Cathy Bevins: Political Walking Dead?

Cathy Bevins doesn't look like a political zombie.

But to hear her tell it, at least one zoning-enraged developer has declared her among the politically walking dead for the coming 2014 election.

Bevins, the first-term Oliver Beach Democrat, believes she has a target on her back because of the zoning decision she made in September on the Middle River Depot.

David Cordish, a well-known developer and owner of nearby Carroll Island Shopping Center, is not pleased with her rezoning and is helping back an effort to overturn the decision at the 2014 ballot box. Bevins said that the message she's been given is that Cordish may be looking for a candidate to challenge her in that same year.

"I've heard he's said that I am politically dead in 2014," said Bevins.

Cordish, along with David S. Brown Enterprises, have into an effort to defeat zoning decisions in districts represented by Bevins and Councilwoman Vicki Almond.

"Who the hell is David Cordish to come out of the blue and start a referendum against my maps?" said Bevins, adding that she would rather work with the developer than fight him.

"His shopping center is struggling," said Bevins. "I'd think he'd want to think of how to reinvest and re-invent it. I'd be willing to work with him."

But she acknowledges that she could face a Cordish-backed primary challenge in her new district that is redrawn to favor a Democratic candidate.

"If he wants to back a candidate, if he wants to spend his money and his time doing that then he can and I can't spend a lot of time worrying about it," Bevins said.

Bevins is also not wasting time raising money. The councilwoman, like her collegaues, is now raising money again after taking more than a year off because of the quadrennial rezoning process.

Last week she held a fundraiser reportedly attended by about 250 people who paid $35 per person. Another 15 businesses sponsored the event at $250 each.

Next week, Bevins will hold another higher-priced event at the Arbors at Crossroads where the ticket prices top out at $1,000 per person.

Ultimately, Bevins says it's her constituent service that will keep her in offce.

"I'm not doing a bad job," she said. "If David Cordish thinks he can make the argument and say that I'm doing a bad job and find someone to run against me then that's his god-given right."