Not surprisingly, the Hillsborough County Democratic Party thinks they may have been given a gift with the report that Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Rob Turner traded what the Tampa Tribune calls "lurid texts" and emails of a pornographic nature for years with a former employee he once dated.
Turner fired Carolyn Filippone on Monday, right after he admitted to the Tampa Bay Times' Bill Varian that he had exchanged porn texts and emails for a number of years, including after he was married. Two years ago, Filippone filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity, claiming Turner had discriminated against her and had her duties reduced because she had rejected his sexual advances. Last month, however, the EEOC dismissed the complaint.
“The citizens and taxpayers of Hillsborough County deserve better than this," Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee Chair Chris Mitchell said in a press release on Wednesday morning. "Rob Turner was elected to serve them, and at best he has turned his office into an unprofessional environment where the focus is on his personal business. He's broken their trust."
This article appears in May 24-30, 2012.