NO ONE KNOWS MORE ABOUT THE SARASOTA/MANATEE POLITICAL SCENE THAN THE SARASOTA PHOENIX
SYDNEY GRUTERS IS GOODMAN SCRIPTED POLISHED FLUNKY FOR NEW COLLEGE PRESIDENT CORCORAN
Goodman in the middle of Gruters and David Jolly the then Republican now running for Florida Governor as a Democrat
Goodman at recent New College fundraiser with Teresa and Jon Mast on his left and Kaylin Hummerickhouse on his right. Sarasota County Commissioner Mast had Ybor City political operative Anthony Pedicini running her campaign in 2024 and Jon Mast was Carlos Beruff's candidate to be Manatee County's Adminstrator in 2024.
At that same fundraiser were Eric "the Prince of Dirty Dark PAC Money" Robinson and his wife Christine the Executive Director of the Argus Foundation.
Speir not at the fundraiser with his wife Claire and extended family. Speir and his wife are parents of two children and recent grandparents.
Gruters, who is now running for U.S Congress against Eddie Speir was paid over $150,000 a year to raise and manage private donations for New College in a position she admitted she was unqualified to fill, requiring an experienced fundraising assistant to train her.
Gruters has recently been exposed as the individual, who raised millions of dollars so that New College President Corcoran could bypass Florida law capping state spending on his salary at $200,000. Sunshine Law Hacks, Foundation Finances, Campus Spoils and the Shadow Lobby
Of Corcoran’s $1.3 million compensation as New College president, $1.1 million is paid privately through the New College Foundation led by Gruters.
While Corcoran controls New College’s $120 million annual operating budget, Corcoran also controls the New College Foundation also led by Gruters. The Foundation holds and invests $57 million in assets.
Hired by Corcoran as New College Foundation Executive Director during Corcoran’s first month as New College president in 2023, Gruters ran the New College Foundation until resigning to run for U.S. Congress on April 1 of this year.
As one of Corcoran’s first hires as interim president of New College, Corcoran was confident Gruters could raise or find him $1 million in funds each year to supplement his salary, which she did with the help of a donor list provided by local “pay-to-play” developers Pat Neal and Carlos Beruff.
CORCORAN HAS BEEN REWARDING TOP ALLIES FOR YEARS
Corcoran has been pulling off this scheme of rewarding top allies and fundraisers since serving as Florida House Speaker from 2016 to 2018.
Millions in state and donor spending on presidential salaries, as well as state- and donor-funded lobbying contracts, have exposed Corcoran's long-running practice of rewarding his top cronies.
After being appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, Corcoran was able to pull the same scheme with Gruters as Executive Director of the New College Foundation.
Individuals, businesses, and organizations courting favor with Corcoran during Gruters' three years as Foundation Executive Director would have contacted her directly regarding contributions connected to Corcoran's $1.3 million presidential compensation package.
With Corcoran controlling New College’s $120 million operating budget, $57 million in endowed assets, and other pools of school and state funds, including the New College Development Corporation and the New College Property Corporation, potential vendors, developers, and enterprises seeking investment had reason to become Corcoran donors through Gruters.
While Corcoran controlled school spending, Gruters controlled access and mechanisms of payment.
CORCORAN'S FLUNKY GRUTERS IS JUST ONE OF OTHER PACKAGED/SCRIPTED/POLISHED/SORORITY GIRL POLITICIANS
Photography by Alex Stafford, Hair by Brian Goetz, Make-Up by Bethany Holmstrom of Fresh Salon & Spa.
Goodman’s packaged, scripted, and polished Gruters follows a long line of local packaged politicians such as Melissa Howard, Alex Miller, April Culbreath, and others.
Melissa Howard was a notable example. Howard dropped out of the Republican primary for Florida House District 73 against Tommy Gregory after it was revealed she had lied about having a degree from Miami University in Ohio, displaying a fake diploma in a photograph with her mother.
As reported in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on August 14, 2018, Republican candidate Melissa Howard faked having a college degree.
The 43-year-old Howard was accused of lying about receiving a degree from Ohio’s Miami University. Responding to the story, Howard said she had traveled back to Ohio to obtain a copy of her diploma. She later posted a picture of herself and her mother smiling next to the framed degree.
Then there is Alex Miller, the Neal/Beruff/Randy Benderson/Rex Jensen flunky packaged by political operative Pedicini. Miller was elected in November 2016 to represent House District 72, which includes parts of northern Sarasota County such as Siesta Key and South Sarasota.
Miller was packaged by Pedicini, with more than $76,000 funneled to Pedicini’s office in Ybor City from David Millner of Jensen Beach, Florida. Millner has been funneling dark PAC money from Jensen Beach to Pedicini in Ybor City for years.
The 44-year-old Miller served only part of her first two-year term before stepping down, saying she could not balance her legislative role with responsibilities in her growing business.
Miller, who was considered a “rock star” by the Republican Party of Florida establishment, resigned less than a year into office.
Her early resignation came at a cost to taxpayers. Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner said he expected the special election to replace Miller would cost at least $300,000. The state eventually reimbursed Sarasota County for the election expenses, but Florida taxpayers still had to foot the bill.
Another packaged “Barbie” politician, promoted by political consultant Pat Bainter with more than $70,000 in support and $25,000 from Goodman, is Fiona McFarland, who parachuted into Sarasota from New York with more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from New York donors.
With backing from the Pat Neal/Carlos Beruff/Rex Jensen/Randy Benderson group, the New York transplant defeated Sarasota Charter Review Board member Donna Barcomb and attorney Jason Miller while raising more than $476,000.
The Bainter/Goodman-packaged McFarland has been a loyal supporter of the Neal “pay-to-play” group since being elected, highlighted by her 2025 HB 180 amendment to SB 180 that allowed continued development on flood-prone land.
In addition, her amendment strengthened provisions of an earlier bill that would have made legislation enacted by the Manatee County Commission and approved by a significant majority of Manatee County residents subject to possible legal action if the Commission moved forward with the voters’ desire to address flooding issues.
McFarland’s reward for her HB 180 amendment to SB 180 was more than $250,000 in campaign contributions from the Pat Neal/Carlos Beruff/Rex Jensen/Randy Benderson “pay-to-play” group.
Then there is the Pedicini-packaged April Culbreath. Pedicini was paid more than $46,000 in campaign contributions to package Culbreath for her 2024 run for the Manatee County Commission.
During the 2024 campaign, Culbreath, who was ultimately defeated, was the subject of 31 allegations of employee misconduct as a sheriff’s deputy, with 12 sustained complaints, from 1999 through 2023, according to public records obtained by The Islander.
Of the sustained complaints, four involved neglect of duty, four involved conduct unbecoming a deputy, and three involved insubordination or disobedience. Another involved a second occurrence of a minor avoidable motor vehicle crash.
As a result of the sustained allegations, Culbreath was suspended for a total of 808.4 hours, transferred between bureaus, and received multiple reprimands, according to MCSO records.
Culbreath was also chair of the Manatee County REC last year. During her tenure, discord steadily grew, and allegations of financial mismanagement and misconduct were reported by America First Republicans to the RPOF.
Heisse and Wayman
Those allegations were later used as a pretext to shut down the Manatee REC and remove more than 170 duly seated precinct committeemen and committeewomen, along with elected State Committeeman Trent Wayman and State Committeewoman Jackie Heisse.
QUALIFIED EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL WOMAN POLITICIANS TAKEN OUT
Barfield
Unfortunately, while political operatives like Pedicini and Goodman promote unqualified women such as Corcoran’s flunky Gruters, qualified and experienced professional women have been targeted by local UNI Party operative Michael Barfield, described as the “Con Man’s Con Man.”
DeSabatino/Brown/Chapman/Goodwin/Lang
Barfield, who could not pass a background check to flip burgers at McDonald’s, filed five allegedly bogus Sunshine Law violations against Manatee County Commissioner Robin DiSabatino, Venice City Councilwoman Sue Lang, Sarasota City Commissioner Susan Chapman, and Sarasota School Board members Jane Goodwin and Shirley Brown.
In those lawsuits, Barfield attempted to destroy the women both politically and financially.
Barfield has been described by the late Herb Levine, longtime Venice political activist and former president of the Venice Taxpayers League, as “the puppet of developers.”
Levine further described Barfield as “filing numerous predatory lawsuits against political organizations to take out politicians for corrupt pay-to-play developers in Sarasota and Manatee counties and elsewhere in Florida.”
“A CON MAN’S CON MAN” is how U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara described Barfield prior to sentencing him to 10 years in federal prison. That federal sentence followed two previous stints in Florida prisons.
Barfield with some of the Cheetah Lounge "employees"
Barfield had also got involved with his legal partner, Andrea Mogensenin advancing local term-limit legislation that benefited the owner of Sarasota’s Cheetah Lounge.
Patterson
Barfield's target was former Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson, who had spent more than a decade pressing Sarasota County Attorney Ken DeMarsh to confirm that activities at the Cheetah violated county ordinances regulating sexually oriented businesses.
Eric Arroyo/Brody'Kyle Battie
The Brody led Three Bro frat boy City Commissioners who turned City Hall into a Shit Show
Barfield is also the individual who had a $500 contribution to help elect Hagen Brody to the Sarasota County Commission. Barfield had no issue with documented reports that Brody engaged in a vulgar, toxic, near-violent outburst at City Hall that left female employees feeling as though they were in a “hostage situation.”
Ahearn Koch
Barfield had no problem with Brody for his four years on the Commission making City Commissioner Jennifer Ahearn Koch a constant target for his Argus Foundation patron Jules Schleicher, who had a deep dislike for the professional experinced Ahern Koch.
Schleicher texts Brody on numerous occasion with comment such as , "She (Ahern Koch) is a really a drama queen. She should be on Broadway" and "She (Ahern Koch) is a joke.
Four months later Brody is terrorizing City Hall women employees in a roid-like rage multi-hour F bomb rant.
So why should Barfield have a problem supporting Brody and harassing local women politicians with frivolous Sunshine Law allegations?
The New Colleg President Corcoran with New College Foundation E.D Gruters who put $1.2 million a year in Corcorn's pockets
Barfield had no problem taking down qualified experienced women politicians, just as Goodman has no problem collecting large fees as a political operative for Gruters, who is little more than a flunky facilitating Richard Corcoran’s compensation scheme.
A scheme Corcoran also used as Florida House Speaker from 2016 to 2018, rewarding top allies and fundraisers at various Florida colleges, much as critics claim he has done with Gruters’ assistance at New College.
Jon Susce
The Sarasota Phoenix team is the last media guardian in the Sarasota/ Manatee area and beyond laying bare for all to see how the Sarasota/ Manatee area and beyond is controlled by a UNI Party financed by millionaires and billionaires turning Florida into Paradise Lost..
As usual, Jon Susce offers great insightfound nowhere else in Suncoast and State Republican politics." Kevin Wright of the Manatee Republican Liberty Caucus.