Cynthia R Keller
Available reports...
  • M4 5/10/2018
  • TR 8/9/2018

Contact Information

Address
5316 13th Avenue Dr W
Bradenton, FL - 34209
Phone
941-713-4946
Candidate's Statement

Contact Information:

Cynthia R. Keller

5316 13th Ave. Dr. W. 34209

cynthiakeller4district6@gmail.com

Cell 941-713-4946

Cynthia Keller is the energetic, down-to-earth neighbor who stops to pick up your run-away garbage can. 

She’s the grandmother who marched in downtown Bradenton last summer to protest the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and to support moving  the Confederate statue from the west side of the Courthouse. Only one county commissioner was there.

Keller attends County Commission meetings when she can. “Paying attention to one’s community and voting at all levels of government is important.”

 “A lot of us worked really hard 50 years ago to stand up for people’s rights. And now, again, racism, religious intolerance, and dishonest government threaten to drive our nation backwards.”

Her serious pursuit of the District 6 seat was sparked by

  • ·The advancement of the Aqua by the Bay development on Sarasota Bay;
  •  A recent “frustrating” joint meeting between the Sarasota and Manatee County commissions;
  •  “The exciting surge of serious youth activism” and the relentless presence of young protesters and public speakers since the tragic Parkland High School murders in February.

 Democracy in America is knocking on the door again. Let’s get to work and get out the vote: the young, the elderly, minorities and the disenfranchised.”

 2018 offers huge opportunity for change, the candidate believes firmly. Keller hopes to begin at the county level on Election Day. All Manatee County registered voters cast ballots in this at-large race.

***

Keller, 65, has been a year-round Manatee County homeowner since 1983. A registered Democrat, she will run independently and vows to run “a grassroots no-frills campaign.”

Keller studied journalism at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and then wrote for weekly newspapers The Southampton Press (NY), The Longboat Observer, The Islander and the Sarasota Weekly Planet, with a “passion” for government reporting.

She also served as executive assistant to former Director Pierrette Kelly at the Anna Maria Island Community Center. Duties, in part, were fundraising, PR, events and program logistics, grant writing, funding-contract compliance, coordinating with the Manatee County Community Services Department and the county Children’s Service Advisory Board, serving the Center’s Board of Directors, and interacting with clients of all ages.

A mother of four, Keller’s adult work history also includes medical biller, export-document specialist, credit reporter to mortgage lenders, sales assistant to financial consultants, and front and back positions in the restaurant business.

She has volunteered at the Bay Pines Hospice Unit and for the Veterans’ aid program at Turning Points downtown.

A native of Long Island, NY, and New York City, Keller calls herself a wage-earner, not a career expert. “But I am a detail-oriented reader, listener and researcher who can grasp information. I know how to ask for help to make decisions.”

The candidate thinks that rapidly advancing technology and climate-changed, exhausting hurricane seasons demand a proactive, serious emergency management and public safety focus.

“I’m not a rocket scientist: we constantly have to re-evaluate how we protect and project the future for our 330,000 people. Up-to-date traffic administration is key. It’s life or death.”

Keller offers “a new pair of glasses” to the seven-member commission. Without owing any special interests.

***

“I love Manatee County,” the candidate says. “I feel safe here.”

 Keller has lived in The Village on north Longboat Key, in Holmes Beach and in West Bradenton.

The kids attended the Manatee public schools and have degrees from Florida universities. One child served in the U.S. Army. The three oldest have returned from successful careers in other parts of the country to settle permanently in St. Pete with their spouses and “Grammy’s” three grandchildren. Keller’s fourth child lives and works in Bradenton.  All the kids worked during their high-school and early-college years at The Sandbar restaurant on Anna Maria.

***

Covering city government on Anna Maria and Longboat Key tweaked Keller’s passion for Manatee County history, its diverse population and a seriousness about what legacy today’s residents will leave for the next generations.

She believes that her various health and financial hardship experiences, plus her strong faith and will to survive, give her a unique connection to so many of Manatee County’s people.

“I’m just a regular person,” Keller says, “a citizen like any other, living on a fixed retirement income, trying to treat people equally and striving to be part of the solution.”

Sprawled out onto 741 square miles, Manatee County’s top two industries are tourism and agriculture. “The land continues to lose. Progress …money… sinkholes.”

“We are so many and such diverse people,” Keller says. “Our governing bodies can be – no, they should be -- more diverse, too.”

November elections are coming. Let’s roll, Manatee!


Note: The candidate's photograph and statement are supplied by the candidate and are not endorsed by the County Supervisor of Elections or checked for accuracy.
The following financial reports are available:
Report
View Transactions
Monetary Contributions In-Kind Contributions Expenditures and Distributions
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
Candidate qualifying forms and miscellaneous documents