Pork Chop Politics in Sarasota/Manatee - Coleman

Apropos of this note of the passing of UF historian David Colburn, Liv Coleman, who teaches Political Science at the University of Tampa, and who also has run for office as a Democrat, writes:

Sorry to hear of his passing. I enjoyed his co-authored book on "Florida Megatrends" and thought it was so insightful that I held a whole political salon at my house to discuss it. 

From the article: "He reminded us that despite its name, the United States has been divided for most of its existence. The real problem is not the division, but the tendency to slam the window closed rather than listen to the voices in the noise. 

"Contrary to our angst over razor-thin election margins, Colburn’s scholarship revealed that America was often at its worse when an easy majority had its way for too long, such as the “Pork Chop gang,” conservative Democrats who dominated the Florida Legislature and fought fair reapportionment and desegregation into the 1960s. 

"Colburn was convinced that diversity was America and Florida’s exceptional strength. He also believed that the way to overcoming division was to shine light in dark corners, working on the present by helping people understand the past." 

I think that Republicans in Manatee & Sarasota have been coasting on exactly these kinds of "easy majorities" for far too long, and they have become more lax about what they will tolerate, and brazen about what they will do. That's exactly why we need to keep "shining that light" in "dark corners." That's exactly why I will throw a few elbows sometimes and be a yappy complainer too. 

A lot of the Republicans locally are absolutely slothful campaigners, who completely take for granted their voters and districts. I'm not the only one to note that in the last election cycle, the Democratic candidates around here were hustling MUCH HARDER than their Republican counterparts. 

Joe Gruters

Same goes for the local party organizations. Have you noticed that, for example, the Manatee County Republican Party's official Twitter account has not even tweeted since 2017? Their web page is barely ever updated, and they rarely post on Facebook, and when they do, it is not professional. That is a party that thinks they do not need the voters. 

And even for the more vocal segments of the local Republican Party in Sarasota, this is the party that kept around known white nationalist involved with the Holocaust denial movement Peter Gemma. This is the party that elevated Joe Gruters first to Sarasota County party chair, then to State Rep (only NARROWLY winning against Steve Vernon in the GOP primary), then to State Senate, and now to Florida GOP chair. 

Is Gruters invincible? HELL NO. 

This is my absolute favorite article in the world about Joe Gruters, and I used it in my FB post the day I announced that I was running for office. If you can't find it on the web, I suspect that is because he is probably using online reputation management companies to keep it buried far from where your Google-searching fingers can find it. Please DO NOT SHARE IT. It might be VERY VERY EMBARRASSING for him.

Joe Gruters - HT