Cocky developer Carlos Beruff unworthy of U.S. Senate

Rebuff Beruff ...

After seeing Carlos Beruff’s ads as he’s running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate, I felt a need to respond. He call politicians “worthless,” but he sure has donated plenty of money to some of them, like our governor, who rewarded Beruff by appointing him to numerous public boards, one of which was State College of Florida, where he convinced the rest of the board to do away with tenure for faculty members. Not a good idea.

He also tried to coerce the Manatee County commission into changing the Comprehensive Plan so he could further line his pockets by ripping out acres of mangroves and dredging a channel through sensitive seagrass beds to build a huge marina as part of his Long Bar Pointe project. To their credit, the commissioners rejected that request.

He then sued the county (Manatee taxpayers) but lost when a local judge ruled against him. Since then he has appealed to a higher court, located in Lakeland, apparently hoping that someone, far removed from the area, will overrule the local judge and allow him to destroy this pristine ecosystem.

If this gambit fails, he recently donated $10,000 to the election campaign of Steve Jonsson, who is running for the District 3 seat on the Manatee County commission, which just happens to include Long Bar Pointe. Also, Mr. Jonsson received campaign cash from other local developers, as reported in the May 12 Bradenton Herald.

Do we really want a greedy real estate developer who will not take “no” for an answer and thinks every vacant piece of property in Florida would look better with a house or shopping center on it representing us in Congress?

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Cocky developer Carlos Beruff unworthy of U.S. Senate."