Support of stipend-approving incumbent puzzling
To to the editor:
Cape Coral voters deserve consistency from their elected leaders, especially when it comes to accountability and respect for the will of the people.
In January 2024, Florida State Rep. Mike Giallombardo publicly condemned the City of Cape Coral’s controversial “stipend” vote that effectively doubled the compensation of the mayor and city council members without voter approval. In a sharply worded letter, Giallombardo stated the move was “nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the referendum process” and warned that if the city did not reverse course, he would work in Tallahassee to ensure it “never happens again in the State of Florida.”
He was right to speak out.
The Cape Coral City Charter is clear. Salary increases for elected officials are supposed to go before the voters. Instead, the council approved thousands of dollars per month in additional compensation under the label of a “stipend,” pushed through quietly on a consent agenda with little discussion. According to reporting by The Cape Coral Breeze, the stipends added roughly $60,000 annually for the mayor and about $40,000 annually for council members on top of existing salaries.
One of the votes in favor of that stipend package was cast by John Gunter himself. There has been no apology. No acknowledgment that voters should have had the final say. No indication that the public outrage mattered. That is what makes the current political alignment so difficult for many residents to understand.
If Mike Giallombardo believed this stipend scheme was such a serious abuse of process that he threatened legislative action to stop it statewide, (and even potentially revoke the charter) then how does he now justify supporting John Gunter for another four-year term? How do you condemn the action while endorsing one of the officials who voted for it and benefited from it?
Even more puzzling, as a veteran himself, is the decision to back Gunter over Rick Erickson, a decorated 32-year Special Forces veteran who has made government accountability, public transparency, and restoring respect for residents central themes of his campaign. Erickson has consistently argued that city government has become disconnected from the taxpayers it serves and that elected officials should answer directly to the people, not political insiders or procedural loopholes. Seems like Erickson would be a brother-in-arms against corruption, not an opponent.
This is not about personalities. It is about principles.
Either bypassing the voters on compensation was wrong or it was not. Either public trust matters or it does not. Cape Coral residents have every right to ask why leaders who once sounded the alarm over this issue now appear willing to overlook it when political endorsements are on the line.
Voters should remember that in August.
Dr. Doug and Vicki Santini
Cape Coral