Local Dark Money - Flipbook - Page 95
Joel Schleicher has served on the board of the
Southwest Florida Water Management District,
or SWFMD. He has also served on the board
of the Argus Foundation. The Argus foundation
was founded to lobby for Sarasota businesses.
The Argus foundation has long advocated for
an elected mayor in the City of Sarasota.
Jonathan Mitchell is a developer who serves on
the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation.
A Better Sarasota has not paid for anything
other than accounting services. The now
disbanded Best Plan for Sarasota spent nearly
$72,000 on political consulting and research.
Why would these contributors make that kind
of investment? An educated guess would be
changing city government from a commission
to strong mayor.
Citizens in the City of Sarasota have rejected
strong mayor charter amendments numerous
times over the years. Strong mayor initiatives
in Sarasota are somewhat like panda mating