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Hernando Today

Veteran Democrat To Lead Local Party

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: December 4, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - A former school principal who hung campaign signs for Hubert Humphrey in Hernando County in 1968 will lead the local Democratic Party for the next four years.
Clarence "Cy" Wingrove of Brooksville took 64 out of 95 votes in a three-way race for Democratic Executive Committee chairman late Tuesday night at Temple Beth David in Spring Hill.
"Of course we're very excited," Wingrove, 73, said Wednesday. "We're going to move. We're going to be more involved in the community."
The West Virginia native and former Powell Middle School principal beat out two other nominees.
Software developer Bob Holmes, of Brooksville, who headed Barack Obama's presidential campaign in Hernando County, garnered 23 votes.
Dr. B.J. Tipton, owner of a computer consulting firm in Brooksville, took the remainder.
Miranda Griffin, a 28-year-old student from Spring Hill, is the party's new vice-chairwoman, beating out Judy Lee of Spring Hill.
The party's new secretary is Donna Depinet-Dasher of Spring Hill. The treasurer is Ray Dolman, 84, of Spring Hill. Both those seats went uncontested.
Outgoing party Chairman Jay Rowden ran for the party's state committeeman seat and lost in a runoff to Michael Sullivan, 82, of Spring Hill.
Katherine Lambert, 54, of Spring Hill won the state committeewoman post over Linda Prescott, a college instructor.
Party chairman races force factions to the surface and this one did, too. Tipton hinted at some degree of divisiveness last month, telling that there have been disagreements in which "a lot of people have gotten their feelings hurt" and that she hoped to "mend fences."
Rowden is on the fault line.
He threw his support behind Holmes, saying he showed an impressive grasp of grassroots politics during the last election cycle.
Rowden said Wednesday that many party members seemed to vote on "the Bubba principle" rather than who was most qualified for the office. He noted that the same party members who voted for Wingrove voted for Sullivan, and that "50 to 60 of those people have not been to a DEC meeting in their lives."
"It looked to me like people weren't giving a whole lot of thought to the office, they were just voting in a block," Rowden said.
Rowden acknowledged that he has concerns Wingrove won't be able to keep the momentum the party has made in the "mechanics" of the political process — improving its early and absentee voting performance and register more Democrats here.
"My best impression is he just doesn't think that way," Rowden said.
But, he added, "I'm not going to go in and try to undermine his organization. I'm going to support him as best I can."
"That's more than I can say for what a lot of them did for me," he said.
Wingrove said he knows "Jay and the crew must feel disappointed."
"I know I would, too," he said. "But there's no way I'm going to ostracize them from the party. It'd be crazy to say, 'You didn't support me, there's no place for you.'"
Wingrove said he campaigned hard for the top post, visiting party members to garner their support. He said Holmes would have done a good job and is looking forward to working with him.
And he said he would work to continue the progress Rowden helped the party make.
"But I also want to put a lot of emphasis on one-on-one contact," he said.
The party needs to tap the power of potential allies that align with Democratic principles, such as the local teachers union, Wingrove said.
Wingrove will have a young, eager lieutenant.
Griffin said Wednesday she has been interested in politics since her time at Springstead High School. She voted in her first presidential election in 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush and said she remembers the feeling of "disillusionment."
She is majoring in political science at the University of South Florida and got involved with the Obama campaign, working to recruit and train volunteers.
Griffin said she wants the Democrats to "raise our status in the community" and have more of a presence at local events.
It's also time to have a more structured effort to recruit and train potential candidates for local offices to try to head off another drubbing like the one Democrats got in local races last month.
"We need to make some big changes," Griffin said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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