Tampa entrepreneur Joe Redner is doing it again.
The independently wealthy owner of several properties and businesses, none more famous than the adult nightclub Mons Venus, says he will run as a non party affiliated candidate this November for the House District 58 seat won by Democrat Janet Cruz in a special election this past February.
When asked by CL why he was taking on Cruz, Redner said he didn't have a particular bone to pick with the new House Representative, but was more against "the whole damn Florida Legislature, the federal legislature, and the city and county governments" in Tampa/HIllsborough County.
Among the most recent actions that offended Redner was the Legislature's firing of Governor Charlie Crist's two picks for the Florida Public Service Commission earlier this year – David Klement and Benjamin "Steve" Stevens -who were rejected by the Senate in the last week of the regular session, after they helped the PSC reject rate increases requested by Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy earlier this year. "What kind of shenanigans is that?" he bellowed over the telephone.
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2010.