It's been a relatively quiet Primary season in never-boring Southwest Florida.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has once again drawn a GOP Primary challenger straight out of the looney bin. State Rep. Fiona McFarland is unsurprisingly running unopposed as she has become a burgeoning force in Tallahassee. There's a relatively contentious County Commission race between a Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee and a former Sheriff, though neither candidate is overly impressive.
But somehow, the races that have caught residents' attention in this region — and in some cases, the nation — are those that seemingly have no reason to be a part of any conversation in any sane universe: Hospital Boards.
The stories have already been written about a slate of whack-job Republicans who want to privatize Sarasota Memorial Hospital versus a slate of Republicans who oppose privatization and are fighting to defend a hospital viewed by many as the crown jewel of the county.
But that's not what this column is about.
This column is about the sheer hubris, arrogance and malpractice of a local Sarasota Democratic operative who decided he wanted to align with the COVID-denying cuckoo-birds to put Sarasota Memorial Hospital at risk.
Let me explain.
A Democrat has not won a partisan countywide election in Sarasota County since 2016 when Barbara Ford-Coates was re-elected as Tax Collector for the umpteenth time. Ever since then, the county has only become increasingly red.
So, with that cold hard reality in mind, a political novice by the name of Daniel Kuether — the boyish Chair of the Sarasota County Democrat Party — came up with a brilliant idea. It went something like this:
"Let's run Democrats in all four Hospital Board races, close the Republican Primaries, and disenfranchise half the county from being able to vote in an election where people's actual health and medical care are at stake!"
Kuether, to his credit, succeeded and was able to manipulate four patsies into thinking they have a snowball's chance in hell of victory in November.
Their names? George Davis, John Lutz, Vicki Nighswander and Alan Sprintz.
I'm sure these individuals are well-intentioned with impressive résumés, but politics is a numbers game and when it comes to Sarasota County, the numbers don't lie.
Instead, these Democrats have been brainwashed by an unhinged party operative who recently picked a fight with the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club and one of its esteemed leaders, Morgan Bentley, who also happens to be among the most respected Democrats in the region.
With qualifying right around the corner, it will be fascinating to observe what kind of backlash the Sarasota Democratic Party and their candidates receive for such blatant negligence and disregard for the health and safety of their community.
Who knows, maybe the four candidates will come to their senses and do the right thing.
If not, they are equally to blame for the threat facing Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
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