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Busansky To Run For Elections Post

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By MIKE SALINERO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

TAMPA - Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky will challenge incumbent Buddy Johnson for the county supervisor of elections post in November.

Busansky, a Tampa Democrat, most recently lost a 2006 bid for the 9th Congressional District to Gus Bilirakis. She joins fellow Democrat Lee P. Nelson, a project manager for a software development team at Verizon, in the race.

Busansky said Johnson has mismanaged the department. She cited recent criticism by Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning that Johnson was moving too slowly in buying new optical scanning voting machines. She also criticized Johnson for paying $40,000 to a public relations firm to teach staff and voters how to use the new voting machines.

"We're coming up to a tough election season," Busansky said. "I think people just want to have confidence in how this office is managed."

Busansky, 70, was elected to the county commission in 1988, served as chairman in 1991, and was elected to a second term without opposition. Previously she led the county's Aging Services department.

After leaving the commission, Busansky served as the first executive director of the state's welfare-to-work agency under Govs. Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush.

Johnson, a former state legislator, was appointed as elections supervisor in 2003 and won re-election the following year.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com

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