Bob Buckhorn Wins Tampa Mayoral Race

Alex Leary of the St. Petersburg Times fires off this tweet.

Bob Buckhorn wins Tampa mayoral race.

Yes!

Buckhorn is a policy wonk's dream as a mayor. I wish other areas of Florida would chose their elected leaders as wisely.

Update: Buckhorn blew out Rose Ferlita.

With 103 of 121 precincts counted – nearly 40,000 votes – across the city, Buckhorn has almost 63 percent of the vote, compared to Ferlita's 37 percent.

The Rose Ferlita Machine

St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler wrote that the race for Tampa's next Mayor will be decide on campaign organization. Troxler praised Rose Ferlita for finishing first. Today, Ferlita and opponent Bob Buckhorn face each other in a runoff election. Peter Schorsch took a photo of a member of Ferlita's mean green grassroots machine. Watch out. This guy is fierce.

Ferlita and Buckhorn Leading Tampa Mayor Race

All the reports I have read indicate is that Rose Ferlita and Bob Buckhorn are going to face each other in a runoff race to be Tampa's next mayor. The Dick Greco era is over.

With only one precinct left Ferlita had about 26 percent, while Bob Buckhorn had 23.5 percent and former Tampa mayor Dick Greco with 22.6 percent.

Greco is about 400 votes behind Buckhorn. Turanchik had 19.4 percent and Scott had 8.5 percent.

Greco has officially conceded.

Policy Wonks Need Not Apply to Tampa Mayor's Race

I find it rather troubling that Tampa mayor frontrunner Dick Greco does not have an issues page on his web site. It suggests that Greco hasn't thought about policy or his so cocky that he feels he doesn't have to outline his positions.

Republican candidate has a poorly designed web page that allows to scroll over her positions. Under public safety: it seems clear that Ferlita disagrees with Gov. Rick Scott's decision to eliminate the Office of Drug Control.

As a pharmacist and Commissioner, I worked with the Governor’s Office of Drug Control to implement legislation instituting a prescription drug monitoring program. Given that Governor Scott has eliminated the Office of Drug Control, and because of the ongoing understaffing at the State level with regards to drug issues in our State, I intend to redirect more of the City's resources to enforce state and local laws. Additionally, I intend to reassign more officers to exclusively focus on tackling this epidemic. I will continue to work with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office, Hillsborough County government, other regional county governments, drug task forces, a multitude of committees, neighborhoods and citizens who want to share in this war against drugs. Collaborative efforts will be our strength and our success.

Having spoken with our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, she clearly understands that I am eager to assist her office, and specifically, Mr. Dave Aronberg, in Florida's war against drugs. As a pharmacist and as a local elected official, I have always been front and center against this epidemic. My position will be the same as Mayor of Tampa. As Mayor, I will make sure that the message is clear: "The Ferlita Administration will have zero tolerance for this horrible drug epidemic that leads to deaths of our youth due to overdoses. This is a huge public safety issue and it will be addressed under my watch."

Ferlita wants to eliminate excessive regulations and form public and private partnerships. This places the Republican Ferlita is the same position as President Obama on regulations.

Ferlita supports green initiatives such as electric cars and reclaimed water.

Candidate Tom Scott has an issues page with no information on it. I wonder if Scott was hoping no one would click the link at the top of his homepage.

Bob Buckhorn as been running for mayor forever and still doesn't have a issues page on his web site. Buckhorn didn't even bother to outline his anti-lap dance platform.

Ed Turanchik wants buses to have WIFI internet access. Turanchik is the king of goofy ideas. Turanchik lobbied to bring the 2012 summer Olympics to Tampa. Never mind that Tampa wasn't feasible for holding the Olympics. The rest of Turanchik's policy page is talking points.

Think about it: of all the transportation problems Tampa has who but Turanchik would place WIFI access on Hartline buses on the top of the agenda?

Conclusion: with the exception of Ferlita, none of the other candidates have articulated what they want to do as mayor. The reason there has been a lack of media coverage about the race is because the candidates aren't really saying anything. Bob Buckhorn's two years of campaigning is about to be crushed by Greco and he is still playing it safe on policy. These candidates make Alex Sink look like a bold policy candidate.

Correction: Bob Buckhorn has a lengnthy policy plan. I will write a post on Buckhorn's plan when I get the chance. Thanks to Buckhorn to pointing out my mistake.

If any other candidates have plans feel free to email me.

Tampa Mayor Debate

Creative Loafing will be hosting a debate for candidates running for Mayor of Tampa. Mitch Perry will be the moderator and the candidates appearing are Bob Buckhorn, Rose Ferlita, Dick Greco, Arthur Richardson, Tom Scott and Ed Turanchik. The first half of the debate will be Perry fielding the candidates questions. The second half will be questions from the audience.

You will have to reserve a seat in order to attend the debate. What is interesting is calls for seats are screened by Perry. On a certain level: it is understandable why Perry wouldn't want Tea Partiers yelling at the candidates and slamming on the doors of the Creative Loafing offices. My question is why hold the debate at Creative Loafing. Why not move the debate to the USF campus. Creative Loafing would have a bigger venue and security.

My fear is Perry is going to ask softball questions and fill the audience with influential Tampa residents. We shall see.

Time
Thursday, February 10 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location CL Space
1911 N. 13th St. Ste. W200 (above Spaghetti Warehouse in Ybor Square)
Tampa, FL

Rose Ferlita Running For Tampa Mayor

Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita officially announces she is running for Mayor of Tampa.

"These are extraordinary times that call for a mayor who has the experience to know, the courage to lead, and the character to do the right thing," Ferlita said in her written announcement. "That's the kind of mayor I will be."

The announcement comes as no surprise. What will be interesting is if the Republican Ferlita can win in the traditionally Democratic-leaning City of Tampa. Ferlita is the classic definition of a RINO. If a Republican could win it would have to be a candidate like Ferlita. The last Republican to hold the office was Bob Martinez; who ran for Mayor as a Democrat.

Calls For Prosecutor For Buddy Johnson Mess

The St. Petersburg Times editorial board is calling for a prosecutor to investigate Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson.

The curtain is finally rolling back on the rot left behind by former Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson, and it isn't pretty. The best way to clean it up is for Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint a prosecutor to investigate Johnson's handling of the public's money. A county audit and the elections office's emergency request for more cash raise serious questions about where it all went and why Johnson was so secretive about it.

Audit Director Dan Pohto told the Hillsborough County Comission that Johnson and his staff was stonewalling him.

"We were four days into the 14 days with three holidays and very little access to records," Pohto said.

Pohto could only verify $336,000 of Johnson's request.

Where does Johnson get the audacity to stonewall an audit ordered by the commision? Johnson failed to provide enough voting machines for the Marshall Center. Johnson is over budget by $2.3 million and refuses to go in front of the commision to explain his request for more funds. Johnson sent his attorney Kathy Harris and watched her presentation to commissioners live via video. If Johnson had the time to watch video then he has the time to explain why he needs an extra $2.3 million.

"I can't believe he's not here to answer our questions," said Commissioner Rose Ferlita, clearly infuriated. "It's inexcusable; it's unacceptable."

The audit failed to prove that $1.7-million went to Premier Election Solutions for new voting machines. PES says they have not been paid. Here is where things get fishy. The money for voting machines is gone. However, PES has not been paid. "The question is, what other expenses were paid for with the Premier money, and were those expenses legitimate?" said Court Clerk Pat Frank.

There is the matter of Johnson spending $200,000 of federal money on voter education. Those ads had Johnson's face front and center during an election.

Incoming Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky has her work cut out for her.

“We have no idea as I stand before you, and I’m really amazed at it, how much money has been spent and what is left,” Phyllis Busansky said.

I agree with The Times. Appoint a prosecutor to sort through this mess. Johnson's lackeys will be compelled to testify under a subpoena.

Cheers For Rose Ferlita

It's rare that I give Republicans praise. Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita certainly deserves it for asking Brian Blair and Richard Garrity to move the next public EPC meeting to a bigger forum and give each speaker 3 minutes. The reaction of citizens that attended the last meeting was strongly negative. The Commissioners voted to cut the EPC to save money in the budget. Protesters placed a collection jar and asked all to donate 60 cents. The cost a year for each county resident to maintain the EPC.

The EPC makes rulings on wetlands protection. Commissioners Blair, Norman, Kevin White and Ken Hagan are being accused of being in the pockets of developers. The media and public reaction have been strongly negative. These commissioners should explain who they feel best benefits from abolishing the EPC.

It was obvious how Blair, Norman and Hagan were going to vote. Democrat Kevin White vote was a serious disappointment.

Rose Ferlita has shown leadership ability through this mess. The environment isn't a partisan issue. I'm glad Ferlita understands that.