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Sanchez switches managers
By Times staff writers George Levy, who ran Mayor Dick Greco's last campaign in 1995, has temporarily taken over Frank Sanchez's mayoral bid. It's another sign that Greco's crowd has thrown support to Sanchez, a 43-year-old business consultant making his first run for office. Sanchez's former campaign manager, Eric Herbst, left the campaign last week and couldn't be reached. Sanchez said his manager's departure was a mutual decision. Herbst, a business consultant, wanted to go back into business, Sanchez said. "He kind of tried this," Sanchez said. "He worked very hard. He did a lot of good things for us." Levy will take over campaign manager duties only temporarily. District 4 Hillsborough Commission hopeful Arlene Waldron is taking a political gamble that south and east county residents are sick of incumbent Ronda Storms' campaign against obscenity on public access television. Waldron, challenging Storms in the Republican primary, put down her chip in a recent letter to the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce seeking financial assistance for her campaign. "Are you worried about our Hillsborough County government?" the letter begins. "If so, you are not alone. Today, it seems that some elected officials would rather discuss public-access cable television than tackle the real problems of strengthening the economy and providing better roads, parks and other community improvements." Speaking of Storms, she won the endorsement Tuesday of the Hillsborough County Firefighters Union, Local 2294. That's not unusual, since the firefighters generally support incumbents by tradition as long as they've voted favorably on public safety issues. But Storms was in the doghouse with the union a few months ago. She refused meetings with union leaders. She walked out of a recent vote on firefighters' contract terms, which was taken as a slight. Local government affairs director George Sucarichi noted the union's "discontent" with Storms in a monthly update to members in January. But in the same update, he noted that Storms campaign backer Ralph Hughes, whom Sucarichi identified as a friend and Republican, had requested a meeting to talk about it. The meeting happened Jan. 24, with Hughes, Storms and union representatives. Sucarichi said it revealed a misunderstanding that county firefighters had worked against Storms in her last campaign, after pledging their support. In fact, both sides learned, it was the city of Tampa firefighters union that ran a phone bank against her. "It took some time to realize why she was angry with us," Sucarichi said. "The meeting with Ronda that day was when that finally got sorted out." So why did Hughes intervene? "Ralph tries to be helpful any time he can be helpful," Storms said. "If he knows people feel a certain way toward me and he thinks he can change their perspective, he does whatever he can." Incidentally, the only sitting commissioner who did not win the firefighters' endorsement was Stacey Easterling. The union cited her decision to leave her District 1 seat to challenge fellow Republican Jim Norman for an open, at large commission spot. CALENDAR: Hillsborough's Republican Hispanic Assembly will hold a forum at 6 p.m. June 26 for Tampa's mayoral candidates at the Wellswood Civic Center at 4806 Wishart Blvd. Call 839-1132 for details. Republican state House candidate Jill Collins will hold a fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Pennington Moore law firm on Rocky Point. Call 915-1962 for more. . . . Lawyer Kevin Carey, candidate for judge, will have a reception at the Tampa Yacht and Country Club at 5:30 p.m. today. Call 223-7000, ext. 534 to RSVP. Mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez will hold a fundraiser today at 6 p.m. at La Tam restaurant in Ybor City. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Sanchez will be at Viva La Frida! restaurant in Seminole Heights. Bob Buckhorn will sponsor a spaghetti dinner at the Firefighters Benevolent Hall at 201 E Yukon St. at 5:30 p.m. Friday. ... We have no idea how many people will attend. One news release said the campaign would feed 700. Another release said, "The Buckhorn campaign predicted today that more than 400 people are expected to attend." District 2 Hillsborough Commission candidate Denise "Dee" Layne is having a fundraiser at at 5:30 p.m. on June 27 at the Don Vincente de Ybor Historic Inn in Ybor City. Admission is a $100 contribution to her campaign. Call 948-8998 for more information. -- Got a tip? Call David Karp at 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com, or Bill Varian at 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com.
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From the Times Ernest Hooper |
