A spokesman for Pinellas area Congressman C.W. Bill Young is denying a recent report that the longtime GOP Representative will not run for re-election in 2010.
Last week on Florida This Week, the local PBS public affairs program on WEDU, USF-St. Petersburg Political Science Professor emeritus Daryl Paulson said that Pinellas area Congressman C.W. Bill Young would not run for re-election in 2010 (when he will be 80 years of age).
Paulson also said that Young was furious with Governor Charlie Crist about not getting named to replace Mel Martinez as the interim Senator until the voters will choose a new Senator in 2010.
But Harry Glenn, the Congressman's spokesman, says Young has not made any decision yet on 2010.
"Congressman Young thinks campaign's run too long as it is," Glenn said, explaining why the Congressman is not focused on fundraising or any aspect of his re-election at this point.
Paulson also said that David Jolly, who worked for many years as Congressman Young's Legal Counsel, would run for the GOP nomination for Young's seat.
In an interview earlier this week, Jolly said that he couldn't speak for the Congressman, saying it's his campaign to run for. But, he added, "If he steps down during the next re-election cycle, I will run for his office. But this is not political ambition."
Jolly repeated during our interview that he hopes that Young runs for re-election, but if he does not, he will run.
Young's spokesman Harry Glen also dismissed the allegation that Young was upset with Governor Crist for not being named to be the fill-in for Mel Martinez in the Senate.
But Professor Paulson says that he's heard from other officials close to Congressman Young that he was 'ready and willing' to take over Martinez seat, and thought Crist had committed to him.
Young spokesman Harry Glenn strongly denied that, saying that Representative Young "is not a quitter" and that "he never applied." Glenn said Young did speak with the Governor about possible candidates for the job, but that's as far as their conversation went.
Crist selected his close friend and and former aid George LeMieux to the Senate seat. According to a new poll just released, that selection has been received with mixed opinion by the Florida electorate.
Speculation about Congressman Young stepping down has become a parlor game of sort for Tampa Bay area reporters for years now. Young is 79, and has served in Congress for 39 years.