Post Opinion columnist Sally Swartz says that early developments leading up to next year’s Martin County Commission races indicate that slow-growth factions might once again set themselves up to lose.

Sally Swartz

Sally notes that Republican incumbent Doug Smith won in 2008 when environmentalists could not come together to support Democrat Dr. Tom Fullman. Commissioner Smith had beaten fellow Republican Henry Copeland in the GOP primary by just 187 votes out of 17,507 cast.

Smarting from the narrow defeat, Mr. Copeland angered his controlled growth supporters that year when he refused to back Dr. Fullman.

Now, Dr. Fullman also has become a Republican and will oppose Commissioner Smith, if he decides to run again. But Mr. Copeland also might enter what could be a three-way GOP primary, again splitting the enviro’s vote.

You can read Sally’s full column here.

Tags: 2012, Doug Smith, Henry Copeland, Jensen Beach, Martin County elections, Nathaniel Reed, Sally Swartz, Tammy Simoneau, Tom Fullman

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Elections, environment, Jensen Beach, Martin County, treasure coast, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.