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Still Standing, Bobbing White Will Survive

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By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 24, 2008

Boxing's unwritten rule goes like this: To beat the champ, you must beat the champ. Belts do not change waistlines on technicalities; in a close match, deference is paid to the titleholder.

Now, politics - which, famously, "ain't beanbag" - also ain't 12 rounds in the ring, no matter how the contenders feel by the time Election Day arrives. Nonetheless, boxing's rule of thumb seems likely to apply across the spectrum of primary contests involving incumbents come Tuesday.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more likely to prevail to the consternation of the challenger than in the showdown over the Republican nomination for sheriff. Barring some breathtaking eleventh-hour revelation, Bob White will survive the lively and entertaining test brought by former unit commander Robert Sullivan.

The outcome will in no way detract from Sullivan's qualities as a candidate. Sullivan has acquitted himself as bright, curious, informed, energetic, engaged and engaging.

However, except for Pasco's reputation for booting sheriffs after two terms, Sullivan's timing is off. Just like a title fight, knocking off a sheriff requires two elements: a capable, well-prepared and broadly supported contender; and an incumbent who's developed a fatal flaw.

Sullivan is two-thirds of the first, but White, while plainly off his game in candidates' forums, has managed his tenure in ways yet to give voters strong reason to cancel his administration.
Split Decision Won't Help Sullivan

Sullivan has nicked and picked, sometimes scoring and oft-times missing. He rightly identified take-home cars for nonemergency personnel as an example of dubious stewardship in tight budgetary times. But his follow-up attempt to whip up a scandalette over White's practice of naming honorary deputies risked alienating Republicans wearied by the class warfare tactics of Democrats.

As for Sullivan's attempt to make hay from a recent no-confidence vote by the deputies' union, White can rely on voters in the primary, at least, to see his vilification at the hands of a labor collective as a strength.

Neither does the split decision by the editorial boards of the daily newspapers serving Pasco help Sullivan. The Tribune, fed up, says it's time for a change; the St. Petersburg Times disagrees, more or less citing the baby/bathwater argument.

Simply put, previous Pasco sheriffs who have been shown the door either were shaded by corruption (John Short, Jim Gillum), left constituents feeling unsettled in their homes and workplaces (Short, Gillum), or brandished flamboyant hubris (Lee Cannon).

Now, while White plainly exudes confidence, he displays only trace elements of arrogance, and even then only intermittently, as in 2006 and 2007 showdowns with county commissioners over his agency's budget.

Still On His Feet

In his fundamental assignment, however - overseeing an operation that catches bad guys, solves crime, defuses trouble and takes decent care of the inmates in custody - White has been at worst solid and at best exemplary.

Going into Tuesday's balloting, Sullivan has, to exhaust an analogy, blacked White's eye and fattened his lip. But the champ is still standing; that's likely to be the case when Wednesday dawns, too.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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