"If he is going to be a candidate," Lennard said told the Times, "we are going to ensure that that does not become an issue."
Lennard has been running Hillsborough's office for the past two years, after he was selected by Governor Charlie Crist to succeed the late Phyllis Busansky.
It should be noted here and now that, with next year's major elections still on slate, Lennard (and presumably Latimer, who Lennard feels strongly enough about to have listed him on the site's website, which as we wrote on Tuesday, is not a common occurrence throughout Florida) has done a solid job of reforming his office.
The only hiccup was in one of his first elections - the special Democratic primary election for House District 58 in January of 2010 between Janet Cruz and Pat Kemp. That's when it took over two and a half hours after the polls closed before a winner was announced - despite the fact that only 3,272 people voted in that race.
However, in last August's primary election and in the general in November, there were no notable delays or issues with the vote count.
In Hillsborough county in recent years, that is saying something, going back to the numerous errors and problems that seemed to occur during every election during the reign of Buddy Johnson. Though Johnson was absolved of any crimes by law enforcement, his incompetence was not in dispute.
Lennard and Latimer have definitely cleaned up the office, a job that began when Busansky defeated Johnson in November of 2008.
