Shea Withdraws from County Race

I won't be a candidate for County Commission District 4 as hoped. I spoke with the Herald's fine county reporter, Nuick Azzara, about my decision a few days ago. My campaign Website, ElectJoeShea.com, also carried this note and linked to the the Herald's story:

Shea Withdraws From County Race - Page C1, Bradenton Herald, 07/22/06

The Herald reports today that Joe has withdrawn from the race against Ron Getman for the Manatee County Commission District 4 seat.

In a statement, Joe said he felt the party was not ready to fight an expensive campaign for the seat.

Joe congratulated Ron Getman on his victory, and encouraged voters to support County Commission At-Large candidate Sarah Meaker in her race.

Joe expressed an interest in possibly running for office in 2008.

Here is the relevant part of the Herald story:

Slate for election finalized
One candidate leaves race, all others qualify
NICHOLAS AZZARA
Herald Staff Writer
MANATEE - All but one previously announced candidate for the Manatee County Commission qualified by Friday's noon deadline for this fall's elections.

Joe Shea, a Democrat who in June had declared his candidacy for the District 4 seat held by Republican incumbent Ron Getman, withdrew his name from the mix. Shea said he decided not to run Friday morning after realistically assessing his chance of winning.

"I wish I could have run. There are a lot of important issues to talk about in this county, and I would like to have talked about them in public forums," Shea said.

He listed several reasons for withdrawing, and said the Manatee County Democratic Party "was not ready to commit all it needed to win local races." He said the party is rebuilding and will be ready to run more aggressively in 2008.

Shea said local Democrats are not "fully prepared to take on an intense and hard-fought and expensive campaign for county commission."

Shea voiced support for Sarah Meaker, the lone Democrat running for county commission. Meaker is running for the District 6, countywide seat and in November will face the winner of the Sept. 5 Republican primary contest between Frank Brunner, Stella Burnett, Dr. Craig Trigueiro and Carol Whitmore.

The general election is Nov. 7.

When he declared his candidacy in June, Shea said he would work to repeal Manatee's recently approved 5-cent gasoline tax increase and to preserve Manatee lands from spreading development.

Shea said he might consider running for a seat in 2008 if the circumstances are right.

The candidates could qualify two ways. He or she could have collected enough signatures to equal 1 percent of the total number of registered voters in the last general election for the district, or the potential candidate could have paid a qualifying fee of 6 percent of a commissioner's annual salary. Commissioners make $70,853, so the qualifying fee this year was $4,251.

Nicholas Azzara, county government reporter, can be reached at nazzara@HeraldToday.com and 745-7081.