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Gulfport candidates qualify for races
By AMY WIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published January 24, 2001 GULFPORT -- So much for a ho-hum election year. A flurry of candidates qualified early this week to run for seats up for election March 6, leaving Gulfport with a race for mayor and two challengers for five-term City Council member Jack Olsen. The rush to qualify for the election might not be over yet. Four more Gulfport residents -- two in Ward 2, one in Ward 4 and one interested in the mayor's seat -- have picked up the candidacy forms required to run for office in Gulfport. The mayor's race pits Michael J. Yakes, who is seeking a sixth term after winning 83 percent of the vote the last time he had a campaign opponent, against Larry Tosi Jr., a lieutenant with the Gulfport Police Department until his retirement Friday. Olsen also is seeking a sixth term on the council. Larry Cooper, who represents Ward 4, is seeking his third term, but no one has qualified to run against him. The period for qualifying closes at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. So far, the campaigns in Gulfport looks like this: Lawrence C. Tosi Jr., who retired Friday from the Gulfport Police Department after 29 years and four months with the agency, is running for mayor. When he retired, he was the lieutenant in charge of the Community Resources Division. Previously, he had been a detective and oversaw patrol officers until Chief Curt Willocks reorganized the department three years ago. But Tosi is no disgruntled employee. He said he respects Yakes but now wants an opportunity to get his own ideas on the table as mayor. "Here's the reason in a nutshell: I've served the city, served the public in excess of 29 years," Tosi said. "I like the public, I like the members of the community in Gulfport. I've served for that length of time, and I'd like to continue to serve the people of Gulfport." When Tosi first decided to run for mayor, City Clerk Louise Spence told him that city employees must resign 10 days prior to the the qualifying period in order to run for office. This year, that date would have been Dec. 26. Ultimately, City Attorney Tim Driscoll advised that a state statute overruled the city charter in this case, and Tosi was allowed to run. Tosi said he doesn't even have any aspirations of being the boss of his old boss, the police chief. "I don't have any feelings like that whatsoever," he said, "and in our form of government, in Gulfport, which is the city manager form of government, the mayor and City Council aren't over the police chief." Michael J. Yakes is seeking a sixth term, and winning would make him the longest-serving mayor in Gulfport history. Yakes could not be reached for comment Tuesday. In a 10-year record in Gulfport, Yakes has become known for his low-key style and support for youth programs. He also has supported redevelopment of Gulfport's Waterfront Business District and the 49th Street Redevelopment District. Yakes retired two years ago as a health and safety manager for the state Department of Transportation, where he worked for 38 years. Dawn E. Fisher is running for the Ward 2 seat currently filled by Olsen. She said she has been active in Gulfport for years, working with the Chamber of Commerce, the Fourth of July Committee and the Spring Festival. Currently, she is working with the chamber to help the city develop a new sign ordinance. She owns the property that houses Gulfport's popular Backfin Blue Cafe. Jack Olsen is running for a sixth term on the council. He is a Vietnam veteran who became a registered nurse, and now he owns Southern Home Health Care in St. Petersburg. He says he wants to enhance civic pride, improve the city's attention to the elderly and encourage home ownership and business opportunities in Gulfport. John W. Hamilton, an auto mechanic at Maher Chevrolet in St. Petersburg, also is running for the Ward 2 seat. He has lived in Gulfport for 12 years and occasionally has publicized his opinions in letters to the editor of the Gulfport Gabber and the St. Petersburg Times. In his letters to the Times, he has defended a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who uses his off-duty time to stop speeders in his own Treasure Island neighborhood. The trooper had been criticized for being too aggressive in his law enforcement. In another letter, he defended Tyrone Square Mall's policy of prohibiting teens from displaying blatant gang symbols at the mall. Larry A. Cooper, who is running for re-election to the Ward 4 council seat, is a craftsman printer who works for the St. Petersburg Times at the newspaper's printing plant. Cooper got involved in civic activities several years ago as a president of Gulfport Little League and was appointed in 1996 to fill a council seat vacated by a member who resigned. He won his seat in 1997 with the slogan of "Keep Coop."
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