County Commissioner District 4 Endorsement

The Dalai Lama once said, “What’s past is past, we can’t change it, but we can learn from it.” As we consider which candidate to endorse in the Manatee County District 4 commission race we must examine the past.

Recently we have watched government officials use a pandemic to enact over-reaching rules and regulations that had a devastating effect on our citizens. Nationally, we saw lockdowns that made no sense in the fight against Covid-19. 

Unfortunately, locally we watched Commissioner Misty Servia as she voted to shut down our county boat ramps to prevent the public from enjoying the benefits of exercising outside. Think about the absurdity of allowing the wealthy, with their own boat docks, to enjoy boating while preventing those without their own private dock from enjoying the fresh air of the open water. Servia actually voted to keep citizens in their homes where they were much more likely to catch Covid-19. These actions by Servia gave evidence of her lack of common sense. 

Servia attempted to score political points against a fellow commissioner by hinting that Governor DeSantis was involved in a racist plot to favor white people in the vaccine rollout. Servia must have been listening to her Democratic party advisors who wanted her to throw darts at DeSantis for not following the Fauci led dogma. 

Serbia has been a government employee for years and she has resisted any attempt to hold county employees accountable for their actions. When the administrator has removed county employees from positions where they were not performing well, she has always fought to protect the employee instead of the taxpayers. 

Misty Servia has consistently been involved in the public bickering among her fellow commissioners. This constant bickering has made our county appear to be a reality show on the MTV network. 

The other Republican candidate in the District 4 commission race is Mike Rahn. Rahn, a veteran, is a local banker who has served on the Manatee County Planning Commission. 

Rahn has pledged to bring civility back to the County Commission. Commenting on the public bickering among county commissioners, Rahn said “we as commissioners need to set an example for the young people in our community by having civil discourse.” “We may disagree over policy but we must treat each other with dignity and respect.”

Rahn believes the county must invest in our local hard assets by bringing our water and sewer systems up to date. He also insists that we update our roadways in order to alleviate the traffic issues we are facing. Rahn believes we must make sure our growth is sustainable by ensuring that we have affordable workforce housing. “Our police officers, EMT’s and teachers must be able to afford to live in the communities they serve.”

Rahn is also a strong supporter of Sheriff Wells and the men and women who protect Manatee County. “I wholeheartedly support Sheriff Wells and his determination to not allow criminals to gain a foothold in our community.” Rahn believes our Sheriff needs a commissioner who will make sure he has the resources to protect our citizens. 

Mike Rahn is the commissioner that District 4 deserves.