County commission candidate Jono Miller isn’t about to use Tuesday’s stadium vote against incumbent Paul Mercier, a Republican.
“I don’t think we’re that far apart,” Miller, a Democrat, said of where he and Mercier stand on the idea of making one last effort to keep the Cincinnati Reds’ spring training in Sarasota.
Miller said he doesn’t like the idea of the Reds shopping around for the best deal, but still believes it would be hard to let the area’s long history with spring training go away. On his website, Miller has a statement in which he says “losing industries with such public connection and accessibility is, I believe, more damaging to our communities than losing comparable enterprises that are virtually invisible.”
If you want to know more about my position scroll down to the copy of the email I sent to the County Commissioners.
Bottom line: If you were hoping to distinguish between Paul Mercier and myself based on this issue, you'll have to look further. While it may be tempting to adopt positions opposite Paul just to heighten the differences between us, I can't go there. By the time we get to the election the differences will be clear enough.