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Hillsborough Group 24 judicial candidates get into tete-a-tete over firefighter endorsement

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Last week in Tampa before a Tiger Bay meeting began, Gary Dolgin and Melissa Polo, two of the four candidates running for Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge in Group 24, had an animated discussion regarding a Polo flier that says she was endorsed by the Hillsborough County firefighters.

In fact, Dolgin was endorsed by that group, while Polo has been endorsed by the Tampa Firefighters. Polo told Dolgin that was a printing mistake,and that she would make sure to indicate that on her website.  The two then ended their discussion seemingly on that amicable note, and that was that.

But supporters of Dolgin became upset earlier this week when they saw Polo’s father distribute a flier at an early polling location that said simply that Polo was endorsed by “firefighters,” not indicating the actual group. The flier had blacked out the words “Hillsborough County,” and just indicating “firefighters.” Dolgin also said the website hadn’t been corrected.

“She came up to me last Friday and apologized and promised me that these cards would not be used, and that she would publicly say on her website that the Hillsborough County Firefighters would endorse me,” Dolgin said Thursday night. “When someone comes up and apologizes and make a promise to you, you expect them to keep it. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but judicial races are held to a higher standard, and when you say your not going to use the cards, you don’t use the cards. “

“I’m disappointed obviously,” Dolgin says. “At best it’s sloppy and careless and unprofessional, and at worse it’s an intentional unethical violation.”

Polo said on Friday that she is endorsed by the City of Tampa firefighters, and again admitted it was a printing mistake that listed Hillsborough instead of Tampa firefighters on a mailer and handout.

“When I saw Mr. Dolgin at Tiger Bay, I apologized for the mistake and indicated that my website would mention the error. The last time I viewed my website, it in fact clearly brings immediate attention to the mistake in the mailpiece and clarifies the fact that I was not endorsed by the county firefighters, only the city firefighters.  My third mailer correctly states that I was endorsed by the city firefighters and further clarifies that the previous mailer mistakenly read county firefighters in error.”

Dolgin has been endorsed (or should we say recommended by the Tampa Bay Times), Polo by La Gaceta, and both of them (along with Lanell Williams-Yulee) have been co-endorsed by the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin.

Ken Forward, Vice President Hillsborough County Fire Fighters Local 2294, said Polo was apologetic in informing him about the error in her campaign literature. “She basically did everything that we asked her to do,” he said regarding Polo’s correcting the mistake in her and updating her website.

“We think both of them are great candidates,” Forward said, adding that “Gary Dolgin has our support.”

Isabel Cissy Boza Sevelin and Lanell Williams-Yulee are also running next Tuesday in the Group 24 contest. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent, the top two will enter into a runoff on November 8.

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Mitch Perry has been a reporter with Extensive Enterprises since November of 2014. Previously, he served as five years as the political editor of the alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. He also was the assistant news director with WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa from 2000-2009, and currently hosts MidPoint, a weekly talk show, on WMNF on Thursday afternoons. He began his reporting career at KPFA radio in Berkeley. He's a San Francisco native who has now lived in Tampa for 15 years and can be reached at [email protected]

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