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County Commission: Three Republicans seek Mills' seat
North Port/Charlotte Sun Newspaper, 08/14/206

The abundance of good people running for office this year makes for some tough decisions. The race in Sarasota County Commission District 2 is one such contest.

Republicans Joe Barbetta, John Lewis and Casey Pilon are vying to replace Commissioner David Mills, who is running for the Florida House District 69 seat.

All three have experience in county government: Barbetta served on the county planning commission for 14 1/2 years, Lewis has been on the School Board since 2000 and Pilon was a county employee for 13 years and is married to a former county commissioner.

None is a newcomer: Lewis has the shortest tenure in the county -- 17 years -- while Barbetta has lived here 23 years and Pilon 31.

Each has strengths that would be a valuable addition to the county commission, or any elected body.

Barbetta is a semi-retired lawyer and an investment consultant with a background in real estate development, planning, zoning and land use. He was an outspoken advocate of "smart growth" on the planning commission and earned a reputation for independent thinking and hard work.

On the School Board Lewis has worked with budgets not much smaller than the county's and a workforce that's much larger. Before being elected, he spent 17 years as Sarasota's police chief, then public safety director. That would give him insight into the operations of the sheriff's office, one of the parts of county government whose funding has grown most rapidly.

Pilon knows the county government from the inside, a perspective that might bring new problems to light or shed a different light on some old ones.

All three have a long list of civic involvement, and unquestioned devotion to Sarasota County. None would be a bad choice for County Commission, but we think Barbetta is the best one.

Two things particularly impressed us during our interview with Barbetta: His easy familiarity with county government and the level of thought he has put into solving some of its problems.

For example, he acknowledged it's unlikely that Sarasota County Area Transit will ever make money, but said a transportation system is important to a vibrant community. He would keep SCAT's express service to provide rides for workers, and look at creating a new transit authority that would run on a grid system with multiple hubs and bus bays to keep them out of the flow of car traffic.

For several reasons that might not be the right approach, but it's certainly worth considering.

Lewis and Pilon had some good ideas, too, but overall we just didn't think they were as qualified as Barbetta to step into the job.

Although he has a lot of similar experience, Lewis' record on the School Board is solid but not particularly distinguished. He hasn't shown the type of leadership we expect, and he has to take some of the responsibility for what we think was a lack of oversight in the failure to promptly institute a hiring freeze when enrollment numbers came in much lower than expected.

We agree with Pilon, and not Barbetta, on a growth issue: He wants the eastern part of the county kept off limits to growth, while she recognizes that philosophy would push it south, where construction already seems out of control.

On the whole, however, we found Barbetta's positions more in line with what we think county residents see as the right vision for the future.

We recommend Joe Barbetta for Sarasota County Commission District 2.

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