PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- A first-term Florida senator whose district includes large sections of Volusia and Brevard counties resigned last week in a staff control dispute but then changed his mind, records obtained Thursday show.
- Staffer: Tom Wright's "formal resignation never occurred"
- Title of Volusia retiree's April 6 email: "My Resignation"
- Wright apparently upset about control of staffers
State Sen. Tom A. Wright (R-Port Orange) remains in office, officials say. He is the lone announced candidate for the District 14 state Senate seat in the 2022 election.
Wright, a retired New Smyrna Beach businessman, won the seat in 2018 in an unusual twist by running under the name of his deceased predecessor, Republican Dorothy Hukill, who died October 2, 2018.
Her name was already on the ballot, and it was too late to change them by the time Volusia and Brevard Republicans picked Wright to run for the seat under her name.
Votes for Hukill counted for Wright, who took 59 percent of the vote against a Democratic challenger, on November 6, 2018.
It was his first bid for public office. He previously served appointed positions as a member of these boards: Volusia County Code Enforcement, Volusia County Affordable Housing Authority, and the Domestic Abuse Council.
His official state biography said he was born in Algona, Iowa. He moved to Florida in 2004 and collects classic cars.
Wright, 67, has not returned multiple emails and phone messages from Spectrum News since rumors of his resignation surfaced last week.
According to a message from his private email released Thursday titled “My Resignation,” Wright complained to state Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) about getting mixed messages about who controls the people who work in Wright’s offices.
“In the past you have expressed that our staff is our responsibility and our decision as to who works for us as Senators,” Wright wrote April 6. “Today, I am told that I am wrong and that [they] work at the pleasure of the President of the Senate.”
Then Wright quit.
“I cannot and will not work for anyone this way,” the email said. “Please accept my resignation as Senator District 14.”
Katherine Betta, who works for Galvano, said in an email Thursday to Spectrum News that Wright changed his mind after talking with Galvano about the unspecified staff issues.
State law specifies that personnel issues involving staffers for state senators are handled by the Office of the Senate President.
“The President offered to work with Senator Wright to address the challenges in the Senator's district office, including directing a member of the President's staff, our professional district staff coordinator, to work directly with Senator Wright's staff in the coming weeks,” Betta wrote.
“After their conversation, Senator Wright told the President that he no longer wished to resign, and asked the President to disregard the letter,” she added. “A formal resignation never occurred.”
Wright and other senators have offices in the Senate Building in Tallahassee. Wright’s district office is in Port Orange. He has a satellite office in Titusville.