Out Pinellas County School Board candidate Jim Jackson won’t be representing District 1 this school year. The candidate garnered 18% of the vote at press time, trailing incumbent Janet Clark’s 35%, Elliott Stern’s 25% and Shelly Ladd-Gilbert’s 21%. If no one gains more than 50% of the vote, the top two contenders will face each other in a run-off election this November.
On the other side of the bay, the usually ho-hum race for property appraiser received special attention when Ronda Storms, the former Hillsborough County Commissioner who ‘banned’ Gay Pride in 2005, took more than 70% of the vote to beat incumbent Rob Turner. Storms targeted Turner’s position after the incumbent made headlines for sending inappropriate e-mails to co-workers.
