Who would replace Welch -- Flowers?

If Ken Welch decides to run for mayor of St. Petersburg, he would have to step down from his District 7 County Commission seat. According to Welch, his advisers have told him he would have to announce his resignation from the seat by the time of qualifying this coming summer.

He'd be able to remain in office while campaigning for mayor, he said, but regardless of whether he won or lost would be out of his commission job in January 2010 when the new mayor is sworn in. The governor would then appoint a replacement to fill out the rest of Welch's four-year term. District 7 would be up for election in 2012.

The governor's appointment would have to live in District 7. Welch said St. Petersburg City Council member and mayoral contender Jamie Bennett fits the bill, but he sees Rene Flowers as a natural choice. Flowers, a former St. Petersburg City Council member, lost a bid in November for the County Commission seat now held by Nancy Bostock.

"I think Rene Flowers would be the logical one," Welch said. "We've worked a lot together, and she understands the district."

Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer

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Comments

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KT from PE to BOCC – RF to PE thanks to KT – KT to SP – RF from PE to BOCC thanks to CC

The Governor could not make a better choice than Rene Flowers to replace Ken Welch should he chose to run for Mayor of St Pete.

Rene is a class act! She has the knowledge and experience to represent District 7.

I grew up in St Pete and Rene Flowers has my support for any public service position! She’s the real deal!

There are three things that would put Rene Flowers on Charlie’s short list as Ken Welch’s replacement: 1) Charlie is from St. Pete and knows he needs to keep his base of support here, 2) Charlie is a smart politico and will listen to Ken Welch’s recommendation as to his replacement, and 3) Rene Flowers has demonstrated that she has a broad base of knowledge regarding issues that are concentrated in St Petersburg but extend far beyond it’s boundaries.

Rene would be an excellent choice to replace Ken Welch on the BOCC!

Why would Charlie appoint someone who just LOST the election and lost it in a big way... even the Obama turnout(he won Pinellas by 8 points, I think) didn't sweep Rene into office. Charlie would loose a lot of credibility in appointing a candidate that the voters didn't want.

And why would KT all of a sudden recommend Rene when he backed Darden in the first place? Could he be pandering for votes already?

maybe he could appoint JJ Beyrouti to the seat word is out he made a pass at marilyn gigento and is going to dump her because she rebuffed his advances bad news jj

KT from PE to BOCC – RF to PE thanks to KT – KT to SP – RF from PE to BOCC thanks to CC

Didn’t Johnny Jihad have a thing with the Sci-Fi drone too?

[None of the Above]

While I do not believe that JJ will ever get appointed, let alone elected to the BOCC, I could be very wrong, ie. Neil Brickfield...

That said, when the county was redistricted way back when, this seat was designed and built for two purposes:

first, it will most likely always elect a Democrat or whomever is passing themselves off as a democrat, ie. Mr Welch and second,

it will most likely elect an African American, since we all just cant be Americans, regardless of stripe.

Yes... but if we're talking appointment then there are very different dynamics. Even a special election (ultra low turnout) would give us a very different dynamic.

It could be a non-black and it could be a non-Dem given these different dynamics.

It has to be a Dem (or pretend Dem) and it has to be an AA (if only in pigment tone and select appearances)… kind of like what we have now. Otherwise, they run the risk of blowing the illusion of balanced and minority representation. That could cause a big problem for the current power structure. They’d have to buy at least 8 more thumbnail drives.