NO ONE OVER THE YEARS KNOWS MORE ABOUT THE SARASOTA/MANATEE POLITICAL SCENE THAN THE SARASOTA PHOENIX/NO LOCAL MEDIA "VETS" AREA POLITICANS LIKE THE SARASOTA PHOENIX
THE BRADENTON ENDORSES SPIER THEN DOES A 360 AND ENDORSES GOODMAN GHOST CANDIDATE
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NO WAY WOULD SUPER DEMOCRAT LIBERAL MALEY ENDORSE REPUBLICAN AMERICA FIRST ACTIVIST SPIER BUT HE DID
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MALEY IS CRITICAL OF GOODMAN’S PACKAGED GRUTERS
The Bradenton Times has endorsed Ed Pope over Eddie Spier and Sydney Gruters in Florida's 16th Congressional District Republican primary, despite offering a sharply different assessment of Pope earlier.
Pope has about as much chance of defeating Gruters, as he has as winning the lottery. Anyone who has taken the time to follow this race can see that - and that certainly includes the Bradenton Times. It is absurd to believe otherwise, and the Bradenton Times knows that.
Maley
The Bradenton Times credibility it has built over the past several years has taken a hit. Anyone with even a nickel's worth of local political acumen has reason not to question if the Bradenton Times Mitch Maley would endorse a ghost candidate intended to siphon votes from Eddie Speir and benefit anyone but Spier.
Pediini/Schorsch/Goodman
There is little doubt that that Gruters political operative Max Goodman, who is connected to one of most vicious political operatives Anthony Pedicini and "Pay to Play" journalist Peter Schorsch would not solicit a Ghost candidate to promote Gruters desires to be a U.S Congresswoman.
The Bradenton Times recent endorsement of Pope only deepens those concerns and could further split the vote. If the Times wants its endorsement to be taken seriously, it should address these questions directly rather than ignore the political dynamics surrounding the race.
THE BRADENTON TIMES DOES 360 AND ENDORSES A POSSIBLE GOODMAN’S GHOST CANDIDATE
Before the endorsement of Pope, in an earlier candidate analysis, senior editor and longtime columnist Mitch Maley described Pope's in this manner:
"Pope's relatively vanilla GOP platform might be a more palatable choice for rank-and-file Republicans who don't want to support Gruters, but he is unlikely to have the money or grassroots momentum to make a serious run at Gruters in that lane and seems more likely to serve as a spoiler."
The extended Speir family. Speir and his wife Claire are parents of two children and recent grandparents.
That Maley analysis portrayed Eddie Speir much more favorably. Although Maley expressed disappointment with some of Speir's positions, he praised Speir for appearing before voters, answering questions, and publicly addressing issues. He also argued that Speir's previous grassroots campaign against Vern Buchanan showed that Speir was better positioned to compete against the heavily funded Gruters campaign.
Maley stated:
"For Republican voters looking for someone willing to buck the system, we feel he (Spier) would be the most likely of the three candidates. Furthermore, his (Spier) surprisingly competitive grassroots run against Buchanan last cycle suggests he (Spier) is best equipped to compete against the uber-funded Gruters."
The newspaper has now recommended Pope, creating an apparent reversal that deserves an explanation. What changed between its earlier conclusion that Pope lacked the resources and momentum to compete - and its subsequent decision that he was the best candidate to endorse?
The inconsistency is therefore significant. The newspaper previously identified Speir as the strongest grassroots alternative to Gruters and Pope with the " relatively vanilla GOP platform" as a potential spoiler, yet it ultimately endorsed Pope.
The newspaper's subsequent endorsement represents a striking reversal: it went from describing Pope as an underfunded potential spoiler to recommending him as the Republican nominee.
What is really behind the endorsement of Ed Pope? Pope has about as much chance of defeating Gruters as Pope has of winning the lottery. It is simply absurd to suggest otherwise. By endorsing Pope, all thie Bradenton Times does is nothing more than dividing the opposition and weakening Speir and helping the the air head Gruters.
Voters Deserve Transparency
Political endorsements are matters of editorial judgment, and newspapers are entitled to reconsider earlier conclusions. But when an endorsement directly contradicts a publication's previous assessment, readers deserve to know what prompted the change.
The central question remains simple:
Why did the Bradenton Times endorse a candidate its own senior editor had described as underfunded, lacking grassroots momentum, and likely to serve as a spoiler?
Until the newspaper answers that question with specific facts, its endorsement will continue to look less like a reasoned judgment and more like an unexplained 360-degree turn.
The Bradenton Times owes Republican primary voters a clear account of the evidence, debate performance, policy differences, or other developments that caused it to reverse its earlier assessment. Without that explanation, the endorsement raises legitimate questions about the newspaper's reasoning and editorial consistency.
MALEY’S ASSESSMENT OF GRUTERS CRITICAL
Also significant was the Bradenton Times senior editor and columnist Maley's assessment of Gruters, who has had Maley offering Gruters numerous invitations to do one-on-one interviews, as Pope and Spier have done. Gruters political operative Goodman wants Gruters nowhere near an uncontrolled environment.
The assessment was especially critical of Gruters. It characterized her fundraising advantage and tightly controlled campaign as undemocratic, criticized her unwillingness to participate in debates or interviews outside friendly conservative settings, and argued that voters had been given little information beyond her Trump endorsement and her marriage to Republican National Committee Chair and former Florida Senate President Joe Gruters. Gruters' campaign reported raising more than $960,000 through the end of June, giving her a substantial financial advantage.
The article also raises questions about Gruters' record of involvement in recent Manatee County Republican politics. Critics contend that she was not publicly active in the 2024 grassroots campaign against the county's development-aligned political establishment and did not speak publicly when more than 130 Republican activists were reportedly removed from local party positions.
THE BRADETON TIMESS ASSESSMENT OF GRUTERS SOLIDIFIES OTHER CRITICS ASSESSMENT OF GRUTERS
GRUTERS IS JUST ONE OF ANOTHER PACKAGED/SCRIPTED/OLDER POLISHED SORORITY GIRL POLITICIAN
Photography by Alex Stafford, Hair by Brian Goetz, Make-Up by Bethany Holmstrom of Fresh Salon & Spa.
GRUTERS IS JUST ONE OF OTHER PACKAGED/SCRIPTED/POLISHED/SORORITY GIRL POLITICIANS
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.
ANOTHER PACKAGED/SCRIPTED/OLDER POLISHED SORORITY GIRL POLITICIAN
Sarasota County School Board candidate Heidi Brandt has received endorsements from NRC Chairman Joe Gruters and the Republican Party of Sarasota County. Her campaign reported a $492.39 printing reimbursement from Sydney Gruters political operative Goodman Agency. New York litigation identifies Brandt, as managing member of Pleasure Texting LLC, a New York-based company that advertises adult content services and promotes explicit sexually suggestive imagery.
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.