Penny Taylor faces 4 challengers for District 4 seat on Collier County Commission
Four candidates are vying to unseat two-term incumbent Collier Commissioner Penny Taylor in District 4.
The district encompasses the area west of Interstate 75 from Pine Ridge Road to south of the city of Naples.
Taylor, who is a Republican, is running against three Republican challengers in the Aug. 23 primary, but the primary will be closed to only Republican registered voters after Bill Oppenheimer qualified as a write-in candidate for the Nov. 8 general election. Oppenheimer has spent no money on his campaign nor has he received any donations.
At least two of her challengers, Daija Hinojosa and Dan Kowal, decided to run against her after her 2020 swing vote that mandated masks in Collier County businesses. They are both running on an anti-government overreach platform.
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Candidate Michelle McLeod says she can manage the county budget better than Taylor has been doing it.
Penny Taylor's 20 years of local government experience
Taylor, 73, was born in Toronto and became a U.S. citizen in 1985. She has lived in Collier County for 44 years.
She brings more than 20 years of experience in local government, having served on the Naples City Council from 2000 to 2010 where she vowed to limit growth and preserve the city’s small-town feel.
Previous coverage: Penny Taylor announces reelection campaign for Collier County Commission in 2022
Also: Penny Taylor announces reelection campaign for Collier County Commission in 2022
During her last two terms, she was selected by her colleagues on City Council to serve as vice mayor and ran an unsuccessful council bid in 2012.
Taylor was first elected to the Collier County Commission in 2014 and was reelected in 2018.
In 2017, Taylor was selected chairman of the County Commission, the year that the eye of Hurricane Irma swept over Collier County,
During her first reelection bid, Taylor handily defeated Democrat challenger Gary Petit-Dor by winning 70% of the vote.
She has raised $132,699 in campaign contributions and has spent $93,215 as of July 15. She previously raised $67,338 in 2015 and $79,540 in 2018.
"Voters know what they are getting with Penny Taylor. Paradise Coast is more than a tourism slogan — it's why we live here," Taylor told the Naples Daily News. "I work every day to protect our quality of life and will continue doing just that on the Collier County Commission."
She says the top three issues facing Collier are water quality, growth and development, and economic development.
"I am a fiscal conservative who never forgets that I work for the citizens of Collier County," she said.
"Now more than ever it is critically important to manage your tax dollars carefully for the health, safety, and welfare of you and your family and our community," Taylor told the Naples Daily News.
Dan Kowal wants Collier to return to common sense
Kowal, 55, is an Army veteran and a former Collier County sheriff's deputy who came to Southwest Florida in 2003 from Annapolis, Maryland. Kowal did not respond to submitted questions.
Alfie Oakes endorsed Kowal earlier this year. Oakes owns Oakes Farm and was elected a Collier County Republican state committeeman in 2020.
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Oakes is known for both his success and his strong political and personal views, espoused at public forums and through social media.
He participated in the "Save America March" in Washington, D.C., on the day of the insurrection at the Capitol and funded two busloads of local supporters to attend the pro-Trump rally.
He denied any involvement in the insurrection, telling the Naples Daily News after he returned from the insurrection that protesters were "supporting liberty and freedom." He blamed left-wing activists for the siege on the U.S. Capitol, describing his trip as amazing.
In 2020, he also fought Collier County’s mask order, refusing to follow it in his stores and challenging it in court. He described COVID-19 as a “hoax.”
Kowal was one of nine Republican candidates to run for Congress representing Florida's 19th congressional district in 2020. Kowal received 1,135 votes, the lowest total of all the candidates. The winner, Congressman Byron Donalds, received 22.6% of the votes, or 23,492 votes.
According to Kowal's campaign site, he is running to bring back "conservative values and common sense" to Collier County government.
He has raised $128,579 in campaign contributions and has spent $69,258 as of July 15.
His far-right conservatism is something he often compares to Taylor's political leaning.
On his campaign's Facebook page, Kowal posted a March video from Patriot Fest in Sugden Park in East Naples, speaking to supporters and lamenting his chances against the incumbent.
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat this in any way, but I probably have the toughest race up here because I'm running against an incumbent that's been on the ballot for the last 16 years," Kowal said. He continued, "and if the election was tomorrow, she wins. She wins. Did you hear me? Because she has 2,000 Democrats and liberals that are gonna make it determined who's going to be your next Commissioner District 4.
"This election stays the way it is, right now, where I stand with three Republicans going into this race, we divide the vote, and she wins," he added.
He expressed frustration with Taylor and said the mask mandate was a mistake by the commissioner.
"And while we didn't know if this pandemic was real or not back then, now we do know it was not as serious as everybody thought, and we probably should never had that mask on our face by Penny Taylor," he said.
Daija Hinojosa wants to bring her business savvy to government
Hinojosa, 35, is an entrepreneur and business consultant who moved to Collier County 10 years ago and describes herself as a community-oriented go-getter.
She said she was inspired to run for Collier County Commission when public access to beaches was closed and a mask mandate was passed by the county during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She has raised $31,235 in campaign contributions and has spent $23,649 as of July 15.
Hinojosa is the youngest candidate in the District 4 race. She actively uses social media to promote her campaign merchandise and often publishes her speeches at County Commission meetings on her YouTube channel.
Hinojosa told the Naples Daily News that Collier County is in need of balanced development.
“The government is not in the building business so they will never be able to build housing,” she said. She said she believes the “county’s lack of financial management” will burden residents and that unaffordable housing development is happening at an unsustainable rate.
She also identified low wages for essential personnel and county employees as an issue.
“The board would be more effective to increase pay for essential personnel and county employees so that they can afford to serve and live here,” she said.
Michelle McLeod is focused on fiscal responsibility
McLeod has lived in Southwest Florida for most of her life and began her work in public office as a Naples City Council member in 2016. She served as a council member for four years and then became the Collier County grants coordinator after she lost her reelection bid in 2020.
She has raised $67,835 in campaign contributions and has spent $31,658 as of July 15.
McLeod’s campaign focuses on economic growth to improve the financial management of Collier County. She said she plans to create a well-defined economic plan that will support a sustainable economy and high-wage jobs.
McLeod said she also is concerned about the development of Collier County and believes in “smart growth policies that avoid urban sprawl” and supports “housing affordability” and “protecting our rich Florida environment.”
"Stop excessive spending on projects like the Paradise Coast Sports Complex, which is currently $67 million over budget," she said.
McLeod said she strongly supports outdoor green spaces and parks, citing her efforts with Baker Park, the city's newest park, but views the Paradise Coast project as a failure to properly manage tax dollars.
"When I was on the Tourism Development Council, I voted to increase the bed tax to fund the sports complex under the condition that the project would be between $60 to $80 million," she said. "It is almost double that now."
But it's not just overspending on parks where she has a problem, she said. She wants the county to be more selective about how it incentivizes companies.
"If we are to incent companies to come to Collier, it should be companies like (medical device manufacturer) Arthrex that brings diversity to the community, high-wage jobs, and direct benefits to our community residents," she added.
Collier County is growing, and now is a critical time because it will be built out in the decades to come.
"Our current population is reaching 400,000 people and the expected built-out population for Collier County is projected to be between 800,000 to 1 million people to be reached in the years 2060 to 2080," she told the Naples Daily News. "That means that Collier County is expected to be built out in the next 40 to 60 years.
"That is why it is critically important that we carefully manage the balance of what is to be developed in the county to avoid further urban sprawl and negative impacts to the environment," McLeod said.
She graduated from Fort Myers High School and earned a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Florida Gulf Coast University and a bachelor of arts degree from Saint Mary’s College in Indiana.
Aside from her government experience, she's worked for 23 years in hotel management and six years in banking.
Naples resident Bill Oppenheimer will not be on the primary ballot, but he's the only candidate that voters can write in for the Nov. 8 election. He did not respond to multiple submitted questions from the Naples Daily News.
He is the director of the anti-abortion group Action for Life Inc., unsuccessfully ran for Naples City Council, and previously led a grassroots effort to ban abortions within the city limits.
Oppenheimer has a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance from Ithaca College and has experience in finance, computer infrastructure, and teaching.
Connect with Government Watchdog Report Rachel Heimann Mercader: @racheyy_marie (Twitter), rachel.heimann@naplesnews.com, or cell: 239-359-7948
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Election 2022: Here's who's running for Collier commission District 4
