5 headlines from Flagler Tiger Bay Club candidate meet and greet in Palm Coast

PALM COAST − There was no debating at the Palm Coast Community Center Thursday. At least not a formal one.

But there were candidates. At least 20 of them, and more than 200 voters, as Florida's primary election season nears its start in just over two weeks, when the first batch of mail ballots are sent to voters who requested them.

Election Day is Aug. 20 and will determine winners of some offices, such as Flagler County School Board, and primary winners who will move on to the Nov. 5 general election.

With that in mind, here are five headlines from Thursday's Flagler Tiger Bay Club candidate meet and greet.

Candidates vent about expensive Senate District 7 race

For Tom Leek, a state representative from Ormond Beach and one of three Florida Senate District 7 Republican candidates, working the crowd is one thing. But he said this race proves a lot can happen in a campaign that’s beyond a candidate’s control.

“This race will be the most expensive race in legislative history,” he said, referencing money from trial lawyers and other outside groups going into ads attacking him. “They put $2.5 million on my head. Sometimes it feels like I’m a supporting actor in a movie about myself.”

David Shoar, the former St. Johns County sheriff, complained about “earmarks,” or the local projects House and Senate members can submit into the budget process. Having been the House Appropriations chairman, Leek played a central role in which projects made the budget and which ones didn’t.

And Shoar said Florida’s election system isn’t friendly to grassroots candidates.

“The process is a little troubling to me. It’s not designed for regular folks to run for office,” he said.

Gerry James, a financial adviser whose colorful background includes stints in professional football, wrestling (he went by “Gerry America”), golf and bodybuilding, stood out as perhaps the tallest guy in the room.

The literature on his table included a photocopied attack on Leek as having accepted millions of dollars from business groups, political committees and special interests, while property insurance rates have skyrocketed.

He also associated Shoar with the “trial lawyer lobby.”

“I haven’t taken a dime from any of them. I’m for the people, not the establishment,” James said. “The entire Florida establishment is against me.”

Less traffic in down-ballot section

While it was hard to maneuver through the crowd around state, county and Palm Coast city candidates, another section was considerably less crowded.

Julius "Jules" Kwiatkowski, who's seeking reelection on the East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board, sat by himself, wearing a T-shirt that read: "Mosquitoes Don't Bite. They Suck." He was eager to talk about the district's new helicopter and looking ahead at the challenge of having to combat skeeters as Palm Coast and Bunnell look to see future growth.

He's running against Perry Mitrano, the county's Republican Party chairman.

Young House candidates talk campaigns

To get to the Florida House, you go to houses. One after another. The two Republicans vying for the District 19 seat being vacated by House Speaker Paul Renner are young, eager and energetic.

Darryl Boyer, 24, is from Palm Coast and says he's bumped into a lot of people campaigning, including his first-grade teacher.

“I’ve knocked on a lot of doors, met a lot of families," Boyer said. "Everybody's excited. I’m born and raised here, and they finally get to vote for somebody that they know on the ballot."

Sam Greco, 31, is a resident of southern St. Johns County and described his campaign as a full-time job.

"Usually I have meetings in the morning with community leaders, electeds, folks in the area, and in the afternoon I door-knock, and in the evenings we often times have events like this," he said. "Otherwise we just door-knock until you can’t really door-knock anymore.”

Palm Coast mayoral candidates: Job 1 will be hiring new city manager

Palm Coast has had four city managers in the past 10 years and is looking for a permanent one as Denise Bevan was fired in March and replaced by Lauren Johnston, her assistant, as the acting manager. A search is on and the new City Council will select the next one.

Four of the mayoral candidates, including incumbent David Alfin, talked about how they hope to stabilize city government with a new leader.

"I'd like somebody who would look at us as a career," Alfin said. "In other words, this is their place. They are going to live here and they are going to build Palm Coast as we go forward."

Cornelia Downing Manfre said she is hopeful for someone who is trained by one of the world's leading consultant firms, such as McKinzie & Co. or KPMG.

"These are companies that train the employee to be a problem solver," she said. "That's what we need. We need a problem solver that can get in here, look at the budget to be able to see that there is some waste because there's always an opportunity for cutbacks, and align each of our departments and make them, line by line, responsible for the expenses of each department and then filter all of that information up into the master budget."

Mike Norris said his background as an Army human resources manager gives him a leg up on being able to vet candidates. He wants someone with a master's degree in public administration or management with "a whole lot" of experience in city government.

"I would prefer it to be an external hire," Norris said. "I don't want anybody within this county ... someone that's going to come in and bring that outside perspective and not one of the cronies of all the politicians or the developers."

Peter Johnson said Bevan needed to be replaced, but was "a martyr for Mayor Alfin's political campaign," who was fired with no pretense.

"We need someone who is forward thinking and from outside the area," Johnson said, "(someone) who has helped manage a larger city before, because I'm preaching the slowdown of residential growth, but our current mayor has approved some, so we're getting new residents. We need someone who is well-vetted and prepared to handle that growth."

Straw poll winners

The Flagler Tiger Bay Club teamed with the Supervisor of Elections Office to conduct a straw poll of attendees. The real votes won't be counted until Aug. 20, but here's how they stacked up Thursday.

• U.S. SENATE: Rick Scott, 188; Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, 30; John S. Columbus, 10; Keith Gross, 10; Stanley Campbell, 6; Rod Joseph, 3; Brian Rush, 0.

• CONGRESS, FLORIDA 6th DISTRICT: Michael Waltz, 173; James David Stockton III, 37; John Grow, 23.

• FLORIDA SENATE, DISTRICT 7: Tom Leek, 134; Gerry James, 42; George Anthony "T" Hill II, 37; David Shoar, 22.

• STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 19: Darryl Boyer, 141; Sam Greco, 50.

• FLAGLER COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 1: Andy Dance, 139; Fernando Melendez, 81.

• FLAGLER COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 3: Kim M. Carney, 94; Nick Klufas, 89; Bill Clark, 17.

• FLAGLER COUNTY COMMISSION, DISTRICT 5: Pam Richardson, 160; Ed Danko, 59.

• FLAGLER SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 3: Derek Barrs 121; Janie Ruddy, 52.

• FLAGLER SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 5: Lauren Ramirez, 132; Vincent Sullivan, 68.

• EAST FLAGLER MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT, SEAT 1: Perry Mitrano, 115; Julius "Jules" Kwiatkowski, 70.

• EAST FLAGLER MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT, SEAT 3: Lance Alred, 114; Ralph E. Lightfoot, 70.

• PALM COAST MAYOR: David Alfin, 76; Mike Norris, 61; Peter Johnson, 36; Cornelia Downing Manfre, 25; Alan S. Lowe, 23.

• PALM COAST CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 1: Ty Miller, 72; Kathy Austrino, 71; Shara Brodsky, 34; Jeffery Cortland Seib, 22.

• PALM COAST CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, DISTRICT 3: Andrew Werner, 85; Ray Stevens, 58; Dana Mark Stancel, 50.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: 5 headlines from Flagler Tiger Bay Club election event in Palm Coast