Open County Commission At-Large Seats

On Thursday, May 28, Mark Sharpe will kick off his re-election campaign for the District 7 commission seat. The “Meet and Greet” will be held at Valencia Garden for 6:00pm—7:30pm. No contribution is required to attend.

The District 5 commission seat is also up for grabs. Jim Norman is term-limited, and current District 2 commissioner Ken Hagan has filed to run for Norman’s seat. So far, Hagan has raised over $90,000 for his campaign war chest.


To date, no Democrat has filed to run against Sharpe or Hagan. I find this surprising to an extent, particularly after a county-wide win by rookie candidate Kevin Beckner, a Democrat over Republican Brian Blair. Seems like there should be other smart and personable Demos out there willing to take up the fight.

But, maybe not. Joe Redner and Denise Layne have worn out their schtick. Could someone from the Tampa city council run country-wide and win? A known politician like Susan Valdes ran against Norman a few year back and lost. She couldn’t raise much money against Norman, nor anyone’s voting interest.

You would think, though, that a county commission seat is a big prize, not only for political visibility, but also for its $92,000 a year salary. A salary like that keeps people for needing a real job.

The rumors I have heard about April Griffin’s interest in a county commission seat have waned. Don’t know the real reason but I suspect two. First, I doubt anyone can match the fundraising abilities of Sharpe or Hagan, though I’ll admit, that didn’t stop Beckner from beating Blair.

Maybe more important, Griffin may have some additional skeletons dangling in her closet that were held captive during her previous school board campaign but are now begging, BEGGING, to get out.

Truth is, any candidate wanting to run for a county-wide office must have a lot of time on his or her hands, or have quite a flexible work schedule. Most folks forget just how big Hillsborough is in terms of size and new population centers. A candidate must be available day and evenings, seven days a week to truly do a good job campaigning.

I will give April credit for one thing. During her last school board campaign, she was that Energizer bunny going anywhere in the county at any time. Since we had real jobs, I couldn’t do that and her major opponent couldn’t do that. Unemployment does help motivate future politicos.

posted by admin @ 6:34 AM