On Feb. 28, Just 48 hours after Vice President Mike Pence was tasked with coordinating our nation’s response to the mushrooming coronavirus pandemic, Pence doffed his emergency response hat, abandoned his post in Washington and flew down to Florida for a Palm Beach Club for Growth gathering in the morning and a closed-to-the-public $25,000-perp-plate fundraiser at Congressman Vern Buchanan’s Longboat Key mansion in the evening, benefiting Congressional Republicans.

After regional media outlets exposed the egregious dereliction of duty exhibited by these two men, Twitter and Facebook exploded. Political communications operatives in the Pence and Buchanan camps scrambled to insulate their bosses from the fallout. But it was too late.

U.S. 41, from Sarasota-Manatee International Airport all the way to Buchanan’s seaside chateau, was cordoned off by dozens of City of Sarasota police officers. Rush hour traffic brought to a standstill for hours. A Van Wezel performance of Les Miserables was delayed costing the city-owned venue in overtime to stagehands and technical crew.

And most economically damaging—hundreds of restaurant reservations canceled and thousands of Friday night patrons driven away from St. Armands and downtown.

All so Pence and Buchanan could vacuum up a few hundred thousand, or perhaps more, in campaign cash.

It was Buchanan and Pence who dealt the first, and sadly, unnecessary economic blow to the now-shuttered businesses in Sarasota.

Adding insult to injury, City of Sarasota taxpayers have now been stuck with what is likely a five figure security detail bill for Pence’s visit. That cost is now being tabulated by the police department.

Fast forward a few weeks—tens of thousands of Suncoast workers are out of jobs, retirement portfolios badly hurt and garbled messaging coming out of the Oval Office and Governor’s Mansion is confusing the public.

What is Buchanan’s response to one of the most serious public health and economic crises of the modern era?

A gimmicky campaign billboard masquerading as a public service announcement encouraging passing motorists to wash their hands.

Mr. Buchanan— make the City of Sarasota taxpayers whole and take down that chintzy “I-have-one-helluva-lemon-on-the-car-lot-to-sell-you” placard. Your campaign dollars and vast personal fortune are needed elsewhere.

Gabriel Hament is a Sarasota native and downtown Sarasota resident.  

On Feb. 28, Just 48 hours after Vice President Mike Pence was tasked with coordinating our nation’s response to the mushrooming coronavirus pandemic, Pence doffed his emergency response hat, abandoned his post in Washington and flew down to Florida for a Palm Beach Club for Growth gathering in the morning and a closed-to-the-public $25,000-perp-plate fundraiser at Congressman Vern Buchanan’s Longboat Key mansion in the evening, benefiting Congressional Republicans.

After regional media outlets exposed the egregious dereliction of duty exhibited by these two men, Twitter and Facebook exploded. Political communications operatives in the Pence and Buchanan camps scrambled to insulate their bosses from the fallout. But it was too late.

U.S. 41, from Sarasota-Manatee International Airport all the way to Buchanan’s seaside chateau, was cordoned off by dozens of City of Sarasota police officers. Rush hour traffic brought to a standstill for hours. A Van Wezel performance of Les Miserables was delayed costing the city-owned venue in overtime to stagehands and technical crew.

And most economically damaging—hundreds of restaurant reservations canceled and thousands of Friday night patrons driven away from St. Armands and downtown.

All so Pence and Buchanan could vacuum up a few hundred thousand, or perhaps more, in campaign cash.

It was Buchanan and Pence who dealt the first, and sadly, unnecessary economic blow to the now-shuttered businesses in Sarasota.

Adding insult to injury, City of Sarasota taxpayers have now been stuck with what is likely a five figure security detail bill for Pence’s visit. That cost is now being tabulated by the police department.

Fast forward a few weeks—tens of thousands of Suncoast workers are out of jobs, retirement portfolios badly hurt and garbled messaging coming out of the Oval Office and Governor’s Mansion is confusing the public.

What is Buchanan’s response to one of the most serious public health and economic crises of the modern era?

A gimmicky campaign billboard masquerading as a public service announcement encouraging passing motorists to wash their hands.

Mr. Buchanan— make the City of Sarasota taxpayers whole and take down that chintzy “I-have-one-helluva-lemon-on-the-car-lot-to-sell-you” placard. Your campaign dollars and vast personal fortune are needed elsewhere.

Gabriel Hament is a Sarasota native and downtown Sarasota resident.