Hillsborough County Republicans are talking about a recent blog post concerning Commissioner Kevin Beckner’s finances. But a closer look reveals that there’s not much there there.
The blog post was written by Nadia Naffe, a contributor to the conservative website RedCounty.org and former Bush/Cheney field organizer in Florida. She speculates that Beckner’s term as commissioner has been a “financial boon” for him because his net income has increased by $174,000 since he began serving in 2008. She also questions the value he’s listing on his home, which Naffe suggests is wildly inflated in comparison with his neighbors.
But Beckner says the reason his net income is up is because his investments have paid off over the past two years, and the reason his home value is higher than that of his neighbors is because he's basing its price on perceived market value, not appraised value.
Perhaps most controversially, in her post Naffe introduces Beckner's domestic partner, Gil Sainz, into the story.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.
