Finegan, Worthington trade barbs

By John Labriola - In a rematch of their 2022 contest, Citrus County Commissioner Diana Finegan sparred with her opponent Stacey Worthington at a candidate forum in Lecanto on Monday hosted by the Citrus County Republican Party.

The two candidates in the District 2 race, which will be decided in a countywide primary election on Aug. 18, clashed repeatedly as Worthington criticized Finegan for her failure to convince the county commission to cut spending.

"I've been serving on boards, and I don't only fight, but I get people to go the way I want them to go by making a very convincing, persuasive argument, and if I fight and fight and fight for three and a half years and I'm not able to still win any of these arguments, I might look at changing my approach and trying a different tack," said Worthington, who previously served as chairwoman of the county's Planning and Development Commission.

Finegan, who has tried to cut taxes every year only to be outvoted, and who has also been a consistent vote against residential overdevelopment, took offense at the attack.

"As far as fighting, fighting, fighting, if I went with the status quo and been huge pro-bureaucracy and development like Stacey, I would've been on the winning side of all of my fights," Finegan said. 

Finegan touted the endorsements of Congressman Gus Bilirakis and State Sen. Ralph Massullo, as well as Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who held a press conference in Lecanto last month to announce that Citrus County is overtaxing its residents by $39 million according to the state's analysis of its spending.

While some have attacked the way Ingoglia arrived at his figure, Finegan said her own analysis shows the county's budget has grown 109.4 percent in just the last 10 years, proving the commission needs to address overspending.

When asked what she would do to cut spending, Worthington said she would have taken a more proactive approach to projects like the animal shelter by asking questions early in the process. Finegan voted against the $20 million project last month after asking for a pause to examine ways to reduce the project's cost, which ballooned far beyond its original estimate. 

Worthington said she would also look at other cost-saving measures like buying supplies in bulk and offering longer contracts on road resurfacing, which Finegan said were "old ideas" that the county has already agreed to. 

As a member of the county's Planning and Development Commission, Worthington has voted to grant developers zoning changes for massive residential projects like the 5,000-unit Tuscany Ranch development along Forest Ridge Boulevard and Lecanto Highway, which involved allegations of illegal lobbying by disgraced former County Commissioner Ruthie Schlabach, who was in the audience to support Worthington and whose firm Schlabach Security & Sound has donated $500 to her campaign.

Worthington, who is the immediate past chair of the pro-development Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, drew snickers from the crowd when, after denying taking money from developers, she added, "I really think it depends on what your definition is."

Worthington is significantly outpacing Finegan in fund-raising, collecting over $51,000 compared to Finegan's $30,000 in the first quarter of this year. Worthington's contributions include a total of $3,000 from Bruce Kaufman Construction, its owner Bruce Kaufman and his wife Lisa Kaufman, who each made the maximum $1,000 donation. She also collected $1,000 from Katrina Leturno, president of Cirus County Building Alliance.

Because Finegan and Worthington are both registered Republicans, unless a Democrat or third-party candidate enters the race by June 12, the Republican primary election on Aug. 18 will not only be final but will also be open to Democrat voters, who often help the more liberal candidate win despite Republicans holding an overwhelming registration advantage in Citrus County.

Fueling Democrats' strength is the fact that the Citrus County Democratic Party has been outraising local Republicans over the last 15 months, according to publicly available financial reports, collecting $40,241.19 in contributions since January 2025 compared to the Citrus County Republican Party's $32,430.21. The Democrats' fund-raising advantage was recently brought to the attention of Citrus GOP Chairman George Gasparini, who was angered by it and said he wants to discuss the issue next month.

The discussion could be embarrassing for Worthington, as more than one contributor to the local Democrats have also donated to her campaign. 

Mark Baker, the president of the far-left Coffee Coalition, which organizes massive anti-Trump demonstrations in front of the Old Courthouse in Inverness, is among Worthington's donors, having contributed $50 to her campaign after giving $250 to the Citrus County Democratic Party.

Finegan and Worthington also answered questions about the ongoing Charlie Kirk controversy.

Finegan said she would support a Charlie Kirk book display in the libraries, which the Library Advisory Board rejected in October before the commission ordered a still-pending rewrite of the library system's display policy, but she said she has not received many emails asking the county to rename a road after Charlie Kirk, as several surrounding counties have done. Worthington, who previously said she opposed a Charlie Kirk display, said she would support it "if it were my library" and would rename a street after Kirk if the community supported it, "because like I said, I love the guy."