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Kevin Beckner files to run for Hillsborough Clerk of the Courts

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Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who is termed out of office next year, has filed to run for the Clerk of the Circuit Courts in Hillsborough County.

Records filed with the Supervisor of Elections office shows that Beckner filed Thursday afternoon. He lists Gil Sainz, his longtime companion and now husband, as his campaign treasurer.

For the past 16 years Beckner has worked as a certified financial planner, and he says combined with his past six years on the Board of County Commission, he believes he’s well qualified for the position.

“First and foremost, the job at the Clerk’s office is oversight and management of the people’s checkbook and investment portfolio,” he said Friday afternoon.

Beckner also says if elected he wants to create what he calls an “integrated system of justice,” referencing his work with the county’s Juvenile Justice Task Force as well as helping to develop the expansion of the county’s civil citation program.

“It’s come to the conclusion of our stakeholders that we have all these multiple systems between agencies that don’t talk to one another, so my goal is to create an integrated system of justice in concert with all the stakeholders in the community.”

What’s intriguing about his decision is that the job is currently held by one of the elder stateswomen in Hillsborough County politics, Pat Frank. Like Beckner, she’s also a Democrat.

Frank is a legend in Hillsborough County politics.

She was first elected to office some 43 years ago, serving on the County School Board. In 1976 she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, and in 1978, ran and won a seat in the Florida Senate, where she served until 1988. A decade later she was elected to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners , where she was elected chairman of the board for three consecutive years by her colleagues. She then ran and won office for the Clerk of the Circuit Court, where she has served for the past decade.

Beckner said it was Frank herself who called him a few months ago to say that she was contemplating retirement, and had he ever considered running for the position? He said he had not, but began spending the past few months doing so.

However, he says Frank may have had a change of heart, and told him in their last conversation that her decision would be predicated on her health, but that any such decision wouldn’t come until closer toward the election. Frank is 85 years old. Beckner, 44.

So for now, he’s going for it, without her blessing.

“My candidacy is not about Pat,” he says. “She’s a dear friend and a mentor of mine, but it’s about the future of the agency.”

Florida Politics reached out to Frank earlier on Friday, but she did not return our phone call for comment.

Although Beckner’s tenure in public life pales in comparison in terms of length of duty, he’s also been a pioneer in being the first openly gay man to be elected to office in Hillsborough County back in 2008.

By all measures he’s been an effective commissioner, working on issues like juvenile justice and personal injury protection fraud. But he’s been instrumental in bringing the county into the 21st century when it comes to issues regarding the LGBT community.

Beckner’s victory over Brian Blair in 2008 was considered a major upset, because many people felt that the county wasn’t ready to elect an openly gay man. Since then he’s led the way on issues like repealing the ban on gay pride events, getting gays, lesbians and transgendered people included in the county’s human rights ordinance, as well as finally getting a domestic partner registry installed.

Republicans rumored to be possibly interested in running for the position include County Commissioners Ken Hagan and Victor Crist.

The job pays $145,000.

 

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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