MANATEE COUNTY – During a recent Supervisor of Elections debate, candidate James Satcher refused to acknowledge he’s using Anthony Pedicini as his political consultant.
Manatee County Commission candidates Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Ray Turner are also utilizing the campaign consulting services of Pedicini and his Tampa-based Strategic Image Management (SIMWINS) consulting firm.
In 2020, Pedicini helped Satcher, Van Ostenbridge, George Kruse and Vanessa Baugh win their respective Manatee County Commission races and he remains actively involved in Manatee County politics.
Supervisor’s race
On April 12, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Satcher, then the District 1 county commissioner, to serve the remaining months of the four-year term that Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett vacated when he retired in March.
Bennett’s longtime Chief of Staff Scott Farrington also sought the gubernatorial appointment and he resigned after DeSantis appointed Satcher, who had no previous experience working in an elections office or supervising an election.Farrington and Satcher now face each other in the Republican primary race that concludes on Aug. 20. With no Democratic candidate in the general election, the primary will determine who serves as Manatee County’s Supervisor of Elections for the next four years.
On June 19, the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club hosted a debate between Farrington and Satcher. The first question posed by the moderator sought the names of the political consultants and the consulting firms being utilized by the two candidates.
“I’m tempted not to answer that question. I don’t know what it has to do with my performance as the Supervisor of Elections. Sure, I have a political consultant,” Satcher responded without disclosing the name of his consultant or consulting firm.
After noting that Satcher didn’t answer the question, Farrington said he’s received informal consultation from Bennett and one of Bennett’s past associates. According to Farrington’s campaign treasurer’s reports, he had spent no money on political consulting services as of July 13.
According to Satcher’s campaign treasurer’s reports, Satcher has paid Pedicini’s SIMWINS consulting firm $41,445 during the current 2024 election cycle. On June 21, two days after the debate, Satcher’s Supervisor of Elections campaign paid SIMWINS $40,000 for media services. On Feb. 6, Satcher’s now-suspended District 1 county commission campaign paid SIMWINS $1,250 for consulting services. On March 15, Satcher’s District 1 campaign paid SIMWINS $195 for a WebElect subscription.
Additional clients
In late May, Van Ostenbridge suspended his District 3 reelection bid and decided instead to run against Kruse in the countywide District 7 race that now pits two sitting commissioners against each other.
According to campaign treasurer’s reports, Van Ostenbridge’s campaign paid SIMWINS $98,420 for consulting services as of June 28. On June 24, Van Ostenbridge’s District 7 campaign paid SIMWINS $83,500 for media services. On Nov. 2, Van Ostenbridge’s District 1 campaign paid SIMWINS $3,915 for campaign consulting services. On Feb. 26, Van Ostenbridge’s District 1 campaign paid SIMWINS $3,950 for advertising and consulting services.
To date, Turner’s District 1 campaign has paid SIMWINS $17,510. On June 17, Turner’s campaign paid SIMWINS $11,565 for services related to a petition mailer. On Jan. 31, April 23 and May 18, Turner’s campaign paid SIMWINS $1,250 for consulting services on each of those occasions.
On Dec. 26, Turner’s campaign paid SIMWINS $750 for campaign notecards. On Dec. 7, Turner’s campaign paid SIMWINS $1,250 for consulting services. On Nov. 7, Turner’s campaign paid SIMWINS $195 for an online subscription.
Satcher, Van Ostenbridge and Turner each list Wendy White as their campaign treasurer, as do District 1 county commission candidate Steve Metallo, District 3 county commission candidate April Culbreath and District 3 Manatee County School Board candidate Jonathan Lynch. White’s Campaign Accounting Services LLC lists the same Tampa address as Pedicini’s SIMWINS firm. According to their campaign treasurer’s reports, Metallo, Culbreath and Lynch did not list any campaign expenditures made to Pedicini or SIMWINS as of June 28.
KVO attack ad
Van Ostenbridge’s campaign is currently airing a TV campaign ad that makes the following claims about Kruse: “When radical environmentalists backed by George Soros attacked our property rights, spineless Kruse sided with Soros. When the liberal media called DeSantis the village idiot for securing our elections, Kruse sided with the liberal media. Spineless George Kruse, so liberal he’s basically a Democrat.”
On July 8, Kruse published a lengthy written rebuttal at his Substack website.
“Before qualifying even ended, over $50,000 of airtime was bought to run an attack ad entirely devoid of facts,” Kruse wrote. “As he (Van Ostenbridge) can’t run on any fact-based record, the assumption is the baseless attacks will continue until Aug. 20. The broadest of their attacks is that I’m a liberal, communist, Democrat, RINO (Republican in Name Only), whatever term they have on hand at that time. Their definition of ‘conservative’ is so warped at this point that it’s lost all meaning. They have fought tax cuts, spent your hard-earned money freely on pork projects they can campaign on, grown government to stratospheric levels and weaponized their power against their residents and your voice. No self-respecting Republican would want to be associated with whatever brand of ‘conservative’ these people are.
“They further try to claim that any news (agency) is liberal if they don’t bow down to their corrupt and destructive actions. Even The Observer, by far the most conservative paper in town, was called the ‘liberal media’ in their pathetic TV ad for daring to have an opinion different than theirs,” Kruse wrote.
Regarding the ad’s claim about his views on DeSantis, Kruse wrote, “I’m not a member of a cult and I don’t blindly believe every single thing a politician does is correct. I fully believe the governor made a huge mistake appointing our current Supervisor of Elections (Satcher) over a far more experienced and qualified candidate in Scott Farrington. I would venture to guess 99% of informed Manatee County residents feel the same way. These are non-partisan issues that need the voice of the entire electorate.”
Regarding non-Republicans switching their party affiliation to Republicans to vote in the Republican primary, Kruse wrote, “The other side has no problem filing fake ghost candidates as write-ins to lock down primaries so they can use their ‘more conservative than you’ playbook.”
During the recent debate, Satcher referred to the completely legal practice of changing party affiliation as “election interference.”
“When we recommend non-Republicans change their party to have a voice in the governing of their county, it’s called election interference,” Kruse wrote. “Their playbook only works if they can con the furthest right of the base. If others start paying attention, they have no counter for that.”
Kruse noted July 22 is the deadline for voters to change their party affiliation at registertovoteflorida.gov.
Related coverage: Candidates Farrington, Satcher answer voter questions
