Mariella Smith to run for County Commission (countywide district 5)
This article by William March is in the Tampa Bay Times:
Veteran environmental and community planning activist Mariella Smith, a Ruskin Democrat, says she intends to file early next year to run for the countywide District 5 county commissioner’s seat against Republican Commissioner Victor Crist. Smith has backing from Commissioner Pat Kemp, who won her own countywide seat last year. She has worked for years as an advocate for environmental and community planning issues, including serving on citizen advisory boards and often opposing what she calls unregulated development. Her most recent cause was successfully opposing a plan for a sewage sludge dump near the Little Manatee River.