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Gaffes Color Elections Chief Race

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

TAMPA - Two political veterans are running for a job that usually doesn't draw much attention.
Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson, a Republican, is running for re-election against Phyllis Busansky, a Democrat with experience running countywide races.

Although incumbents often are seen as shoo-ins for re-election, the supervisor of elections race has the makings of a tight contest.

Hillsborough County as a whole generally leans Republican, but Democrats might turn out in bigger numbers this year, fueled by excitement over Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

Johnson has faced a barrage of newspaper articles questioning his effectiveness in running his office and detailing his personal financial dealings. Just a few months ago, the headlines were about Johnson missing the deadline to pay his property taxes.

"He's his own worst enemy," said Darryl Paulson, a University of South Florida political scientist.

Busansky is quick to agree.

"It's kind of a gift," Busansky said. "You don't have to say it. The newspapers are saying it. It's his words, his actions."

She said her strategy is to focus on educating the public about how she will perform, in addition to making a campaign issue out of what she perceives as Johnson's shortcomings.

Johnson was tested during August's primary, when voters countywide used the new optical scan machines his office purchased and installed. There were delays in posting the results, but the vendor, Premier Election Solutions, quickly took responsibility for the problem.

"If voters are satisfied with their voting experience, they should be satisfied with me as their supervisor," he said. "I think they are. Elections have been smooth, and we are making tremendous, we are making monumental efforts to reach out to the community."

Busansky Banks On Controversy

Busansky, 71, is a former two-term county commissioner, credited with creating the county's indigent health care plan. Before then, she was director of aging services and director of personnel for Hillsborough County.

She most recently ran for U.S. Congress, losing to Gus Bilirakis.

Busansky is running her campaign from her Carrollwood home, with precinct maps taped to the glass doors of the sun room. She says she has roughly 70 to 90 volunteers lined up to help her campaign. She doesn't plan to hire any paid staff members.

Her campaign consultant is Mary Repper, a veteran of Busansky's campaigns and a political consultant with a solid reputation for getting candidates elected. Repper is working for free.

Busansky's campaign treasurer is also working for free: accounting duties fall to her husband, Sheldon.

She has raised a considerable amount of money: about $101,000, according to her most recent report. Her backers include city Councilwoman Mary Mulhern and former gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride.

Her financial supporters also include those who had rocky relations with Johnson. Helene Marks, the elections office's former chief deputy who retired in 2006, gave Busansky $500, the maximum allowed by law.

"She's the best person for the office," Marks said. "I have an interest in the office and Phyllis asked me if I would contribute, and I said 'with pleasure.'"

Ken Tinkler, an assistant county attorney who worked with the elections office, contributed $150 to Busansky. He declined to comment. Tinkler left after a falling out with Johnson.

Busansky has held one fundraiser so far, at the Wine Exchange in Tampa. It was hosted, in part, by her lung doctor. Busansky was diagnosed with lung cancer last year but says doctors caught it so early she has no health problems today.

She plans five more fundraisers: one in North Tampa, two in South Tampa, one in Brandon and one in Town 'N Country.

Busansky has distributed two campaign fliers, called "Restoring Confidence." Its message is voters should elect her to "restore integrity" to the elections office so all votes are counted accurately and quickly. Another flier is called "He's Not Your Buddy" and includes newspaper headlines about Johnson.

The overall message of her campaign, she says, is to bring back competence and confidence to the elections office. She touts her management experience.

She is using what she perceives as problems in Johnson's office to her advantage.

That could work, Paulson said.

"Under most circumstances, when you have an incumbent with name recognition like Buddy Johnson, you expect an easy race," Paulson said. But news accounts about Johnson's problems "creates great opportunity for a Democratic candidate like Phyllis. She certainly has the name recognition."

Election Glitches

Johnson, 56, is a former state legislator. Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Johnson to lead the elections office when Pam Iorio stepped down to run for mayor of Tampa. Johnson won a four-year term in 2004, garnering 56 percent of the vote.

He has presided over 23 elections since taking office. Some have run smoothly. In others, he has been criticized by the media and candidates for delivering slow returns.

Last week, he oversaw the debut of Premier's optical scan voting system. The vendor took the blame for a computer glitch that delayed the posting of results for hours.

In 2004, absentee ballot mailings were delayed because the ballots arrived from the printer behind schedule, giving voters less time to send in their ballots. Hillsborough's then-new touch-screen voting system also experienced problems, and voting totals weren't posted until 5 a.m. Johnson later announced that 245 votes were not counted from one of the touch-screen machines set up for early voting. He blamed human error and said it had no effect on the outcome of any race.

He also has been criticized for moving polling places without proper notice. He says he has learned from that situation.

After being criticized for some of his spending, he is taking control of his finances from the county clerk's office, which traditionally had handled the bookkeeping for supervisors of elections. He says the change will allow him to pay poll workers faster, but Clerk of Court Pat Frank says she is "mystified" and doesn't understand why Johnson wants to transfer responsibilities.

Johnson, who says his management style is to put good people around him, has three administrators on his payroll making more than $100,000 each.

His personal finances also have come under question. The Hillsborough and Sarasota tax collector offices said he didn't pay his property taxes on time. He has since paid up.

"Any misidentified issues were remedied the day I was notified," Johnson said.

He shaved $110,000 off his property tax bill by allowing a farmer to graze 11 cattle on his land and applying for and receiving an agricultural exemption. The exemption is legal, though he has been criticized for taking advantage of a legal loophole.

'I Speak To The Issues,' Johnson Says

Johnson bristles when told Busansky raises questions about his abilities.

"I speak to the issues," Johnson said. "I don't care to comment on what my opponent says. I trust the voters. I trust the voters to see clearly what the facts are and to judge me by my performance, not what they read in the newspaper."

David Storck, head of the county Republican Party, says the supervisor has been unfairly attacked.

"Is the man running the office efficiently? Yes, he is," Storck said. "He ran that office more efficiently than any Supervisor of Elections since I have lived in Hillsborough County."

Johnson has raised about $45,000 for his campaign so far.

He held a fundraiser in December and some smaller ones in July.

"My job is my priority," Johnson said. "If there is time to do fundraisers, I will."

His financial backers include former state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and GOP fundraiser Sam Rashid.

Byrd, R-Plant City, contributed $250 to Johnson's campaign.

"Buddy's a friend and a longtime colleague in the conservative wing of the Republican party," Byrd said. "He is a good fiscal conservative and he's done a great job of doing the work of supervisor of elections."

Johnson is running his campaign from his cell phone and his home in Plant City.

Like Busansky, Johnson is relying mostly on volunteers to run his campaign.

His first campaign treasurer, J. Floyd Hall, resigned in April after a newspaper story questioned the appropriateness of Johnson's campaign treasurer also serving as president of a bank that approved a loan for the candidate.

Johnson then hired accountant and political campaign finance expert Nancy Watkins, who usually handles Republican candidates for federal office.

Watkins was campaign treasurer for Katherine Harris before she quit working for the U.S. Senate candidate. Watkins isn't charging Johnson for her services.

Johnson hasn't printed any campaign literature yet.

"I'll do some mail if the money is generated," Johnson said. "I haven't raised that much money because I haven't had much time to raise money."

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