He Saw the Cliff. He Described the Cliff. He Voted for the Cliff.

Dear Neighbor,

I'm Kristina Sargent. I live in Pinecraft, I'm a mother, an Army veteran who deployed after 9/11, and a former prosecutor. I'm writing to you directly — not through a consultant, not through a mailer house — because before you vote on August 18, you deserve to know what has been done with your money.

Four years ago, our current commissioner campaigned as a fiscal conservative. I'm not going to tell you what he is. I'm going to show you what he did, and let you decide for yourself.

Since taking office, Mark Smith voted yes on every budget and every bond that came before him — every single one. Not one no. The result: $876 million in new spending and debt in just three years. For your family of four, that's roughly $7,189 added to your share of the county's obligations. Money you never voted on. Money he did.

County debt jumped 76 percent. Our population grew about 5 percent. Read those two numbers again and ask yourself: does that sound conservative to you?

Here's the part that stays with me. Mark Smith said, on the record, in a public meeting: "We're spending money that we are not going to have. And we're running out of track and not slowing down." His own words. Then he voted yes anyway — for the largest budget in Sarasota County history, $2.52 billion, a budget one of his own colleagues called "a path to destruction."

He saw the cliff. He described the cliff. He voted for the cliff.

And while the spending soared, what happened to the things you actually pay taxes for? A former sheriff on the commission put it on the record: our roads are $1.7 billion behind. Stormwater maintenance was deferred for two decades — then our streets flooded. But we did get a $75 million administration building for county government, with a TV studio and a wellness center. They sold the old headquarters, leased it back at your expense, then built themselves a new one. When they tell you the rate was cut, check your own tax bill — you know what happened to it.

Your roads waited. Your streets flooded. The bureaucracy got a TV studio. That is the record. Those are the choices. And every one of them was a yes vote he didn't have to cast.

I was raised to believe your word is your record. In the Army, I learned that duty and honor aren't slogans — the medals I earned came from discipline, precision, and finishing the mission. As a prosecutor, I learned you don't get to talk your way past the evidence. You follow it, you prove it, and you're accountable for it. That is exactly what I will do with every dollar of your money.

Here is my pledge to you, Neighbor — the same oath I took in uniform, applied to your tax bill: I will audit the spending. I will put roads and stormwater ahead of monuments to bureaucracy. I will vote no when no is the right answer — something District 2 hasn't seen in three years. And when I tell you I'm a fiscal conservative, my voting record will prove it, because I answer to you and no one else.

August 18 decides this seat. Because no Democrat filed, EVERY registered District 2 voter can vote in this primary — Republican, Democrat, or independent. If you're not registered, you have until July 20. Then do one more thing for me: forward this letter to three neighbors. Smith won last time by 373 votes. Your street can decide this election.

You deserve a commissioner whose record matches her words. On August 18, you can hire one.

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Kristina Sargent, Republican, for Sarasota County Commission, District 2.