Coe, Simpson in Charter Review Board District 1 race; Miller, Porter vie for District 4

Sarasota County residents will choose three members of the county’s Charter Review Board in the Nov. 8 general election.

The 10-person board reviews and suggests changes to the Sarasota County Charter, which is akin to a constitution for local government. The board only meets a few times a year.

Typically a low-profile elected body, the Charter Review Board attracted attention last fall when it was slated to discuss the county’s single-member district system of electing county commissioners. After hearing feedback from numerous residents, the board decided to not challenge the system.

Previous coverage: Sarasota County Charter Review Board doesn't challenge single-member districts

And: Advocates say proposal would make it harder for citizens to amend the Sarasota County charter

Six seats on the board are up for election this year, but only three of those involved competing candidates.

In the District 1 race, incumbent Republican Alexandra Coe is being challenged by Democrat Nancy M.H. Simpson. In District 2, attorney G. Matthew Brockway is competing against human resources professional Jae Langston D. Williams. Retired naval pilot Jack Miller and marketing professional Ray Porter are competing for a two-year term in District 4.

Alexandra Coe v. Nancy M.H. Simpson

Coe has held one of the District 1 seats on the Charter Review Board for the last two years. She ran unsuccessfully for County Commission in 2014 and 2018.

A Sarasota resident since 1994, Coe said she is an applied anthropologist and the mother of two sons.

She said she would spend the bulk of her time on the board educating Sarasota residents about the charter.

“I will seek to inspire people to create new amendments that limit government, honor liberty, and preserve our freedoms,” she said in an email to the Herald-Tribune. “Government derives its authority from the people but the people must participate, beyond voting, to secure a democratic republic.”

Coe serves as the chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Sarasota County. She and other members of the caucus have spoken out against the two proposed amendments to the county charter that are on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The amendments relate to the fact that citizens can petition for amendments to the county charter. Currently, citizens must garner signatures from at least 10% of registered county voters for a referendum to be held on their proposed amendment.

The first charter amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot would require petitioners to collect signatures from at least 10% of registered voters in each of the county’s five commission districts (instead of 10% of voters countywide) and would mandate that the petition pass a legal "sufficiency" review, among other changes.

The second amendment would make the county charter say that any proposed charter amendment can’t conflict with the Florida Constitution, general law, or the charter.

The amendments on the ballot were developed by the Charter Review Board, but before Coe was elected to it.

“They were created by the previous board during the pandemic without the involvement of the people under the direction of special interest,” she said. “These amendments were designed to limit people’s ability to influence and direct their government to be reflective of their values. The ballot initiative is the hallmark of our constitution.”

Coe is being opposed by Simpson, a Democrat. She currently teaches in the School District of Manatee County, but she began her professional career as an urban and regional planner and certified floodplain manager.

Simpson said she and her spouse moved to Sarasota County in July 2020 to be closer to her spouse’s family after he separated from the Air Force.

In an email to the Herald-Tribune, Simpson said she wants to “bring a younger voice to the board and Keep Power Local!”

“When elected I will serve the people, not private interests,” she noted. “My intent is to protect the citizens and residents from government overreach and corruption.”

Simpson said she doesn’t approve of the first proposed charter amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot. She noted that requiring a minimum percentage of registered voters in each district “disrupts the voice of the people.”

She said that each district doesn’t have the same number of registered voters, so the amendment would concentrate “political power to smaller districts.”

Simpson said she approves of the second amendment because “ensuring clarity is important.”

Jack Miller v. Ray Porter

Miller and Porter are vying for one of the two District 4 seats on the Charter Review Board. The other seat is also up for election this year, but Republican Clayton W. Taylor was unopposed.

The Republican candidate in the District 4 race, Miller, is a retired U.S. Navy pilot with over 26 years of active-duty service. He also worked for the Department of the Navy for 13 years.

Miller moved to Sarasota County in Feb. 2019 to take care of his father, a long-time Sarasota resident who died in June. Miller lives near the Sarasota Square Mall and recently started working at a local restaurant.

“I am running for the Charter Review Board because I feel I can provide a fresh perspective and authentic representation to the board,” he wrote in an email to the Herald-Tribune.

Miller said that during his term on the board, he hopes to review charters from other Florida counties and see if anything in those could benefit Sarasota County citizens.

His opponent, Ray Porter, has lived in Sarasota since 1980. He worked as a newspaper journalist for Sun Coast Media Group for 15 years.

Later in his career, he worked as the communications director for the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. He currently serves as the marketing manager for Luminary Dermatology. He resides in Skye Ranch with his wife.

This is Porter’s third time running for Charter Review Board – his previous runs in 2008 and 2016 were unsuccessful. He also lost to Alan Maio in 2014 race for Sarasota County Commission District 4.

“I believe my extensive background in journalism and real estate communications will serve me well in this role, which I view as the citizen’s representative to suggest positive changes to our charter, the county’s constitution,” he said, adding that he was an early advocate for single-member district voting for County Commission.

Porter said he believes the Charter Review Board seats should also be elected through a single-member district system, which would mean that each member of the board would be elected solely by the residents of their district, instead of by voters countywide. Porter also said that Sarasota County needs a Citizen’s Bill of Rights, which is a concept that Coe has advocated for.

Both Porter and Miller are opposed to the two county charter amendments.

G. Matthew Brockway v. Jae Langston D. Williams

Brockway and Williams didn’t respond to emailed questions from the Herald-Tribune by press time.

Brockway, a Republican, is a shareholder and treasurer at Sarasota law firm Icard Merrill. He practices in the areas of intellectual property law and land use law, according to his profile on the law firm’s website. He earned a bachelor of science, master of engineering and law degree from the University of Florida.

His opponent, Williams, is the director of human resources at Suncoast School for Innovative Studies. He holds associate and bachelor of science degrees from Johnson & Wales University as well as an MBA from Argosy University, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at asnabes@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County: Three Charter Review Board races are on the ballot