Hillsborough Democrat pursues action to have GOP HD 47 candidate James Grant explain how he got $40,000 bank loan

Following up on a complaint with the Florida Election Commission two weeks ago regarding a questionable $40,000 loan that GOP House candidate James Grant gave to his campaign days before his August 24 primary, today the vice chair of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party, Chris Mitchell, announced that he was now filing a "pure bill of discovery" in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, seeking to compel Grant to address in court the issues raised in his original complaint.

Grant is running against Democrat Michael Steinberg in the House District 47 race.   The district encompasses Westchase, Keystone, Cheval, Citrus Park and Carrollwood.

Grant obtained to $40,000 from First Citrus Bank, which he then immediately put into his campaign account, days before the August 24 GOP primary.  With a negative net worth and only a $21,000 annual salary, Mitchell and other Democrats have questioned how a 28-year-old could walk into a bank and get such a loan.

Grant responded at the time that it was a fully collateralized loan in his name that he was responsible for.  He is the son of former state Legislator John Grant.

Mitchell said since the story originally broke, he learned thru a blog posting by CL contributor Chris Ingram that Grant said that it was a private matter and "no one’s business how he got the money for the CD that he used for collateral to guarantee the loan."

The CD revelation is what Mitchell says prompted him to take further action.

This afternoon, Mitchell announced that he was now filing a "pure bill of discovery" in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, seeking to compel Grant to address in court the issues raised in his original complaint.

At a news conference, Mitchell also said he was inspired to take court action after seeing a Leon County Circuit Court Judge disqualify Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman from the ballot last Friday, after she determined that Norman had erred in not properly documenting the $435,000 home that was built from a loan from the late GOP power broker, Ralph Hughes.

This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.