UPDATED: As expected, a Hillsborough County Republican has stepped up for the team and filed a lawsuit challenging Linda Saul-Sena's status on the November ballot for Hillsborough County Commission.
Mike Salinaro with the Tampa Tribune reports that the suit has been filed by developer Benton R. Murphey.
The suit comes a day after another Hillsborough Republican filed suit against John Dingfelder - in both cases questioning their status on the ballot after they were tardy in sending in their paper work to the secretary of state's office indicating they would be resigning to run for county commission. Also in both cases, Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Earl Lennard and Dawn Roberts, the interim Florida Secretary of State, are named in the lawsuits.
UPDATE: Saul-Sena responds. At a press release sent out at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Linda Saul-Sena called the lawsuit "unfortunate," and said her opponent (Republican Ken Hagan) was "...apparently so concerned about meeting me one on one to talk about the real issues facing our county that he is hiding behind lawyers and bringing ugly partisan politics into the mix with him.”
She called on Hagan to have the courage to "denounce this ugly action and insist on letting the voters decide who will lead them in the County Commission. As of right now it appears he is more interested in hiding behind his attorneys and letting his Party try to determine what is best for Hillsborough County.”
