Candidates for Property Appraiser Square Off at Bell Shoals Baptist

James DeMio, Ronda Storms, Rob Townsend and incumbent Rob E. Turner squared off at the July 12 candidate forum at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon to give their reasons why voters should elect them to the office of Hillsborough County Property Appraiser.

Candidate Robert Keith Henriquez, a Democrat, was not in attendance at the , presented by the church's Community Issues Team.

• View ours, and add your contributions, to .

 “I ran four years ago because I thought it was the right thing to do and I still think it’s the right thing to do,” said Townsend, in the race with no party affiliation.

DeMio, also in the race as a no party affiiation candidate, talked about his 20 years experience in real estate and Turner, a Republican, stressed his experience on the job, having been the county’s property appraiser for 16 years.

It was state Sen. Ronda Storms (R-Valrico) who brought up the only mention of what she called, “the shenanigans happening at the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser’s office.” As described in an article published by the Tampa Bay Times, Turner “startled friends and strangers [in May] by admitting that he repeatedly emailed hard-core pornography to his human resources director.” According to the report, Turner “fired the woman, Carolyn Filippone, on May 21, alleging that she lied about him in a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

Storms presented herself as a righteous warrior on behalf of the Republican Party.

“I decided to give up my last two years as senior senator [to] clean up the office,” said Storms, who currently holds the District 10 seat, adding that she was concerned that “Republicans would allow that to stand and that we would stand silent when those things were happening.”

As for his part, Turner stayed clear of the controversy. His remarks focused instead on his tenure and his assessment of his accomplishments in office.

When he was first elected, Turner said, the office was in “horrible disarray” and “mismanaged” and “we were desperate to get that fixed, and I have done that.” Turner said he works with a budget $1 million “less than when I took over 16 years ago” and that other initiatives over the  years have saved taxpayers $15 million.

As for the county’s $86 billion tax roll, Turner said, it takes “knowledge, skills, ability and expertise” to effectively manage "and I have done that successfully on behalf of the taxpayers in this community.”

But DeMio and Townsend claim to have the talents to do the job as well.

Townsend said on behalf of his “loving family,” including “four children and five grandchildren and one on the way,” he is running for office to “challenge unconstitutional laws and current policies of the current tax system.”

DeMio said he’d like to see “smaller set values on homeowners and small business owners” and to see “corporate property owners,” including bank branches, gasoline stations and big-box retailers, “pay a little more tax.”

______________

RELATED COVERAGE: