News

Election 2004

Swarmed board race avoids the jugular

Five candidates want the one Mosquito Control Board seat, but they avoid political bloodletting.

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published November 1, 2004

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Brian L. Perras says he might like to be president some day. For now, he'll settle for Mosquito Control Board.

"My goal in politics is to make a big difference, a big impact," said the 27-year-old New Port Richey resident. "I want to change things."

Perras works as a model and actor in Tampa, Miami and elsewhere. He said he had a nonspeaking part in an Academy Award-winning short film, Two Soldiers.

"I just know a lot of people who live on the water and have mosquito problems," he said.

Perras says he hopes the position could get his foot into the door of politics.

Maybe he could become a mayor, he said, "and try to get in the governor's spot, and then Senate and just try to work my way up."

He is one of five candidates seeking Seat 3 on the three-member board that oversees the work of Mosquito Control director Dennis Moore, who was hired in January. He heads day-to-day operations for the $4.3-million agency of 23 full-time employees.

Moore has been fighting mosquitoes in Florida since earning a master's degree at Rutgers University 17 years ago. Board candidates need not have any expertise in entomology, Moore said, but some experience with budgets and personnel issues would be a plus.

The board's short monthly meetings to approve his decisions must often be supplemented by other meetings for special issues, Moore said. Members are paid $400 a month.

The board was created by residents in 1951 in a special election. Along with air conditioning, mosquito control has made Florida livable year-round. Early explorers complained of having to sleep on the beach covered in sand to escape them.

Gary W. "Buck" Joiner has acknowledged gathering about $5,000 from friends and supporters for his campaign to join the board. That's about $5,000 more than most of the other candidates have to work with.

Joiner had a $10-a-plate barbecue a few weeks ago to generate cash for campaign signs. The 63-year-old has cooked up charity fundraisers for churches, booster clubs and civic associations for more than three decades in Pasco.

Joiner retired as an environmental specialist with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"This would give me an opportunity to stay in a field that I know," he said.

Joiner said he will donate any excess campaign funds to charities like the Angelus home for the disabled and the Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind.

Shirley A. Reich, another retiree, would like the job for its salary and as a way to stay involved in the community.

"To be very frank with you, the extra money's going to help," said the 70-year-old, who used to work as a supervisor at the Pasco County Tax Collector's Office.

To prepare herself, she has attended the board's meetings every month since February.

"I started going to the meetings to find out just what is going on, what they do, how they do it, and who the people are, to see if I can make a contribution," she said. "And I think I can."

Gus Martinez, like Perras, said he sees the position as a foot in the door to higher offices. But for now, he said, mosquito control fits best with his full-time job as a driver for United Parcel Service.

"With the one meeting a month, I'll have no problem with that," he said. "Doing anything else, with my job, I wouldn't be able to handle it."

Martinez, 53, cites his experience as coach of his two daughters' softball teams while they were growing up as evidence he can handle budgeting and other aspects of the job.

He also points to his many years as local political liaison for the Teamsters, which contributed $500 to his campaign.

"UPS encourages us to get involved in the community," he said. "They're behind us 100 percent, just like the Teamsters."

Tom "Coach" Ketterer of Land O'Lakes is the only candidate who doesn't live on the county's west side.

"I just think there needs to be some representation evenly throughout the district," he said, "to make sure that everybody's interests are being looked after."

As a coach and president of the Land O'Lakes Little League, the 43-year-old knows a thing or two about getting bitten by mosquitoes.

"We've had some extreme wet seasons, and it's a mess out here," he said. And if the itching isn't bad enough, fogger trucks spray upwind of the kids in the middle of games.

"I have no idea how they set up their cycling for the mosquito guys that come through," he said, but some adjustments are needed, he said.

For more information about Pasco Mosquito Control Board, go to www.pasco-mosquito.org

For more information about the candidates, go to www.pascovotes.com/pasmosq3.htm

AT A GLANCE

CANDIDATES:: Gary W. "Buck" Joiner, Tom "Coach" Ketterer, Gus Martinez, Brian L. Perras, Shirley A. Reich.

DUTY: One of a nonpartisan three-member commission that oversees the work of a director who heads day-to-day operations for the $4.3-million agency of 23 full-time employees.

TERM: Four years.

MEETINGS: The commissioners attend a monthly meeting north of State Road 54 in Odessa and additional meetings as necessary.

PAY: $4,800 per year.

[Last modified November 1, 2004, 00:12:16]

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