May seek Pasco superintendent’s post
By B.C. Manion
Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning is stepping down from his post, effective Feb. 17.
He announced his decision last week.
“I need to come home,” Browning said, on Jan. 11, the afternoon he made his announcement.
He said he has tired of making the trek back and forth to Tallahassee, and wants to spend more time with his wife, Kathy.
Browning said he made the decision to leave for purely personal reasons.
“There is no bad blood. I wasn’t forced. I wasn’t cajoled. I wasn’t encouraged to get out,” said Browning, who added that he’s pleased that Gov. Rick Scott allowed him to stay in his post to oversee the statewide presidential preference primary on Jan. 31 and have the vote certified before leaving his post.
The word that he’s interested in running for superintendent of Pasco County public schools “is going around like wildfire,” the 53-year-old said.
“It’s an option,” he acknowledged, but he said it is not the reason he decided to leave Tallahassee.
However, he also noted “there have been a number of folks throughout Pasco County that have been encouraging me very strongly (to run for superintendent),” he said.
Browning was named Florida’s Secretary of State by Scott in January 2011, after serving in the same post under former Gov. Charlie Crist, from December of 2006 to April of 2010.
Before that, he spent 26 years as Pasco County’s supervisor of elections.
Browning has an extensive record of community involvement, including volunteer work with the Boy Scouts of America and Pasco County United Way and a stint as president of Downtown Dade City Main Street Inc., according to his bio on the Florida Department of State website.
