The Political Whore

The votes have finally been counted in Hillsborough County, and shockingly enough, the good guys (or rather, the good guy and gal) won. And both wins could pretty much be considered upsets. Kevin Beckner, whose lead in the county commission race had been evident since election night, pulled ahead of incumbent Brian Blair for good with the final count: 55.26% to Blair’s 44.74% (259,831 to 210,399 votes). Yup, he trounced him.

And, with a justice that can only be called poetic, incumbent incompetent Buddy Johnson — the man who presided over the Hillsborough vote-count debacle — lost to Phyllis Busansky in the race for Supervisor of Elections.

Ya think Buddy will call for a recount?

UPDATE: The answer appears to be no. Johnson conceded defeat at about 6 p.m., according to TBO.com:

“Anything we can do to make her transition smooth, we will,” Johnson told reporters. “There’s a lot of big issues to deal with.”

The supervisor dodged questions about his handling of the election but praised his staff.

“The pressure they have been under in this election is tremendous.”

The Times reported that Johnson also said: “You may not have seen the last of Buddy Johnson.”

Here’s Mike Deeson of 10 Connects’ report.

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It’s November 6, 2008 in Hillsborough: Do you know who your county commissioner is?

No, you don’t. And that’s exactly what Kevin Beckner’s campaign manager, Mitch Kates, predicted. He’s currently slightly ahead of incumbent Brian Blair, who has yet to concede as early votes are still being counted.

Check out Kates’ prescient concerns from this video, shot at 10:30 p.m. on Election Night at Gaspar’s Grotto in Ybor City:

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It might be a little premature, but some local wag circulated this email inviting folks to the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners’ meeting today to celebrate the putative last day of Brian Blair, even though the vote-counting isn’t yet complete in the race between him and Kevin Beckner, who is currently in the lead:

Fellow Celebrators,
Tomorrow is what I’m calling the Not-So-Regular BOCC Meeting.  You may not have realized it yet, but it will be Brian’s last meeting as commissioner.  Beckner will be sworn-in on November 18 and he will assume full duties as of that date.  I confirmed this with Commissioner Ferlita’s office this morning.

So what should we do tomorrow to mark Brian’s passing???  Should we bring in a cake???  Should I bring my guitar and we sing, “For he’s a jolly good fellow”???  Should we pass around copies of the want ads???

It might be better if we use this as an opportunity to educate and motivate the others on the board, kind of like a “lessons learned” session.  In other words to convey to them that having powerbrokers with money behind you sometimes leads to a false sense of security, and that as powerful as the special interests are, they can’t save you if the public believes that you’ve betrayed their trust.

Remember, it’s your last chance to say goodbye to him as a commissioner.
And don’t forget, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the evil-doers show up to pay their last respects and tell him what a wonderful job he’s done.  I know the rest of he gang of 5 will be singing his praises tomorrow.

It would be interesting if he didn’t show up tomorrow, fearing that he might have to face those goodbye speeches from the diehards.

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Wayne is otherwise detained, but he forwarded this letter from Senator Joyner and Senator Justice to Governor Crist regarding the issues with the Hillsborough County Elections office. Will Gov. Charlie get involved? Stay tuned …

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Nadine Smith, co-chair of the Vote No On 2 campaign, sent a letter to supporters today expressing her reaction to Florida voters’ approval of the constitutional gay-marriage ban. She expressed profound disappointment at the outcome, but she also saw a “silver lining”  in polls showing support for domestic partnership and civil unions, and in the large coalition that formed to fight Amendment 2.

And maybe there’s another reason to hope: the man America elected last night.

In his victory speech, Obama said that his victory was the answer to “anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible… It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight…”

I watched that speech with my partner at Georgie’s Alibi in St. Pete, and you should have heard the cheers when he said the word “gay.” So he mentioned us - big deal, right? But it is a big deal; despite all the progress gays and lesbians have made since Stonewall, most U.S. politicians still treat gay rights as the issue that dares not speak its name. But here was our new president, including gay people in his vision of a truly United States.

And it made me think. Seventy-one percent of the black voters interviewed in Florida exit polls said they voted Yes On 2. That’s the biggest percentage of any group measured, except for Republicans. Ninety-six percent of black voters said they voted for Obama, who was on record as an opponent of the amendment.

It’s possible that Obama’s stance wasn’t widely circulated among the black community — or that even if it had been, it would have not affected the pro-amendment vote. Still, this won’t be the last time a state tries to codify discrimination against gays and lesbians — so it will be interesting to see whether, as president, Obama will once again take a stand. His reaction will be a good indication of how serious he is about uniting everyone.

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Voter Mark Michan told CL this morning that he had to alert officials at his Ybor polling place that the third page of his ballot was missing. Included on page three were state amendments 6 and 8, and the referendum on veto power for the countywide mayor position. He voted at 7:40 a.m. at the New Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 2511 E. Columbus Dr., and says that after he raised the issue, officials located a shrink-wrapped bundle of the third pages and distributed them.  Michan is worried that this means anyone who voted between 7 and 7:40 a.m. at the church will have their votes invalidated. He called Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson’s office but no one has called him back. CL called the “Election Day Questions” number on the Supervisor’s website several times as well as the Election Day Media Requests number, but could not get through.

UPDATE: Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, an Obama supporter, said another precinct, in West Tampa at the West Tampa Convention Center on W. Columbus Avenue, had a similar problem this morning, with voters getting only one of two ballot pages for the first two hours of voting this morning.

We’ve reached the Hillsborough supervisor’s office and are told they will look into the problem and tell us what happened.

UPDATE 3:03 p.m.: No word from elections office but Times is reporting that Buddy Johnson acknowledges these problems occurred at four different precincts:

Earlier today, county elections supervisor Buddy Johnson said an unknown number of voters were only given half of their ballots at at least four precincts this morning.

Johnson said his office has gotten calls from voters complaining that poll workers gave them only one of two ballot pages. He wasn’t sure which specific precincts had problems.

Here’s the full Times story.

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Rev. Bruce Wright, the noted (and in some circles notorious) homeless rights advocate from St. Pete, talked with Kelly Benjamin in St. Paul. In the video he explains why he’s protesting at the Republican National Convention and participating in the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

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Kelly Benjamin, who reported for CL on the arrests of journalists (including himself) at the RNC convention in 2004, ran into the same over-reaction by cops at this year’s convention.

Over-reaction is an understatement; his blog post and video (above) reveal just how brutal the treatment of journalists and protesters was. (Amy Goodman got off easy.)

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Does Sarah Palin believe that gays and lesbians are diseased and in need of a cure? That’s what her church seems to believe. Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out wants to know whether Palin agrees. Any Log Cabin Republicans want to weigh in?

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Inside the layoffs at the Trib, as reported by intern Jessica DaSilva. Commenters praise her passion (admirable) while criticizing her spelling (lamentable). As for Editor Janet Coats’ quote that the Tampa Tribune is an “add-on” to TBO.com, not vice versa: Is this a bravely candid acknowledgment of the reality of today’s media, or (like Jessica’s spelling) the death knell for journalism as we know it? Or both? Opinions vary, but to newspaper editors everywhere, the debate is familiar.

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See Wayne Garcia, Creative Loafing’s Political Whore, any minute now on Studio 10, the morning show on Tampa Bay’s 10/ WTSP TV. He’ll be talking Rays, Republicans and other endangered species with host Holley Sinn.

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