Jamie Bennett takes a swipe at Ken Welch’s St. Petersburg mayoral ‘re-think’
January 8, 2009 at 12:15 pm by Wayne Garcia
Jamie Bennett, left, is introduced Wednesday night by Democratic Club President Jim Donelon
Just before the St. Petersburg Democratic Club meeting convened last night, I caught up with St. Petersburg City Council (past) Chairman and mayoral candidate Jamie Bennett. The councilman was set to address the club of about 60 hardcore progressives at the start of the campaign, which ends in voting this fall. The first thing that came up? Reports that Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch is reconsidering his previous stance that he would not run in the race.
“He’s in. He’s out,” Bennett said. “Nobody knows.”
The affable councilman continued, pressing his case for mayor: “I think you need to know [if you want to be mayor]. You have to have that fire in the belly. I feel confident, no matter who gets in. I think I need to be reckoned with. I’m in it for real.”
I spent time with Welch earlier in the day, talking about a St. Petersburg Times report that he is “50 percent” certain he will run. He said his chances are slightly less than that and that he was concerned about staying on target at the county commission, where he recently was sworn in for a third term. The county has a new top administrator to break in, more difficult fiscal problems ahead and issues (housing, juvenile justice) Welch is passionate about.
But the mayor’s office clearly has a strong appeal, as well. Welch, after all, is the son of a well known and well liked city councilman, David T. Welch, who was respected across the racial divide that once so strongly defined St. Petersburg politics. I hear that Ken Welch is being lobbied hard by some powerful names in the city to enter the race, and that has him checking with his political allies to see how things would shake out in a camnpaign.
Also getting into the race are Scott Paints founder Scott Wagman, Amscot VP Deveron GIbbons, college student and activist Sharon Russ, former City Councilman Bill Foster and Paul Congemi. State Rep. Rick Kriseman’s name has been mentioned, but he told me from Tallahassee that while he is not ruling anything out, he is focused on his job at the special session of the Legislature. Kriseman did say he would not run if Welch did, and vice versa.
(Dislcosures: As a political consultant in 2000 and 2004, I worked for Welch’s county commission campaigns. Wagman has hired Larry Biddle, the partner of CL Editor David Warner, as his consultant.)
