TALLAHASSEE — Three out of the four candidates for City Commission Seat 1 see this race as a competition between the common man and a career politician. They paint a picture of the incumbent, Scott Maddox, as being out of touch, arrogant, and part of the crony culture they see controlling a city commission lacking in transparency and accountability.
Maddox says he likes public service and takes pride in getting things done.
Maddox was first elected to the city commission in 1993. He ran for Florida Attorney General in 2002 and lost in the primary. In 2003, he became Florida’s Democratic Party chairman. Maddox ran for governor in 2005 (he withdrew a year before the election) and, for Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2010. He lost the Agriculture and Consumer Services race to Adam Putnam.
He was re-elected to the city commission in 2012 and is running for the state senate in 2020.
Gary Gayle, a risk-management employee at Leon County Schools, said one of the things that got him into the race was “the arrogance of some of the (career politicians) like Scott Maddox.”
“It’s a serial office seeking syndrome that they have,” Gayle said. “They’re career politicians. That’s all they know. They aren’t out there with the average person. They aren’t out in the neighborhoods.”
Gayle said, “I’m just a common person, the guy next door. I don’t have deep pockets. I’m not a career politician.”
He said he read an editorial by Gary Yordon which challenged good people to get involved in local politics. “That rang deep in me. I said to myself, ‘it’s time to give back.’”
“If I should be elected, I will be a one term commissioner for the public’s seat,” he said, “just a public servant for four years, not a career politician.”
Another candidate, Luther Lee, an administrator for the Florida Department of Revenue, put it like this, “When you have a commissioner saying he’s running for superintendent of schools and then the race get tights so he steps back to run for city commission because there’s nobody in there running … it doesn’t look ethical. It looks like you’re only in it for self-promotion, only concerned with your next career move. To make it even worse, you file to run for senate in 2020.”
He continued, “While (Maddox) is serving in office he’ll be actively campaigning. To say he’ll be 100 percent focused on the city commission is absurd. I think that’s doing the people of Tallahassee a disservice.”
Maddox responded, “I’ve heard Mr. Lee say that in the past. It’s funny he’s running for office but he’s against politicians.”
The third candidate, Dr. Bruce Strouble, a Florida A&M University academic advisor, said, “I am not a career politician. I am a concerned citizen and I see the same problems that (other citizens) see when they look at our community, and I see the same potential in our community that they saw when they decided to make Tallahassee their home. I want to work toward their same goals. I want Tallahassee to reach its fullest potential and I want to help to solve problems.”
He continued, “That’s why I’m running for office, not for career purposes. It’s not about me, it’s about our community.”
Maddox responded to the career politician characterization by saying, “I’m in the same office as when I was 24. I enjoy public service. I like to try to make a difference in my community and that’s why I run for office. I just look at where I can make a difference for Tallahassee. If I think I can have an impact and make a difference, I’ll run for that office. The proof is in the work I do, which can be seen in everything from Blairstone Road, to Cascades Park, to my stance against property taxes, to my efforts to have more flights and lower fares coming out of our airport.”
Calling himself a fiscal conservative, Maddox said, “I fought against the property tax increase and continue to fight against spending on the city commission and CRA bodies.”
On the topic of transparency and accountability, the attacks were just as fierce. Strouble said, “When I talk to citizens, one of their biggest concerns is what’s going on behind closed doors.”
He continued, “The influence that lobbyists have in our local government has been unfair. Lobbyists are making huge campaign donations to candidates and getting rewarded with contracts and not even hiding it, in some cases. That’s influencing how the city develops and how power is controlled and maintained in the city.”
He said, “We’re all getting the short end of the stick because a small group of people is practicing this crony capitalism here in Tallahassee which lets them stay in power.”
Lee said that the commission avoided accountability during the recent city pay raise controversy in which ten city administrators were given huge raises, some as much as $40,000 or $50,000.
By saying commissioners did not have the authority to approve pay raises, “those pay raises went unchecked. All (of the commissioners) could have voted ‘no’ on the budget if they didn’t agree with those salaries,” he said.
Lee continued, “If you can’t do anything, what’s the purpose of a city commission?”
Lee said, “Government’s supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. Somehow we’ve gotten that backwards.”
Maddox doesn’t believe the criticism of the city’s lack of transparency and accountability applies to him.
“I’m very transparent to the point of bluntness in everything I do. Ask Steve Stewart (Tallahassee Reports’ editor),” he said, “I ran against Steve and defeated him for this office. He and I were rivals. Now he has my cell number and can call me up and ask me about any city stance and I answer his questions openly and honestly and provide him with information.”
Maddox reacted to his competitors’ comments by saying, “The gentlemen running against me have made claims that the city commission isn’t transparent, that I’m out of touch and a career politician. Okay, we’ll see if voters agree with that. We’ll know on election day.”
Seat One Challengers Label Incumbent “Career Politician”, Maddox Responds added by Karen Murphy on
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LOL
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LOL these comments aged well…
Also, told ya so
Not trying to say I told you so but………..
Y’all soooo jelly that Scott can run a campaign properly that manages to reach actual voters. It’s real easy to file, run a shitty campaign that only reaches 500 people, raise enough money to litter the right-of-ways of a couple of neighborhoods with lawn signs, and then whine that the person who knows how to actually run a professional campaign ended up winning. All these whiney losers didn’t raise enough money to get their message to the voters. People were all like “Luther Who?” “Gary What?” Must be Scott’s fault y’all ran shit campaigns.
That’s interesting…a business address is no good for the school district’s residency requirement, but it’s fine for elected office??? Trick no good!!
Does Maddox think what he’s doing is fair? Has anyone asked him?
Side note: I should’ve voted for Steve when he ran….strouble 2016
Gary Yordon telling good people to run for political office is like……? (you can finish the statement)
Maddox just needs something to do until he runs for something else.
Maddox IS literally a career politician. He became commissioner while still in college, and has never had a job outside of politics that I can find.
I have to agree with Gayle. We need more people taking a turn at representing the people on the commission, not the same people year after year.
Scott Maddox vote against the Gillum, Miller, Richardson property tax increase. That definitely gets my vote.
I read once there are two reasons people become politicians;
1) Because they are arrogant enough to believe that THEY can make a difference
2) They believe that the government can be utilized to make that difference
Good or bad, right or wrong, the politician feels that either themselves or the government is the solution to the problems, both wrong answers. Elected officials are like baby diapers, they should be changed often, and for the same reason. Having said that, rarely do decent people run for office, it’s been my observation that when they do, they typically lose the election.
I vote for the lesser evil, whomever that may be.
I’ve known Scott Maddox for decades…he is clearly the most qualified candidate for the City Commission…he has significant experience and he listens to people…he was the ONLY Commissioner to vote against the property tax increase and that’s big in my book…there is nothing wrong with a career politician if they’re doing a good job and that’s why they must stand for re-election which Scott is doing…I’m a lobbyist and I only have a non-profit that does business with the city and he has been responsive to our needs…clearly, there’s no reason based on his votes, his record, his experience, his demeanor or his commitment to serve that would ever make me think twice about voting for Scott…he WILL win because he deserves it and he’s done a great job!
He does not live in his district, he micromanages the airport when he is not qualified, he mismanaged the Florida Democratic Party, he recently spent taxpayer monies on indulging on food/(drink?) in Manhattan, the crime rate is out of control, etc. Clearly you are more interested in special interests than honor, integrity, public safety, and humanity. He may win, but he should not even have been able to qualify for this seat BECAUSE HE IS INELIGIBLE DUE TO THE RESIDENCY RULE.
So then how did he? Do we have his quali form? What did he list? Seems like a job for TR. Get the residency info on all candidates.
Jon, according to the Leon County Property appraiser, the only residence in Commissioner Maddox’s name is outside of the city limits ( http://www.leonpa.org/pt/Datalets/Datalet.aspx?sIndex=1&idx=4 ) but he uses 510 N Adams St (office address for his law firm) as his place of residency for voter registration. Supervisor of elections allows voter registration address as a verification of residency for candidates so to their office, there is no residency issue. Here is the link to his qualifying documents ( http://www.leonvotes.org/Portals/Leon/Documents/Candidates/PDFs/2016/Sets/MaddoxSet2.pdf ), but each of the candidates’ info is readily available at the Supervisor of Elections website. Apparently, folks have already tried to get his residency issue addressed but nothing comes of it. To be fair though, the address listed on the property appraiser’s website should probably fall within city limits but the zoning goes around the neighborhood.
There is a residency issue. The candidate must reside in the city. A business address is not residing…so yes there is a residency issue.
Hope, common sense and ethics agree with you. Unfortunately, the candidates and Supervisor of Elections office is only required to abide by the law…not common sense and ethics.
Endorsed by a lobbyist who has contracts with the city!? THATS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM. That is enough of a reason to vote for a new commissioner.
You got to give Maddox… Giving Steve Steward his cell was transparency!!
I don’t know if he has Steve Steward’s cell, but sure appears he has Steve Stewart’s. LOL, just a fun Stanley. Blessings, brother.
Like it or not, career politician or not, Maddox is the most competent person sitting on the city commission. Whether or not that says something negative about the rest of them, you be the judge.
Maddox does not live in his district. How does Maddox running up a restaurant (bar?) tab in Manhattan at the taxpayers expense make him the the most competent? If you want to give him credit how about accolades that we are number one in crime? If this is the most competent then Houston we have a problem.
The problem in this city is Gillum, not Maddox. If anything Maddox tries to stop Gillums’s ridiculous actions but they get passed thanks to Richardson. Richardson is the one who needs to go – flat out lies and gets away with it.