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GOP Not Endorsing Primary Candidate

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By JULIA FERRANTE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

Pasco GOP Chairman Bill Bunting wants voters to know the local Republican Executive Committee is not endorsing any candidate over another in upcoming primaries.

One race, the District 1 county commission contest, has raised suspicions that Bunting and the party are in cahoots with challenger John Nicolette, a Tampa firefighter, to unseat two-term incumbent Ted Schrader.

"We have not made any endorsements in the primaries," Bunting said Friday. "I keep getting calls about this."

Schrader and Nicolette will face off in a closed Republican primary Aug. 26 thanks to a last-minute write-in candidate, John Taylor. Taylor, who filed a change-of-address form and switched from Democrat to Republican just a few weeks ago, has said he entered the race so it would be decided within the GOP.

As a write-in candidate, Taylor will face the winner of the Republican primary in the November general election, although his name will not appear on the ballot.

If no Democratic, independent or write-in candidate had entered the District 1 race, all registered voters in Pasco could have cast ballots in the Republican primary. Taylor's candidacy closes out about 104,000 Democrats and 66,000 independents.

Questions about Taylor's candidacy arose because he lists a San Antonio address on his campaign paperwork yet claims a homestead exemption in Land O' Lakes. Commission candidates are elected countywide but must live in the districts they represent by Election Day.

The state law governing write-in candidates' residency changed in May 2007 so that write-ins must live in the district they seek to represent on qualifying day. The law is intended to prevent deliberately closed primaries.

Pasco County Democratic Party officials say they are considering a legal challenge to remove Taylor from the November ballot because of the residency requirement.

A call to the number on Taylor's treasurer's report Friday required a "remote access code" to connect.

Bunting recruited a write-in candidate in the 2004 schools superintendent contest to prevent a largely Democratic teachers' union from swinging the race, but he claims no responsibility for Taylor's candidacy.

"I don't know the guy," Bunting said. "If he walked in this room right now, I wouldn't know who he was."

Bunting and Schrader said they spoke this week about Taylor's candidacy, but it is clear there is tension between the party chairman and the incumbent.

"If he would endorse me, it would reinforce his position that he had nothing to do with it," Schrader said. "But he told me he's not going to do it. I was hopeful he would, as a two-term incumbent who has done what he can to reduce property taxes."

Bunting, who has openly criticized Schrader for his absence at Republican fundraisers, said the primary may be a lesson to the incumbent.

"I think the primary has focused on that race, and Schrader is going to realize there is a Republican party in Pasco," he said.

Schrader said some non-Republican supporters have told him they intend to switch parties before the July 28 deadline to vote in the primary then switch back before the general election.

Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said he has had inquiries about changing parties.

Between qualifying day June 20 and Friday, 69 people had switched from another party to become Republican, including 37 Democrats, 26 independents and five from other parties.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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