Candidates file to oust Jim Smith

Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith hasn’t faced a challenger in 15 years, but now the days of easily cinching another term are over for the unrepentant incumbent. Republican Tom Minkoff and Democrat Ben Friedlander have filed paperwork allowing them to begin campaigning for the seat Smith has held since 1988.

Minkoff, attorney for the local GOP until recently, and Friedlander, a veteran Realtor, both are seeking office for the first time. Both say the recent debacle surrounding Smith’s sale of his private land to the county - a deal that sparked a grand jury probe - prompted them to run.

“I certainly see some problems with ethical issues,” said Friedlander, 56. “The property he sold was a multiple of what he was appraising it at.”

To read more, see tomorrow's Times.

Comments

jim smith starts to look good

[DST]

Jim Smith and his deputy Pam Dubov are not running. Look for bigger names to make this race, especially an elected official from the beaches!

Ben Friedlander is a major jerk...he won't go anywhere other than down in flames!

7:48...At least you recognize Ben's name. Great. That's a good start for Ben--name recognition. I know him too. He'd be perfect for the job of property appraiser.

7:30 = classless

"7:30 = classless"

Yep!... but has a point! Worry much, Tom?

7:24 and 7:30 classless doen't even begin to describe the a-holes you are, I'm sure your mother would be very proud of you. NOT!

You’ve just got to love America… and the 1st Amendment.

“In the Know”… as far as you know.

Gun ownership is allowed in America too. Shooting people wrecklessly with guns is not allowed though.

Big Ben = Big Win.

Let me know when you get all those reckless shooters off the streets in ST. Pete, will ya!

Big Ben-It's Time For a Change!

Big Ben ’08!

“I don’t own property in Duncan’s District, I’ll never use the dumb blonde excuse, and 7-0 is a football score as far as I’m concerned”

Ben, get off the blog! You are classless and everyone knows that it is you. Ben answers his own blogs! Lonely? What a joke. Can't run on your own merits so you make up lies and dig up some old newspaper clippings to put someone else down? You will go down in flames you low class buffoon.
Bet your children would be so proud knowing you wrote lies and stooped that low. Yeah, this is the kind of goofball we want in charge of our property taxes.

1:17,

Don’t you have some felonious, illegal, and immoral activity covering up to do before you face the public?

Don’t forget to study “Property Appraising For Dummies”… before you open your mouth. You might want to make sure no bones come flying out of your mouth either.

Welcome to the Ben Friedlander Blog! Today Ben gets to blog with himself! Watch Ben Blog. He has to blog because no one wants to talk to him. Even the Realtors can't stand to talk to him. Only Charlie Justice will talk to Ben. Charlie likes to see Ben blog with himself!

Don’t you have a bathroom to clean… Neil?

oh great! a year to go until election time and we've already got yahoos bickering and calling people names. grow up!

[Leo Kovalensky]

Too bad Pam Dubov is not running. She has the both the legal and institutional knowledge to carry the water for the Property Appraiser's office. I wonder what she'll end up doing when the new property appraiser takes over.

Yeah, you yahoos… grow up! We’ve got serious bidness to attend to… like stealing tax dollars and rubbing oil all over our bloated, Republican minion bellies!