IN A SEA OF RED, WHERE SHOULD DISTRICT 2 DEMS DROP ANCHOR

 

Why this Democrat is backing a Trump organizer

 
Being a Democrat in NW Florida can be trying. With a few exceptions, there are a lot of lost elections and too often not even having a candidate in the race. This is the state of affairs in the district 2 county commissioner race in Escambia County this year. The only qualifying candidates this year are three Republicans. This means the Republican primary is now a general election open to all registered voters. The winner of this election will be the next commissioner, meaning this race will not be on the November ballot. But who to vote for? All three are running for office for the first time. Some Democrats might be tempted to skip this race on the ballot, but the stakes are too high to take a pass.

Going into this election season I didn’t know a thing about any of these candidates. They’re all Republicans, but this is less of a concern for me than some might expect. County Commissioners make sure the potholes are filled, that the rain doesn’t flood the streets and generally manages the county’s budget. Not the normal partisan issues that so often divide people. It’s about getting a competent person elected who can effectively get things done while representing the interest of their constituents.

The Pizza Man
The first candidate to jump in was Chance Walsh. At first he seemed promising, the owner of a small pizza joint out on Perdido Key, he could bring some business sense to the board. Right out of the gate he raised a huge amount of money and seemed likely to be the leading candidate. However, after redistricting put his business in district 1 he seemed to lose interest in the race. He failed to even respond to several candidate questionnaires for local media and when he showed up to a candidate forum in Warrington, he was shockingly unprepared. He couldn’t provide a single answer that showed he understood the issues the county was facing. Apparently, he’s claimed he didn’t have time to campaign because of running his restaurant. District 2 needs a full-time commissioner that will put their constituents' interests first. I’ve also since found out that the source of his money isn’t his business, but rather he inherited it from his dad. Walsh might be a nice guy, but he simply can’t be considered a serious candidate for this position.

The Lobbyist
Next in was Kevin Brown. He was the legislative aide for state senator Doug Broxson. It quickly became clear that this was the party insider’s candidate. Escambia County has a long history of electing good ol’ boys that won’t get in the way of developer profits. Irresponsible development is responsible for much of the flooding problems we have in this county. Kevin Brown is the very definition of the traditional good ol’ boy candidate. All you have to do is look at who’s funding his campaign. About half the money he’s raised has come from outside the local area, primarily from Tallahassee. Not only that, but much of it is coming from lobbyists, developers, fellow politicians and Political Action Committees (PACs) that can hide the source of much of their money.

Then I found out he’s employed with a lobbying firm in Tallahassee who represents corporations who want to be awarded state and local contracts. Now he’s running for a position where he could steer county contracts to his own clients. Kevin Brown is bought and paid for and is absolutely the wrong leadership for Escambia County.

The Naval Nurse
Well, we only have one guy left, Mike Kohler. Based on his competition, I was already leaning towards him. My question though was, is Kohler simply the least bad candidate, or is he someone I can actively get behind. To answer this, I sent him an email to see if he could spare a few minutes to sit down with me so I could ask him a few questions. I wanted to get a sense of his approach to the problems facing the county and if he was a guy I could trust in the office. I won’t keep you in suspense, Mike Kohler is the real deal. We sat down and talked for two and half hours and discussed a wide range of issues and addressed some of the criticisms that Kevin Brown's team has tried to make stick against him.

Mike is from a modest family in Colorado and decided to join the Navy right out of high school back in 1987. This is what initially brought him to Pensacola. While on his first of many assignments here he got his associate degree from Pensacola Junior College and eventually became a registered nurse. Mike spent the next 33 years in the Navy working his way up from enlisted Seaman to commissioned officer, eventually reaching the rank of Naval Captain. He also married his wife Shannon, a middle school teacher, and raised 3 children along the way.

From 1997 on he spent most of his Naval career in the Pensacola area with tours at the Naval Hospital, Whiting Field and the Medical Training Center on Pensacola NAS. Throughout that time he’s been involved in the community. Among other things, he’s organized charity 5k races, volunteers with Northeast Sertoma and has sat on the Escambia County Health Facilities Authority Board for a decade.

The Issues
That’s all nice, but it’s not necessarily a reason to vote for him. What I like about Mike Kohler is he recognizes the government has a role in making our communities function better. He sees the need to fill vacancies in county government if we want things to get done. He recognizes there’s a need for public transportation even though it’s probably never going to break even in a place like Escambia County. He understands the government plays an important role in encouraging development. Yet, he also recognizes that the county must ensure developers follow regulations to prevent creating new problems. Mike wants to put more focus on maintaining parks, but sees other candidates' empty promises to expand the number of parks as leading to worse maintenance. He understands the scale of flooding problems we have and the magnitude of the effort it’s going to take to address it. This outlook on government makes him a radical departure from our current commissioner.

There are several issues that basically all the candidates agree on. The county must work with the Dept. of Transportation to widen Gulf Beach Hwy. We need to expand the sewer system along Navy Blvd to encourage economic development on the west side. All the candidates want to address homelessness, however, frankly I think they all falter a bit on finding practical solutions. Mike does advocate for working with existing organizations to provide a more comprehensive approach in helping the homeless. They all talk about cleaning up blight and litter although it’s not clear how they will go about it. There are a lot of issues like this that don’t elicit much controversy. However, Kohler is the guy with the actual experience of being in charge of large organizations and getting things done. Brown has never been more than a lackey for other politicians prior to being employed by a lobbying firm. Walsh might be good at making pizzas, but he’s going to have a steep learning curve if elected. At least so far, he’s shown little inclination in preparing himself for the job he’s asking people to entrust him with.

But Is He QAnon?
Finally, I know there are a lot of Democrats and independents out there going, “ok, fine, but I heard he’s a QAnon, anti-vaxxer, and election denier who worked for Trump.” Only one of those things is true, he did work for the Trump campaign. However, he is definitely not a QAnon conspiracy guy or an anti-vaxxer. He’s a nurse who was vaccinated the week it became available and has since received a booster. He even showed me his vaccination card. He doesn’t support vaccine mandates, but basically no Republicans do. He also acknowledged that Joe Biden is president, and was clear that the idea of a vast conspiracy to steal the election was nonsense. Yes, he supported looking into irregularities in the last election, but he considers the 2020 election settled.

Mike also referred to the Jan 6th protesters who stormed the Capital building as a national disgrace. He even acknowledged that Trump contributed to the environment that led to it and said the President needed to act quicker to stop the riot after it started. However, he doesn’t think Trump’s actions were criminal. Mike feels people should be held accountable for their own actions and a speech didn’t make anyone break into the capital. At the end of the day, this is a race between three Trump supporters, that’s just a fact. Kevin Brown referred to DeSantis as a “REAL” leader and the “BEST Governor in America.” It’s been a long time since district 2 has had a Democratic commissioner, and that’s still going to be true four years from now.

One last accusation that Brown’s people have made is that Mike is illegally using military imagery in his advertising. The military rules concerning the use of in-uniform pictures in political advertising are vaguely worded making enforcement near impossible. Still, Mike has disclaimers on his advertising using military photos stating they do not imply any DoD endorsement of his candidacy.

They’ve also criticized him for apparently using the Naval Nursing Corps seal on his yard signs. At first, I thought this might be a legitimate complaint, however, it turns out he’s using a public domain image that only looks similar to the official seal. He ran it past the Navy legal department before including it on his signs to ensure he wasn’t breaking the law. It would have been better if he’d used an image that was less likely to be confused with the official seal. This is a sentiment he told me he agrees with. In the end, this was just another sad attempt by Brown’s campaign consultants to smear Mike’s long and distinguished Naval Career.

Conclusion
The truth is, no county commissioner is going to come in and fix everything. They are one vote on a commission that has to work within their budgetary restrictions. Mike looked at the way Doug Underhill acted as commissioner and wants to change that. He’s committed to acting with civility towards his constituents and his fellow commissioners. Mike understands it’s important that citizens feel their commissioner will listen to their concerns and ideas.

So, have I jumped ship and joined the Republicans? Absolutely not, I’ll be voting a straight Democratic ticket in November. The question is, who can we trust to work full-time for the people of Escambia County, and who has the experience to be effective on the commission. Mike Kohler is the clear answer.