Second candidate announces bid to be tax collector

Brownsville resident Robert E. Bolkcom has announced his candidacy for Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector.

Bolkcom, a Libertarian, said he’s running for the position because he’s “one of the few citizens of this county who have experienced ‘government in sunshine’ and therefore know first hand of the deprivation of the Constitutional rights happening here behind closed doors and in the darkness.”

The duties of the tax assessor-collector is to assess, collect and disburse property taxes and register and title motor vehicles

Bolkcom is the only Libertarian running for the party’s nomination in the March 4 primary election.

“I will pledge that as your public servant, there will never be a closed door, nor a denial of a civil right within my reach or that I am witness to,” he said.

He’s a retired circuit administrator of the criminal courts for the Florida Department of Corrections.

He also served as an adjunct lecturer for criminal justice at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Bolkcom is past president and current director-at-large and resident agent for Las Palmas Homeowners Association in Brownsville.

He has a bachelor’s of science in education from the University of Minnesota at Bemidji, Minn., and a master’s of science in Criminal Justice from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Bolkcom has two daughters and a son.