Former Ocoee commissioner sues to run for his former seat
Ocoee is blocking the latest election bid of the first Black candidate to win a municipal election in the city — and a judge will now determine whether to put him on the city’s spring ballot.
George Oliver III, who made history with his 2018 election in this city with a long history of racial strife, objects to the city’s determination that he cannot run for the District 4 seat because he previously resigned that same seat to launch an unsuccessful bid to become Ocoee’s mayor. In his request for a court order restoring his candidacy, Oliver says that the ruling is based on a “tortured interpretation” of city charter language.
Circuit Judge Brian Sandor has set a hearing Tuesday afternoon to listen to arguments from city attorney Richard Geller; Oliver’s counsel, Leonard Collins of GrayRobinson; and Nick Shannin, a lawyer representing Election Supervisor Bill Cowles.
Qualifying for Ocoee’s municipal election ends Friday at noon.
Collins wants the judge to rule Oliver has substantially complied with qualifying requirements to run for the Ocoee City Commission District 4 seat and order Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles to add Oliver’s name to the March 19, 2024, ballot.
The filing blames the controversy on Geller’s advice to the commission, describing it as a “tortured interpretation of the charter” and intended to punish Oliver for challenging the reelection of Mayor Rusty Johnson.
Oliver gave up his commission seat in March 2023, citing Florida’s “resign-to-run” law, while contesting Johnson’s campaign for a third consecutive term. The state law requires an officeholder to tender a resignation when filing to run for another office, effective the day the new position would start.
The resignation was irrevocable.
Oliver first won an election in 2018 in the west Orange city, site of an election night massacre in 1920 in which an armed, deputized mob of white citizens burned homes and churches in a Black neighborhood. The terror led to the lynching of Julius “July” Perry, who had registered fellow Black citizens to vote, and prompted a mass exodus, turning Ocoee into an all-white town for half a century.
Oliver won reelection to the commission in 2021, but lost his bid in March to unseat Johnson as mayor.
Ocoee Mayor Rusty Johnson wins race with rival; Maitland voters reject Dale McDonald
After Oliver resigned, commissioners in April picked Ages Hart, a pharmacist and Black pastor, as interim replacement until a special election could be held to choose someone to finish Oliver’s term, which ends in 2025.
While Ocoee’s charter called for a special election within 90 days for voters to pick a successor, commissioners opted to defer the race to March 19, 2024, when Florida holds its presidential preference primary. The board decided a special election for a successor was “no longer fiscally prudent,” estimating the bill at $10,000 to print ballots and hire poll workers. Those costs will be paid by the Orange County Elections Supervisor if the race is on the primary ballot.
Led by the mayor, who clashed often with Oliver while they served together on the board, commissioners voted, 4-1, in November to accept a city attorney’s interpretation of charter language that disqualified Oliver as a successor candidate.
The “no” vote was cast by Hart.
“I’d like to see us go through and let the voters decide who sits in this seat,” he said.
The charter says: “The successor shall serve for the unexpired term of the member who created the vacancy.”
“I believe that language was referring to two different people,” the city attorney said. “But the judge of that, ultimately, is all of you.”
Ocoee’s first black commissioner sees election as redemption for race-riot victims
Vivian Lyte-Johnson, a resident of District 4, objected to the board’s position and the disqualification of Oliver.
She said district voters — not the commissioners — should choose their representative.
“I am really against this whole interpretation by the dictionary of a successor,” she said. “Successor is who we, the citizens, vote. Anybody should be able to run for office and we’ll make that decision if they don’t qualify. We are intelligent citizens.”
