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Financial issues unravel District 56 candidacyBy DAVID KARP © St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 2000 TAMPA -- For Democrats looking for a candidate to challenge state Rep. Sandy Murman, lawyer Betsy McCoy Benedict looked like a bright light. She was a litigator from a political family who appeared as tough as a pit bull. She committed $100,000 of her own money to the race and seemed fully charged to unseat Murman, a Republican running in a Democratic district. But on Tuesday, Benedict's candidacy unraveled. She dropped out of the District 56 race just weeks before the November election, citing unresolved troubles from her divorce, which was finalized in December. For a lawyer who earned $221,000 last year, according to her tax return, there was also a potential liability sitting in a court file in Hillsborough Circuit Court. LaSalle Bank had filed in June to foreclose on Benedict's $155,000 house in Carrollwood, saying Benedict had failed to pay her mortgage since February. For a lawyer who gave her campaign $100,000 of her own money, the filing would have raised questions. On Wednesday morning, a day after Benedict dropped out of the race, LaSalle Bank filed papers to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit. Court records indicated that the two sides agreed on the resolution five days ago. "Sometimes a dispute with a lender doesn't necessarily result from an inability to pay," Benedict said. But she declined to explain what had happened. Benedict, 38, said Wednesday that she dropped out of the race to take care of issues which remain from her divorce last year. Part of the unfinished business included deciding "who is going to pay for what until some of (our assets) are sold." She said she had not spent the $100,000 she loaned her campaign and intends to recoup the money. A vacant lot the couple owned in Avila, valued at $290,000, is for sale, she said. Beyond that, she would not be more specific. She said she thought her foreclosure would have become political fodder. "I am quite sure that opposition research would have been there, and then I would have to respond to some stuff in a forum that I didn't think was appropriate," Benedict said. But Benedict said she wasn't afraid to defend anything she had done. "There is nothing in my life that has occurred or that is occurring that I am embarrassed by or ashamed by," she said. Her ex-husband, whom she married about 15 years ago after graduating from college, recently moved to San Diego, Benedict said. He plans to re-marry in Tampa next month. "People who have unraveled a relationship can probably understand what I am talking about without it being any more specific," she said. "The financial changes that occur in a woman's life, in a man's life, are very, very profound." District 56 includes a part of Carrollwood and cuts through downtown Tampa, Hyde Park and Davis Islands. Benedict's withdrawal left local Democrats with just two weeks to find a replacement candidate. Mike Scionti, chairman of the Hillsborough Democratic Party Executive Committee, called a meeting for Friday to pick a nominee. Already, two lawyers have put their names in the running: Henry Gill, who is president of the Davis Islands Civic Association, and Michael Steinberg, a lawyer and son of Circuit Judge Ralph Steinberg. "When this happened . . . it just occurred to me that it might be a good idea to throw my hat in the ring," said Gill, who is secretary of the Democratic Party Executive Committee. Scionti, meanwhile, said he has no hard feelings against Benedict for leaving the party without a candidate at the last minute. "She will be able to come back again, and she will be a good candidate again," Scionti said. "She needs to get her house in order." - Times Political Editor Tim Nickens and news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. David Karp can be reached at (813) 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com.
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