‘Grassroots conservative’ runs against ‘conservative cop’ in Manatee District 3 primary

Two newcomers to local political office will face off in the Republican primary for the District 3 seat on the Manatee County Commission in the Aug. 20 primary election.

Tal Siddique and April Culbreath are asking voters for the chance to represent District 3, which includes Anna Maria Island, part of Longboat Key, part of Bradenton and the areas of Cortez, Palma Sola, Rubonia and Terra Ceia.

The seat is currently held by Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge. Van Ostenbridge is running for reelection but switched races with Culbreath earlier this year to run against Commissioner George Kruse for the District 7 at-large commission seat.

Both Culbreath and Siddique promise to bring their own brand of conservative values to the county’s top governing body.

Culbreath, 50, says she brings more life experience than her younger opponent and would focus on cutting taxes and improving public safety.

Siddique, 30, says he would be a voice for residents, not special interests, and would focus on infrastructure improvements and economic growth.

But the District 3 race has had a considerable amount of political drama to distract from policy debate.

Culbreath’s history of reprimands during her law enforcement career has drawn scrutiny from local media and would-be voters. And Siddique says that political attack ads sent on Culbreath’s behalf went too far, prompting him to take legal action.

False attack ads prompt legal pushback

Culbreath has engaged Anthony Pedicini’s Tampa-based consulting firm, Strategic Image Management (SIMWINS) in her election effort.

The consulting firm is controversial for its use of so-called “dark money” to fund campaign efforts and sensational attack ads. All sitting county commissioners have used or are using the consulting firm.

In the District 3 race, a political committee with Pedicini registered as chair, “The Committee to Expose Fake Republicans,” sent out attack mailers with false claims about Siddique.

Siddique said he expected political attacks during his campaign. But he said these attack ads included disinformation about his wife, Kristen Truong, who is not running for office.

“To involve my wife, who has been a card-carrying and very active Republican in our community, is just disgusting to me,” Siddique told the Bradenton Herald. “My opponent and her consultant are part of a network that runs negative ads and stoops to new lows to attack their opponents to win elections. Especially when they have no message of their own.”

The ads prompted Truong and Siddique to send cease and desist letters to Pedicini’s attorney.

An attack ad sent via text message claimed that Siddique and his wife were Democrats with “ties directly to the Clintons,” and a mailer labeled them “Bradenton’s most liberal couple” and claimed that they had just moved to the area.

Refuting each of the claims, the letter stated that Truong was born and raised in Manatee County, is a lifelong Republican and has never met, spoken with or been affiliated with the Clintons.

The letter further stated all of the claims were “false and defamatory” and demanded “corrections, apologies and/or retractions.”

A review of public records by the Bradenton Herald found all verifiable claims made by the attack ads to be false.

Another cease and desist letter was sent on Siddique’s behalf on Aug. 10 in response to a new wave of attack ads from The Committee to Expose Fake Republicans. The letter says that mailers, texts and a TV ad accuse Siddique of “stolen valor” — a federal crime — for allegedly falsely claiming to have served in the U.S. Air Force.

However, Siddique’s campaign materials and interviews have not claimed that he served in the military or holds veteran status. In reality, his campaign has highlighted his work for the U.S. Air Force as a civilian leading software teams.

Culbreath discusses record at sheriff’s office

Culbreath’s election campaign characterizes her as “The Conservative Cop,” highlighting her career of 26 years as a law enforcement officer with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Her work history includes time as a patrol deputy and as a detective in property crimes and the Crimes Against Children Unit.

But personnel records from her time with the agency show that Culbreath was the subject of numerous complaints and disciplinary actions.

Records reviewed by the Bradenton Herald showed that Culbreath was suspended six times without pay for a total of over 880 hours between 2005 and 2012:

• An 86-hour suspension in April 2005 after an investigation found Culbreath refused to obey an order from a supervisor when she did not show up to conduct an investigation as instructed;
• A 387-hour suspension in March 2006 after Culbreath was “observed dancing in a suggestive manner while in uniform” at a wedding reception;
• A 129-hour suspension in February 2006 after an investigation found that Culbreath likely had multiple sexual encounters with a sheriff’s office colleague while on and off duty;
• A 17.2-hour suspension in August 2009 after an investigation found Culbreath had cursed at a supervisor after being called in to take an assignment while working in the Child Protective Investigative Division;
• An 8.6-hour suspension in March 2010 after an investigation found Culbreath failed to respond to a call for a missing child and was instead visiting another detective;
• A 258-hour suspension in February 2012 for “conduct unbecoming a deputy.” A complaint alleged that Culbreath, while off duty, visited a cosmetic surgery center in Tampa where she had a procedure that she was unhappy with. The complaint alleged that she attempted to take her medical records from the facility without paying, and when an employee tried to stop her she struck him in the face multiple times.

Culbreath’s record includes a number of other complaints that the sheriff’s office investigated and sustained but did not result in suspensions. They include going to a call without being dispatched, failing to preserve evidence, driving a sheriff’s office vehicle to her home in another county without permission, failing to properly secure her handgun and misuse of the Driver And Vehicle Information Database (DAVID).

Culbreath’s most recent reprimand in records provided to the Bradenton Herald came in 2015. Several additional complaints were investigated and deemed unfounded between then and October 2023, when Culbreath retired from the sheriff’s office to pursue politics.

Culbreath has avoided speaking with local media about her record at the sheriff’s office, but she addressed it in an interview with the Bradenton Herald this week.

“A lot of the things that have been reported are not even true. Anything that I have done that’s wrong, I’ve paid severely for it and regret,” Culbreath said.

Culbreath attributed her missteps to being a young deputy but also appeared to suggest that the sheriff’s office’s Internal Affairs investigators had a bias against women. Her longest suspension came when she was a nine-year veteran at the law enforcement agency.

“I was 23 years old when I started at the sheriff’s office. I was the only female on my rotation. It was a different time in 1997 for women in law enforcement. That definitely played a role in the disciplinary process.”

“I’ve learned a lot along the way and I’m a different person now,” Culbreath said.

Who is April Culbreath?

Background: Culbreath is a career law enforcement officer, Chair of the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee and the founder of Manatee County’s “Trump Train” — a group that holds large parades and rallies in support of former President Donald Trump.

Culbreath was born and raised in Tampa, and her husband Duane Culbreath is a fourth-generation Manatee County resident, she said. They have three teenage children.

Goals for first term: Culbreath told the Bradenton Herald that her top priorities include cutting taxes, ensuring the county’s public safety needs are met and preserving Manatee County’s “small town quality of life.”

“I want to try to get taxes cut as low as we can get them,” Culbreath said. “ And I want to improve traffic and protect our small town quality of life.”

“Public safety is very important to me,” Culbreath said. “Our county is growing. Getting better flow of traffic is a big priority, but we also have our public safety infrastructure of fire, EMS and law enforcement that we need to expand as well.”

Culbreath said she would also like to bring beautification projects and better pedestrian and bicycle access to her district.

Environment and development: “In District 3, we’ve pretty much developed everything we can develop out here. I would like to make it easier for homeowners who want to add on to their homes with a mother-in-law suite or a room for their child that’s coming home from college. I’ve heard a lot of folks saying that they have to wait many months to years to get permitting and everything they need to get it done. I think we need to make that more reasonable and make it easier for folks to build where they want to on their own private property.”

“My children will be fifth-generation Manatee County residents,” Culbreath said. “We are definitely concerned about the environment.”

Message to voters: Culbreath said she would bring the perspective of a law enforcement officer, a woman and a parent to the county commission.

“With a career in law enforcement, you learn how to navigate the world in a mature and professional manner. I have more life experience under my belt than my opponent. And most folks with children would agree that being a parent makes you see the world differently.”

“I’ve been inside thousands of homes in Manatee County helping people out in their darkest hours. I think that I can bring maturity and transparency and hopefully boost the public perception of our board.”

Campaign funds and backers: Culbreath has raised over $79,000 in campaign funds, according to election records. Contributions include numerous maximum $1,000 donations from the real estate, development, accounting and agriculture sectors and political action committees as well as many small donations from individuals.

Culbreath has announced an endorsement from the Manatee County Fraternal Order of Police.

Who is Tal Siddique?

Background: Siddique is a software engineer who has worked for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to his campaign bio.

Siddique has lived in Bradenton for three and a half years, where his wife Kristen Truong was born and raised. Her family helped found Bradenton Christian Reformed Church and the Bradenton Christian School, Siddique said. Siddique volunteers with local groups including the Salvation Army, Bradenton Kiwanis Club and Take Stock in Children.

Goals for first term: Siddique told the Bradenton Herald that one of his top priorities is setting a strong ethics standard for the county commission, which he has found lacking in the current board.

“It’s about how they conduct business and about how they conduct themselves in the community,” Siddique said. “There has been a lot of reporting on decisions that are been potentially outside of the Florida Sunshine Law with key votes such as development projects, the wetlands vote and a number of other votes. Residents have told me they feel like these things have been coordinated behind the scenes.”

Siddique also critiqued what he says is “a level of disrespect never seen before” from commissioners towards residents.

“We have political attacks on residents simply for speaking their minds,” Siddique said.

Siddique said other top priorities include promoting economic growth and funding infrastructure.

“We’re going through one of the most pivotal moments in county government right now with the review of our Comprehensive Plan. It’s essentially the blueprint of how our government will operate in the coming years. We need to work to attract higher-paying jobs and more affordable options for housing so people can continue to work and live in the community,” Siddique said.

Siddique said he’d seek a reduction in the county millage to reduce property taxes and strategically invest in capital improvement projects, including safety upgrades for his district.

“There are a lot of people running on being conservatives, but oftentimes if you look at their records, they are asking for a massive increase in spending, and they’re not focused on local issues,” Siddique said. “In the past four years, we have increased our debt and budget. But I’ve asked people in District 3, and many of them don’t feel the improvements there.”

Environment and development: “It’s disappointing seeing the amount of pollution in our water,” Siddique said. “The entire coastline is in my district, so improving water quality is very important to me. You see the effects of spills like Piney Point and City of Bradenton’s failing wastewater plant. We need a comprehensive water quality management or improvement plan. You have areas of the county that are on septic and the county refuses to put them on sewer. I would also like to see new development help prevent runoff into the water. I would like to see development that captures and reuses more water. We can’t control the discharges from Lake Okeechobee, but we can control the impact of development here.”

Message to voters: Siddique has labeled himself the “grassroots conservative” with a promise to voters that he will not accept special interest money to fund his campaign.

“In Florida, land development firms are donating millions to sway elections at a time when we are undergoing significant development. The money is influencing decision-making and oftentimes hurting residents, because we’re approving development too fast and we don’t have a plan for it,” Siddique said.

“After years of negativity and these consultants trying to fool voters into voting against their own interests, I hope that this is the year that voters can finally see the difference between special interests and everyday residents. I will always look out for the interests of everyday people over special interests,” Siddique said.

Campaign funds and backers: Siddique has raised over $61,000 in campaign funds, according to election records.

Siddique has announced endorsements from former Bradenton City Councilman Gene Gallo, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, Holmes Beach Chief of Police William Tokajer and the Manatee County Republican Liberty Caucus.

What happens next?

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker and a write-in candidate in the Nov. 5 general election.