Moore, Burgess Elected To Represent Wesley Chapel

By Matt Wiley

The 2014 Midterm General Election is a wrap and the votes are in: Yes on Scott, No on pot. Plus, several local candidates have been elected to represent the Wesley Chapel area in our county and state governments.

Of the more than 40,000 registered voters in the 13 voting precincts in Wesley Chapel’s 33543, 33544 and 33545 zip codes, 20,742 submitted ballots, for a turnout of about 51 percent. Our area’s General Election turnout was just short of Pasco’s 53-percent (162,609 ballots cast of more than 300,00 registered voters) and just above the state’s turnout of 50.34 percent (with slightly more than 6 million ballots cast of nearly 12 million registered voters).

The highest voter turnout in Wesley Chapel was in Precinct 24, which voted at the Williamsburg Tanglewood Club, and saw 234 ballots cast of 377 registered voters, for a turnout of more than 62 percent. The lowest voter turnout came from Precinct 99, which voted at the Northwood Community Center and saw only 1,124 ballots for the precinct’s 2,580 registered voters cast for a turnout of 43.6 percent.

As everyone surely has heard by now, Republican Gov. Rick Scott narrowly won his re-election bid against Democratic opponent Charlie Crist (with 48 percent of the state’s vote to Crist’s 47 percent), in what has been called the most expensive campaign in Florida’s history. Gov. Scott won re-election by just 65,000 votes, a similar margin of victory as he had against Democrat Alex Sink in 2010. This year, Libertarian gubernatorial hopeful Adrian Wyllie was only able to manage 3.8 percent of the state’s vote and two candidates with no party affiliation garnered only 1 percent combined. 

In Pasco, Gov. Scott gathered 46.65 percent, while Crist collected 44.8 percent, and Wyllie received 7 percent of the county’s vote. Gov. Scott’s margin over Crist in Pasco County was fewer than 3,000 votes. In Wesley Chapel’s 13 precincts, Scott defeated Crist in eight (Crist actually won five of Wesley Chapel’s precincts; see chart on page 6), by a total of just 456 votes. 

In addition, Republican Pam Bondi has retained the office of Florida’s Attorney General, as she defeated Democratic hopeful George Sheldon with 55 percent of the state’s vote, to his 47 percent. Bondi won in Pasco by nearly 40,000 votes (59 percent of the county’s vote to Sheldon’s 36 percent) and Libertarian opponent Bill Wohlsifer collected just 4 percent of the county’s vote. In Wesley Chapel, Bondi won every precinct except Precinct 99.

On the local front, a Wesley Chapel resident has been elected to serve on the Pasco County Commission, as Republican Mike Moore defeated Democratic opponent Erika Remsberg with 58.9 percent of the county’s vote, to win the District 2 seat previously occupied by Comm. Pat Mulieri, who served on the Board for 20 years. Moore received 55 percent of Wesley Chapel’s vote and also only lost in Precinct 99.

“I am humbled by the support our campaign has received from so many voters across Pasco County,” Moore said after the election. “I’m also very proud of the campaign we ran. I deeply appreciate the numerous volunteers and campaign supporters who worked very hard toward our victory. Without their help and support, this victory would not have been possible.”

Moore, a Seven Oaks resident, added that he is ready to get to work and already has begun scheduling meetings with constituents and small business owners.

“As promised, I have an ‘open-door’ policy to listen to everyone’s cares, concerns and ideas,” Moore said, adding that he is planning to be frequently seen out and about in the community, as well as at periodic town hall meetings that he wants to organize.

Moore was sworn in on Nov. 18, along with fellow Republican Mike D. Wells (who defeated District 4 incumbent Henry Wilson in the August Primary election). 

More Results…

In other local results, former Zephyrhills mayor Danny Burgess (R-Zephyrhills) was elected to take over for Wesley Chapel’s own term-limited Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford to represent District 38. Burgess defeated Democrat Beverly Ledbetter of Land O’Lakes by more than 10,000 votes, receiving 60 percent of the county’s vote. More than 2,000 of those votes came from Wesley Chapel precincts, where 54 percent of the ballots were cast in his favor. Burgess defeated Ledbetter in all but two of Wesley Chapel’s precincts.

“I am very proud of our positive, grassroots campaign and I am absolutely humbled by all the support we received from the community,” Burgess said after the election. “It’s truly an honor to have so many (people) put their trust and vote in (me) and I promise to work tirelessly to not let them down.”

Rep. Burgess also said that his next step will be to, “hit the ground running and get to work,” which began at an organizational session of the state legislature in Tallahassee on Nov. 18.

Also winning election on Nov. 4 were several local candidates to serve on Community Development District (CDD) Boards of Supervisors, including Terry Bechtel (52.7%-47.3%) over Richard Carroll in Lexington Oaks CDD’s Seat 4; Dennis L. Smith over Michael Paul Stewart (71.2%-28.8%) for Meadow Pointe CDD Seat 1; Dana Kay Sanchez (43.4%) over two opponents (Brian J. Shahin, 30.6%) and Diana L. Crawford-Cline (26%) for Meadow Pointe II CDD”s Seat 2; Jim Bovis (45.6%) over opponents Tabitha Holden (31.6%) and Bill Rainey, Sr. (22.8%) for Meadow Pointe II’s Seat 4; and Andrew Denbo (67.2%) over Niaja Jackson (32.8%) for the Seven Oaks CDD’s Seat 1; 

And finally, the controversial Amendment 2, which would have legalized medical marijuana in the state, fell short of the necessary 60 percent “Yes” vote it needed on election night. Statewide, Amendment 2 received the support of just more than 57 percent of voters. In Pasco, the amendment did slightly better, earning 58 percent approval in both the county and in Wesley Chapel, despite the support for it expressed in these pages by our editor and Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. 

Congratulations to all of those elected from the Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News. For more info and complete election results, please visit PascoVotes.com.