Former Davenport mayor who resigned after arrest now running for office again

DAVENPORT, Fla. (FOX 13) - A former mayor of Davenport, who was forced to resign after being arrested, is now throwing her hat back into the ring.

Darlene Bradley is running for mayor. She resigned from the post a little more than a year ago after surveillance video showed her usuing the placard of a dead woman to park in handicapped spots at city hall.

Bradley just got off probation, and is now free to pursue the job again.

“I wouldn’t vote for her for dog catcher,” said Deborah Buress, a former city commissioner, who happens to live down the street from Bradley. “She is a blight on this city."

Instead, Buress is voting for the incumbent mayor, Rob Robinson, who is campaigning for re-election.

Robinson said he was taken back by the fact that Bradley would even consider running for public office after the negative publicity she brought on the city.

“I think she has just re-opened a wound, a wound that has not even healed,” Robinson told FOX 13.

Still, Bradley has her staunch supporter, like her neighbor Joey Park.

“Has she made mistakes? Absolutely!” Park commented. But she added, “I think the good stuff she has done overshadows anything she did that was negative.”

Bradley’s husband, John Lepley, is also running for office. He is campaigning to be a city commissioner. But he too has baggage.

Back in 2008, he was arrested for choking a 19 year old in a police department parking lot during a road rage incident.

Lepley is running against two other contenders, Bobby Lynch and Headley Oliver.

Neither Bradley or Lepley could be contacted for comment for this article.