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Diverse group of candidates vie in city

The main issue that shows the differences among the five candidates is the controversial human rights ordinance, which failed in a 2003 election.

By SHANNON TAN
Published February 21, 2005

LARGO - With five candidates running, the March 1 election is turning out to be unpredictable. For one thing, there are no incumbents running.

The sole incumbent in the field withdrew suddenly, citing health problems. One candidate is possibly the first African-American to run for office in Largo. The Christian Coalition of Pinellas County sponsored its first Largo candidate forum.

Here's a look at the candidates' views on local issues, their experience and backgrounds.

Seat 1

Former commissioner Mary Gray Black appointed Gigi Arntzen to her first citizens advisory board in 1982.

Now, the two are running against each other for the same commission seat.

Arntzen, 55, emphasizes that her involvement with the city is current and spans 22 years.

Black, 65, left the commission in 1991, and has since run unsuccessfully for mayor, state representative and city commissioner.

Joshua A. Lindsey, 30, is a political newcomer who was spurred to run after seeing the problems in the Clearwater-Largo Road redevelopment district he lives in.

Arntzen has served on six advisory boards and is vice chair of the Finance Advisory Board and chair of the strategic planning committee. "My interest in the city hasn't faded over 22 years," she said.

Arntzen became hooked on Largo politics after attending her first commission meeting in 1977 or 1978. Her husband was a police officer, and commissioners were deciding whether to allow officers to wear short-sleeved shirts.

She retired in 2003 from Pinellas County government, where she held various clerical and office manager positions for 30 years. Pat Burke, who is not seeking re-election, asked her to consider running.

Unlike her opponents, she supports last year's 1-mill property tax rate increase.She says she will not support any tax increases for the next three years.

"Was a 1-mill increase excessive? Yes," Arntzen said. "Was it needed? Yes."

Black, a retired Belleair Beach city clerk, says she has tried to stay current and has attended commission meetings since June.

Bruce McManus, a Largo attorney who lobbied against a proposed human rights ordinance in 2003, asked Black to run. She credits McManus with being instrumental in "helping to spread the word, the word being the word of God."

"I'm not ashamed of standing up and saying, "Yes, I support the word of God,"' said Black, who wants to adopt an ordinance to restrict adult entertainment in Largo.

Black is developing a database of anyone who wants to serve on a committee to herself so she can listen to residents' views. She says she already has 450 names on the list.

She opposes the city manager meeting individually with commissioners. "I don't like politics behind closed doors," she said. "I feel that perhaps the Sunshine Law is being circumvented."

Of the five candidates, Black has raised the most money - more than $5,000 as of Feb. 4, which includes $500 in personal loans. She opened her campaign account in June, six months before the qualifying period started.

Commissioners Crozier, Gay Gentry, Burke and Pat Gerard - or their spouses - have contributed to Arntzen, who has raised nearly $2,000, excluding loans. Lindsey contributed $300 to his campaign and took out $200 in personal loans.

Unlike his two opponents, Lindsey is no politician. He does not sugarcoat his opinions, which ruffles some feathers.

He supports term limits. He thinks the charter should be changed to make it easier to fire the city manager. He says the city should have waited to build the new library.

Married with three young children, Lindsey is a real estate investor who buys and rehabs rental properties in St. Petersburg and runs a small company distributing the Weekly Planet . He's also a student at St. Petersburg College.

He had several jobs before deciding to work from home three years ago. He was a newspaper carrier and an office manager at th e Times' printing plant, and has worked in insurance claims and for a private investigator.

Lindsey filed for bankruptcy in 1999 because his wife was in a car accident, he got hurt on a Disney ride, and medical bills started piling up, he said.

They lost their first house and car. "It's something I'm very ashamed we had to do," he said. "But we had no way out."

He got so aggravated watching commission meetings that he decided to run. One week, commissioners would be going in one direction. The next week, he said, they would switch.

The Clearwater-Largo Road corridor, he says, is too important to the city to let "wishy washiness" get in the way. "We are the City of Progress," he said. "We need to start acting like it."

Perhaps the biggest difference between the candidates has to do with their views on the controversial human rights ordinance. The topic has come up in candidate forums and in a voter guide published by the Christian Coalition of Pinellas County.

None of the candidates plan to propose another citywide ordinance, which failed in 2003. Black and Lindsey oppose including the phrase "sexual orientation" in the city's proposed internal mission, vision and values statement.

"I really feel our purpose on earth is to glorify God and we have to make sure the activities and lifestyles we support are moral," Black said.

The phrase doesn't bother Arntzen. "We're not promoting any immoral behavior in Largo," she said. "We're asking people to accept each other."

Arntzen, who recently quit her part-time job at the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater to campaign full-time, says she would not be voting on religious issues as a commissioner. Should religion be a part of this election?

"It probably shouldn't," Lindsey said. "But it's going to. The silent majority that has been so silent for many years is not silent anymore. They're the voting base and you can't just ignore them."

Seat 2

For the past three years, Rodney Woods has been a regular face at commission meetings. He often speaks during citizen comment, and is especially eloquent on the issue that first got him involved: diversity.

The city and the Greater Ridgecrest area could not agree on how to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

That was unacceptable to Woods. Then he learned of the racial slur in the Fire Department and the housing study that found bias against minorities renting apartments in Largo.

He was appalled at the comments made by opponents of the proposed human rights ordinance. As a commissioner, he probably would have voted for it, he said. Growing up in the small town of Killona, La., he knows first-hand what it's like to be disrespected.

"No one should be discriminated against for any reason there is," Woods says. "Just because you grant a person respect does not mean you approve what they're doing."

Woods, 47, ran unsuccessfully for councilman in 1979 in St. Charles Parish, La., to oppose a nuclear plant being built across the street from where his mother lives.

He's served on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial committee and is a member of the strategic planning committees.

He wondered if white people would support a black commissioner in Largo, but people have been encouraging, he said.

He's not reaching out to established groups, instead focusing on the people who feel left out. He wants to be a catalyst in uniting everyone - the High Point and Ridgecrest residents, the blue-collar workers.

Woods is a pest control manager for a Dunedin landscaping company. He wants to show people that the average person doesn't have to have a Ph.D. or money to run.

"I'm a winner already," Woods says. "Democracy in action."

His opponent, Andy Guyette, a technical director for Honeywell, has a master's degree in management of technology from the University of Miami.

He's raised $1,325 as of Feb. 4, a little more than Woods' $1,150, and Guyette has earned the support of Mayor Bob Jackson and an endorsement from the local firefighters union.

Commissioners Burke, Gerard and Gentry - or their spouses - have contributed to Woods' campaign so far, while Gentry has given to Guyette's campaign.

He ran unsuccessfully for commission in 1995, and has served on the public works and finance advisory boards.

Guyette, 47, says he joined the U.S. Air Force after attending high school in Wisconsin and met his wife at a Cocoa Beach base. They were stationed in South Korea for a year, then moved to the area because his wife is from St. Petersburg.

As a commissioner, he says he will be a watchdog and examine the budget closely. City spending in the past three years is close to getting out of hand, he said.

Unlike Woods, he says he would not have voted for the proposed human rights ordinance. He thinks that the issue belongs at the federal level.

He thinks the city's proposed vision statement should be tweaked to eliminate any mention of specific groups such as "sexual orientation."

Woods, however, wants to change that statement that Largo will provide "superior services," because that will cost additional money.

--Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

--Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified February 21, 2005, 01:32:19]