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Few Overnight Answers From Elections Supervisor

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2008

TAMPA - It was a wild five hours for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson.

He nearly got into a altercation with a television cameraman. He offered support, then condemnation for a voting equipment contractor that he researched and recommended that the county use. And as the county fell hours behind in tabulating votes for the 2008 general election, he heaped praise on his staff and offered strange reasons why they didn't deserve to be blamed, even partially, for the delay.

Johnson didn't arrive at his office on Falkenburg Road until 11:30 Tuesday night. He whisked into the media room to make a brief statement but said little about the already-hours-long delay elections officials were facing. He spoke for less than 14 minutes, called Tuesday's proceedings "the most beautiful day in elections in Hillsborough County I have seen," and refused to answer questions.

Minutes later, Johnson agreed to a closed-door, on-camera interview with WTVT, Channel 13. Johnson's staff physically blocked reporters from other media companies from entering his office.

For the next three hours, neither Johnson nor his staff spoke to the media and members of the public who had gathered to hear election results.

Then, at 2:30 a.m., he emerged from his office to take questions. Johnson said he wasn't up to answering many questions. He spoke briefly about Premier Election Solutions, the company that provided the optical scan voting equipment that caused some of the delay in tabulating votes, accusing the company of not being forthright.

When pressed for answers, Johnson said "I've got some other stuff I've got to do." As he tried to leave, a cameraman from local news television station Bay News 9 accused him of dodging a question.

Johnson spun around and moved quickly toward the man. "You want to say that to my face?" he asked, raising his voice.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita, a member of the canvassing board, criticized Johnson for not providing better answers about what caused the delay.

"I am absolutely not impressed," she said. "He has to take some of the responsibility. … Unimpressed is really as polite as I can be."

Johnson returned to the media room at 3 a.m. to offer a defense of his office's performance. He praised a man named David Parks who was working to get the vote tabulated. When asked what position Parks held in his office, Johnson initially declined to say. He listed several different college degrees that Parks had received and said Parks was "beautiful to watch."

When pressed for Parks' position with his office, Johnson said he refers to him as the CIO, an acronym he didn't explain, or chief deputy. Then he said Parks was a consultant. Then he said Parks was a full-time employee, but he did not know for how long.

Johnson returned to the media room for the last time at 3:20 a.m.

He tried to explain why he initially said he supported Premier before accusing it of causing the vote delay.

That was "Nice Guy Buddy," he said.

That was "before the gloves came off," he said.

"I wish I had told you guys that six hours ago," he said, and left the room.

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