Ed Hooper thought he’d be making plans to join the Pinellas County Commission right about now, but he’s not. That’s because last week he was narrowly defeated for the District 2 seat by Largo Mayor Pat Gerard 51 percent to 49 percent.
“I thought I would be one or two points ahead,” Hooper said of his loss Tuesday.
He attributes his loss to a few things. First, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist led governor Rick Scott by about 40,000 votes in Pinellas County despite losing the overall election.
“That has coattails attached to it,” Hooper said.
He said the prevalence of voters turning out in Pinellas to vote for the medical marijuana amendment on the ballot didn’t help either. But his biggest beef with the campaign was the onslaught of negative ads directed at him.
“Everybody says we hate negative campaign and we wish it would stop,” Hooper said. “ [But] it still works.”
Gerard spent much of the campaign talking about Hooper’s private consulting firm, the Consus Group. She alleged he used his influence in Tallahassee to help clients and pad his bank account. One specific allegation centered around legislation that allowed the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, one of Hooper’s clients, to tap into the county’s bed tax funds. Hooper did vote for the legislation, but it helped more than just the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Aquariums and other non-profits statewide benefited from the legislation.
Hooper countered with his own attacks against Gerard saying she used a Largo-funded trip to Tallahassee to raise funds for her campaign. His allegations were not as loud and consistent as Gerard’s though and her possible ethics violation amounted just over $500 while Hoopers soared into the thousands.
Gerard will replace incumbent commissioner Norm Roche who was defeated by Hooper in the primary.
When Hooper’s replacement in the state House, Chris Latvala, is sworn in, Hooper will, for the first time in eight years, not be an elected official.
Hooper says he doesn’t have any plans to run for another office right now, but if he ever does decide, it would likely be on the state Senate when Jack Latvala leaves office. One thing is for certain though, he won’t be seeking another countywide seat.
“That’s way too much territory,” he said. “You’d be amazed at how many miles you put on your car, how much gas you get to burn.”
The District 2 countywide seat reaches every single Pinellas County voter. That’s more than 600,000 people. It’s slightly larger than Pinellas County’s congressional seat.
For now Hooper is practicing his golf swing and continuing his consulting work. He’s also planning some possible quickie vacation to Daytona Beach, the Carolinas and/or New York City.
He says whatever the future holds he plans to stay involved in Pinellas County. Don’t expect the Hooper name to fade.
