In terms of serving his paymasters, Van Ostenbridge has knocked it out of the park, delivering on nearly every one of their priorities. And while no one is likely to describe the commissioner as competent, intellectually curious, or the least bit interested in serving the best interests of his constituents or his community, he earns high marks for ruthless and cunning political machinations that have seen him consolidate enough power and influence on the board to have had—by far—the most significant influence among county administration and public policy.
Van Ostenbridge’s record as a representative of the public is, needless to say, uniquely abysmal. By carrying out his developer sugar daddy’s vendetta against anyone associated with former county administrator Ed Hunzker, the commissioner succeeded in eviscerating senior government leadership, effectively stripping the county of decades’ worth of institutional knowledge in record time. By succeeding in hiring a patently unqualified idealogue to lead the county in Scott Hopes, Van Ostenbridge greatly compounded the loss of leadership he had already created and the leadership vacuum that followed continues to hamper the organization today.
Despite endless campaign rants regarding the purchase of east county property that would have greatly extended the life of the county landfill and having led an effort to surplus the valuable property, Van Ostenbridge was front and center when the board inexplicably voted to pay millions of taxpayer dollars to a developer for land that was said to be for a park, despite the fact that it had no public access and the county already owned more suitable land slated for a park nearby. So much for being against wasteful spending.
The commissioner has also waged a war with his constituents on Holmes Beach, shoving an unwanted parking garage down their throats that will only worsen the gridlock of traffic on the island. He’s also championed a litany of hair-brained overdevelopment in our watersheds, particularly near the county’s primary drinking water source, the reservoir at Lake Manatee.Â
When the expected developer-driven efforts to rollback wetland protections and reduce impact fees come before the board in the very near future, expect the commissioner to once again be licking the boots of those who plucked him from obscurity and installed him as the de facto leader of their puppet government, sending him a few tax brackets north of what he had ever managed to see as a so-called “private businessman.”
Needless to say, there are a lot of people in District 3 who wouldn’t even relieve themselves on the commissioner, were he to spontaneously catch fire on their front lawn. That’s never a good sign when one is in an elected position, hence the fire hose of money development interests are pointing at his campaign account, lest they lose their most reliable marionette.
Van Ostenbridge has yet to draw a primary or general election opponent, and the point of carpet bombing his campaign with cash is surely to dissuade anyone that might be mulling over a challenge on either front. Developers are betting that they can either keep the field clear or just flood the election cycle with campaign ads that tell a very different story regarding his record of service than the one I’ve accurately detailed in this column.
This being Florida, and, more importantly, this being Manatee County, it could work. Far more people seem to cast their vote based on such pap than those who put in the time and effort to do even a modicum of research on the candidates. However, in the history of Manatee County politics, Van Ostenbridge has built a record that is perhaps rivaled by only Vanessa Baugh in terms of ill repute—and he managed to do it in less than three years!
Geographically, District 3 is the second smallest district in the county, which makes it much easier for a grassroots candidate to cover with voter outreach than the larger and more rural ones. In 2020, Van Ostenbridge used the write-in loophole to force Republican primary opponent Matt Bower into an NPA run. Armed with a 10-1 advantage in campaign cash, plus a huge dark money PAC campaign that slung baseless mud at his opponent, he was able to win comfortably. That, however, was when he was an unknown quantity—and before he’d angered an entire island.
So, if you live in District 3 and you’re thinking of making a run, don’t let all of that campaign cash dissuade you. By next year, the commissioner will have surely given voters even more reasons to send him back under whatever rock he crawled out from. Maybe, just maybe, there has finally been enough damage done that this will be a year in which a mountain of glossy MAGA mailers and scurrilous robocalls attacking an opponent won’t be enough to convince a majority of voters to put ideological talking points above actual quality of life issues.Â
Dennis “Mitch” Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. His 2016 short story collection, Casting Shadows, was recently reissued and is available here.
