A Manatee County Commission race has grown increasingly tense in recent days. Republican challenger Jason Bearden attacked County Commissioner Carol Whitmore in a new TV ad calling the incumbent Republican a liberal, while Whitmore has continued to rake Bearden over his support of Bitcoin.

The two face off in an Aug. 23 Republican primary.

Bearden in a new television ad compared Whitmore to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, labeling her as “pro-choice” and saying she “voted for lockdowns” as DeSantis “kept Florida open and free.” “There is nothing Carol Whitmore has in common with Republicans or Ron DeSantis,” the ad states.

But Whitmore, who has the support of Republican leaders including U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan and former Senate President Bill Galvano, dismissed the ad. 

“I haven’t seen the ad but anything to distract from his pro-Biden, pro-inflation agenda wouldn’t surprise me,” Whitmore said. “The people of Manatee County do not want their tax dollars invested in a currency that just crashed and that’s exactly what Biden’s Bearden will do.”

Her campaign has leaned on social media posts from Bearden in 2021 when he expressed interest in Bitcoin and in government investment in cryptocurrency, a message less appealing at a time when Bitcoin is down almost 60% year to date.

Mailers from the political committee United Conservatives of Florida slammed Bearden with similar messaging that also compares Bearden to Democratic President Joe Biden. “Joe Biden’s inflation is ruining our economy,” the mailer states. “Jason Bearden could make it worse.”

Friction can be seen elsewhere, including with a criminal complaint Bearden filed against Whitmore after she pulled his campaign signs from the roadside and turned them into police; Whitmore has maintained the signs violated local ordinances and were placed on private property without owners’ permission. The State Attorney’s Office continues to consider the case.

This week, Manatee County School Board member Charlie Kennedy accused Bearden  of violating state privacy laws by posting pictures of himself with school children in a flag ceremony on a campaign Facebook without parental consent. Bearden took the pictures down and asked the original person who posted them to also take them down when he realized the shots were taken without permission. 

Pictured: Jason Bearden and Carol Whitmore

In the July/August 2022 edition of SRQ Magazine, we interviewed Nelle S. Miller, Interim CEO at JFCS of the Suncoast as part of our In Conversation feature about nonprofit leaders. Below is an excerpt published in the magazine in which Miller shares her insights with SRQ readers on community growth and changes.

There have been a lot of physical changes in town over the years, but I think people are concerned about cultural change. Do you have thoughts that speak to that?

I think that there's been a community wide effort to really do the hard work on diversity, equity, and inclusion in acknowledgement of exactly this, that first of all, this community is diverse, but it hasn't necessarily melded the way it should. And secondly, as leadership in the community, I think a lot of us have acknowledged that we shouldn't be so arrogant to assume that we understand what other people want and need. So, whether it's the arts or the social services, or anything, we've, I think, begun to do a better job at bringing all voices to the table. So, I've seen a big change in that in the 20 years that I've been in Sarasota. I don't think we're there, I don't think we're even close to there, but I feel hopeful because I think a lot of us are doing the work. 

JFCS of the Suncoast, 2688 Fruitville Rd, Sarasota. 941-366-2224. https://jfcs-cares.org/

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Our community is filled with many incredible young people doing such amazing things. This summer, we are featuring some of these young people in our Thursday Family & Education edition. Each of the students we are highlighting has been chosen as one of this year’s SRQ Magazine’s top youth leaders based on their values, determination and outstanding achievements in different aspects of their lives in and out of school.

Bernadette is the 2022 Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties’ Youth of the Year. Enrolled in Riverview High School’s International Baccalaureate Program where she is in the top 4% of her class, Bernadette manages a busy schedule as President of National Honor Society and Speech & Debate and Vice President of Papillon Club. In 2021, Bernadette was given a letter of Commendation for the National Merit Scholarship Program and was honored with the Anne Frank Humanitarian Award. This year, Bernadette was named a Coca-Cola National Scholar and was honored with the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Through her work with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Bernadette founded her own non-profit, SHARE Wholeness, to address the prevalence of food deserts in Sarasota County. She would go on to draft SB 1450 and HB 1311 to address policy change on this issue; both bills have secured bipartisan support in Tallahassee.

We asked Bernadette about her plans for the future.

"I hope to be in a position to empower others the way the community has empowered me. Hopefully that will be somewhere in the fields of either healthcare or law," she said. "I’m grateful to be in this position because I want to be a beacon of light for others who may be struggling. I want them to know that they can direct their own lives. It doesn't have to be directed by others." 

Pictured: Bernadette N. is the 2022 Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties Youth of the Year. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

Baacke Insurance & Financial Services is excited to announce the newest achievement from Crystal Sudbury. Crystal is a Licensed Insurance Professional that was awarded a full scholarship from the Women in Insurance & Financial Services (WIFS). The Scholarship was through the American College of Financial Services for The Wealth Management Certified Professional® (WMCP®) designation. WMCP is a one year, self-study program that provides professionals with a goal-based planning framework to build tax-efficient strategies. Crystal received her certification in July 2022 and is excited to offer tax and retirement planning expertise and strategies to maximize her clients needs. Graduates and designees of The American College of Financial Services have studied, passed rigorous exams, and proven that they not only have the technical knowledge to serve their clients, but have sworn to practice ethically and in the best interest of the people they serve. Crystal is also a Medicare Specialist that focuses on Retirement Planning along with offering Life, Long Term Care, Dental and Vision Insurance. She is a Volunteer Educator for a National Non-Profit - Financial Education Partnership (FEP). Crystal teaches educational classes on Medicare, Social Security, Women and Wealth and more in our community. Crystal is a Florida native and grew up in Englewood. She enjoys spending time with her husband, children and her dog. Her two passions include kayaking and volunteering. Baacke Insurance & Financial Services has been working with clients (individual and group) for twenty years offering their knowledge and expertise by using the industry’s best software, carriers and products available to meet clients' financial, insurance and retirement needs. 

Fergeson Skipper, P.A., a law firm recognized for its outstanding achievements several years in a row, is proud to announce that three of its attorneys have been chosen for the 2022 Super Lawyers list and one attorney has been designated a 2022 Rising Star. The Super Lawyers are James O. Fergeson, Jr. (Estate & Probate), Richard R. Gans (Estate & Probate), and David S. Maglich (Construction Litigation). Attorney Matthew S. Francis (Business Litigation) is no stranger to the Rising Stars list, as 2022 marks his fourth consecutive year of earning this distinction. Florida Super Lawyers is the prominent attorney rating system owned by Thompson Reuters. Each year, Super Lawyers recognizes the top lawyers in Florida using a patented multiphase selection process involving peer nominations and evaluations combined with independent research. Every candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. No more than five percent of licensed attorneys can be designated a Super Lawyer. The process is designed to find the best attorneys in their field of practice. 

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens will present Tiffany: The Pursuit of Beauty in Nature as the 2023 installment of its Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series. Opening February 12, 2023, the exhibition will showcase the creativity and innovation of the American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany. It marks the seventh edition of Selby Gardens’ annual Goldstein Exhibition, which examines the work of major artists through the lens of their connection to nature. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was one of the most influential American artists and designers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He founded Tiffany Studios and served as the first design director of Tiffany & Co., the renowned jewelry and silver firm established by his father, Charles Lewis Tiffany. Tiffany was closely associated with Art Nouveau, an international style of art and design characterized by organic line and natural form. He began his career as a painter, but later turned his attention to decorative arts, particularly stained glass, for which he became best known. Tiffany: The Pursuit of Beauty in Nature will be the first exhibition of its type to be presented in a botanical garden, an especially appropriate setting in which to highlight the connection between Tiffany’s work and the natural world. Tiffany’s celebrated stained-glass windows and lamps will inspire stunning horticultural displays in Selby Gardens’ world-famous Tropical Conservatory and throughout the grounds of its 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus. Kaleidoscopic vignettes of flowers and foliage will play with light, color, and material to create a truly immersive experience for visitors. Accompanying the horticultural displays will be outstanding examples of Tiffany’s work, in various media, on view in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. Generously lent from a private collection, this remarkable group of lamps, vases, and other objects will be used to tell the story of Tiffany and his firm, which revolutionized glassmaking and elevated the status of American decorative arts at home and abroad. Tiffany: The Pursuit of Beauty in Nature will be on view at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus from February 12 through June 25, 2023. A rich schedule of educational programs and special events will be developed to complement the show. 

Pictured: Tiffany Dragonfly Lamp. Courtesy of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

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The Hermitage Artist Retreat announced today that Sondra Biller, Stephanie Jones, Liz Richardson, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Hermitage alumnus Doug Wright have been elected to the Hermitage Board of Trustees. These newest additions to the Hermitage Board follow a successful season that has included over 50 live programs and events, dozens of new and expanded arts and education collaborations in the community, another record-breaking fiscal year, a dramatic expansion of the Hermitage team, and the launch of a new national commission in theater.