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Ousted once, he runs again

John Frank brings a history to his Lealman fire board candidacy.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 16, 2006

LEALMAN - John Frank is running for the fire commission, less than five months after he was removed over allegations that he did not live in the Lealman area.

Frank, 51, is running against current commission chairwoman Becky Harriman, 49, who has served on the board since 2000.

Kathleen Litton, who was appointed to serve out Frank's term, has no opposition and is considered elected.

"The reason I am running?" Frank asked Monday. "There are several reasons, and vengeance is not one of them. There seems to be a real problem with the leadership of the commission."

One of those problems, Frank said, is the reluctance of the board to allow public comment on items members have voted on. That eliminates one of the important checks and balances of the political system, he said.

Frank also criticized the management style of the Lealman Fire District.

"The community as a whole deserves better public service than what they have on that commission right now," Frank said.

Harriman said she believes nothing has changed since Frank was kicked off the commission.

"Once again he is going to mislead and misuse our political system," she said. "He still does not live in the district."

Frank disputes that. He maintains he has always lived in the Lealman Fire District.

Frank was first elected to the Lealman Fire Commission in 2002. His tenure was contentious from the beginning as other fire board members sniped at him and he returned fire.

Frank first faced accusations of not living in the district, as required, in 2003. He successfully fended off those charges.

But in early 2005, Frank was arrested and charged with multiple counts of drunken driving and marijuana possession. The arrests came to light late last year after fellow commissioner Vivian Diane Campbell again accused Frank of not living in the district.

Adjudication was withheld on all the criminal charges while Frank sought court-ordered counseling and complied with other court directives.

But he found it harder to shake allegations that he did not live in Lealman, although he has always maintained that he does.

The most damaging evidence came from code officers who cited Frank's Lealman property for multiple offenses. The code officers said that he could not live there because he was never home and because he had no water and sewer hookups. The Lealman house, they said, was in too poor a condition for habitation.

Fire board members suspended Frank without pay in November 2005 pending an investigation. But when the state attorney and others failed to investigate the matter, they decided there was enough evidence to remove Frank from the board, doing so in March.

Since then, Frank says he has cleaned up his property and almost has it in compliance. He has also been cited by Pinellas Park code officers for problems with his property there. He has cleaned that up as well. Frank has also continued to attend many fire board meetings. He has said since he was kicked off that he planned a comeback.

Frank said he does not believe the past will hurt him at the polls in November.

"The people in Lealman are much more understanding of situations than I believe other communities would be," Frank said.

There was no excuse for what he did, Frank said, but "the lessons of the past couple of years are well learned. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. There's a lot of work to get done."

And to prove he can do the work, Frank said he would stand on his record of service to the community.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 21:40:30]