Lee Nelson Drops Out

I'm not sure when Lee Nelson made this announce. For those that don't know, Nelson has dropped out of the race.

When Phyllis Busansky announced her candidacy at the end of January, the goals and objectives of the campaign, along with available resources, were abruptly altered. As most of you know, there was an immediate split amongst activists along three lines – those who support me, those who support Phyllis, and those who could not commit because of their direct affiliation with the DEC. We cannot remove Buddy unless we all work together and as I cannot give 100% of myself to this campaign must withdraw.

Busansky can raise more money than Nelson and has the backing of the Democratic establishment. Nelson made an assessment and realized he didn't have the resources to win the primary. My understand is Busansky is crshing Johnson in fundraising.

Nelson has endorsed Busansky and offered to help her campaign.

Lee Nelson Fundraiser

Donald and Rosalind Moffett will host a fundraiser for Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor candidate Lee Nelson.

Time and Place Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: The Moffett Home
Street: 1714 Abbey Trace Dr.
City/Town: Dover, FL

You can get contact information on the Facebook page.

Lee Nelson Petitioning at Pride In the Park

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections candidate Lee Nelson will be at Pride in the Park. Nelson will be gathering signatures to get himself on the ballot.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2008
"PRIDE IN THE PARK"
Tampa Bay's FAMILY Pride Event!
11 am to 4 p.m., Al Lopez Park

Bring your blankets and chairs and enjoy a day in the park with your family and friends in an accepting and welcoming setting. ALL are welcome and invited!!!

"Pride in the Park" has something for everyone:

* The largest "pride" family fun area - with face painting,
two 'moon bounces,' clowns and more;
* Pet-Friendly - all leashed pets are welcome;
* More than 100 businesses and organizations that support diversity;
* Classic Car Show;
* Nearly a dozen concessionaires offering
a wide-variety of food and beverages (for purchase)
* Entire event area designated as a 'wet zone"
(beer allowed throughout the event area);
* Five hours of live entertainment by local and regional bands,
singers and performers

It is good to see Democrats Nelson and Pam Iorio embracing the gay, lesbian and transgender community. Tampa has received too much negative publicity from Ronda Storms censoring people that differ from her narrow point of view.

Lee Nelson's Response To Phyllis Busansky's Candidacy

Lee Nelson released a statement to Pushing Rope on Phyllis Busansky's announcement she is running for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections.

***********

Hillsborough County Democrats have a choice this year on who they think can best "Buddy" Johnson and restore the competency that is required in our Supervisor of Elections Office. I know that I am the most qualified candidate to accomplish both of these tasks and we can be best served by an open and candid discussion about what we need our next SOE to possess, not only to get elected, but to perform the responsibilities of the position. If the voters really ask themselves what they want their SOE to do for them, they will see that I am the most qualified to reach their expectations. I have spent a lot of time during my candidacy, talking with people about this position, the problems we have seen in the SOE office, and the things they would like to see changed.

Administering and overseeing the activities of the SOE office, which primarily center on three activities: registering voters, administering elections, and providing candidate services, demands that the SOE not only be competent in the business and process end of these activities, but also understands the inner workings of the technological tools used to get the job done right.

Do you have confidence in the machines that record your votes? Of course you don't. We've been fooled time and time again with legislation from Washington or Tallahassee that mandates the manufacturer and the type of equipment we need here in Hillsborough. This upcoming primary we will be switching to an optical scanner system. Does this instill any more confidence in the voting process? Despite the added protection of a paper trail, the legislation didn't go far enough to demand rigorous testing of the actual machine that tabulates the votes. Fooled again. We know Buddy is part of the problem - is Phyllis your best option for ending this vicious cycle of 'problematic solutions' replaced by more 'problematic solutions'? This is what I hope Democratic voters ask when they go to the polls on primary day (August 26).

There are best business practices for acquiring and accepting new technologies into process (such as voting) and they all start with having confidence in the technology itself. What needs to happen is the machines need to be tested (1) by the Supervisor of Elections. If the code (software) on the machines is protected because of contractual agreements with the vendors or wacky legislation, then I will use black box testing methodologies. This testing will be entirely open to the public and if the machines pass, we can all have real faith in the system that is central to our Democracy. But if the machines fail, I will identify the best path to get us all out of this bind. Options include, taking the manufacturers to court, challenging the laws that protect the code, or acquiring systems that do what they are supposed to do. This isn't really rocket science here, we've been voting in this country for over 200 years. 1+1+1… doesn't confuse computers nor does it require proprietary code. This has to happen – we are talking about OUR right to vote. If your SOE doesn't do it, the state and federal legislatures that receive PAC money from the voting machine manufactures sure won't do it.

I'm a project manager for a software development team and work at the Verizon Tech Center in Temple Terrace. We have a team of over 150 people and our typical release size is 140,000 hours worth of development. I have an undergraduate degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Management Information Systems and received my MBA in October of last year. With over 10 years of managing people and projects, and implementing technology changes within organizations, I will restore competency to the Supervisor of Elections office.


The Supervisor of Elections post should be unbiased and non-partisan but that is not the way the system is set up. Simply because this is a partisan race, being closely aligned with a 'Democratic establishment' doesn't make a candidate more credentialed. The SOE has to protect EVERY voter's rights. It's not about electing people for the sake of getting them elected, I think it's about getting people elected because they can do the job correctly

-Lee Nelson

Democrat Candidate for Supervisor of Elections, Hillsborough County

Supervisor of Election Race Gets Interesting

Phyllis Busansky confirmed to Wayne Garcia that she is running for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. Busansky will run against Lee Nelson in the Democratic primary. It's rather obvious that both Democratic candidates view current incombent Buddy Johnson as vulnerable.

Busansky is part of the Tampa area Democratic establishment. My concern is her candidacies look better on paper than reality. She ran for Congress in 1996 and 2006. She was defeated both times. She would be a vast improvement over the scandal-plagued Johnson. Can she win a county wide vote? Busansky was backed by the DCCC and by the local Democratic establishment. She still manages to lose to Gus Bilirakis.

In Busansky, the District 9 seat has been held for years by Republican Mike Bilirakis. His son Gus had the advantage of name recognition.

Lee Nelson is not widely known to the public. It is extremely difficult to get voters engaged while the Iraq war and presidential race dominates the news cycle. Nelson has been effective giving memorable quotes dissing Johnson's record.

My hope is that Busansky and Nelson don't tear each other to sheds in the primary. Hillsborough County does not need another term of Buddy Jonson's incompetence and corruption.

Lee Nelson vs. the Vegetable Oil Expert

Here is audio of a WMNF story on Democratic Lee Nelson running for Supervisor of Elections. He is challenging Republican incumbant Buddy Johnson.

Money quote:

Buddy does not understand technology. He is a cook with a degree in religion. He is a cook with a degree in religion. Not someone with proper training. He may understand the differences between vegetable oils and if Mark wrote the Book of Mark in the Bible. He does not understand voting machines.

Johnson wasteed taxpayers' money by not using inhouse lawyers the pro-Republican Broad & Cassel to review the County Mayor petition. The cost was $69,322. Johnson screwed up the petition count. Now voters won't decide if they will have a County Mayor until 2008.

Brian Blair can't stand Johnson (which might work in his favor). Who does Blair like?

Donate to Lee Nelson's campaign.

Lee Nelson BBQ

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections candidate Lee Nelson will be hosting a BBQ for volunteers.

Here's an opportunity to make a big impact on local elections!

Lee Nelson's campaign is off and running! Join us at this BBQ to kick-off volunteer opportunities and get involved in an important, local, winning election. Be prepared to see campaign tactics that are new and innovative! And don't just plan to come - pass this information on and invite your friends!

Date: Sunday, October 7, 2007
Time: 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Courtney Palms Clubhouse
Street: 1003 Courtney Palms Blvd.
City/Town: Tampa, FL

Quote of the Day

"Buddy does not understand technology. He is a cook with a degree in religion, not someone with proper training."

Candidate Lee Nelson on opponent Buddy Johnson's qualifications as Supervisor of Elections. Johnson is the former co-owner of the BuddyFreddys restaurant chain.

Nelson has a Facebook group supporters can join.

Lee Nelson Running For Hillsborough County Super of Elections

Democrat Lee Nelson will official announce his candidacy for Supervisor of Elections tomorrow.

This Wednesday, August 29th at 11:00 a.m., I will formally announce my run for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. The site for this announcement is the Town 'N Country Library, 5455 W. Waters Avenue, Suite 208, Tampa 33634.

This date was selected for its historic commemoration - the day Buddy Johnson announced he lost 245 votes in early voting in 2004!

Please come - we will have an area for live blogging, should you desire to do so.

Lunch will follow at Bucca di Beppo. Maps will be given out at the library.

Hillsborough County needs a responsible SOE. Buddy Johnson. Polling stations had violations under Johnson's watch. Johnson also screwed up the petition count for the Hillsborough County Mayor ballot. The list goes on and on.

There will be an area for liveblogging at Nelson's press conference.

Good luck to Nelson.

Democrats Running In Florida

Two Democrats running running for office. I thought I give them a shout out since they linked to me.

Lee Nelson is running for Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. He is running against Buddy Johnson. I have blogged a great deal about Johnson's ethically questionable behavior and incompetence.

Mark T. Ravenscraft is running for Florida Senate seat District 3. The seat is open. Dennis Baxley is the favorite. Baxley sponsored the failed bill to allow employees to bring handguns to their job parking lot.

Citing the same pressures this year, House bill sponsor Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said, "There are members who are a little squeamish about getting out there on this one."

You think? Perhaps lawmakers don't want to face a replay of the Virginia Tech shooting.

Baxley also supports the racist anthem The Swanee River as the state song.

My advise to these Democratic candidates is put donation boxes on their sites. They should also contact Gatordem. He will get the Kossacks into action.

It helps Dems running for office to linked to me. I blogged like mad about Alex Sink. Ditto for Rod Smith... err, let's scratch that one.

Update: Nelson is hinting he may not run on his website.

I ran for City Council in Council Bluffs, IA in 2005, I did not win. It was a great experience and I continue to be active in the City. Will I try again? I don't know, but to be prepared, I will keep this website updated.

Update: Lee Nelson states he is running. Here is his website.