Pass The Soap Please

Having spent the better part of this past weekend speaking with voters in Anna Maria about next Tuesday’s election, it is enlightening to find so many who have arrived at decisions based upon their own thoughtful consideration of the facts and their evaluation of the candidates for mayor. Most people we spoke with obviously realize the importance of this race and seem to have put the necessary time into considering the issues, the candidates and the significance of their vote.

Of course, there were those who either could not articulate a reason or simply could not be bothered to do so. Their vote, their right, one supposes.

Others provided reasons that were simply, well, out there. For instance, one gentleman spoke of being “very impressed” with Mike Selby after reading Mike’s first mailing, the interview piece. Impressed, that is, until he saw that the post mark on the envelope was from St. Petersburg. He explained that Harry Stoltzfus’ mail also had a St. Petersburg postmark and, based solely on that evidence, he concluded that “those two are joined at the hip.”

Understand this: I’ve known this gentleman for 35 years. I respect him. He is a savvy guy and about as smart as they come so if this was the best he could do to connect Mr. Stoltzfus to Mike Selby I was not going to argue. But, to give him the benefit of the doubt I asked the postal clerk at the Anna Maria post office if Anna Maria mail is ever post marked St. Petersburg. “Of course it is,” he said, adding, “If it is bulk mail or put in the outgoing mail slot, it is bundled and sent to St. Pete for processing. It only gets an Anna Maria post mark if it is processed here at the desk.”

So much for that conspiracy theory. I hope my friend reads this and reconsiders his reasoning before he casts his vote. I am sure he would now admit that an inconsequential postmark on an envelope does not make Mike Selby’s resume any less impressive.

Signs are a ubiquitous part of any campaign and this one is no exception. I asked a number of residents why they chose to have a “Mattick” sign in their yard. Some of the responses:

“Because she is a commissioner.” (She is not, of course.)

“A friend put it there and, you know, whatever…”

“Who?”

Ringing endorsements, all. And another example of an unfortunate portion of the electorate remaining uninformed. In fairness, some said they knew Mattick and liked her family and those are probably not bad reasons to vote for a candidate, just not particularly thoughtful reasons.
That being said, there are bad reasons to vote for Sandy Mattick.

Say, like believing that Mike Selby, the man who built one of California’s largest commercial development firms, who worked daily for 20 years with local governments on development issues, who kept the lights on, the copy machine supplied and the payroll funded for those years in a highly competitive industry in a highly competitive market, is somehow anti-business. Simply ludicrous.

Or like buying the bit in Mattick’s campaign phone calls saying Mike Selby will be an absentee mayor. He has pledged that the job will be Priority One. His vacation house in North Carolina has been for sale for a year and he is the only tax-paying homeowner in this race. There has not been a whiff of substantiation for this tired claim. And consider this: if that is Mattick’s best shot what does that say about her platform?

Or what about the myth that Mike Selby is “connected at the hip” with Harry Stoltzfus? Look, only one of the candidates in this mayoral race was front and center throughout the Stoltzfus ordeal and that is Sandy Mattick. Front and center at recall tents. Front and center, literally, seated next to her mother and their pal Bonner Joy, at every recall hearing. Her name appears more than anyone else as the affiant on the bottom of the recall petitions. She and Bob Carter should have been crowned Recall Homecoming Court for god sakes. And the Islander perpetuates the myth with its bought-and-paid-for recommendation insinuating that Mike Selby has something to do with it all. So, Selby is forced to combat sentiment out there that he is to blame for keeping the Stoltzfus issue alive? Really? How very cynical and insipid when the only one talking about it is Bonner Joy herself. Regardless of what you think of Stoltzfus (and from day one this blog has been a proud and loud supporter of his right to the due process he has yet to receive) there is little or nothing linking Mike Selby to that fray and he certainly did not fan the flames like his opponent and her buddy Bonner have continued to do.

Or let’s take Mattick’s proclamations of “community” and “listening to residents.” She has made only a token effort in her campaign to reach across the proverbial aisle and engage those who clearly oppose her positions on things like parking in the public right of way. Remember the Citizens Parking Initiative and the 255 voters who said “no way” to ceding the right of way to developers? Talk to the five members of that committee and ask if they have met personally with Mattick. Is the issue not important enough to her? Are those 255 votes not important enough to her? Apparently not. Mike Selby, on the other hand, has met face to face with Michael Coleman, not to bow and scrape or to kowtow, but to make sure Coleman understands Selby intends to be a mayor to everyone. Selby has talked to other business owners on Pine Avenue and sought their input. And he has met with key financial contributors to Mattick’s campaign to simply say he wants to hear from them and consider their points of view. The point is this: which candidate is just talking about communicating and which candidate is actually communicating day in, day out, live and in person, trying hard to digest and comprehend all points of view? Mike Selby and only Mike Selby.

And finally, possibly the worst reason would be relying on a dour misanthropic hypocrite to think for you. As we have shown, Bonner Joy has a problem telling the truth and her Islander has become a journalistic laughing stock far beyond the friendly confines of little Anna Maria. She has now added “unapologetic hypocrite” to her sad repertoire, conveniently disregarding her previously published conflict of interest concerns for the sake of political expediency and quite possibly her paper’s financial well-being. She proclaims loudly that a husband/wife commissioner/mayor duo is a conflict that you, the voter, should not abide but a Mattick/Mattick mother/daughter team is no problem. Is that because this particular mother/daughter team is so closely tied to Bonner’s meal ticket, Pine Avenue advertisers? Is this just another quid pro quo, another wink-and-nod to the slimy political tacticians that held this city hostage for months this year (and who curiously lost their zeal once they believed the initial battle was won)?

Just makes you want to take a shower doesn’t it? Pass the disinfectant soap, please.

Stay informed.

Bill Yanger