Joe Neunder says he’s not the developer candidate. The receipts say otherwise.

Some political campaigns are honest about who funds them.

Others hope voters never look past the disclaimer.

This is the challenge for Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Neunder. He is now trying to present himself as a controlled-growth watchdog, even though he has spent years benefiting from the same developer money that voters no longer trust.

The receipts tell a different story.

In 2022, a political committee called Conservatives for a Brighter Future spent over $50,000 to promote Neunder’s County Commission campaign. They paid for glossy mailers that called him a “conservative County Commission candidate,” talked up his record, shared his biography, and urged voters to support him on Election Day.

The disclaimer was right there on the mailers: Sponsored by Conservatives for a Brighter Future.

This matters because this was not just a random committee that supported Joe Neunder. The committee is led by Collin Thompson, Neunder’s political consultant, and uses the same treasurer who is connected to Neunder’s campaign finances.

Now that Neunder is up for re-election, the same pattern is playing out again.

Campaign finance records for this cycle show that the same pro-Neunder committee is once again getting money from some of the biggest names in Southwest Florida development. Pat Neal, Hugh Culverhouse, Randy Benderson, and Rex Jensen, among others, gave a total of $95,000.

This is important because Neunder, who now faces a serious Republican Primary challenge from former Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Jim DeNiro has been telling a very different story.

As WSLR 96.5 reported in February, Neunder has tried to frame himself as a “controlled growth advocate” who “isn’t getting campaign contributions from the likes of real estate mogul Pat Neal.”

Well, well, well.

Campaign finance records show Neunder is indeed benefiting from Pat Neal’s money through a $10,000 contribution to the same pro-Neunder committee this cycle.

This is not grassroots money. It is not homeowner money. It is not the kind of money that says, “I’m standing up to developers.”

This is developer money helping re-elect a politician who wants voters to see him differently.

To be clear, political committees are legal and common in Florida politics. So are developer contributions. The issue is not whether the money can be given legally.

The issue is whether Neunder can continue pretending it does not define the campaign he is running.

This is not the first time Neunder’s ties to politically connected interests have raised questions. A previous column examined his recent vote on a widely criticized land deal and the campaign donations linked to it. Episodes like this make voters wonder if county government is working for residents or for insiders who always seem to know what will happen next.

Now this committee adds another piece to the same picture.

The mailers say Conservatives for a Brighter Future supported Neunder.

State records show his political consultant chairs the committee.

Current campaign finance records show developers are once again helping bankroll the pro-Neunder effort.

And Neunder’s own message asks voters to believe he is not the developer candidate.

That is the credibility problem.

If Neunder wanted to run as the candidate trusted by developers, he could have made that argument. He could have said growth interests support him because they trust his judgment. Instead, he is trying to campaign as the taxpayer watchdog and the neighborhood defender. He wants to appear separate from the people building and profiting from Sarasota County’s growth.

The record says otherwise.

Neunder’s problem is not that developer money exists in politics. Everyone in Sarasota County knows it does.

His problem is that he is trying to distance himself from developer money while continuing to benefit from the political operation that funds it.

Looking at the record, Joe Neunder is not an exception to developer-backed politics in Sarasota County. He is the main example of it.

That is the problem with trying to reinvent yourself in politics. It only works until someone looks at the records.

Some campaigns hide their donations better than others.

Joe Neunder should have parked the money farther away.