"A large portion of money raised for the campaigns is from developers or interests outside of St. Johns County, according to supervisor of elections records."
Name them, please.
St. Augustine Record needs to name every single developer campaign contributor.
St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR once told me at a League of Women Voters (LWV) program that developers "are good people." No, they're not. They're corporations. Foreign-funded. Secretive. Manipulative. Lobbying without lobbying registration rules. It's the Wild West, and the dumb 'ole Sheriff is the political boss who who sees St. Johns County from jaded eyes.
We've seen dodgy developers' works and pomps.
We've seen their devastating destruction of our history and nature.
We must view every developer puppet and proposal with a gimlet eye.
No more free rides for beneficiaries of government subsidies.
From the St. Augustine Record:
Sheldon Gardner
Feb 14, 2020 at 5:30 PM
With about six months left until primary elections, some candidates for local office have already raised big money.
For some of them, a large portion of that money is coming from developers or interests outside of St. Johns County, according to supervisor of elections records.
Three County Commission seats are up for grabs. The incumbents, Commissioners Henry Dean, Jimmy Johns and Paul Waldron, are running for re-election. All are Republicans.
Dean has raised the most by far for his re-election campaign with $127,915 in monetary contributions.
Of that, $49,000 is listed as coming from land developers and at least $20,400 is listed as coming from people or business in related fields such as construction and real estate or people who represent developers.
Dean’s only challenger so far is Republican Merrill Roland.
Dean said that he hasn’t turned down a campaign contribution from a developer, but the money doesn’t influence his decision making, he said.
His position on growth hasn’t changed since he first ran in 2016, he said.
"I don’t have an across-the-board position of ’no growth’ and I don’t have a position of ’approve every project,’" Dean said. "What I do is look at every project on its own merits, and I try to determine whether or not it is going to add to the community, benefit ... the community or be a burden on the community."
Waldron raised $42,100 through January, with $3,300 listed as coming from developers. Waldron brought in at least $15,350 from related fields such as construction and engineering or people who represent developers.
Waldron pointed out that he’s also put $10,000 toward his own campaign, and his family has added to that total. So far he has no challenger in the race.
Waldron said he supports commercial development because of jobs. He also wants to see more affordable or workforce housing and better infrastructure across the county.
He said the donations from developers don’t influence him or the way he looks at a project.
"Any development needs to be viable for the community," he said.
Johns couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday. His only challenger so far is Republican Christian Whitehurst.
The biggest money race so far is for sheriff. David Shoar, who became sheriff in 2004, has announced that he won’t be running for re-election.
So far, the three candidates in the race are St. Augustine Beach Police Chief Robert Hardwick, Keith Perniciaro, who has decades of law enforcement experience; and Chris Strickland, a former director with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
Hardwick has raised the most money so far with $281,799 through January.
"We’ve been truly blessed so far ... truly humbled by the support we’ve had," he said.
Of the total, at least $91,275 came from people or businesses outside of St. Johns County. At least $56,650 of that came from people or businesses in Jacksonville or Jacksonville Beach. The addresses of some contributors are protected and not listed.
Hardwick said he believes much of the outside money is coming from people who have connections to St. Johns County, such as through work, but live in Duval County.
Hardwick has received contributions from at least a few elected officials, including Shoar, Putnam County Sheriff Gator DeLoach and St. Augustine Mayor Tracy Upchurch.
Strickland raised $152,612 through January.
"We’re having a favorable outcome because we’re committed to running a clean, professional campaign," he said.
More than $20,000 of Strickland’s contributions have come from people listed as living outside of St. Johns County, though the total could be higher because some addresses aren’t listed.
Perniciaro raised $5,400, mostly through his own funds, a couple of weeks after filing in the middle of January.
He said after campaigning for only a short time, he has received about 500 petition signatures in support of his candidacy.
"I think we’re doing pretty good. ... I think there’s a lot of people looking for some change for the future," Perniciaro said.
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