Carrie Wadlinger is getting while the getting is good.
The head of the Pinellas County Democratic Party has announced her
intention to step down as of July 15 from a job that, frankly, no one
in their right mind should want. A combination of family concerns,
fatigue, a sense of accomplishment and the ability to speak louder
outside the Democratic Executive Committee are to blame.
We wrote in January that Wadlinger was at the center of a struggle
between factions in the party, under attack from a far-left contingent
led by unsuccessful mayoral candidate Ed Helm and rumored to be quitting then. We also contrasted her abilities with Pinellas Democrats – who are in the minority – vs. her
counterpart’s lack of progress in Hillsborough, where Democrats hold a
voter registration majority but lose at the ballot box.
Wadlinger was not critical of anyone in explaining her decision, but
she alluded to the pressure of trying to hold a disjointed party
together.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.