On a brisk Thursday morning, John Harshman stood outside Sarasota City Hall with an announcement less than two weeks before the end of his political campaign.
A single donor had poured $200,000 into a political committee supporting Harshman’s opponents in the City Commission race — an extraordinary amount of money for a local election and one that he claimed could have historic consequences for Sarasota politics.
“There is something voters need to know about,” said Harshman, a retired real estate broker and first-time political candidate, before a small crowd who attended his eight-minute press conference…