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Candidate for Hillsborough tax collector draws faraway donations

By Rodney Thrash, Times Staff Writer
In print: Monday, October 13, 2008

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TAMPA — Since entering the race for Hillsborough tax collector last year, Beverly P. Harris has raised more than $8,400.

It is nowhere near the $169,601 amassed by incumbent Doug Belden, but significant because of the sources of the contributions.

Half of Harris' 30 donors have addresses on Florida's east coast — far from the tax collector's jurisdiction. Of that number, at least 13 have ties to a South Florida auto tag agency entangled in a legal fight with Belden.

"Interesting that most of her campaign contributions came from people involved in the company that's in litigation against the tax collector," said Senior County Attorney Brian Fitzgerald, who represents Belden and the Tax Collector's Office in the court battle.

The relationship between Belden and the South Florida company, First Hillsborough Auto Tag Agency Inc., began to unravel around September 2002. That's when the tax collector sought bids from private companies to do title and vehicle registration work. At the time, the tax collector and another provider offered those services.

The First Hillsborough agency submitted a proposal but another company won the bid. Kenneth and Jason Strochak, the father-son duo who run First Hillsborough and other auto tag agencies in Broward County, contended in a February 2003 lawsuit that Belden rigged the process to favor a competitor. Belden denied the accusation.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Marva Crenshaw ruled in First Hillsborough's favor in May. The case is now before the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Financial reports show that, as the case meandered through the lower court, companies controlled by Kenneth Strochak, his wife and son sent checks for $500 — the maximum allowed by Florida law — to Belden's challenger.

"One of them mailed me out a contribution and congratulated me for running," Harris said.

Actually, eight of them gave money, reports show. A Miami woman who works for the family chipped in $77.43. Jason Strochak and two family friends donated out of their own pockets.

Through an e-mailed statement from his attorney, whose law firm wrote a $500 check to Harris' campaign, Jason Strochak chided Belden's "unacceptable professional antics" and said Harris is the better candidate.

"After meeting with her, we are convinced that she has the ability and commitment to bring integrity back to the office," Jason Strochak wrote in the e-mail. "We truly believe that Hillsborough County will be much better off with Mrs. Harris as its tax collector."

Through Sept. 26, the most recent date for which there were records, the Strochak family and their associates had given Harris $6,077.43, which amounted to nearly 72 percent of her campaign treasury.

There's nothing improper about that, said Tim Bridge, the manager of candidate services for the Hillsborough County supervisor of elections.

"The contributions are in separate names," he said. "They can contribute as themselves. If they own a company, they can contribute in the name of that company and still be perfectly legal."

But before that money started rolling in, the only donor to Harris' campaign was Harris, who is not affiliated with a political party. She gave herself $150 on Oct. 18, 2007.

Harris, who touts ethics reform as one of her top priorities, said she had no idea the Strochak family was suing the sitting tax collector until June.

"I didn't investigate every company that sent to me," she said.

Even if she had known, she said she would have taken the money.

"I don't see any reason not to," Harris said. "They're not trying to twist my arm. They're not asking for any favors. They're not trying to bribe me with a donation."

She acknowledged that "a lot of" her donors "are from the east coast," but said she didn't initiate relationships with any of them.

"They looked on the Web site and they contacted me," Harris said.

Some of her financial backers were local. For instance, Autoway Nissan of Brandon gave $50 on July 18.

Harris said the companies that have given her money "are agencies that could benefit Hillsborough County." Instead of waiting in line at one of the county's seven tax collector branches, customers could pay private auto tag agencies a small fee for quicker and more efficient service, she said.

"I would pay somebody $15, $25 to process my stuff instead of having to go sit in that line," Harris said.

She shifted the conversation to her opponent and suggested Belden, a Republican, had a monopoly on local donors.

"A lot of them, by the time I had gotten into the race, had already contributed to Doug Belden's campaign," Harris said. "A lot of them almost seem like they are afraid to contribute to somebody other than Doug Belden."

Rodney Thrash can be reached at rthrash@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5303.