She was ousted from the mayor's chair in the 1999 election after driving her Toyota Camry into a parked car, then pleading guilty to driving under the influence.

And now she has returned to the campaign trail, fighting for a one-year seat on the City Commission, knowing she must answer questions about her past drinking problems to allay public concerns.

"The easiest choice for me right now would be to drop out of the race," Garvey told the Times last week, sitting down for a two-hour interview about her political hopes and personal concerns. "But my choice is the city. I think it needs my experience to bring the community together."

Garvey acknowledges she is an alcoholic.

She said she often drank gin and tonics, sometimes two or three, after commission meetings to wind down, particularly when the debate was biting. She alluded to stressful commission meetings as far back as the early 1980s.

She can't pick out the exact date when having a few drinks became a problem.

The week she was charged with DUI, in November 1998, Garvey said that she had been drinking nightly. But she maintains she did not have a lot to drink just before leaving her house to go to the commission meeting the day she was arrested, despite a blood-alcohol reading that was more than four times the legal limit.

After the arrest, Garvey said she vowed to stop drinking. She stayed sober for about a year and a half, she said, until she relapsed for a period of two or three weeks in late May or early June 2000.

Dealing with a drinking problem, Garvey said, requires daily effort.

"A public official that has a problem is no different than any other person that has a problem," Garvey said. "Once you've got an alcohol problem, it's with you for life. You have got to go day by day, and thank the Lord for every day you get."

As punishment for her DUI, Garvey completed 50 hours of community service with the Religious Community Services' food pantry downtown. She even worked another 50 hours her own. She was placed on a year's probation and had to undergo counseling.

As assurance that she has dealt with her problem, Garvey provided the Times with two documents from her counselor, a Catholic priest certified to treat alcoholics by the National Safety Council's local chapter.

In the documents, which had to be provided to the state Division of Driver Licenses so Garvey could regain her license, the counselor states Garvey committed herself to recovery and was progressing well at understanding the disease of alcoholism.

The first document, filed in January 1999, states Garvey was counseled weekly for several months after her DUI hearing. The second document, filed in July 2000, states that Garvey attended monthly counseling sessions last year and that she was "very enthusiastic and cooperative" about treatment.

Garvey declined to release the name of the priest who counseled her.

She said she has not sought counseling since last summer, although she would be willing to continue in such a program if city residents want her to.

Garvey also attended more than a half dozen Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, she said, over the past two years. She never found a group where she felt comfortable enough to stay for long, she said.

Asked whether she had ever made a decision on the commission while impaired by alcohol, she replied at first by saying she doesn't remember making a bad decision.

After being asked twice more, she answered: "Absolutely not."

Has Garvey done enough to allay any concerns that the public may have?

Some political experts suggest that candidates with substance abuse problems should hold nothing back from the public.

"If you are inclined toward some addiction, there is always a clear possibility that you could return to the bad habit," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies and author of 22 books, including one on how the press covers political scandals in post-Watergate America.

Sabato suggested Garvey would be better off disclosing everything, including the name of her alcohol counselor, so that he could be interviewed about her treatment.

"This is not a minor problem. This is a major problem, and it resulted in a circumstance that could have killed her or other people," Sabato said. "I think it could be in her political interest to reveal even more. But it's also the voters' right to reject her from office if they believe that she has not been forthcoming enough."

Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, who worked with Garvey while both were in office, agreed that public officials who have substance abuse problems should be forthcoming about their personal issues.

"I think the public can be very forgiving," Freedman said. "It depends completely on the behavior of the public official and their attitude."

For some Clearwater residents, Garvey has revealed enough.

"Once she admitted she had a problem, and showed signs that she had gotten treatment, I felt I could support her again," said resident Lois Cormier, who criticized Garvey for not being more open about her problems two years ago.

"I am supporting her in this election because of her knowledge of the city, her longtime residence and the fact that even after all of this happened, she didn't go away," Cormier said.

Since leaving office, Garvey has immersed herself with volunteer work for two dozen local, regional and state groups.

She joined the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce and led a committee to raise $50,000 for an endowment for the Community Pride day care center.

She sat on the boards of directors of Partners in Self-Sufficiency, a group that tries to help single-parents off welfare, and the Florida 2012 Olympics bid committee. As president of a statewide organization of Sister Cities, Garvey planned a statewide conference for Sister Cities in Florida to swap ideas.

Garvey also worked with the Friends of the Clearwater Library to lobby the commission to build a large, main library downtown.

"I stayed involved in the community," Garvey said. "I didn't just disappear."

Garvey's appointment book for the next month is packed. She had to reschedule an interview with the Times last week, after forgetting that she had a Friends of the Clearwater Library meeting the same hour.

"Seems like every time I'm anyplace, she's been there," said Beverly Fay, a Friends of the Clearwater Library board member who has known Garvey for years. "Even the few times that I've been down there at the Saturday vegetable market (downtown), I've seen her there."

Garvey's mood brightened when the interview turned to city issues and away from her personal problems.

One of her priorities would be controlling the city's growth. In the past, Garvey believes, Clearwater defined itself as a medium-rise small city, with buildings under eight stories.

But now, Garvey said, city leaders are making decisions that threaten to change that. She is concerned about plans to build a row of high-rise condominiums on Clearwater Harbor north of downtown, as well as new condo high-rises on Clearwater Beach.

"I thought we understood we were never going to be like a downtown Tampa," Garvey said, or another Sand Key on Clearwater Beach.

Garvey said she would do a better job than some current officials of capping expenses for consultants, getting more information to the public and trying to unify the city's many neighborhoods. And she said the city should conduct a national search for a new city manager.

The public reaction to her campaign so far has been nearly completely positive, Garvey said.

Her family's reaction was mixed. At first, her husband and her three grown children tried to talk her out of running, Garvey said. But once she made her decision, Garvey said, they supported her. Her son Michael Garvey gave $500 to her campaign coffer.

"For 18 years, I was a very effective public official. I think that's what's important," Garvey said. "Why would I submit myself to a campaign if I didn't believe I could do the job?"

- News researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report, which also used Times files. Christina Headrick can be reached at 445-4160.

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