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March: Hillsborough School Board District 7 race gets partisan

 
A teachers union has endorsed Alan Clendenin.
A teachers union has endorsed Alan Clendenin.
Published June 20, 2016

Party politics is playing a bigger-than-usual part in the eight-candidate free-for-all for Hillsborough's countywide District 7 School Board seat.

Alan Clendenin, a high-level Democratic Party official, is the fundraising leader with $37,005. That's largely because of his own $20,000 contribution, but he's also received contributions from numerous party allies, many outside the county, including state party chairman Allison Tant and U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, plus $2,500 from the state Democratic Party.

Last month, the Hillsborough chapter of the state teachers union, a group often aligned with Democrats, endorsed Clendenin, passing over retired county public school teacher Lynn Gray.

Meanwhile, the second-place fundraiser is Stanley Gray, who has been active in the Republican Party and makes frequent campaign appearances at GOP gatherings. He says he also appears at Democratic and nonparty gatherings.

Clendenin said he's running in part because his political experience would help with the increasingly political and partisan issues confronting local schools, including dealing with a Republican-dominated state Legislature that Democrats consider unfriendly to public education. Stanley Gray says his business and military background would bring "a set of competencies and a strategic outlook" to the board.

Lynn Gray, a Democrat who is a former teacher of the year at Middleton Junior High, called the endorsement of Clendenin "a slap in the face to educators."

Beckner says Frank not showing up at work

County Commissioner Kevin Beckner's campaign for clerk of court is using key card records to back his contention that his Democratic primary opponent, incumbent clerk Pat Frank, hasn't been showing up for work.

The campaign analyzed Frank's calendar and records of her key card use in the Hillsborough County Center's parking garage from late 2012-2016. Campaign manager Nick Janovsky said they showed Frank worked no more than 120 days a year from 2013-2015, and often worked only from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. until 2:30 to 4 p.m.

"It's very apparent that Ms. Frank is not in the office on a regular basis," Beckner said. "I think what an office of 700 employees needs is an active leader inside the office. Her lack of presence there has caused a lot of problems and issues of mismanagement."

Frank responded, "I work all the time."

She said the card records don't reflect her working time because she also uses reserved or street parking at the County Center, the Edgecomb Courthouse and other clerk's office locations. She uses a full home office for email and checking her calendar and spends time at conferences out of town, sometimes two or three a month.

"This is not something where you're measured by a time clock, you're measured by results," Frank said, citing two awards for efficiency and customer service the office has won this year from independent associations.

But Beckner said if key card records alone aren't definitive, "It's very evident if you correlate them with her calendar — it doesn't show work appointments. It does note the number of hair appointments and appointments with contractors at her house."

He said employees complain privately about the situation — "The whisper name they have for her is Part-Time Pat" — and said he eventually will produce evidence of that.

Lee looking to move, preserve 2018 options

A main reason Sen. Tom Lee chose to run for re-election to the Florida Senate instead of jumping to a county race was to preserve options, including a possible run for chief financial officer in 2018, he said in an interview this week.

Lee ran unsuccessfully for chief financial officer in 2006.

"One of the factors for remaining in the Senate was to entertain the prospect of running statewide again," said Lee, a Brandon Republican.

Expressing disillusionment with the political culture of Tallahassee, which he has called a "cesspool," and faced with having to move to a new residence because of redistricting, Lee considered running instead for a county commissioner seat this year.

Lee said he'll close soon on a new home a few miles north of his current Brandon home, which became part of Sen. Bill Galvano's district.

Lee will lose his powerful Senate appropriations committee chairmanship and said he has no promise from incoming Senate president Joe Negron of another leadership post.

But with substantial turnover expected in the Senate, Lee said his institutional knowledge will make him influential.

"I've presided over the institution and I know every corner of that budget," said Lee, who was Senate president in 2004-2006, as well as having been the rules chairman twice.

Because of redistricting, Lee will be seeking only a two-year term in November. After the election, he said, he'll start considering 2018 options, which could include another Senate term, a statewide race or a county office.