Unions help fill coffer of candidate

Donors from across the state have kicked in for state House hopeful Ed Hooper. His GOP opponent questions his local support.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 5, 2000

CLEARWATER -- The checks have floated in from all over the state, from St. Pete Beach and Winter Springs, from Orlando and Miami.

Firefighter unions across Florida are supporting Clearwater City Commissioner Ed Hooper, a retired fire lieutenant and paramedic, in his bid to take the District 50 state House seat this fall.

Nearly a third of Hooper's $42,525 in campaign cash to date -- at least $12,600 -- has been contributed by state firefighters unions and their members, whom he has represented as a state and county union official, according to financial reports turned in Friday.

His opponent in the Republican primary for the seat, Kim Berfield, doesn't like it.

"It's not local support," Berfield said.

Her campaign, Berfield said, has "tried to build from within the district, and that has been extremely well-received. We're trying to be grass roots."

Hooper responded that he has no qualms about the firefighter unions' support.

"I'm very pleased. I'm very proud," Hooper said, after turning in a campaign finance report.

"That's 24 years of my life as a firefighter. I made a lot of friends and contacts over those years, and they support their own. Always have and always will. I'm not disappointed with any of the contributions at all."

Hooper, 53, noted that Berfield is tapping her own source of contacts in the Contractors and Builders Association of Pinellas County for cash. Berfield, 29, works for the county association of local developers as an events coordinator, putting on an annual industry trade show and a parade of homes.

Berfield's campaign reports show she has collected about $5,000 -- about 22 percent of her cash -- from the local building industry.

That would be the same local builders association that unsuccessfully opposed the state's initiative to create a statewide, hurricane-resistant building code.

Berfield's $22,500 war chest also has received donations from critics of Hooper and the current Clearwater City Commission.

Berfield believes that Hooper and the Clearwater commission attracted such critics because they failed to keep a tight leash on former City Manager Mike Roberto's spending and management of projects.

Among them are Berfield's parents, including former City Commissioner Sue Berfield, whom Hooper ousted from office four years ago. Her parents, whom she lives with, have given $1,000 to her campaign.

Companies run by former Commissioner Fred Thomas -- a longtime critic of the current city government -- have given another $1,000.

Both the Berfields and Thomas belong to Save the Bayfront, a group that fought to defeat a $300-million downtown redevelopment plan backed by Hooper earlier this year.

Hooper says that he expected Berfield would try to make an issue of his union ties. Her mother also did so in his past commission race against her, he said.

Hooper, who considers himself a moderate Republican, insists that his union leadership over the years should not be a handicap within the party.

"The firefighters and police unions are probably the only organized labor that really talk to Republicans," Hooper said, citing strong support for Gov. Jeb Bush and other Republican state lawmakers from the groups.

Republicans have been equally good to firefighters in the past two years, approving legislation that set a statewide minimum for pension benefits for cities and towns that use money from a state fund to pay their benefits, among other moves. Cities statewide had fought the legislation.

However, Hooper maintains he won't be a lackey for the unions if elected to the state House.

He said he went up against some members of his local Clearwater firefighters' union several years ago in an effort to reform a city pension system that was doling out lavish, lifelong disability pensions without enough accountability.

Hooper's other source of campaign cash has been from major businesses in the area, including GTE, Florida Power, contractor Alan Bomstein, Hooters founder Ed Droste and the Philadelphia Phillies. (The Phillies, Bomstein and Droste are all involved in talks with the the city to build the baseball team a $20-million new spring training stadium.)

Local business interests have contributed about $16,000 to Hooper's House campaign so far. Hooper says that the donations have little relationship to his decisions as a commissioner.

In fact, Hooper says that hedislikes raising the money that gives him a comfortable financial edge over Berfield in the primary race.

"It's a lousy part of politics, really," Hooper said. "I hate asking for money. It does make you feel different."

Ava VanNahmen, the Democratic candidate for the state House seat, has so far raised only $26,085 in funds, mostly from $16,000 in personal loans to her own campaign.

"It is somewhat insane that a House race costs you over $100,000, and a Florida senate seat can cost up to a million," Hooper said.

"It is ridiculous how much time you have to devote to fundraising," he wrote in a recent statement.

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