POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

Candidacy leaves local GOP without leader

The Manatee County Republican Party entered its monthly meeting Monday night without a clear leader as it approaches a challenging election season. The former chairman, Mark Flanagan, announced two weeks ago that he was running for Congress in the 13th District. He sent out an e-mail to the party in the last few days to say that he was resigning his post.

"Resigning this post was not an easy decision to make," Flanagan wrote. "It had not been my intention to ever again seek public office, but after long consideration with my family, I have decided to seek the Republican nomination for the 13th Congressional District."

Flanagan also wrote that he wanted his resignation to take effect immediately so that the party could find new leadership and be unified to support the eventual nominee.

There was speculation over whether the party might endorse a candidate in the heavily contested primary, which has five candidates, but party members have said that is unlikely this year. It has happened on occasion in the past.

David Johnson, Flanagan's Atlanta-based political consultant, said Flanagan has no plans at this point to try to influence the local party to make an endorsement.

Andy Minor, a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, and David Miner, a Bradenton attorney, have surfaced as potential replacements for Flanagan. Craig Triguero, vice chairman of the party, is now serving as interim chairman, but the party is required by its own rules to elect a new chairman within 60 days.

Flanagan has hired professional fundraiser Holly Robichaud to head his fundraising efforts. Robichaud worked on Mitt Romney's gubernatorial campaign in Massachusetts and is well-known in the Northeast for her fundraising prowess.

Robichaud has a tough challenge ahead of her. Flanagan has entered the race with less than four months to go before the primary, trailing the leading fundraiser, Vern Buchanan, by over $1.6 million. Tramm Hudson has raised over $750,000. State Reps. Nancy Detert and Donna Clarke are also running for the nomination, but have raised much more modest sums of money. Flanagan has a goal of raising between $350,000 and $500,000 in the remaining months of the race - a lofty goal, many say, with many of those who might have endorsed Flanagan already attached to another campaign.

Vern Buchanan was invited by Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells to be a keynote speaker at Manatee's boot camp graduation last Thursday. The 12 graduates are the last to complete the program, which has been revamped into a softer, more educationally focused system by state lawmakers after the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson in January from a beating by guards at a camp in Panama City.

Wells, who is endorsing Buchanan in the congressional race, said he invited him to speak because of Buchanan's experience growing up in a working-class family in Detroit, where he was tempted by negative influences. Buchanan now owns an $800 million car-dealership enterprise. Buchanan relayed those experiences Thursday, telling the graduates that education was the great equalizer and that they should pay particular attention to the people they associate with.

The fact that Buchanan was running for office was not the primary reason that he was invited to speak at the event, Wells said as he introduced Buchanan. But it was not lost in the presentation.

"I'm a testimony," Buchanan told the graduates at the end of his speech. "I could have easily gone your way. I could have gone the other way in terms of working in the factory for 30 years. I happened to have my thinking changed, my thoughts changed, my goals changed. It changed my life. And now I'm running for Congress."

Stephen Majors, legal affairs/political reporter for The

Herald, can be reached at

745-7024 or at smajors@heraldtoday.com.

Visit our Web site for an archive of Stephen Majors' columns.

Stephen Majors