Commission Candidate Hopeful Announces Run for Office in 2016

MARGATE - Margate resident, Anthony Caggiano, filed paperwork to run for City Commission Seat 1 in the November 2016 General Election. The Seat is presently occupied by City Commissioner, Frank Talerico. ____________ His first time running for city commission, Caggiano nearly defeated two-term Commissioner, Lesa Peerman, last year for Seat 3. He took eight of Margate’s 16 precincts on Election Day and before losing by 157 votes reigned victorious in early voting by 16%. “I lost by less than two percent out of over eleven thousand votes cast. I had over five thousand people vote for me. I owe it to those who supported me and who voted for me to redouble my efforts and give it another shot,” he told MargateNews.net. By all accounts Caggiano has announced his run for office early. The qualifying period is in the distance and although the 2016 Election Cycle is posted on the Supervisor of Elections website most voters aren't yet aware of the city election. But after last year's near victory Caggiano wants an early start. More time campaigning might have changed the outcome. “There were a few things I could have done better. One was to get my name out there at the earliest possible opportunity,” he said. Of Commission Seats 1, 2 and 4 up for grabs in 2016, Caggiano said he chose Talerico’s because after two decades on the dais the long-time commissioner has shirked responsibility. Missing taxpayer dollars, stagnant downtown development and a crumbling infrastructure among problems. Talerico has sat on the board of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which for nearly 10 years has aimlessly stalled downtown development. (Read: Anthony Caggiano: Pros and Cons) “People who’ve talked to me know that, if I’m elected, I will watch out for their interests and their tax dollars. They know that I will not be a “go along to get along” vote on the Commission. That I want to make Margate “the city you drive to, not through,” he said. Caggiano said he encountered numerous like-minded voters in search of change on the campaign trail last year, which drives him to run again. “In talking to people I found out that the things that bother me are the same things that bother them: The mismanagement and indifference - lack of leadership, practical ideas, and solutions,” he said.