BRADENTON BEACH – Manatee County Administrator Charlie Bishop put Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie in an awkward position when he sought the mayor’s assistance in shortening his anticipated wait time at the Daiquiri Deck restaurant.
After receiving the call from Bishop on Thursday evening, July 25, Chappie, a former county commissioner, attempted to contact Jake Spooner. Spooner, a former city commissioner, owns the three-story commercial building on Bridge Street that contains his ground-level Bridge Street Bazaar retail store. Spooner leases the two upper levels of his building to the Daiquiri Deck but has no ownership stake in the restaurant.
Chappie mistakenly called the wrong number and left his Bishop request-related voicemail on another person’s phone. The following morning, an anonymous source provided The Sun with a recording of the voicemail that had already been shared on Facebook.
During the 59-second voicemail, Chappie, sounding a bit hesitant, said, “Hey Jake, John Chappie here. Ugh… I’ve never done this before. I just got a call from the county administrator, Charlie Bishop. He is at the Daiquiri Deck and believe it or not he called me to see … he’s got a 45-minute wait for a reservation to get a seat and it’s under Madison. He wanted to know if I could pull a string for him. I’m just asking if maybe you could call Daiquiri Deck and let them know, maybe. For Madison is the person – there’s three I believe: Charlie Bishop, his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s daughter, I believe it is. It’s under Madison. If you could let me know. I’ll see what I can do. Take care, thank you.”
When contacted by phone Friday afternoon, Chappie acknowledged leaving the voicemail and being aware of the voicemail being shared on Facebook.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I got a call from Charlie. I consider him a friend. I’ve known him for about 15 years. He was out here, and like anybody, I always try to help out friends and constituents if I can. So, I just made a phone call. I’ve never really done that before. I said that on the tape. From what I understand, he was already seated before Jake even got back to him.”
Chappie acknowledged that he intended to leave the voicemail for Spooner but accidentally left it with another person named Jake.
Regarding the optics of a county official seeking favor from a city official, Chappie said, “People will speculate, but I didn’t look at it that way. I’ve known Charlie for a long time – since I was with the county. I would do the same for anybody else I know.”
When contacted Friday afternoon, Spooner said he did not receive the voicemail in question but did receive a call from Chappie that evening.
The Sun also sought comment from Bishop via his office phone number, his county-issued cell phone number and his county email address. As of Saturday morning, he had not responded.
According to the Manatee County website, Bishop joined the county staff as a project manager in 2001. In 2023, the board of county commissioners appointed him county administrator, with a $230,000 annual salary.
It’s not illegal for a county official to ask a city official for assistance getting a table at a busy restaurant, nor does it constitute an ethics violation at the state level, but the county administrator does have influence with county commissioners when it comes to approving or denying funding requests made by the city of Bradenton Beach and the two other Island cities.
