STACK THE DECK, SILENCE THE PEOPLE? THE JOHN GUNTER & GLORIA TATE SHOW.

Tonight's Citizens' Input at the Cape Coral City Council meeting was, in our opinion, nothing more than political theater of bullshit!

Earlier this week, we received information on Monday, August 3rd, 2026, at 4:49 PM, describing what was allegedly being planned. Based on what we witnessed tonight, the events unfolded in a way that appeared consistent with that description. Our sources confirm former Council Member Gloria Tate was at least one party involved in organizing tonight's effort.

FROM A WELL-CONNECTED SOURCE WITH DEEP ROOTS IN OUR COMMUNITY.

One after another, speakers who rarely, if ever, attend Council meetings took the podium to praise how wonderful Cape Coral is, how much they love living here, and how great City Hall has become. Former Council Member Tom Hayden, who previously led efforts to save the Yacht Club and has since moved to Babcock Ranch, praised the city. Former Mayor Joe Mazurkiewicz, who is now moving out of Cape Coral, did the same. Former Council Member Gloria Tate spent her time praising City Hall. Speaker after speaker painted a picture of a city where everything is working perfectly. The permit department? Wonderful. City employees? Amazing. Long-standing resident complaints? Apparently nonexistent.

Then, after exactly 60 minutes, Mayor John Gunter abruptly ended Citizens' Input.

Councilmember Rachel Kaduk immediately asked how many people had spoken and how many were still waiting. The answer: 20 had spoken, while 22 citizens were still waiting for their chance. Those 22 people never got to address their elected officials. Not one member of the Council, other than Rachel Kaduk, stood up for those citizens. Jennifer Nelson-Lastra didn't. That is not going to be good for your re-election chances in November. The rest of the Council didn't. They sat silently while nearly half of the people who signed up were denied the opportunity to speak. If you were one of those citizens, you now know exactly where this Council stands.

At this point, we do not know what every one of those 22 people intended to say. What we do know is that many of the residents who regularly attend meetings and frequently raise concerns about City government never made it to the podium. That alone raises serious questions about whether the process was truly fair.

We have already submitted a public records request for every speaker card submitted tonight so the public can see exactly who was called and who was left waiting. In our opinion, tonight appeared to be one of the clearest examples yet of a public comment process that favored one type of message over another. THAT IS CALLED VIEWPOINT DISCRIMINATION. If speaker cards are truly selected at random, tonight certainly did not look random.

To us, this appeared to be a calculated political strategy. The public was presented with nearly an hour of glowing praise for City Hall while dozens of citizens waiting to voice criticism never reached the microphone. Several became so frustrated, even causing a few to storm out.

The people of Cape Coral deserve a public comment process that is fair, transparent, and applied equally to everyone, not one where it appears the outcome is decided before the first speaker is ever called.

For far too long, we have believed that unelected political insiders have exercised significant influence behind the scenes in this city. Tonight did nothing to restore confidence that those concerns are unfounded.

All information has been thoroughly investigated and reported by the Take Out the Trash Committee of Cape Coral and/or its authorized volunteers!