Don Sullivan's decision not to seek re-election to his state House seat catches Republicans off guard.
By JONI JAMES and CARRIE JOHNSON
Published June 3, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - After a decade in the state Senate, Don Sullivan spent one session in the Florida House of Representatives before calling it quits.
Sullivan, a vice president at St. Petersburg College, announced Wednesday he won't run for the House seat he won in a special election last year.
With so little seniority in the House, the 68-year-old Sullivan concluded it would take him years to gain a position of power.
Sullivan's decision, just six weeks before candidates must qualify for the November election, took Republicans by surprise. He was considered such a lock for re-election that no one had registered to run in the southern Pinellas County beachfront district.
Pinellas Republican chairman Paul Bedinghaus said Sullivan broke the news to him by phone Wednesday morning. Bedinghaus said he planned to spend the next few days interviewing potential candidates.
"It's still breaking news," Bedinghaus said. "I would not say there is an heir apparent at this point."
By Wednesday afternoon, one candidate stepped forward: former Clearwater City Commissioner Ed Hooper, who had planned to run for state Rep. Gus Bilirakis' Pinellas seat in 2006.
Hooper, a Republican and co-owner of a government and land use consulting business, said he decided to run after spending three hours on the telephone with advisers Wednesday. "When opportunity knocks, you've got to answer it. And that's exactly what I'm doing."
Hooper spent five years on the Clearwater City Commission and ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2000. He recently moved to Bilirakis' district but plans to return to District 54.
Sullivan's district is heavily Republican and includes parts of St. Petersburg and many beach communities. Forty-five percent of registered voters are Republicans; 33 percent are Democrats.
"It's a good Republican district," Bedinghaus said. "It performs well for us. I'm confident we'll be able to find the right candidate to defend that seat."
House Speaker-designate Allan Bense, R-Panama City, gave Sullivan little hope last month of leading any of the chamber's education committees over the next two years. Sullivan was considered one of the Senate's top education experts.
"I'm not willing to wait another three to four years where I could have a major effect," said Sullivan. "But I'm not retiring from life. I just think with the connections I've made over the years, I think I can go about accomplishing things in many other ways."
Sullivan, a retired surgeon, said his top priorities include launching St. Petersburg College's charter school this fall.
Bense said he was sorry to see Sullivan go. "He is a quality guy and a stand-up guy. He would have been a valuable asset to me," the speaker designate said Wednesday. "But I don't know who my top five or seven guys are going to be and I couldn't promise him something that might not happen."
Sullivan left the Senate in 2002 because of term limits. He was elected to the House in October to replace John Carassas, a Belleair Republican who quit to work for Attorney General Charlie Crist.
In the Senate, Sullivan spearheaded autonomy for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, the creation of Bright Futures scholarships and four-year degrees at community colleges.
But in the House, Sullivan twice ran afoul of House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City. He was one of 16 Republican House members who opposed Byrd's plan to freeze phone rates and he spoke out on the House floor against a Byrd-backed plan that would have put a spending cap in the state Constitution. Sullivan's legislative issues quickly stalled.
Bense will be more open, Sullivan said. "I believe it will be dramatically different under him."
