The Political Whore

Chip Fletcher, a Tampa environmental lawyer who served a brief interim stint on the Tampa City Council that ended in March 2007, was named city attorney by Mayor Pam Iorio this morning. Fletcher will replace current city counsel David Smith, who is leaving to take a job with the GrayRobinson firm, where he worked before joining the city government.

Fletcher’s highest profile work in Tampa involved helping the city negotiate a minimum low-flow agreement with water regulators for the Hillsborough River, which resulted in a greater release of water over the city’s dam and improved environmental conditions in the lower Hillsborough. (Fletcher has an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering from FIT.)

Fletcher will make $150,000 annually.

Bonus cuts: Like Iorio, Fletcher is a Barack Obama supporter. His LinkedIn resume here.

Ever wonder how to make a viral video? The process has been boiled down to these nine easy yet mostly duplicitous steps.

• Reintroducing Michelle Obama.
• The All-New Barack & Hillary Show to debut next week with a joint appearance to (what else?) rally donors.
• Obama up by six over McCain. That stat leaves ABC News wondering if it’s panic time … for Obama.
• Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi disassembles the Straight-Talk Express.
• Florida prepares to overhaul the method of tabulation of high school graduation rates. Want to bet the numbers go down?
• Lock up the pharmacists? Prescription drugs do far more societal damage than illegal ones.
• R.I.P. Cyd Charisse. If you’re under the age of 50, you just went “who?”
• The Celtics bury the Lakers in six.
• In an ongoing effort to piss of the AP* and get them to sue us, I will be running long quotes from AP stories for the foreseeable future. Today’s quote is from a story about Gov. Charlie restoring voting rights to 150,000 ex felons:

More than 115,000 former felons who completed their sentences have had their civil rights restored since a new state rule went into effect 14 months ago, Gov. Charlie Crist said.

The rule by the Board of Executive Clemency, which Crist chairs, restored rights almost automatically, ending a policy of requiring the panel to act individually on every restoration of rights request. The rights include voting and the ability to get state and local licenses for certain types of jobs.

“Once somebody has truly paid their debt to society, we should recognize it,” Crist said Tuesday. “We should welcome them back into society and give them that second chance. Who doesn’t deserve a second chance?”

The 115,000 former felons Crist cited account for more than half of all former felons in the state who have had their rights restored during the last 14 years, according to the governor.

The governor made the announcement at a two-day summit of state officials, lawmakers, community activists, prison ministers and others to brainstorm ideas for keeping former inmates from returning to crime after their release.

* – I had originally put periods after the A & P in AP. Fortunately, AP’s #1 fan sent me an e-mail informing me of my mistake. Thank’s #1.

Former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, long considered a closet Republican despite his D registration, today was announced as an honorary co-chairman of the Florida branch of “Citizens for McCain:”

A Tampa native, Mayor Greco served as the Democratic mayor of the city from 1967-1974 and from 1995-2003. Greco was responsible for numerous economic and urban revitalization projects, including Greco Plaza and the Marriott Waterside Hotel complex.

[Gee, why not mention the killer deal that Greco got us on Centro Ybor, where the taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars for many years to come on that money-losing project? (One that I worked on as a political consultant, in the interest of full disclosure.)] Back to the press release:

“I am a registered Democrat, but when it comes to voting I consider the individual,” stated Mayor Greco. “I have listened to all of the debates, and with the challenges facing our country, I think it is important that we choose someone with the experience and integrity necessary to keep our country safe and fix our broken economy. Senator McCain’s credibility, judgment and toughness is the change we need.”

The McCain campaign has previously announced a group of prominent Democratic and unaffiliated leaders and activists who have joined “Citizens for McCain,” a new grassroots effort headed by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to rally Americans of all political parties to support John McCain’s candidacy.

Senator Joe Lieberman added, “‘Citizens for McCain’ is an organization within the McCain campaign for people who, like John McCain, put country before political party and support the presidential candidate who has a proven record of bipartisanship.”

As part of the campaign’s continued effort to build on growing support from voters joining “Citizens for McCain,” John McCain, along with RNC Victory Chair Carly Fiorina, participated in a virtual town hall with Democrats and Independents last week to discuss John McCain’s record of putting country before political party. Many town hall participants were former supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Greco’s successor, Pam Iorio, also a Democrat, recently endorsed Barack Obama.

It started at noon Monday and ends at noon on Friday, but it is the biennial spectacle of Qualifying Week, during which campaigns for local and state offices (minus the judicials; they’re already qualified) must officially put their candidates on the ballot in a process called qualifying.

The dailies don’t cover this stuff much any more; plus, with state candidates qualifying in Tallahassee and locals qualifying in their respective counties, you have to have several reporters making the rounds, and there just aren’t that many political writers left ’round these parts.

Locally, The State of Sunshine has a good wrap-up of Tampa Bay legislative seats and who is (and isn’t) qualified so far. The only surprise so far is to see local Democratic and Obama activists and fundraiser Yvonne Yolie Capin throwing herself into a race against the practically unbeatable Faye Culp, a Republican who represents a South Tampa district in the Florida House. It won’t help that Capin didn’t open a campaign account and fundraise early — unless she has a wad of personal fortune she wants to throw into the race.

In Hillsborough County, the following incumbents have qualified: Property Appraiser Rob Turner, Tax Collector Doug Belden, County Commissioners Al Higginbotham and Brian Blair, and School Board Members Susan Valdes, Jack Lamb and Doretha Wynn Edgecomb.

In Pinellas, the following incumbents qualified: Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark, Clerk of the Courts Ken Burke, County Commissioner Karen Williams Seel, School Board Member Carol Cook and Sheriff Jim Coats. The following challengers have qualified: For Elections Supervisor, Democrat Jack Killingsworth; for County Commission, Democrat Paul Matton; for School Boar, Jennifer S. Crockett, Nina Hayden, Ken Peluso, Robin Wikle, and Chris Hardman.

We’ll keep our eyes peeled for any more last-minute challengers or dropouts.

Bonus cuts: Qualifying elsewhere in the state, in Orlando and  West Palm Beach.

Today is Firefox 3 release day. If you’re still using Internet Explorer, we really have to talk.

• “Crist. Oy. Brought in as the keynote speaker because he’s on the short list of potential McCain running mates, his performance Friday night truly did help his party. By showing unequivocally he would be a complete disaster for the GOP – the worst running mate since Dan Quayle.”
• The Dems cave on Iraq. Again.
• McCain’s plan for energy independence: Tap that coastline!
• Hi, I’m the nation of Iran and I’d like to close my account today.
• The AP seems ready to tell bloggers “hands off our text.” But first, the news organization will meet with a “blogging group” to make it look like they’re actually seeking council from those they wish to restrain.
• “George W. Bush is behind the Phish breakup.”
• Legendary: Tiger Woods wins his third U.S. Open. (By surviving a 19-hole playoff. On a bum knee. After not walking a golf course in months).
• R.I.P. Stan Winston.

WDAE-AM sports talk show host Steve Duemig is facing a DUI rap. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, he was arrested at 3:15 a.m. Sunday and released from jail seven hours later. Duemig discussed the arrest on his afternoon, drive-time show today. Blogosphere just on the case, with Times info here and tbo.com here. Neither has shit for details.

One of the men who created the first, best known negative political TV ad has died. The NYT reports that media consulting veteran Tony Schwartz died Saturday at 84. His obit here, and the ad that changed politics when Johnson obliquely attacked Barry Goldwater is here:

No, he doesn’t refuse to wear a flag lapel pin because he hates America. No, he isn’t Muslim. No, he didn’t say if the political winds change he will stand with Muslim terrorists.

Chasing and debunking the flat-out lies that have been hurled at Barack Obama is a full-time job for some folks, and yet I still get several smearing e-mails a week, some from my own distant relatives. There is no doubt the Obama e-mail myth phenomenon is part viral, part political strategy, yet many of them are passed along by well-meaning people who are mostly duped by out-of-context or completely fabricated information.

Maybe that’s why I found a recent e-mail from West Tampa civic activist (and admittedly hardcore Democrat) Jason Busto so refreshing. Busto was responding to a friend who had forwarded another of those Obama e-mails when Busto wrote (I edited only to capitalize some formal nouns or for grammar):

Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:29
Subject: RE: Obama

Yes indeed. Obama, the first Democrat to run in three elections that motivates and inspires Democrats, Independents and Republicans, and the first person who is likely to win the presidency in 4 presidencies by more than a 1-2% margin, is in fact a closeted racist, self-hating, pro-Islamist, America destroyer who has honestly done nothing worthwhile in his entire 46 years of living.

I thank the writer of the original mail for shining the light, as i was almost duped by his razzle dazzle.

Specifically on the subject matter cited, I suppose we can wait for another mixed race candidate to run, one who hasn’t bothered to honestly share his or her personal life discovery through books that he himself wrote, from which now sentences from them have been taken out of context and made to reflect a hidden agenda which is not his. This is a standard propaganda tactic, one which Ann Coulter made a fortune doing, one that was used to undermine a much weaker personality candidate named John Kerry.

Emails, commercials, the paid political pundits and scare campaigns will now begin in full earnest. they will do everything to keep the bush administration political patronage and machinery in power. If you are interested in helping them, then by all means, please do take note of the nonsense below.

However, if you do want to end the war, repair our national infrastructure and economy, get America working again, and just right the wrongs of the past 8 years, I urge you to abstain from these fear-fests. They are intellectually unworthy “of our great country”. Please listen to what is really being said and consider the motives behind the words. are the speakers of such ideas really thinking about what is best for America, or you and me for that matter?

Please do not forward these messages until you have vetted them. rumors and fears will spread like fire, and America needs Americans to take it back.

http://www.factcheck.org/

Lets throw fear out with the Bush administration. We have let our nation be controlled by their fearful manipulating for too long.

Nobody is perfect. We all have warts, but Obama is going to be a great president.

yours,

jb

Hate to make today a Bob Norman pimpathon, but this piece he wrote about how the media handled the tomato-salmonella scare is just too good not to share:

First you must understand that the tomato story was perfect for newspapers. Think about it — nothing like deadly tomatoes on a dull news day. Tomatoes are everywhere! In our homes, restaurants, spaghetti sauce, salads … everywhere. The odds that any Sentinel readers would be affected by the salmonella scare was about the same as one of them getting stuck in a pool drain or killed by a candle (both old Help Team bugaboos). Since April, one person has died nationally with 167 reported ill. And Florida tomatoes weren’t affected at all.

But don’t let the facts get in the way of a sensational lede story. On Tuesday, the Sun-Sentinel put the story on the front page with a large bold headline headline: “HOLD THE TOMATOES.”

The article wasn’t about how Browardites were coming down ill. There were, of course, no illnesses here since the tomatoes were fine. The local hook was that some restaurants had pulled tomotoes from their menus even though they were believed to be safe (the entire headline, including the smaller print: “Many Fast-Food Restaurants Say: HOLD THE TOMATOES”).

The article itself was basically a primer on different types of tomatoes and the finer points of the salmonella you weren’t going to get in Florida.

Fine. Okay. The Sentinel, however, wasn’t finished with this juicy story. They put the Help Team on the job and the next day came out with this lead front-page headline: “Florida’s tomatoes declared OK to eat.”

Forget that Florida’s tomatoes were never declared not OK to eat in the first place. Just pass the pizza pie. The article rehashed the previous day’s information and, admirably, contained a bit of self-referential criticism on the absurdity of the piece appearing in the newspaper at all….

So, how did the Tampa Bay dailies do?

The Tampa Tribune went much the same route as the rest of the dailies, playing up the voluntary ban by some large corporations before declaring tomatoes safe the next day. June 9’s blog “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” (never mind that salmonella isn’t exactly a brutally deadly thing, although one death was linked to the tainted tomatoes) and June 10’s “Tainted Tomato Varieties Pulled From Supermarkets” vs.  June 11’s “FDA Clears Bay Area Tomatoes; Harvesting Stopped in South Florida”  and “Florida Tomatoes Rejected Over Scare.”

At the Times,  the paper led with a pretty balanced and non-tabloidy FAQ on the story that pointed out the voluntary nature of the ban and that no Florida cases had been reported. The story was very low-key and non-inflammatory. (It appears from the Times’ website that an earlier headline online about tomato-borne salmonella sickening dozens “nationwide” was replaced with a more precise headline that didn’t lead you to believe that every state was affected.) The paper even did a good story two days later on what the scare cost Florida growers: $500 million.

(photo by Manjith Kainickara)

… and fails to pay his taxes, only in this case, it is employment taxes and not property taxes.

Congressman Vern Buchanan owes the IRS some big cash, according to the Sarasota daily and our CL blog, The 941, down there:

As reported in today’s Herald-Tribune, our local congressman, Republican Vern Buchanan, is again in hot water with the IRS.

This time, Vern has failed to pay more than $550,000 in federal employment taxes.

Buchanan’s seat has been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program as it supports a candidate it calls “the incumbent,” Democrat Christine Jennings who arguably was robbed in the 2006 elections when the ballot design caused 18,000 undervotes in Sarasota County.

From Daily Pulp:

What New Times reported last week is now official: The Herald is cutting 17 percent of its workforce, or 250 positions, which is actually 2 percent more than we expected.

“These next few weeks will be some of the most difficult and emotional we have faced,” Editor Anders Gyllenhaal wrote to staff in an email this morning. “We will do our best to work through these changes at the same time as we try to keep our focus on our work.”

Some will be laid off, other will be offered buyouts. Buyouts were in fact extended this morning to numerous reporters, according to sources, which Gyllenhaal wrote will “first be made on a voluntary basis and then an involuntary basis.”

It is part of a 10 percent across-the-board staff cuts at McClatchy newspapers, as the AP is reporting this morning:

McClatchy Co. said Monday it will cut 10 percent of its work force in a move to save $70 million a year as the newspaper publisher continues to struggle to attract advertising dollars.

McClatchy, which publishes The Kansas City Star and The Miami Herald, will trim about 1,400 employees. The staff reductions are part of a plan to reduce overall expenses by $95 million to $100 million over the next four quarters.

“The effects of the current national economic downturn — particularly in real estate, auto and employment advertising — make it essential that we move faster now to realign our workforce and make our operations more efficient,” said McClatchy Chief Executive Gary Pruitt, in a statement.

McClatchy said in April that it swung to a loss in the first quarter as a weakening economy and competition from online rivals led to a 15 percent plunge in advertising revenues at its newspapers.

In related bad news, some staffers at the Tampa Tribune expect the hammer to drop this week as involuntary layoffs follow a voluntary buyout that saw a handful of newsers leave last Friday. One source told me late last week: “The end is near.”

For those who (like me) were distracted by the whole Father’s Day thing and forgot to set their DVR to tape PoHo on Brendan McLaughlin’s Sunday public affairs news show, here’s a link (unable to embed the video so far) to me and Renee Dabbs of The Victory Group on Segment 3 of this week’s show.

I usually don’t pimp golf, but Tiger Woods put on a show this weekend at the U.S. Open. His bum knee a constant distraction, Tiger made a dramatic birdie putt on the final hole to force an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate.

• How do you replace Tim Russert? You can’t. But the fact that “It’s going to take four or five people to replace Tim,” does help clear up how an apparently healthy 58-year-old keels over at his desk.
• The Saudi’s open the spigot.
• Historians heart Obama.
• If this new “super-paper” really is “stronger than cast iron,” will a paper cut require hospitalization?
• The attack of the killer tomatoes continues …
• Hulk does incredible business.
• Festival drama: Kanye West pulls a Bonnaroo”debacle.” Meanwhile, M.I.A. announces her retirement from touring right from the stage.
• The Lakers force game six.

Pardon the blatant self-propping, but this lil ol’ political blog was named Best Media Blog at the Netroots Conference down at the JJ Dinner in Hollywood, Fla., yesterday. (Congrats to the folks over at St. Petersblog for winning Best Local Blog as well.)

Shocking news from the New York Post, which is reporting that NBC News icon and Meet The Press host Tim Russert died today of an apparent heart attack.

We’ll have more on this as we digest the news.

(Photo Credit: Hyku) 

In Honor of Fathers Day, I present this short film that I did not make but found on YouTube.

• Obama’s new website takes a page from the Snopes playbook.
• The Supreme Court undercuts Guantanamo’s legal basis for existence. Bush Administration says they will abide by the ruling (which probably means they won’t).
• Shade of Hillary? Ron Paul’s concession speech contained no actual concession.
• Props to Fox News (no, really): The nut-net pulled ED “terrorist fist jab” Hill from the air.
• Olbermann sees a well-deserved backlash.
• And the award for the “worst drink in America” goes to …
• We now know that your cell phone won’t cause corn to pop, but how much radiation is it really pumping into your skull?
• 3-1 Boston.

Media General’s top Florida honcho didn’t return CL’s calls for comments after our blog post yesterday, but the Tribune did publish an acknowledgement of the layoffs and buyouts there this week in this morning’s news:

An estimated 250 to 260 jobs are being eliminated as part of a reduction in force by the Florida Communications Group, which oversees The Tampa Tribune, WFLA, Channel 8, and other local media properties, group President John Schueler said Wednesday.

Of the cuts, about 200 have already taken place or are pending the completion of the company’s voluntary buyout program, Schueler said.

…

On Wednesday, Schueler said about 120 positions were cut earlier this year or last year through attrition or involuntary layoffs. An additional 21 positions were eliminated Tuesday in advertising operations.

(My sources had put the advertising layoffs this week at a higher number, so I stand corrected on that figure.)

From the “Top 5 John Cusack political videos” list comes this MoveOn.org ad joining John McCain and President Bush at the hip:

Who on earth would have the audacity to publish a memoir titled A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity? Why, it’s none other than Bill O’Reilly, whose tome will land in bookstores on September 23. Ironic, I know, since all things Bill-O seem anathema to literacy.

In retrospect, you should have guessed, right? Only the dean of Fox News blowhards could lack self-awareness at the level necessary to slap that title on a book jacket. A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity is a title far beyond even Hannity’s usual self-absorption.

Is there a more egotistical title possible? Some alternate possibilities:

Read the rest of this entry »

The St. Pete Times is spinning local political news out of Buzz and into a blog of its own, Bay Buzz. Check it out here.

No big name in the grand marshall’s seat for the annual St. Pete Pride as parade organizers have chosen to make a political statement instead. This from the organization today:

St. Pete Pride is please to announce that Janice Langbehn has agreed to be our Grand Marshall this year. Janice is not a house hold name yet but her story is compelling especially in light of the current attempt to deny gay partners any rights.

A year ago Janice Langbehn’s partner of nearly 18 years was pronounced brain dead after being stricken with a brain aneurysm. While at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, she was met with prejudice and apathy. Janice and her family were consistently denied visitation and didn’t see Lisa until many hours after she was admitted.

Langbehn, a social worker, said officials Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami did not recognize her or their jointly adopted children as part of Pond’s family. They were not allowed to be with her . . . and Langbehn’s authority to make decisions for Pond was not recognized.

Even after a friend in Olympia faxed the legal documents that showed that Pond had authorized Langbehn to make medical decisions for her, Langbehn said she wasn’t invited to be with her partner or told anything about her condition. She said she wasn’t allowed to see Pond again until a priest arrived to give “Last Rites.”

It was only after passionate pleas that a doctor finally spoke to the family about Pond’s condition, informing them that there was zero chance for recovery. With the help of a Catholic priest assigned to perform last the family was granted a five-minute visit, eight long hours after Pond was first admitted.

The Board of St. Pete Pride believes that this story and ones like it are necessary to put a personal face on the consequences of Amendment 2. Please come out and support St. Pete Pride on Saturday June 28, 2008 at 10AM.

Courtesy of the funny-as-hell snarksters at St. Petersblog, this is one scary-as-shit mash-up:

Do me a solid and click on the picture and go to their website and give them a page view, since I normally dislike linking to others’ images without them getting some benefit.

Katie Couric has finally spoken out against some of the misogyny of the recent Democratic presidential primary and its coverage:

Like her or not, one of the great lessons of Hillary Clinton’s campaign is the continued—and accepted—sexism in American life…particularly in the media.

Here’s her vid-blog on it:

You may remember last week I wrote about former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman making the same point, but even more forcefully. Katie (insert sarcasm warning here) is really out ahead of the curve on this one.

McCain’s been taking flack from the left for saying that it’s “not too important” when we get the troops out of Iraq. The McCain folks say that’s taking it out of context. See for yourself:

• James Johnson quits Obama’s V.P. hunt due to “a growing furor over his business activities.”
• Bad weather: Tornado hits a boy scout camp in Iowa, killing 4 and injuring 40.
• Denied: House votes down 3-month extension in unemployment benefits.
• Stocks down, oil up, summer dolldrums early.
• It’s alwasy a good sign when the governor signs the state’s $66.2 billion budget behind closed doors.
• Shia Lebeouf “‘faggot’ slap video” makes the rounds. Check it out here.
• Headline of the week: “Farrah Fawcett Cashes In On Battle Against Anal Cancer.”
• Speaking of cancer, Paul Newman’s got it.

Yes, it’s off topic here, but great story by our intern, Ben Fry, over on Blurbex about the latest viral videos purporting to show people popping popcorn by aiming three or four ringing cell phones at popcorn kernels.

Part of the other shoe has dropped over on Parker Street; sources tell me that 75 employees in the Tampa Tribune’s advertising department were let go earlier this week. (UPDATE: the official word from Media General was that it was 21, according to a story published by the Trib on Thursday after this blog post was written.) No editorial cuts were announced, but today, the head of Media General’s combined operations in Tampa (the Trib, Newschannel 8, tbo.com and other properties) wrote to the staff that more layoffs are coming in the next few weeks. Here is a copy that was supplied to me by a source who requested anonymity. (I left a message to speak with Schueler about the cuts and will let you know when/if I get to interview him.):

From: FCG_Communication
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Subject: A message from John Schueler

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be wrapping up the voluntary buyout program we offered. Out of the 650 eligible for the buyout, as of today 54 will be leaving us. There may be a few more as individuals make their personal decisions. We appreciate all of their many contributions and wish them well. They will be missed.

As we stated before, if the voluntary buyout program does not produce the necessary reduction to align our expenses with our current revenue expectation, we will need to follow up with an involuntary program. These plans are being announced within departments and to individual employees as they are finalized. Some are happening now and others will occur over the next few weeks.

We realize how difficult and uncomfortable this is for everyone. We have an obligation to review our processes, products and services and then align our resources with revenue. As a result, we have to make tough decisions and develop priorities. We must continue doing the things that are most important to us and to the communities we serve. By taking this approach, we expect to retain our market position, support our journalistic mission and be capable of leveraging a rebounding economy.

For starters, the “strategy briefing” released last week by the McCain campaign in no way resembles the real strategy going on inside the Republican candidate’s effort. This is just another slick fund-raising effort, making Republican check-writers feel like they are insiders and privy to the secret plan on how the GOP will get McCain over in November.

But still, it is pretty interesting to see such a blunt assessment of how crappy a shape Bush and the old-guard GOP have left the electoral map for this year’s presumptive nominee. McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis points out the historic high numbers for people who think the nation is moving in the wrong direction and President Bush’s own unfavorability rating.

You can view the “strategy briefing” here.

Planning to vote Republican? Watch this video and then share your ideas for our nation in the comments section.

• U.S. bombs Northwest Pakistan, killing 11 Pakistani soldiers. Aren’t they a War On Terror teammate?
• Bush Sabrerattles with Merkel at press conference in Germany.
• Strickland bails out of the running for Obama’s V.P.
• Soaring New York landmark that looks like a hood ornament seeks rich Arab investment fund for romance, long walks on beach, $800 million.
• ADHD: It’s in the genes.
• Sleep can kill you! (Or at least shorten your life.)
• NBA officials fixed playoff games? No way! Those called fouls always look legitimate to me.
• Lakers finally win one against the Celtics, series stands at 2-1 Boston.

William Dean Singleton, whose media company owns such papers as the Denver Post, recently gave a brutally frank assessment of the current state of print journalism and its failed business model in a speech in Sweden. (Yes, the same Dean Singleton who referred to Barack Obama as “Obama bin Laden.” Yes, the same Dean Singleton who is a Friend O’ Bush. And yes, the same man the NYT once called “the industry’s leading skinflint” who is now viewed in a more favorable light and is chairman of the AP.)

The upshot: 19 of top 50 newspapers are losing money, and in the future, there will be only two types of newspapers in the U.S. — the quick and the dead.

From his speech (as reported in BusinessWeek):

Too many whining editors, reporters and newspaper unions continue to bark at the dark, thinking their barks will make the night go away. They fondly remember the past as if it will suddenly re-appear and the staffing in newsrooms will suddenly begin to grow again.

Well, as a former journalist, I also wish for the past, but it’s not coming back. The printed space allocated to news and newsroom staffing levels will continue to decline, so it’s time to get over it and move to a print model that matches the reality of a changing business.

OK, the closing of the Tampa Tribune’s South Tampa office on Bay-to-Bay Boulevard had been planned for some time; I recall hearing whisper about it before the latest announcement about the latest round of buyouts and the like. But still, this is not a good symbol of a healthy MSM in town:

Word is that the office actually stayed open a bit longer than anticipated. Its reporters, who write for the daily and the South Tampa News weekly, have been transferred to the nearby downtown headquarters on Parker Street.

(Since I live in that ‘hood, I’m sorta hoping something cool goes in that space. We could use a good restaurant on Bay-to-Bay; right now only Pappas and take-out from Cappy’s does the trick on that stretch. But since this space isn’t already tricked out for restaurant use, I’m betting that a mortgage or real estate brokerage will go in there once the market improves a bit.)

You knew it wasn’t long before Tampa was the laughingstock of the nation on the Colbert Report:

The LAT is handing over its monthly news magazine to its biz department! (Unlike the Tampa Tribune’s high-end lifestyle slick cover product, Flair, which has always been an advertising department product.) This from NYT:

The Los Angeles Times has made plans to transfer control of its monthly magazine from its newsroom to its business operations and to replace the magazine’s entire editorial staff, according to two executives at the newspaper.

The arrangement would flout the tradition at most newspapers, which keep business operations, like advertising and circulation, completely separate from the editorial department, which controls decisions about the contents of news and feature pages.

The plan for the magazine was set in motion months ago. A new editor and others were hired, future issues were planned, and mock-up covers were made — all without the knowledge of anyone in the newsroom, including the top editor, Russ Stanton, the executives said. Mr. Stanton and other high-ranking editors learned of the plan last week, they said.

That on the heels of the latest memo from Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell, which is both biz-brilliant and journo-terrifying. Here it is in full on the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

It only took, oh, four or five months. But its already getting some comments here, here and here. The photo comes courtesy of myself and Photo Booth on my MacBook.

Facing strong criticism and opposition to their plans for a $450 million waterfront ballpark, Tampa Bay Rays executives have done just what I lauded them a few weeks ago for not doing: They’ve hired a high-powered lobbyist, Ed Armstrong of Clearwater.

The Times reports:

Clearwater land use attorney Ed Armstrong joined the Rays’ lineup in May — not because the team needed legal work, but because it needed access.

Armstrong, 51, has contributed both cash and savvy advice to help elect most of the seven-member commission. He counsels commissioners on everything from policy to media relations, and he represents developers before them.

“There is nobody that has more influence than Ed Armstrong when it comes to changing public policy,” St. Petersburg City Council member Karl Nurse said.

Armstrong demurs, but Nurse is right. During my years as a political consultant (1996-2004), I worked on many campaigns with Armstrong, and nobody is better connected at the Pinellas County Commission and Clearwater City Hall than Armstrong. When the Church of Scientology needed political counsel, it hired Armstrong. That’s the kind of ability he brings to any issue.

The team says it was referred to Armstrong:

County Commissioner Ken Welch was one of several people who suggested the Rays consider hiring Armstrong, according to the team.

Welch said he watched with dismay last month as team executives unveiled a financing plan for a new waterfront ballpark to the St. Petersburg City Council. The Rays were clumsy, Welch thought, in trying to pull the levers of power.

Afterward, Welch called the team. Get serious and talk to the right players, he said, or you’re done. And another thing: you could use an Ed Armstrong.

The next day, May 16, the Rays called Armstrong.

The Rays had mishandled the county commission so poorly in this process that when I reached Welch the day after the Rays unveiled their financial plan in front of the St. Pete City Council, Welch told me that the team didn’t even give him the info packet they handed to the press at the event, which he alone attended from the county commission. Welch said he was forced to download the plan from this blog and had to brief his colleagues at a workshop that night from notes he took.

He wasn’t happy about it.

Now, with Armstrong lobbying the County Commission and the St. Pete Times editorial board lobbying pro bono at the City Council, here is what is likely to happen: The Tourist Development Council will vote Thursday against the idea of extending the fourth cent of the county’s tourist (hotel bed) tax to allow the Rays to build their stadium. The TDC is dominated by beach interests who were not happy when the Trop was built, and they would rather see the tourist tax funds go to marketing our beach destinations and for beach renourishment. County commissioners, buoyed with reasoning supplied by Armstrong, will grudgingly overturn the TDC recommendation, on the basis of giving St. Petersburg voters a chance to vote and the rationale that the fourth cent is already committed to the Rays through 2016, so it isn’t like money is being lost by the beaches any time soon.

That will pave the way (just as the carpet-bombing editorials will) for the St. Petersburg City Council to vote either 7-1 or 6-2 to put the Rays proposal on the ballot in November, again under the theory that this is too important a decision not the let the voters directly participate in it. Helping that vote along with be the — surprise, surprise, surprise! — final recommendation from Mayor Rick Baker that this is a great thing for the city of St. Petersburg, where the sun always shines or the newspaper is given away free for the folks hanging out on the green benches.

This just in from the Creative Loafing food safety division: Attack of the killer tomatoes!!!

• The $100 Million man.
• Trouble brews on the Chinese stock market.
• “Florida Governor Charlie Crist says the Democratic National Committee is cheating Florida delegates out of half of their votes at the national convention this summer.” Someone please inform the Gov that the Dems were just following the GOP’s lead.
• Decision day at the Supreme Court.
• “Terrorist Fist Jab” comment on Fox News a new low for the propaganda network.
• Apple debuts the iPhone 3G and iTunes App Store. Could it be the grim reaper for the GPS industry?
• Gay marriage = economic stimulus.
• The real “surge”: Gas prices crest $4 a gallon.

Side question: What do you think of the new, lean PoHo logo? Sound off in comments.