Paul Anderson is challenging Donald O’Brien, a a first-term incumbent Republican, for the District 5 seat on the Flagler County Commission. Anderson is running as an independent, as is Denise Calderwood, in the same race.
Both Calderwood and Anderson have run for office several times before, so far unsuccessfully.
In District 3, incumbent Republican Dave Sullivan narrowly defeated Kim Carney in the primary, which was the only election for that seat. Two-term Commissioner Charlie Ericksen in District 1 has opted not to run again. Republican Andy Dance, the long-time school board member, will face Democrat Corinne Hermle in the Nov. 3 general election.
Flagler County Commission members serve four years. They’re paid $55,387 a year.
FlaglerLive submitted identical questions to all candidates, with the understanding that additional questions might be tailored to candidates individually and some follow-up questions may be asked, with all exchanges conducted by email and on the record. The Live Interview’s aim is to elicit as much candor and transparency as possible. We have asked candidates to refrain from making campaign speeches or make lists of accomplishments. We have also asked candidates to reasonably document any claim or accusation. Undocumented claims are edited out. Answers are also edited for length, redundancy, relevance and, where possible, accuracy. If a candidate does not answer a question or appears to be evading a question, that’s noted.
But it’s ultimately up to the reader to judge the quality and sincerity of a candidate’s answers.
The Questions in Summary: Quick Links
- Basics
- Character
- Critical issues
- Coronavirus
- Taxes
- School cops
- Beach rebuilding
- Beach rebuilding
- Environmental protection
- Library
- Homelessness
- Economic development
- Jerry Cameron
- Social media
- Background check
Place and Date of Birth: Not disclosed.
Current job: Not disclosed.
Party Affiliation: Not disclosed.
Net Worth: Not disclosed.
Website and Social Media: Not disclosed.
See Paul Anderson’s previous Live Interviews, in 2018 and 2016.
1. Tell us who you are as a person—what human qualities and shortcomings you’ll bring to the board, and what makes you qualified to serve—or to unseat an incumbent, as the case may be. Please give us real-life examples to illustrate your answer.
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
2. What are the three most critical issues facing the county, where do you stand on each, and how would you judge the commission’s current handling of each?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
3. Evaluate the county’s response to the coronavirus emergency. As of this writing, the county has not mandated the use of masks in public places, though it’s in the commission’s power to do so. Tell us how you’d vote on a mask mandate, and explain your answer, citing appropriate scientific authorities.
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
4. Commissioners like to say they won’t raise taxes or will keep taxes, or at least tax rates, flat. How do you define a tax increase—as keeping the rate the same or as exceeding the rollback rate? Adopting your definition of an increase, are you against property tax increases? What three specific line items would you cut from this year’s proposed budget to keep the property tax where you’d want it?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
5. State law requires armed security in every public school. Flagler has chosen to have a School Resource Officer at its schools. The district and the county essentially split the cost. But the county doesn’t have to assume that security cost. Would you reduce the county’s share? Alternately, do you pledge to preserve that split for the duration of your term?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
6. Evaluate the county’s long-term plan to save its beaches. It signed on to a $100 million beach renourishment plan for just 2.6 miles of beach just in Flagler Beach. The cost is expected to increase by the tens of millions of dollars, with half that cost over the next four or five decades the county’s responsibility. It is now demonstrably certain that sea levels are rising, and Flagler’s revenue sources for additional beach protection are tapped out. How do you propose to pay for the next repairs should a hurricane like Matthew or even a strong storm with damaging surges strike during your tenure? How is beach protection not a losing battle?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
7. Where and how is the county succeeding in environmental protection or preservation, and where is it failing?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
8. The population of Flagler County has increased almost two and one half times since the main library opened in 2001. Yet current funding for the library is approximately the same as it was in 2007. What are you willing to do to restore some financial balance to the system, reflective of the 50,000 cardholders it serves? Library administration and the Library Board of Trustees have determined that a library branch is badly needed in the southern part of the county. The county has picked out a site near the Government Services Building, but year after year has not funded it. What are you willing to do to see that a library branch is constructed?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
9. For all the county’s claims of tackling homelessness, it has done little more than push the homeless to different encampments after fencing in the public library site on the claim, later proven inoperable, that it would build a sheriff’s district office there. What’s your plan for homelessness?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
10. Was the county right to all but disband its economic development department? What do you see in its place in the next four years? How much are you willing to budget for economic development?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
11. Evaluate the performance of County Administrator Jerry Cameron, listing strengths, weaknesses and areas of concern. In the next four years the commission will very likely face another search, given Cameron’s Methusalahian status. What skills will define the sort of administrator you will look for?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
12. We currently have five white Republican men as county commissioners on a commission that’s never elected a Black or Latino member, though every other local government has seen minorities elected. Does the commission have a diversity problem? Explain how you have reached or would reach out specifically to constituencies that don’t mirror the commission’s demographics.
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
13. Should you be held to account for what you display on your social media pages any differently than for what you would say anywhere public? Do you have different standards of behavior between the way you’d conduct yourself as an elected official—in a meeting, at an official function—as opposed to on your social media platforms?
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
14. Have you ever been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor anywhere in Flagler, Florida or the United States (other than a speeding ticket), or faced a civil action other than a divorce, but including bankruptcies, or faced any investigative or disciplinary action through a professional board such as the bar or a medical board? If so, please explain, including cases where charges or claims did not lead to conviction or disciplinary action.
Paul Anderson did not answer the question.
ASF says
What a transparent guy. Not.
Ramone says
Paul’s got my vote! I love a man of few words!
julie diformato says
what a joke!!
Marc says
Based on his shirt I doubt he’s an Independent!
Only Me says
Am I seeing his picture incorrectly is he sitting there with an American Flag on his shoulder? Sorry but that is a huge turn off to me to see someone wanting to be a County Commissioner doing that to our American Flag, is he trying to look like a flag pole???
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Self centered, disrespectful to the press, hurls vicious insults on Facebook, obnoxious and misinformed ( in my opinion). NOPE!
Randy Marsh says
Is Anderson actually working with O’Brien? He has no chance of winning and doesn’t even appear to be trying. By being in the race, he will shave votes away from O’Brien’s challenger and ensure O’Brien wins. I am a Trump supporter and a registered Republican and I would never consider voting for O’Brien. If people knew the dirty crap that O’Brien is involved with, an angry mob with pitch forks and torches would run him out of town.
Oceanside says
If Flagler Live’s stats are correct, it appears county commissioner salaries increased 40% between 2018 and 2020, from over 33K to 55K. That’s quite a hefty salary increase they’ve given themselves.
The county needs to lower taxes. clearly they have more than enough tax dollars flowing into their coffers.
FlaglerLive says
Oceanside, you may be confusing school board members’ salaries, which are around $34,000 a year, with county commissioners’ salaries.