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Brown-Waite wins race, loses at home
By DAN DeWITT By just about any measure, the Republicans had a good day last Tuesday. Gov. Jeb Bush performed better here on Election Day than he did statewide, winning the county by 18 percent. An even wider margin separated victorious state Rep. David Russell from his Democratic challenger. A 27-year-old political novice, Robert Schenck, upset incumbent Democratic County Commissioner Chris Kingsley. And Ginny Brown-Waite, the most prominent Republican in the county for most of the past decade, won the 5th Congressional District seat from incumbent Democrat Karen Thurman. But a few nagging issues, according to some Republicans, soured the mood of the celebration. Brown-Waite lost her home county by three percentage points. And the result occurred at least in part because two prominent Republicans, Sheriff Tom Mylander and influential banker Jim Kimbrough, worked against her. "I'm happy the way it turned out, but it could have been better. I felt kind of bad that she lost her own county," said Anthony Palmieri, a former member of the Republican Executive Committee. Palmieri thinks Brown-Waite was especially harmed by Mylander's accusations that she had used her influence to help generate business for a vending machine company formerly owned by her husband, Harvey Waite, and now owned by her son-in-law and daughter. Mylander also publicly supported Thurman. "Mylander was a good sheriff, and he did many good things for the county, and I assume there are lots of people who followed him," said Palmieri, who resigned from the REC earlier in the year because he disagreed with its policy of endorsing primary election candidates. At the time, both he and Mylander accused the party of being autocratic. "I still feel the same way," Palmieri said. "I'm still a Republican, and I voted Republican (including for Brown-Waite). But I have no intention of going back to the REC. I just don't like the direction the REC is taking." Kimbrough, chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust Bank/Nature Coast, agreed that the local party is divided. "It is a fact there is a substantial difference of opinion regarding issues and/or candidates in the party," said Kimbrough, who backed the campaign of Brown-Waite's primary opponent, Don Gessner of Citrus County. "I was disappointed that Karen did not get elected," he said. "She has done a great job for the district, and I think that was reflected by the strong vote she received in Ginny's own county." But Brown-Waite and most Republicans interviewed for this story said the party is as unified as it has ever been. Brown-Waite has no widespread problems in her home county, they said. She has a couple of well-placed detractors, as virtually all veteran politicians do. "She served as county commissioner and senator," said Tom Hogan Sr., the Republican state committeeman for Hernando County. "Whenever you serve for that long, you have some negatives." Brown-Waite said some crossing of party lines is inevitable in politics. Just as Mylander supported Thurman, several Democrats supported her, she said. "What I said to him was America is a great place and he can support anyone that he wishes to. . . . I had people on the Democratic Executive Committee who supported me, who were going and getting me votes, not only in this county but in other counties." One of Brown-Waite's longtime supporters, Janey Baldwin, said the newly elected congresswoman lost Hernando because of isolated incidents that included Harvey Waite being caught by a deputy stealing Thurman's campaign signs several weeks before the election. "It's not most Republicans," Baldwin said. "It was a few things, starting with Jim Kimbrough and Tom Mylander, and "Sign-gate' and the influence story." Russell said Brown-Waite's performance was strong, considering those factors. "There were some things in the newspaper that could have cost her more and did not," Russell said. "That speaks to the resiliency of her reputation and the hard work she has put in for the people of Hernando County." And, Russell said, dwelling on Brown-Waite's loss in Hernando obscures her overall victory and the party's overall success here. He and others in the local Republican Party attributed Tuesday's success to several factors, including the popularity of Gov. Bush and President George W. Bush, who appeared with Brown-Waite at a rally a few days before the race. Also, local Republicans said, they worked hard. "We had as many as seven telephones in there working at any one time," Hogan said of the party's office in Brooksville. "We just had a mass of dedicated people who worked as a team and did what needed to be done." One of the party's biggest coups was in getting out absentee voters. The REC sent thousands of forms to Republicans, making it easy for them to request the ballots from the Supervisor of Elections Office. As a result, absentee ballots cast heavily favored Republicans in all races. For example, 4,856 absentee ballots -- 59 percent of the total in Hernando County -- were cast for Brown-Waite in the District 5 race. The results of the election were also partly due to the ineptitude of the Democrats, some members of that party said, though they differed whether the problems were primarily on the state or local level. Democratic County Commissioner Diane Rowden, a frequent critic of the county's party chairman, Dom Cabriele, said Cabriele chased off some of the most effective workers from 2000. Two years ago, when the party swept most local elections, the best workers were members of the county's Democratic Club, including Steve Zeledon. Cabriele has attempted, with some success, to sideline Zeledon and others, Rowden said. "We certainly had more energy then," she said. She acknowledged that under Cabriele the DEC raised more money than it often did in the past -- $20,872, according to county election records. As is usually the case, the REC raised more: $33,426. But that does not decide elections, Rowden said. "People can say it's all about money, but it's not," she said. "It's about getting out there and letting people know what (the candidates) are all about." Cabriele said that, other than getting absentee voters to cast ballots, the Democrats were just as effective locally as the Republicans. The real problems are on the state level, especially with Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe, he said. "I'm furious at Bob Poe," Cabriele said. The party did not do enough to support Thurman and spent too much money on state House candidate Gregory Williams, who had lost to Russell in 2000, Cabriele said. The party failed to find a candidate to run against Paula Dockery, a Republican from Lakeland who will represent eastern Hernando County in the state Senate. That left Polk County Republicans free to work for Brown-Waite, Cabriele said. "Karen should have won, and I'm sorry we're losing a great congresswoman and picking up a jacka--," he said of Brown-Waite. Both Rowden and Cabriele agreed on one thing: Elections are cyclical, and the Democrats will probably do better next election. Given, however, that the Republicans gradually are increasing their power both statewide and locally, that may not be true. "I really predict this is a prelude to what's going to happen in (the) 2004 (election)," Hogan said. That could especially hold true if Republicans stick together, which they will, Baldwin said. "Mylander and the rest of them, they'll make peace. There will be a powwow, certainly. (Kimbrough) is a smart businessman, and you don't continue a feud with a U.S. congresswoman. He's too smart for that." But Mylander said he will not be patching things up with Brown-Waite anytime soon. He said he commented about the vending machines because the former owner of a competing firm asked him to, and because it was true. He offered a simple reason why Brown-Waite was not able to carry Hernando. "Sometimes people from your home county know a little bit more about you," he said. -- Staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek contributed to this report. Dan DeWitt covers the city of Brooksville, politics and the environment. He can be reached at 754-6116. Send e-mail to dewitt@sptimes.com .
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