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Dockery kicks off governor bid at Lakeland rally

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By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2009

LAKELAND - The fringes of Tropical Storm Ida drizzled on Paula Dockery's parade Tuesday, dampening but not dousing a rally intended to kick off her insurgent campaign for governor.

Dockery delivered what campaign aides billed as her first major speech, seeking to redefine political conservatism and remake the Republican Party, which she said has become too focused on special interests and money.

Dockery held her event at Munn Park in downtown Lakeland, for decades a traditional site for political rallies in her hometown and almost an unavoidable choice for a Lakeland candidate to launch a statewide campaign. But a light sprinkle fell throughout the event onto the crowd of a couple of hundred people.

"Far too many people believe our party leadership has lost its way," and become "too focused on big money interests, and who gets what share of the goodies," Dockery said.

She rattled off a list of recent scandals involving Republicans, from indicted state House Speaker Ray Sansom to GOP fundraiser Scott Rothstein, a lawyer being investigated for an alleged investment scam. Such misconduct, she said, has become business as usual.

"Consider the message our state party's sending out," Dockery said, referring to reports alleging misuse of state party money by party officials. "Credit card abuse, free trips to Europe on the dime of donors, and a refusal to let Republican voters decide their own nominees."

Dockery said she's the antidote to all that. She called herself "a conservative, common sense Florida Republican" who's anti-abortion and in favor of gun rights, but also in favor of environmental protection and preventing "sweetheart deals or corporate subsidies."

"When did it become a conservative value to exploit our most precious natural resources for the sake of a dime?' she said. "It seems to me that conservation and conservatism come from the same root word."

Dockery, a state senator since 2002 and the wife of prominent party activist C.C. "Dock" Dockery, announced last week that she'll challenge Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican primary for governor.

The winner is likely to face state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democratic candidate.

A comparative lack of GOP dignitaries at Dockery's rally showed the outsider character of her campaign.

She was introduced by state Sen. Alex Villalobos of Miami, one of three GOP state senators who have broken ranks with the party establishment to back her. Other attendees included local government officials and Polk Republican Chairman Gene Roberts.

"I love my party," Villalobos told the crowd, "but I don't like my party to tell me what to do. … That's another reason why I'm here today."

He was referring to efforts by the state party, largely unsuccessful, to prevent Republican primary battles in 2010 races including the governor's race.

Another outsider signal was the involvement of controversial Orlando political consultant Doug Guetzloe, who has feuded bitterly with the state party organization, and Nick Egoroff, an ally of Guetzloe and backer of Ron Paul in the 2008 presidential primary.

Dockery recognized both from the podium and credited them with starting the movement to draft her for governor.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

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