John Dicks (politician)

John Larry Dicks (born March 10, 1953) is the former three-term Mayor of Plant City, Florida and was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives for the Ninth District of Florida in the 2008 election.

Background

Dicks was born in Plant City, Florida to a hardware store owner father and social worker mother. A 1971 graduate of Plant City High School, Dicks received a bachelors degree in Public Relations/Journalism from the University of Florida in 1975 and a juris doctor degree from Florida State University in 1979. He is a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.

He married his wife Sharon, a former flight attendant for Eastern Airlines in 1978. Sharon Dicks is now a middle school teacher. He is the father of two sons, John, a law student at the University of Florida and Jarod, a 2008 graduate of the United States Naval Academy who is an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

2008 Election

Dicks declared his intentions to run for the 2008 Democratic nomination for US House of Representatives from the 9th district of Florida in October 2007. The week before the August 26, 2008 primary election, one of Dicks' opponents, Bill Mitchell, released attack mailers and television ads which suggested that Dicks was personally responsible for clients losing thousands of dollars while Dicks was their financial advisor during the 1990s. On August 22, 2008, Dicks filed a libel suit in Hillsborough County Court against Mitchell as a result of the advertising. On August 26, 2008, Dicks was upset in a three-way primary by Mitchell, a Tampa attorney. Clearwater political activist Anita DePalma finished third. Mitchell faced incumbent congressman Gus Bilirakis in the November 2008 general election and lost.

2010 US House Election Speculation

Since his loss in the 2008 Democratic primary, Dicks has remained in the public eye, including attending a fundraiser in April 2009 for Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink. Dicks's campaign website is still ACTIVE, fueling speculation that Dicks will run again in Florida's 2010 US House District 9 election.