In District 4, get ready for the knock on the door

When Ron Getman announced he would not seek re-election to the District 4 Manatee County Commission seat, it set off a scramble to decide who would replace him.

Competition is especially frenzied among the three Republican candidates who debated in front of the East Manatee Republican Club today. Each of them is hoping for 50 percent of the vote plus one in the Aug. 24 primary. The winner would face Democrat Roger Galle in the general election in November.

Robin DiSabatino, Norm Luppino and Tim Norwood are the Republican hopefuls and each said they hope to knock on every door in the district, which has more than 40,000 residents. That will take a lot of shoe leather and skin off the knuckles to achieve. The district stretches from Bayshore Gardens to Lockwood Ridge Road and from University Parkway to the Bradenton city limits.

The three Republicans offer some clear choices: the well-funded DiSabatino who has much of the business community lined up behind her; Norm Luppino, a former planner for Manatee County government who understands the challenges of growth from the inside out; and Tim Norwood, a self-proclaimed "tea-party" conservative whose campaign materials are photo copies, and who proudly runs on a shoestring.

But the three also share some goals, including bringing more jobs to the community, making the hard fiscal choices to ensure the county operates within its revenues, and, yes, knocking on all those doors.

For more, see Friday's Herald.

Jim