Tuesday's letters: Sarasota man wrong choice to fill Detert's County Commission seat
Venice resident should have replaced Detert
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointment of Neil Rainford to fill the vacancy left by late County Commissioner Nancy Detert is a disservice to Venice as Rainford is a resident of northeast Sarasota County.
Rainford is on the local GOP executive committee, a member of Associated Builders and Contractors, the Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association and the Sarasota-Manatee Area Manufacturers Association but has no connection to the Venice area that I have discovered.
Longtime public servant: Sarasota County Commissioner Nancy Detert dies at 78
More: How to send a letter to the editor
Former Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight, a Venice area resident and graduate of Venice High School, submitted his name for consideration, making clear that no matter the outcome he would run for Detert's District 3 commission seat in 2024.
The selection of Rainford just shows how low our local GOP will go and what little loyalty they have. They are clearly beholden to the developers who are the ones that actually run Sarasota County.
My advice to Rainford is not to get too comfortable in his county office. Additionally, he should rent, not buy, a home in Venice because if Knight does run in 2024, then Rainford’s tenure as a county commissioner will be one of the shortest ever.
Paul Sloan, Venice
NCF board responds badly to faculty censure
Recently, more than 80% of the New College faculty voted to censure our board of trustees due to several concerns about the board’s behavior. As reported in a June 14 article by the Herald-Tribune, a review by the counsel to Interim President Richard Corcoran claimed that our concerns were false.
Instead of seeking dialogue to discuss our concerns, the reply was unnecessarily combative, ignorant of well-documented and reported facts and full of willful misinterpretations of our concerns.
As just one example, the reply denies that Board Trustee Christopher Rufo failed to comply with Sunshine laws; however, it is common knowledge that a public records lawsuit brought against Rufo and New College by the Florida Center for Government Accountability is ongoing.
My colleagues and I care about our students’ educational futures. The learning environment is threatened when trustees insult our students and colleagues, failing to balance their free speech with established principles of civil discourse. Our students’ learning environment will improve when the trustees act as true stewards.
Liz Leininger, New College faculty member
Critical factor in Trump case: Motive
Try to ignore, for a minute, all the noise about the legal aspects of former President Donald Trump’s indictment. The critical question is why did he choose the documents that were state secrets? What was his motive?
Trump took hundreds of classified documents, including 21 marked “Top Secret,” meaning they contain our country’s most critical national defense secrets.
And what was included in those documents? Information about our allies’ and our enemies’ military capabilities. Information about secret agents and methods of getting secret information. What did Trump plan to do with this information? Show it off at parties, maybe.
On the other hand, he could have planned to share the documents with enemies of our country − trade the information for favors or money. Who knows?
When the evidence is presented during the discovery portion of the trial, listen very carefully to the details of what type of information was included in the documents that Trump took.
Ask yourself: For what ungodly reason did Trump take those specific documents?
Barry Portugal, Nokomis
No ugly side: In defense of Sarasota
In response to “Don’t gloss over Sarasota’s flaws,” a June 7 rebuttal of my June 2 letter, “Columnists write ugly things about Sarasota”:
According to the writer, the Herald-Tribune columnists were only reporting the truth about the “ugly side” of Sarasota. And “the truth is the truth” so I better believe it.
My answer: Ugliness is the columnists’ perception, not the truth. Where are all these people who are “divisive” and “snide”? When was it declared that our reputation had been ruined to the point of no return?
The June 7 writer also believes that Sarasota is meaner and has absolutely lost its charm. His evidence is the mean, selfish drivers on University Parkway. If we valued all towns by erratic drivers on congested highways, every county in Florida would be “ugly.”
To summarize, Sarasota continues to be a beautiful tropical resort town, clean and friendly, with a healthy and respected reputation.
Yes, we may have some overbuilding and traffic woes, but Sarasota still has the qualities that attract tourists, families, new businesses, retirees and, most importantly, benefit our happy and grateful residents.
No glossing and no ugly here.
Carole Nikla, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Republican leader wrong choice to replace Detert
