links for you to use in your research. I am not going to duplicate CityZenShip’s (Michael Maguire’s) effort.
- Finance reports – compiled by CityZenShip (all Lakeland races)
City Commissioner – SW District C
Candidates
- Michael Dunn – Website, Facebook, Ledger profile
- Larry Durrence – Website (none?), Facebook, Ledger profile
- Jorge Fonseca – Website (none?), Facebook, Ledger profile
- Pablo Sologaistoa – Website (none?), Facebook, Ledger profile
More Info
- Candidate comparison on the issues (from Lakeland Now)
- Candidate Videos
- Candidate forum – (I had to un-mute it manually.)
- CityZenShip Q&A (not much here last time I checked)
- Finance reports – compiled by CityZenShip (all Lakeland races)
City Commissioner – SE District D
Candidates
- Scott Franklin – Website, Facebook, Ledger profile
- Sandy Toledo – Website (none?), Facebook, Ledger profile
More Info
- Candidate comparison on the issues (from Lakeland Now)
- Candidate Videos
- Candidate forum – (I had to un-mute it manually.)
- CityZenShip Q&A (not much here last time I checked)
- Finance reports – compiled by CityZenShip (all Lakeland races)
City Commissioner – At Large Seat 1
Candidates
- Stephanie Madden – Website, Facebook
- Jim Malless – Website, Facebook
- Laurel Pullo – Website, Facebook
- Ricky Shirah – Website, Facebook
- Kathy Smith Barsotti – Website, Facebook
More Info
- Candidate comparison on the issues (from Lakeland Now)
- Candidate Videos
- Candidate forum – (I had to un-mute it manually.)
- CityZenShip Q&A (not much here last time I checked)
- Finance reports – compiled by CityZenShip (all Lakeland races)
Strong Mayor
Info
Winter Haven
Download the Sample Ballot
City Commissioner – Seat 5
Candidates
- JoNathan “Joey” Hilliard – Website, Facebook
- James Edward Hogan – Website, Facebook
- Steven M. Hunnicutt (Incumbent) – Website, Facebook
- James H. “J.P.” Powell – Website, Facebook
More Information
- Candidate Forum hosted by Chamber of Commerce
- Ledger write-up
My Take
Part of the delay in getting this guide out is by me being torn by the choices in this race.
I do not consider Mr. Hilliard a viable candidate. I think this is a three-way race between the incumbent, Steven Hunnicutt, and the challengers, JP Powell and James Hogan.
I do not support Steve Hunnicutt. I appreciate his service, but too often he has formed an obstructionist and non-productive voting block with fellow commissioners Chichetto and Twyford. They voted suddenly to fire Deric Feacher, which I believe was the wrong move, and they have not voted in ways that move our city forward.
That leaves JP Powell and James Hogan.
I know both men, not well, but well enough to say without reservation that they are both good men, offering to serve for good reasons. I trust them both immensely.
JP Powell was a long-time commissioner who was ousted by 20 votes by Commissioner Twyford. James Hogan ran and lost two years ago in a 4-way race against Pete Chichetto, in which I was also a candidate. (I had initially filed to run against JP Powell, but switched to run against Chichetto after the candidate opposing him dropped out of the race.)
I have fears about both of them. I fear that Mr. Powell represents an old way of thinking. I think that, while he will admirably serve us and cast votes in our best interest, he does not represent a fresh, energetic approach. We need someone new.
James Hogan has a tremendous amount of passion and energy, which he has directed in the past towards youth programs. I fear that his dedication to that particular issue and concern may be an impediment to solid leadership on other pressing issues.
With that said, no candidate is perfect, and I would have no hesitation casting a vote for either of them. I encourage you to consider them both and vote for the one that you feel will best represent you. As for me, I will be voting for James Hogan. On balance, I think that a new, fresh face on the commission is vital. If there is a run-off between Mr. Hunnicutt and Mr. Powell, I will gladly and enthusiastically support JP.
Charter Amendments
Information
My Take
I think very highly of the work of the Charter Review Committee that put these recommendations together. In my view, they should all be accepted. I will be voting YES.
