Candidate Evaluations

The Sarasota County Civic League announces the results of the candidate evaluation process for: Sarasota County School Board (all contested seats), State House of Representatives District 70, Circuit Court Judge (all contested seats) and North Port City Commission. Additional candidate evaluations will be posted in the near future.
The Sarasota County Civic League does not endorse candidates. The League is non-partisan and has no position on political issues. All candidates that qualify are invited to participate in the evaluation process. The candidates provide background information to the panel of five Civic League members in advance of the interview. A separate panel is convened to evaluate each race. Structured interviews of the candidates are conducted so that each candidate is asked the same questions. The candidates are then rated on ten criteria, including: Leadership skills, Community involvement, communication skills, collaborative skills, personal attributes and government aptitude. Candidates are also asked to sign a pledge against negative campaigning.
The following ratings are then given to the candidates:

EWQ--Exceptionally Well Qualified
WQ--Well Qualified
Q--Qualified
NR--Not Recommended
DNP--Did Not Participate


School Board District 1 (Nonpartisan):
Lisa A. Glenn EWQ
Carol Todd WQ
Tammy St. Mary DNP

School Board District 2 (Nonpartisan):
Larry Helmuth EWQ
Robert W. Long WQ
Caroline G. Zucker EWQ

School Board District 4 (Nonpartisan):
Shirley Brown EWQ
Carol D. Williams WQ

School Board District 5 (Nonpartisan):
Kathy Kleinlein WQ
James Lawless NR

All participating candidates signed the pledge against negative campaigning.

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District 70:

Elizabeth R. Cuevas-Neunder (R) Q
Rory A. Dubin(R) WQ
Doug Holder (R) DNP
Jon Kleiber (R) WQ

David M. Shapiro (D) WQ
Ernest S. Zavodnik (D) Q

Candidates Rory A. Dubin, Jon Kleiber, David M. Shapiro, and Ernest Zavodnik signed the pledge against negative campaigning.



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Circuit Judge Group 13 (Nonpartisan):

Lee Haworth EWQ
Susan Hartmann Swartz Q


Circuit Judge Group 16 (Nonpartisan):

Donna Berlin EWQ
Franklin Roberts Q


Circuit Judge Group 21 (Nonpartisan):

Preston DeVilbiss, Jr. EWQ
Connie Mederos Jacobs WQ
Geoffrey Proffitt WQ
Rochelle Taylor Curley Q

All judicial candidates signed the pledge against negative campaigning.

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North Port City Commission Seat 4 (Nonpartisan):

Theodore A. Allen WQ
Alberto S. Belinfante WQ
Jim Blucher WQ
David J. Garofalo WQ

North Port City Commission Seat 5 (Nonpartisan):

Vanessa J. Carusone EWQ
Levko Kloss WQ

All North Port City Commission candidates signed the pledge against negative campaigning.

The Sarasota County Civic League would like to extend its thanks to all candidates who participated in the evaluation process. We also thank all of our members who served as panel chairs or panel members.