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District 55 Sees Deja Vu In Primary

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By STEVEN GIRARDI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The Democratic primary race for the Florida House District 55 seat has a familiar look to it.

That's because the candidates, incumbent Darryl Rouson and Charles S. McKenzie Jr., faced each other less than five months ago in a special election to replace Frank Peterman, who was appointed secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Rouson, with Peterman's endorsement, defeated Democrats McKenzie and St. Petersburg City Council member Earnest Williams on March 25. He defeated write-in candidate Calvester Benjamin-Anderson on April 15 to win the seat he finds himself already having to defend in the Aug. 26 primary.

The winner again will face Benjamin-Anderson in the November general election.

"It feels like we're just coming up for air and then back at it again," said McKenzie, who is optimistic that this time he can get over the top.

Rouson won the three-way race with 44.1 percent of the vote, with McKenzie second at 30.4 percent in this meandering district that stretches from south St. Petersburg into parts of Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties. More than half of the district's 77,000 voters are black; nearly two-thirds are Democrats.

Rouson figures his win over McKenzie should have resolved it.

"I've never stopped running from the day I announced, except for the two weeks I spent in the legislative session," Rouson said. "The unfortunate thing is that he did not accept the fact that people spoke in the primary election."

Both candidates have been involved in civil rights work - Rouson as a former president of the NAACP's St. Petersburg branch, and McKenzie as state coordinator for Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Incumbent Claims Head Start

Rouson, 53, is an attorney and senior partner in Rouson & Associates, and a former Pinellas County prosecutor. He has spoken openly about his crack addiction a decade ago and was chairman of the Substance Abuse & Addictions Task Force for the National Bar Association.

Now the incumbent, Rouson said he has the advantage of having served and heard from constituents at community meetings and elsewhere.

"It has given me quite a head start on issues that are important to the people," he said.

He continues to campaign on economic and neighborhood issues, such as reducing property insurance and property taxes, improving schools, making neighborhoods safer and providing health care for all Floridians.

He said property taxes are the top concern for many constituents, followed closely by affordable housing. That includes workforce housing for teachers, police and firefighters, and other middle class workers, he said.

Rouson has touted his work to attract new businesses into St. Petersburg's economically disadvantaged Midtown area and to reduce crime and drug problems. He said similar efforts are needed in East Tampa neighborhoods.

Rouson has collected $25,875 in contributions, compared to $9,050 for McKenzie.

Challenger Focuses On Education

McKenzie, 52, a Sarasota activist and teacher at Meadowlawn Middle School in St. Petersburg, has been an educator for 25 years.

He moved to St. Petersburg in 2006 and entered the spring election with less name recognition than Rouson. McKenzie said this time he is better known and intends to focus more closely on issues, particularly education.

He said he opposes using vouchers to send children to private religious schools with state money: "It violates the separation of church and state." And he said reliance on standardized tests to evaluate students and schools is too limited.

He also advocates increased school spending, from teacher salaries to buying more technology. He wants to restore teaching assistants, reading specialists and police officers, for instance, in schools that have lost them to budget cuts.

Without police presence, he said, some middle and high school students are worried about being hurt and harassed. "That's very tragic," he said. "When children don't feel safe they don't learn."

McKenzie also wants to see more affordable housing and more economic development and jobs in depressed areas. He favors community programs like the Neighborhood Accountability Board in Manatee County, which works with youngsters in trouble, and he would like to work with the Department of Juvenile Justice to encourage such groups.

Like Rouson, he wants to see lower property taxes and insurance rates.

McKenzie's only other run for public office was in 2001, when he lost a race for the District 13 U.S. House seat.

Reporter Steven Girardi may be reached at (727) 451-2333 or at sgirardi@tampatrib.com.

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