(Editors note: Chris Ingram is working on Trey Rustmann's Hillsborough County Commission race).

Another one of Sam Rashid’s flock being lead out to pasture

Conservative Hillsborough County Commission candidate Trey Rustmann’s (R) opponent Sandra Murman (R or D – depending on the wind) who has run for, considered running for, or otherwise sought the following elective offices or appointed positions in the last few years: (Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections, State Senator, Tampa City Council, County Commission, Tampa Port Authority, Mayor of Tampa), is currently sending a mail piece to Republican voters in her district claiming she is “The ONLY Republican running for County Commissioner WHO WON’T RAISE TAXES.”

One has to wonder what Murman means since Rustmann, who is a business executive with his MBA from the University of Tampa and a former Marine Corp officer who did a stint in Iraq and the Bosnia crisis when Murman was organizing fundraising car washes for one of the 8 million Tampa charities she claims to be on the board of, has not advocated raising taxes if elected to the commission. Furthermore, Murman’s blanket statement suggests all other Republicans running for Hillsborough County Commission will raise taxes. Murman and her campaign advisor Anthony Pedicini (who by the way is also pimping himself out to none-other than Mark Sharpe who apparently has no problem with his consultant going both ways) both know the claim is a bunch of crap but have failed to own up to the lie.

For the record, Murman, who was once referred to as a “sheep” by House Speaker Johnnie Byrd while she was in the state legislature (not sure if it was when she was a Democrat or not, because it’s hard to keep up with which party she is loyal to) responded to Byrd calling her a sheep by saying, “We all use analogies like that. I think of sheep as kind animals. They’re just out in the field working hard for the farm.” While she may not mind loose analogies or blanket statements not based on facts used against her, it doesn’t give her the right to use lies and false suggestions against her opponents or every other Republican running for Hillsborough County Commission.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows her that Murman is also a stooge to Hillsborough County political gadfly Sam Rashid – whom she has taken countless dollars from in her quest to be elected to something. Anything at all! So long as it keeps her name in the papers because she is really, really bored not being in the limelight.

Oh yeah, one last thing, Rustmann is a friend and has been a client of mine. And I would be saying all of this about Murman even if he weren’t… because it’s the truth. Oh yeah, one more one last thing: Rustmann has been endorsed by the Tampa Tribune and LaGaceta newspapers. The Tribune said, “Rustmann would bring a much-needed fresh perspective and can-do attidude to the commission.” Murman got the liberal paper over on the other side of the Bay’s endorsement — they called her career in the legislature “so-so” but endorsed this do-nothing anyway.

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of www.IrreverentView.com. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, Front Page Florida, and National Review online. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.