Field shrinks in race for one Sarasota Memorial hospital board seat, candidate ineligible

Dr. Kendra Becker-Musante, one of three declared Republican candidates for At-Large Seat 3 on the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, ended her campaign on May 22, citing a desire to stay out of a three-way battle that might have forced a runoff after the Aug. 20 primary.

But Becker-Musante was also not eligible to run this year, because she did not register as a Republican until Feb. 23, 2024. Since that was after closing of the registration books for the Presidential preference primary, it did not go into effect until March 20. According to Florida law, any candidate seeking a party nomination must be registered as a party member for 365 days prior to the qualifying period.

Republicans Kevin Cooper and Dr. Stephen Guffanti had already filed for the seat when Becker-Musante, who was promoted as part of a “medical freedom” slate of candidates – most recently at the May 8 meeting of the America First Southwest Florida Caucus – filed her paperwork.

In a prepared statement, Becke-Musante wrote that she filed “on the support and direction of leaders and experienced members of the Republican party in the area.

“I was to be a member of an all-female slate which focuses on trust, truth, and informed consent at SMH.”

Becker-Musante went on to claim that Guffanti told her that he would drop out of the race once she filed.

Guffanti responded via email: “If Kendra had entered the race before me I wouldn't have entered for the same reason to avoid a three-way race.

“If she had a clear message of service to the community I would have withdrawn,” he added.

Becker-Musante, a family physician, moved to the Sarasota area three years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most recently she’s been listed on staff at the We the People Health and Wellness Clinic, a concierge medical clinic founded in Venice  by former EMT Tanya Parus and Victor Mellor, a confidant and sometimes local spokesman for Mike Flynn, a national security advisor for former President Donald Trump who last year criticized the hospital's response to the pandemic.

Parus is running against Republican incumbent Hospital Board Chairwoman Sarah Lodge for Central District Seat 1 in what is currently the only universal primary slated for Aug. 20.

Becker-Musante endorsed Parus in that race and Mary Flynn O’Neill in the Republican primary against Pam Beitlich, who is retiring from her role as executive director of Women & Children’s Services at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.

Parus and O’Neill, Flynn’s sister, are the last two remaining members of that four-candidate “medical freedom” slate.

Dr. Tamzin Rosenwasser, who is running against incumbent Sharon Wetzler DePeters, has slightly shifted and become more aligned with Guffanti.

Candidates want a physician elected to the hospital board

Both Rosenwasser and Guffanti cite the need for a doctor to sit on the public hospital board, which sets the strategic direction of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.

The last physician to serve on the board was Richard Rehmeyer, a board-certified ENT-otolaryngologist who was appointed to the board in September 2016 to fill the Northern District Seat 2 position and won a four-year term in 2020.

In 2022, Rehmeyer faced three challengers, partly because of the initial “health freedom” slate of candidates running in response to concerns about SMH approaching the COVID-19 pandemic.

He came in second in the primary to current board member Victor Rohe who was recruited to run by Guffanti. Rohe went on to win the seat in November.

In addition to Guffanti and Rosenwasser, Venice resident Dr. George Davis is running as a Democrat for At-Large Seat 3.

Four other hospital board candidates linked by PAC

The 2024 race could shake up the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board even more than the 2022 race. If two of the four candidates critical of hospital policies and running on “medical freedom” principles win, that would create a majority that could potentially alter hospital policies, though the three current health freedom candidates, Rohe, Patricia Maraia and Bridgette Fiorucci have rarely voted as a block.

For example, while Rohe and Fiorucci voted against adopting recommendations from the hospital’s COVID-19 performance study, Maraia voted with the majority.

More recently, Rohe found no support in his push to endorse the anti-COVID-19 vaccine position of Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, with the board ultimately crafting and adopting a motion endorsing the sanctity of the patient-doctor relationship instead.

The four Republicans on the Aug; 20 ballot opposite the “freedom,” candidates, incumbents DePeters and Lodge and newcomers Beitlich and Cooper, are not running as a slate.

However they do have the backing of a political action committee, the Citizens for Healthcare Excellence Action Fund. A brochure that endorses those four candidates has recently been circulating in Sarasota County.

The chairman of that PAC – which raised $54,000 and spent $22,301 between its inception on Oct. 22, 2023 March 31, 2024 – is Dr. Kirk G. Voelker, a practicing pulmonologist as well as a member of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation board of directors.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 'Medical freedom' Sarasota Memorial hospital board candidate drops out