Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The Wonkette campaign mailer of the day yesterday is from Gus Bilirakis.  The mailer says Phyllis Busansky “advocates public nu dity on the streets.”  It seems that back in 1991, Busanski did not want to deny you the opportunity to wear your thong in public.

We here in the sticks are easily able to avert our eyes when confronted with inappropriate thongage, and think the beach is fun just the way it is.  

Bringing up a fifteen year old thong smells funny, and looks like an act of desperation from the Bilirakis camp.

Found via The Buzz.

Casting herself as Batman to whatever sinful villian happens to scare people the most is kind of how Ronda Storms has made it as far as she has already. When I heard she would be facing off a newcomer Stephen Gorham I figured she’s a shoe-in. I even considered moving back to Riverview to vote against her but ultimately decided it would be a waste of time.

Fast forward a few weeks and here we are at election day. I see that the race has gotten about as weird as any of Storms’ endeavors, but surprisingly, it may be tighter than I thought. We are assured that Gorham is “closer than ever” to the much better funded Storms. Of course that is the notoriously left-leaning St Pete Times telling us that Gorham is gaining, but the article gives no clue as to how close that actually is. I checked to see what the Tampa Tribune had to say about it but guess what? Other than when they endorsed Gorham, the Trib doesn’t seem to have anything about the race. Nothing at all. I wonder if the folks at the Trib even know there is a race down there?

Anyway, back to my point. I keep seeing this ad of Ronda’s accusing Gorham of being bankrolled by Gaming and Casino interests and how he will turn all the underage girls of south Hillsborough county into streetwalking hookers. I noticed that unlike most other negative ads I am subjected to this one had no small print to tell me where I could find the information they had gleaned these facts from. Since Ronda seemed to indicate the kid had gotten enough money from gambling interests to finance several hours of the war in Iraq I wanted to know where to go to see it. Luckily I remembered the Florida Division of Elections website maintains fairly detailed records that does just that.

Campaign finance records for both candidates don’t show anything really out of the ordinary. Gorham has two items that are obviously gaming related. Both for $500 they make up less than 1% of the money he has raised.  Gorham’s money mostly comes from trade unions (the Police and Fire sided with Ronda which is funny since Ronda has made it obvious to Sheriff Gee a couple of times that she felt she knew better how to allocate his deputies than he did) and private parties.

Storms has no obvious ties to the gaming industry but has thousands of dollars in money from insurance agents, doctors, lawyers, farmers, and what appears to be a check for $190.68 from Republican State Representative Ed Homan. I am not sure who makes a campaign contribution for that odd an amount but I assume it has some significance, maybe it was the least gay number he could think of when he wrote the check. She also got $3011.90, or three times the amount Gorham pocketed from gaming interests, from Brighthouse Networks.

You really can’t trust any advertising paid for by one person to get any sort of clear understanding of their opponent. You may think this is common sense but there are a lot of folks that will vote in this election firmly believing that Jim Davis has never done a lick of work in his life because they saw that on TV.

Also, please think about the sway our hometown papers exercise over these local races. The Times is happy to promote Gorham at every opportunity, while the Tribune seems to forget him as soon as they endorsed him.

This race isn’t big enough to garner national attention so we rely on our two local papers to cover these races evenly and fairly. In this case, newsworthy for Storms if nothing else, I think we have been cheated. One paper became little more than a cheerleader on short fiber newsprint and the other, well they just don’t find it worth the effort.

Go vote!

The other question you will find on the ballot in Hillsborough County is a ridiculous one asking if cities should regulate and enforce existing laws on “se xually oriented businesses.” It is a straw ballot, and has no effect at all.

Both the Times and Tribune say to vote no.

Not unlike many of the items passed by this Hillsborough County Commission I say it’s a preposterous waste of time and money. There is no need to answer the question, so you shouldn’t.

There are six amendments to the Florida Constitution on the ballot. To get an overview of the reasons for supporting or opposing each amendment, I recommend you check with Vote Smart Florida.  They list the amendments, and give both sides of the argument for you to make up your own mind. They claim to be non-partisan, but most of the partners are chambers of commerce and other business interests.

Tribune says vote yes on 1, and no on all others. Likewise, the St. Pete Times says vote yes on number one, but no on the rest of them, especially Amendment #3. 

UPDATE 3:38pm:  The State of Sunshine has a nicely written explanation why you should vote NO on Amendment one.

I agree with both newspapers (a quick explanation in parenthesis):

• Yes on Amendment 1 - State Planning & Budget - Yes (will help keep budget straight)
• No on Amendment 3 - Broader public support for amendments - No (your voice is important, and must be heard)
• No on Amendment 4 - Protection from Tobacco - No (there is no need for this in the constitution)
• No on Amendment 6 - Increased Homestead Exemption - No (the exemption should be tied to a percentage, not a dollar amount)
• No on Amendment 7 - Veterans discounted homestead exemption - No (again, there are other ways to address this without changing the constitution)
• No on Amendment 8 - Eminent Domain - No (this quick fix is not the answer)

I encourage you to respond and make your arguments for any of the above…

You might remember the Temple Terrace councilwoman who went a little loopy at a business which was simply practicing free speech. 

The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports that the FDLE has concluded their investigation on councilwoman Linda Shattles. They have determined that she did not use her position on city council “to intimidate potential voters.”

Mostly because she never spoke to any actual voters.

Like district five, district seven represents the entire county.  Republican Mark Sharpe currently holds the post, and is being challenged by Democrat Thomas Scott

Scott currently represents district three on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, but must leave that post due to term limits. From his campaign website - ON THE ISSUES :

Over the last ten years, I have been providing common sense solutions to unique problems facing Hillsborough County. I have been able to work with both Democrats and Republicans at the federal, state, and local levels to get things done. The future of our County requires strong experienced and proven leadership on important issues. Some of those issues include:

• AFFORDABLE HOUSING – As the initiator and Chairman of the Affordable Housing Task Force, we are working to make homeownership affordable for ALL citizens
• TRANSPORTATION – It is crucial that as a County we remain vigilant about the transportation needs of our citizens. Therefore, I introduced public forums to hear the concerns of our citizens and use that information to help design and develop solutions to the ever increasing transportation challenges. We must look at a number of options from road improvements, to infrastructure changes, to mass transit. Strong leadership will be required to address present and future transportation challenges.
• PUBLIC SAFETY – I strongly support the safety of all the citizens of Hillsborough County. Whether the issues are: gangs, illegal drug trafficking, or violence attacks on citizens, strong leadership is needed. I championed Operation Clean Sweep” aimed at cleaning up vacant lots and abandoned houses known for illegal activities.

I checked Mark Sharpe’s campaign website. He’s got issues, too:

Growth/Transportation Our community must develop and implement a long-range, multi-modal transportation plan, as well as create a first-rate transportation grid to support the forecasted growth. We also need to look well into the future and make concessions now for bus rapid transit.

Emergency Management Hillsborough County needs to be ready to handle natural disasters and/or other threats to our community. That means having having the capability to manage multiple threat scenarios and day-to-day operations in a multi-jurisdictional environment. We ought to be analyzing our current system and look for ways to enhance it. I convened a study group to 1) Evaluate the Emergency Operations Center’s (EOC) capacity to effectively respond to an “all hazard” environment; 2) Assess 9-1-1 Dispatch Center issues such as centralization; and 3) Determine ways to enhance communication between first responders, local law enforcement, Port and Airport Authorities, as well as other entities. Toward that end, the County is in the process of hiring an expert consultant to analyze and enhance our Emergency Operations Center that will vastly improve our ability to respond to a disaster.

Education With the voter approved class-size amendment and continued growth, we need to insure our children receive quality education as they are our future leaders. That means top-rated schools, higher-paid teachers and an acceptable student-to-teacher ratio. Following the recommendations of the Task Force On School Capacity (comprised of government and school officials, representatives of the building and development community, and concerned parents), as well as the joint agreement between the Hillsborough County School District and the Tampa Bay Builder’s Association, I personally supported raising the school impact fee. It was not an easy decision, but was necessary in helping the district make a dent in their land purchasing and school construction shortfall and to ensure there will be adequate school capacity to keep pace with the expected 5,000-6,000 new students entering our County’s school system each year.

Economic Development/Biosciences It has become increasingly clear that our community’s assets, particularly the resources for the life sciences at the University of South Florida and Moffit Cancer Research Center, play key roles in our future economy and greatly enhance opportunities for skilled, high-wage positions for our citizens. The County needs to take proactive steps to help adapt our business environment to support these industries, and take an aggressive new stance in creating economic development incentive programs for Bioscience industries.

Both of these candidates answered the Tribune’s questions. Check below to see the comparison.

(more…)

It can be argued that we here in the sticks don’t know too much about anything. But in the upcoming election for judges, let’s just say that it takes a lot of time to find out much more than their name. Because of that, we don’t plan to cover those races.

However, if you have any reason to support a judge in any of the local races, feel free to let us know about it. 

That’s what Steve did:

Dear Sticks of Fire,

I am writing to ask your help in spreading a message to clients, family, friends and neighbors in Hillsborough County to vote for Bernie Silver for Circuit Court Judge 32. I am sending this not only because Bernie is my father. I am writing because I think he’s a fair and honest man, and by far the best person for the job.

The October 24 St. Petersburg Times endorsement stated: ”Bernie Silver is the better candidate even if his opponent…. had not been removed from the bench for ethical mistakes.”  I agree.

I would like to ask you to support Bernie on your blog and forward this message to your friends and family in Hillsborough County. As you probably know, many will not cast a vote for any judge; some will vote based on name recognition. A great many will not have the time or inclination to research candidates’ qualifications or suitability for the job. Most will not contemplate or understand how the outcome of judicial races affects peopleâ s lives or the integrity of the system.

Bernie is endorsed by The Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, LaGaceta and Florida Sentinel Bulletin newspapers, West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, West Central Florida Federation of Labor and City of Tampa Firefighters. He received a 95% approval rating from The Hillsborough County Bar Association and the endorsement of 20-plus former presidents of both the Hillsborough County Bar Association and Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers.

Bernie is an ethical and experienced attorney who has been practicing for 35 years. He enjoys the highest level Martindale-Hubbell rating, is a board certified trial lawyer, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and an Inns of Court Master. Bernie is a certified mediator in both state and federal court since 1991 and served as Judicial Nominating Commission Chair for the Second District Court of Appeal. Since 1998, he has served on the board of directors and board of trustees for The Spring, a non-profit dedicated to preventing domestic violence and protecting its victims.

As pointed out in the Tampa Tribune’s October 11 endorsement of Bernie, his opponent is “a former county judge who was removed from the bench by the Florida Supreme Court in 1998. The court said she neglected her clients, concocted evidence against her former husband during a legal proceeding in 1996 and misled judges in court.” She has no board certifications, no Martindale Hubbell rating and received only a 13% approval rating in the Bar poll.  The Times notes she was “removed for dishonesty.”

I ask you to please forward this one to all the Hillsborough County voters you know. I think it’s important.

Thank you,

Steve Silver

So there you have it.  Steve says vote for Bernie. 

If you want to share your opinion on this or other races, contact us now.  Feel free to include website links, and make sure you enter a VALID email address that you will answer quickly.  Invalid info will be ignored.  And we retain the right to not publish for any reason.