Commissioner Murman mentioned in this StPetersBlog article on Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians:

 

#22 on list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians — Sandy Murman

PETER SCHORSCH

19 hours ago

 

 

Early last year, former state legislator Sandy Murman flirted with another run for Tallahassee, but opted ultimately not to challenge fellow Republican Dana Young in the newly created state Senate District 18 seat.

Instead, Murman ran for re-election, easily defeating her Democratic opponent to keep her seat on the Hillsborough County Commission. She campaigned by taking some credit for the county’s decision to go into their own coffers earlier this year to spend more than $800 million on transportation projects over the next decade.

The board stalemated last year after rejecting two separate attempts to put the Go Hillsborough transit tax referendum on the ballot. Murman, who originally supported the proposal, turned against it but adds that she does believe that there will be a need in the coming years for another referendum.

Saying that she wants to see follow through on the various issues she’s working on at the board level, Murman announced recently that she’ll step down from her District 1 seat next year to run for the countywide District 7 seat being vacated by a retiring Al Higginbotham in 2018, which would allow her if elected to have served 12 and possibly 16 years on the BOCC.

 

Murman ranked No. 20 on the list in 2016.

Joe Henderson’s Take

“Sandy is one of those folks who seems like she has been in elected office since, oh, she was in elementary school. I would never call her dynamic and I wish she would put a little distance between herself and the transportation naysayers. Her initial proposal after the Go Hillsborough transportation initiative imploded looked like it was written on the back of a tea party pamphlet. On the other hand, she is on the short list of nicest people ever to serve in political office around here.”