Incumbents prevail in most city elections

Six municipalities hold elections Tuesday and all but one officeholder keep their jobs.

By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 6, 2002

Mary Laurance was Election Day's unlucky incumbent.

Seven politicians risked their offices Tuesday as six cities staged elections. Only Laurance, a one-term commissioner in Largo, lost. Charlie Harper, an executive with Florida Power Corp., won a close race with almost 51 percent of the vote.

Harper barely surpassed the mandatory limit for an automatic recount. Laurance said it was unlikely she would request one.

Commissioner Pat Burke easily won re-election in the other Largo race, collecting 78 percent of the ballots cast.

The voter turnout of slightly more than 10 percent represented Largo's best participation in years, though the number paled in comparison with the much smaller municipalities, South Pasadena and Treasure Island.

Incumbent commissioners Butch Ellsworth and Barbara Blush romped in Treasure Island, where 27 percent of the electorate voted. Both commissioners expressed their wish to see through such major projects as the new, $55-million Causeway Bridge.

South Pasadena, at 1 square mile one of the county's smallest cities, had the day's biggest ballot: three commission seats and four referendums. Almost 24 percent of the city's voters took part.

Incumbent Chris Burgess was re-elected to a three-year term, as was newcomer Diane Sheldon. Carol May Clark was elected to complete the year left in the term of Dick Holmes, who resigned.

Referendums to extend commissioners' term limits and increase their compensation failed.

Seminole voters selected three council members from a ballot of five candidates. The winners were Carol Long and incumbents Carol Hajek and Bob Matthews. The turnout was low: 8 percent.

Gulfport's City Council was guaranteed a new face when Lynne Brown decided not to run for a third term. Harry Brodhead, a five-year resident who runs his own handyman service, won with better than 63 percent of the vote.

Finally, Pinellas Park will have to vote again. In a three-person race for a City Council seat, Sandra Bradbury and Ralph Marlow have advanced to a March 26 runoff election. Bradbury almost won outright with almost 48 percent of the vote. Marlow received 29 percent.

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