Pinellas Property Appraiser Jim Smith won't seek re-election, top aide says

Embattled Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith will not run for another term next year, his top assistant said Tuesday night.

Pam Dubov said she spoke to her boss around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and he told her he would not seek a fifth term.

"Jim's been thinking about this for a while," Dubov said. "He needed to make a decision in his own time for his own reasons."

Elected appraiser in 1988, the 67-year-old Smith was unchallenged for three more terms before his sale of land that he owned in the East Lake area to Pinellas County touched off a controversy that has upended several careers at the Pinellas County Courthouse.

The County Commission voted unanimously in June to pay Smith $225,000 for a piece of undeveloped land he owned along Brooker Creek. The sales price was nearly four times the value that Smith's own office had assigned to the property for tax purposes.

After the St. Petersburg Times reported on the sale, a grand jury scrutinized the transaction. No one was indicted, but the grand jury issued a report that was critical of Smith, former Pinellas County Attorney Susan Churuti and, to a lesser degree, the administration of former County Administrator Steve Spratt.

In recent weeks, two challengers have emerged to run for Smith's office in 2008 -- Democrat Ben Friedlander and Republican Tom Minkoff.

Dubov too may join the race, but said she has not made a decision.

Fallout from the controversial land deal also led the commission to fire Churuti and accept the resignation of former County Administrator Steve Spratt.

-- Will Van Sant, Times staff writer