Success is “doing what makes sense,” says Liedtke.
By TIM FANNING
USFSP Student Reporter
GULFPORT — You could say that lawn furniture helped drive Dan Liedtke into small town politics.
He was a business and information technology consultant with experience in both the federal government and large private corporations when he and his wife moved to Gulfport in 2003.
He grew tired, he said, of hearing about a City Council that spent “too much time dealing with trivial things like what kinds of patio furniture should be allowed on your front lawn.”
So in 2012 Liedtke confounded family and friends by running for a council seat – and winning by nine votes.
Now, he is seeking a fourth two-year term in the March 13 election in a decidedly low-key campaign against attorney Bruce A. Plesser for the seat in Ward I, which covers the southwest quadrant of the city.
And he is pleased to assert that the council is now debating meatier things than furniture.
“We stopped talking about what classifies as outdoor furniture and started talking about how we can make our (downtown) casino profitable, how do we make our marina better,” said Liedtke, 48. “We started focusing on (using) the assets of Gulfport to generate revenue, not the citizens.”
What matters to Gulfport, Liedtke said, is finding ways to generate revenue without raising taxes on residents and homeowners.
It’s improving infrastructure and sewers. And it’s preparing for a possible decline in tax revenue if a proposed state constitutional amendment raising the homestead exemption gets on the Nov. 6 ballot and wins voter approval.
“It’s about doing what makes sense,” he said.
Liedtke is against so-called sanctuary cities, which assert a right to resist cooperating with federal immigration officials and holding people who may be in the country illegally.
He said he supports medical marijuana and property owners’ rights. He wants to keep downtown parking free, allow short term rentals like Airbnb and encourage newer buildings to add solar energy panels.
At a candidate forum in January, Liedtke said he would oppose any attempt to outsource the Gulfport Police Department to the Pinellas County sheriff. He also said he would make police body cameras optional for the Gulfport officers who wear them.
An officer should be allowed to turn the camera off when he wants to, he said. “But if something happens, he better explain why it’s off.”
Liedtke has won the endorsement of Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson, who said Liedtke “does his homework and handles himself professionally.”
“He’s a straight shooter. If he’s got a disagreement with someone, he’ll give you facts to back up what he thinks,” said Henderson, who has held office for nine years, five as mayor.
Yolanda Roman, a council member since 2014, has a different opinion. She said the city could benefit from new blood.
“Personally, I would like to see turnover. That’s not taking a position against Mr. Liedtke, but I think it’s time for whatever candidate comes along with fresh ideas, different thoughts,” she said. “It’s good. I don’t like things to get stagnant.”
Liedtke was born in Minnesota but grew up in South Dakota. His parents separated when he was 3.
At the candidate forum, Liedtke talked about growing up with a single mother.
“My parents divorced when I was 3, so I had to look at my mother as a role model,” he said. “She was the one who got me to school, got me to church, made sure I went to college.”
Liedtke, who doesn’t have children, doesn’t talk about his work as a council member with his wife Michelle or his family.
“I keep that separate from my personal life,” he said, but did not elaborate.
A Texas State University graduate, he moved to Tampa in 1999. He lived near the airport, where he routinely traveled to Washington, D.C., working for various organizations, including the staff of the chief administration officer of the House of Representatives.
He now works as an information technology consultant for Memorial Healthcare System.
Although he was used to the federal government and large corporations, he chose to run for the City Council in 2012 because that’s where he felt he could make the most difference.
“I ran for City Council because I wanted to have the decision-making ability over things that affected me,” he said.
In his time as a council member, he has repeatedly criticized St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, who Liedtke said is responsible for the 200-million-gallon sewage spill in 2015-2016 that has damaged Clam Bayou, a 170-acre estuary between the two cities.
Liedtke had an embarrassing moment shortly after he was elected in 2012. During a council discussion on federal environmental regulations, he read from a Washington Examiner piece as if it was his own words.
The Gabber newspaper reprinted those comments, then quickly retracted them when it learned they had been plagiarized.
Liedtke, who acknowledged he had taken his comments “word for word” from the Examiner, also apologized. “I didn’t handle it properly … and I haven’t done anything like that again,” he said recently.
Liedtke said he’s got an easygoing attitude and that his idea of a campaign fundraiser is more of a social event to “drink a beer and eat good food together.”
“Running for City Council is a win-win situation for me,” he said. “It’s fun. If I win, I get to hopefully continue to do what I can to improve the city. But if I lose, I get a whole lot more time on my hands to do what I want to do.”