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Gil Thivener has 36 years of law enforcement experience. He answers a rival's attacks about the seven years he worked for Sheriff John Short.
By TAMARA LUSH
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2000
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Sheriff hopeful Gil Thivener stands in a living room before a dozen people. It's just one in a string of meet-the-candidate coffees that has punctuated his life for the past three months.
In a folksy drawl, Thivener talks about why he is the only Republican candidate capable of ousting Lee Cannon, the two-term Democratic incumbent.
He says he can boost the number of deputies on the street and the sagging morale among the rank-and-file patrol officers. He cites his 36 years of law enforcement experience -- 25 of those years as an administrator -- as proof that he's the man for the job.
Thivener glosses over one part of his resume, however: the seven years he worked at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.
From 1977-1984, Thivener was the agency's major of operations, under former Sheriff John Short. Short would mismanage the Sheriff's Office to the extent that he was indicted on criminal charges and removed from office. He was later cleared of the criminal charges.
Thivener says he was "out of the loop" in the agency, wasn't aware of Short's bad decisions and resigned because he wanted to distance himself from Short's problems.
He ran against Short in 1984 and lost. Thivener managed a fast food restaurant for eight months and then was hired as the police chief for the South Florida city of Dania.
But the man who won the Pasco election that year, Jim Gillum, won't let Thivener forget his past.
Gillum, who was ousted from office in 1992 and is now running as a Republican for sheriff, says Thivener botched investigations, was in cahoots with Short on land deals and had knowledge of shady goings-on within the sheriff's office.
Among Gillum's accusations:
Thivener and Short owned property together and profited from the sale of the property.
As major of operations, Thivener should have known about an incident involving two female teenage drug informants who overdosed on LSD while working for the Pasco Sheriff's Office in 1980. According to a 1984 article in the Times, one of the girls had a sexual relationship with a sheriff's detective. She also offered drugs to a 14-year-old neighbor girl.
When a sergeant asked Thivener to allow the Sheriff's Office to pay the hospital bill for the informants' drug overdoses, Thivener said no.
Thivener was involved in Operation CUP (Clean Up Pasco), an undercover drug investigation that produced no arrests. Gillum says that investigators, backed by a wealthy, part-time deputy, planted drugs in the vehicles of innocent people to force them to discuss drug deals. But a Times story from 1983 said that none of the targets had ever been linked to drug smuggling or any other illegal activity.
Thivener is happy to address each charge, saying that he "was not under investigation at any time for any of this."
He says he bought two triplexes and a 10-acre parcel in Hernando County with Short. But when someone suggested that there may be an "appearance of impropriety" in the land deals, he said, he ceased doing business with Short. Thivener said he never negotiated any of the deals at the Sheriff's Office.
On the issue of the teenage drug informants, Thivener acknowledged not paying the hospital bills. But he said there was no way of knowing who the informants were or their ages -- detectives often keep informants' information secret from other officers, even their superiors, he said.
As for the CUP investigation, Thivener said he knew very little about it, and that many of the detectives reported directly to Short.
Thivener said Gillum is twisting facts and ancient history in an attempt to discredit him.
"(Gillum) is just grasping for straws, trying to get himself back into the sheriff's race," Thivener said.
Thivener has run for sheriff in Pasco twice before: in 1984 and 1996. Both times, he came in last in the primary.
He chalks up the dismal showings to low name recognition, something he has been trying to overcome this time around. He has raised more money than any other Republican candidate, with nearly $24,000 in contributions as of mid August. He has spent nearly $8,000, mostly on signs, fliers and bumper stickers.
If elected, Thivener tells potential voters, he will serve no more than two terms. He downplays questions about his age -- he is 65 -- and the fact that he will be nearly 70 if he is elected and runs for a second term.
At the recent coffee in New Port Richey, the dozen senior citizens didn't seem to know, or care, about his past.
"He's a very honest person," said Mary Shields of New Port Richey.
He tells stories about buying the first portable radio system for Pinellas County when he was chief of the St. Pete Beach Police Department. He criticizes Cannon for weak leadership and says he will run the agency "like a CEO would."
And after his 36 years in law enforcement, which includes stints as chief in two Florida communities, Thivener wants to end his career in Pasco.
"It would be a distinct honor to be elected sheriff in this county," he said. "I would be humbled by it."