A Times Editorial

Ex-commissioner acts like sore loser

Former Largo city commissioner and mayoral candidate Marty Shelby certainly has shown his true colors since he lost the election March 4.

Shelby didn't show up March 18 when the City Commission scheduled a presentation to honor him for his prior years of service on the commission. He left his plaque sitting at City Hall.

But even worse, two days after he lost the election, Shelby went to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and told investigators a story. He claimed he had heard that his opponent in the campaign, Mayor Bob Jackson, cut a deal to promote the president of the local firefighters union to deputy fire chief if the union would endorse him for mayor.

Fire Lt. Jeff Bullock, the union president, was promoted to deputy chief by Fire Chief Caroll Williams two days before the city election. Jackson, along with all other commission incumbents on the March 4 ballot, received the union endorsement in early February.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Shelby told investigators that he had witnesses to the deal Jackson made. The Sheriff's Office launched an inquiry.

But Shelby never would provide investigators with the names of his alleged witnesses. Neither would he tell them where he heard about the alleged deal. Shelby also would not return calls from the Times seeking information about what he knew.

He just went to the Sheriff's Office, dropped his "stealth bomb," and took off.

Sheriff's deputies wasted four or five days interviewing city officials and delving into the Bullock promotion before concluding that there had been no deal. Bullock was promoted because he applied for the job and he was "the best man for the job," a sheriff's official reported. The decision to promote Bullock, a 24-year department veteran, was made solely by Chief Williams under a long-planned reorganization of the Fire Department.

There are some facts that Shelby, a commission veteran, surely was aware of. The fact is that the Largo fire union traditionally endorses the incumbents in city elections. Another fact: A fire union committee, not one individual, decides which candidates will be endorsed, and Bullock has only one of six votes on the committee. And one more fact: Because city departments report to the city manager, not the City Commission or mayor under Largo's city manager form of government, the mayor had no authority to promote anyone in the department.

A sheriff's spokesman said it is not unusual for the Sheriff's Office to get complaints from people after an election, adding "It's usually disgruntled losers."

Yup, that's what it sounds like.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright