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WILL VAN SANTLocks are changed at party headquarters over a rent dispute with the Hernando Democratic Executive Committee.
SPRING HILL - Jay Rowden, husband of County Commissioner Diane Rowden, said he tried for months to get Hernando Democratic Executive Committee members to pay a fair share of the rent at party headquarters.
He got nothing but promises, he said, no cash.
So, with the full knowledge of his wife, Rowden - who has an informal agreement with the owners of the Democratic headquarters building at 3275 Commercial Way - got out the screwdriver Sunday night and changed the locks to keep out the deadbeats.
"I had three volunteers that came in at 10 o'clock this morning," said DEC member Pat Hernandez at a hastily called fence-mending meeting Monday night. "They could not get in. I was mortally embarrassed."
The dispute comes as the local party tries to hold on to its County Commission majority and turn out voters in support of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and other candidates at the top of the ticket.
The dispute between the DEC, the state party's local arm, and other active Hernando Democrats is rooted in the creation of the headquarters early this year. It was billed as a place the county Democratic Women's Club, Democratic Black Caucus, the "D" Club of Timber Pines, the Democratic Club, the Donkey Express and DEC could all call home.
Groups agreed to donate money to pay for rent, utilities and other expenses. The headquarters was going to be a vehicle for healing divisions among local Democrats, whose squabbles had in the past required intervention by state party officials.
But the headquarters, housed in a former taxidermy museum, was hardly a picture of party unity Monday evening, with members of opposing factions rising to proclaim, "He's a better Democrat than you," or mutter asides like, "Smack him in the mouth."
Rowden and his allies said the DEC had failed to make good on promises to cover insurance costs and phone bills the group had incurred. Also, they said, the DEC had not reimbursed headquarters for revenue that was lost when it was decided that the group would distribute campaign material for the Kerry-Edwards ticket.
Rowden said he agreed to let the DEC handle distribution, revenue from which was going cover the $500 monthly rent on the headquarters, only because the DEC had promised to come up with more than the $50 a month it was already chipping in.
In turn, Rowden was accused of being a poor steward of the money coming into the headquarters. Some DEC members said they would be more willing to pay a larger share if they were not being kept in the dark about finances.
"I don't question your integrity," DEC state committeeman Al Hernandez told Rowden. "I question your administration."
Ultimately, it was Commissioner Diane Rowden who, with limited success, got people focused on getting beyond the dispute.
"Can't one Democrat talk in here without another putting them down?" she said. "Let's regroup here. All it is going to take, guys, is cooperation."
In a telephone interview Tuesday, DEC chairwoman Peg Heal said the organization had not broken its word. The DEC plans to meet Saturday, she said, to decide whether it needs to hand over more money to the headquarters.
"I feel this is a misunderstanding," Heal said. "And that we are going to resolve it."
Meanwhile, keys to the new locks have not been handed out. Instead, the headquarters is being opened and closed every day by a volunteer. All groups, including the DEC, still have access.
Will Van Sant can be reached at 352 754-6127 or vansant@sptimes.com