Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson announced Wednesday he will not seek re-election when his current term expires in 2018.
First elected to District-4 in 2006, Robinson recently stepped down from his second stint as chairman when Commissioner Doug Underhill took over in the rotation. So, why announce two years in advance?
“I’d like as much time as possible for good people in District-4 Escambia County to be able to figure out whether they want to seek election in two years,” said Robinson.
When Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010, sending crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and eventually onto Escambia County beaches, Robinson as Commission Chairman was among the tips of many spears in the fight for RESTORE Act funding – $70 million of which is earmarked for Escambia County.
Robinson looked back on both good times and bad, the latter including a nearly $200 million budget cut during the Great Recession. He also listed a number of accomplishments, some in part dealing with quality of life.
“A lot of things I’ll remember we did – not to mention some of the economic development dealing with Navy Federal [Credit Union] – getting that done, helping the city [Pensacola} getting VT MAE here,” Robinson said, “Those will always be big issues that I will remember. But I think one way or another, some that will stick to me will always be related to the BP oil spill.”
In his final two years, Robinson has a laundry list of things he’d like to see completed, but three stand out. One is the future of the RESTORE Act funding.
“The second issue I really have is finishing out Olive Road and Ferry Pass; they’re under construction now and they should be finished in two years,” said Robinson. “And three, really deal with some of the issues at Pensacola Beach, to where everything happens and some direction on [Santa Rosa] island going forward. But the [property tax] lawsuit is not our lawsuit.”
Robinson, who is 46, may be planning to leave the County Commission, but he’s not shutting the door on continuing his political career. Some of the talk has been about a possible run for mayor of Pensacola, or for the Florida Senate.
“The Florida Senate was one of the things that interested me, it was up this time,” Robinson said. “My term was not done; the citizens of District-4 elected me to a four-year term. I did not feel like it was appropriate for me to leave that to go pursue something else. The mayor of Pensacola is a unique position.”
He prefaced that by saying if he never returns to public life post-commission, he’s OK with that, too. Robinson hopes that his successor, whoever that may be, is a good person and has a vision for Escambia County. And although he’s a Republican, he wishes the County Commission could follow suit with the Pensacola City Council.
“I’ve been the one that has always said that I wish we’d run non-partisan; the things we deal with are non-partisan issues,” said Robinson. “And what I’d like to see is a good person in there that will stay focused on what needs to happen.”
One new commissioner, Jeff Bergosh, was elected in District-1 last week. Lumon May and Steven Berry were re-elected in Districts three and five, respectively. District-2’s Eric Underhill is expected to seek another term in 2018, while Grover Robinson’s announcement makes District-4 an open seat.
