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Hillsborough Democratic Leaders Resign, But Treasurer Will Stay

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By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

TAMPA - The top leaders of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party have resigned after an incident involving what the chairman and vice chairman called incorrect handling of party money by the treasurer.

In a meeting Wednesday night, the remaining party officials scheduled an election to pick new party leaders for Jan. 22.

Former state Rep. Bob Henriquez is considered likely to seek the chairman's post, and confirmed Wednesday that he would be interested.

Mike Suarez has resigned as party chairman and Deborah Cope as vice chairwoman. Treasurer Thomas Squires also submitted a resignation, but he rescinded it and will keep his post.

Cope and Suarez both said they decided to quit after an incident in which Squires removed $1,200 in cash from a party account, $200 at a time, using an automated teller machine.
Squires voluntarily reported having removed the money to spend on party work at the upcoming state fair, party officials said, but told party officials it was stolen or lost. They said he then replaced it with his own money.

Suarez and Cope both said they didn't find the reason Squires gave for removing the money to be valid, but neither accused him of diverting the money for personal use.

Rather, they said, obtaining cash from a party account, and using an ATM, aren't correct procedures for handling party money, considering that all party transactions must be documented on state campaign finance reports.

Monroe Mack, a state committeeman for the local party, said after Wednesday's meeting that the committee decided to accept Squires' request to rescind his resignation.

"It doesn't appear that there was any malice or intent to defraud" in Squires' handling of the money, Mack said. "He's the one who revealed it."

He said a "laundry list" of conditions on handling party finances will be a condition of Squires remaining as treasurer.

In a telephone interview Wednesday night, Squires confirmed that he had resigned and was seeking to rescind the resignation. He then said, "That's all the comment I have at this time, thanks," and hung up.

The turmoil is a case of dejÀ vu for local Democrats, who have been plagued for several years by divisiveness and criticism of their leadership.

Former Chairwoman Janee Murphy resigned in 2005, then retracted her resignation, after another local party official filed a complaint with the state party accusing her of mismanagement and improperly diverting party money.

A party investigation cleared Murphy of the charges. Suarez replaced Murphy in December 2006.

Many local Democrats say the problems have lessened the effectiveness of the local party, but there have been some signs of improvement recently, including founding of area clubs such as the East Hillsborough Democratic Club, and a successful Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner in July.

According to both Suarez and Cope, Squires volunteered at a meeting of the party steering committee Dec. 10 that he had removed the money.

Suarez and Cope said even if the money was for legitimate party work, taking it in cash from an ATM was not the correct way to handle it.

"I don't think he did anything to try and steal money; he just made a mistake," Suarez said.

Cope said an auditor hired to look at party finances after the incident involving Murphy told party officials they should not use an ATM. She said Squires, then treasurer, would have received that recommendation.

Suarez said party officers asked Squires for his resignation at a Dec. 21 meeting. He said Squires agreed and gave Suarez a resignation letter, but then later sought to rescind it.

Cope said she resigned after the incident because she has been spending too much time on party activities.

Suarez said he resigned because he and Cope "came in as a team ... and I was not going to serve without her."

Suarez said he "thought it would be better to have a clean slate," and didn't want to deal with the aftermath of the incident, including the need to file an amended quarterly report of the party's finances to state campaign finance regulators.

"Having been one of the architects of trying to get the local party up and going over the past year, it's a great disappointment to me," he said.

Suarez said he has informed state party officials by certified mail of the resignations, and that he sent an e-mail to state party Chairwoman Karen Thurman describing the incident involving the party money.

State party spokesman Mark Bubriski confirmed that the party has been informed of the resignations and received the e-mail. Neither he nor Suarez would provide a copy Wednesday night, but Bubriski said it briefly described the financial dealings.

Bubriski said the state party, which regulates local parties, "is not investigating the situation now, because no one has filed a grievance. If no one does, we probably won't investigate as long as the local Democratic Executive Committee appears to be taking appropriate steps."

"It appears they are doing what they need to do to handle the situation."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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