WHAT IS THE PROBLEM IN TALLAHASSEE?

Michael Shawn Foust v The Matlow Machine

American Red. Not commie red. Adios, Jimmy!

I want to win this election.

But the mission is bigger than Michael Foust.

If this campaign helps break the economy-dragging, NIMBY-loving, permanently-aggrieved style of government represented by Jeremy Matlow and his political faction, then we will have accomplished something important for Tallahassee.

When I say “the Matlow Machine,” I am not alleging some secret conspiracy. I am describing an openly coordinated political project: allied officials, campaign operatives and candidates working to transform a recurring two-vote faction into a three-vote governing majority.

That distinction matters because Tallahassee does not have a strong-mayor system. The mayor has no veto and controls only one of five votes on the City Commission. Three votes determine policy, taxation and the direction of city government.

The 3–2 Problem

Jeremy Matlow was elected to the City Commission in 2018. For years, he and Commissioner Jack Porter have frequently formed the two-vote side of Tallahassee’s familiar 3–2 divide.

Matlow is now running for mayor while his Seat 3 successor is elected at the same time.

That means the mayoral race cannot be considered separately from the Seat 3 race. If Matlow becomes mayor and a closely aligned candidate replaces him in Seat 3, the current two-vote faction could become a three-vote majority.

That is not legally a coup. It is ordinary electoral strategy.

But voters ought to understand the strategy before they vote.

What Has This Style of Government Accomplished?

It has made productive conversations with businesses and developers unnecessarily hostile.

It has treated growth as guilty until proven innocent.

It has made compromise sound like corruption and disagreement sound like moral failure.

It has offered endless speeches about helping working people while making it harder to build the housing, businesses and infrastructure working people actually need.

And it has repeatedly told people who want to invest in Southside Tallahassee that their proposals are unwelcome before serious negotiations have even finished.

A Southside Case Study

In 2022, the Leon County Commission voted 7–0 to continue considering three proposed housing developments in southeastern Leon County. The Tallahassee City Commission split 3–2, with Matlow and Porter voting to end consideration.

Professional planning staff concluded that the proposed projects satisfied the comprehensive plan’s projected housing requirements. The planning director also cautioned that infill alone would not meet future demand and put the choice plainly: when communities do not build enough housing, they build expensive housing.

Matlow and Porter raised legitimate concerns about sprawl, infrastructure and taxpayer costs. Those concerns deserved answers. But concerns are supposed to begin negotiations, not automatically terminate them.

I am not claiming every development deserves approval.

Some developments are bad. Some developers make ridiculous demands. Some projects should receive a firm and final no.

But leadership means bringing developers, neighborhoods, planners and infrastructure professionals together and squeezing the best possible deal out of the proposal.

It means demanding roads, drainage, affordable units, green space, public benefits and enforceable timelines.

It means knowing how to get to yes when yes is good for Tallahassee.

Permanent opposition is not leadership.

The New York Tell

Matlow has made his ideological direction unusually clear.

After Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York, Matlow publicly congratulated him and wrote that he was proud the Democratic Socialists of America had played a major role. He invited people who liked that result to join a Tallahassee campaign “taking on the developer class.”

More recently, Matlow celebrated victories by Mamdani-endorsed congressional candidates and attacked what he called the Democratic Party’s “old guard.”

That is not guilt by association. It is political alignment stated in his own words.

New Yorkers are entitled to choose their government.

Tallahassee voters are entitled to know when a candidate wants to import its political playbook.

The Seat 3 Succession Plan

The political alignment surrounding Seat 3 is not imaginary.

WFSU reported that Commissioner Porter attended PJ Perez’s campaign launch and that Matlow aide Ryan Ray introduced Perez to the crowd. WFSU described Perez as appearing close to City Hall’s current minority faction.

That does not establish that PJ Perez personally identifies as a socialist, so I will not carelessly label him one.

It does establish why voters should examine the mayoral and Seat 3 races together.

The seats are separate.

The governing math is not.

Yes, I Have Fun Online

I joke. I make memes. I occasionally act a little crazy on Facebook.

I assure you: I am usually having fun.

I am also essentially the same person at home, at work and in public. I am direct. I am imperfect. I enjoy what I do, and I refuse to pretend seriousness requires being humorless.

But my work is serious as a heart attack.

Politics does not require elected officials to become boring robots. It requires judgment, preparation and the ability to sit across from somebody you dislike and still produce a result for the public.

That is the difference between performance and government.

My Alternative

I am not running to replace one political machine with another.

I am running for a City Hall where:

• Neighborhoods receive genuine input, not a ceremonial microphone.
• Businesses receive predictable rules instead of political hostility.
• Developers are respected first and we work solutions to repair displaced homes, and displaced people.
  Developers who deliver measurable public benefits need not fear the city commission harassing them. We will work with the existing systems to make permitting as fast as possible within the state/federal/city systems.
• Programs are judged by results rather than ideological purity.
• Commissioners disagree without treating one another as enemies.
• Working people are respected as taxpayers, employees, parents, entrepreneurs and citizens.

Not every development deserves a yes.

Not every public program is socialism.

Not every tax is evil.

But every decision should have transparent numbers, clearly defined benefits and adults capable of holding a conversation.

Tallahassee has spent nearly a decade fighting over who controls City Hall.

It is time to concentrate on whether City Hall actually works.

American Red. Not commie red.

Adios, Matlow.

Let this magnificent 1990s made-for-TV political print ad explain the rest: