Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Did County Commissioner Kevin White promise zoning changes for campaign contributions?  Mortgage con man Matthew Cox says he did:

You help get me elected and I’ll vote in your favor every time.

This is totally weird.

In a special report, “The Con Man and the Commissioner,” the St. Pete Times says they became the convict’s pen pal, and got seven letters from him over the past few months.  In them, he details his connections with White and his 2003 campaign for Tampa City Council.

Cox is obviously a media hound, and a convict, so it would be easy to dismiss this as nonsense.  It all amounts to he said / he said, anyway.  But Kevin White just can’t seem to keep his name out of the paper, either.

You might remember when White spent $6,000 in 2006 campaign money on clothing.  (By the way, Cox’s letters claim he referred to Kevin White “Mr. Bling-Bling,” three years before that.)

In late 2007, White was accused of sexual discrimination for firing an aide after she would not succumb to his wiles.  Her lawsuit against Hillsborough County was filed in May.

Other than the $6,000 campaign clothing, these accusations have not been proven.

But if he gets much more of this type of publicity, you voters are likely to remember his name when he runs again in 2010.

For the past month, Brett Favre wouldn’t get off of my computer, television set, radio, or out of my newspaper.

Yesterday, Trib sportswriter Ira Kaufman was convinced - certain - that Favre was going to end up with the Buccaneers, and so then Kaufman ended up all over my radio and TV.

Of course, we wake up this morning and find out that Favre is going to the Big Apple.

Thus ends this media circus.

I hope.

Update 4pm: Wayne Garcia hints around about TBO’s “sloppy and hyped journalism” in the matter.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric mistakenly said that the GOP convention was going to be in Minneapolis, when it will really be in St. Paul.  The Pioneer Press was appalled:

Minneapolis is a fine city, but it is 10 or so miles from the [Xcel Energy Center]. Couric and CBS join a long list of Giants of Journalism who have gotten their geography wrong.

Couric, like the other erring Giants, lives in that great city along the Hudson River in New York State — the city we like to call Newark.

Heh.  Of course, Couric apologized.

But she would get the same here if she referred to the local baseball team as the Tampa Rays.

Former St. Pete Police Officer Ken Kokotek retired, and unveiled his secret identity.  Picasso is the screen name Ken used on the Law Enforcement Officer Affairs (LEO Affairs) website while ripping the higher-ups on the force as well as the City of St. Pete administration and others.

Apparently, he’s pretty good with photoshop, too:

In one, Mayor Rick Baker is wearing a pink dress with a matching pink hat.

In another, police Chief Chuck Harmon’s head has been put on an obscenely overweight body, and the chief is looking intently at a two-layer cheeseburger.

Sounds attractive.  Look at the TBO article to see the altered images for yourself. 

Those higher-ups were irritated.  So much so,  there was an investigation into Picasso’s identity, and threats of firing - even after he retired!:

Had he not retired, a St. Petersburg police officer would have been fired for posting degrading computer-altered pictures of police administrators and others on a Web site…

Anyway - the artwork is average at best, but the satire is pretty good.  For more, check out Picasso’s home on the web, SPPD - An Insider’s View.

On Friday, circuit judge James Arnoldon took the county mayor referendum off of November’s ballot:

The referendum calls for creating the position and electing the county mayor all at the same time.

Mary Ann Stiles has been the most ardent supporter of a county mayor, and was instrumental in bringing the ELECTED COUNTY MAYOR POLITICAL COMMITTEE, INC. (formerly known as Taking Back Hillsborough County or something) to life. She says they will appeal.

From July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, the Tampa Bay area lost over 23,000 jobs. As a percentage, the Bay area’s job losses are second-worst nationally:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater lost 1.8 percent of its jobs over the year ending in June

That’s second worst for major metros (population of 1,000,000+). Smaller areas such as Fort Myers (down 5.1 percent), Naples (down 4.2 percent) and Bradenton-Sarasota (down 3.6 percent) had bigger percentage losses.

Texas cities Houston, Dallas, and Austin all had job gains.

Check out the US Dept. of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report for June.

Mayor Pam Iorio says that Tampa needs to get started on rail transit now, and not wait for TBARTA to get it going.

TBARTA wishes she would just give ‘em time to analyze the entire region.

The Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners will have to decide if they want to ask for extra sales tax as soon as the 2010 election.

Besides the (very) loud music, here’s your introduction to Criss Angel > The Official Website:

Don’t miss the first LIVE episode in MINDFREAK history as Criss attempts to escape from an imploding building! Watch it LIVE on Wednesday, July 30 at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST on A&E, or watch it LIVE here on www.CrissAngel.com!

It’s always fun to watch a building implode!  The whole “escaping death” part is just a bonus.  We find out more in the news section:

… From within a 9-story former hotel outside of Clearwater, Florida, Criss will attempt to escape a building that is loaded with explosives and set to detonate.

Clearwater!?!?  Now famous for Scientology AND Death Defying Stunts!?!?

Anyway, Angel has 3 and a half minutes to get out of handcuffs attached to a balcony railing, through three or four locked doors, and up 3 flights to the roof, where a helicopter will whisk him off to safety.

Cool.

Even cooler is the building that will host the stunt, the old Spyglass Resort Motel.  You know this place - it’s 10-story building with 100 foot mural of the hot air balloon on it.  Clearwater artist Roger Bansemer painted that mural back in 1978 (Tampa Bay’s 10 has the story of the mural). 

This place became quite the dump over the past few years, but the rooms were cheap!  That, along with many of the balconies facing the beach, the Spyglass became the perfect place for partying spring breakers.

Not everyone is impressed with Angel’s plans to escape getting blowed up.  Steve Otto says the stunt is “pretty lame.”  Ernest Hooper agrees, challenging Criss Angel to attempt to find a parking spot at Clearwater Beach in 3½ minutes on a Saturday.  Eric Snider simply says Angel is repugnant, pretentious, and unimpressive.

Good grief, ya’ll.  The dude is giving Clearwater Beach some free marketing national coverage, and BLOWING UP A BUILDING!! 

Actually, Advanced Explosives Demolition is blowing up the building, and Applied Science International created a video simulation of the implosion.

Those of you interested can watch Mindfreak on A&E tonight at 10pm, or see the webcast beginning at 9pam on AETV.com, watch it live at CrissAngel.com, or watch it live from Clearwater Beach - they will have giant screens there, too.

You gonna watch/go to this?