money Former Haines City mayor fails to qualify for state House race
The races for Polk County’s six seats in the Florida Legislature will be less competitive than it appeared they might be.
Several candidates, one of them a final-day entrant, failed to qualify for inclusion on the ballot, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
As a result, two Polk County legislators — Rep. Sam Killebrew, R-Winter Haven, and Rep. Melony Bell, R-Fort Meade — will be reelected without challenges.
Friday at noon was the deadline for candidates to submit qualifying material to the state. The Division of Elections posted names of some candidates as “active” on Friday, only to remove them later as it pared the list to confirmed qualifiers.
The most dramatic reversal involved Horace West, a former mayor and city commissioner in Haines City. West’s name appeared on the Division of Elections’ website Friday as an “active” candidate in U.S. House District 51.
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West planned to run as a Democrat and would have faced the winner of a Republican primary between Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, and Bill Olson of Davenport. Tomkow now serves in District 39 and is seeking a third term. (This year’s redistricting process resulted in new district boundaries and changed numbers.)
It appears that West’s candidacy was undone by an error on a check he wrote to cover qualifying fees.
Reached by phone Tuesday morning, West said he had intended to enter the race at the end of the qualifying period, which ran from June 14 to noon on Friday. He said he called the Polk County Supervisor of Elections Office last Monday to ask if could submit his paperwork there or if he needed to go to Tallahassee. He said an employee assured him that he could take care of qualifying at the Polk County office.
Polk Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards said she checked with Barbara Osthoff, an assistant supervisor in charge of qualifying, and she had not talked to West, nor had either of two assistants who answer calls when she is on break.
West said he didn’t know the name of the employee with whom he spoke.
Edwards said West had previously visited her office and been given a candidate handbook, which makes clear that candidates for the state Legislature must qualify through the Division of Elections office in Tallahassee.
West said he learned Thursday that he actually needed to submit his qualifying records to the state office. He said he rose at 2 a.m. on Friday and made the 3½-hour drive to Tallahassee.
West described what happened next as “a comedy of errors.” He said he was the second person in line when the office opened, but an employee told him he was missing some necessary records and that he would have to go to a public library to print them.
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West said he drove to the closest library, only to find it wasn’t open yet. He returned to the Division of Elections office, and a clerk provided copies of the needed records. West left the line to fill out all of the remaining forms and then returned to the line, he said.
The first clerk kept some of his financial records, West said, but a second clerk assured him that all of the material would be combined when election officials reviewed his submission. He said he remained in Tallahassee until about noon, in case a problem arose, and then headed home.
West remained listed as “active” on the Division of Elections website until Friday evening, as the state agency gradually whittled the list to only qualified candidates. When that process was complete, West’s name no longer appeared.
The Ledger reached West on Tuesday morning as he was driving to Tallahassee.
“I wanted to do this so I can make a difference,” West said of running for the Florida House. “So I'm going to try to find out, because if it's something I did wrong I can accept that. But if it's something they did wrong, I have a problem with that.”
West called later Tuesday morning to say Division of Elections officials informed him that the legal line on his check did not correctly list the amount of the qualifying fee, $1,781.82. He said he had the correct amount in the numerical box.
West said an employee with the Division of Elections told him that he had no option for appealing the disqualification. He said he intended to call the Florida Secretary of State's office.
More issues with qualifying
Randy Wilkinson, a former Polk County Commissioner and Polk County School Board member, failed to qualify as a candidate for the Florida Senate.
Wilkinson filed in March to run as a Republican in District 12. He was expected to face Colleen Burton, a four-term state House member, in the Republican primary. Wilkinson had signaled that he would challenge Burton as being too influenced by corporate donors and not conservative enough.
But Wilkinson did not appear among the list of qualified candidates the Division of Elections posted late Friday. He could not be reached Tuesday morning.
Another early entrant in the race, Bienvenido Valentin of Kissimmee, also failed to qualify. As a result, Burton will advance to the general election, where she faces Democrat Veysel Dokur of Lakeland.
In the other Senate race involving Polk County, Democrat Christopher Prioia of Fort Myers qualified to challenge Sen. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula.
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Two Republicans qualified to run in Florida House District 50, Jennifer Canady of Lakeland and Lakeland City Commissioner Phillip Walker. Another Republican, Nicholas Poucher of Lakeland, failed to qualify, as did Allison Marie Kelly, a Libertarian Party candidate from Lakeland.
Bichara Ceneus, a Democrat, filed last week to run against Killebrew in District 48 but didn’t qualify. No candidate ever filed to run against Bell in District 49. Killebrew will receive a fourth term in the House and Bell a third term.
No Democrat is running for any of Polk County’s four state House seats, and Dokur is the only Democrat living in Polk County to qualify for any legislative election.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Ex-Haines City mayor Horace West fails to qualify in Fla. House-51 race
