by Beth Kassab | Jul 25, 2024 | Election, News, Uncategorized
Let us hear your questions for County Commission District 5 candidates
The four candidates for the seat that represents Winter Park will appear at a public forum on Aug. 6
July 24, 2024
Staff Report
Voters will have the chance to hear directly from Orange County Commission candidates for District 5, which represents Winter Park, at a public forum on Aug. 6 at Westminster Winter Park.
The event at 7 p.m. is sponsored by the Orange County League of Women Voters and will be moderated by Winter Park Voice Editor Beth Kassab. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. at Westminster, 1111 S. Lakemont Ave.
The public can also tune in live to watch the forum or watch a recorded broadcast on the League’s Facebook page. 
What questions do you have for the candidates who will be on the Aug. 20 ballot? You can leave them in the comment section below or email WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com.
Vying for the technically non-partisan seat are: Former Maitland City Council member and former legislator Joy Goff-Marcil; former Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary; attorney Joel Antonio Montilla and Kelly Semrad, a UCF associate professor of tourism economics.
Key issues in the race include how to spend the county’s Tourist Development Tax, a levy on hotel beds; how to protect rural lands; policies for improving the region’s overcrowded roads and other transportation woes and more.
The winner will replace Emily Bonilla, who has reached term limits for her seat.
If none of the four candidates receives 50% plus one of the vote in August, then the top two vote getters will face off in November.
What else is on your Aug. 20 ballot? Take a look here.
Requests to cast a mail ballot must be made by Aug. 8 at 5 p.m.
The Orange County Supervisor of Elections office reported that it has received more than 90,000 requests for mail-in ballots so far. That is below the 214,555 requests for the primary in 2020 and 195,935 in 2022.
The lagging number this year is the result of a change in state law by the Florida Legislature, which now says that vote-by-mail requests expire after each federal election cycle and voters must re-submit those requests.
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 13, 2024 | Election, News
Your vote-by-mail request expired. It's time to request another
A state law that took effect in 2021 means that voters who want to cast a ballot by mail must make that request after each general election cycle
July 13, 2024
By Beth Kassab
If you haven’t requested your vote-by-mail ballot, the deadline to do so is looming.
Requests to cast a mail ballot must be made by Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. for the Aug. 20 primary election. The deadline to switch parties or newly register to vote in the primary is July 22. (For information about what will be on your ballot check the supervisor’s site here and the Voice’s race preview here.)
The Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office reports that it has received nearly 8,000 new vote-by-mail requests since late June for a total of 82,838 requests.
But that total is still less than half of what it was in 2022, according to the supervisor’s office.
Officials think this is because voters are still learning they must re-submit mail requests as a result of a 2021 state law that says those requests expire after each federal general election. That means previous vote-by-mail requests expired on Dec. 31, 2022.
“Thanks to the great work of our staff, we have already started processing vote-by-mail ballots for the primary and will be sending them out very soon,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean in a news release. “While there is still plenty of time to request a vote-by-mail ballot, the deadline is now less than a month away.”
Gilzean is also reminding voters to update their signatures if they believe it could have changed due to age, injury or illness. Voters can find instructions on how to update their signature on the “Vote-By-Mail” section of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website under “Signature Updates.”
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 1, 2024 | Election, News, Uncategorized
What's on the Aug. 20 ballot in Winter Park?
There’s big focus on November because of the presidential election, but August is key for local races
July 1, 2024
By Beth Kassab
With so much attention already on November because of the presidential contest, it’s important for Winter Park voters to know Aug. 20 is just as crucial of an Election Day when it comes to deciding how your local tax dollars are spent or how our schools and our elections are run.
The way the August primary works in Florida can be something of a mystery even for those of us who have lived here for a while. A series of state and local rules determine whether races are decided in August or November based on whether the races are partisan and how many candidates are running.
Here’s a preview of what to expect on the Winter Park ballot and keep following the Voice for more coverage of these Orange County races:
You are likely already hearing about (and being asked for money) for the most competitive races heading into August.
They are:
Orange County Commission District 5: This is a technically non-partisan seat that is open because current Commissioner Emily Bonilla, who represents Winter Park, has reached her term limits. The candidates are: Former Maitland City Council member and former legislator Joy Goff-Marcil; former Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary; attorney Joel Antonio Montilla and Kelly Semrad, a UCF associate professor of tourism economics. If none of the four candidates receives 50% plus one of the vote in August, then the top two vote getters will face off in November.
Supervisor of Elections: Glen Gilzean, who was appointed to the post earlier this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis after longtime Supervisor Bill Cowles left the job early, decided not to run. Vying for the now open partisan seat as registered Democrats are current School Board member Karen Castor Dentel, former Orange County Democratic chairman Wes Hodge, attorney Dan Helm and “Sunshine” Linda-Marie Grund, a real estate broker. Cynthia Harris, a non-profit executive who has also served as chairwoman of Valencia College Black Advisory Committee, according to her LinkedIn profile, qualified as a candidate without a party affiliation. Because there is an NPA candidate in the race, only registered Democrats can vote in August on the Democratic candidates. Then the winner will face Harris in November.
Tax Collector: Scott Randolph, the incumbent, and David Nelson Freeman qualified as Democrats for the partisan seat. Dennis Spencer Levy also qualified as a write-in candidate. Once again, because there is a write-in candidate, the August primary will be only for — and likely decided by — registered Democrats. The winner will appear on the November ballot with the write-in candidate.
School Board District 6: This seat, which represents Winter Park, is open because Castor Dentel is leaving to run for Supervisor of Elections. The candidates are Jeni Grieger, a former teacher, and Stephanie Vanos, an education advocate. Because this is a nonpartisan race and there are only two candidates, it will be open to all voters and will be decided in August.
Property Appraiser: Amy Mercado, the incumbent, and Kevin Pribell are the only candidates in the race and both are Democrats. As a result, the ballot will be open to all voters and decided in August.
State Attorney: Andrew Bain was appointed by DeSantis after the governor suspended Monique Worrell from office. Bain is running as an NPA and Worrell is running as a Democrat. In November, they will face whoever wins the August closed Republican primary. The Republican candidates are Thomas Feiter and Seth Hyman.
Public Defender: Bob Wesley is retiring from this post after 24 years, leaving the seat open. Melissa Vickers, a 21-year veteran of the office and former chief assistant, and Lenora Easter, also a former public defender in the district, are both running as Democrats. As a result the race is open to all voters and will be decided in August.
Automatically elected because of no opposition:
Clerk of Courts: Tiffany Moore Russell, the incumbent, is the only candidate who qualified and is automatically elected.
Comptroller: Phil Diamond, the incumbent, is the only candidate who qualified and is automatically elected.
Sheriff: John Mina, the incumbent, is the only candidate who qualified and is automatically elected. This is the first time an incumbent sheriff ran unopposed in Orange County since 2000.
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by Beth Kassab | May 11, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Minors told police campaign treasurer offered them $50 for 50 of opponent's signs
The campaign treasurer for Craig Russell denied he had any involvement in the incident in an interview with detectives detailed in newly released records
May 11, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Newly released police records provide more details of the allegations that teenagers were offered money to steal campaign signs, leading to three misdemeanor charges against Christopher Hoats, campaign treasurer for Commissioner Craig Russell.
Four minors interviewed separately by Winter Park Police provided consistent accounts of what happened, police said. Two of the boys identified Hoats from a photo line-up and said he was the person who approached them on March 21 as they were skateboarding outside Floyd’s Barbershop in Maitland. The boys said Hoats offered to pay them $50 to steal 50 of Jason Johnson’s campaign signs, according to the document.
The incident occurred as Johnson and Russell were two days into a heated runoff contest for Seat 2 on the City Commission.
Three misdemeanor charges against Hoats — two counts of contributing to the dependency or delinquency of a minor and one count of petit theft — were made public for the first time last week after Hoats was issued a summons to appear in the case.
Hoats did not respond to messages seeking comment from the Voice. Russell, who did not respond to messages seeking comment, released a statement to the Orlando Sentinel last week that said he is “deeply concerned” about the allegations and noted that his campaign has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
One of the boys, who was interviewed by police at his school on March 29, told the detectives that the man said he “was going to pay me to steal signs in Winter Park,” according to a capias request, which details probable cause in the case for the State Attorney.
“The man told us to steal these signs that had Jason Johnson on the signs,” the boy said. ” It was for a city election if I’m not mistaken. He told us the other candidate was stealing his signs so he ran out from the barbershop and asked if we were willing to steal signs for some cash.”
Two boys identified Hoats from a photo lineup, according to the document.
They also told police the man gave them his Instagram account and showed the account to police.
On April 2, police also obtained video footage from the barbershop and observed Hoats at the business on March 21 and also verified with employees that he had a haircut scheduled for that day.
The report goes on to say that detectives went to Winter Park High School, where Hoats helps coach football, in an attempt to talk with Hoats, but learned he is not a teacher and was not at the school.
Police then arranged to meet Hoats at the police department on the afternoon of April 2.
According to the report, Hoats told police he coaches high school football and did not recall any juveniles who were skateboarding. Later he said he recalled speaking with kids outside the barbershop and “immediately stated that he spoke to the juveniles about a local city election.”
He asked the kids who they were voting for and who their parents are voting for, the report stated.
“He stated they were younger; and that it was a ‘harmless conversation,” according to the report, and asked police if the kids were “stealing campaign yard signs.” Police noted that they had not mentioned “campaign signs” to Hoats, only “signs.”
Police asked Hoats why he would want to follow someone he did not know on Instagram after he noted one of the boys sent him his Instagram profile.
“Yeah to tell them who to vote for, who not to vote for, this is who we’re going up against, this is our competition,” Hoats responded, according to the report.
Hoats told police he did not encourage the kids to steal signs and was not a “kingpin” and “that no one asked him to have the signs stolen, he only informed the juveniles not to vote for Jason Johnson and to vote for Craig Russell.”
“Here’s the good guys, here’s the bad guys,” Hoats said, according to the report, and denied offering the kids $1 for every sign they stole.
The report goes on to describe how police arrived at Winter Park High School on April 8, eight days before the runoff election, in an attempt to talk with the candidate, Russell. The school resource officer took police to the gym and football coach’s office, but they learned Russell was not there.
Police later arranged to speak with Russell at his house and he told them that he contacted Hoats to tell him police had been at the school looking to speak with him.
Russell told police that “when he began the campaign he had little knowledge about the political makeup of the city and how involved people were, or the extent people would go to to make things up,” according to the report.
Russell also told police that he gave his campaign volunteers rules and told them not to touch the signs of his opponent.
“Mr. Russell further stated he did not have time to conspire to get kids to take signs,” the report stated.
Russell told police that Hoats served as his campaign treasurer but had asked Hoats to step away during the runoff portion of the campaign because Hoats had become too busy.
“Craig Russell repeatedly stated there was no way Christopher Hoats would have sent the juveniles to take the signs, and believed his opponent’s supporters were involved with this incident,” the report stated. “… He found it suspicious this occured after he won the general election.”
Russell won the April 16 election by 34 votes and was sworn in on April 24.
Winter Park Police concluded there was enough evidence to turn the case over to the state attorney, though the date that occured is unclear from the records.
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by Beth Kassab | May 10, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News
Russell responds to allegations against treasurer
The new city commissioner told a newspaper he is ‘committed to upholding ethical and legal obligations’
May 10, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Craig Russell said Friday that he is “deeply concerned” about allegations against his campaign treasurer, Christopher Hoats, who he called a “good friend and fellow educator.”
Three misdemeanor charges against Hoats became public this week when he was issued a summons to appear on two counts of contributing to the dependency or delinquency of a minor and one count of petit theft related to soliciting minors to “steal campaign signs in exchange for money,” according to court documents reported first by the Voice on Thursday.
In emailed comments to the Orlando Sentinel, Russell said Hoats “served for a period of time as our campaign treasurer,” though there does not appear to be a public filing with Winter Park’s clerk to show he was ever removed from that role.
Craig Russell
“We do want to make it very clear that we have always been committed to upholding ethical and legal obligations in all our actions. Neither we nor the campaign have been accused of any contrary conduct, nor are we aware of any such conduct,” he said in the statement to the newspaper he signed along with his wife Kate Demory, who served as deputy treasurer.
Russell, who was sworn in last month after winning the April 16 runoff by 34 votes, did not respond to multiple messages from the Voice and canceled a scheduled interview with this reporter on Friday regarding an unrelated topic.
The court documents and a heavily redacted police report provide few details about the evidence or circumstances in the case, which stems from an incident on March 21, two days after the first election in Winter Park and as the runoff between Russell and Jason Johnson was underway.
Hoats, 33, who has worked as a non-faculty coach at Winter Park High School, where Russell is also a teacher and a coach, did not respond to a phone call and email requesting comment. His arraignment is scheduled for June 7.
A Winter Park Police report from the date of the incident describes how a witness called police after she saw a group of kids taking Johnson’s campaign signs from yards as she was driving in Winter Park.
Nancy Elizabeth Cocchiarella, who is named in the court documents, was a volunteer for Johnson’s campaign who called police after she noticed signs, including her own, removed.
She stated she “saw the signs under the arms of [redacted],” and “she let her window down and told [redacted] and [redacted] to just put the signs back, and the juveniles kept riding on their skateboards.”
The report stated that the signs promoted Johnson’s campaign.
Officers eventually caught up with two of the juveniles, who called two other juveniles and asked them to come back to the area of Magnolia Avenue and Sunnyside Drive, according to the report.
At that point the narrative becomes heavily redacted except to describe that all four juveniles were, at one point, at a barbershop in Maitland.
None of the publicly available documents explain how or if the young people know Hoats or any details related to the offer to steal signs described in the court documents.
Hoats signed all of Russell’s campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk through March 15. The final two reports were signed by Demory, Russell’s wife who served as his deputy treasurer.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 16, 2024 | City Commission, Election, Uncategorized
Craig Russell ekes out victory in close race for Seat 2 on the City Commission
The results put Jason Johnson at just 34 votes behind Russell
April 16, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Craig Russell won Seat 2 on the City Commission on Tuesday by 34 votes, a victory that fell just over the threshold that would have triggered an automatic ballot recount.
Russell, who will become the first Black commissioner in Winter Park in more than 130 years, tallied 2,869 votes or 50.3% while Jason Johnson received 2,835 votes or 49.7%. The totals were separated by .6% and it takes under a half percent to cause a recount.
Craig Russell, a football and wrestling coach at Winter Park High School, is running for City Commission.
The numbers are unofficial until the canvassing board meets on Friday, but a spokeswoman for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office said the results are unlikely to change because only eight ballots are in question.
Russell, a 43-year-old teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
His historic win comes on the heels of another landmark election last month when Sheila DeCiccio became the city’s first woman to ever be elected mayor. Russell will serve out the remaining two years of her commission term.
Johnson said he wanted to wait for the official results after the canvassing board meets on Friday to see if any overseas or other ballots come in, but thanked his supporters on Tuesday night.
“I am proud of the race I have run and am very proud of how we closed a sizeable gap in the past four weeks,” he said. “Mostly, I am very grateful for the support, encouragement and friendship of both my longtime family and friends and the many wonderful people I have been blessed to meet through this campaign.”
Russell ran on a message of “a new generation of leadership” and will be the youngest elected official on the current City Commission by 10 years.
He was the only candidate endorsed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and significantly outraised and outspent Johnson with the help of high-profile landholders, developers and a political action committee affiliated with the chamber. He said during the campaign that he was open to revisiting the original Orange Avenue Overlay plans as well as the super majority charter amendments that voters passed by a wide margin in 2022.
Jason Johnson, candidate for Winter Park Commission Seat 2.
Russell raised more than $100,000 and Winter PAC raised nearly $30,000 on his behalf compared to Johnson’s $71,000.
Debate over development philosophy dominated the differences between Russell and Johnson, who said he was comfortable with the current OAO that calls for smaller buildings and less density and who supported the amendments that require four votes on the commission for certain zoning changes.
Russell and Johnson, both first-time candidates and both registered Democrats, also sparred over their voting records.
Public records show that Russell, who mostly grew up in Winter Park and graduated from the high school he teaches at now, did not vote in a municipal election until he was on the ballot this year.
Johnson, an attorney who emphasized the need to protect the charm and character of Winter Park, voted in nearly every election he was eligible to vote in.
Turnout in the run-off dropped from about 30% on March 19 to 26%. A total of 5,704 people cast ballots, down from 6,565 in the initial three-way race held the same day as Florida’s presidential preference primary.
While Russell’s victory marks the first time a Black commissioner will be seated on the dais in more than a century, numbers from the March 19 vote show Black voters made up just a fraction of the electorate as the city’s historically Black west side has undergone significant redevelopment and gentrification in the past two decades.
Statistics from the supervisor’s office show only 215 people who identify as Black voted in Winter Park on March 19.
Winter Park voters are largely white. The March election also saw only 229 voters who identified as Hispanic and 344 who identified as “other.”
The current commission includes Kris Cruzada, who is Filipino American, and DeCiccio, whose father is Indian and mother is white.
Demographic statistics from Tuesday’s voter turnout won’t be available until after the results are finalized.
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