by David Ball
Staff Writer
In his garage/surf shop, Scott Shine carefully examines the surface along the bottom of one of his short boards.
“The core material is milled to a very high tolerance, and the rocker curve has to be balanced,” said Shine, running his hand over the board that carries his name. “When you make one of these, you are talking about a board where just a quarter-inch change can be felt by the customer.”
Shine said the right curve balances the board and the rider in the water. A few years ago, Shine’s ability to create that distinct curve helped him balance a short career making and selling his own boards.
Much of Shine’s life has been about finding the right balance, whether it was a market research career that balanced his talents in business and psychology or his present days of balancing work in an elections reform citizen group with his own marketing company.
He invests in small, nearly unknown products, but his income is balanced by a steady stock portfolio. He manages the campaign of congressional candidate Jay McGovern and is involved with the local Democratic Party (he calls himself part of the “republican rebellion”), yet he also finds time to help out local nonprofits such as Florida Open Beaches Foundation, West Beaches Community Coalition, and the First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. He also spends 100 days a year on the water surfing or boating.
Shine had hoped to bring his balanced approach to politics, although he lost in two straight bids for the Jacksonville City Council. He said he might one day be back in the running, but for now, he’s said he has found just the right balance.
“I always had a life plan that when I got to my mid-40s I’d be able to pursue things like politics and activism,” he said. “It’s funny. That’s in fact how it worked out.”
Shine said he never planned to leave his home of Richmond, Va, but in 1985 his market research career led him to Blue Cross Blue Shield in Atlanta and in Jacksonville, where he worked in the marketing department performing consumer polls and research.
Shine later went to work for Barnett Bank (now Bank of America), at a private market research firm and then as planning director for the Nemours Foundation. But even then, he didn’t plan to stay in Jacksonville.
“As the town changed, particularly in the (Mayor Tommy) Hazouri years, I guess Jacksonville grew on me,” he said. “I would watch the City Council meetings on TV. I started keeping up with the local news, writing letters to politicians, attending public meetings and getting educated.”
So in 2003, Shine ran for the Dist. 3 Council seat. He lost to Jerry Holland with 34 percent of the vote.
“Jerry had looked to run for mayor. If he had, he probably would’ve won and I’d be a councilman,” he said.
Shine said he differed from Holland on a few key issues including development, and said he would’ve fought the construction of dense retail development at the corner of Beach and Hodges boulevards — about a half mile from Shine’s home.
“Zoning regulations in Jacksonville remind me of the pirate’s code,” said Shine. “They are just guidelines, really, that you can wiggle around.”
Shine said running a campaign was a new marketing lesson for him, and he learned about voter psychology and what really wins elections. “Voters vote for people, not issues,” he said.
But in his other unsuccessful bid for the same seat in 2005, when Holland resigned to run for Supervisor of Elections, he learned about the power of campaign fundraising.
“We ran the best race we could, and we were down to 117 votes on the split,” he said. “But my opponent, Richard Clark, broke the record for fundraising by a district Council candidate that year.”
Two years later, Shine is looking hard at campaign laws in the Jacksonville Elections Reform Study Group he formed last year following what he called “coffee shop discussion” amongst friends and colleagues. Today, the group has 40 members and a board of directors.
“He’s the driving force behind the group,” said group member Jim Minion, who also ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2007 against Daniel Davis. “He’s someone who’s plugged in. He’s engaged. He gets it. We’re glad he is bringing his professional skills to areas that really need attention in this city.”
The group’s main cause is to eliminate campaign “rainmaking,” where an individual or entity contributes large amounts to a candidate that could give the contributor political sway if the candidate is elected. While the current contribution limit is $500 per “legal entity,” businesses and subsidiaries owned by the same person can all be considered separate for contribution purposes.
Shine is now trying to find a City Council sponsor for a bill to add a referendum on the upcoming ballot to change “legal entity” to “naturalized person,” which mirrors reforms already made in Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale and other cities.
“The big thing you see out there is influence. The views of politicians over time tend to change from the people’s side to the money’s side,” he said. “The Craig Field (runway extension) spoke loudly.”
Shine says he sees that type of influence in most aspects of government, although he is impressed with a few Council members such as Clay Yarborough, Art Graham and Glorious Johnson.
As for the campaign he is currently managing for McGovern, who is seeking the House of Representatives seat currently held by Ander Crenshaw, Shine said he’s been able to balance his political philosophies with the realities of running a campaign.
“Believe it or not, as scary as the federal system is they cannot do rainmaking because they don’t allow corporations to contribute” he said. “But there are other issues.”