John Rodriguez, a former legislative aide to House Democrats Janet Cruz, Bob Henriquez, Michael Scionti and Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda (who switched to the GOP since), now hopes to succeed Cruz in the Tampa-area House District 62 seat.
In his “As We Heard It” column, Patrick Manteiga writes that candidates of all stripes are starting to measure their strengths for a potential run for Mayor of Tampa. Among the names the plugged-in Manteiga mentions are the obvious contenders, like former police chief Jane Castor and current City Councilman Mike Suarez, as well as Councilmembers Yolie Capin and Harry Cohen. Also in the mix, Manteiga says, are Hillsborough Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez, Public Defender Julie Holt, former state Rep.…
At their first event since being devastated by the results of the presidential election, there was literally not enough room to contain the number of Democrats who showed up at the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee meeting in Ybor City Monday night. A second room adjoining the main boardroom at the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County facility was opened to contain the overflow crowd. “We’ve been inundated since the election,” said Ione Townsend, the chair of the Hillsborough County DEC. Although officially only 14…
Hillsborough County voters have given Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez another four years in office. Henriquez held a comfortable 57-43 percent lead with 293 of 340 precincts reporting over Todd Jones, who was making his first attempt at public office. “I’m very pleased and honored to have the opportunity to serve another four years,” Henriquez said. “We ran our campaign based on the results we have been able to achieve over the previous four years.” Jones tried to paint Henriquez as…
Since Bob Henriquez took over as Hillsborough County’s property appraiser four years ago, he has taken several steps to modernize the office. There are nine fewer employees than the office had before Henriquez arrived, and the department’s budget is lower. Most important, though — Henriquez hasn’t had a batch of negative headlines. That’s no small matter. The last time an incumbent property appraiser in the county failed at re-election was 1988, when Bud Parker lost to Ron Alderman. Both Alderman and…
The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed a complaint filed last month against Republican property appraiser candidate Todd Jones. Former Hillsborough County Democratic chair Elizabeth Belcher made two assertions in her complaint. One was that Jones had left blank the spaces for listing assets and describing business affiliations in his financial disclosure form that he originally completed in June. She alleged that Jones had failed to accurate disclose assets on his “CE Form 6” financial disclosure for 2015. Jones says he received bad legal…
In an interesting twist this election cycle, Jack Henriquez set up his portable keyboard Tuesday and began playing for early voters at the Jan Platt Library polling site on Manhattan Avenue in Tampa. Henriquez, a talented local musician, is the older brother of Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Bob Henriquez. “I have always supported my brother — especially in music,” said Jack Hernandez. “Whenever he has had any party or event for his campaign, and I will always be there for…