Open House at HCREC

Commentary
Anna Liisa Covell


The open house to mark the new location of Hernando County Republican Executive Committee  was  a subdued affair - one with food, a few close friends and some politicians thrown into the mix.  The only thing missing was a few key people who are running for office, like James Adkins and Jeff Stabins.  


The HCREC's new headquarters is located at the Killensworth Plaza on the truck bypass at SR50.  Although the space is small, it held a moderate size crowd on Friday night.  There was enough food for a small army - food like finger sandwiches and gooey chocolate brownies.


Chairman Blaise Ingoglia was on tap to greet everyone as they entered the hall. Alan Setelius was manning the guest book at the desk to make sure he had a record of all who came to visit their facilities.


Incumbent Commissioner John Druzbick was at the front entrance shaking hands and kissing babies.  I just made the part up about kissing babies, but John was kissing all the ladies as he greeted them at the door, unlike his opponent Jason Sager.  Sager was hanging out in the parking lot with Matt Foreman.  They both seemed to be oblivious to the people inside of HCREC headquarters.


It was nice to see Sally Daniels who is running for Hernando County Tax Collector.  I always assumed Sally was a Democrat because she is the deputy tax collector working under Juanita Sikes.  Geez, that will teach me to never assume anything about a person's political party.   It also reinforces my admiration for Juanita because she didn't allow partisanship to sway her position about her employees as tax collector.  


Quiet, unassuming John Emerson was in attendance.  He's the guy who has all the answers at Hernando County Property Appraiser's office.  With the announced retirement of Alvin Mazourek, John has stepped up to the plate to run for the position of property appraiser.


Mark Caskie, candidate for Hernando County Supervisor of Elections has been like the energizer bunny.  According to his Facebook page, he is visiting all the campaign sites and clubs to get his message out.  He was the only candidate for SOE in attendance at the open house.


Petition cards lined the counter begging to be signed so candidates could get their name placed on the ballot.  Most all candidates who had cards to be signed were in attendance at the event except for James Adkins.  


The meet and greet atmosphere of the open house proved to be a pleasant affair to catch up with old friend's like Frank Colletti and Jaz Zydenbos. Even though we've all grayed a bit around the temples, nothing much has changed in the world of Republican politics in Hernando County.