Recent candidate filings

In recent weeks, a number of candidates have filed to run for various offices next year:

BOCC-4. Grover C. Robinson IV (R), the incumber County Commissioner for District 4, has filed to run for reelection. A press release sent out by his campaign touts his efforts to cut taxes and spending and states that Commissioner Robinson wants to “continue to work with his fellow commissioners to build on the progress made over the last three years. Commissioner Robinson will have a primary challenge, though. Mr. Dennis D. Green, Jr. (R) filed last month to run for the District 4 seat. Mr. Green is a retired sheriff’s deputy.

BOCC-2. Another candidate has jumped into the race for the District 2 seat on the Escambia County Commission. That seat is currently held by Gene Valentino (R), who has not yet filed for reelection but is widely expected to do so. Andy Kowalski (R) filed last week to run for the seat; Robert Kelley (R) and Scott Gauvin (NPA) had filed previously. Mr. Kowalski is not new to the world of County politics: he unsuccessfully challenged Grover C. Robinson IV for the District 4 seat in 2006, losing by 62 percent.

ECSB-1. Hosea Pittman has filed to run for the nonpartisan District 1 seat on the Escambia County School Board. That seat is current held by Jeff Bergosh. Mr. Pittman is a retired U. S. Air Force officer who has been active in Republican party politics; he currently serves as the vice-chair of the Escambia County Republican Executive Committee.

FL-01. We’ll jump now from local races all the way up to U.S. Congress. Four candidates filed last month to run for Congress in Florida’s first congressional district:

• Jeff Miller (R-Chumuckla), the incumbent;
• James “Jim” Bryan (D-Laurel Hill), who lost to Congressman Miller by 27 points in 2006;
• John E. Krause (R-Pensacola), a private investigator;
• Henry Kelley (NPA-Fort Walton Beach), a teabagger who “teaches business courses for the University of Phoenix Online.”