Staff Reports
A Pinellas County judge declined to find House District 64 GOP candidate Terry Power in contempt as requested by his ex-wife’s divorce attorney, Power’s campaign announced Monday.
There’s one catch: The motion to find him in contempt wasn’t on the agenda for today’s court hearing, which covered other matters.
Also, Power said in a statement that his ex-wife’s “allegations were completely without merit, as I have a 100 percent compliance history with my court-ordered alimony obligations.”
But his own attorney told the court Monday that Power indeed owed back alimony alleged by his wife. The only issue is whether he owes interest.
Power – an Oldsmar retirement plan consultant – is challenging incumbent state Rep. Jamie Grant in the Republican primary for the seat, which covers northwest Hillsborough County and a section of eastern Pinellas County.
Teacher Jessica Harrington is running as a Democrat, while entrepreneur and journalist Andy Warrener has filed to run as a non-party affiliated candidate. The area leans heavily Republican.
Lawyer Andrew D. Reder had disputed Power’s previous claim that he doesn’t owe his ex-wife any alimony, according to a letter obtained by Florida Politics.
Reder told Power that ex-wife Murielle Fournier is in fact legally entitled to “$87,904 plus statutory interest,” noting she “is simply seeking to collect the past due amount you are court-ordered to pay.”
Their divorce case, first filed in 2008, was called “the divorce from hell” by the Tampa Bay Times, spawning a nearly 6,000-word story.
Reder quoted from the 2012 “final judgment” in the matter, which said Power paid Fournier only “$100 for alimony in December 2010, and … has not paid anything since. The Court finds that the past due alimony is $87,904. At the final hearing, the Husband did not contest this amount…”
The primary is Tuesday; the general election is Nov. 6.
