Article Courtesy of The Tampa Tribune

By WILLIAM MARCH

Published August 20, 2008

TAMPA - Florida Democrats may seek to remove the Democratic candidate who filed for the state House seat being vacated by Trey Traviesa, so they can replace him with a stronger candidate.

The reason: When the candidate, Lewis Laricchia, qualified to run for the office he wasn't a Democrat, even though he signed a legally required, sworn statement saying he was.

"We have a candidate who might not be a candidate," said incoming House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, who is in charge of recruiting and assisting Democratic state House candidates.

"Because he wasn't a Democrat at the time he filed his papers to qualify, he is not properly qualified to be a Democratic candidate," Sands said, after the Tribune informed him of Laricchia's registration history.

On the date he qualified, June 18, Laricchia was registered no-party. He switched his registration to Democratic July 16, nearly a month later, according to the state Division of Elections.

Jennifer Davis, a spokeswoman with the state Division of Elections, said the division's legal office thinks the discrepancy wouldn't disqualify Laricchia from the ballot.

She said case law concerning another oath candidates must sign, swearing that they meet the qualifications for the office, has held that the candidate must meet those qualifications at the time their term of office would begin.

If that legal logic were applied, she said, Laricchia would be a valid candidate as long he was a Democrat by the time he would take office.

Before the qualifying period ended June 20, Democratic legislative leaders didn't seek to recruit a candidate for the seat because Traviesa filed to run for re-election, and was considered nearly unbeatable.

Last week, however, well after qualifying ended, Traviesa withdrew. That left local Republican Party leaders free to appoint his replacement on the ballot.

Partly because of Traviesa's endorsement, they chose his legislative aide, Rachel Burgin.

Burgin, 26, lives with her parents in Dover outside the district but said she plans to move.

State House District 56 covers a small part of South Tampa and large parts of East Hillsborough County.

Several other Republicans, including former state Rep. Sandy Murman, sought the nomination. Murman said local Republicans were shocked by the choice.

Some Democrats now think they could find a competitive candidate for the seat, even though it's been a heavily GOP-voting district. To do that, the Democrats would first have to have a vacant ballot, as the Republicans did.

Laricchia has told party leaders he won't take his name off the ballot voluntarily, Sands said.

Asked whether the party might undertake litigation to remove Laricchia, Sands checked with the party's counsel, Mark Herron of Tallahassee, and said, "We are examining our options."

Laricchia couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday at the phone number listed on his qualifying papers or the e-mail address.

Laricchia, a former union negotiator from New York, hasn't previously sought elected office.

He was involved in a legal dispute with his Brentwood Hills homeowners association in Valrico two years ago over association dues and late fees. He posed for photographs wearing a Superman shirt for a newspaper story about the issue.

Local Democrats hoping he would withdraw, or thinking the party might find a way to remove him from the ballot, would like to contest the seat - or at least make the state Republican Party use badly needed campaign funds to fight for a seat they had taken for granted.

Some of those Democrats speculated Tuesday on potential candidates, including Ruskin civic activist Mariella Smith and James Randolph of Brandon, a former school board candidate who runs a computer consulting firm. Neither could be reached for comment.

"We'll find somebody good," said Tampa Democratic consultant Ana Cruz.

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