Gifford Seeking Comeback

BARTOW | Former County Commissioner Don Gifford wants to retake the County Commission seat he lost to County Commissioner Bob English four years ago.

"No more Bob English Tax Increases," reads Gifford's campaign flier.

He is making English's support for the controversial 2005 tax increases and English's opposition to Amendment One a centerpiece of his campaign.

In addition, Gifford said the record tax increases have produced few improvements.

"No commission has had more resources and no commission has let us down; this has been a terrible failure,'' Gifford said.

English disputes that claim and says Gifford's anti-tax rhetoric doesn't resonate beyond conservative ideologues.

The Aug. 26 contest will be decided by voters of all parties and independents, known as a "universal primary contest" because state election law states that everyone gets to vote in primaries where only one party has candidates.

Gifford's platform includes pushing a charter amendment that would limit future budget increases to the inflation rate, encouraging economic growth by reducing taxes and investing in roads and utilities to meet future growth demands.

Gifford said the county can invest in roads and other projects without raising taxes.

He said he would take county departments back to their funding in 2005 before the real estate boom, arguing there should be enough money left over from the financial windfall local governments received during the boom to pay for all of the capital projects.

Gifford, a 50-year-old Lakeland building contractor, said water is another defining issue for Polk County.

During his earlier term, Gifford led efforts to get a better understanding of the water issues facing Polk County and worked to come up with a master plan for dealing with Polk's future water supplies.

Supporter Al Whittle said Gifford's turnaround on the water issue, from saying there wasn't a problem to leading efforts to deal with the problem, was important.

"Don had the integrity and good sense to change his position when he found out he was wrong," Whittle said.

Although he credits English with bringing a "leavening effect" to County Commission deliberations, Lakeland businessman and former state legislator Tom Mims, an English supporter, has a different view.

"He (Gifford) had an opportunity while he was there to lead, but he didn't," he said.

But although Gifford's campaign is aimed at regaining the District 1 County Commission seat from English, he said the fact is that there are two other candidates - Jason Brown and Blaine Gravitt - in the race and the top vote-getter will win the race, regardless of whether he wins the majority of the vote.

Gifford said he may benefit from the fact that the primary is open to all voters because there aren't any Democratic candidates or write-ins, explaining he thinks he'll pick up votes from independents and conservative Democrats.

"Bob has taken us in the wrong direction," he said. If folks really want to get rid of Bob English they should vote for me."

The July 18 campaign reports show Gifford has collected $23,488, of which $10,000 was an initial loan from himself.

He has been endorsed by the Polk County Builders Association, which may bring additional donations.

One non-government issue that could crop up in the campaign is the drug-related death that occurred at a party at Gifford's home last November.

Supporter Whittle said since Gifford wasn't home at the time, it's hard to blame him for what happened.

"I don't see that as an election issue," he said.

County commissioners are elected countywide and serve four-year terms. They are paid $40,092 a year.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. Read more views on county government at http://county.theledger.com. ]