County Commission incumbents win

Incumbent Alachua County Commissioners Mike Byerly, Paula DeLaney and Rodney Long - dubbed the "taxing three" in an unprecedented barrage of negative advertising - appeared headed toward re-election by comfortable margins Tuesday night.

The three said they believe voters were happy with their performance and the direction in which they want to take the county.

"I think that this means that the people of Alachua County realize that by and large the county has been doing a pretty good job with their money, that we have been trying to economize," Byerly said. "But the bottom line is we still have to find ways to provide services the people expect at the quality they expect."

The incumbents are Democrats and their opponents are Republicans.

With 66 of 69 precincts reporting, Byerly led Kevin Riordan 52,846 votes to 36,314. Presuming the results hold, Byerly will enter a third term as commissioner.

DeLaney led Lloyd Bailey 53,537 votes to 35,200 in District 3 to close in on a second term.

Long topped Ward Scott 50,016 votes to 39,023 in District 5 for a likely third term.

Bailey was the only challenger who could be reached for comment Tuesday night. He said he believes the incumbent Democrats benefited from a heavy turnout in support of Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama.

"I think the national election really affected us locally," Bailey said. "I had a lot of hope - a lot of Democrats told me they would vote for me and they did. But I think with the new registrations, a lot of people voted straight party line."

Alachua County Citizens for Change, a state-registered electioneering communication organization, spent $104,616 to try to defeat the incumbents. Most of the donations to Citizens for Change were from residents in the building and real estate trades.

The group used television ads suggesting that DeLaney, Byerly and Long had taxed "everything in sight" and that it was "cruel and uncalled for punishment."

Citizens for Change Chairman Winston Rushing could not be reached for comment on the election results.

During the campaign, the trio countered the ads by saying the group wanted a commission that would be compliant to development interests and that it was using a legal but backdoor way to skirt campaign contribution laws.

Long said the ads contained erroneous and misleading information and backfired because voters realized that.

"The voters soundly rejected ... advertising from this electioneering communication organization," Long said. "It clearly showed that they support campaign finance reform and that they do not support negative advertising. This definitely sends a message that Alachua County government is not for sale."

DeLaney and Byerly watched the votes come in in the commission meeting room in the County Administration Building. Early votes had the incumbents losing, causing some frowns from Byerly and DeLaney along with jokes from their supporters about how "the taxing three are going down."

But the results shifted dramatically when a block of new precinct results scrolled on a big screen. DeLaney whooped and and Byerly said to her, "The taxing three are back in the building."

DeLaney later said she believes the results show that the county recognizes the difficulties commissioners face in trying to deal with shrinking revenue and growing needs.

"The whole state of the economy is really going to drive the decisions we make. We are going to have less and less discretionary money," DeLaney said. "I think it is going to be a real juggling act for us. I still really believe that if we invest properly ... we'll be OK."

Contact Cindy Swirko at 374-5024 or at swirkoc@gvillesun.com.