Calls grow for Stabins' immediate resignation

Steven Langone was at the Publix supermarket on Mariner Boulevard on Thursday morning handing out flyers and asking people to join him in his efforts to kick County Commissioner Jeff Stabins out of office.

This morning, he plans to do the same at the Sweetbay, just up the road from his Elgin home.

The flyer has a color picture of a smiling Stabins, with the heading: "Have You Seen This Man?"

If so, Langone is urging people to call the Hernando County Commissioners Office to let them know Stabins is absent from his duties as District 1 representative.

"Don't wait for his resignation," the flyer says. "Impeach now!"

Langone said he doesn't intend to stop his mission to get Stabins off his seat, even though the commissioners announced Wednesday he plans to resign by next spring to run for run for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 23rd District.
The flyer is only the start. Langone is planning a September rally at the courthouse and a possible trip to Tallahassee. He also plans to alert the political parties in New York about what he calls Stabins' antics here in Hernando.

"There's no more game playing," Langone said.

County Commissioner Wayne Dukes said his colleague's actions are creating a negative distraction for the county and it doesn't need it right now.

The board, he said, is powerless to control Stabins and is in a position of having to "grin and bear it."
"If he wants to do other things, he should press on," Dukes said.

Stabins has already purchased a home in Sacket's Harbor, N.Y., and commutes to the county commission meetings in Brooksville every other week.

At Tuesday's meeting, Stabins walked out of the commission chambers when Langone approached the podium to discuss the commissioner's commutes. Langone called Stabins a coward and asked Adkins to bring him back.

Dukes said the commissioners don't need to have many more such scenes.

"I find it distracting and obviously this is going to get worse, and that's not doing anybody any good," he said. "He needs to step up to his job and take it seriously and do what he was elected to do."

Stabins could not be reached for comment.

He sent an email saying he was traveling from his Kass Circle office to the Orlando Airport to catch a plane to Syracuse, N.Y.

'Political disaster'

Langone said Stabins is getting paid $61,000 annually from the taxpayers and it is clear that his heart is not in Hernando County.

"He needs to be thrown out now," he said. "He's taking our money."

Langone said he is sending a copy of the flyer to Gov. Scott's office in hopes his office will take action.

He has also appealed to Commission Chairman Jim Adkins to take action. But the board's hands are tied, as long as Stabins' continues to maintain his permanent residency in Spring Hill District 1.

As chairman, Adkins cannot force Stabins to come to meetings nor is he responsible for his leaving the chambers during citizens' input, which he did twice the other day.

Langone isn't the only constituent upset with Stabins.

Justin Matusiak, also of Elgin Boulevard, said he has been trying to contact his representative for several days regarding the widening project on his road and he has been unsuccessful.

"I think he should concentrate on running in New York because he is literally giving us no attention right now," Matusiak said. "

Matusiak said the county shouldn't have to put up with a long-distance, part-time commissioner for another six months.

"I'd like to see him take his final flight to New York and stay there," he said.

In his letter to Scott. Matusiak asks the governor to end this "political disaster."

"We, as District 1 residents, have already been subjected to disingenuous representation, extensive absenteeism and the off-the-wall antics of our designated elected official Jeff Stabins," he wrote.

Removing a commissioner

There is no mechanism available for residents or the county board to recall a commissioner because Hernando County is not a charter county, according to Chris Cate, communications director for the Florida Department of State.

Only the governor has the authority to suspend an elected county commissioner from office and only the Florida Senate can remove the individual. The statutes spell out the following reasons for removal:

* Malfeasance (violating the law).

* Misfeasance (doing something lawful but in an improper way or that injures someone).

* Neglect of duty.

* Drunkenness.

* Incompetence.

* Permanent inability to perform official duties.

* Conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.