Although Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee was eligible to collect his retirement benefits this past last May had he stepped down, Gee is running for re-election again this fall. He looks likely to win as he faces token opposition from the Democratic Party.
Otherwise, he could have stepped back and received a Deferred Retirement Options Program check of $955,694 and a yearly retirement of a minimum of $173,820 the rest of his life.
The 56-year-old Gee is known as a hardliner when it comes to crime, so it was considered a departure of sorts that a spokesman for the sheriff’s office recently that Gee is “open-minded” about the proposal in the Tampa City Council to decriminalize marijuana.
Political analyst Chris Ingram calls Gee one of the “top-notch truth tellers” that he’s ever met in his life in politics. “I just think he has a lot of honesty, integrity and empathy.”
Gee ranked 20th in the survey in 2015.
***
For a complete explanation of how this list was created and who comprised the panel that assembled it, please read here.
