John Larry Dicks is the former three-term Mayor of Plant City, Florida

Plant City, Florida

Plant City is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida, in the United States, approximately midway between Brandon and Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 34,721 at the 2010 census....

 and was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives for the Ninth District of Florida

Florida's 9th congressional district

Florida's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida that encompasses most of rural eastern Hillsborough County, northern parts of Pinellas County and the Gulf coast of Pasco County .The district is currently represented by Republican Gus Bilirakis.-List of...

 in the 2008 election.

Background

Dicks was born in Plant City, Florida to a hardware store owner father and social worker mother. A 1971 graduate of Plant City High School, Dicks received a bachelors degree in Public Relations/Journalism from the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

 in 1975 and a juris doctor degree from Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 in 1979. He is a member of Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 Fraternity.

He married his wife Sharon, a former flight attendant for Eastern Airlines in 1978. Sharon Dicks is now a middle school teacher. He is the father of two sons, John, a law student at the University of Florida and Jarod, a 2008 graduate of the United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

 who is an officer in the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

.

2008 Election

Dicks declared his intentions to run for the 2008 Democratic nomination for US House of Representatives from the 9th district of Florida in October 2007. The week before the August 26, 2008 primary election, one of Dicks' opponents, Bill Mitchell, released attack mailers and television ads which suggested that Dicks was personally responsible for clients losing thousands of dollars while Dicks was their financial advisor during the 1990s. On June 24, 1998, the Department of Banking and Finance Division of Securities issued a letter to Dicks permitting him to act as an associated person of Delta First Financial only if he met specific conditions. On August 22, 2008, Dicks filed a libel suit in Hillsborough County Court against Mitchell as a result of the advertising. On January 22, 2009, Dicks was given permission to add as Defendant Giri Giridhar, a former Dicks client who claimed to be harmed by him and who participated in a press conference on Dicks' past. Dicks contended that a confidentiality agreement was violated. On March 3, 2010 the Court entered judgment in favor of Mitchell on a tortuous interference with contract claim brought by Dicks. On March 23, 2010 the Court granted summary judgment in favor of Giridhar and against Dicks on the breach of confidentiality agreement claim. On June 8, 2010, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of Mitchell and against Dicks on Dicks' libel claim. On June 30, 2010 the Court awarded final judgment on both the libel and tortuous interference counts in favor of Mitchell and against Dicks. On October 28, 2010, the Court issued a final judgment taxing costs in favor of Mitchell in the amount of 3408.81. On August 26, 2008, Dicks was defeated in a three-way primary by Mitchell, a Tampa attorney. Clearwater political activist Anita DePalma finished third. Mitchell faced incumbent congressman Gus Bilirakis

Gus Bilirakis

Gus Michael Bilirakis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives.- Early life, education and career :...

in the November 2008 general election and lost.