Hopes Accuses Miner of Threatening to Run Him Over

BRADENTON – The Herald Tribune reported this week that Manatee School Board Chair Scott Hopes accused fellow board member Dave Miner of threatening to run over him with his car after Tuesday's meeting. "He’s lucky my gun was in my car," Hopes reportedly told the paper.

Hopes and Miner have had a highly-contentious relationship since the former was appointed by Governor Rick Scott last July to finish Karen Carpenter's term on the board after Carpenter retired. Miner can be both pushy and extremely verbose at meetings, which has led his fellow members to avoid allowing him to chair the 5-member board.

Miner seemed to resent Hopes having been given the gavel only months after being appointed and their relationship got off to a rocky start, at one point asking the board to reconsider. On Tuesday, Hopes, who has made an obvious effort to reign in Miner's long soliloquies and efforts to stray from the matters at hand, called for a vote when Miner wanted to debate moving an agenda item, which led to bickering between them.

According to the Herald Tribune story, Hopes said Miner yelled profanities while the two were outside the administrative building afterward, got into his car, did not turn on his headlights, and drove the vehicle in Hopes’ direction.

"He was almost to my knees," Hopes reportedly said. "He was about ready to run me over. I want to see the tapes. He is a crazy person, apparently."

The Sarasota-based paper said that its request for security footage was declined by the school district, who wouldn't further comment on the allegations. The article said that Miner denied Hopes' accusations.

"Never at any point or any time did I have an attempt to commit an assault or do any kind of physical injury to Mr. Hopes," Miner reportedly said.

Miner's 2016 opponent, Misty Servia, was also quoted in the article as saying she'd had a similarly scary incident with Miner in which he'd blocked her from closing her door in the parking lot so that he could yell at her while shaking his finger in her face, an accusation Miner also denied.

The event couldn't come at a worse time. Later this month, the district will once again ask the taxpayers for more money, this time via a millage increase that would give the district more than $30 million in additional annual funding.

The Republican Party of Manatee County has opposed the tax and said that the incident further proves that entrusting the board with oversight of even more money is a bad idea.

"It’s unfortunate that the very community leaders seeking to raise Manatee County residents’ taxes by $33 million dollars are unable to act in a civil and responsible manner ahead of the March 20 election," said party chair Kathleen King. "This behavior coupled with the board’s long history of financial mismanagement and distribution of misinformation illegally advocating for the passage of the referendum, make it clear that they cannot be trusted."