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9 votes help pick a mayor
By MATTHEW WAITE © St. Petersburg Times, published April 11, 2001 PORT RICHEY -- Eloise Taylor barely defeated Bob Leggiere in Tuesday's municipal election, squeaking by with a nine-vote victory. Taylor took in 384 votes to Leggiere's 375, getting by with a 1 percent margin of victory and avoiding an automatic recount of votes. But one of the council races, however, did head to an automatic recount. After the recount, Dale Massad and Bill Bennett tied. Melba Hamilton of the Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Office said ties are broken by the cities. It was unclear Tuesday night how Port Richey was to break the tie. An automatic recount had been ordered when the initial results showed Massad winning by a single vote. Hamilton said the Canvassing Board would meet at noon Wednesday to certify the results or consider any objections to the vote. By late Tuesday night, it was unclear if any objections had been filed. The winner of the City Council seat will fill the remaining year of former council member Tom Brown's term. Brown left in October. Massad was appointed to the council in September to fill the seat vacated when Leggiere lost to Taylor in a special mayoral election. Phyllis Grae, in her second run for the council, by comparison won her seat easily, taking 390 votes and winning a two-year term on the council. Jim Priest came in last with 298 votes.
Grae, 66, was appointed to the council in October to fill Brown's vacancy. She said Tuesday night that she was glad her seat was no longer an interim position. "I think I've got a job ahead of me, don't I?" she said after learning the results. "I never put off any of my work or my research because it was a "temporary job.' But it's nice to know I'm there for two years." Massad, 55, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. Massad had just one clear plank to his platform: dredging the city's waterways. He got behind the effort earlier this year and has spent hours at City Hall researching it. Bennett, 56, also could not be reached Tuesday night. Voters also approved a doubling of the City Council's pay, with 368 votes, or 55 percent, supporting paychecks going from $180 a month to $360. Turnout for the election, 39 percent, was the highest since 1997, when city voters defeated a ballot issue that would have merged the city with New Port Richey. And this year's elections were particularly bitter, with candidates more or less aligning themselves with a mayoral candidate and supporters everywhere angry over fliers scattered throughout town. Taylor's campaign passed around fliers calling Leggiere a "public embarrassment" because of an investigation into Leggiere and his actions with the Building Department. A flier that said it was paid for by Grae's campaign was passed around on Tuesday that pointed out Priest's past, which included several arrests and a bankruptcy. That flier angered Priest supporters because since April 2, when his 16-year-old son was in a serious car accident, Priest hasn't campaigned. On Tuesday, while voters cast ballots for him, Priest was at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, at his son's bedside. New council members will be sworn in on April 16. - Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com.
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