Florida Dems to build new HQ in Tallahassee

By Bill Cotterell, FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR

Jun 16, 2008

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Florida Democrats began a $3-million campaign Saturday to build a permanent headquarters in Tallahassee.

House minority leader-designate Franklin Sands of Broward County and ex-Rep. Sam Bell, a Tallahassee lobbyist, said the party is paying $8,000 a month for rented space in the shadow of the Kleman Plaza high-rises. They said fundraising efforts will be low-key until after the elections, so as not to compete with Democratic candidates and groups involved in fighting or supporting constitutional amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot.

"We're in kind of a silent period right now," said Bell. "We're looking at a 36-month campaign but obviously we don't want to interfere with our candidates."

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said "I'm very excited about it," after a presentation on the plan at the state party's Jefferson Jackson Day weekend. "We can update our technology and have a permanent structure, and it'll be a green building," she said.

That ought to please Tallahassee's most prominent proponent of energy-saving construction methods, who has put solar panels on a roof at the governor's mansion and ordered state agencies to conserve.

"Yes, Charlie Crist would approve - and so would Al Gore," Thurman said.

Not paying rent "would mean we could put about $100,000 a year more into campaigns," she added.

The Florida Republican Party makes its home a few blocks from the Capitol. The Democrats used to occupy the Towle House, a historic old home on Calhoun Street that was bought by a law firm a few years ago.

The current headquarters on Bronough Street is close to the Capitol but Sands said it is too small and obsolete for the party's purposes.

"I think a new headquarters would be symbolic of a new Democratic Party," Bell said.