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NAPLES — He’s only been in office a little more than two months, but Steve Hemping has already resigned as chairman of the Collier County Democratic Executive Committee.
In an Aug. 6 e-mail to Karen Thurman, the state’s Democratic chairwoman, Hemping, 65, wrote that he could “no longer subject myself or my family to the insurbordinate behavior toward me by some in our DEC.”
The resignation e-mail was preceded by a long e-mail dated Aug. 4, to members of the local party, complaining that he was tired of being at odds with Liza McClenaghan, state committeewoman, and county party vice chair Kathy Ryan since his appointment on June 5.
Chuck Mohlke, who headed up Collier’s Democratic party for 19 years, stepped down in April. He was en route to a Tampa meeting, and could not immediately be reached on Friday.
The problems began when Mohlke stepped down, Hemping wrote.
“Liza has areas of expertise which differ from the talents and gifts I bring to the table. I believe more strongly than ever that my personality, my way with people, my natural, positive leadership skills are an excellent fit for the Collier County position,” Hemping wrote. “I firmly believe that Liza’s style would not, were she to achieve her goal of forcing me out as (chairman,) serve the best interests of the Democratic Party here in Collier County. Her talents would be a better fit in other areas. I believe Liza has targeted me for defeat because she was defeated on June 5. I have wanted nothing more than to put an end to this animosity.”
When contacted Friday afternoon, Hemping’s wife Norine, said they were driving up to Tampa for a state Democratic Party meeting and they would return the call when they emerged from a rainstorm.
“My wife and I have spoken about the ‘Dark Energy’ that has beset our country, given seven-plus very long and destructive years of the Bush Administration,” Hemping wrote in the Aug. 4 e-mail, which had the following subject line: Dark Energy Within Our DEC. “Well, we have felt a similar negative energy emanating from our State Committeewoman Liza McClenaghan and our Vice Chair Karen Ryan. Either this destructive pattern stops or you will have to find other leadership to take over your Collier County DEC.”
Rose Anne Sharp, communications director for the county party, said she is under strict instructions that the situation “is not to be discussed in any way, shape or form.”
However, Greg Gargan, a DEC member was called in to address the matter, which he called a “non-issue.”
“Hemping just needed a vote of confidence from the DEC. (The disputes) were more personal than they are substantive,” Gargan, 64, said, noting that Hemping’s resignation hadn’t been accepted.
“Steve was duly elected by the majority of DEC members in June. Since that time we’ve made tremendous progress,” Gargan said, observing that there had been no vote at Thursday night’s regular meeting to accept Hemping’s resignation, and “the state is not taking any action on that in this time.”
Hemping had a lot to do with energizing the party, Gargan said.
“We’re just trying to get Democrats elected,” Gargan said, adding that the blow-up was nothing, and is just distracting the party from the real issues.
Before moving to Naples in 2001, Hemping spent more than 30 years as a human resource executive in corporations, and focused on organizational development in the field of mergers and acquisitions and creating strategies for start-up companies.
Democratic candidate Maria Jimenez, a Hemping supporter in Miami who is running for State House District 101, which serves parts of Collier County, said she hadn’t heard all the details of the flare-up.
“I’m not sure where things are at right now,” she said.
Jimenez said she did support Hemping, and would support anyone who wants to help the county’s Democratic committee.
Staff writer Ely Batista contributed to this story.
Comments
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A democrat in Collier County?
No wonder I never heard of him.
;-)
#1 Posted by Optipess on August 8, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is a shame. I have heard those he named are pretty opinionated folks.
I am an independent voter who would like to see some balance in Collier County. It appears that the more militant group may have shot themselves in the proverbial foot.
#2 Posted by DawnPharmer on August 8, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This "Dark Energy" may soon be running our country. I cringe at the thought.......
#3 Posted by willies571 on August 8, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You betcha Gator....we all know as Collier County goes, so goes the nation.
No arrogance here.
#4 Posted by Optipess on August 8, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A Nationwide Search? I'm certain there can be well qualifed candidates found right here on these pages. How about cutthroat?
#5 Posted by DinNaples on August 8, 2008 at 5:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Papa omm mow mow!
Papa omm mow mow!
#6 Posted by chickendog on August 8, 2008 at 5:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is just the begining!
The feud between the Obamanians and the Clintonites will make a great show as it heats up!
...star trek anyone?
#7 Posted by Naplestango on August 8, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
is it Karen or Kathy Ryan?
#8 Posted by collier34 on August 8, 2008 at 5:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
this is a political party how can anyone be insubordinate is this guy from an authoritarian culture
#9 Posted by welcome02 on August 8, 2008 at 6:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ah, the Deomocrats...
A most unique political group with the inherent ability to consistently destroy themselves from within due to constant in-fighting and ego driven power struggles. This is readily apparent at the national level and now it seems to be a festering boil here as well.
And just when it's being reported they were making progress here.
#10 Posted by Wisernow on August 8, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ahhhhh the new democratic party, made up of the far left,illegals, and leeches, and lost souls
#11 Posted by grouper25 on August 8, 2008 at 6:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why wont any liberals post on this and DEFEND their fellow people?
#12 Posted by Opinionated on August 8, 2008 at 7:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey groper25 the leeches are all in the Repuglikken group.
I had one interaction with Liza McClenaghan some years ago and found her to be more trouble than it was worth. Her mentor the esteemed Mr. Mohlke
was otherwise involved somewhere in the clouds.
I actually complained to the state Democratic Committee and they gave me a hearing but locally it was like knocking on a deaf man's door.
I was very happy to see His Majesty Mr. Mohlke move on but apparently McClenaghan considered herself to be the Lady in Waiting.
The Collier County Democrats can attribute their failures to Mohlke and company.
Obama's win in the fall will not help Collier Democrats until the old guard is cleaned out.
#13 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Opinionated
I will defend Collier County liberals but not the people who ran the Democratic Party here.
I don't know anything about Mr. Hemping but I have nothing but contempt for the others named here.
They are or were more interested in playing grab-ass with the Republican establishment than they were in destroying it.
#14 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 7:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The liberals will never stand for anything, you know what I mean John Edwards?
#15 Posted by waldini202 on August 8, 2008 at 8:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Words of my Father:
Most of us start out in Democrat party. What poor young person will turn down a party?
Those of us who are smart enough to accumulate wealth graduate to the Republican clan dedicated to preserving the wealth of the hard-working entrepreneur. Those who don't make it hope the Democrats will regain power and support them in their old age. (Some also want to be supported in their young age)
Never trust Democratic party politicians worth over a Million $. They're really failed Republicans selling snake-oil to the masses.
If they were true Democrats they'd keep a Million Bucks for themselves and donate the rest to habitat, like their campaign retoric promises.
#16 Posted by Naplestango on August 8, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Are they not one of the same greathornedlizard?
I do know what you mean, the Dems. have not won Fla. since around 1985. Just a guess...
Look around Naples, how many Republican headquarters vs Democratic have you seen?
#17 Posted by Opinionated on August 8, 2008 at 8:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Kennedys excepted, since old Joe made his money running booze from Canada during prohibition.
They deserve to kkep every penny!
#18 Posted by Naplestango on August 8, 2008 at 8:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would make a comment in this blog but I don't think my chest waders come up high enough. It's so deep in republicans.
#19 Posted by chincieone on August 8, 2008 at 9:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
naplestango,
what a cynical person you are.
Could it be that Democrats simply believe in the christian principles of looking out for their fellow man and caring for the poor and sick?
My theory, is republicans are people who have had very very good luck indeed, but never had to face losing everything by being rejected for health care when they got sick, or having children with mental disorders and no where to turn.
Empathy.... a characteristic not found easily on the right.
#20 Posted by opnmind on August 8, 2008 at 9:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
waldini202
It's true that Democrats like members of the opposite sex while Republicans prefer their own kind! An exception for the war criminal McCain who took up with his present bimbo when his first wife was disfigured in an accident...
#21 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
opnmind
I recently read an essay in which the author posited that the lack of empathy is in fact the description of evil.
#22 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
willies571
So are you a rascist pig or just stupid?
#23 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dumbocrats
#24 Posted by coolkraft on August 8, 2008 at 9:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
chickendog
You are no doubt both a racist pig and stupid.
#25 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate.
That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.
After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan.
143 days. God help us all if this clown is elected.
#26 Posted by sowestfla1975 on August 8, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
coolkraft
No doubt you have learned to keep your comments down to one word for a very good reason, two words would betray your ignorance!
#27 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sowestfla1975
Given the unusual nature of Texas politics, those 143 days of Obama's are probably more days than the idiot Bush acted as Governor of the Cowpie State.
And look what a great job he did!
How stupid must you be to defend the traitorous reign of these lovely human beings, you lick the boot that stands on your throat, and I guess you deserve it.
#28 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
coolkraft...obviously U R a Repubby Dumby.
#29 Posted by beetlejuice on August 8, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So greathornedlizard ...your wife has cancer and you decide you want to be a democratic contender and at the same time you're banging one of your staffers....OPPS, sorry, I ment to write John Edwards instead of greathornedlizard, sorry. Go all you cold-blooded reptiles for Oblablablablabama.
#30 Posted by MarcoRobert on August 8, 2008 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL greatnorthern lizard.
Cool craft has donated to McCainiac, and his totally %&@%&@ messed up campaign!
Congratulations, your donation has paid the totally late taxes of his dear wife.
#31 Posted by beetlejuice on August 8, 2008 at 9:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
MarcoRobert
I will not defend John Edwards, had he won the nomination this would have sunk the Democrats and doomed the nation and the world to four years of hell, which, piled on eight years of these creeps we have now, would certainly be an end to human civilization on this planet.
On the bright side, at least he likes girls, unlike the endless stream of Republican closet cases and child molestors.
#32 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 8, 2008 at 9:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AAHH, the democrats.
they really know where to put a cigar!
#33 Posted by Naplestango on August 8, 2008 at 10:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
resmuglicans
#34 Posted by coolkraft on August 8, 2008 at 11:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
both parties stink
#35 Posted by coolkraft on August 8, 2008 at 11:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
greathornedlizard=ignorance lol
#36 Posted by coolkraft on August 8, 2008 at 11:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Greathorn: my you are the USDA version of a Dem aren't you. No intelligent answer to the fact your boy has zero experience and so call me stupid and a boot licker. Wow you really should have stayed in high school to get the diploma fool.
I will take no more terrorist attacks any day. That is all GW. Up until your girl Nancy and her buds took over congress, my net worth tripled under GW. This Dem controlled congress will go down in history as one of the worse ever, and now you want to add someone with absolutely no experience to go along with it.
Great plan. Since you are obviously a man of limited resources, you most likely don't understand Obama economics either do you? Opps, maybe you do and can't wait to be handed some cash from hard working people like me because you can't seem to make over 40K a year.
Lift the rock and slither back to bed Greathorn. Only time will tell if buttheads like you were in greater numbers than those of us with common sense, intelligence, moral integrity, oh and money.
#37 Posted by sowestfla1975 on August 9, 2008 at 5:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Another do-gooder Liberal Democrat bites the dust because he can not keep his zipper closed.
#38 Posted by suntan on August 9, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD!
YES! YES! YES ! WE CAN!
#39 Posted by Disney on August 9, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
sowestfla1975
You ignorant bootlicker. First, learn to spell. Second, some sort of punctuation should have been learned by eighth grade, I guess you were busy making money that year!
I couldn't get the gist of most of your idiot second paragraph but I am glad that your illgotten net worth is tanking under Ms. Pelosi's Congress!
I got an especial kick out of your last claim- "common sense, intelligence, moral integrity, oh and money."
You do flatter yourself! Given your choice of a leader you prove to be even more lacking in common sense and intelligence than The Bush Thing, as for moral integrity, you don't even know what it means, if you did you would be screaming for Pelosi's Congress to jail The Bush Thing and The Cheney Monster for war crimes.
As for your precious money, if it's yours it is no doubt only redeemable in stores and resorts along the River Styx.
#40 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 9, 2008 at 5:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
CutthroatIndependant
Are you kidding? Have you seen the Bush women?
#41 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 9, 2008 at 5:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not for long!
#42 Posted by greathornedlizard on August 9, 2008 at 9:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I know very little about the Collier County Dems, other than they are in a minority and are fighting to make a difference. Can some one please explain what this is all about, but explain it clearly without all of the nasty, political and sexual jibes? What do John Edwards and Larry Craig have to do with a situation that needs to be understood by us voters? I have been in working situations with obnoxious and bitter co-workers - is that what this is really about? Please Mr. Hemping, don't run away, if the behavior is bad FIX IT, that's what a Chairman does.
#43 Posted by florida05 on August 9, 2008 at 11:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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