Ronda Storms likes to describes herself and her campaign in three simple words; Integrity, Accountability, and Trust. Can these three simple words possibly be the truth behind Ronda presently and in the past? To some, she has been described as a maverick from her time spent on the Hillsborough County Commissioner, and some find her to be somewhat “standoffish” towards the media and sometimes a bit antagonistic. She can be best represented and remembered by her strong views on gay rights and on the Dewy Decimal System in public school systems while on commission.
Mrs. Storms was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and moved to Brandon Florida. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1988 with a English degree. She served in the Hillsborough county Commission from 1998 to 2006, where she then ran and won a Florida senate seat. She now resides in Valrico Florida with her husband David.
Ronda and her husband David own a total of 3 properties in Valrico Florida, but only one of which actually has a house built on the property. The house was built in 2003, but the land was purchased back in 1989.The house has just over three thousand square feet and has an assessed value of just under $284,000. The Storm’s own another piece of land directly to the left of their house. They also own a piece of land directly behind their house; which is labeled as “Plant nursery.” When searching a bit deeper, I was able to find the names Nathanial Storms and Alice Storms were also on the deed to the house, which I found were to be the in-laws. The Storm’s residents can be found at 2129 Crosby Road Valrico Florida 33594.
The Storm’s have two mortgages with two different banks for their house. Flagstar Bank, and Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union. When purchasing their house, the Storm’s took out an adjustable rate mortgage with the Credit Union starting at 5.27 percent.
When it comes to abiding by the law, Ronda is squeaky clean. No record of any arrest and no record of any traffic citations could be found; for her or her husband.
Ronda Storms and David Storms are good citizens do pay their taxes and on time. Since 2001, all taxes were paid in full and on time. She has yet to pay for her 2009 property taxes in which she owes $5, 217.47. For her other pieces of property, her taxes total to about $2000.
Before serving on the Hillsborough County Commission, Ronda Storms served as a private attorney for the court system. There are numerous amounts of court cases involving Ronda, one for example involved a local nail and hair salon.
Ronda Storms served on the Hillsborough County Commission for 8 years, her final year being in 2006. Alongside Kathy Castor, Brian Blair, Ken Hagen, Jim Norman, Thomas Scott, and Mark Sharpe; Ronda tended to vote to her own liking. For example on January 10, 2006, Ronda voted three times “no” against her fellow commissioners, all for zoning bills. Ronda has made media headlines with her aggressive voting and strong beliefs. Ronda brought attention to herself back in 2005 when she led the effort to ban gay pride on county property.
As a member of the Florida Legislature, Ronda Storms, makes just over $30,000 a year. This was quite a surprise to me because I researched what county commissioner’s salaries are, and most are upwards of $80,000.
In 2004, when Ronda Storms ran for County Commission District 4, she had 11 different contributions to her financial report. Her biggest filing for that year was contributions totaling $30, 7756.52 made by hundreds of different people. Some contributions were only for just $25, while most were made for $500.00. From Sam’s Club, to high schools, to cell phone companies; contributions came from many different people and many different businesses.
When Ronda ran for the state senate 10th district in 2006, her campaign finance contributions arose greatly from her county commission contributions, totaling $807, 355.19. One of her biggest campaign contributions came from Bright House Networks with a $3,011 donation to her campaign. A lot of her contributions also came from insurance and real-estate groups from all over the state of Florida.
William “Windy” March, political writer for the Tampa Tribune, describes Ronda Storms as “conservative and sometimes controversial.” Mr. March has had a lot of experience dealing with local community politicos. He talked about Ronda being very standoffish with the media, and tended to think that the media was always against her. He described an op-ed article that she has written in the Tribune back in January where her first sentenced read “"The Tribune is nothing if not relentless in its determination to present a distorted picture of me.” Windy believes “It's not unusual for "social-issues conservatives" to believe that mainstream news organizations are biased against them.” Mr. March also said “Although she has been strongly on the conservative side of the political spectrum, she has occasionally taken stands that bucked conservative or Republican Party interests or supporters.”
As for future races, Ronda is already a head of the game to gain back her 10th district senate seat. Ronda has already totaled $117,000 for campaign contributions. Ronda is yet again the republican candidate and is up against Jen Greenfield who is the democratic candidate. Jen however is a bit behind Mrs. Storms totaling just $327.77. Needless to say, I think that it is obvious that Mrs. Storms as this one in the bag, because with more money, she will be able to campaign and advertise herself to the extreme to win the vote.
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