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Help from prominent pockets

Contributor lists show Dade City residents from the new and old guards are choosing sides in the City Commission race.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published April 2, 2006

DADE CITY - They are lining up, checkbooks in hand.

As the races for City Commission come down to the wire, yard signs are popping up; rhetoric is heating up, and residents from the new guard and the old are choosing sides.

In Group 1, Mike Agnello hopes to unseat Scott Black. Camille Hernandez is challenging Bill Dennis in the Group 2 race. The election is April 11.

To date, the four candidates have raised nearly $7,000. Much of it comes from prominent pockets.

First-term City Commissioner Steve Van Gorden is supporting both challengers, motivated by a desire, he said, to bring new ideas to the board.

"When I got elected, I got elected on the idea of change," he said. "We need to stick to that and bring some fresh ideas.

"It's time for some new leadership."

Van Gorden donated $100 to Hernandez and $50 to Agnello, records show.

He described both candidates as independent thinkers. They are removed, he said, from "old Dade City" influences and families.

Politically, Van Gorden's move is unusual.

"It's the first time I've ever seen an incumbent actively campaign to have his co-workers unseated," said Pasco Property Appraiser Mike Wells, who donated $100 to Dennis.

Wells, who served on the County Commission from 1984 to 1992, said it could have consequences.

"When I was on the County Commission, if my fellow commissioners had actively campaigned to unseat me and were unsuccessful, they would have to deal with me for four years, and I would do everything I could (to see that) they get nothing past the board," Wells said.

Van Gorden offered high praise for both Dennis and Black. He downplayed the possibility of any political fallout.

"Hopefully they will see that we're all looking for the same thing, and that's the betterment of Dade City," he said.

Pat German, a longtime real estate agent who supported Van Gorden's campaign in 2004, called his involvement "refreshing."

"I admire that," she said. "He ran on a platform of change. Can he just sit back and maintain the status quo?"

Former City Commissioner Lowell Harris gave $50 to Hernandez's campaign. But he said he's not sure what he'll do at the voting booth.

"She convinced me that she has some new ideas," said Harris, who also contributed to Black. "She would be a refreshing new person on the commission."

Ed Blommel, who works for Tampa Electric Co. and is a fixture at city meetings, is supporting Dennis.

"Bill's the type of candidate that will ask the tough questions and make the tough motions, and I like that character about him," said Blommel, who gave $100.

Also among Dennis' contributors are businessman Otto Weitzenkorn, developer Embassy Investments Inc. and former assistant city clerk Jill Campbell. His contributions totaled $2,000 late last week.

On Hernandez's list are downtown merchant Kiefer Village Jewels, former city water plant operator Jim Shive and hotel developer Piyush Mulji. Hernandez has raised $2,300.

In the Group 1 race, Black has $1,800 to Agnello's $700. Each loaned money to their own campaigns. Agnello received $200 from developer Kevin Roberts, and Black received $500 from Most Insurance Agency in Tampa, his employer.

German, the real estate agent, spread the wealth around - she donated to Hernandez, Dennis and Black: "I'm to the point may the best man win."

Molly Moorhead can be reached at 352 521-6521 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6521. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 2, 2006, 01:24:20]