St. Petersburg mayoral hopeful takes a swipe at Baker

ST. PETERSBURG - Mayoral hopeful Scott Wagman took a swipe at Mayor Rick Baker's favorite catchphrase this week.

"I take issue with people who say basically it's another great day in St. Petersburg," Wagman said during a speech at the St. Petersburg Democratic Club Wednesday night. "St. Petersburg is a great city ... but we are having some difficult days."

Wagman, a real estate broker and businessman, addressed the club at its monthly meeting this week, along with two other Democratic contenders, council member Jamie Bennett and former builder Paul Congemi.

Congemi told the club his campaign would not accept financial contributions.

"If you want to make out any checks, make your checks out to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic," he said.

He also said, if elected, he would donate $5,000 from his mayoral salary to each of the following local organizations: the free clinic, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg NAACP and DayStar Life Center.

"That’s $25,000 of my salary as mayor and if they need more I'll give it," he said.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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Teacher refuses to quit job or Kenneth City mayor's race

KENNETH CITY - Former Town Council member Teresa Zemaitis will not drop out of the race for Kenneth City mayor and will not quit her teaching job, despite being told she needs to choose between the two.

The Kenneth City town charter prohibits the mayor from holding "other public office or public employment during the term." Town officials say Zemaitis is a public employee because she teaches reading to 10th graders at Dixie Hollins High School. That makes her unqualified to run for office, they say.

Town clerk Nancy Beelman gave Zemaitis a choice Thursday: Quit your job or get out of the race.

This morning, Zemaitis called Beelman with her decision: She will stay in the race and keep her teaching job. Any decision about resigning her position would come only if she is elected.

St. Petersburg lawyer Bruce Howie, chairman of the Pinellas ACLU legal panel, said Zemaitis has the charter on her side.

"She can run for office and then if she's elected, the way I read it, that's when she has to make her decision," Howie said.

Howie raised other questions about the charter provision, including whether it violates the state Constitution.

Zemaitis, 40, is challenging incumbent Muriel Whitman, 83, for the mayor's seat. The election is March 10.

Anne Lindberg, Times staff writer

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Rene Flowers named vice president of St. Petersburg Democratic Club

ST. PETERSBURG - Former council member Rene Flowers was elected unopposed as vice president of the St. Petersburg Democratic Club Wednesday, becoming the first African-American to serve on the organization's board in at least 30 years.

The club nominated new officers during its monthly meeting. The election will be held in February.

Jack Killingsworth, an unsuccessful candidate for Pinellas County supervisor of elections, and George Gonzalez, an unsuccessful candidate for state representative in District 54, are running for president.

Lois Fries and Susan Gilbert are up for secretary and Jim O'Gara was elected unopposed to be treasurer.

Nine candidates are vying for five board of director seats. They are: Fries, Killingsworth, Chris Brudy, Karen Hodgen, Doug Hickman, Glenn Moon, Ahmad Nawab, John Olson and Rich Piper.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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Tough conditions at Obama inauguration

So Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch asked U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis for tickets to President-elect Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration. Bilirakis' office came through, sending an e-mail to Welch offering two seats at the swearing-in. But check out the warnings from Bilirakis' office that came with the offer.

It may be historic, but it sure doesn't sound comfortable.

"Please keep in mind that January in Washington, D.C., tends to be very cold and damp (often in the 20s or 30s and occasionally snowing) ... Also, keep in mind that there will be absolutely NO food or water allowed on the premises. Additionally, there will only be one facility for every 6,000 people, and you will most likely be required to remain at the inauguration site from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. without being able to leave and come back."

Ouch.

Welch decided not to take the tickets, but for other reasons. Accommodations in D.C, he said, are going for $800 to $900 a night.

"For that kind of money we could buy an HDTV and watch it in high definition and keep the TV," Welch said.

Are you going? Let us know.

Will Van Sant, Times staff writer

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Brown-Waite gets powerful committee assignment

Ginny Brown-Waite's office announced today that the Brooksville congresswoman won a key post on the House's tax writing committee. See the full announcement below.

Elections records in shambles, new chief says

TAMPA -- One day into the job, Hillsborough County's new elections chief offered an unsettling description of her office.

Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky told county commissioners today that financial records in the office are in "tremendous disarray.

"We have no idea how much money has been spent and how much is owed," Busansky said.

Busansky's chief of staff, Craig Latimer, said financial records were scattered around the supervisor's Falkenburg Road office, in boxes on the floor and stacks on desks. Bank statements were found wrapped with rubberbands.

Candidates vie for first black mayor title

ST. PETERSBURG -- A slew of candidates are gunning to be the city's first black mayor, including a few contenders whose skin color and heritage peg them as clearly white.

Bill Foster and Scott Wagman, who are both white, are campaigning to be St. Petersburg's first black mayor, joining candidates Deveron Gibbons and Sharon Russ, who are African-American. Wagman and Foster said their administrations would transcend race because they would equally represent all ethnic groups, including the black community.

The racially tinged rhetoric points to the high-profile role the African-American community will likely play in deciding St. Petersburg's next mayor, according to black leaders. More than 20 percent of St. Petersburg's residents are black and several past mayoral campaigns have been won in the pews and prayer circles of local African-American churches.

Disputed Florida primary headed back to court

A lawsuit challenging the Democratic National Committee's handling of Florida's delegates in the presidential primary is scheduled to be heard in a federal appeals court in Atlanta tomorrow. Tampa attorney Michael Steinberg filed the case on behalf of Florida voter Vic DiMaio in August 2007, after the DNC stripped Florida of its convention delegates as punishment for scheduling its presidential primary too early. A federal district judge dismissed the case in May, rejecting DiMaio's claim that the party practiced reverse discrimination by letting South Carolina and Nevada hold early primaries based on their large percentage of African-American and Latin voters.

In a news release, DiMaio said he is extremely pleased Barack Obama won the November general election, but the Florida law setting the date of presidential primaries remains on the books and could result in "the exact same crisis" in the future. "Our lawsuit is about fairness to the voters of Florida," DiMaio said.

In the end, national party leaders voted to restore the 211-member Florida delegation's full voting authority at the convention in August 2008.   

Janet Zink, Times saff writer

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Ken Welch reconsiders mayoral bid

ST. PETERSBURG -- Two months ago, County Commissioner Ken Welch said he was almost certain he wasn't going to run for mayor this year.

A recent article by St. Petersburg Times columnist Ernest Hooper about the 10 most intriguing personalities of 2008 has forced Welch to reconsider, he said.

"Hardly a day goes by without a person I respect or know asking me to reconsider," said Welch (left). "Ernest's column on Saturday has kind of amplified that."

Welch, who is serving his third term, said he is now 50 percent certain he will run. He said he will make a final decision by the end of the month.

"It's just can I make more of an impact there (in City Hall) than I can make at the County Commission?" he said. "I've never been one to turn away from a challenge and I think we are certainly going to have some challenging times in front of us both at the city and the county level."

We'll let you know when he makes up his mind.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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Who's behind mysterious Deveron Gibbons site?

ST. PETERSBURG -- An anonymous blogger has begun an anti-Deveron Gibbons for mayor campaign on the Web.

What's Wrong with Deveron? links to newspaper stories and campaign material referencing Gibbons from 2004 to present. The author goes by the name Keepin' It Real. 

Bay Buzz had our Web staff do some snooping. They said the posts seem intentionally backdated, but found no evidence that the blog is more than a few days old.

Gibbons did not return a request for comment. Mayoral hopefuls Scott Wagman and Jamie Bennett said they did not know who was behind the blog.

"I don't know who it is but it certainly looks like someone spent a lot of time on it," said Bennett.

Are you Keepin' It Real? We'd be interested in hearing from you.

Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

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1,200 new jobs for Pasco at risk in House budget?

UPDATE: Mary Jane Stanley, president of the Pasco Economic Development Council, says the expansion should not be affected. While she was still checking, the last information was that T. Rowe Price wanted to tap another incentive fund.

And Fasano said he spoke to state economic development officials, who told him T. Rowe Price would tap a separate fund, too.

A budget-cut proposal by Florida House lawmakers includes cutting $5-million set aside for Pasco County to recruit high-paying jobs.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, criticized the House proposal today as playing "games."

One big reason: The money could be part of a $14.5-million incentive package approved in November by Pasco to coax T. Rowe Price to build an investment services complex in Land O'Lakes. It would mean 435 jobs would move from Tampa and 1,215 more would be created. The company called Pasco its preferred site, though it has told state officials that four other states are being considered.

Morroni making progress

Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni is making strides against the cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, that he was diagnosed with in October.

The District 6 Republican had his fifth chemotherapy treatment Monday. After the third treatment several weeks ago, Morroni said his oncologist found that the tumor in his abdomen had shrunk by nearly 50 percent. In three weeks, he'll have another treatment, after which his progress will again be measured.

Morroni has been weakened at times by the chemotherapy, but has been attending commission meetings and taking part. He said he's operating at about 80 percent capacity.

"I'm happy with the progress," he said. "I'm pretty much leading a normal life."

Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer

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New clerk, new title in Pasco

Paula O'Neil, the new Pasco clerk of court, has started off by revamping her job title. O'Neil renamed the job clerk and comptroller instead of clerk of the circuit court. She even has a new seal.

As a refashioned Web site explains, O'Neil -- a Republican who replaced longtime clerk Jed Pittman -- feels the title reflects the real duties of the job. Not only is O'Neil the clerk of the circuit court, but her office provides financial oversight to the County Commission.

David DeCamp, Times Staff Writer

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Audit disputes Johnson's request for more money

TAMPA -- County auditors say they can't justify giving departing Hillsborough elections supervisor Buddy Johnson a $2.3-million bailout after analyzing his accounting records.

They are recommending that county commissioners give him only a fraction of the amount, or $336,000, to cover his drastically blown overtime budget for holding the November election. Johnson had estimated that he would need $32,120 to cover overtime expenses, but he spent 10 times that amount.

A central part of the two-page report focuses on the state-mandated acquisition of new voting machines. In February, county commissioners approved giving Johnson's office $5.8-million to buy new optical scan voting system last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The contract with Premier Election Solutions says that Johnson's office would pay the company the final 30 percent of the cost, or about $1.7-million, during this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. But the report indicates that some portion of that balance was spent last year on other, undetermined office expenses.

The report speculates that part of the money Johnson recently requested may be to cover some part of the $1.7-million due to Premier that commissioners already gave him.

Johnson has since withdrawn his request, leaving the dispute to successor Phyllis Busansky to settle. Busansky, a former commissioner, defeated Johnson in the November election. Johnson left office today.

Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer

Download a PDF of the audit.

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Put Pasco Commissioner Cox on the spot ...

Or at least ask him a question. Pasco County Commissioner Michael Cox is slated to take questions at the Pasco Alliance of Community Associations meeting Thursday.

The meeting is at the Land O'Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O'Lakes Blvd. Cox will fill in for state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, with a special legislative session under way.

Cox is expected to discuss county spending and take questions from association members or the public.

David DeCamp, Times Staff Writer

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St. Pete: Wagman officially in mayoral race

ST. PETERSBURG -- Businessman Scott Wagman has officially joined the mayoral race.

Wagman submitted the proper paperwork to City Clerk Eva Andujar Friday.

Wagman is a well known philanthropist, but a relative newcomer to the St. Petersburg political scene. He spent much of 2008 quietly campaigning and lining up supporters.

Wagman could be a serious contender in a crowded field of candidates. Political observers speculate that Wagman has the resources to raise gobs of cash. He also has reached out to Mitch Kates, a popular political consultant who recently helped elect Kevin Beckner to the Hillsborough County Commission.

--Cristina Silva, Times staff writer

Baker says he will stay out of 2009 election

ST. PETERSBURG -- Mayor Rick Baker, who has actively campaigned for candidates in past city elections to mixed results, said he won't be hitting the campaign trail for local candidates any time soon.

"I don’t want to play a role in the mayor’s election," he said in a recent interview. "I'll just watch as it goes along."

If Baker does ultimately end up endorsing a candidate, it likely won't be until after the primary. "I cannot see myself involved until the very end," he said.

Baker also said he won't participate in the City Council races. At least five council members will be up for election in 2009. "I'm not endorsing anyone," Baker said, but added, "I think we have a good council now. We have a good group."

Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

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McKone to challenge Peter Nehr in House Distict 48

Democrat Tom McKone plans to challenge Republican House District 48 incumbent Peter Nehr in 2010. McKone, president of Healthcare Recruiters International of Central Florida, sits on the executive board of the Tarpon Springs Democratic Club.

In a news release, McKone characterized Nehr as a "business as usual" politician who is only visible when elections are nearing.

"We cannot expect our seniors and the hard working residents of District 48 to pay for the legislative mistakes of the past," McKone said in the release. "We need a responsible businessman to help force our legislators to make the hard choices necessary to stabilize our State's economic woes and stimulate job creation."

Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer

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Deveron Gibbons files paperwork to run for St. Petersburg mayor

Deveron Gibbons, a vice president at Amscot Financial Corporation, has filed paperwork to run for mayor of St. Petersburg. Gibbons was in the news recently when a deal to move city utility payments to Amscot was halted.

Hernando officials beg lawmakers to spare them

State lawmakers will wield the budget ax next week in Tally. Hernando County officials are wary. At the local delegation's meeting Tuesday they asked for mercy.

John Frank, Times staff writer