Mike Wright
And that’s why they count the votes.
Citrus County Commissioner Ruthie Davis Schlabach had the money, political connections, community support and benefits of incumbency.
Yet it’s Janet Barek who will hold the title come mid-November.
Barek, a retired teacher from Citrus Springs, stunned the Citrus County political scene by defeating Schlabach in the Republican Primary for District 3. With no other candidates, Barek won the seat outright.
It was tight. Barek won with 51% support, and fewer than 800 votes separated the candidates.
A County Commission staple for years, Barek acknowledged that she’s the beneficiary of an overall public nervousness about Citrus County growth.
“I’m pleased people want the change and I’m going to give it to them,” she said. “I don’t owe anybody anything. I owe the people everything.”
A self-described government watchdog, Barek has harangued Commissioners on topics ranging from residential road resurfacing to taxes and growth. Commissioners will quite often respond by saying she’s incorrect or her remarks are misleading.
Voter turnout for the Primary was 33.8%, about average for a Primary. Schlabach said she lost when supporters didn’t show up to vote.
“I absolutely believe that. I had 50 people tell me that,” she said. “Everyone said, ‘You got this Ruthie, you got this.’”
Schlabach, who won a five-candidate Republican Primary in 2020, collected over $72,000 and spent $51,678. In the last two weeks of the campaign, voters received mail pieces daily not only from Schlabach’s campaign, but also from Tallahassee-based political action committees supporting her.
Meanwhile, Barek collected a total of $3,261, including $730 of her own money. She spent $2,600 on T-shirts, pens, palm cards, one newspaper ad and exactly 100 yard signs.
Barek didn’t send out a single mail piece. But she had a booth at Howard’s Flea Market in Homosassa and showed up at every candidate event.
“I was out there, every Saturday, every Sunday at Howard’s Flea Market talking to ordinary people, getting my message across,” she said. “I went anywhere I was invited to. I didn’t overspend. I gave 20 people five signs each.”
Barek said citizens want a slowdown in growth, and to keep taxes in line.
“They don’t want all this construction. They want the Nature Coast to be the Nature Coast,” she said. “They’re tired of all these developers coming and everything is cleared. They want that slowed down to a minimum.”
Asked about her first priority in office, Barek’s answer was pragmatic: comfort breaks during Commission meetings.
“I would like to see a little bit of civility come back to the board,” she said. “Every two hours, the Chairperson should take a 10-minute comfort break, just like we used to do.”
