Not My First Rodeo - “Thank you, Mayor Kirschner.”

That’s Kerry Kirschner, former Sarasota mayor and longtime head of the Argus Foundation, addressing his son from the dais. He was lobbying the City Commission to renew Florida Power & Light’s franchise for another 30 years. Kelly thought a 30-year deal let FPL off the hook for accountability. So when his father finished, Mayor Kirschner asked the record to show that FP&L was a donor to the Argus Foundation. When Kerry tried to respond, Kelly gaveled him down. As Kelly told SRQ Magazine, it was one of the more gratifying moments of his time as mayor. Kelly voted against the deal. He and his father stayed friends. As mayor, Kelly took on developers and big utilities, even when his own father was the utility's advocate. He’s still doing it. Long before that, Kerry took Kelly and the rest of the family to the Arcadia rodeo. This year #TeamKirschner went back at the invitation of Bill Hackney. It wasn’t Kelly’s first rodeo, but things won’t be the same if the data center goes forward. In June, Kelly joined DeSoto County residents as in speaking out against hyperscale AI data centers on their agricultural land. Not one citizen spoke in favor, and the commission voted unanimously for a moratorium. Meanwhile, Sydney and Joe Gruters took more than $350,000 from data center developers. While big utilities and AI developers profit, our costs go up. Sydney Gruters is with the AI developers. Kelly Kirschner is with us. #KirschnerForCongress #FL16 #LetsFixThis