Three candidates have entered the race for the District 3 seat on the Manatee County Board of Commissioners.
Matt Bower, Stephen Jonsson and David Zaccagnino qualified to run in the Nov. 8 general election.
John Chappie of Bradenton Beach holds the seat. He announced in March that he would not seek re-election to the county board and later announced he would run for a ward seat on the city commission in Bradenton Beach.
District 3 includes all of Anna Maria Island, as well as the area mostly west of 26th Street West south of Manatee Avenue, and south of Cortez Road, west from 34th Street West.
Traffic on the island, protecting the environment and stabilizing the county budget are emerging as election issues. The candidates have various ideas about how to address the issues.
The partisan race will not be on the Aug. 30 primary ballot.
Matt Bower
Bower is a U.S. Army veteran and a native to Manatee County with a strong social media campaign. Currently serving a four-year appointed term on the Manatee County Planning Commission, he has a history of involvement in local politics and environmental activism.
“I want to make a difference,” said Bower, a Bradenton resident. “We’re a special community. I want to keep it that way.”
His platform includes protecting the coastline from development, developing incentives to draw business to west Manatee, collaborating with the Manatee County School Board to address infrastructure needs and tackling traffic congestion.
Bower, an Edward Jones financial adviser, has raised nearly $18,000 for his campaign since February, when he filed his paperwork to run for office.
He is running as an independent.
“I’m not the guy who gets all the developer money,” Bower said. “I’m using door-to-door campaigning and I’m a big social media guy, to get the word out.”
“I’ve spoken diversely to every group you can imagine,” he said. “I’m well-known here in the community because I’ve been here all my life and been involved in the community in one way or another. People already know they can trust what I say and I can do what I say.”
Bower hopes voters agree with him. “I’m the common-sense candidate,” he said. “If (voters) are genuinely concerned about their community, then I’m the guy they want in that seat, especially for the island.”
Stephen Jonsson
The only candidate on the ballot for District 3 with a party affiliation is Republican Stephen Jonsson.
He has lived in west Bradenton for nearly 39 years.
“I’ve raised my family here,” Jonsson said. “I’ve been a businessman here. I think the time is right, with the kids grown, for me to give back to the community.”
The former banker identifies quality of life as a key issue in his campaign, as are protecting the shorelines, improving infrastructure and promoting business development on Anna Maria Island.
Jonsson has raised nearly $60,000 since March, more than three times as much as his closest opponent.
“I’m just getting out and getting my name out,” Jonsson said. “I want to bring some fiscal responsibility to the county and have things looked at from a businessman’s perspective.”
He attributes his fundraising success to supporters who want to elect a fiscal conservative. “I think it’s just a testimony to people that I’ve done business with that are encouraging me to have the money available to get my name out,” Jonnson said.
Jonsson’s donor list is extensive, including multiple real estate professionals, contractors, real estate organizations and developer SMR Inc., which donated $1,000 to his campaign.
“I think I understand the island,” Jonsson said. “I understand their concerns right now.”
Jonsson is a former banker-turned-real estate consultant. In 2010, he revealed to the Wall Street Journal that he had been shunned from the banking industry because of the collapse of Flagship National Bank, which he founded in 1999. It was shut down in 2009.
“There is no place for me in the banking industry, because I am wearing a scarlet letter,” Jonsson said at the time.
David Zaccagnino
Zaccagnino, who resides in Holmes Beach, says he is a middle-of-the-road candidate.
“I’m a registered independent. I’ll always lean left on social issues and very right on fiscal issues.”
The Ameriprise financial adviser is focusing on the county budget in his campaign.
“We have an impending budget crisis in 2018,” Zaccagnino said. “When I was (Holmes Beach) commissioner, I was able to balance the budget and not raise taxes. When I left, they had to raise taxes by 30 percent and I think it’s going to be the same issue with the county unless they do something immediately.”
“I’ve been in finance for 17 years and I’ve worked on budgets for a long time,” Zaccagnino said. “So I think I’ve got the qualifications on my platform to do that.”
Zaccagnino has raised a little over $12,000 since the start of his campaign. He contributed $10,000.
“Both of my opponents have what they call PAC money, or dark money, from special interest groups,” Zaccagnino said. “Both of my opponents have raised a lot of money from other people with interests that don’t have the island’s interest at heart.”
Along with balancing the budget, Zaccagnino wants to promote smart growth and traffic control on the island.
“It’s very hard to grasp what the problems and issues and needs are,” Zaccagnino said. “I know what they are. My opponents have no clue.”
The District 3 seat has a four-year term and a salary of $78,789.
Chappie, who will leave office in November, had filed to run again for the seat, raising $40,000 for his campaign, but he withdrew his name in early March.
In June, he announced he would run for the Bradenton Beach Ward 4 commission seat.