Interest in city election gets more intense
Waters, Plantamura, Quinn join Barnhorn in the mix for the March 10 contest
By BOB McCLURE
Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008  |
SEMINOLE – One candidate is in and three others are in the process of
qualifying to run for City Council next year.
Two seats are up for grabs in the March 10 election. One of those
belongs to incumbent Tom Barnhorn, who previously announced plans to
run again, and the other to Peter Hofstra, who confirmed last week he
has no plans to run again.
Barnhorn was still in the process of qualifying for the election late
last week while former State Rep. Leslie Waters officially qualified
Dec. 5 by paying the required filing fee.
Meanwhile, newcomer James Quinn and Patricia Plantamura, who has run
unsuccessfully the past two years, have tossed their names into the mix
with Barnhill and Waters.
Candidates have until Monday, Dec. 15, 4 p.m., to qualify. They have a
choice of getting signatures on 40 petition cards and paying a
qualifying fee of $15 and a state election fee of $55.62, or paying a
$100 qualifying fee and the state fee.
Waters was the biggest surprise last week when the 61-year-old resident
of the Seminole Lake Country Club community announced she was
considering a run at City Council.
Waters held the District 51 seat for four terms before term limits
ended an eight-year run in 2006. She has since been operating a
political consulting business.
Waters is seeking a three-year term that would end in 2012 when she will likely run for the Florida Senate.
She said her campaign would be built around continuing quality and
timely city services, low taxes, and communications with Seminole
residents and business owners.
“My campaign strategy, as it has been in the past, will be to walk
door-to-door, and to seek out and be available to key business leaders
and citizens in the community,” Waters said. “I am eager to start
campaigning after the holidays. No one wants a politician at their
front door during the holidays, that’s for sure.”
While in the state Legislature from 1998 to 2006, she was chair of the
House Insurance and Transportation and Economic Development committees.
She was also chair of several other joint select committees and served
as speaker pro-tempore, presiding over the House when the speaker was
unavailable.
Waters graduated from Boca Ciega High School, St. Petersburg Junior
College and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State
University. She has 29 years of corporate business experience with
Allstate Insurance Co.
Quinn, 69, is a resident of Seminole Gardens Apartments where he is
president of the Men’s Club and chairman of the Concerned Citizens of
Seminole Gardens.
A native of the South Bronx in New York, Quinn is a Navy veteran and a
former highway superintendent with the city of Enfield, Conn. While in
that position, he was responsible for a $3.5 million budget, a staff of
55, 180 miles of roadway and more.
Quinn has lived in Seminole for five years.
“The past two years, (Concerned Citizens of Seminole Gardens) has
trimmed about $250,000 from the yearly budget,” he said. “We continue
to bring more ways to trim the budget and improve our community. These
same ideas can and should be part of any fiscally responsible city,
state or federal government.”
Council members earn $5,562 a year.
The city has an estimated 18,000 residents.
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Article published on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008
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